and in the Hebrides, now containing 604 inhabitants, is celebrated as an early seat of Christianity. It was the station of St. Columba, who founded an order of missionaries there, and thus contributed to the diffusion of Christianity over Britain. The celebrated ruins on the island consist of a cathedral, a nunnery, and St. Oran's chapel, together with many ancient tombs and crosses; this island is often visited by tourists to the Western Highlands, and is only ten miles from the far famed Staffa.

The population of the Island of Great Britain has been stated to be 20,536,357; Ireland, as enumerated by another department, contained 6,553,357 inhabitants; Anglesey, the next most populous island in the group, had 57,318 inhabitants; Jersey 57,020; the Isle of Man, 52,344; the Isle of Wight, 50,324; Guernsey, 29,757; Lewis, 22,918; Skye, 21,528; Shetland, 20,936; Orkney, 16,668; Islay, 12,334; Bute, 9,251; Mull, 7,485; and Arran, 5,857; 17 islands contained a population ranging from 4,006 to 1,064; 52 had a population ranging from 947 to 105; and the remaining 92 inhabited islands ranged from a population of 92 downwards, until at last we come to an island inhabited by one solitary man.

The British Isles extend over 11 degrees of latitude and 10 degrees of longitude; consequently, in the most northerly of the Shetlands, the night in the summer solstice is three hours shorter than in Jersey; and the sun rises and sets on the east coast of England 47 minutes before it rises and sets on the west coast of Ireland.

KANSAS CENSUS IN 1855.

The Kansas Free State, of April 30, 1855, furnishes in the subjoined table the complete returns of Kansas census, as follows:

The official returns of the census takers of St. Louis, just completed, give the following as the number of inhabitants in the six wards of the city proper:

Showing an increase of about $12,000 since the census of 1852-'53. The entire population of the city and suburbs will reach nearly 120,000.

POPULATION, BIRTHS, MARRIAGES, AND DEATHS IN MASSACHUSETTS.

Total.

994,514 488,517 505,997 72,907 68,103 14,688 13,587 53,447 10,740 45,855 46,319 9,118 9,502 92,816 2,499,714 26.93

POPULATION OF PARIS.

The official publication of the census statistics of Paris began with the eighteenth century; and the first documents issued were found to be in material disagreement with the observations of statisticians and economists. Previous to the eighteenth century we have only the testimony of historians in regard to the Parisian population and they are equally contradictory among themselves. Under the two first races of kings, the population of Paris appears to have been inconsiderable. The kings seldom resided there, and Charlemagne himself never went there. But after the fall of the second dynasty, Hugh Capet, who bore the title of Count of Paris, fixed his residence there. It soon became the chief city of the royal domain, and grew with the progress of royalty.

The city received such accessions during the 12th century, that Philip Augustus was compelled to enlarge the circuit of its walls; and at the commencement of the thirteenth century the population was estimated at 120,000. Under Philip IV. (say in 1285) it was estimated at 200,000; but the tax lists of that period, do not justify the estimate. A century of civil and foreign wars, and the prevalence of wasting epidemics, had so reduced the population, that in 1474, in the reign of Louis XI., it amounted to but 150,000. At the epoch of the League, (which took place in 1590, to exclude Henry IV. from the throne,) it had reached 200,000.

Under the administration of Cardinal Richelieu, the emigration of the provincial nobleman to Paris, which had been commenced under Francis I., was revived and continued. The lords left their chateaux to fall to ruins, and built a great number of hotels in the faubourgs of Paris. The vast space known under the name of Pre-auxClercs, was covered with dwellings. Besides this, the privileges successively accorded to the inhabitants of Paris by the kings of France, such as exemption from taxes, and from military service, and from other services of different natures, attracted to the capital a crowd of people from the provinces, either to escape the misfortunes of war or local servitude, or to enjoy the privileges and immunities accorded to the bourgeois of the city.

