The New York Herald Newspaper, February 7, 1875, Page 8

NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 7, 1875—QUADRUPLE SHEET NEW YORK HERALD BROADWAY AND ANN STREET. JAMES GORDON BENNETT, PROPRIETOR, NOTICE TO SUBSCRIBERS.—On and after January 1, 1875, the daily and weekly editions of the New Yorx Hezzarp will be sent free of postage. All business or news letters and telegraphic despatches must be addressed New Yore Henan. Rejected communications will not be re- turned. LONDON OFFICE OF THE NEW YORE HERALD—NO. 46 FLEET STREET. Subscriptions and advertisements will be received and forwarded on the same terms as in New York. VOLUME XIe--sssscssecscseteesesesserseeeeeeNOs, 38 AMUSEMENTS TO-MORROW. SAN FRANCISCO MINSTRELS, a) of twenty-ninth geet NEGRO SY, ats P. M.; closes at 10 P. M. ROBINSON HAL! Sixteenth street —BEGONE DULL Closes at 10:45 P.M. Mr. Maccabe. GLOBE THEATRE, Broadway.—VARIETY, at $ P. M.; closes at 10:80 P. M. WALLACK's THEATRE, Brosaway.—THE NEA GuRAts, at SP. M.; closes at 4080 P.M. Mr. Boucicaalt Sane, ace P.M; BROOKLYN THEATR! z ‘ashington street.—'TWIX’ AXE IND’ CROWN, ater. ; closes at 10:45 P, M. Mrs, Rousby. WOOD'S MUSECM, Broadway, corner Thirtieth pret CASPAR 1 steed Br8P. M.; closes at 10:45 P.M. Slatinee at 2 METROPOLITAN THEATRE, ies ” Brosdway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:30 W YORK star = NE ATRE, Zoyery- —DEB FREISCHUTZ, at 8 P. M.; closes at 10:45 | OLYMPIC THEATRE, Ko, (94 Broadway.—VARIETY, at 6 P. Wc closes at 10:45 BROOEL' ARK THEATRE. ye SINN’S VARIETY, até P. M.; closes at 10:45 ROMAN HiPPODROME, Twenty-sixth steagt a1 and Fourth avenae.—Atvernoon and eyeing, atJand TRE COMIQUE, Esa sit mecatwas ay AREY, ats + Closes at 10:45 FIFTH AVENUE THEATRE. T street Broad .—-WOMEN OF THE Day ats a pricy a 1000 FM. Mr. Lew wis, Davenport, Mra. Gilbert. TONY PASTOR'S OPERA HOUSE, Se gs Brordway.—VARIETY, at 8 P. Mu; closes at 10365 LYCEUM THEATRE, Fourteenth street and Sixth avenue.—-THE NEW MAG- DALES. at&P. M.; closes at 10:65 P.M. Miss Carlotta Leclercq. Twenty-thi Shiga treet, Bea SUR ares 108. NEGRO x ea on Kissrmetsi, ae. at 8 P atd0 P.M. Dan | GERMANIA THEA fourteenth street.—DIE DA: ANA THEATER ateP. andl iueee atl0:5 P.M. Miss Mayr. PARK THEATRE, Broadway.—French () os oo EOFLE-GIROFLA, at P.M. Mile. Coralie Geoffroy. Fourteenth stre ACADEMY +4 Opera FRA DIAVOLO, at et.—Englis 8P.M. Miss Kellogg. O's, Broadway.—SEA OF 1k. es 3P.M. BOOTH’S THEATRE, -third street and Sixth avenue.— |. M.; closes at It P. M. corner of Twent HENRY V., at 8 QUADRUPLE SHEET. NEW YORK, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY % 1875, From our reports this morning the probabilities gre that the weather to-day will be clear and coid. Wat Srreer Yesterpay.—The stock mar- ket was dull. Foreign exchange was barely steady. Gold was quoted at 114} a 1143. Ov Lirerary Deparrment to-day contains pleasant criticism of the new books, includ- ing poetry and fiction, and the latest news of popular authors. Tae Recertion or Kivc Auronso in Madrid is described in our correspondence from that city to-day with picturesque fidelity. The Spanish people have accepted the young King more from weariness of war than from loyalty to his race, and if he gives them peace it is not likely that they will complain even if submission is to be the price. Tue Brooxtyn Puxrrr stands very high in the estimation of the public, and deservedly 80, notwithstanding the Beecher trial and other misfortunes. We give to-day sketches of a number of the prominent Brooklyn cler- gymen, among whom are Messrs. Storrs, Cuy- ler, Haynes, Hyatt Smith, Hall, Nye, Seud- der and Fulton, which will be found interest- ing and instructive Sunday reading. Tae Lovistana Compromisz.—The citizens of New Orleans repudiate the action of the conservative caucus in accepting the com- promise offered by the radicals, and our despatches show that the excitement was very great last night. The objection is made that the compromise surrenders vital principles for which the conservatives have contended, end it certainly cannot be effected in the face of such violent oppositign. An enduring compromise cannot be forced pon any party, ani the managers of the arrangement have already discovered this truth. It is evidently not easy to right the wrongs of Louisiana. They have been too long permitted to exist, and now almost defy the wisdom of both parties to the contest. ‘Tue Cextensta, Exniprrios commands the attention of the people ot Europe as well as | of those of the United States, and they will | take a leading part in making it a success. [ Fae Matm Question in Rapid Transit: ‘Will It Pay? Before we can expect to secure rapid transit it is necessary that we should establish, be- yond reasonable doubt, the fact that such a road as it is practicable to