s the diurnal variation of the
magnetic needle to be due to the action of solar heat on this newly
discovered characteristic of oxygen--the important constituent of the
atmosphere. It is said that Bequerel also has recently directed
attention to a somewhat similar conclusion; he communicated to the
Academy of Sciences at Paris, that oxygen is magnetic in relation to the
other gases, as iron is to the rest of the metals, and inferred that it
is probable or possible that diurnal variation may be connected with
this property of oxygen.

HENRY FITZMAURICE HALLAM, M.A., the only surviving son of the eminent
English historian, died at Sienna, after a short illness, on the 26th of
October, and at the early age of twenty-seven years. He had visited Rome
with his father and others of the family, and they were on their return
homeward, when this affliction fell upon them. It will be remembered,
that a few years ago his elder brother, full of college honors and of
the highest promise, died under equally afflictive circumstances.

A pamphlet by Sir Francis Bond Head, on the defenseless state of Great
Britain, has excited a good deal of attention, and elicited some pretty
sharp criticism from the London journals. Still, it is very generally
conceded that there is a great deal of truth in his representations.

A correspondent of the London _Athenaeum_, writing from Naples, gives an
account of a visit paid to the studio of the American sculptor, POWERS.
The figure of "America," upon which he is now engaged, is that of a
robust young female, with a noble and dignified expression of
countenance, and the head surrounded by a diadem of thirteen stars. The
left arm and hand are elevated, as if exhorting the people to trust in
heaven; while the right rests on the fasces, which are crowned with bay
leaves, enforcing the precept that Union is Strength and will be crowned
with Victory. The statue, which is half covered with drapery, will be 14
feet high; and for power, beauty, and dignity combined, the writer says,
it is one of the finest that he has ever seen in Italy. Powers is about
to commence working it out in marble, and calculates that in fifteen
months it will be ready for sending off. By the side of it stands a
half-developed statue of "California."

FRANCE.

A new method of voting, which offers incontestable advantages on the
score of accuracy and rapidity, has received an appropriation from the
French Chambers. Each member is