hese threads, which are so fine that a bunch containing
250 is not so thick as an average sized knitting needle, and which do
not possess the tractability of threads of silk or cotton.

[The foregoing information is furnished by a correspondent in
Pittsburg. A sample of the goods mentioned, a tablecloth of glass,
is now on exhibition in this city.

The weaving of such heavy fabrics of glass for ornamental purposes
and for curiosities is no new thing; nor, in our estimation, does
comparative success in such experiments warrant the enthusiastic
claims of the Pittsburg manufacturers touching the adaptability of
glass for wearing apparel. Unless it is in their power to change
the nature of glass absolutely and radically, it does not seem
possible for them so to overcome the ultimate brittleness of the
separate fibers as to make the fabric fit to be brought in contact
with the skin. The woven stuff may be relatively tough and
flexible; but unless the entire fabric can be made of one
unbreakable fiber the touch of the free ends, be they never so
fine, must be anything but pleasant or beneficial, if one can
judge by the finest filaments of glass spun hitherto. Besides, in
weaving and wearing the goods, a certain amount of fiber dust must
be produced as in the case of all other textile material. When the
softest of vegetable fibers are employed the air charged with
their fragments is hurtful to the lungs; still more injurious must
be the spiculae of spun glass.

However, although the manufacturers are likely to be disappointed
in their expectation of finding in glass a cheap and available
substitute for linen, cotton, and silk in dress goods, it is quite
possible that a wide range of useful application may be found for
their new fabric.]

* * * * *

REMARKABLE ERUPTION OF MAUNA LOA.

Late advices from the Sandwich Islands describe the eruption of Mauna
Loa, which began Nov. 5, as one of the grandest ever witnessed. The
opening was about six miles from the summit of the mountain, and already
two great streams of lava had been poured out; one of them, from one to
two yards wide and twenty feet deep, had reached a distance of thirty
miles. Terrible explosions accompany the flow of the lava stream, which
for a time threatened the town of Hilo; at last reports the flow seemed
to be turning in another direction.

Mauna Loa, "long or hi