Literature.

the enliro receipts of the Paris theatres from Jlay , IS ; " !) , to April , 1 SCO , amounted to more than ten million' ; of francs , oi- about £ -11 -l ., fiR 0 ; of this stun , £ ' 12 , 82-1 went into the authors' pockets . But , besides this , the fortunate writers and composers obtained lo , Kof . from the theatres outside Paris , 198 , 150 f . from the provinces , and Hi , S 25 f . from abroad ; making up the sum to £ 52 , 0 S 0 . Of the Paris theatres , the Opera Coniiquc , the Theatre Francais , and the Porte Saint Martin contributed

tho largest sums—or respectively , in round thousands , 130 , 98 , and 95 ; the lowest sum contributed by any of tho recognized Paris theatres was 26 , GS 2 f ., or £ 1 , 06-1 . The run of the Due Job at the Francais will give some idea of the value of a prize iu the dramatic lottery here ; this piece was played the other day for the 99 th time , and must have produced already , according to a standard derived from the above figures , more than £ 1 , 300 to the fortunate author . The Secretary of tho society said

that Belgium was the only country where literary treaties are loyally carried out ; with-England the case is very different . He then lashes your theatrical botchers in good style . " In England , " said he , ' ' certain literary men , begging pardon for such an application of the title ,

impudently take j'oiu- works and appropriate them to their own use . Translation is prohibited , but imitation in good faith is allowed . This is what good faith means in England . They take one of your pieces , they change the names of the characters , and the locality of Vie scenes . This done they are imitators in good faith , aud , although they translate literally , evade the text of the treaty . These pretended imitators , these gentlemen of the road , fatten themselves at your expense , without even

leaving to you ( the French authors ) the crumbs from their tables . " This is but too well deserved , aud , if it had been twice as severe , ive must have exclaimed with the Sydney jury , " Served them right . " " Memorials of Thomas Hood , " collected , arranged , and edited by his daughter , preface and notes by his son , are in the press of Mr . Moxon . Alexander the Great ( says a Paris letter ) is ouoe more on the brine ; or , in other words , Dumas Pere embarked ou Thursday last on board his

yacht Monte Christo , at Marseilles for Genoa . Before quitting , he delivered a glowing speech to his crew , and to as many more people as might by accident be within heaving , which was received with thunders of applause . This is not a bad mode of advertisement ; at any rate it is the manner adopted by M . Alexandre Dumas , and he finds his advantage in it .

Wo have to record the demise of the distinguished Swedish anatomist and ethnologist , Andreas Rctzius , Professor of Anatomy and Physiology at the Royal Caroline Institute , Stockholm . He expired , at the age of sixty-four , on the 18 th of April . He was the son of Prof . Retzius of Lund , graduated in 1 S 19 , and soon after was attached as Anatomical Lecturer to the Veterinary Institution in Stockholm , He received the appointment , which he held to the period of his decease , at the Caroline

Institute in 1830 . He is the author of numerous Anatomical aud Physiological Monograghs ; among ivhieh , the one descriptive of the Crania of Ancient Scandinavian Baces , in which the attention of ethnologists is especially called to the modifications of the skull , defined by Prof . Betzius as "dolichocephalic" and "brachyeepbalie , " has perhaps , made his name most generally known in scientific and literary circles iu tins country .

The Itev . Charles Hodgson , Rector of Barton-le-Sti-eet , Yorkshire , has offered prizes o £ £ 50 , £ 20 , £ 10 , and £ 5 respectively , for essays " On the . best Method of Infusing a Missionary Spirit into the Education of the Young . " These essays , the competition for which is entirely unrestricted , must be calculated to awaken the interest of teachers in tho progress of Christian missions , and suggest to them tho best practical measures for seeming the cordial , co-operation of their pupils . The Bev .

~ W . AV . Champuoys , M . A ., Canon of St . Paul ' s , London , the Bev . C . R . Alford , M . A ., Principal of tho Metropolitan Training Institution , Highbury , London , and the Rev . J . Ciabb , B . A ., Domestic Chaplain to the Earl of Carlisle , Castle Howard , Yorkshire , have consented to become the adjudicators . The successful essays arc to remain the property of the Rev . Charles Hodgson , and will be printed for circulation amongst the managers of schools and the instructors of youth . Mr . Hodgson is