build in the city would prove remunerative to its owners—that is to say, that the amount of business it must necessarily command would pay the running expenses and repairs and leave a fair interest on the capital invested in construction and equipment, No sane man would risk his money in a hopelessly unprofitable enterprise, and no responsible citizen would desire to see such an enterprise undertaken as a public work. Weare just now undergoing a seem- ing revival in the matter of rapid transit. The Mayor, the Common Council, the State Legislature, the Chamber of Commerce, the engineers of the city and the citizens at large are evincing a laudable anxiety to aid for- ward the needed improvement. We publish to-day, as we have published for several weeks past, communications which tend to prove that the subject has taken a firm hold of the public mind. Plans are more or less worthy of consideration, and one experienced engineer, who writes under- standingly, makes the sensible suggestion that an important step toward a definite result would be to grant some one the right of way, so that there may be a foundation upon which to invite capital toward the enterprise. The proceedings of the joint meeting of the As- sembly Committee and Aldermen yesterday are important, and the letter of Mr. Evans embodies practical ideas which are the fruit of long study of the subject. But, with all this activity and reawakened interest, we appear to be as far from the coveted ob- ject as ever, becausé the men who possess large wealth, who can control a credit of mill- ions and whose names would command the confidence of financial circles, stand aloof and refuse or neglect to identify themselves with the undertaking. We can attribute this | apathy on the part of those whose assistance would be really effective only to their doubts as to the success of rapid transit as an invest- ment, for it is the business of capital to search after remunerative enterprises. The interests adverse to a steam railroad through the city have diligently striven to spread abroad the impression that such a road could not pay; that it is too early by ten years to contemplate its construction ; that its cost would be enormous and its business insuf- ficient to meet the working expenses. The most efficient aid that can be afforded to rapid transit is to disprove these statements and to show, by established facta, that the road would be as remunerative pecuniarily to its owners as it would be beneficial to the city. A favorite argument with the opponents of rapid transit is that the Metropolitan Under- ground Railway of London is not a paying investment, or has never yielded more than three per cent on its capital in any year. As ‘| London, they say, which has so much the larger population, does not support a railway running through the city, it is not likely that | New York could find business enough for such aroad. The circumstances in the two cases are altogether different. The conformation .; closes at 1045 P.u, | of New York makes a railroad from the Bat- tery to the Harlem River available to the great bulk of the population, while in Lon- don, spread out, as the city is, over a large space of ground, the Metropolitan Railway accommodates only a section. In London there are fast and cheap omnibus lines run- ning over good roads in every direction, penny steamboats along the line of the river and cabs that carry passengers at trifling rates of fare as rapidly as most people require to travel, besides railroads, other than the Metropolitan, to compete for the | traffic. In New York, except the abominable street cars, we are destitute of public convey- ances within the reach of the masses, and a rapid transit road would virtually enjoy a monopoly of the greater part of the travel. Hence, no fair argument against rapid transit in New York as an investnient can be based upon the pecuniary condition of the London Underground Railway. In calculating the probable profits of the enterprise we must rely on the facts within our knowledge as they exist here; for, as we have said, there are peculiarities in New York, such as con- formation, the progress of population in one direction up town, while business remains down town, the promises of rapid growth, the lack of other means of conveyance, which are not to be found iv other and older cities. Although there are some who advocate an underground road, and some who favor a plan partly underground, partly elevated and partly surface, the general conviction is that an elevated road, on some practical plan, is the most feasible for New York, and holds out the best prospect of success. We finda re- markable concurrence among those who have estimated the cost of such a work and who are competent to form an intelligent judgment on the subject. The