The Sun. — London, England, 1869-08-19 00:00:00

I-1W 42W POLICE. A FALSE COMIIirsiorSAIRE. —A t Ifarlboconz, h s tree t Police-court, a man named William Butler, was charged with assuming the dress of the corps of Commissionaires. lie had formerly belonged to the corps, and as this was the first time he had been charged,the magistrate inflicted fine of 20s. only, and costs. FORGERY BY A MERCHANT.—At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday, Robert Salisbury Saltmarsh pleaded guilty to indictments which charged him with forging two bills of exchenge. The prisoner said be had 1 een in great difficulties, and when he forged one of the bills his father was lying dead, and he had no money to bury him with. The Recorder passed a sentence of five rears' penal servitude. REAVY DAMAGES IN A BREACH OF PROMISE' CASE. ~~ 7 . 11 E POTVILL COLORADO EXPE-TITION. The two stories so circumstantially rel c,l of the Powell Colorado Expedition arc now ascertained to be wholly false. It is an extraordinary phenomenon that two men could be found to invent untruths A breach of promise case, in which heavy damages were obtained, has been tried at the Liverpool Assizes. The plaintiff was Miss Kate Fleming, a young lady 20 years cf age, the second daughter of the late Mr. Tleming, of Glasgow, a well-known accountant, who died in 1866. The defendant was Mr. James Elliott trhompson, the son of the eminent shipbuilder of Sun derland, and was 24 years of age. While Mr. Fleming's life lasted his means were good, and his daughter %vas consequently sent to a good school in Edinburgh, where she was a schoolfellow of the defendant's sister, who there became her intimate Mend. She was, therefore, Invited to stay at the Thompsons' house at Sunderland, land spent Christmas of 1865 there, and made the acquaint ance there of the defendant. In the summer of 1867 she vas asked by her friend's family to join a Continental trip, but her father having died in the meanwhile, and, con trary to expectation, having left his family in somewhat embarrassed circumstances, she was corn relied to decline the invitation from a failure of means. In the meantime she had been qt.ffered a home by her sister and her husband, a gentle man, named Acheson, and she lived with them at a residence called Windsor Lodge, near Dubiin, and some times at a shooting-box which he rented, called Kippua Park, in the county of Wicklow. Shp visited the Thcmpsons, however, again at the Christmas of 1567, spending several weeks with them there, and then it was that her engagement with the defendant occurred. She returned home in the spring of 1868, and obtained her brother-in-law's consent to the engagement, and the cor respondence then commenced. It was very voluminous, ext,ndiog into the February of the present year, and con tained in all 111 letters, but comparatively few of them evere used in court. They began in the usual gushing style, and went on so until the defendant wished to have the marriage day settled in November. But the plaintiff 'would have it put off until February. After that the cor respondence on the plaintiff's side was a trifle cooler. .133 , and by the time came for buying the furniture; and in the letters between the couple on this subject the plaintiff charged his "darling Kate" with being uncon cerned about the future. She replied that she was not so. ;11e was not so enthusiastic about getting the linen—bed or table—as he had expected. What he would seem to have wanted was to have produced a coolness on Miss ffleming's side such as existed on his own part. In this, however, he was not successful. She declared her wil )ingness to do what she could, and charged him with being cool towards her. By and by he brought matters to a consummation by a letter, in which Le said---" I re ceived your two letters, also one from Acheson. 1 am sorry to say that I am disappointed in the way this engagement of ours has turned out. I think 1 have been .deceived about many things. In linen" (there was here again much laughter, as the learned counsel read the letter) I understood you bad the greater portion -of it, and it now turns nut that everything except table napkins would have to be bought. The list of silver you have sent would not be sufficient. Acheson 'and you gave me to understand that you had the whole of it, and you have often told my sisters that you got the whole your father had, and I know he bad a great deal. How about antimacassars, &c.? (Great laughter.) You do not say anything about them, and these things you could have worked yourself had you felt at all inclined. Had I known you were making no effort to do things for yourself, I might have got my sisters to have worked them. Was it Acheson who told you to ask me for X5O to buy linen and spend tho rea aincler on yourself ? if be did he ought to think shame cif himself. I am thoroughly disgusted. I was not aware until lately that I was expected to provide cloth ring for the lady before marriage. I cannot express to you how much I- am disappointed, and I think it better for both parties if this marriage were broken off. I regret )t very much, and