Magnesium was scarcely of any industrial value prior to the fall in price now recorded.  Improved processes for its treatment have successfully engaged the attention of scientific men, and it is now capable of being used as an alloy with other metals.  The Salindres factory regulates the price to a certain extent, and its system of working is regarded as a guide in the various processes connected with this branch of industry.  The manufacture of potassium and sodium will, it is expected, be more fully elucidated than hitherto, by means of researches made at Schering’s Charlottenburg factory.  The course of nickel prices illustrates the stimulus to economical production afforded by an increased consumption.  This latter fact is principally due to the employment of nickel for coinage, as alloy for alfenide, etc.  The use of cadmium is materially restricted by its relatively limited supply.  Hitherto, its only source was in the incidental products of zinc distillation, but of late it has been attempted to bring it into solution from its oxide combinations.  An increased employment of cadmium for industrial purposes is expected to follow.

Production in excess of the demand has caused the depreciation recorded in tin, and various other metals not commented upon, this remark applying even to the scarce metals, arsenic and antimony.  Even the better marks of Cornwall tin and Mansfield refined copper have had to follow the downward course of the market.

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A PERPETUAL CALENDAR.

The annexed figure represents a perpetual calendar, which any one can construct for himself, and which permits of finding the day that corresponds to a given date, and conversely.

The apparatus consists of a certain number of circles and arcs of circles divided by radii.  The ring formed by the two last internal circles is divided into 28 equal parts, which bear the names of the week, the first seven letters of the alphabet in reversed order, and two signs X. The circle formed by the external circumference of the ring constitutes the movable part of the apparatus, and revolves around its center.  Two circular sectors, which are diametrically opposite, are each divided into seven parts and constitute the fixed portions.  In the divisions of the upper sector are distributed the months, according to the order of the monthly numbers.  In the other sector the days of the month are regularly distributed.  In order to render the affair complete, a table is arranged upon the movable disk for giving the annual numbers, or rather, in this case, the annual letters.  The calendar is used as follows:  Say, for example, we wish to find what days correspond to the different dates of August, 1885; we look in the table for the letter (D) that corresponds to this year; then we bring this letter under the given month (August) and the days marked upon the movable disk corresponding to the dates sought, and it only remains to make a simple reading.