If the Chinese are not manufacturers, they are, nevertheless, gas consumers and employers on a large scale; and have evidently been so, ages before the knowledge of its application was acquired by Europeans. Beds of coal are frequently pierced by the borers of salt water; and the inflammable gas is forced up in jets twenty or thirty feet in height. From these fountains, the vapour has been conveyed to the salt-works in pipes, and there used for the boiling and evaporation of the salt; other tubes convey the gas intended for lighting the streets, and the larger apartments and kitchens. As there is still more gas than is required, the excess is conducted beyond the limits of the salt-works, and forms separate chimneys or columns of flame. A singular counterpart to this employment of natural gas, is witnessed in the valley of the Kanawha, in Virginia. The origin, the means of supply, the application to all the processes of manufacturing salt, and of the appropriation of the surplus for the purposes of illumination, are remarkably alike at such distant points as China and the United States. It has sometimes been stated of a departed person, that a luminous appearance was observed to rest upon, and occasionally to surround, a corpse. Such an effect has been described as supernatural--a Divine attestation to extraordinary excellence; and, doubtless, Roman Catholics have made the most of such circumstances in reference to those whom they have denominated saints, and to whom a place has been assigned in their calendar. And yet there was no departure in any such instance from the ordinary laws of nature. Sir H. Marsh, in an essay on “The Evolution of Light from the Human Subject,” states, that electric sparks have been known to issue from the skin of some individuals when rubbed lightly and quickly with a linen cloth. Not only has this physician heard of such cases, but two had actually come under his observation. He was led to consider the subject by the following statement made to him. “About an hour and-a-half before my sister’s death, we were struck by appearances proceeding from her head, in a diagonal direction. She was, at the time, in a half-recumbent position, and perfectly tranquil. The light was pale as the moon, but quite evident to mamma, myself, and sisters, who were watching over her at the time. One of us, at first, thought that it was lightning; till, shortly after, we fancied we perceived a sort of tremulous glimmer playing round the head of the bed; and then, recollecting that we had read something of a similar nature having been observed previous to dissolution, we had candles brought into the room, fearing our dear sister would perceive it, and that it might disturb the tranquillity of her last moments.”