"But what a splendid plant he finds growing and blooming in these dreadful depths! It is real trust in his heavenly Father, whose hand and providence are daily made visible to him by unmistakable signs. How often have I sat down in my place of work and contemplated by the light of my lamp my rude crucifix with the truest devotion! There for the first time did I rightly comprehend the holy significance of that mysterious symbol; there has my heart felt its noblest impulses, which have been of continual use to me.
"Truly he must have been a godlike man who first taught the miner's craft, and hid in the bosom of the rocks that solemn emblem of human life. Here the vein discloses itself wide and unworked but valueless. There the rocks confine it within a narrow obscure cleft; but there it is found of the noblest proportions. Other veins running into it debase it, until it is joined by one of a similar nature, which finally enhances its value. Often it breaks before the miner in a thousand fragments; but he is not discouraged. He pursues his work quietly, and presently sees his perseverance rewarded as it stretches itself before him in increased dimensions. Sometimes an illusive fragment leads him astray, but, soon perceiving his mistake, he vigorously breaks through it till he finds the vein leading to the true ore. How well acquainted is the miner with all the humors of chance! but how thoroughly does he understand that zeal and perseverance are the only real means to manage them and to take from them their obstinately defended treasures!"
Miscellany.
Photographs of Churches in France.—This year's issue of transcripts from ancient Gothic buildings and portions of buildings by the Architectural Photographic Association is unusually interesting, not only on account of the beauty and clearness of the sun-pictures of which it consists, but of the subjects that have been chosen for the camera. These contain no renaissance examples or specimens of sixteenth century craft in imposing semi-barbarous fronts on noble Gothic churches of earlier date, as in the works at Belloy, Luzarches, and Verteuil. These changes had remarkable interest of their own, and were acceptable to the student who cared to see how great was the debt of the remodelling architect to his middle age forerunner. The studies now before us range from St. Georges de Boscherville, founded in 1050 by Ralph de Tancarville, chamberlain to William the Conqueror, to the very beautiful and interesting west front of the church at Civray, which, like its greater neighbor, Notre Dame de Grande, at Poitiers, also represented here, dates from the first half of the twelfth century, through the curious rather than important early church of St. Ours, at Loches, at the door of which stands a Roman altar that appears to have been used as a font; the superb portals of Notre Dame, at Chartres, of which we have five admirable photographs; St. Julien, at Le Mans; the interior of the church of St. Pierre, at Lisieux, the west front of the same, with its unequal but beautiful towers; and the church of St. Riquier, near Abbeville, which may be said to have been discovered by Dr. Whewell, and is a splendid Flamboyant work, with certain elements of decoration that assimilate it with those of perpendicular. Of this church we should very much enjoy a good interior view, on account of its value in illustrating the happy union of early French Gothic with much later Flamboyant. To these must be added a view of the very fine Flamboyant west front of St. Wulfram, at Abbeville, an admirable example of its kind, and the west front of the cathedral of St. Gatien, at Tours, a work which was begun in 1440, and brought to perfection in 1500, under Robert de Lenoncour, then archbishop. We can only find one fault in this series, that is, the excessive number of doorways it contains. A doorway, or series of portals, is one of the happiest fields for architectural art; but there is a disproportion in this respect here, where, out of twenty-two examples, we have but one interior view, that of St. Pierre, at Lisieux, and three general views, two of which comprise portals.
St. Georges de Boscherville is one of the best known examples of the early Norman churches, and remarkable for the extreme simplicity of its exterior, its fine proportions, beautiful central tower, and high octagonal spire. Interiorly, the building is much richer than without, and comparatively light in style; the west front is among the most highly ornamented examples of its kind and date in Normandy, and comprises a round-headed arch with five concentric roll-mouldings, with as many shafts in the side of the entrance, and is decorated with beaked heads, frets, cables, and chevrons to an unusual degree, and capital in design. The apse of this church, which is shown in the view before us, is very curious. The western turrets are works of the thirteenth century.
Notre Dame, at Poitiers, is too well known to the artist and antiquary to need commendation or description here; the design is a noble one, and happily illustrates the Romanesque of Poitou. It has been remarked that the window, which resembles that at Civray in position, has been converted from the original round form to a tall shape, and that this was done to admit the introduction of painted glass. We believe this is a mistake, and the window retains its pristine form. The window at Civray was certainly never circular. The canopied niches of fifteenth century work, at the sides of this window, which once disfigured the façade, have been removed by late restorers of the edifice, obviously to the improvement of the design. We do not see in the two views of the church of St. Ours, at Loches, enough to demand a double illustration: one better selected view than either of those which appear here would be enough. A general prospect of the church would have been valuable as an illustration of its four tourelles, with their roofs of stone, after the manner of those in the west front of Notre Dame, at Poitiers. Doubtless the low porch of the church at Loches, which is not shown in the photograph, prevented the selection of a more powerful effect of light and shade, and interfered with the choice of points of view. Mr. Petit has carefully analyzed this church in his Architectural Studies of France. We have also a view of the details of the doorway exterior representing the carvings of what may be called the imperfect capitals of the jambs. The glorious porches of Chartres, especially that magnificent one on the south side, are admirably represented in five photographs. These give the south doorway, north doorway, details of the north doorway, doorways of the west front; the last represents the long-robed statues of the royal saints and other features of the Porte Royale, (so called, probably because Henry the Fourth entered by it to his coronation,) after they left the restorer's hands, and is a fine, clear photograph.—Athenaeum.
Newspaper Zoölogy.—The Pall Mall Gazette has published the following interesting note: "The Courier de Saigon reports some extraordinary items of natural history from the land of the Anamites. There is a certain fish, called Ca-ong in the language of the country, which has distinguished itself to that degree that the king has bestowed upon it the proud title of 'Nam hai dui bnong gnan,' which, as everybody knows, means 'Great General of the South Sea.' It appears that this laudable fish is in the habit of quietly paddling round the ships near the coast until somebody tumbles overboard. He then seizes him instantly, and, instead of eating him, gently carries him in his mouth to the shore. At Wung-tau, near St. James's Cape, they keep a skeleton of this extraordinary philanthropist. It is about thirty-five feet long, possesses front teeth like an elephant, very large eyes, a black skin very smooth, a tail like a lobster, and two wings on the back."
Mechanics of Flight.—An extremely interesting paper on this subject was read by Mr. Wenham to the Aeronautical Society. The subject is too difficult and complex to be explained briefly, and therefore we will only say that Mr. Wenham has brought into the explanation of flight the effect of the forward motion in retarding descent. Imagine a parallelogram 10 ft. long by 2 ft. broad, weighing 20 lbs. Such a body would descend in still air at the limiting rate of 1320 ft. per minute, the resistance of the air put in motion by the plane balancing at that velocity the effect of gravity. If now a force be applied horizontally so as to carry the plane with its long side forward at a speed of thirty miles per hour, then the motion of the plane being both downward and forward, a great volume of air will pass under the front margin of the plane, and will be carried downward before leaving the hinder margin. The weight of air thus put in motion will be enormous, and the descending velocity of the plane proportionately reduced. Mr. Wenham calculates that the velocity of descent would in these circumstances be reduced to one fifteenth of the passive rate of descent, or would not exceed 83 ft. per minute. Each particle of air would then be moved downward eight tenths of an inch by the passage of the plane, and conversely, if this inclination were given to the plane, it would move forward without descending. Mr. Wenham finds that few birds can raise themselves vertically in the air, the exertion in that case being excessive. The eagle can only lift itself from the ground by running with outstretched wings till its velocity having become sufficient, it glides into the air as if sliding on a frictionless plane.—Popular Science Review.