lm Aftonblad, Evening Journal) is between even and twelve thousand copies; the cirlation of three other daily papers exceeds ven thousand copies; four other dailies have circulation of upward of three thousand opies; a few other papers print between me thousand and fifteen hundred copies; nd most of the small country dailies have very limited circulation, frequently not exceeding two hundred copies. All the daily papers published at Stockholm, Gothenburg, Calmar, Ystadt, and Upsala, receive regular telegraphic dispatches from all parts of Europe, although, with the exception of the Stockholm press, they do not get near as full telegraphic reports as the Danish press. Very few of the Swedish country dailies received any telegraphic dispatches at all until the excitement, brought about by the elections of members for the new Swedish Parliament, and the debates of the Chambers, caused a majority of the country journals to have the most important news on those subjects telegraphed to them from Stockholm; and some of them, afterward, made arrangements for the publication of special dispatches from the capital whenever important events should take place. The total sum paid by the Stockholm press for telegraphic dispatches in the year 1867 is estimated at fortytwo thousand rix-dollars. It must have been considerably larger in 1868, in the first place, owing to the great political excitement which prevailed at certain periods of the year; and, then, in consequence of the painful and intense interest excited all over Sweden by the appalling famine which, in the early part of the year 1868, desolated certain provinces of the kingdom. While the exciting political struggles which took place in Sweden at the beginning of the year, and the interest so generally taken in the developments of the extensive famine one of the most terrible calamities which ever befell the Scandinavian Peninsula-added considerably to the circulation of the newspapers, especially in the large cities, where some of the most enterprising and popular journals succeeded in selling twice as many copies as ever before, the general stagnation of business, arising from the same causes, on the other hand, reacted injuriously upon the prosperity of Swedish journalism, and the advertising receipts of most of the Swedish newspapers, in the early part of 1868, were considerably smaller than in the same length of time in the preceding year.

Seven political dailies and five weeklies were published in Stockholm in February, 1868; the aggregate circulation of these seven dailies was, on an average, forty-six thousand copies daily; the Aftonblad (Evening Journal) had the largest circulation. The annual advertising receipts of all the Stockholm dailies rarely exceed one hundred and twenty-five thousand rix-dollars. They are mostly edited with marked spirit and ability, as regards both their political and literary matter. The com

VOL. VIII. 44 A

pensation paid to Swedish journalists and feuilletonists, as a general thing, is more liberal than that obtained by their Copenhagen colleagues. Some of the most eminent Swedish authors and savants are connected with the press of Stockholm, whose influence over the educated classes of the population is very great, and which played an important part in the momentous struggles which have agitated the kingdom since the year 1865. But for the boldness and talent with which the organs of the Liberal party in the Stockholm press attacked the old Constitution of the kingdom and advocated the necessity of reforms more in keeping with the progressive spirit of the times, the struggle against the aristocratic system of the "Four Estates" and the transformation of Sweden into one of the most liberal constitutional monarchies in Europe could not have been carried into effect at so early a day. The daily journals of some of the other large cities of Sweden are but little inferior to the metropolitan press, as regards ability and enterprise; but little can be said in praise of the Swedish country press. Owing to the sparseness of the population in most of the central and northern districts of the kingdom, the imperfect character of the railroads, and postal and telegraphic communications, few of these country papers are in a prosperous condition. As a general thing, they are even smaller, and contain less reading-matter, than the Danish country papers; but, as the resources of the country are being more and more developed, and railroads and telegraph lines multiplied, their condition and prospects cannot but greatly improve.

The press laws of Sweden are not fully as liberal as those of Denmark, and administrations of reactionary tendencies might subject the press of the country to many vexations; but, fortunately, the Swedish Government, for many years past, has displayed a spirit of unusual moderation in this respect, and press prosecutions are of very rare occurrence, notwithstanding the marked boldness with which the opposition papers frequently attack the measures of the administration.

