'
At last, steam communication with Australia seems about to become a
reality, for the first vessel is announced to start in May for Sydney,
to touch at the Cape and other colonies on her way out; and
accommodation is promised for two hundred passengers of different
classes. There is also a project on foot for a line of steamers from
Panama to Australia, and to Valparaiso, which, if brought into
operation, will make a voyage round the world little more than a
bagman's journey. Apropos of Australia, Mr Clarke, who first predicted
that gold would be found in that country, says, 'that just 90 degrees
west of the auriferous range in Australia, we find an auriferous band
in the Urals; and just 90 degrees west of the Urals, occur the
auriferous mountains of California.' A speculation for cosmogonists.
In our own country, we are finding metalliferous deposits: vast
accumulations of lead-ore have come to light in Wales, which are said
to contain six ounces of silver, and fifteen hundredweight of lead to
the ton; and in Northamptonshire, an abundant and timely supply of
iron-ore has just been met with. We might perhaps turn our metallic
treasures to still better account, if some one would only set to work
and win the prize offered by Louis Napoleon; namely, 'a reward of
50,000 francs to such person as shall render the voltaic pile
applicable, with economy, to manufactures, as a source of heat, or to
lighting, or chemistry, or mechanics, or practical medicine.
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