cannot see any prospect of happiness for the future. You ought to have dealt candidly with me." Upon this letter both Mr. Acheson anti his proteg e wrote protesting against the defendant's cruelty. Thompson wrote back asking Miss Hening whether she did not think it better under the eircuin stances for the engagement to be broken. She refused to consent. Ile then admitted that he La cooled down considerably, and rtfuEed to marry the laintiff, marrying, Ft, mi after, another lady instead. rot the defence it was urged that the defendant had not. actec so as to incur the necessity for great damages. The plaintiff vas still young, and would soon get a husband. After the summing up of his lordship, the jury deliberated for some time, and returned a verdict for the plaintiff. 'with £1,,500 damages. The Pall Mall Gazette contradicts the report I has been published in several journals that Sir Jan Tulle• fliteclao Sinclair intends to oppose lir. Traill in Caithness• calculated to cause grief and consternation without affording any visible gain or pleasure to themselves; yet many in America have been taxing their inge nuity with these tales, comparing them, showing their contradictions, their improbabilities, and the inter- nal evidence proving them to be untrue. The facts are that Colonel Powell, with his party, left Green River city on the 24th of May, encamping about seven miles down the river, after carefully subdi viding the loads of the boats so that each might have a portion of every requisite, whereby, without great inconvenience, they could afford to lose one. Hav ing ascertained that they were not overloaded, but quite manageable, they proceeded on the expedition. The names of these composing the play we gave in our is ue of July 21. About 20 miles from Henry's Fork, Colonel Powell, from whom news up to June 29 has been received, entered a brilliant red gorge, the commencement of the mountain range, which he named the Flaming Gorge. By a range is not meant a line of peaks, but a broad platform, cut into moun tains by the action of water, steep, narrow canyons hewn from the otherwise level upland. Such cliffs walled in the Green River over 1,200 ft. high, and as the boat swiftly glided between thesa natural walls it passed gulches, ravines, canyons in every direction, some widening out into beautiful valleys at varying elevations. The river continued to work its way through such a country, and the boats glided on, their occupants camping by the bank at night. The travel lers were rushing through an unknown land, borne on an unknown body of water, with the pleasing inse curity that the next turn might be over a Niagara or down a foaming, raging; roafing rapid. 'As the voyagers were carried wi h speed by the banks, every ear listened, and every eye was fixed ahead, and many must have been the exciting moments when the river rushed sharply round the bends, rolling in great waves ere it recovered its equilibrium, and then gliding quietly into the broad smooth stream, where it traversed an open valley. When the rapids were rendered dangerous by the water surging over huge rocks, the explorers took to the banks, and with lines let their boats drop down, and once, when in such a positi ,n, it was found that they were on the wrong side, and had to cross above the danger. One of the boats was more expressly adapted for such work, and she was empl.yed in carrying cargo after cargo, but on a larger boat being manned and taken across, in spite of hard rowing she was swept almost into the rapids ere she gained the opposite side. Colonel Powell describes the speed of one day as that of a locomotive ; the river had got be tween narrow perpendicular walls, everything being swept from its course, leaving the channel free and uninterrupted to the swift current, except that the rocks at the sides rolled the water into waves to wards the centre from the friction, over which the boats jumped and tossed as they were borne along, waking, with stoppages included, upwards of 12 miles an hour. Suddenly a point was turned, and from this exciting scene the river subsided into a calm, smoothly gliding stream, and the giant cliffs which hedged them in opened out ; but the air was filled with an ominous roar, which grew louder as they proceeded, and they knew that they were ap proaching a waterfall. There they had to make a portage, unloading and carrying their equipment down, but it required some ingenuity to get the shire Josh. Billings says, " When a young man ain't good for anything else, I like tew see Lim carry a gold. headed cane. If he can't buy a cane, let him part hie ,hair in the middle." ACONITE FOR BILANDY.