Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

CHARLES I . —ART PATRON AND COLLECTOR . Charles is said not only to have loved painting , but to have practised it . It is affirmed that Rubens corrected some of his Majesty's drawings . It is known that the king ' s mother-in-law , Mary de Medicis , designed well . It was immediately after his accession that Charles began to form his collection . The Crown was already in possession of some good pictures . Henry Vtll . had several . What painters had been here had added others . Prince

Henry , as we have before said , had begun a separate collection of paintings and statues . All these Charles assembled , and sent commissioners into France and Italy to purchase more . Cross was sent into Spain to copy the works of Titian there , and no doubt as soon as the royal taste was known many werebrought over and offered for sale at Court . The ministers and nobility were not backward with presents of the same nature . Various are the

accounts of the jewels and baubles presented to magnificent Elizibeth . In the catalogue of King Charles's collection , are recorded the names of several of the court who ingratiated themselves by offerings of p ictures and curiosities . But the noblest addition was made by the King himself . He purchased , at a great price , the entire cabinet of the Duke of Mantua , then reckoned the most valuable in Europe . But several of those pictures were

spoiled , owing , no doubt , to carelessness in packing them up . The list , valuable as it is , notwithstanding all its blunders , inaccuracy , and bad English , was , it is said , never completed , which might be owing to the sudden death of the composer . There are accounts in MS . of many more p ictures , indubitably of that collection , not mentioned in the printed catalogue . Cross , of whom we have spoken , is called by Vincentio

Carducci Michael de la Crux ; others say it was Henry Stone , jun ., who was sent to Spain . When Charles was at that Court , the King of Spain gave him a celebrated picture by Titian , called the Venus del Pardo ; and the Cain and Abel , by John of Bologna , which Charles afterwards bsstowed on the Duke of Buckingham , who placed it in York House . From Whitlock we have the following information : "In D ; cember the Qjeen was

brought to bed of a second daughter named Elizabeth . To congratulate her Majesty ' s sale delivery , the Hollanders sent hither a solemn embassy and a noble present , a large piece ol ambergris , two fair china basins , almost transparent , a curious clock , and four rare pieces of Tintoret's and Titian ' s painting . Some supposed that they did so to ingratiate them the more with our King , in regard his fleet was so powerful at sea , and they saw him resolved to maintain his right and dominion there . "

SEA WEEDS . The nature of the fructification of the lower class of plants has been , until comparatively recent times , entirely misunderstood . It was supposed that they were reproduced solely by a kind of budding process from the parent stem ; that the minute spores , which are the only obvious form of fructification in the cryptogamia , differed essentially from the seeds of the flowering plants ; and that the beautiful fertilising apparatus of stamens

and pistils in the latter class , had no representative in the former . Hence , indeed , their scientific name—Cryptogamia ( hidden marriage ) . But the researches of several eminent naturalists in this very interesting department of science , have shed a flood of light on this , hitherto , one of the most dark and untrodden of the by-paths of nature ; and , as in every other instance when the age of man is permitted to observe her secret operations ,

surpassingly wonderful and beautiful , are the processes and results thus brought-to view . Those who , even , only feel but a passing interest in natural history cannot fail to be entertained by the novel and beautiful phenomena , which are constantly presented almost before their eyes , in some of the commonest plants , which they pass heedlessly by . In no

instance is this singular mode of flowering and seeding more worthy of attention , or more within reach of observation , than in the common seaweeds of our shores . Every one who has passed any time by the sea-side is familiar with the common bladder wrack daily left on the beach in heaps by the retreating tide ; so common , indeed , is it , that in many parts of the coast it is used as a manure . We cannot do better than introduce

this familiar plant as furnishing a good example of the nature of the process of reproduction , in all the lower class of plants ; being , indeed , a member of a tribe which stands at the very portals of the vegetable kingdom . The researches of Messrs . Dccaisne and Thurtt , especially the latter , which have been made public , can be confirmed by any intelligent persons desirous of seeing for

themselves , who will readily attain the same results by following a few easy directions . A simple microscope is the only requisite for the purpose , with a magnifying power of from 50 to 100 diameters . A good Stanhope lens will do well . The datk greenish-black fronds of the bladder-wrack ( Fucits vesiculosas ) , if examined in winter , are seen to be studded at their extremities with little egg-shaped hard prominencies , consisting of nearly spherical

cavities ^ under the epidermis or skin , opening- at the surface by a minute pore . These are the receptacles . Those containing the male elements are on separate plants from those containing the female ; the latter are of the same colour as the frond ; the former yellowish brown . They must not be confounded with the air cells , which also covers the tops of the fronds . If a section be carefully made vertically , through a male receptacle , and the section

be examined by a magnifying power of 40 or 50 diameters , the cavity will be seen to be nearly filled with branching jointed hairs , bearing numerous little ovoid sacs or cells , of an orange colour , each containing a number of minute bodies , with an orange speck or granule in the centre , these minute bodies are the antlierozoa , or pollen animalcules , 'he cells in which tiny are contained corresponding to the anthers

of flowers , and hence named anthcridia . When fully iormed these cells are expelled , and collect around thc orifice of th r 5 cep , ac ' . e m tne form of an orange jelly ; and when exposed to moisture iney burst , discharging their contained antherozOids , which swim rapidly in water by the motion of a pair of long cilia or hairs attached to one xtremity . If a female receptacle be prepared in the same way and examined

