was generally imagined. M. Dumas says, in his report, that it is impossible to doubt that the gravity, duration, mysterious character, and effects of the disease are most lamentable. All evidence shows that it attaches to the worm and not to the mulberry leaves; but the breeders have become so impoverished that they cannot purchase the leaves, and there is great danger that the losses of the mulberry growers will cause the trees to be uprooted to make place for some profitable crop. A striking proof of the extent of the evil is to be found in the fact that the Crédit foncier and other financial societies decline to make any more advances on mulberry plantations. The extent of the misery which has thus fallen on the unfortunate farmers and breeders of the basin of the Rhone may be conceived from the fact that nine-tenths of all the silk of France comes from that district. The cocoons produced in the empire were valued on an average at a hundred millions of francs, or four millions sterling per annum, and in 1853 the total rose to nearly a hundred and twenty millions. To produce this amount of cocoons eight tons of silkworms' eggs, or seed, as it is called, and six hundred thousand tons of mulberry leaves are required. The ordinary value of the former is set down at three to four millions, and of the latter at fifty to sixty millions of francs. In 1856 the disease had reduced the crop to onethird of the average, and one-half an ordinary crop is now considered a large yield. The loss of the mulberry growers, M. Dumas thinks, has probably not been far short of thirty millions of francs a year. The disease has attacked worms from all countries indiscriminately, with the single exception of those bred from eggs brought direct from Japan. The supply of these latter eggs has been considerable, but not sufficient to revivify the business, and besides, the price is so high that the poor breeders have not the means of purchasing them. The Japanese seed costs from twelve to twenty francs per ounce, whereas formerly French seed cost only one or two francs, and was frequently given away. The petitions have been referred to the Ministers of Agriculture of the Colonies and of Foreign Affairs, and means will doubtless be taken to afford temporary relief to the suffering agriculturists. As regards the eggs, the only way of bringing them to Europe safely is in the ships almost specially devoted to the service, as the cases require to be opened and examined on the voyage, and the presence of any strong smelling commodities in the ship is said to have an injurious effect.

belonging to the town, and is contained in twelve large pavilions, surrounded by trees, flowers, and statues. Chaumont is rather more than 150 miles from Paris, on the line of the Eastern railway.

Commerce.

PRODUCTIONS OF CORSICA.-The first general exhibition, which took place lately in Corsica, has been the means of making the resources of that curious island known for the first time to the French public generally. Within the last twelve years the island has been reclaimed from almost a savage state. In 1840 there was but one main road, and no public conveyances; now there nine Imperial and eighteen other main roads, making together 1,744 kilometres, or about 1,000 miles. There are now steamers five times a week, which place the island within twenty hours' journey of Marseilles. The sheep and pigs still, however, maintain rather uncivilised habits, and will not eat in confinement, so that those shown at the exhibition had to be turned loose during the night. The sheep give no wool, but hair, which is made into cord and coarse stuffs for the peasants' winter wear. The olive, vine, orange, citron, almond, fig, and mulberry, flourish luxuriantly in Corsica. There were no less than 250 exhibitors of oil at the late show; and the value of the crop is set down at nearly £160,000 a year. Corsica sends large quantities of oranges, citrons, almonds, and other fruits, fresh and preserved, to Marseilles-the citrons alone amounting to 1,500 tons. The higher mountains are covered with oaks, beach, fir, and other timber trees, which attain magnificent dimensions; the middle region produces chestnuts in a profusion that is to be found nowhere else, and their excessive abundance is cited as one of the causes of the inertness of the rural population. The wooded districts all abound with deer, wild boars, muffions, and other game; and the Corsican blackbirds are esteemed a great delicacy, and are shipped by hundreds of thousands from Ajaccio, Bastia, and other parts. The mineral productions of the island are, perhaps, better known; the iron works employ about seventeen hundred men, the abundance of wood and the cheapness of sea transport offering great facilities for the trade. The extensive deposits of marble, antimony, copper ore, coal, and other minerals, lie unworked for want of capital. These, together with the cork forests, resinous products, cotton and silk, form the staple of the future prosperity of Corsica, which, in a commercial point of view, must still be regarded as almost in a savage state.

AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION AT CHAUMONT.-An agricultural exhibition of the products of the north-eastern departments of France has recently taken place at Chaumont, in the Haute Marne, after an interval of seven years. The horned cattle in the exhibition FLOATING STOREHOUSES FOR INFLAMMABLE SUBSTANCES. amounted to 320 heads, amongst which those of the A slight notice of the new plan of storing dangerous Charolaise race were prominent. These animals, being substances, adopted at the new dock and warehouses now powerful and precocious, are eminently useful for labour, being formed at St. Ouen, between Paris and St. Denis, and their flesh is highly esteemed, but the cows give was given in the Journal of the 9th of December last. little milk. The department of the Nièvre alone sends We are now enabled, from personal observation, to fur20,000 beasts to Paris yearly. There were a few Dur- nish particulars respecting the new floating magazines. hams and half-breeds in the show, and a very fine col- They consist, in fact, of a series of iron cylinders set up lection of Merino and other sheep, the district being endways, and strapped together, so as to form a huge noted for its fine wool. An Industrial Exhibition was in- compound tubular barge. The cylinders, formed of augurated at the same time, and will remain open till the boiler plate, are each about sixteen feet high, and between 20th of July. Chaumont and its neighbourhood are six and seven feet in diameter, the tops and bottoms being famous, amongst other matters, for cutlery-at No- convex, and the former provided with a man-hole. They gent there are eight thousand workmen employed in that are arranged in four rows, of twenty-five in each row, and trade; also for iron-plate, tools and files of all kinds; the whole are covered down to the line of flotation with the tanneries are extensive, and the glove-trade large and stout planking, which is attached to the cylinders by flourishing; cotton and woollen-spinning, wax-bleaching means of angle-irons rivetted on the latter. The head and candle-making, distillation and the timber trade are and stern of these huge floating magazines are provided also extensively developed. There is a large collection with hauser-holes for the purpose of towing and mooring of the metallurgical products of the Aube, Isère, Loire, them in the basins of the docks. In the case of loading Marne, Meuse, Moselle, Haute-Saône, Vosges, and other and unloading the magazines may be warped to the departments; a great number of agricultural imple- dock wall, or the liquids may be pumped in and out ments; twenty portable steam-engines; and a variety of from barges. Two of these novel storehouses are now objects of general industry and industrial art from all afloat, and two more are nearly finished, as regards the parts of France. The Exhibition is established in a park | iron-work. As to the docks themselves, a fine square

equivalents in English, as well as a detailed explanation | nal with that regularity which its contents deserve, it was

Pier and Harbour Orders Confirmation (No. 3).
Penalties Law Amendment (as amended in Committee). 3253. J. Ladley.
Harwich Harbour (as amended by the Select Com-
mittee).

Fortifications (Provision for Expenses).

125. East India (Finance and Revenue Accounts)-Parts I. and II. 347. Mails (England and India)-Memorials.

359. Lunatics (Ireland)-Return.

Births, Deaths, and Marriages-Supplement to the Twenty-
fifth Annual Report of the Registrar General.
Life Annuities-Tables.

Passages on board Her Majesty's Ships "Liffey" and "Phœbe"
-Correspondence.

Journal of the Society of Arts,

AUSTRIA.

552

553

[No. 659. VOL. XIII.

XIX. Siecle-Annuaire de L'Economie
553
Politique et de la Statistique
Forthcoming Publication: Art Foliage 554
Notes: The Philadelphia Sketch Club
-French Academy of Inscriptions and
Belles-Lettres Paris Universal Exui-
bition of 1867 - Great Prize in Voltaic
Electricity-Cost of Great Drainage
Works - Local Railways
Parliamentary Reports
Patents

554

556

556

for the preparatory vocal rehearsals at his own hotel. The required number of instrumental performers was soon complete, and the first performance of the work, under the title of "Timotheus, or the Power of Music,' came off on the 29th of November; the second on the 3rd of December following; Herr Streicher leading on the pianoforte. The Hofrath von Mosel was conductor. The orchestra numbered 720 individuals of all classes, who cordially united in giving this grand musical treat for so praiseworthy an object.

more

The multifarious arrangements, which were The well-known Conservatoire of Music at Vienna numerous than it might be supposed, were chiefly carried forms a part of a general association, entitled, "The So-out by Count Dietrichstein, the treasurer of the Associaciety of Friends of Music in Austria," established for the whom the Emperor, as founder of the society, had aption, and the privy councillor, Herr J. Sonnleithner, cultivation and promotion of music. The following is a pointed to be its permanent secretary. translation of a characteristic official document, setting forth the circumstances which gave rise to the establishment of the Society, and the history of the Conservatoire

itself:

amount.