Some of the literary papers published in Sweden have a comparatively large circulation; one of them, the Stockholm Miscellany, prints over twenty thousand copies. The compensation paid to contributors by some of these literary journals is larger than that obtained by the periodical writers in other countries of Northern Europe.

Two of the monthly magazines published at Stockholm are printed in the French language. Most of the others, as the quarterly and annual reviews, are edited by university professors and distinguished savants. A feature, peculiar to the periodical literature of Scandinavia, is the fact that quite a number of these magazines and reviews contain only articles written by the editor and proprietor. Their circulation,. with few exceptions, is limited.

II. THE NORWEGIAN PRESS.-According to the newspaper statistics published in the Christiania Maanedskrift for March, 1868, there were issued in Norway, in the year 1867, seventeen daily papers, sixty-two tri-weeklies, semi-weeklies, weeklies, and semi-monthlies, and seven monthly magazines and quarterly reviews. The aggregate circulation of the daily papers was thirty-seven thousand five hundred copies; of the tri-weeklies, semiweeklies, weeklies, and semi-monthlies, forty thousand copies. Christiania has five daily papers, with an aggregate circulation of nineteen thousand copies. Seven of the Norwegian dailies receive brief telegraphic reports from Stockholm, Copenhagen, and other northern points. No Norwegian paper has a circulation of over five thousand copies. The advertising receipts of the Christiania, Bergen, and Drontheim papers are considerably smaller than those of their Stockholm and Copenhagen contemporaries. The poverty and sparseness of the population in the rural districts, the lack of railroad, mail, and telegraphic communications, exercise a depressing influence upon the Norwegian press, some of whose organs are edited and managed with considerable ability; and, in consequence, the compensation paid to Norwegian journalists and feuilletonists is not very

liberal.

The literary and scientific press of Norway consists of nineteen weeklies, and seven magazines and reviews, most of which are edited by eminent Norwegian authors and savants. With one exception, their circulation is very limited..

SCHÖNBEIN, CHRISTIAN, a distinguished chemist, was born at Metzingen, Wurtemberg, October 18, 1779; died at Baden-Baden August 28, 1868. He was in early life apprenticed to a manufacturer of chemical products, but, having been conscripted, he declined to take the oath, asserting that he would only give his word. The King of Wurtemberg, having heard of this, interrogated young Schönbein, and was so much pleased with his answers, that he acquitted him from military service, and assisted him in completing his education at the University of Tübingen and then of Erlangen. After the completion of his studies at the universities, Schönbein made a trip through France and England, and at the age of twenty-nine became a professor of the University of Basle. Among the chemical discoveries of Schönbein are the general phenomena of passiviti, or the property which many metals have of acquiring, under certain conditions, new properties; the discovery of the cause of the production of electricity in Grove's pile; the discovery of ozone, of guncotton, and of collodion. Schönbein has published two stories of travel, and a Programme, a kind of general plan indicating the end and

aim of science.

SCHWARZBURG, the name of two principalities belonging to the North-German Confederation.

I. SCHWARZBURG-SONDERSHAUSEN. Reigning Prince, Günther, born September 24, 1801; suc ceeded his father August 19, 1835. Area, square miles; population, according to the esus of 1867, 67,500. Revenue, in 1866, 644367 thalers; expenditures, 637,728; pab debt, in 1868, 1,441,079. The capital, Sonders hausen, had, in 1867, 6,275 inhabitants. The troops of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, in corsequence of a military convention with Pr sia, serve, since October 1, 1867, in the Prussian army.

II. SCHWARZBURG - RUDOLSTADT. Reigning Prince, Albert, born April 30, 1798; succeeded his brother June 28, 1867. Area, 374 square miles; population, 75,074, of whom 74,865 are Protestants, 93 Roman Catholics, and 113 1s raelites. The capital, Rudolstadt, had, in 1867, 6,953 inhabitants. The receipts for the period from 1864 to 1866 were 2,582,322; the expenditures, 2,582,332. The troops of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt form, together with those of the two principalities of Reuss and Saxe-Altenburg, one of the infantry regiments of Thuringia.