expense of construction has been set down at one million dollars mile. Adding to this a quarter of a million dollars for underestimate and equipment, and we have a total cost for a ten mile road of twelve and a half million dollars. There seems to be very little doubt among practical men that a substantial elevated road could be built at that price. The Green- wich street Elevated Railroad put down the estimated cost of construction and equipment of four miles of road, in 1873, at one million and a half, or three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars a mile. Taking twelve and a half million dollars as the cost of a ten mile elevated, rapid transit road, the question is, How many passengers would be likely to travel over it in ayear? We can only form a cal- England will be especially prominent, as her | business connections with the United States | are so large, and as an example of her inter- | est in the Exhibition we publish to-day the | admirable speech which Mr. Forster made re- cently before the Bradford Chamber of Com- | merce. This distinguished gentleman points out some of the advantages which both coun- | tries would derive from a free interchange of | views at the International Exhibition, as in regard to the Patent laws, the Canadian reaty and the question of free trade. The vomments of the London Times upon Mr. | Forster's argument will be found interesting wd amusing; but while it does not seem to | ully understand the feeling with which Americans generally regard the centennial celebration of their independence it admits the value of the Exhibition as an interchange not only of material goods but of ideas. culation approaching correctness from the amount of travel on the avenue horse car lines. In this connection we give the follow- ing tables, based on the reports of the several roads, except the Fourth avenue, made to the State Engineer for the year 1873: — cost oF Second avenue ‘Third avenue. Fourth avenu | Sixth avenue. Seventh avenue, | Eighth aveoue Ninth avenue welt line... ‘Third avenue, | Fourth avenge (estimated). | Sixth avenue | Seventh avent Evgntn aven Ninth avenue, Belt line TOtAl,... ae» 885,776 15,143,048 + 1,784,346 11,389,957 | 114. 409,28 RECEIPTS OF ROADS FOR THE YEAR. Eighth avenue Nincn avenu Beit line.. TOUAL..00.ssersensseceesseceer enees sees 0 $7,383,405 We find from these tables that eight through horse car lines, costing nearly twenty million dollars, carried in the year 1873 about one hundred and fifteen million passengers and received nearly seven million and a half dollars forthe service. A single line of rapid transit, however centrally located, could not, probably, expect to reach more than one-half of these horse ear passengers, which would give it, say, fifty-seven millions of the nuth- ber. But many persons who now live, in travelling time, half an hour and upwards from the City Hall, and who on a rapid transit road ‘could pass between their resi- dences and their places of business in from seven to fifteen minutes, would make the trip four times a day where they now make it once. The speed at which men could get up town and back would largely increase the use of the cars in the business hours of the day. It is therefore a moderate calculation to estimate the travel on a rapid transit road centrally located at eighty million passengers during the year with our present population, and without taking into considera- tion the increase that would fol- low the completion of such a work. At an average fare of seven cents, supposing the rates to be five cents tor way and ten cents for through passengers, this would yield re- ceipts of five million six hundred thousand dollars. Allowing sixty per cent for working expenses and repairs, or three million three hundred and sixty thousand dollars per year, we have a balance of two million two hundred and forty thousand dollars, or about eighteen per cent on the cost of the road and equip- ments. No calculation is here made of the business that might be done in freight by such a road, but it seems plausible to con- clude that the investment would be a profita- ble one on the passenger traffic alone. Neither have we alluded to the capacity of the road, which would be equal to the convey- ance of two hundred and fifty million passen- gers annually, a train of cars ranning through in one-quarter the time consumed in a horse car trp. We believe that the main cause of the delay in rapid transit may be traced to the unceasing efforts made by its inter- ested opponents to create the belief that the enterprise would be pecuniarily a failure, and we are confident that if practical business men would look into the subject in a practical, business manner, we should not be long without the accommodation for which the city languishes. Capital is not