Sydney Morning Herald (NSW : 1842 - 1954), Monday 8 January 1900, page 3


OUR VIENNA LETTER.

VIENNA, Nov. 23.

DIFFICULTIES OF THE GOVERNMENT.

The Austrian Parliament which was sent

home because of the violent obstruction going on in it is again sitting regularly, if not accom-plishing much. The merit of its working belongs to the new Premier, Count Clary, who is at the head of a neutral non-political Cabinet d'affairs. The Conservative majority, with Tzechs and Poles as its most important fractions, naturally desires a Ministry from among its own ranks, although no such Ministry has ever been able to last. So from discontent they openly and secretly oppose the Ministry, carrying on a thinly veiled obstruction. The majority finds Count Clary too strictly constitutional in spirit, and dis-approves of his first act, which was solemnly to declare that he would never employ the ill-famed emergency clause 14 of the Constitution, which the last Prime Minister, Count Thun, applied in such an unconstitutional way. He, it will be remembered, ignoring Parliament, governed by the strength of that clause, by means of it sanctioning the Budget, the prolongation of the treaty with Hungary, and other most impor-tant measures. On the House's reassembling a motion was brought in for the total abolition or curtailment of that clause, but the reactionary majority, despite the fact that the unlimited application of the clause made the Aus-trian Parliament superfluous, tried to frustrate the motion by procrastination. It appears but too probable that the present neutral Premier's declaration that he would never apply the clause unconstitutionally will prove the death-warrant of his Ministry. The Poles and Tzechs lose no opportunity of trying to overthrow him. The other day the Commission for the Control of the Public Debt, in which the Right has a majority of one vote, declined to deliver the 59 million florins in gold, which the Government, in accor-dance with the provisions of the Ausgleich had to hand over to the Austro-Hungarian Bank. As the time for it is now quite near, the Government is greatly embarrassed. Thus, Count Clary's Cabinet is being relentlessly driven to use clause 14 or to resign. The situation has become so difficult that the Emperor himself has interfered, and is summoning to him one after the other of the leading members of the majority, and im-pressing on them the fact that at present only a neutral non-political Cabinet is possible. In the past, whenever the Emperor made such a direct appeal to those concerned, his influence always sufficed to remove the difficulty, and it is to be hoped that it will do so this time.

GOETHE'S LAST LOVE.

At Teplitz, in Bohemia, took place on the 12th instant the death of a person who is famous in German literature without over having been an author, or even the relative of one, namely Goethe's last love, the Baroness Ulrike von Leve-tow. The greatest German poet and lover was already 73 years old when he fell passionately in love with her, then a girl of 18, but endowed with a surpassing charm of body and mind. To his enthusiastic admiration of Ulrike the Gorman people owe the " Trilogy of Passion," which the still youthful poet of 73 wrote after meet-ing her at Marienbad and Karlsbad when a girl of 18 summers. The violent attachment which the " Olympian " conceived for the charming maid filled her soul with a noble pride that never left her till her death at the great ago of 95. Her whole soul and being were devoted to Goethe's memory. She never married, and even in her last days her thoughts and feelings were still occupied with the remembrance of what befell her in her 19th year. Notwithstanding her advanced age she never lost her mental freshness, nor the myste-rious charm that took the poet captive, any more than a sense of the beautiful and the piety with which she treasured Goethe's memory. For many years all who sought to throw fresh light on his life were wont to make Teplitz their Mecca, where they sought out his captivator to hear from her lips what manner of man he was. Her en-during fame rests not on aught she did, but solely

on what she was.

RELIEF PHOTOGRAPHS.

The Viennese photographer, Herr Pietzner, is reported to have achieved an important success in the application of photography to the produc-tion of reliefs. It is long since the first efforts in this direction were made by some now forgot-ten person. At the Paris Universal Exhibition of 1867 were shown reliefs in the preparation of which photography had been used, but the pro-cedure was really a failure. Since then many have tried to turn to account in this direction the swelling of gelatine. But they did not really produce plastic reliefs. Only the other day came

from Berlin the news that Herr Selke there had discovered a process that he called " Photosculp-ture," but it did not fully answer. Now, how-ever, it appears that Herr Pietzner has succeeded in solving the really difficult problem. The other day he showed several persons the objects in re-lief made by means of the photograph camera by his own process, which he has named " Plasto-graphy." Some of the reliefs are after living models, others after paintings, drawings, &c. They are declared to be genuine art-industrial products. Selke's process did not go beyond fix-ing the contours of numerous parallel longitudinal sections of the model, leaving the detail to be put in by hand. Plastography, on the other hand, which for its part also is based on the swelling of glue, reproduces all the detail and even fine

shades.