Thus, towards the end of the reign of Louis XIV., we find that Paris contained within its walls, 492,600 inhabitants; in 1719, 509,680; and from 1752 to 1762 about 576,650. About twenty years subsequent to the last-mentioned epoch, grave questions arose among the political economists, as to the exact population which ought to be assigned to the city. During this interim, the population had probably increased 100,000. According to Buffon it was 658,000 in 1776; and in 1778, according to Moheau, 670,000; while in 1784, according to Neckar, it was 600,000 only. The farmers contributed much to the increase of the Parisian population, by obtaining permission, one by one, to annex their individual estates or residences to the city, to avoid octroi duties, and the boundaries, as well as the population, were gradually enlarged. At the end of the reign of Louis XVI., the population of Paris was set down at 610,620; in 1798 at 640,503; and in 1802, at 670,000. During the first years of the empire, however, it was diminished, being 547,756 in 1806, and 580,609 in 1808. In the following year the number was 600,000; and in 1807, notwithstanding the recent wars and two invasions, it was 712,966; in 1827, 800,431; in 1831, the commencement of the quinquennial censuses, 714,328; in 1836, 909,126; in 1841, 912,033, not including soldiers under arms, absentees, and infants; in 1846, 1,053,897, and in the entire department of the Seine, 1,364,467. In 1851, the census gave Paris 1,053,262, and the department of the Seine 1,331,782.

In 1852, the births in the city were 33,284, of which 22,426 were legitimate, and 10,858 illegitimate. In the same year the deaths were 27,880, and there were 10,424

marriages. It would be a curious statistical labor to ascertain the number of Parisians born in the city and residing there. It is believed that deducting the soldiers and the absentees, there would only be found about 200,000 native born in the whole population of the city.

JOURNAL OF MINING AND MANUFACTURES.

MANUFACTURE OF PLATE GLASS IN NEW YORK.

The Courier and Enquirer gives an interesting account of the success recently achieved by the American Plate Glass Company, in that part of the city of Brooklyn known as Williamsburg. The process of manufacture is briefly described by a correspondent of the Courier :

The melting pots, of a capacity to hold six hundred pounds of material, are made of fire clay, prepared in a peculiar manner, and placed in the furnace, and when sufficiently hot are filled with the alkali and silex, and the doors closed upon them. In ten or twelve hours the mass is ready for casting. Near the furnace is an iron table a little more than five feet by ten, under which a slow fire is placed, so that it is moderately heated. At the head of the table is an iron roller some two feet in diameter, and near that a swinging crane. The surface of the table is flush, but upon its edges are placed bars of iron, corresponding to the thickness it is desired to cast the plate. These bars serve as bearers for the roller. The material being ready, the first step is to remove the furnace door, which is accomplished by means of long levers and tongs. By similar means a pot is extracted from the furnace and placed on a carriage or truck. From the outside of the vessel all adhering substance from the coal is scraped off, and the surface of the matter is also skimmed by ladles of all impurities. A collar, with two long handles, is then lowered by the crane, and incloses the pot just under the projections or shoulders upon it, and by a windlass it is raised some six feet, and swung directly over the table. The projecting handles are then seized by two men, and in a moment the six hundred pounds of melted glass flows like a sea of lava over the iron surface. Two other men instantly send the ponderous roller on its way from the head of the table, reducing the mass to the thickness of which the iron bearers are the guage. In fifty seconds the mass is sufficiently solidified to permit it to be pushed rapidly upon a table having a wooden surface, resting upon rollers, which is at once pushed blazing and smoking to the mouth of a kiln, into which the glass is passed, there to remain from three to five days, when it emerges annealed and ready to be trimmed. The edges, even if the glass be an inch thick, are smoothly cut by a diamond, and it is then ready for market in a state known as "rough plate glass." The whole process of casting is not only interesting but exciting; the men are drilled to move promptly and silently, handling their implements with great adroitness. The process described does not occupy more than four to five minutes, and everything is immediately ready for another casting.

