Medallion bust to right in central circle, with numeral of value on each side, and on the lower edge a curved label bearing value in words; in large oblong ornamented disk with arched inscription, U. S. POSTAGE above, in white embossed letters, and NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS in dark sunken letters below; in lower margin beneath the disk, SEC. 38, ACT OF CONGRESS APPROVED MARCH 3RD, 1863, and in the upper corners large embossed figures of value. Col. imp.; large rect. (33 in. by 24 in.)

5 cents (profile of Washington) dark-blue.

10 cents (profile of Franklin) green. 25 cents (profile of Lincoln) red.

circ.

Red.

Blue.

White.

Tuscany.

JOURNAL STAMP.

Value inclosed in circular frame, inscribed

BOLLO STRAORDINARIO PER LE POSTE.

Blk. imp.

2 soldi black.

green. dull-rose.

Uruguay.

DILIGENCIA.

1856.-Variety with upper and lower marginal borders wider, side pattern different, and sun's rays fewer in number.

60 c. blue.

stamps is placed under the control of the state, but yet forms a special enterprise.

The printing-house is established at the Hotel des Monnaies, at the bottom of a backyard, in an unoccupied wing. In these workshops, modestly installed in a place. built for another purpose, a million-and-aquarter of stamps are daily produced by the sixty workmen who scarcely suffice for the labour.

In visiting the different departments, we first enter the office of the director, where, before the large and sombre window, M. Hulot, burin in hand and lens to eye, is engraving the type of the new 5-franc stamp.

This stamp differs entirely from the others; double the size, twice as long as it is high, it resembles a liliputian bank-note, and bears in large characters the figure 5 and the letter F. to the right and left of the laureated head. This stamp is intended only to frank packets for foreign countries.

The types of the other stamps are engraved by M. Barré. They are all henceforth to bear a laureated head of the EmThose of one and five centimes will peror. have large figures of value like the present 2 c. and 4 c. Lastly, the stamps of 10, 20, 30, 40, and 80 centimes will only differ from the present emission in having the [laurel] crown placed on the Emperor's brow, and in the more exact resemblance of the portrait.

The stamps of our colonies and those of Greece issue from the same ateliers, whence also an emission for Guatamala is being prepared.

The types of all these stamps are composed of different pieces: the central figure, the framework, the lettering, the figures indicating the value, are all separate and moveable. By this means a stamp of a fresh value can be obtained by changing the numerals and without engraving a new type. The pieces which compose the type being put together, a matrix is obtained from them by the galvanoplastic method, or indeed as many matrices as may be required. Three hundred such matrices being placed together, a single plate is moulded from them, from which the stamps are printed.

The sheets on which the stamps are printed are subjected to four successive operations.

They are first entirely coated by means of a cylindrical press with a white ink, the composition whereof is a secret, and the result of its application is that, should a counterfeiter attempt to transfer the design to a lithographic stone, the two inks would mingle, and the design would become blurred and indistinct.

In the press-room twelve powerful presses are constantly at work, the men having upon marble tables before them the different coloured inks (the preparations of some of which are kept secret), and it is curious to see the little rectangles lying about in thousands fresh and glistening, and bearing the profile of the sovereign in every shade.

Our attention is next arrested by the spectacle of the sheets being gummed, which is done by the hand with a brush quite simply; but the adhesive mixture which is used is excellently adapted for the purpose, and is more mysterious in its composition than the inks used for printing the stamps. The sheets are then dried on screens piled one above another.

The last operation is that of perforating the stamps, so that they may be separated from each other without using an edged tool. Descending into the fourth workroom, established on the ground floor, we there find the sheets divided into half-sheets-each containing 150 stamps. Five of these half-sheets are placed close together in a frame by some boys, who suffice for the intelligent portion of the work -the heavy part being done by machinery.

The frame containing the sheets is placed under the piercing apparatus with the greatest care and precision; and at each turn of the machine a row of stamps is separated from the next by three hundred fine denticulations. The line of teeth advances over row upon row of the stamps; and when the sheets are entirely pierced, returns, by a combination of pulleys, to the hands of the workman.

Lastly, the government officials receive the stamps, destroy those which show any imperfection, and forward the rest to the central administration of posts. The stamps are sold to the government at the rate of 90 centimes (9d.) per thousand.

The Paris newspaper, Galignani, in giving a brief summary of the above, falls into the

strange, incomprehensible blunder of stating the third process to be, not that of gumming, but of touching-up the stamps. It says, 'There is a portion of the operation which, after printing, is entirely effected by the hand; this consists in laying on certain specks of colour with a brush.' The absurdity of this is apparent; it is about as sensible as to say that after a newspaper has been printed, the letters and words impressed are perfected with a few pen and ink touches by the press

man.

The statement respecting the manufacture of Guatemala stamps must be taken cum grano salis. It may be true; but it is more probably the result of a misunderstanding on the part of the visitor to the establishment. That respecting an entire new issue of French stamps is more probably correct, and the intelligence will be welcomed by philatelists.

THE POST-OFFICE UNDER THE

CALIPHS.

THE post-office during the reign of the caliphs constituted an independent branch of the administration, and the officer entrusted with it, being in immediate communication with the caliph himself, occupied a position which according to modern ideas must have been equal to that of prime minister. Its chief business did not consist, as with us, in the conveyance of letters, but in the control and collection of all public news in the kingdom. The postmaster-general had agents in every town, who collected and sent him all public information, which he in his turn reported to the caliph, either at length, or in an abridged form. It is recorded that Caliph Mamun, (who died A. D., 833), felt so much pleasure in hearing news, that in addition to the usual officers, he kept a number of old women of Bagdad in his pay, in order that his court might be regularly supplied with all the town gossip.

It seems pretty certain that the post under the caliphs did not go out at any stated time, but only when there were government despatches or noblemen's letters to be forwarded. The letters of private individuals had to wait for one of these opportunities. Merchants had to make their own arrangements. In Arabia and