Page:Science vol. 5.djvu/136

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��iniercoursc with the subjects of Louis XIY, This means that we have the unique privilege, In tills age of etefttn and travel, of stiid<riiig in them a form of speech that has scarcely known change tor the past two ceaturlea. But this idiom Is not a Oialeut of that remote period; and the greatest surprlKe to a student of luiguage arriving in Canada Is to And, thai, contrary to the general impression of scholars, the vernacular does not bear an; specllic dialectic character, but is the middle (slxlecuth century) Frencli, with those natural changes which would be produced by Che intimate ruaion into a whole of all the different species of language Ihat were originally hrouglit from the molher-cuuntry. An Influence upon the language must be noted In the original seigniorial tenure which prevailed throughout Lower Canada. The seigneurs were the second Eona of noble families who chose the better class of peasants to accompany them to their homes In the new world ; and here each ruler ieid out on the river his little kingdom (generally i X S leagues in dimensions), which he divided among his colonists in concessions of -t X 30 arpents. This nrraugement produced a aeries of centres of civilization in which the lord anil bis educated, friends were brought into more or less intimate contact with the common people: in truth, we have ahundaut evidence to show that the relation of the seigneur lo his people was much more intimate In these early settlementa of Canada than in the mother-country. After the conquest ( 17(10), nearly alJ the nobles fled the country, and the different classes of society were more thoroughly mixed than they had ever been before. The Influence of long and constant contact with a Teutonic race has had the effect to temper the rath impulses of the Gaul ; and this Is in no respect more marked than in his speech, where a quiet monotony largely prevails, and Strikes the stranger immediately as one of its leading characteristics. It has not the rhythm, the inex- hanstible variety, and rich coiience of Ihe Gallic tongue as it is spoken to-day in France."

Hr. Elliott also records the apparent vigor of the old Freni^ stock, and their wonderful absorbing- power, as sliown by the curious phenomenon of a people in certain sections having the racial charac- teristics of the English or Scotch, and bearing the names of Warren, Frazer. and McDonald, and yet unable to speak a word of the mother- tongue. The English names of roails and villages show who Ihe occupants of such places were a few years ago.

— A circular from the U. S. signal-office itiforms us, that, in accordance with the general assent of co- operating weather bureaus, the obaervations at our signal-service stations, as well as [hose of the widely extended international system, arc now taken eight minutes and twelve seconds earlier than formerly, the change having been made on Jan. 1. The new time of the morning observation, which corresponds to the daily International observation, h therefore seven a.m. of our eastern standard, corresponding to Greenwich mean noon ; and tUIa has the great ad- vantage of being recorded with the same name for the day of llie week the world over.

��— It was stated lost spring that quantities i>f float- ing pumice, supposed to he derived from Erakatoa during the recent eruption, reached the Uland of Reunion, at the harbor of St. Paul, on the 22d of Uarch, ISSl, having thus made a voyage of some two hundred and six days at a rate of alx-teutlis of a mile on hour. It now appears that an Immense quantity of pumice of similar appearance, and supposed lo be from the same source, reached Tamatave, Madagas- car, In the first week of September, 1834. Specimens have been sent to the Si>cI414 de gtSi^raphie, and will * be reported upon by the director of the School of

— Capt. Lundiu of the hark Vega, at Philadelphia, reports that at three a.m.. Dec. 22, In latitude 40° 31' north, longitude 16° IC west, he felt several alight shocks of an earthquake. It was calm at the time.

— The distribution of lime on a commercial basis is claiming the attention of Inventors and capitalists. Besides the Standard time company of New Haven (which has been Idle the past year, owing to an ar- rangement with the Time telegraph company of New York, which has now been terminated by the former company), there are the Standard time company of New York, now organising, to distribute time on tha Mayerhofer system of compressed-air impulses, syn- chronizing and winding secondary clocks; the Na- tional time- regulating company of Boston, which proposes to give audible signals over telephone-line*, which can be heard after the manner of repeating watches by placing the telephone to the ear ; a com- pany with headquarters at Pittsburg, which is to use the system devised by Mr. Gardner for long or short distance telegraph time-signalling and dock-syncbro- nlzing; the Time telegraph company of New York, which has shown Its best development In the electric dial system in Providence; the Wenzel pneumatic system of clocks, actuated by compressetl air acting through the medium of glass air-holders llfl«d out of a glycerine hath at each Impulse; and we suppose that we shall soon have companies organized on the Popp-Besch-Mayerhofer system, now used in Paris, and the Mautner system of Vienna. Apropos of Ibe subject, A. Merllng has published an excellent little book o[i electrical clocks, entitled ' Die electriache uhren; Elcctrotechnlscheblbliotbek, band li. (Braun- schweig, Friedrich Vleweg itnd sofln, 1884, 32J 12°) ; and M. A. Favarger continues his articies through the current year of the Journal SuiuM iThor- logerif (Geneva), on ' L' Sleet ricitfi et ses applicnUo

ik lachronom^trie.'

— Dr. Hugo Gyldi!n, whose call lo the professot^ ship of astronomy In the university of Gtittliigen, made vacant by the death of Dr. Klinkerfues, we noted some time ago, h.is. In consequence of a liberal offer from the king of Sweden, decided lo remain al present post as astrouomer royal, and director of ths observatory at Stoekholin. Dr. GyldSn Is oni the editors of the new jounial entitled Act aiiiathe~ matlca.

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