All that is needed afterwards is the insertion of a few very fine touches, as for instance to bring out the drapery more clearly than it was in the photograph serving as a pattern. The new process is expected greatly to cheapen reliefs, and to constitute a new branch of art industry. At present the plate for a scarfpin, after Char-pentier, costs some 35,000fr.—a high figure, which we may expect plastography very mate-rially to decrease without the sacrifice of the utmost fineness. The reproductions Herr Pietz-ner showed the visitors to his studio were in metal, plaster, wax, china, &c. They were of very divers characters, including an excellent por-trait of the Emperor, the lines and detail remind-ing the beholder of the best French work, also the reproduction of Dupuis's " Wave, " both in metal and on vases of the most modern styles. Then he showed reproductions after paintings by the cele-brated Austrian painter Makart, and after other modern masters, both portraits and other pictures. Of great interest were the fittings for doors and furniture in the English style, which are very im-portant for art-industry. Their clean, smooth lines met with much appreciation. Pietzner's process serves likewise for the production of plates for embossing leather, wall-paper, bookcovers, name plates, and many similar things. The new pro-cess seems likely to make the hand production of such things dispensable, and consequently very considerably to reduce their price ; and for the commercial exploitation of the process a firm has

been formed in Vienna.

NEW ROENTGEN RAYS.

A new kind of Roentgen ray seems to have been discovered very recently. At the meeting of the Chemical-Physical Society held in Vienna the other day Herr Stefan Meyer and Dr. von Schweidler made some very interesting experi-

ments with the newly-discovered element " radium." That element gives off rays very similar to, but weaker, than the Roentgen rays. The former, like the latter, produce a distinctly discernible fluorescence, and they can even pene-trate aluminium and other metals—even rather thick lead. Another important quality of radium is its making the air conductive for electricity.

The first public demonstration of the properties of radium took place before the Society of Phy-sicists at Munich quite recently, and now they have been shown to a number of scientists in Vienna. They were carried on in a perfectly dark room. The first thing shown was a screen coated with cyanide of barium platinum, and radium produced fluorescence on it. The light given off was visible at a distance of about two metres, and much resembled that of the glowworm. The in-sertion of an aluminium plate slightly weakened the effect, while copper and iron did so still more, but the phosphorescent light remained visible to those near. Then some radium was placed near an electroscope, and the resultant effect shown on a white screen on the wall. All the experiments showed that the new element really possesses the qualities ascribed to it.

AN AIR SHIP.

It seems a very far cry from the besieged Kimberley to the peaceful Lake of Constance ; while between keeping the Boers at bay and a new aeronautic apparatus surely there ap-pears no connection. But yet the connec-tion is a real one, for to the defender of that South African town, Colonel Baden-Powell, we owe some of the few particulars as yet published concerning Count Zeppelin's great air-ship, now about complete in a workshop on the Lake of

Constance. It is said that the first trials with the apparatus will take place very shortly indeed. Though little is positively known about the in-vention, wonderful things are told of it. The preparations are said to be quite complete, and the filling of the balloon has begun. The first thing will be to test its steering capacity, to see if it will sail against a strong head wind, or even a breeze. The new air-ship is a self-propelling balloon of novel size and shape. It is to be lifted and supported by the air, its own efforts being confined to the production of only horizontal motion. The entire structure is said to be as large as a first-class man-of-war, its enormous frame-work is entirely of aluminium, and the whole looks like one huge balloon, which in fact it is, but with fifteen smaller balloons inside it, on the principle of the water-tight compartments of a ship. So the bursting of one, or even several, of the inner balloons would merely detract from its relative lightness, and in nowise produce a fall. Its engines are expected to drive it 22 miles an hour. So light is the whole that it is anticipated it will carry ten thousand kilogrammes, which would make it possible to take with one all that was necessary for several days' uninterrupted sail through the air. The cost of the aeronautic argosy is believed to have been about £70,000.

The correspondents of English and American papers are said to have chartered steamers to take them about the lake on the occasion of the trial trip, the larger ones for journalists and photo-graphers, the smaller as despatch boats to carry messages to the nearest telegraph office. The balloon has been constructed in a workshop about 500 metres from the shore, of the Lake of Con-stance, from which sheet of water the first ascent will be made. It has been decided to start from the water so as entirely to prevent damage to the expensive apparatus. In this way, even the cars, which are fixed by means of aluminium rods, and not by cords, will not be damaged. On the trial trip it is proposed that only Count Zeppelin, his manager Director Ruebler, and two assistants should make the ascent, the remaining necessary weight being made up by ballast.

THE WINTER FASHIONS.