SERVIA, MICHAEL III. OBRENOVITCH, Prince of, born in Belgrade, September 4, 1825; assissinated in that city, June 10, 1868. He was the younger son of Prince Milosh Obrenovitch, ruling prince of Servia, 1817-1839, and 18581860, who died in 1860. He was educated with his elder brother Milan, by a Russian professor named Zoritch. In 1839 his father was com pelled to abdicate, and his brother Milan was made hospodar or prince, but died in about three months, when Michael was proclaimed his successor. He was at that time but fourteen years of age, and the principality was in a condition bordering on anarchy, from Russian intrigues, the schemes of other aspirants to the hospodarship, and the bickerings of the Senate. In September, 1842, he was deposed, and Alexander Karageorgevitch, a scion of a rival house, proclaimed prince. While in exile, he spent much time in travel and study, making his home in Vienna and in Wallachia. After sixteen years of exile, a revolution in 1858 restored his father to power, and on his father's death, in 1860, he succeeded to the hospodarship and ruled with great ability. In 1867 he succeeded in compelling Turkey to withdraw the garri sons of the five fortresses in the possession of that Government. His assassination was be lieved to be instigated by the deposed prince Karageorgevitch.

SEYMOUR, THOMAS HART, a political leader and former Governor of Connecticut, born in Hartford, Conn., in 1808; died in that city September 3, 1868. His early education was ob tained in the excellent schools of his native city, and, his tastes leading him to prefer a mil itary education, he entered the Military Institute at Middletown, Conn., then under the care of Captain Alden Partridge, and, pursuing the full course, graduated there, we believe, in 1829. He was, for some time after his re

turn to Hartford, the commanding officer of the Hartford Light Guard, a well-trained and aristocratic voluntary organization. After some delay, finding the prospects of a military career not promising, he turned his attention to the study of law, and was admitted to the bar in Hartford about 1833. He soon attained to a fair practice, but never aspired to a high position in his profession. In 1837-'38 he became editor of a Democratic paper, The Jeffersonian, and about the same time was Judge of Probate for the district. His popular manners and fine address, together with his zeal, soon threw him into the arena of politics, and in 1843 he was elected to Congress from the Hartford district. At the expiration of his term he declined a renomination. In March, 1846, he was commissioned major of the Ninth or New England Regiment of Volunteers, in the Mexican War, where he distinguished himself by his gallant conduct. On the 13th of October, 1847, Colonel Ransom, the commander of the Ninth Regiment, having fallen in the assault on Chapultepec, Major Seymour led the troops, scaled the height, and with his command was the first to enter that strong fortress. He was promoted to the command of the regiment, and took part in the capture of Mexico. In 1849 he was nominated for Governor, but, though gaining largely over the vote of the preceding year, he was not elected. The next year he was again a candidate, and was chosen Governor by a handsome majority, being reelected in 1851, 1852, and 1853. In 1852 he was presidential elector. In the autumn of 1853, President Pierce nominated him as United States minister to Russia, and he filled the office for four years with marked ability. He formed a warm personal friendship both with the Czar Nicholas and his son, the present Emperor, and received from them many valuable and costly tokens of their regard. After nearly a year of European travel he returned to the United States in 1858. When the war commenced, his sympathies were largely with the South, and he continued his opposition to the war until its close. In 1863 he was again a candidate for the governorship, but was defeated.

