Til igrtIla utuus.

The Queen has been pleased to confer the honour of knighthood on Benjamin Fonseca 0 utram, of Hanover Square, Doctor of Medicine, Re- tired Inspector of Hospitals and Fleets, and Companion of the Bath.

The obituary records the death of Mr. John Henry Ley, Clerk of the House of Commons, at an advanced age, and after a very long official ser- vitude.

"Mr. Ley'sconnexion with the House of Commons dates from the 2d of July 1801, when the House resolved, that, in consideration of the increase of the public business, the Clerk of this House be permitted to appoint an addi- tional clerk to assist at the table.' Mr. Hatsell offered this appointment to the subject of this notice, in consequence of the valuable services of his uncle, Mr. Ley, who was at that time acting as Deputy-Clerk of the House. Mr. John Henry Ley performed the duties of second Clerk-Assistant until 1814; when, upon the death of his uncle, the Deputy-Clerk, and the promotion of Mr. Dyvon to that office, he succeeded to the office of Clerk-Assistant; the duties of which he performed until the death of Mr. Hatsell, and the expiry of his patent in 1821. Mr. Ley then received the appointment of the patent office of Under-Clerk of the Parliaments, to attend upon the House of Com- mons, or, as the office is usually designated, the Cleric of the House of Coin- mons. Altogether, Mr. Ley has served the House of Commons without in- termission for a period of forty-nine years. During the recess, he generally resided on his estate at Trehill, in the parish of Henn in Devonshire ; where he was much respected. He married on the 23d of October 1809, Lady Frances Dorothy Hay, second daughter of George seventh Marquie of Tweed- dale; by whom he leaves one surviving daughter and five .sons. Mr. Ley was a Beneher of the Middle Temple, and a Magistrate for the county of Devon."

Among the notable deaths of the week is that of Sir Martin Archer Shee, President of the Royal Academy. Sir Martin was eminent among the artists of his day, but not very eminent as an artist. He began his studies under the countenance of Sir Joshua Reynolds ; painted smooth, pleasing, flattering portraits, and obtained a good deal of custom ; enjoyed the repute for literary attainments ; was very gentlemanly in his demean- our, and had a neat delivery of complimentary speeches on formal or con- vivial occasions : on all these grounds, especially the last, he was elected to succeed Sir Thomas Lawrence as President, in 1830. He died in his eighty-first year; he exhibited as early as 1789; was admitted Associate in 1798, Academician in 1800. A few years later, he successively pub- lished two essays on Art, in verse - and in 1824, his tragedy of Alasco, for certain lines in which Colman verse; long previously withheld the offi- Oa licence.

France has lost one of her most eminent literary sons—M. de Balzac, who died on Sunday night, after long sufferings under a painful disease. "Eighteen months ago," says a Paris letter, already attacked by dropsy, he quitted France to contract a marriage with a Russian lady, to whom he was devotedly attached. To her he had dedicated Seraphitus,' and accu- mulated in his hotel of the Beaujon quarter all luxuries which could contri- bute to her pleasure. He returned to France three mouths ago, in a state of extreme danger. Last week he underwent an operation for abscess in his leg : mortification ensued. On the morning of the 18th he became speech- less, and at midnight he expired. His sister, Mademoiselle Surville, visited his deathbed, and the pressure of her hand was the last sign he gave of in- telligence.' The funeral took place on Thursday. "The service was performed, amid a crowded attendance of literary men and artists, at the church of St. Philippe du Roule. The hearse, followed by a great crowd, passed the boule- vard at two, on the way to the cemetery of Pere in Chaise, where the mor- tal remains of this celebrated novelist were interred. A great number of workmen attended the coffin to the grave, and listened with attentive admi- ration to the fine funeral oration pronounced by Victor Hugo over his de- ceased friend."

The Daily News criticizes, in a spirit of unwilling belief, the subjoined paragraph from the Morning Herald : we observe no official authentication of this statement—

"it is understood that the three Commissioners under the new Ecclesiastical Commission Bill have been nominated. The Crown nominates, as first Com- missioner, the Earl of Chichester ; the Archbishop of Canterbury nominates the Bight Honourable Henry Goulburn, M.P. ; the third Commissioner is Mr. John Shaw Lefevre."

We understand that a register is about to be opened at No. 1, Old Palace Yard, Westminster, by the Secretary of the Executive Committee for the Exhibition of 1851, in which will be entered the names and ad- dresses of persons disposed to provide accommodation for artisans from the country whilst visiting the Rvhibition next year. It is proposed to furnish copies of this register of lodgings and accommodation to all the local committees. Other arrangements are under consideration for guid- ing the working classes, on their arrival by the trains, to the lodgings they may select. We believe the register will contain a column in which the nature and charges for the accommodation each party proposes to afford Will be entered.—Times.

