The Romish church has rendered chemistry available in connexion with one of its prodigies, the so-called blood of St. Januarius. A substance is shown to the deluded worshippers in a phial, appearing in a congealed state; but, as masses are performed by the priests, it becomes fluid. The illusion practised in this case may, however, be easily effected by reddening sulphuric ether with orchanet, the _onosma_ of Linnæus, and then saturating the tincture with spermaceti. This preparation is solid at ten degrees above the freezing point, and melts and boils at twenty degrees. Let the phial which contains it when coagulated, be held in the hand for a few minutes, and the temperature of the substance rises, and it becomes fluid. Even the warmth of a public assembly is sufficient for this purpose. Marcus, the chief of one of the sects in the second century, who wished to amalgamate with Christianity the doctrines and rules of pagan rites, filled with white wine three cups of transparent glass; and, while he was praying, the liquid in one of the cups became like blood; in another, of a purple colour; and in the third, sky-blue. But these effects might easily be produced by chemical action. Professor Beyruss, at the court of the duke of Brunswick, promised that his white dress should become red during a repast; and the change took place, to the astonishment of the prince and his guests. M. Vogel, who relates this fact, does not reveal the means employed; but observes that, by pouring lime-water on the juice of beet-root, a colourless liquid is obtained, that a piece of cloth dipped in it and quickly dried becomes red in a few hours by the contact of the air alone; and that this effect may be accelerated in a room where champagne and other beverages charged with carbonic acid gas are abundantly used. Still more rapidly might the chance be effected in some temple, in the midst of rising incense and burning torches; and the veil which covered things deemed sacred, might thus have been seen to change from white to the colour of blood--a presage of fearful disasters.