SIPHON OF THE BRIDGE OF ALMA. The river Seine divides the city of Paris and its sewers into two parts or districts, that of the right and that of the left bank of the river. In consequence of this division, two systems of sewers are required, one for either bank. The main sewer of the right bank, a sort of confluent of the Seine, empties into it at Asnières. The main sewer of the left bank empties at the bridge of Alma. It was important to avoid infecting the waters of the river with the current of the last-mentioned sewer. To effect this, it was determined to connect the two sewers by continuing the main sewer of the left bank to the point where that of the right bank empties into the Seine at Asnières. This necessitated the excavation of a tunnel under the river. The plan was adopted of

running a long subterranean canal under the Seine, from the bridge of Alma to a point of junction with the main sewer of the right bank, near the street Courcelles. This was a great undertaking. The excavated canal at its lowest level has a depth of 30 metres. Starting from the lower level of the Seine, this subterranean channel runs under the Avenue Josephine, crosses the Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile (its point of greatest depth), the Avenue of Wagram, the street of Courcelles, and of Villiers, and turns at right angles to form a junction with the main sewer of Asnières near the point where it empties into the Seine. Three years were required for this work, which was carried on to its completion without the use of any structure above-ground indicating the work going on beneath. The canal was excavated by means of shafts, opening at unequal distances at the surface, after the manner of those for opening a railwaytunnel, or a mining-gallery. Starting from the Place de l'Etoile, and running on the line of the Avenue Josephine, the Place de l'Alma, etc., through a series of pits, for a long time noticeable on that route, the deblai, or excavated matter, was brought to the surface by steam-power.

In July, 1868, the work was completed, the shafts filled up, without in the least interfering with the public travel, or giving any indication at the surface to show the extent and severity of the labors which had been performed beneath. The junction sewer being completed, the sewage of the left bank was now to be passed through it under the Seine. To effect this object a great metallic siphon was early in September, 1868, sunk in the bed of the Seine at the bridge of Alma. This siphon consists of two tubes, 124 metres in length. The difference of one yard in the grade, between the openings of the opposite ends of this vast tube, creates a current and forces the flow of the sewage at the rate of two yards in a second. These tubes of which this siphon consists are not cast, like gas or water pipes, but formed of two wrought-iron plates one centimetre in thickness, placed one upon the other and riveted together. They were brought from the workshop in pieces of 14 yards in length, and put together on the bank of the river. Each tube being double, as above described, is nearly an inch in thickness. The diameter of each tube is one metre. The bed of the Seine where this metallic siphon was to be placed had been dredged to the depth of two metres. The ditch caused by this dredging had been filled up with mortar, in the midst of which the siphon being placed, will thus lie and be enveloped in a bed of mortar of about 16 inches in thickness. In the sinking of the siphon a great and unanticipated difficulty was encountered. The ends had been closed before it was moved into the water, in order, being filled with air, that it might be moved and guided with less difficulty to its place over

the ditch prepared for it. Once in the line of position, the ends were to be opened, and the siphon sunk to its proper place in the bed of the stream. The two tubes were firmly joined at the ends with plate-iron couplings, or collars, moved to the surface line over the ditch referred to, and loaded down with pig-iron to sink them. But scarcely had they been submerged to the depth of one-half their diameter, when the water checked in its current, and, seeking an outlet, boiled up over the upper tube, fell into the interval between the two, and then leaped up again over the lower tube, thereby causing a formidable oscillation and rolling movement, which shook off a great part of the iron by which the siphon was being sunk. This iron was raised and the ditch cleaned out by divers, and meanwhile additional precautions were taken to make the next attempt a success, by constructing a double stockade of piles on the upper side of the siphon, in the manner of those on its lower side, to the end that the siphon, sustained and held in a horizontal position, might more effectually resist the force of the current. The siphon was again loaded with iron, guys were attached to control and regulate its descent, and, at its second trial, it was submerged, without accident or obstruction, to the entire length of the stockades, which to a certain extent served the purpose of slides or runways. Water-gauges placed on different parts of the double tube, and indicating by their scales the depth attained, marked, as they sunk, the progress of the immersion. When the index showed the proper depth, the siphon had reached its bed; and thenceforth it has received the sewage which it is destined to bear from bank to bank, and nothing betrays where it lies in the bed of the Seine.