A few days before the second performance, Herr Sonnleithner was struck with the idea that, from the general enthusiasm aroused by Handel's great classical work, hopes might be entertained of realising a long cherished In the year 1811, an association of noble ladies, having desire, namely, to unite the numerous assemblage of the for its object the encouragement of works of beneficence lovers of music into a permanent society, having for its and utility, was established in Vienna. This association, object the encouragement of the art in all its branches, which since that period has been in constant activity, and the foundation of a Conservatoire, which latter had was engaged in discussing by what means substantial long been a desideratum in Vienna. Great composers assistance could be rendered to the inhabitants of the had here formed themselves, independently of extraneous seat of war beyond the Danube, as well as to the town of aid (gleichsam aus sich selbst gebildet); such an estabBaden, which had recently suffered from a fearful con-lishment would tend to the development of similar talent, flagration, to which end it was requisite to raise from which only needed opportunity to discover its latent the charitably-disposed contributions to a considerable powers, and a guiding spirit to direct it on the right course. Now, when a vivid interest was awakened, apFanny, Baroness von Amsteim, one of the leading peared to be the most favourable, perhaps, indeed, the members of the association, a lady of rare merit and un-only opportunity which augured success, but it was bounded liberality, conceived the idea of giving a con- necessary that no time should be lost. Herr Sonnleithcert on a grand scale, and in a building the most capa-ner drew up a programme, briefly setting forth the adcious that might be obtainable for the purpose. The vantages to be derived from such a reunion of amateurs, well-known instrument maker and pianiste, Herr Strei-and the formation of a regular society, and inviting cher, suggested the performance of Handel's great work, "Alexander's Feast," with Mozart's additional accompaniments, a selection which was creditable alike to his taste and discernment. His Majesty the Emperor Francis granted permission for the rehearsals to be held in the new "Rittersaal" of the Palace, the concert itself in the imperial riding-school, defraying, moreover, the expenses incurred in fitting up this magnificent building for a concert-room.

With her characteristic activity the Baroness, assisted by Herr Streicher, issued invitations to the votaries of music of all ranks to co-operate in the undertaking. Prince Lobkawitz, an enthusiastic amateur, whose wife was the first lady-president of the association, arranged

* Extract from the Annual Report for 1860-61.

those who might be desirous of joining to enter their names in a list, which was opened for the purpose at the hotel of Prince Lobkawitz, by which entry they were only to be bound in case the rules of the society, when drawn up, should receive the Emperor's assent. The proposition was eagerly entertained by those who had taken part in the performance of "Timotheus," and in a few days the number of entries exceeded 1,000. Various motives, no doubt, concurred in bringing about this result; many were desirous of hearing musical works of a high standard brought forward in a manner worthy of their reputation; many were desirous of taking part themselves in the performances; while all were actuated by the laudable wish of aiding in the establishment of a school in which pupils might be fittingly trained. Upon this, the leading object of the Association was declared

to be the elevation of music in all its branches, to which individual practice and enjoyment were to be considered subordinate.

caused by the events which occurred in 1848, the operations of the school were resumed, with certain alterations which, through the progress of time, had become For the attainment of this prime end a Conservatoire necessary; and notwithstanding many obstacles in the of Music was to be established, in which pupils of both way of their fuller development, carried on to the presexes from the various Austrian provinces might receive sent time. That its advancement has been in no wise instruction in singing, in declamation, instrumental behind that of similar institutions in other countries is music, practical thorough bass, in composition, in mainly owing to the disinterested zeal of those men who languages, and other collateral subjects. Works of have, for very inadequate remuneration, devoted their classical repute, already in existence, were to be per-professional talents and experience to the artistic educaformed under the auspices of the Society, partly in order tion of their successors. to create a higher standard of musical taste, and partly The course of study embraces every kind of musical thereby to awaken germs of talent in the pupils, and to education except the organ, for which, unfortunately, excite in them the desire of obtaining similar distinction space has hitherto been wanting. There is a singing in musical composition, in which they would be en-class for boys, one for girls, two for the pianoforte, three couraged by rewards from the association to such an for the violin, and one each for the violoncello, double extent as its means would allow. bass, flute, clarionet, horn, trumpet, trombone, &c., in addition to thorough bass, composition, recitation in German and the Italian languages. The study of acoustics, the history of music, and other collateral subjects, for which competent teachers could have been obtained free of expense, were, however desirable, omitted for want of sufficient accommodation. For the last ten years the annual number of pupils has been very entirely gratuitous instruction; besides these, from 40 to 50 have each year been refused admission for lack of space. There have also always been among the students some who have been received into the Conservatoire on special grounds-such as military bandsmen, pupils from the asylums for the blind, &c. The annual results of the instruction given are brought into notice through public examinations, which, more especially of late years, have been remarkably well attended. The concerts given by the pupils, under the able direction of Herr Hellmesberger, gave evidence-not only of their marked advance in individual proficiency, but also of the advantage derived from their practising in concert.