philanthropic, Ite first question.is, Willan investment pay? We believe that in the case of rapid transit the answer must be in the affirmative, and that when the road is constructed and in operation capital will wonder how so rich a placer could have remained so long unworked. Palpit Topics To-Day. It is certainly much easier and pleas- anter to the conscience to accept a theory of universal salvation than to eat and drink damnation perpetually, as Mr. Corbit will compel his people to do for an hour this morning. It would seem, however, to be im- plied in the topic proposed for discussion by Mr. Pullman—‘“Righteousness is Eternal Life’’—that salvation is not universal; for- this proposition brings or is eternal life, is not universal, but very partial indeed, as ex- perience and observation testify. If the proposition of Mr. Thomas is correct, that common life is made more abundant by Christ, then that other proposition of Mr. Mac- Arthur should be accepted in its fulness, and «Jesus Only’ should be the food of the mind and thought of mankind. But the Scriptures being the only guide to Christ as a Saviour, the importance of an_ inti- mate acquaintance with them, which is Mr. Hawthorne’s proposition, must be accepted without question. The jeopardy and security of man, according to orthodox belief, is intimately related to Christ and the individual, and Mr. Alger will probably make that relation clear this evening. Dr. Moran, who is supplying Dr. Deems’ pulpit during his absence in the South, will trace the de velopment of religious truth in history, and will show the importance of prayer in the movements of mankind. Mr. Andrews will point out the differences that exist between Roman Catholic, Greek and Protestant wor- ship, both in ancient times and at the present day. Dr. Porteous will discuss the theology of the Bench and the Sabbatarian question, and, of course, will take ‘‘advanced”’ grounds in regard to both topics, and Mr. Hepworth will direct his people’s attention to the Sin- ner’s Friend and to the importance of acting from right motives. Hercules in Court. They take lunch over in Brooklyn. The struggle does not seem to deprive the parties to the great trial of their appetites; in fact, some of them could devour each other. Mr. to make a meal of Mr. Tilton, but did not complete it. Mr. Moulton was found to be very hard to digest, and did not agree with General Tracy. Mr. Tilton ex- pects to make a meal of Mr. Beecher, and Mr. Beecher, who objects to being swallowed up by the plaintiff, is strengthening himself with Porter—Judge Porter, and not Dublin porter, as our.report elsewhere erroneously states. The stories told of the principals to this affair, to the effect that they have gone into training as if for a prize fight, are so plausible that they deserve to be believed. Mr. Beecher practices with a pair of Indian clubs, and wo only wonder that he does not give one of them to Mr. Tilton. The practice together would be likely to be more energetic, as each would have more reason for personal activity. Mr, Beecher is also said to be en- gaged every day in pummelling a sand bag, | This is his preparation for his examination. That this tremendous physical training is now required by the principals in the | case is probably due to the fact that they | neglected their moral training in the past. But before the trial ends some of these | gentlemen will probably not own a pound of | superfluous flesh between them, and will be | in perfect physical condition to walk a thou- sand miles ino thousand hours, on any road | that leads from this vicinity, asmuch as righteousness, which, according to Evarts last week endeavored | Our Charities. She died on Thursday night, and on Friday afternoon she was carried from the fourth story back of a cheap tenement house in a stained pine coffin, It must have been a relief to die, for after death there is at least no hunger; and so it would have been but for the two children who leaned on her as on a reed that breaks beneath the weight. Naturally she was anxious for them, and it is not strange that, while she lay in her muslin shroud, the four strangers besides the clergyman who at- tended her funeral remarked a lingering care- worn expression, as though the last sleep, which is said to amooth out all wrinkles, had been powerless to efface her solicitude. It was hard to leave those little ones to the un- certain charity of a fickle world, but doubtless the sisters who supplied the slender wants of the invalid will see to it that they have some roof to cover them and sienieg to keep them from the pinching cold. One of the most beautifal results of an ad- vanced civilization is the dispensation of charity. A practical religion that sees a brother or a sister in every sufferer and recog- nizes the claim of