SLEMMER, Brevet Brigadier-General ADAM J., Lieutenant-Colonel 4th Infantry, an American army officer conspicuous for his gallantry and meritorious conduct, born in Montgomery County, Pa., about 1828; died at Fort Laramie, Dakota Territory, where he was commander, October 7, 1868. He entered West Point in September, 1846, and graduated July, 1850, twelfth in his class. He was assigned a position in the 1st Artillery, and, after a short campaign against the Seminole Indians in Florida, was four years on frontier service in California. In 1855, after a short period of garrison duty at Fort Moultrie, Charleston harbor, he was appointed assistant professor at West Point, where he remained four years, and then returned to garrison duty at Fort Moultrie and Barrancas Barracks, Fla., till January 10, 1861, when he was transferred to Fort Pickens, which he gallantly held till May 9, 1861, against the attempts to besiege it. He was promoted to be major of 16th Infantry May 14, 1861, and served in Virginia and the Western Department, being engaged under General Buell in his march from Corinth to Louisville, and back to Nashville. He was made brigadier-general of volunteers, November 29, 1862,

and took part in the battle of Stone River, December 31, 1862, where he was severely wounded, and received a brevet of lieutenant-colonel in the Regular Army for his gallant conduct He was disabled by his wound from further active service during the war, but performed some garrison, and other duties. On the 8th of February, 1864, he was promoted to be liestenant-colonel of the 4th Infantry, and in March, 1865, was brevetted colonel and brigadier-general for his meritorious services. After being mustered out of the volunteer service in Argust, 1865, he was employed in garrison duty at Fort Schuyler and Sackett's Harbor, N. Y till October 1, 1865; was on Board of Examination of Cadetship for promotion in the Army for over a year, and then was assigned to the command of the post of Fort Laramie, D. T where he died of disease of the heart.

SMITH, SEBA, an American journalist and author, born at Buckfield, Me., September 14, 1792; died at "The Willows," Patchogue, LL, July 29, 1868. He graduated at Bowdoin College, Maine, in 1818, and subsequently settled in Portland, Me., as a writer for the periodical press. While there he wrote the popular series of humorous political letters under the pseudonyme of "Major Jack Downing," first published collectively in 1833, and which afterward passed through several editions. In 1842 he removed to New York, in which city, or in its neighborhood, he continued to reside until his death. His remaining publications comprise "Powhatan," a metrical romance (1841); "New Elements of Geometry" (1850), an ingenious but paradoxical attempt to overturn the common definitions of geometry, in which he maintained the position that the three dimensions of space-length, breadth, and thickness. were predicated upon lines, scrfaces, and solids-the book excited little attention, and has long been out of print; and "Way Down East, or Portraitures of Yankee Life" (1855). Mr. Smith was the husband of Mrs. Elizabeth Oakes-Smith, whose miscellaneous writings are familiar to numerous readers. His last illness was protracted and painful.

SOMMERS, Rev. CHARLES G., D. D., a Baptist clergyman and author, born in London in 1793; died in New York, December 19, 1868. In 1802 he emigrated with his parents to the United States, and was in 1811 employed by John Jacob Astor as his confidential clerk and travelling agent. He made long journeys to Canada and elsewhere in his employer's interest, and while engaged on one of these met with such a change in his religious views that he decided upon entering the Christian ministry. He accordingly stated to Mr. Astor his purpose and his reasons for it, and his employer parted with him kindly though reluctantly. He completed his studies and began his labors as a preacher at the Old Almshouse in the Park, where he was very useful. From thence he was called to the pastorate of the First Baptist Church in Troy, and after several years re

called to New York to the pastorate of the South Baptist Church there (1823), worshipping in Nassau Street near Fulton. He remained their pastor till 1856, when he retired to private life. For twenty-three years he was the recording secretary of the Executive Committee of the American Tract Society. He was also an officer of the American Bible Society, and subsequently of the American and Foreign Bible Society, one of the founders of the American Baptist Home Mission Society, and a director almost from the first of the Home for Aged and Indigent Females. He published several tracts of the American Tract Society, a number of sermons and occasional addresses, and a few small denominational books; he was also one of the editors of The Baptist Library. Madison University conferred the degree of D. D. upon him in 1852.