—A young man was fatally poisoned in Chicago a short time age, by the care lessuess of a druggist, who gave him aconite for brandy, to relieve him of a sudden fit of illness. He died an hour after taking the aconite. heavier boats into the lower stream. Two lines were attached, the one to the bow and placed in the hands of six men on the bank, the other at the stern, which was made fast below the falla, and qn . the boat )eing unmoored, down site went checked as far as he strength of the six on the bank could do it, and caught below the falls by the other rope. On a rock by the trail the party made when carrying lown their luggage was written, Ashley, the date being indistinct, some thinking it 1825 others 1855, and this recalle.l to Powell's mind a story current among the mountaineers that a party had been lost by the swamping of their boat in a canyon below these falls, and that a man named Ashley was among the number, a reminiscence calculated to inspire can , tion. On 4th June the party reached Brown's Hole, where a spur of the Red Mountain stretches across the river, which is cut by it as if divided by a knife, the sides being verticle, and perhaps fur this reason chosen by numberless swallows to build their nest?, on. By the 29th June Colonel Powell reached the iinc tiou of the Uin tall, having run through four canyons of about 25 miles each, with walk ranging from 2,000 to 2,800 feet in height. Frequently they had been compelled to make portages of rations,. And to let their bolts down dangerous rapids and ills with lines as before describ-d. Nor was it possible to do this without accident, however care ful. One boat was totally wrecked, and about a third of the supplies and a part of the instruments !ost, and in it were the colonel's papers, who was then compelled to use plant dryers to write on. There were duplicates of the instruments, but the loss of the rations would shorten the time at the dis- posal of the party. The boat wreck had arisen through misapprehending the signals, whereby she was kept too far out in the river and being unable to reach the bank above the falls, was drifted over, bat none of the men were drowned. The boats have been found well adap' el to the work, otherwise they would have sunk when repeatedly filled with water, the waves in the turmoil of their agitation leaping over the gunwales ; but although the provisions were saturated, the light cabins at the ends acted as buoys, keeping the bolttlt Ant Colonel 'Powell re presents his collection of fossils as fine; still to that date he had not made a large general collection, though he had a good map. The scenery he describes as wild and grand, the health and spirits of the party were good, and their hopes of success high. Although about 'o spend some days in drying the provisions and to recruit, he was anxious to hurry on to the Green River to make observations of the eclipse on the 7th August (last Saturday). Up to the point he de icribes, and for two or three days' journey below it, the river is mapped on the last Government chart of the United States and Territories, and then it ceases ; nor is it resumed through the whole of Utah, extending many hundreds of miles, till it suddenly re-enters the scene as the Colorado, which is now well known up to the navigation ending at Colville, Ari zona. The point from which the party started is where the Union Pacific Railroad crosses the stream. From Wyoming, where it has its source, it flows into Colorado, and joining the Bear River turns westerly, pursuing its course through Utah in a line almost parallel with the Rocky Mountains and the Wasatch chain. Where the Green River rises is the great watershed of the Northern Continent. In deed, not far is the main branch of the Missouri, flowing away north, and the Yellowstone its chief tributary. Not far either is the Snake River, which becomes the Columbia, finding its outlet at Astoria, on the Pacific, and throughout its course the Green River is swollen with waters which have their rise in lakes, parks, and mountains; sending down the many streams which form on one side such rivers as the North and South Forks of the Platte and the Arkansas, and on the other the Grand River and the Eagle Tail, while the Rio Grande derives its upply from the same mountains of Colorado. Col. Powell c .nnot fail if he succeeds in his expedition to throw some light on the, as yet, dark course of the Colorado. On tbe olligrside the Wasatch chain sinks that Great Basin into which many streams run and all disappear, creating numerous salt lakes, but having no grand outlet. The Great Basin is very high above the level of the sea, as is the case with the bed of the river which Col. Po‘i ell is now exploring, which is sure to cause many fairs and rapids ere the water reaches the head of the naviga tion ; and as the stream breaks through mountain ranges, rushing into the gorges made by itself, it must he a dangerous one down which to float. We hope soon to hear that the party has successfully accomplished the object of the expedition ; and we are happy to learn by later advices that good tid ings have been received up to July 4.—A nglo-Ame rican Times. Two questions have cropped up again : what ha.? become of the money subscribed, in ISG4, for the Shak spere Memorial? - and what has been done about tht Guild of Literature ? for the benefit of which Lord Lyttoi 'wrote his " Not So Bad as We Seem," in which many -tiistinguished amateurs appeared at Devonshire Roust some years ago?