the weak upon the strong is one of the finest illustrations, while it is the strongest proof, of the divine origin of revelation. The religion which consists of @ regular and punctual attendance upon the services of the church is doubtless valuable. The Sabbath, with its rest and quiet, its sleeping commerce and its closed doors and barred windows, is an invaluable conservator of the public morals. But that other kind of religion which is the embodi- ment of obligations and duties, which, like a loadstone, draws the gold of the rich toward the cheerless hearths and empty larders of the poor, contains an element which works like magic on the general health of the community. The Christianity of a creed is well, but that of anoble life isthe true evangel that charms the dullest ear with its refrain, ‘‘Peace on earth, good will to men.’’ The story goes that she had seen better days. She could hardly have seen worse. Only ten years ago she was the mistress of a freestone front, admired for her grace and beauty and courted for her wealth. Her hus- band was a successful dealer in stocks. When the war broke out he had little or nothing. When Lee gave his sword to the victor he counted his wealth by millions, and was gen- erous to @ fault. But who can tell what changes may occur in the mercantile life of New York in the course of a few years? We are likea huge caldron of water kept at the bubbling, boiling point all the time. The hurrying drops which are at the bottom to- |. day rise to the top to-morrow, while those which to-day fondly dream that they are per- manently secure at the top suddenly begin to sink, and do not rest until they touch the bot- tom. So this man’s hundreds of thousands faded away into mere thousands, and his thousands, as. though saturated with the de. moniac spirit of ill luck, became paltry hun- dreds, which melted like snowflakes when they fall on the river. He could not endure the shock, and his end was chronicled in an obscure corner of the daily paper, under the heading ‘Painful Suicide.” The mother was horror-struck as sbe folded her babes to her bosom and stared the world in the face. The old acquaintances? They were as though they had never been. They fluttered past her on the December sidewalk with their silks and furs, but they neither knew her nor cared to remember her. She had dropped from ‘‘the set,’’ and that was enough. She sewed with bleeding fingers and a broken heart, and somehow the tears un- bidden fell on her pale cheeks as she thought of the past and sighed at the frailty of human friendship. She could just pay the rent of two dingy rooms on the fourth story back in a dark and unwholesome. alley by working fourteen hours a day. But, unfortunately, poor people have nervous systems, and fourteen hours’ work, with insufficient food and broken rest, brought her to the edge of the grave. Just then the friendly knock of charity was heard, the few wants of the broken-hearted were supplied, and, with a last, long, agonized look—a look and a prayer in one—she was lifted out of her rags and ont of the pestilence of that dark alley into heaven. What a change! This is buts single illustration of the vicissitudes and the sadnesses which are oc- curring every day, and which are inevitably connected with the life of a great city. Wno can doubt the value of those manifold chari- ties which are the benedictions of the age, ! and who can withhold his sympathy or his purse trom those institutions, the offspring of every church, which are the almoners of our good will to the poor and unfortunate? New York is generous in every direction. Its people are impulsive and sympathetic. It may be grasping and hard in its mercantile life, but it is never forgetful or neglectful of the claims of that large class which finds it hard to live. It listens to the eloquence of its favorite preachers when they discourse of faith and hope, but it is not nnmindful of the fact that ‘“‘the greatest of these is charity.” : The Theatre in America and Europe. Art and politics have indispensable rela- | tions, The bright flowers of Grecian genius had their root in Grecian institutions, and as the politics of Athens produced her Aristo- phanes so the politics of Rome created the field for Terence and Plautus. Tho connec- tion between Shakespeare and the political condition of England in the Elizabethan era need not be explained, nor is it negbssary to point out the intimate relation which has long existed between the Bowery Theatre and the Fourth ward. Without entering too deeply into historical examples the generalization is correct enough when we say that the drama of anation may be nearly always inferred from its politics, just as great naturalists, like | Owen, reconstruct an extinct species from a fossil bone. It has always been » question