sensible
judge."

This "prurient prudery" of the vulgar mind was once strongly exhibited
in Baltimore. The millionaire Winans had imported from abroad quite a
number of classical statues, which he erected in the beautiful grounds
around his palatial residence. The ignorant vulgarity of the
neighborhood made such a clamor against his statuary as to excite his
indignation and contempt. He built a wall about his grounds fifteen
feet high, to exclude the vulgar gaze. The City Council being
thoroughly ashamed of the circumstances as a discredit to the city,
passed a resolution requesting him to take down the wall, but Mr. W.
had been too profoundly disgusted with the vulgarity of the people,
and refused to remove it.

TEMPERANCE.--"For the first time in the history of Iowa, Fort Madison
Penitentiary is short of a sufficient number of convicts to enable it
to fill contracts made upon the basis of the usual supply. This and
many similar instances go to prove that prohibition _does_ decrease
crime."

Hon. W. D. Kelley, the oldest member of Congress, argues that the
whiskey tax of ninety cents a gallon ought to be taken off because it
amounts to little more than half a cent a drink, and therefore does
not discourage intemperance. Temperance men would think this was an
argument for increasing the tax. The best temperance measure would be
to send every drunkard to a reformatory prison.

SCIENTIFIC.

EXTENSION OF ASTRONOMY.--An interesting and important announcement is
made by an English scientist, Dr. Pritchard, of Oxford, which, if
confirmed, will give a great deal of satisfaction to all who study the
evening skies. He has succeeded in throwing out his measure-line to
one of the fixed stars. Hitherto measurement has virtually stopped
with our own solar system. The angles which form the basis of
calculations for the remoter stellar spaces are so infinitesimal that
human vision can take no certain and uniform cognizance of them. Until
now science could only draw its great circle and say: Within this the
millions of suns which shine upon the earth from all directions are
not; how far they really are beyond, no one can tell, only conjecture.
But now comes the camera, a veritable new eye for science, as
sensitive as the optic nerve and a thousand times more steadfast and
tireless, being able to hold its gaze upon the minutest object of
search hour after hour, without blinking. It is with this new eye that
Dr. Pr