vote in the communal or
township elections, only two years instead of three as in the general
electoral law. This is regarded as a departure from the rigor of that
law and a step toward universal suffrage. It is thus a triumph for the
President, who seems, on the whole, decidedly to have gained ground
lately. Yet no real progress appears to have been yet made to a
settlement of French difficulties, except in so far as every month
added to the existence of a new government, the result of a revolution,
consolidates it, and enlists in its favor the conservative sentiment.

The prizes of the lottery of L'Ingots d'Or were drawn in the Champs
Elysees on the 16th. An immense crowd attended. A journeyman
hair-dresser obtained the prize of 200,000 francs, and an engine-driver
on a railway the first prize of 400,000 francs.

General Narvaez has returned to Spain, and is again in favor with the
queen.

The new King of Hanover, George the Fifth, has published a proclamation,
in which he pledges his royal word for "the inviolable maintenance of
the constitution of the country." Yet he has abandoned the policy of the
late king by appointing a reactionist ministry.

The Austrian currency appears to be in a worse condition than even our
own "continental" at the close of the Revolution. The proprietors of
houses have again raised their rents 20 and 25 per cent, and the seniors
begin to talk of the _Bancozettel_ period, when 100 florins in silver
sold for 700 florins in paper, and a pair of boots cost 75 paper
florins. Government itself has indirectly countenanced the depreciation
of the currency: the Finance Minister by the conditions of the loan, and
the Director of the Imperial theatre by raising the price of admittance
from 1fl. 24k. to 1fl. 48k., although the salaries of the actors are
less than formerly, as they have to pay the income tax.

The Russians have discovered four important veins of silver ore in the
Caucasus--one in the defile of Sadon, another in that of Ordona, a third
in that of Degorsk, and the fourth near Paltchick. The veins are rich in
the yield of silver. The working of them has already been commenced.

The Emperor of Russia has just ordered 6000 carriages to be built for
the different railways in his empire, in order to facilitate the
conveyance of troops.

Scientific Discoveries and Proceedings of Learned Societies

Ten pages of the last Compte Rendu of the _Paris Academy of Sciences_,
Mr. Wals