whether art flourishes better under a republican form of government than under a monarchy. Unfor- tunately, republics have been the exception, while monarchies have been the rule, so that the comparison must be limited. Imperial or much for art in Europe. Papal rule gave Rome St. Peter’s and the Vatican; monarchy in Spain built the Escurial, and, with the aid of the Catholic Church, made Murillo pos- sible. Venice encouraged art in all its branches. The English Court sustained Sir personal governments have certainly done | later days Sir Joshua Reynolds and Lawrence, Oharles I. did much for art; Cromwell did little. In our own times the service which governments can render to art is shown by the new opera house at Paris, a splendid con- ception of the Empire and principally exe- cuted under ita direction, In giving to Paris this marvellous temple of the arts Napoleon Ul partially toned for the present of Sedan and Metz, There is no qugstion but that a monarchical gov- ernment, when it has the inclination, can render to music, painting or the drama services that toa republican government are forbidden. But whether art gains as much from the patronage of aristocracy as it would ultimately from the support of the people is an important question for its future. The ex- periment is being tried in this century and in this country especially. Artists have ceased to depend for success upon the favor of courts, and the writer of a poem or a play no longer dedicates his work, in terms of fulsome praise, toanobleman. Music and painting and lit- erature appeal directly to the people, and the support of the public will ultimately be the basis of their true development. The highest artis that which has the deepest root, and there is infinitely more promise for the future of American art in the appreciation and intelligence of the people than there could possibly be in the patronage of a splen- did court or a fashionable aristocracy. We do not believe that hothouse culture is the best for genius, The French Empire, corrupt itself, corrupted the French drama. The faults of our stage are those of our society, and its merits will increase as the average in- telligence of society is raised. Our New York theatres give us 8 good pro- portion of bad acting and bad plays, but when we take the whole season in this city it must be conceded to be rich in interest. Such a theatre as Wallack’s maintains the standard of good acting, and the success of a play like the ‘“‘Shaughraun’’ shows that the public ap- preciates literature which is manly and pure. The English opera is doing a special work for music in America by making it to a large extent independent of Italian companies, which visit this country only to depart with the fortunes they so easily accumulate, We do not disparage the great service that the visits of such artists as Nilsson, Lucca, Di Murska, Vieuxtemps, Thalberg, Rubinstein, render to American music, any more than we question the value the recent tour of Salvini was to the drama ; but we insist upon the superior importance of encouraging an opera of our own. Miss Kellogg has shown the ability to conduct English opera with energy and suc- cess, and the production of *‘The Talisman” this week, for the first time in this country, will be another example of enterprise. Booth’s Theatre, originally devoted to the best drama, will to-morrow night see the re- vival of Shakespeare's ‘Henry V.,’’ which Mesers. Jarrett & Palmer have had for a long while in preparation, and which they will surround with unusual magnificence of scenery and costume. Great care has been taken to make a strong cast, and we may fairly expect to see this noble play placed with unprecedented completeness on tho metropolitan stage. These are but afew of the attractions of our drama, Our theatres are not subsidized ; they owe nothing to the government. They rest upon the broad basis of popular approval alone, and we are sure that in the end this independence will be to the permanent advantage of the dramatic art. Snow as a Sanitary Agent. One of the most vital questions that should engage our metropolitan authorities just now is the sanitary influence of the snow in our streets. Wedo not remember to have seen the subject broached in the light in which we would now present it. But its importance cannot be overlooked by those who have the health and comfort of large towns and cities under their official guardianship. It is well known that a snow covering on the soil is a great preserver of its sun-derived heat, acting as a blanket to retard radiation. In an agricultural point of view the thermal economy thus maintained is an acknowledged boon, the thermometer sometimes showing that the subsoil thus shielded is forty degrees warmer than the overlying snow. The great value of the crystal and