se. The
importance of it, if it prove to be real, can not well be overrated. The
possibility of the thing, however, is peremptorily denied by scientific
men, and it must be evident to all that it directly contradicts
scientific principles that have been regarded as fundamental. Practical
experiment alone, made under proper restrictions and scientific
supervision, can determine its reality. If established the revolution
it would produce in the economy of life would not be greater than that
which would result from it in the received theories of science.

* * * * *

THE FOREIGN events of the past month have not been of striking interest
or importance. A diplomatic quarrel between England and France is the
only incident which has attracted any general attention. This
misunderstanding has grown out of the demands of British subjects,
supported by their government, against the government of Greece, for
losses sustained through its agency; but it is so entirely a matter of
form that no serious result can well be apprehended. For some years past
the English government has been pressing King Otho to an adjustment of
these claims. One of the most important of them is that of Mr. George
Finlay, who, when the Turks were leaving Greece on the formation of the
Hellenic Kingdom, purchased certain portions of land from some of these
emigrants. This was as long ago as in 1830, and his right to the
property thus purchased and paid for was never disputed. But six years
afterward King Otho seized upon these lands in order to inclose them in
the royal gardens, and he has never paid for the property to this day.
Another claim is that of Mr. Pacifico, a British subject, born at
Gibraltar, and occupying at Athens the office of Portuguese Consul. It
has been the custom for some years at Athens, on Easter-day, to burn an
effigy of Judas Iscariot; but, in 1847, in consequence of the presence
of Baron Rothschild, the government prevented the ceremony. The idle and
reckless portion of the people, to whom such public spectacles are
always matters of most interest, spread the report that Mr. Pacifico,
being a Jew, had occasioned the discontinuance of this custom. A mob was
soon raised by this report, which went to the house of the obnoxious
consul, beat in the door, plundered the house of money to the amount of
9800 drachmas, and destroyed papers proving claims upon the Portuguese
government to the amount of L21,295. F