The company do not as yet polish their glass to fit it for windows or mirrors; but are about to introduce the machinery necessary for that purpose. At present there is sufficient demand for the rough plate, to be used in floors, roofs, decks, &c., to keep their works constantly employed. They can produce plates two inches in thickness, and one hundred and twenty by two hundred and forty inches square, a new table, weighing thirty-two tons, being in readiness for castings of the latter dimensions. It is believed that plate glass of great thickness, at a low price, will be introduced for many purposes, for which iron and stone have hitherto been used.

The duty on imported glass is 30 per cent, but so bulky and fragile is the article that the duty, expenses, and breakage, amount to nearly 90 per cent. The fact that the company own a water front, and can ship directly from their works, is an important consideration in avoiding loss from breakage, affording at the same time advantages for receiving fuel, sand, and other material direct.

The construction of the works commenced on the 1st of February, 1855, and the first casting was made about the 1st of May, giving proof of a well-digested plan and vigorous execution. The works are at present capable of producing seven hundred

feet of three-eighths inch glass per day. The furnace holds twelve pots, and there are twelve annealing kilns, each forty by eighteen feet. The fires, kept up by Cumberland coal, are not allowed to go down until the furnaces are destroyed, which generally occurs after a year's use. The pots, after a casting, are at once returned to the furnace, and refilled. They usually last a month. The temperature of the establishment is decidedly high, above the top of ordinary thermometers. The furnace fires are watched, as is a solar eclipse, through dark-colored glass, the intensity of the light being unendurable by the naked eye. The appearance of the "sea of glass" when poured upon the table is extremely beautiful. At first of bright whiteness, dazzling to the eye, it rapidly changes to pink, scarlet, crimson, and a dark, murky red, streaked with black, in which state it is thrust into the kiln.

THE ALCOHOL OF CHEMISTRY AND COMMERCE.

Alcohol is that combustible fluid which rises by the distillation of the juices of sweet fruits; from the infusion of malted barley or other grain; the solutions of sugar, honey, and other substances that are capable of being converted into sugar after they have undergone that spontaneous change which is commonly known as fermentationthe vinous fermentation. The word alcohol is of Arabic or Hebrew origin, and signifies subtle or attenuated; but although it has for many ages been used to designate the material in question, it does not appear to have become popular; "spirits of wine," or "spirits," being the general interpretation of alcohol.

As alcohol is well known to be derived from sugar, malt, and grapes, it is generally though erroneously believed that these substances contain it. By the hand of Power a "Greek Slave" can be produced from a solid mass of marble chained to a pedestal. No one will believe that the beautiful form pre-existed in the marble, and that Power merely removed the stone veil that inclosed it! In like manner, when a chemist manipulates sugar, barley, or grapes, for the purpose of making alcohol, he does not separate it as a material pre-existing in the substances operated on, but merely uses the ingredients contained therein to create alcohol. It is an ascertained fact that alcohol can only be made from sugar, although at first sight it appears to be made from a variety of things, such as potatoes, treacle, &c. When it is known that any materials that contain starch can be converted into sugar, the mystery of making alcohol from potatoes becomes solved. Moreover, when starch is manipulated in another way, chemists can produce from it vinegar, sugar, alcohol, water, earbonic acid, oxalic acid, carbonic oxyd gas, lactic acid, and many other substances; but it must not be supposed that these materials have any pre-existence in starch-no, they have been created from the elements composing starch, but not from that substance itself. The starch is broken up, and its elements are re-arranged into new forms. When alcohol is made from barley, we merely complete a change which nature had begun. Barley contains starch. When barley is malted, the starch becomes sugar; this we extract by the use of water, and call it wort. Fermentation is now set up, and the sugar is changed into spirit. How quickly this can be turned into acetic acid—that is, vinegar -is well known to all beer drinkers.

GRAVEL CONCRETE.

The plan of building houses with gravel concrete-a mixture of lime, stone, and gravel—is exciting considerable attention, under the present high prices of lumber and brick. It is comparatively a new thing, although in Ohio and other Western States it has been practiced for fifteen or twenty years. The only question about it is that of cheapness, for of its durability there can be no doubt. The building now in progress of construction on this plan in Waltham, Massachusetts, by the Boston Match Company, is said to have thus far saved the entire cost of brick.