In 1816 the Association found itself in a position to warrant its proceeding with such an undertaking. Hofrath von Mosel, being requested to draw up a scheme for this purpose, at once undertook the task, and on his plan the course of study was based. It having been laid down as a principle that all the pupils, even those who intended to devote themselves in future to instrumental music, should previously receive instruction in singing-nearly 200, of whom more than two-fifths received a school for singing was in the first instance organized, and opened on the 1st of August, 1817. In 1819 the violin school was opened, and as the pupils in the singing school had already made considerable progress in their elementary studies, and it became necessary that they should receive instruction in the more advanced stages (which is of an essentially different nature), a third class was instituted for those among the female students whose talents and assiduity held out a promise of higher development. In 1821 the course of study pursued had been attended with such success, that the association began to think of enlarging the establishment, and in order to meet the largely-increasing outlay found it necessary to invite a special subscription, and several liberal patrons put down their names for various amounts for a term of six years. In 1823 the pupils had already made such progress that it was resolved on holding an examination in presence of the assembled members and the public generally, and it was accordingly held in the hall of the Lower Assembly.

An unexpected opportunity for bringing the pupils of the Conservatoire into public notice occurred in 1825, owing to the closing of the Court theatre adjoining the Kärntnerthor. Permission was granted for the performance of two concerts, which were given on the 30th October and 9th November, and met with general approbation. In the same year the students were presented, in the great hall of the society, to its illustrious patron, his Imperial Highness the Cardinal Archduke Rodolph. It was resolved, in order to excite the emulation of the students, to distribute premiums among such of them as showed the greatest proficiency, partly in the form of silver medals, and partly in useful musical works.

The progress made by the Conservatoire induced all those who had given a year's subscription to promise a continuance of the same.

Up to the year 1830 the operations of the Institute were carried on in hired premises, until at length the society, having attained a recognised position, was enabled, by the liberal assistance of its patrons, to acquire possession of the house No. 558, Unter den Tuchlauben, and to undertake the necessary additions thereto. The pupils were now enabled to practise in concert in the music-hall of the Society, their exercises becoming thereby of additional interest. Public performances were given regularly from 1831 till 1847, the proceeds from which were applied partly in establishing scholarships for the more talented pupils and partly to charitable purposes. On two occasions (on the 29th March, 1837, and the 21st of the same month in 1847) the students had the honour of performing in the presence f the Imperial Court. After a short interruption,

Had it not been for the liberal support all along accorded to the Conservatoire by its illustrious patrons, it would have been impossible for the society, notwithstanding the most strenuous efforts, and notwithstanding the unceasing self-devotion of the professors, to have placed it on an established foundation. In this respect it must ever hold in cherished remembrance one of its earliest patrons-the late Archduke Cardinal Rodolph, who, himself an accomplished amateur, took through life a deep interest in its success, after whose lamented decease his illustrious brother, the Archduke Anthony Victor, was graciously pleased to undertake its protectorate, and accorded to it numerous liberal tokens of his favour. The society has also to be deeply thankful to his Majesty the Emperor Ferdinand the First for an annual contribution, for three years, of 3,000 florins from the Imperial Treasury, granted in 1842, and afterwards extended for three years in addition, that is to say, till 1848; and since 1851 it has been in receipt, through the favour of the Emperor Francis Joseph the First, of a like annual amount up to the present time. In consider ation of the advantages derived from the Conservatoire, the Common Council of Vienna, in the year 1851, voted an annual subscription of 2,000 florins, since extended for a term of six years, besides special gifts, which the Society for its general utility, has received on various occasions from members of the Imperial family, as well as from the Emperor's privy purse, and the liberality of private amateurs.

This document concludes with a list of 130 vocalists and instrumentalists, of greater or less note in the musi cal world, who received their education in the Con

servatoire.

vice-president, and 12 members, elected for three years, The society is governed by a president, but re-eligible. The Conservatoire is divided into the administrative branch and the artistic branch. The former is governed by a "referent" and 24 inspectors of the different schools into which the Conservatoire is classed; the latter by an artistic director and 23 profes