ficecy canopy for saving the earth from deep freezing and solid- ification is owing to its loose texture and its holding about ten times its bulk of air, thus rendering it a very bad conductor of terrestrial heat. But this agency, sometimes so invaluable to the farmer, is not without its peril. It was re- ported last spring in the grasshopper regions of the West that where the snow had lain all winter it had served as gn admirable protec- tion to the fatal eggs of the insects, and, so soon as the warm breath of spring dissolved their winter nest, they sprang into life and activity. In spots uncovered by snow, and where the penetrating Polar cold could reach to some depth below the surface, the burrowed eggs were found lifeless. There can be little doubt, we presume, that in. tense cold striking down into the soil of the earth and destroying the animalcular life secreted there may often avert insect plagues and also subserve the most important sanitary ends. Indeed, the most eminent scientists, in overthrowing the recently advanced hypoth- esis, that the earth is peopled by living organ- isms showered upon it from exploding meteor- ites and shooting stars, have shown that the intemse cold of interstellar space is fatal to all such life as even the most powerful micro- scope has revealed on our planet. But the most serious and vital bearing of the subject is upon the sanitary condition of our streets and avenues, under which the most noisome and pestilential organisms are known to breed or germinate. When the great experi- menter, Gay-Lussac, passed a bubble of air into the juice of grapes he found that fer- mentation immediately begau. But the putre- fective process has since ‘been proved to be wanting if the air be previously filtered | through cotton- wool. The explanation arrived atand accepted by the most eminent phy- sicists and microscopists is that the atmos- phere is surcharged with foreign matter and Jargely with living organic matter. The analysis of rain (in the fall of which these organisms are taken up and precipitated on the earth) demonstrates their existence ona large scale, the quantity diminishing only as we ascend great altitudes like the Alps. As the snowflake falls it drags this foreign matter with it, andas long as the unmelted snow holds Peter Lely, Holbein, Vandyke, Rubens and in | it unexposed to tho sir it is harmless to hu- man health, be to Tf these disease germs removed from the air co the earth ond then shovelled away in the snow the sanitary advantages of the snow would be immense, It would serve, in other words, as a scavenger of the air and as nature’s most powerful disinfectant. But if the snow is left on the ground for weeks to give a harbor and breeding place for the noxious germs which infest our metropolitan dentres it becomes, through human negli- gence, one of the greatest promoters of dis ease. It may be a question for the future sanitarian whether the excessive mortality of the spring season (when the fungoid and liv. ing matter are then set free-from the melted snow) is not to be ascribed to this subtle pro. cess rather than to the thermometric changes ta which it is usually credited. Whatever theory sauitarians may entertain as to the origin and spread of disease—whether by putrefac- tion of matter or by organized matter—there can be no gainsaying the fact now asserted. The snow tegument of our metropolitan streets, holding morbific matter, must assis in developing and intensifying the noxious elements at work and in preparing them te exert, with the advent of the first vernal suns, the most deadly influences upon the public health, During the recent great snowfalls at Paris, M. Tissandier, an able investigator, gathered quantities of snow to be subjected to analysis, with a view to determine the dust ingredients which snow appropriates during its passage through the atmosphere. The inquiry is of the most interesting nature, and we shall look for the results with the liveliest concern. Bui we need not wait for them to urge the sani- tary importance of removing the snow from our crowded thoroughfares. These deposits should be carried, not to some remote field and there left to exhale their disease-engen dering odors in the spring, but they should be carefully cast into the Bay or the rivers, where the mechanical action of the waters and tides may transport them out to sea and put them beyond the power of poisoning the air we breathe, Amona raz Uszizss Orrices created by the ‘Tweed ring, for the accommodation of per sonal friends and relatives, was one known as the Deputy Receiver of Taxes. Since the overthrow of the old ring the sine. cure has not been filled. We can scarcely credit the rumor that the Comptroller designs bestowing this ring perquisite on the late Dep- uty Chamberlain. Such an act