MISCELLANEOUS.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume IX, Issue 830, 16 July 1853, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

Thk following account of the orders and de- i corations of the late Duke of Wellington, as exhibited at the Lying-in-State, at Chelsea Hospital, wa3 published in the Observer. - "At the top is the unpretending looking Order of the Garter, and near this a decoration which is unique, being the- only on* of the kind ever conferred — the Collar of Victory, presented to the. Duke by George IV. ; it is of massive" gold, and on ~ the. medallion shields wbjch ate' interspersed among the- other oraatnents' are * inscribed the names of the several^Vfctoriei won by the Duke. Id a corner;oa the right, , almost too small to be observed, is the favourite, badge, the Waterloo -aneda!/ wbicti hi wore on most public occasions, and' whteh a precisely similar to that worn byi the Wtbmon rank and file of the army* -BeW^banjgf;;* 'brbacl'gale, blue faded-looking riban^'t^ t wsich jnany i°+ teresting a^s6ciations^are atta'cVe^as the relic of •a dynasty long passed and\aVm'ol|^orgot|eu,, - It is the Order, : .of. St. ;Esprit, ( t|s'gtar and badge of which, . set in diamonds, is'.jalued. at thirty thousand pounds. Another interesting decoration is that of St. George of, Russia, with its black and orange riband pit is, the highest order in ,tbe Russian Empire, and ir.,jiot worn by the Emperor himself, his military, services not entitling him to that distinction. v ;The Emperor Alexander is said to have observed \o the Duke, " When you come to Russia and wear this order, you will be my master." •" Tht baton of a Russian fieldmarsbal, which was., also presented by ■ the Emperor Alexander to the Duke, is a very gorgeous affair in frosted gold,, studded with large diamonds. It was carried by the Duke at the. coronation of the Emperor- Nicholas, and also when he appeared in' public in St. Petersburg. The riband of -the Garter, wbich die Duke' wore more frequently in tbis country than any other, is quite 'dirty and faded, and whoever may be the inheritor or this distinction ■ will certainly require sT new one. "The Spanish riband and ' decorations are amongst- the most showy and brilliant of the entire. There is the Order of the Golden Fleece, the massive collar of whic^' is B&id to be that worn by Ferdinand V. hinnelf. The -Order of San Fernando of the highest class, with its cross ;and' scarlet riband, to- which -is atfachtd the belt and sash of

a grandee of Spain, and the Order .of St. Hermenegeldo of Spain, with iti riband and ttar. The Order, of the sword of Sweden is a tiny little affair, although the representative vf great achievements, and (he. visitor cannot look without emotion upon the two small docoiations op the left — ont of which is the Indian Medal. with three clasps, which indicate the eariy achievements of the Duke, and thel Peninsular Medal with nine clasps, which give it the appearance of a lady's modern bracelet, which records" the number and extent of the deceased warrior's victories in Spain and Portugal. We can merely glance at the names of some of the remainder. Prussia, in addition to a batpn t con,ftrred upon him no less than five orders— those of St. Andrew,- St. '^Alexander Newsky, St. George; the Black Eagle,- aud the Red Eagle of Brandenburg ; ' Hanover, the Order of the Guclpbs, with its cross, riband, aud star'; Austria, the much prized decoration of Maria Tbere»a, which is equivalent to oar Order *of the Garter. From the* Netherlands there' is the Order of Wilhelm of the Netherlands; and from Portugal a £eldmarshal's baton, with the Order of the Tower and Sword. From Denmark the Danish Order of Merit, with its riband and star, and the Order of St. Januarius. of the Two Sicilies. The „ Order of , the Crown' of Saxony, the Order of St. Ferdinand of Sicily, the supreme Order of the Annrjnciade of Sar- | dinia, the Order of Lion dor of Hesse Cassel, the military Order of Maximilian, Joseph of Bavaria, the Order of Fidelite of Baden, the Order of Military- Merit of Wurtemburg, and the Order of the Lion of Baden. The whole forms one of the most- curious and interesting records of the civil and military services jof -oneindividual, contributed by the various crowned haads of Europe, that has ever been witnessed."