In a letter to the Times, Dr. Granville, the writer of the popular medical descriptions of the Baths in Germany, communicates from Xis- sengen "the near completion of one of the most extraordinary and suc- cessful artesian operations ever undertaken."

On Monday the 12th instant, "the curious spectacle was exhibited to us of a column of water, four inches in diameter, springing with a prodigious force out of the earth to the height of 58 feet from a depth of 1878, spreading out like a graceful palm-tree at its highest point, and forming the finest and most striking jet-d'eau of this kind ever beheld. The water as clear as crystal issues from the soil with a temperature of 66° Fahrenheit, charged with 3i per cent of pure salt, at the rate of 100 cubic feet per minute. To such as had been previously initiated into the scientific part of the operation through which a result not less surprising than profitable had been ob- tained—or who, like myself; had had occasional opportunities of watching for the last seven years the patient and skilful manner in which the artesian borings have been conducted by the very able engineer, Mr. Inspector Joseph Knorr—or who were aware that a subterranean atmosphere of carbonic acid gas, acting with a force of sixty ordinary atmospheres, was in the present case the propelling power—the phrenomenon before us afforded philosophical gratification. To the rest it seemed like magic. The saline valley in which Kissengen is seated stands at an elevation of 660 feet above the level of the Baltic Sea. The stratification of its rocks from the surface downwards, as it has been revealed to us by the successive borings, is extremely simple. The boring implements first went through 1240 feet of variegated sandstone ; then through 350 feet of sandstone of the Vosges formation ; next through 160 feet of magnesian limestone (Zechstein); and lastly through 1381 feet of rock salt ; thus reaching a total depth, as be- fore stated, of 18781 feet. In the latter, or rock salt stratum (which is pre- sumed to be 1000 feet thick) a pure saline source (Soole) is formed by so- lution of the rock salt in water. This solution has been found to hold not less than 27i per cent of salt; and as there is little likelihood that they would be able to penetrate into the rock beyond thirty feet deeper, to that extent the perforation is to be pushed, and the well completed by the end of this year. At present the supply of water is at the rate of 100 cubic feet per minute; and the force with which this quantity is ejected to the height already stated is due to a source of almost entirely pure carbonic acid gas, which having been met with at the depth of 1680 feet from the surface, (at the junction of the gypsum and zechstein,) escaped with prodigious force into and out of the artesian borehole, propelling the supermcumbent column of water into the air in the manner above men- tioned. In the course of the boring operations, two distinct salt wells were gone through, at 222 and 1240 feet depths, with the respective temperatures of 60° and 66- of Fahrenheit, and and 21 per cent of salt. It was under both these wells, at the depth of 1680 feet, that the great carbonic acid gas stratum was first tapped. This stratum of gas would seem to be equally spread under and throughout the breadth of the valley ; imparting its peculiarly piquant and pleasant character to the several mineral springs of this spa, described in my recent volume on Kissengen ; and in an especial manner to the Ragan and Maxbrunnen waters, now become uni- versally known, and the last-mentioned of which unquestionably deserves to take the place of Seltzer water as an agreeable and refreshing beverage. When the entire work shall have been completed, 3 cubic feet of brine per minute, free from iron and all other impurities, capable of yielding 501b. of crystal- Bred salt, will be conveyed to the boiling-house for ?yst.11i7ation, carrying with it a temperature of as much as 920 of Fahrenheit, which it will bring up from a depth of 1900 feet. The whole cost of this great artesian work, from first to last, will amount to 80,000 florins (6,666/.), including all the requisite pumps, pipes, and pavilion to be erected. It was begun in the shaft of an old well called the S.chouborn, ill 1832; from which time, and during a period of eleven years, 800 feet only were bored through the rocks; the operation being often interrupted, and even suspended, from a feeling of discourage- ment. But in 1843, Inspector Joseph Knorr, confidently predicting an ulti- mately successful result, advised the Government to reaume operutions; which have never since then been interrupted either by day or night,and are now about to be completed."

It is said that the post of Secretary to the University Commission has been offered to the Reverend Arthur Penrhyn Stanley, Fellow of University Col- lege, Oxford.—Globe.

Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, author of" Mornings at Matlock," well blown in Live ..1, has been appointed, through the influence of Lord Brougham, to the o ;. ce of Official Assignee to the Court of Bankruptcy, Mruichester.—Liver- pool Albion.

Dr. Wiseman left London on Friday last, en route for Rome, to discharge- the functions of the office of Cardinal, to which he has been recently pro- moted. The last Englishman who was invested with the dignity was the late Cardinal Weld.