--Once a Week. There was no repetition of the rioting a Eheffield on Tuesday, a sort of sullen truce being observed. Numbers of persons lounged about, looking out for anythint• that might turn up, but not finding it. Two men abd youth were apprehended in the mut sc of the day, charge(' with having taken pat t in the dir-turbances of Monday. The charges will he duly investigated. Curran, who was Master of the Rolls in Ireland in 1811, tells a characteristic anecdcte of a member of at Irish Parliament. Boasting of his attachment to the jurj system, " Mr. Speaker," said he, " with trial by jury l have lived, and by the blessing of God, with trial by jur) I will die !"—"What !" said Curran, in a stage whisper. "do you mean to be hanged, Jack?" A young lady's opinion of the bonnet of tht season: " Oh, the bonnets of my girlhood—the kind wore to school ! I reallS , thought them pretty. I must have been a fool. And yet I used to think myself on hate a jaunty miss. Perhaps I was, as fashion went ; but what was that to this? Oh, the lovely little pancake — the charming little mat ! It makes my head so level, ane so very, very flat ! " MISSED HER MARK. —Mademoiselle Georges, the celebrated French actress, was on one occasion star ring in the provinces. One evening, after the fall of th. curtain, the beaux of the village assembled round her t , congratulate her. " Ah, gentlemen," she said, to pla3 that part well, one ought to be young and beautiful.' "Oh, madam," answered one of the beaux, " you has ., proved the contrary." CIRCULATION OF TUE BIBLE.—FrOm a ref recently made by the British and Foreign Bible Societ3 it appears that by means of that agency there have bee' distributed up to the 31st of March, 1869, 57,210,48: copies of the Holy Scriptures, the expenditure incurrec during the 65 years of the society's existence having beet £6,553,164 4s. 3d. The Bible has been translated by tb4 society into nearly all the languages of the world. SINGULAR FRAUD.—The Military Council o! PPvision at Clardanne, in France, recently discovered r singular fraud to escape service in the army. Four con Bel ipts ely presented themselves for tin medical visit, all app art blind of one eye, tin pupil of which was enormously dilated. Three of tht young men were exempted, but on the fourth appearing the coincidence seemed so remarkable that thr members of the council questioned him closely, anc becoming embarrassed, he at last acknowledged that IL( apparent infirmity had been produced by rubbing the eyf that morning with a pomade of belladonna. The thre( other conscripts were called back, and having acknow ]edged that they had had recourse to the same means were all declared good for the service. A singular fact vas that there had been no concert between the your); nen, and that the operation 3 had been performed 1,3 different persons, who appear to make a trade of sucl frauds. All the parties have since been prosecuted, any the young men have been now each sentenced to our month's imprisonment, the operator to one year .of th same punishment, and some persons who had acted as i 4 termediaries to three months' each. DuNvILLE an4l Co., Belfast, are the - largest holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re commended by the medical profession in preference to French Brand). Supplied in casks and cases for how ► use or exporta tion Quotations on application to Messrs. Dunville and Co , Belfa.t; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, Lot) lon, IV,C.--fid vet LIE. 0 meta TIM SIN, - LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGU' 19, 1869. Lively so faint? here, again, tne science of opine conic. in aid of astronomy. When a line of light, such as a nar row slit held in front of a luminous object, is viewed through a prism, the light is ordinarily spread out into a coloured band, the length of which may be increased at pleasure by substituting two or more prisms for the single prism. As the total quantity of light is not thereby increased, it is obvious that the intensity of the light of the coloured hand will go on decreasing as the length increases. Such is the case with ordinary sources of light, like the flame of a candle or the sky, which give a con tinuous spectrum, or one generally continuous, though interrupted by dark bands. But if the light from the source he homogeneous, consisting, that is, of light of one degree of refrangibility only, the image of the slit will he merely deviated by the prisms, not widened out into a band, and not consequently reduced in intensity by the dispersion. And if the source of light emit light of both kinds, it will be easily understood that the images of the slit corresponding to light of any definite refrangibilities which the mixture may contain will stand out, by their superior inten sity, on the weaker ground of the continuous spectrum. Preparation for observations of the kind bad long been in progress in the hands of our countryman Mr. Lockyer. His first attempts were unsuceersful ; but un dismayed by failure, he ordered the construction of a new spectroscope of superior power, in which be was aided by a grant from the sum placed annually by Parliament at. the disposal of the Royal Society for scientific purposes. On