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Southland Times, Issue 978, 1 July 1868, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS EXTJ&ACT3* A Beatxtifttli Figube. — Life is like a fountain fed by a thousand streams that perish if one be dried. It is a silver cord twisted with a thousand strings, that part asunder if one be broken. Thoughtless mortals are surrounded by' innumerable dangers, which make it much more . strange that they escape so long, than that they almost all perish so suddenly at last. We are eiioom- , passed with accidents every day to crush the decaying tenements we inhabit. The seeds of disease are planted in our constitutions by nature. The earth and atmosphere whence we draw the breath of life are impregnated with death; health is made to operate its own destruction. The food that nourishes contains the" elements of decay ; the soul that animates it by vivifying first, tends to wear it out by its own action ; death lurks in ambush along, the paths. Notwithstanding this truth is so palpably confirmed by the daily example before our eyes, how little do we lay it at heart ! We see our friends and neighbors die, but how seldom does it occur to our thoughts that our knell may give the next warning to the world ! Home and Abboad. — There is a story told of Sir Thomas Moncrieff, that one day; when looking at the Ehine from some hill, he was overheard to exclaim, " I never saw so fine a view." " I have,' answered a stranger by his side. "Where?' asked the baronet. " Prom the top of Moncrieffhill," was the reply. Sir Thomas confessed he had never been there. ' Moat of us are in the same condition. We have seen all the show places of the Continent, but are ignorant of the beauties of our own country. Mica Spectacles.— Dr Hermann Cohn, of Breslau, has brought mica spectacles into use as a protective to the eyes of workmen. Mica spectacles, besides protecting the whole eye, have the following advantages. — First, they cannot be broken-; heavy blows with a sledge hammer only squeeze them flat, without breaking the glasses. They may be thrown to the ground without being damaged in 'the least, and red hot metal poured on the mica does not make any impression on it. Mica spectacles are almost twice as light as glass spectacles, and they keep the eyes of the workmen cool, mica being a very bad conductor of heat. They are very much cheaper than glass speotacies, especially watch-glass spectacles, which are the only ones' that protect the whole eye. The mica spectacles are sold at Breslau for about 8d (English money) a-piece. Coaghtiine. — 'I his is a new transparent cement, it appears, the production of operative chemists in Stockport. Its adhesiveness and tenacity are said to be extraordinary. Glass, leather, wood, stone, ivory, bone, or minerals can be pieced or joined by it ; an so tenacious is it that, when thus used, it will resist a strain of 2241bs or more. Heat and cold, fire and water, are successfully resisted by it. In piecing glass or crystal with it, its transparency renders the junction imperceptible, and its adhesiveness, says the c: Builer," in fact, makes the broken glass or crystal as good as new. Its usefulness has led to the introduction of a leather line for window cords, the splice of the cord being joined by the cemeut, and thu§ an endless, smooth, and. regular band is produced Its uses are described as being innumerable. The producers (and discoverers, we presume) of. this new cement are said to be Messrs Kay Brothers of Slockport, operative chemists. j Stbange Exit. — : Ari Irish physician was called to examine the corpse of another Irishman who had been assassinated by some of his countrymen. "This person," said he, after inspecting the body, " was so ill, that if he had not been murdered he would have died half an hour before he was killed."