would at no time be justifiable, but at a period of the year when scarcely any business is done in the Receiver’s office it would be doubly repre- hensible. The Mayor would not be likely to sign a warrant for the payment of such an officer as Deputy Receiver of Taxes. PERSONAL INTELLIGENCE, Rev. Campbell Fair. of New Orleans, is stopping ‘at the New York Hotel. Mr. Adoiph Sutro, of Nevada, is among the late arrivals at the Gilsey House, Juage George F. Comstock, of Syracuse, is resid ing at the Fiftn Avenue Hotel. Carpenter was ‘desperately short’ as to votes, but Kellogg could not help him. Senator John P. Jones and wife, of Nevada, are sojourning at the St. James Hotel. Congressman Alexander Mitchell, of Wisconsin, has arrived at the Hoffman House, Bartholui, French Minlater at Washington, has apartments at the Brevoort House, Captain John Mirehouse, of the steamship City of Montreal, is quartered at the New York Hotel, Lord William Hay arrived from Liverpool in tne steamship Cuba, yesterday, and is at the Brevoort House. Judge Ogden Hoffman, of the United States Dis- trict Court for California, is registered at the Albe- marie Hotel. Poetry torever. In France they call the baby jarmers “angel makers,” because the babies pass Vnrough their hands to heaven. Alfonso has expressed the hope that his general) will leave politics alone. If, now, they had dom that just before they brought in Alfonso! And the Germans fancy that if Napoleon IV, were married to the daughter of Marshal Mao Mahon the alliance might have political conse quences, “Rabagas” was played at Prague, but not played through, for the “young Tcheks” disliked the pio tures of republicanism, and the proceedings broke up in arrow, Harriet Mary Churchill, daughter of the late General Horace Churchill, and great granddaugh- ter of Sir Robert Walpole, diedin December in her ninety-first year. An addition to the English Book of Common Prayer. The Archbishop of Canterbury has written @ prayer for the Admiralty, to be said or sung at the launching of all men-of-war ! Under its original title of “The Mute of Portici” @ French circus company is playing the opera of “Mansanieyo” as @ pantomime. People are troubled to discover which is the Mute. They say the masked balis in Paris are not the success they Were With Strauss. Strauss gave a ticket to every woman who wanted one, and the men who, Of course, had to go had to pay. Mr. Horace White, of the Chicago Tribune, and Mr. Samuel Bowles, of the Springfleld Repubdlican, are at the Brevoort House. Mr. White will sail for Europe on Thursday next in the steamship Cim- bria. By decree of Court the copyright of Michelet’s works wag put up for sale at $39,200, but there were no bidders, and the demand went down gradually to $11,200, at which price the property went to Levy Brothers. Offenvach 18 fifty-four years old; is a slightly built, refined looking gentleman, with a general aspect of 111 healtn and melancholy. He has writ. ten eighty operas, comprising 250 acts and hag originated a new school in music, Punch’s ridicule of English servants has hada queer effect. They have accepted his attention as complimentary and have taken his sarcasms in ean nest. They seek to imitate the tone intended to be ridicaled, The result is to make them ten times worse than they were, and the British public com PlainS. Fancy Punch’s pictures as fashion plates If, a8 seems now so highly probable, there is ts the exact latitude of this city and at 550 miles t¢ the East of usin the Atlantic, a reef, the point of which is eighteen feet out of tne water atcertatr , states of the tide, it would be a good place tor the construction of an artificial island and the estab lisnment of a station of the meteordlogical service Somebody called a French officer a grand im becile, grand original and a grand fat; or a fool, a half-witted lellow and @ fop. The Court of Ap peals has dectded that the first two forms of abuse are only gross insults, for which there 13 no legal remedy, but that the correctional tribunals can deat with the third, because it contains “tne tm. putation of @ special vice.” In 1827 the Gymnase Theatre in Paris was to urgent want of funds, and promised a life entry te any one who would advance 1,000f, M.de Cham erolles secured the privilege at that eum, and en Joyed his rights uninterruptedly up to 1869, whes he was often crushed out by theatregoers whe paid at the door and took their seats early in the evening. The diMcuity continued, with muct grumbling on both sides, up to a recent « ate, when M, de Chamerolles appiie’ jor a legal order empowering bim to secure his piace at the box oMice gratuitously. Tne owners of the Gymnase objected to this, though willing to give him tue right ot entry wherever thers is room, and tas , Court refused big application.