District Secretary of the Church Missionary Society for Yorkslure . It is amusing to read foreigners ' , and especially Frenchmen's , account of London . One comic writer gives us to-day the impressions of his supposed residence iu the English metropolis during the last six months or so . He speaks of the May fay files as a kind of votive offering to spring ; talks of youths surrounded with boughs dancing in the streets , and says the display is highly picturesque . He has evidently not tho most remote notion , poor man , that the dreary exhibition is any way connected with the useful fraternity of chimney sweeps , Loudon , ho

says , is-plunged in a douse fog for six months , and the people attend to nothing but money making , by which alone they keep off the spleen . The streets , after five or six o ' clock , he says , are entirely deserted , except by a stray artisan , a drunkard , and a few unfortunates . But his account of a metropolitan Sunday presents the best idea of his power of observation aud his accuracy : He says that he asked a gentleman how the English " spent the Sabbathwhen the latter replied that they rose

, late in the morning , went to church , dined at two o ' clock , took tea at five , and wont to bed between six and seven . JSTOW as our good friend the traveller says he spent six months in London , he might have added the testimony of his own experience to the truth of this description . It is amazing how wonderfully well writers in tho press here are acquainted with England . '

Tho Zoological Society met on the 8 th May , E . W . H . Holdsworth , Esq ., in the chair . Mr . W . Goodwin pointed out the characters of a new species of paradise bird , a female of which was in his own collection , and a male in the British Museum , and proposed to call it Para ' disco , Bartletti , after Mr . Bartlett , from whom he had originally obtained his specimen . Dr . Crisp read a paper " On the oil glands of birds , " and exhibited drawings aud preparations illustrative of the structure of these

organs . Mr . Sclater called the Society ' s attention to the fine series ot strutliious birds in the society's gardens , embracing nine distinct species , and pointed out the characters of the new emu from Western Australia ( Dmnmis irroratus ) , and a third species of cassowary , ivhieh he proposed to name Casiutrius bicarunculatus . Papers were read by Dr . Gray , " On new species of coralline , of the genus distichopora , from New Caledoniadescribed as D . coccinca" —and by Mr . G . E . Gray , "On the

, birds collected by Mr . Wallace , in Batehian and adjacent localities , ' among which were many new and interesting species . Mr . Sclater read some notes on the birds from Southern Mexico , contained in a collection submitted to his examination by M . Salle ; among them was particularly

noticeable a now species of hawfinch , proposed to be called . Coccothranstes maculipcnnis . Mr . Sclater also exhibited some skins of mammals , from Angola , obtained by M . Mouteiro , and called attention to an imperfect skin of a monkey , of the genus eolobus , for which the specific term Angolensis was suggested as appropriate . The Council of the Royal Society have recommended the following fifteen gentlemen for election into the Society . The election will take

place on Thursday , the 7 th of June . P . A . Abel , Esq ., T . Baring , Esq ., M . P ., J . F . Bateman , Esq ., E . Brown-Sequard , M . D ., R . C . Carrington , Esq ., F . Galton , Esq ., 3 . H . Gilbert , Esq ., Sir'AY . Jardine , Bart ., T . H . Key , Esq ., J . Lister , Esq ., The Bev . B . Main , R . W . Mylne , Esq .., R . Palmer , Esq ., Q . C ., J . T . Quekett , Esq ., E . Smith , M . D . The Report of tlie Council of the Royal Astronomical Society gives the following account of astronomical progress . In the ordinary

operations of the Royal Observatory , Greenwich , very little change has taken place since tho preceding year . The observations are precisely of the same character as before , and the reductions have been made to keep pace with the observations . The volume of Observations for IS 58 has been very nearly passed through the press , and will be ready for publication iu a short time . The printing of the volume for 1 S 59 has commenced . The galvanic observations of the Observatory have been carried on without material alteration ; but considerable difficulty has

been experienced in keeping up the time communication along the lines of railway and for the drop of tho Deal ball , on account of the bad state of the wires leading from the Observatory to the Leivisham station of the North Kent Railway . Those wires pass underground , and the difficulty of examining and repairing them is found to be so great , that preparations aro being made for carrying another set above ground across tho Park and through the town to the station of the Greenwich

Railway . It has been the custom at tho Royal Observatory , since tho year 1835 , at the end of every sixth year to collect tho results of the observations of stars and of tho sun during the preceding period of six years , and thus to form a new and independent star catalogue , with independent place of equinox . The fourth of these six-yearly periods expires with tho termination of 1859 ; but as there is reason to think that in the course of another year the observations necessary for forming

a complete catalogue of stars of the fifth magnitude visible at Greenwich may be finished , the Astronomer Royal has decided to defer the preparation of the new or seven-year catalogue to the close of the year 1800 . The printing of the reduction of the Greenwich Lunar Observations from 1831 to 1851 ( in continuation of the reductions from 1750 to 1 S 30 , and on the same general system of calculations and the same elements of tables , as far as circumstances permitted ) is now advancing . The principal object in these reductions AYas , to deliver the