s ago a
white cat of the Persian kind (probably not a thorough-bred one)
procured from Lord Dudley's at Hindley, was kept in my family as a
favourite. The animal was a female, quite white, and perfectly deaf. She
produced, at various times, many litters of kittens, of which,
generally, some were quite white, others more or less mottled, tabby,
&c. But the extraordinary circumstance is, that of the offspring
produced at one and the same birth, such as, like the mother, were
entirely white, were, like her, invariably deaf; while those that had
the least speck of colour on their fur, as invariably possessed the
usual faculty of hearing--" _W. T. Bree, Allersley Rectory, near
Coventry_.

_Ultramarine_.

A French journal announces a discovery of the method of making
Ultramarine, by which means the public are supplied with the article at
one guinea per ounce, the colour having hitherto been sold from two
guineas to two pounds ten shillings per ounce.

_Indication of Storms_.

Professor Scott, of Sandhurst College, observed in Shetland, that
drinking-glasses placed in an inverted position upon a shelf in a
cupboard, on the ground floor of Belmont House, occasionally emitted
sounds as if they were tapped with a knife, or raised up a little, and
then let fall on the shelf. These sounds preceded wind, and when they
occurred, boats and vessels were immediately secured. The strength of
the sound is said to be proportional to the tempest that
follows.--_Brewster's Jour._

_To preserve Wine in draught._

M. Imery, of Toulouse, gives the following simple means of preserving
wine in draught for a considerable time; it is sufficient to pour into
the cask a flask of fine olive oil. The wine may thus continue in
draught for more than a year. The oil spread in a thin layer upon the
surface of the wine, hinders the evaporation of its alcoholic part, and
prevents it from combining with the atmospheric air, which would not
only turn the wine sour, but change its constituent parts.

_Union of the Atlantic and Pacific._

A letter from Amsterdam states, that the project of cutting a canal, to
unite the Gulf of Mexico with the Pacific Ocean, is about to be revived.

_Vesuvius._

An eruption took place on the morning of last March 22nd. An eye-witness
writes "the cone of the mountain puts you in mind of an immense piece of
artillery, firing red-hot stones, and ashes, and smoke into the
atmosphere; or, of a huge animal in pain, groani