he jewel called the "Reliquary," of the 15th century.

To these riches must be added the following interesting objects: the Dey
of Algiers' watch; the Elephant of Denmark; the decorations, etc., of
foreign orders; crowns and diadems of sapphire; rubies; pearls that afford
curious specimens of French art at the beginning of our century; one of
the Mazarins bequeathed by the celebrated Cardinal; and lots of colored
stones destined for our national museums.

The same exhibition alluded to above contains a number of other
collections of great interest that it would be unjust to pass over in
silence, such as the exhibit of the French diamond mines of the Cape,
where one may see all the details of this prosperous exploitation by means
of photographs and specimens. The art bronzes, the objects of jewelry, of
goldsmith's work, and of morocco work, the music boxes, Trouve's and
Aboilard's electric jewelry, and the retrospective art collections
especially attracted the attention of the public.--_La Nature._

* * * * *

A NEW MODE OF TESTING THE ECONOMY OF THE EXPENSES OF MANAGEMENT IN
LIFE INSURANCE.

How to determine the general ratios of the expenses of management of life
insurance companies has hitherto been an unsettled question, and I think
no serious attempt has been made before my own to study this question
exhaustively, and reach a scientific conclusion.

Believing that, one is contained in the following statement, I
respectfully submit it to the criticism of others.

It has generally been taken for granted that the measure of economy of
life insurance expenses may be expressed by the single ratio of expenses
to one feature of the business, such as the premium income, or the total
income (premium and interest), or the mean amount of all policies
outstanding. But this is not the case. No exhaustive reason has been shown
for preferring one of these bases of ratio to another, and, indeed, no
reason well supported by argument has been shown for employing either. On
the other hand, no better evidence is needed of the importance of
establishing a uniform and demonstrably sound basis, than the fact that it
is common for companies to refute one another's claims to superior
economy, and totally confuse the public, by opposing ratios found in one
way by ratios found in another--that one of two companies which appears
the most economical according to one test being apparently the least so