SOUTH CAROLINA. The convention, called by order of General Canby, "to frame a constitution and civil government" for the State of South Carolina, under the provisions of the reconstruction acts of Congress, assembled in the city. of Charleston on the 14th of January, and organized by the election of Dr. A. G. Mackey, as permanent president. The convention finished its work in fifty-three days, and adjourned on the 17th of March.

As soon as the work of organizing the convention was completed, Governor Orr was invited to address the delegates. This he did in an earnest speech, in which he expressed his regret that the white citizens who were entitled to vote under the reconstruction acts had very generally abstained from exercising the privilege, and that, as a consequence, the "intelligence, refinement, and wealth of the State," were not represented in the convention. He therefore all the more earnestly recommended wise and moderate action on the part of the delegates, and suggested some of the features which he considered most essential in the new constitution. Above all, he urged the removal of all political disabilities from the white citizens, but advised an educational or property qualification, applicable to blacks and whites alike. In regard to a time-honored doctrine in the South, he said: "The doctrine of State rights, as taught in South Carolina, has been exploded by the war. The allegiance of the citizen, according to the results of that controversy, is due to the Government of the United States, and not to the State. I recognize this doctrine to the fullest extent, and, in my inaugural message as Governor of the State, I announced my judgment that hereafter the supremacy of the United States Government over the State was undisputed and indisputable. I am aware that many of my contemporaries deny the proposition, but, if I can properly comprehend the legitimate sequences of war, no other result presents itself to my mind."

During the first weeks of the session, while the various committees were occupied in preparing the portions of the constitution in

trusted to them respectively, some measures of general legislation were adopted. The expenses of the body were provided for by an ordinance to raise a special tax for that purpose, which was carried into effect by an order of the military commander. One of the subjects demanding the most serious attention of the convention was that of relieving the people from their numerous pecuniary embarrassments, by some enactment having the force of law. Among the poorer classes, especially the freedmen, a degree of want existed amounting almost to destitution, but this was relieved in some measure by the United States Government through the agency of the Freedmen's Bureau. Advances were also made to planters, to a moderate extent, from the same source, which became a lien upon their property, by order of the military commander, to secure repayment. It was also proposed to make appeals directly to Congress for loans or donations, to relieve the people from pressing wants, but none of the propositions of this kind prevailed.

By far the most important measures of relief ordained by the convention was a "stay law," which was matured by long deliberation and finally adopted on the last day of the session, and afterward carried into effect by military order. While this ordinance was pending in the convention, a temporary stay of sales on execution for a period of three months was effected by an order of the district commander issued in response to a request of the convention. The stay law, as finally passed, continued all civil actions pending in the Superior Courts, to the spring term of 1869, and provided that execution on all judgments then rendered should be for only one-tenth of the amount due; further execution for one-fifth to be issued in 1870, for one-half the residue in 1871, and for the balance in 1872. Such provisions were made as were necessary to render this ordinance effectual, and its operation was limited to debts and demands contracted prior to May, 1865. Another ordinance was passed declaring null and void all contracts the consideration of which was the purchase of slaves, and prohibiting all proceedings for their enforcement.

During the deliberations of the convention, the following resolutions, which exhibit the views of a portion of the members, were submitted, and referred to the Committee on the Executive:

Whereas, a large majority of the people heretofore constituting the government of the State of South Carolina have, by unjustifiable rebellion, forfeited their political rights, and are hostile to every act of Congress for the reconstruction of the State to the Union, claiming, as they do, every political right under the Constitution, which properly defines their late acts as treason and authorizes even the penalty of death for crimes thus committed, instead of equal rights with those who love the Government which they so madly attempted to destroy, and

Whereas, the officers of the present provisional government of the State, from the highest to the