, it will be seen to have a similar lining of jointed hairs , among ait hit ° which are set " several Iar S e Vlvid olive-coloured bodies , aiiacned by a short pedicle to the wall of the cavity . These are the germ parer '*/"" ' ""¦<"'• When completely developed , each consists of a transbro l ? 1 formed ° f tw 0 thin membranes , and a central opaque oliveocto " i > ° P [ es < - ' « ting marks of division into eight pirls , hence called an whirh / l " ' ien r ' pe the s l Jorangia burst , and set free the octospores , . are cxPelltd like the antheridia , and collect also into jelly-like green

Science, Art, And The Drama.

masses round the orifice of the receptacle . The outer membrane of their coat is seen to remain behind , the inner one still surrounds the octospore . If now a portion of this green jelly be collected on a needle , and placed in a few drops of sea-water , and examined by a microscope , the spore in each octospore will be seen to become spherical , and in half an hour or so the membrane bursts . The sp ires , however , are enclosed in a delicate

transparent . bag , attached to the rup ' . u-ed outer coat—the spat at which a spore is attached . In a few minv . tc : s this last envelope gives way , and the naked spDres now float about freely in the water . Now , let a minute portion of the orange-coloured jelly from the male receptacle bs introduced into the water where the spores are . The antheridia speedily burst , and discharge their contents ; the liberated antherozoa swim with vivacity by their cilia or

arms , and are soon seen to settle on the spores in great numbers . 1 he rapid vibration of their cilia causes the large spherical spores to revolve rapidly , and presents a very droll and unique appearance ; the great spheres spinning round and round , by the lashing and splashing of the little animalculx-Iike bodies for full half an hour , at the end of which time the antheroz lids seem to get tired , and drop away , one by one , leaving the spores at rest .

Now , this strange progress is precisely analagous to the well-known mode of fertilisation in flowering plants , by the action of the pollen from the anthers upon the pistil . Let these spores be examined after a lapse of 24 hours , and we shall see that each one is clothed by a transparent membrane , instead of bsing nude , as we left them . And next day we shall find the internal sphere split into hemispheres by a transverse division , and a little

rudimentary rOotlet has begun to bud out at right angles to the division— soon other divisions appear ; the little bud is now evidently a long transparent rootlet . Watching it , we see it continues to elongate , by multiplication of its case contents ; puts out fresh rootlets , which adhere to the glass and fix it firmly ; and after a few days a bundle of transparent

hairlike sprouts shoots from its summit . The whole plant now presents the appearance of one of the young sprouts which we find on rocks and stones to which growing seaweeds are attached , and if placed in a glass of sea water it will continue to vegetate for months , though it will not live very long under such circumstances . If the plant were removed to an aquarium it would grow and thrive .

CONTINENTAL GALLERY . There is now exhibiting at the above gallery selected pictures Jronl the Paris Salons , 1901 . We have , as usual , works good , bad , and indifferent . There is one artist who stands out pre-eminently from the others—Gustave Surand . "Caius Caligula , " No . 212 , is a large powerful , yet horrible , picture of great artistic merit . Another , by the same artist , is " Tempta * tion , " No . 213—which we much prefer—thoroughly French in style . We

would direct attention to Nos . 3 ; 10 , painful , yet effective ; 16 , pathetic 1 31 ; 70 , " The Virgin ' s Vision ; " 95 , A Card Party—the light effect is well managed ; 107 , Dans le jardin potager—this is a pretty wa ' . er colour j 132 , 140 , 173 , 175 , well painted Norwegian scenes ; 177 , amusing ; 260 , 271 , good sea pieces ; 290 , 291 , Taken as a whole , the exhibition will repay a visit .

THE EMPIRE THEATRE . We paid a visit last week to this theatre of varieties . First there HUS an overture , "Zanetta , " from the prolific pen of the French composer , Auber ; another selection was from "San Toy , " which is at present in the full tide of its success at Daly ' s Theatre ; there was also a portion from the last act ( Prison scene ) of the old , yet still popular , opera of " II Trovatore , " by Verdi . Then Jackson and May showed their skill as sensational

cyclists . Ihe Perez Family ( two ) did some daring things in their ladder act . Little Fred , with his acrobatic dogs , afforded much amusement . The great attraction , however , was the Ballet Divertissement entitled " Les Papillons . " This is prettily and effectively mounted ; there are some beau- tiful harmonious effects of colour in the extended wings of the butterflies . The chief part is taken by Mile . Adelina Gence , whose dancing is graceful and pleasing . The ballet is the great feature of the evening ' s entertainment .

GENERAL NOTE . Madame Auguste Christensen , of Copenhagen , is to attempt to totally abstain from food for 30 days at the Royal Aquarium , commencing on the 10 th instant . During the whole period nurses will be in attend ince , day and night , and it is intended to have a ladies' committee to watch her .

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