Nuremberg. — Before leaving, I went to "a neighbouring toy-shop to buy a memento of Nuremberg for some little folks at home. The manufacture and sale of toys, as is well known, is a staple trade of the city, and employs there and elsewhere a great number of hands". Wooden' toys are a principal branch of the trade, and are made iv the Black Forest, tl^flkbn Erz Mountains, Thuringia, &c. ; as w^Tas Nuremberg itself. The best representations of animals and men come from the villages of the Black Forest and the Tyrol, and very often display considera-, ble tasie, notwithstanding their low price. Of later time the art has made great progress, especially in Vienna and Nuremberg, where, amongst other curiosities, large numbers of automatons are manufactured. There were many of these in the shop, which were offered at Very low prices. A vast amount of ingenuity is put in requisition for the manufacture of toys' in great numbers* Take for example animals, an article in which this kind of skill is most conspicuous, and which are turned ont by dozens at a time. Suppose it ia a flock of sheep which is required. The workman screws a block of wood in the lath, and turns in it hollows, grooves, and such other depressions and prominences as agree with tbe general profile of a sheep. Then the block is" split perpendicularly, iato as many segments as there are animals to be made from it, each of which possesses the., outline of a sheep, and -requires but little labour to prepare it for the painter, If, instead of a sheep, an animal is to be made broader behind than before, the head is inserted afterwards ; if it is equally broad throughout, the -block ia often planed' out to form tbe profile, and then cut into parallel segments as before. Id this manner, and with ingenious variations according to tbe nature of the work, a clever mechanic will deliver many dozens of, animals in a day : but so small is tbe price paid for this kind of labour, that the toymakers are amongst tha most needy class of mankind. — Tylor't Franconia, - '■ A caricature sheet' was brought to us, * The Village Barber/ a paper published in Saxony in imitation of 'Punch' and the ' Charivari.' Tbe jests were coarse and irreverent, two characteristics of*Gerin«n free-thinking ;. "but one of them "may be retailed as, a good specimen of German wit, > and but, too true in its- signification. * A 'peasant ; comes ia the presence -of ; a government official with . his hat under his arm and a book in iiii hand. 'So,' says the .official, 'he will forsake bis fatherland, and be off to America, What has induced him to thick of such a thing;' 'A book, Mr. Steward,' replies the husbandman. ,' A book !' cries thai* steward ; • what book V * One that has cost me a great deal of money,' answers the farmer. ' Letme see it,' is tbe reply ; and the bnsbandman up to the officer the Tax-book !" — Ibid. ■

. Application of a Curious Physiological Discovert — It has long been known to pbysio* Jo'gists that certain colouring matters, if administered to animals along with their food, possessed the property of entering into the- system and tinging the banes.- In this way the bones of swine have been tinged purple by madder, and instances are on record of otlier animals being similarly affected* 'No attempt, 'however, was made to turn this beautiful discovery to account until lately, when M, Roulin speculated- on tf hat' might hare been the consequences of administering coloured articles of food to silkworms just before spinning their cocoons; ' His first experiments were conducted with indigo, which' he mixed in certain proportions with' the mulberry leaves' serving the worms for food.' The result of this' treatment was successful ~rhe' obtained" blue' cocoons. Prosecuting still further his experiment*, be sought • red colouring matter, capable of being eaten by the silkworms without injury resulting. He had some difficulty to find such a colouring matter at first, but eventually alighted on the Bignonia chica. Small portions of this plant having been- added to the mulberry leaves, .the silkworms consumed the mixture, and pro* duced red-coloured silk. In this manner the ex- ! perimenter, who is still prosecuting his researches, hopes to obtain silk as "secreted by the worm of many other colours. ' ' . . . ~

mode op collecting Ice.— We were pleased the other day at witnessing an inand novel application of an old and well known principle in tome pleasure 'grounds at Matlbck Bath, aud think the plan might be usefully imitated iv tome situations where ice is desirable—a fall of water attainable^but' ponds' and reservoirs at an inconvenient distance. It is well known 'that when the thermometer is at of below 32 degrees, or freezing, that, especially with a brisk wind, a fine' jet of water, forced by .pressure through a small punctured aperture into fine spray, falls to the ground in the -form of, powdered ice. An accidental leakage in a water

pip*, a few years since, drew tLo attention of the gardener at the pleasure grounds named to the fact tbat a Considerable quantity of ice had collected from (be one small fracture in the coarse of a single night, and on the fallowing d»jrbe improTed on. the hint by saspendi<ig a leaden pipe at the height of nine or ten feet from the grass, in the open air, in a northwardly aspect, the pipe being fiUedwith water from a head considerably, higher, and punctured with holes made by a smallawl blade. The result was, as anticipated,' ice; formed continuously and rapidly, and,: the, frost continuing a few days, crowbars were requited to remove the blocks which had accumulated oa the grass ; and every fresh bnsb, shrub, or other substauce. within the reach of the showers of spray was coated in the most fantastic, beautiful, and groteaque.forms. Ice is- freely used through the summer by the gentleman owntog the grounds; and although there is.no sheet of water that wilL freeze within a modera-e distance, still,. if auy frost happens in the course of a winter, there is nothing but seizing the right moment required to? fill the icehouse, with solid and durable ice. — Derby Courier. . , <■ <

Alleges Fulfilment op a Dream,— A most • ingular instanc* of the fulfilment of a dream' bat transpired \ at Newtnt, Glocestershife. An inquest was held at that place 1 oh.'^f onday, before Mr Lovegrove, one of the coroners for Glocestershire, on the body of a man.. turned' Mark Lane, who bad been found drowned under most remarkable circumstances. The evidence of the deceased's brother, was to the following effect :-r-'He was informed on, Friday night' that his brother Mark was missing ; be immediately replied, ," Then be is .drowned, for I.dreamt last night^tba; he was drowned, and, that 1 was .op to' my armpits in wa'er, endeavouring tor get' hira out." That'very same night the man dreamt again that* his brother was drowned, near the locks at Oxenhall, and that there was a. trout by him. Next" morniog he went to OxenhaU'with^ another, brother, and there he saw a trout in the water. He felt convinced that the body of his brother •was near; and, in fact, the body was neaVto. the spot, liie deceased it appeared, was.ad- | dieted, to drinking, and on attempting to pass home along the road, which was flooded, he was" carried away by the stream and drowned. . The verdict of the jury was, •' Found drowned."