sounds, and a government messenger presents a scroll, and informs him, that a remarkably clever young man, recently appointed one of the managers, had last night consolidated all the edicts into a single act.  The judge then compliments the young consolidator, compared to whom, he said, Justinian was a country attorney.  Popanilla is found “not guilty, and kicked out of court, amidst the hootings of the mob, without a stain upon his reputation.”  He then falls senseless on the steps of the Asiatic club-house, is recovered by the smell of mulligatawney soup, and moralizes till he perceives “it is possible for a nation to exist in too artificial a state.”  He then sees the opposite house lit up, and the words “Emigration Committee” written on a transparent blind.  He enters, finds the last Emigration squadron is about to sail in a few minutes; is presented with a spade, blanket, and hard biscuit, and quits the port of Hubbabub:  what became of him will “probably be discovered, if ever we obtain ‘Popanilla’s’ second voyage”—­and thus shuts to the scene.

Here, gentle reader, you have the Captain’s fun and badinage on all the wonderful wonders of Hubbabub—­videlicet this wonderful town.  They may serve to while away some of the ennui of this season of roast, bake, and broil, or be read aloud during the halt of the “march of intellect” men.  There are the principal incidents of his voyage; if you wish to see them expanded, consult the book itself—­that is if you are gratified with our abstract—­if the reverse, let well alone, lest you find it, like ceremony, “a penny-worth of spirit in a glass of water.”  But recollect, Popanilla’s adventures have already been published in quarto.

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SPIRIT OF DISCOVERY.

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Machine for Sharpening Knives at once,

Consists of a number of steel cylinders grooved transversely, and placed on two revolving axes parallel to each other, and so that the bosses and recesses of the one fit into those of the other cylinder.  Along these the knife is drawn, and so is immediately sharpened.—­London Jour. of Arts.

Influence of Electricity on the developement of Seeds.

M. Astier has discovered that seeds which are electrified, run through the first stages of vegetation more rapidly than others, and that China roses submitted to this experiment, produce flowers sooner, and in greater abundance.—­From the French.

Botany.