the 20th of October last year, in examining the space immediately surrounding the edge of the solar disc, he obtained evidence, by the occurrence of a bright line in the spectrum, that his slit was on the image of one of those pro minences the nature of which had so long been an enigma. It further appeared from an observation made on No v ember sth that the prominences were merely elevated portions of an extensive luminous stratum of the same general character, which, now that the necessity of the interposi tion of the moon was dispensed with, could be traced completely round the sun. Notices of this discovery were received from the author by the Royal Society on October 21 and November 3 and the former was almost imme diately published in 'To. 105 of the proceedings. These were shortly afterwards followed by a fuller paper on the same subject. Meanwhile the same thing had been inde pendently observed in another part of the world. After having observed the remarkable spectrum of the pro minences during the total eclipse, it occurred to M. Janssen that the same method might allow the prominences to be detected at any time ; and on trial he succeeded in detecting them the very day after the eclipse. Having congratulated the Association on the fact that a reflector of four feet aperture, of the Casse giain construction, equatorially mounted, and provided with a clock-movement, had recently been erected at Melbourne, Professor Stokes, to spew the willingness of Government, when practicable, to carry out the sagges tions of the Association, pointed out that at the Cam• bridge meeting of the Association, in 1862, a committee was appointed for the purpose of investigating the appli cation of gun-cotton to warlike purposes. At the New castle meeting, in the following year, this committee presented its report, and a resolution was passed, recommending the appointment of a Royal et/O mission. This recommendation was adopted, and in 1864 a commission was appointed, which was requested to report on the application of gun-cotton to civil as well as to naval and military pur poses. The committee gave in its report last year, and that report, together with a more recent return relative to the application of gun cotton to mining and quarrying operat ions, has j ust been printed for the House of Commons. A substance of such comparatively recent introduction cannot he fairly com pared with an explosive in the use of which we have the experience of centuries. Yet, even- with our present experience, there are some purposes for which gun-cotton can advantageously replace gunpowder. while its manu facture and storage can be effected with comparative safety, since it is in a wet state during the process of manu facture, and is not at all injured by being kept perma nently in water, but merely requires to be dried for use. Even should it be required to store it in the dry state, it is doubtful whether, with the precautions indicated by the chemical investigations of jr.A Abel, any greater risk is incurred than in the case of gunpowder. In the blasting of hard rocks it is found to be highly efficient, while the remarkable results recently obtained by Mr. Abel leave no doubt of its value for explosions such as are frequently required in warfare. General Hay speaks highly of the promise of its value for small arms; but many more expe riments are required, especially as a change, in the arm and mode of ignition require a change in the construction of the cartridge. In heavy ordnance, the due control cf the rapidity of combustion of the substance is a matter of greater difficulty ; and, though considerable progress has been made, much remains to be done beforethe three conditions of safety to the gun, high velocity of projection, and uni formity of result are sa tisfactorily combined. By tile kindness of Dr. Carpenter, I am enabled to mention to you the latest results obtained in an expedition which could not have been undertaken without the aid of Govern. ment, an aid which was freely given. Last year Dr. Carpenter and Professor 1V villa Thomson represented to the President and Council of the Royal Society the great importance to Zoology and Palmontology of obtaining soundings from great depths in the ocean, and suggested to them to use their influence with the Admiralty to induce them to place a gunboat, or other suitable vessel, at the disposal of those gentlemen and any other naturalists who might be willing to accompany them for the pur pose of carrying on a systematic course of deep-sea dredging for a month or six weeks. This application was forwarded to the Admiralty with the warm support of the president and council, and was readily acceded to. The operations were a good deal impeded by rough weather, but never theless important results were obtained. Dredging was successfully accomplished at a depth of 650 fathoms ; and the existence was established of a varied and abundant submarine Fauna, at depths which had generally been supposed to be either azoic, or occupied by animals of a very low type ; and the character"of the Fauna and of the mud brought up was such as to point