So mild has been the prolonged fine weather in Vienna this autumn that it is only out of respect

for the calendar that we are now speaking of winter and writing of winter fashions, which in-deed have hardly as yet been so much as aired. Although those charming autumns are very wel-come to the general public, for the tradesmen they are a misfortune, as no one will invest in expen-sive furs or elaborately fur-trimmed outdoor garments merely as ornaments. Consequently the heavy Astrachan, Persian, and seal skin capes have as yet had but a poor sale. On the other hand fur boleros, spencers, and wide many-tailed boas, worn with tailor-made costumes, have been very much patronised.

Some of these boleros are very dainty articles, composed of Persian or seal skin, with wide sable or chinchilla revers. They are frequently lined with ermine, and this mixture of furs in the small jackets is very successful. A few long ermine boas are worn, but as a rule the darker skins, such as skunk, marten, or sable, are pre-ferred, the rich tails being more effective than those of the ermine. These boas form a handsome finish to the winter toilettes. The expense of real fur causes many cheap imitations.

The skating toilettes of cloth or velvet are ex-tensively trimmed with real fur. They now take an important place, as now and admirably ar-ranged skating places have been enclosed in Vienna for this popular amusement. The ice lakes are of great size, and the shelter and re-freshment rooms in every way suitable.

The winter costumes are out in redingote, princess, or pinafore form, the double skirt taking the lead. There is an evident attempt to enlarge the narrow, pocketless skirt this season. Hip pleats are placed at the back, and though the process is gradual there is no doubt that next spring will see much wider skirts than those worn this year. The skirts set in yoke pieces have a good effect, especially when they end in serpen-tine volants. Much application embroidery in satin and cloth is used for day toilettes, as well as for outdoor jackets and paletots. Handsome stitched bands of a paler shade are sold with the dress materials ; they have several straight lines or waved lines of stitching in silk. These bands form a foot trimming, or simulate a tunic or ridingote.

The greatest attention is, of course, now be-stowed upon the preparation of ball and evening robes, many of them being extremely graceful. They are generally made with embroidered tunics in gauze, tulle, or lace over silk foundations. The overskirt is elaborately embroidered in a tinsel, jet, or pailetted design, and the tunic, which is out in endless forms, is then finished with a deep fringe. The sleeves in long or elbow-length form are transparent, piped, ribbed, or tucked, while the tulle bodice is plain and draped across to the side. Among the many tunic models, we may mention a princess tunic of fraise satin, deeply scolloped at the decolletage, and edged throughout with a deep fringe and network border, above which a floral application design in

fraise muslin followed the border. The under-skirt, in fluted fraise muslin, is placed over a silk foundation in the same colour. Another charm-ing princess tunic, composed of yellowish Irish lace, had a deep point in front, and through the openings of the lace narrow black velvet ribbon was run in rosettes. A tunic of reddish lace over a white silk slip with a deep serpentine volant was also very effective. Fringes, embroidered designs, and network in chenille and jet are among the favourite trimmings for evening toi-lettes ; narrow rouleaux of fur sometimes follow designs in coarse lace or guipure.

Some of the blouse bodices for evening wear are

really admirable. A model in peach satin which fastened behind was partly covered with a bolero of white tulle embroidery in coloured silks. A large bow of velvet was placed upon the bust ;

the narrow bolt was of peach satin. Another of pale silk was hooked at the left shoulder and side seams, and was finished with a lovely braided border. Thick pipings of the silk crossed the yoke and the upper part of the sleeves ; the cravat and belt were of a darker shade of velvet. A third bodice of ochre silk muslin was made with diagonal tucks, alternating with side insertions of lace ; it was fastened at the side with velvet straps to strass buttons.

Some lovely tea-gowns are being made up, the materials employed being cashmere in white and zinc, figured foulards, with cerise, capucine, mastic, and ochre grounds, old pink velorites, and lovely foulards with white and pale grounds strewn with brilliant sprays of flowers or berries here and there. Deep lace or velvet collars on very deep yokes are made with them. The bodice usually is overhung, or at least pouched. A velvet waist-belt or a deeply fringed sash forms a pretty finish. Where no collar is seen a sort of half bolero, deeply fringed,

fastens at the side.

Lace, which is even employed for long outdoor velvet and cloth mantles, being a very fashion-able trimming now, is placed in insertion from between bands of fur. The long paletots and capes have not yet become general here. Those long paletots which are worn are generally made of livery drab cloth, in sac form, adorned with two rows of enormous flat pearl buttons. The shorter jacket is half length, with half loose fronts, are much more patronised in Vienna, allowing, as they do, of so much elaborate braid-ing and application, which far better suits the taste of the Viennese than anything so decidedly plain as a long sac paletot merely stitched at the edges and pockets.

The winter gaieties have as yet scarcely com-menced, but dancing and probably a gay carnival will follow the New Year, when the musical and

theatrical life of Vienna will begin in earnest.

For the sake of the dainty skating costumes it is to be hoped that we shall have more ice this

winter than we had last.