Mr. Barry Baldwin M.P., was proceeding on Tuesday to Perfect, a pas- senger by the Gem steamer, and had hailed a wherry to debark him as the steamer hurried along mid-stream. As he was steppnig into the i wherry, he missed his footing and fell to the water. The waterman threw a scull to him, but he did not get hold of it ; the waterman was unable to direct his craft with a single scull, and so could give him no assistance in that way. The tide carried Mr. Baldwin rapidly along ; but he is, fortunately, a good swimmer—after buffeting the rough Waves for about half a mile, he reached a boat, and was dragged on board, in a very exhausted state. In a short time he recovered, and was able to join his friends.

Mr. Law' the late Recorder of London, was buried on Tuesday, in the church of St. John, Southwick Crescent, Hyde Park ; in a vault under the altar of which lie interred the remains of one of his daughters. ' The funeral procession consisted simply of a hearse and three mourning coaches. At the head of the vault was placed a wreath of white roses, in the centre of which was a black cross. On the coffin. was a cross five feet long, and the in- scription, "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labours." At the foot was a smaller cross, and the words "Mercy, Jesus !"

Results of the Registrar-General's return of mortality in the Metropolis for the week ending on Saturday last : the first column of figures gives the years.

Erna& Diseases Dropsy, Cancer, and other diseases of uncertain or variable seat Ten of Weeks 1839-49.

3636 484 .... Week. of 1830.

, 325

is

Tubercular Diseases 1738 .... 160 Diseases of the Brain, Spinal Marrow, Nerves, and Senses 1131 .... 105 Diseases of the Heart and Blood-vessels 231 .... 22 Diseases of the Lungs, and of the other Organs of ration ... 742 .... 69 Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, and other Organs of Digestion 812 . 51

Diseases of the Kidneys, Sc

83 .... 12 Childbirth, diseases of the Menus, Sc

Rheumatism, diseases of the Bones, Joints, Sc

Diseases of the Skin, Cellular Tisane, Sc..

11 .... 1 Malformations 18 .... 3 Premature Birth 217 86 Atrophy 214 .... 23 Age AM „„ 40 Sudden 76

Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance 448 .... 35 Total (including unspecified causes) 10,325

874

After an advance in the mortality for several successive weeks, the table shows an oscillation in the opposite direction of health. The deaths of last week were 123 fewer than those of the preceding week. In the six weeks ending on Saturday the 17th instant, the deaths were 781, 863, 898, 917, 997, and last week 874. The last number is upwards of a hundred fewer than the corrected average. The chance of life in London was twice as great in the past week as in the similar week of 1849. The deaths by cho- lera fell to eight, and six of the cases were those of children. The deaths by cliarrheea were 139; a grievously numerous list, but one less numerous by 49 than that of the victims to the same disease in the parallel week of 1849.

The mean temperature of the air in the shade is 626° ; the temperature- of the Thames water was 661° in the day, 628' in the night. The tempe- rature of the air was 1.2" above the average of the corresponding week.. Electricity was active; • and nearly an inch of rain fell—chiefly on Monday.. The wind passed over Greenwich at an average rate of less than '100 miles a day.

The Venice &canto of the 13th instant announces that Venice and Italy have experienced an irreparable loss. "The celebrated Barbarian Gallery, known for ages, comprised, amongst other masterpieces, seventeen paintings of Titian,—the Magdalen Venus, St. Sebastian; the famous portraits of the

Doge Barbarigo, of &e. After the extinction of the Barbarigo family, Count Nicholas Giustiniant, the brothers Borbaco, and the merchants Benetti, who became proprietors of the collection, presented it to the Govern- ment. The Viceroy Ramere offered it for sale in 1847 to the Austrian Go- vernment, which refused to buy it. It has been lately purchased by the Court of Russia for 560,000 francs."

The great music-hall, now building expressly for the "Jenny Lind" con- certain the capital of the Yankees, will afford accommodation for no fewer than six thousand persons. The tickets are to be sold by auction ! Thirty thousand applications have already been made for the first concert ; so that the field for speculation will be immense.

By a Parliamentary return just issued, it appears that there is in the hands of the Government the sum of 1,107,096/. 138. Id, arising from forfeited and unclaimed shares of prize-money, grants, &e. In October 1849, there was paid to the Commissioners of Woods and Forests, under the 11th and 12th Victoria, c. 103, towards the Royal Military Asylum, the sum of 20,0001. from these monies.

"At about ten minutes past eleven o'clock on the 12th of August," writes Mr. E. I. Lowe, from his observatory at Highfield House, near Nottingham, "a globular meteor, of a yellow colour, moved slowly from between the three stars (3, and X, Pepsi, perpendicullirly downwards to within 200 of the- horizo.n, when it vanished behind a cloud. In little more than a second af- ter thei, a flash of vivid light, resembling lightning, proceeded from the cloud, followed immediately by a second flash. The meteor increased in size as it progressed, and before lost behind the cloud was about 12' in diame- ter. Period of duration, 12 seconds. It was accompanied by a train of light."

aggregate munber of deaths in CIte corresponding weeks of the ten previous