to a chalk formation actually going on. It seemed desirable to carry the soundings to still greater depths, and to examine more fully the changes of temperature which had been met with in the descent. Another application was accordingly made to the Admiralty in the present year, and was no less readily acceded to than the former had been ; and a larger vessel than that used last year is now on her cruise. lam informed by Dr. Carpenter that dredging has been successfully carried down to more than 2,400 fathoms (nearly the height of Mont lihiec), and that animal life has been found even at that depth in considerable variety, though its amount and itind ere obviously influenced by the reduction of temperature to Arctic coldness. A very careful series of temperature soundings has been taken, *Mewing, on the same spot, a continuous descent of temperature with time depth, at first more rapid, afterwards pretty uniform. Thermometers protected from pressure by a plan described by Dr. Miller were found to maintain their character at the great depths reached, the difference between teem and the best ordinary thermometers used in the same sounding being exactly conformable to the pressure corresponding with each depth, as determined by the experiments previously made in smaller depths. All the observations hitherto made go to confirm the idea of a general interchange of polar and equatorial water, the former occupying the lowest depths, the latter forming a superficial stratum of 700 or 800 fathoms. The analyses of the water brought up indicate a large proportion of carbonic acid in the gases of the deep waters, and a general diffusion of organic matter. I must turn for a few moments to another application recently made to Government, which has not been successful. The application I have in view was made, not by the British Association or other scientific societies in their corporate capacity, but by a body composed of the presidents of the British Associa tion and of the Royal and other leading scientific societies ; .and its object was, not the promotion of science directly, but the recognition of preeminent merit. In the history of science few names, indeed, hold so prominent a place as that of Faraday. The perfect novelty of principle and the recondite nature of many of his great discoveries are such as to bear the impress of genius of the highest order, and to form an epoch in the advance of science ; and while his scientific labours excited the admiration of men of science throughout the world, his singularly genial d fo i r spo h si i t m ion th a e nd lol m ,o od of et , unassuming character even those who had the hap piness of numbering him among their personal friends. At a meeting of the presidents of the scientific societies to which I have alluded, it was resolved to erect a marble statue in memory of Faraday. He was a man of whom England may well he proud, and it was thought that it would be a graceful recognition of his mer its if the monument were erected at the public expense. The present Chancellor of the Exchequer, however, did not think it right that the recognition of scientific merit, how ever eminent, should fall on the taxation of the country, though even in a pecuniary point of view the country has received so much benefit from the labours of scientific men. The carrying out of time resolution being thus left to private exertion, a public meeting, presided ov er b y H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, was held in the Royal insti tution, an eeteblishment which has the honour of being identified with Faraday's scientific career. At this meeting a committee was formed to carry. out the object, and a subscription list commenced. By permission of the sec retaries of this Association, an office has been opened in the reception-room, where thote members of the Associa tion who may be desirous of taking part in the movement will have every facility afforded them. In chemistry,.l do not believe that any great step has been made within the last year ; but perhaps there is no science in which an earnest worker is so sure of being rewarded by mil some substantial acquisition to our knowledge, though it may not be of the nature of one of those grand discoveries which, from time to time, stamp t h e ir impress on diffe rent branches of scienee. I may be permi tted to refer to one or two discoveries which are excee din g l y curious, and some of which may prove of considerable practical impor tance. The Turaeo, or Pleintain-eater, of the Cape of Good Hope, is celebrated for it s beautiful plumage. A portion of the wings is of a fine red colour. This red colouring matter has been investigated by Professor Church, who finds it to contain nearly six per cent, of copper, -which cannot he distinguished by the ordinary tests, nor removed from the colouring matter without destroying it. The colouring-matter is in fact a natural organic compoun d of which copper is one of the essential constituents. Trac es of this metal had pre viously been found in animals, for example , in oysters, to the cost of those who partook of them. But ienta n these cases the presence of copper wa s merely accidl ; oysters that lived near the mouths of streams which came down from copper-mines assimilated a portion of the copper salt, without its apparently doing them either good or harm. lint in the 'Purace the existence of the red eolousing-matter .which belongs to its 'normal plumage Is dependent upon copper, which, in in minuteobtained quantities with the food, is stored up in this strange manner in the system of the animal. Thus in the very same feather, partly red and partly black, copper was found in abundance in the red parts, but none or only the merest trace in the black. This a view of the plan of creation. Here we have a chemical substance elaborated which is perfectly unique in its nature, example warns us against taking too utilitarian salts of which are ordinarily regarded as poisonous to anheals ; .and the sole purpose to which, so far as we and contains a metal the know, it is subservient in the animal economy is one of pure decoration. Thus a pair of the birds which were kept in captivity lost their tine red colour in t he course of a few days, in c.insequence of washing in the water which was left them to drink, the red colouring-matter, which is soluble in water, beieg thins w ashed out ; but except as to the loss of their beauty it does n ot appear that the birds were the worse for it. A large part of the calicos which are produced in this country in such enormous quantities are sent out into the market in the printed form. Although other substances are employed , the place which niailder occupies among dye stuffs with the calico printer is corn , pared by Mr. Schunck to that which iron occupies among metals with the engineer. It appears from the public returns that upwards of 10.000 tons of madder are im ported annually into the United Kingdom. 'lime colours which madder yields to tnordanted cloth are due to two substances, alizarine and purpurine, derived from the rout. Of tile -4,, alizarine is deemed the more important, as producing faster colours, and yielding finer violets. In studying the transformations of alizar i n e under the action of chemical reagents, MM. Graebe and Liebermann were led to connect it with anthracene. one of the coal-tar eau e r e o c h e t n a t in t rod by all ow artificial u s t o series of .bodies, and to devise a mode of formin g it arti fiiieuhrialely..f th T e li o e o d st is w co it v h er w y hih is still -tagou THE BRITISH _ASSOCIATION. EXETER, WEDNESDAY. Professor Stokes is now the full-fledged President of the British .Association. At eight o'clock this evening., in the Victoria Hall, Dr. Hooicii resigned the chair which he had held during the past year to the Cambridge mathe matician, who at once proceeded to deliver the address which is given below. In personal ap . pearance there is so little that is striking about the Lucasian Professor, that in an ordinary assembly he would attract much less attention than other men with only a tenth part of his brains. Somewhat sturdy in build, and of medium height, he carries his fifty years remarkably well, though there are not wanting traces, when his face is closely scanned, of the undoubtedly hard work to which he has subjected himself. The platform was, as usual, crowded with notabilities, and the attendance of mem- - - bers in the body of the hall was limited only by its cspabilities. Professor STORES commenced his address with a few words in explanation of the objects for which the British Association was instituted. Having intimated that he should not attempt to give an account of the recent pro gress of science in general, but should select from those branches with which he was more familiar some examples of recent progress which would, he hoped, prove of pretty general interest, he proceeded to say :—Among the various branches of physical science, astronomy occupies in many respects a foremost rank. Newton's great discovery of universal gravitation raised it from the rank of a science of observation to that of one admitting of the most exact mathematical deduction ; and Ms investigation of the consequences of this law, and the explanation thereby of the lunar and planetary disturbances, have afforded a field for the exercise of the highest mathemati- cal powers on the part of Newton and his successors. Gradually the apparent anomalies, as they might have been deemed, in the motions of the heavenly bodies were shewn to be necessary con sequences of the one fundamental law ; and at last, as.the result of calculations of enormous labour, tables were con stractied enabling the plates of those bodies at any given time to be determined years beforehand with astonishing precision. A still more striking step was taken. When it had been shewn by careful calculation that the appa rent motion of the remotest of the planets then known to belong to our system could not be wholly explained on the theory of gravitation, by taking account of the disturbing powers of the other known planets, Adams in our own country, and Le Verrier in France, boldly reversed the problem, and instead of deter mining the disturbing effect of a known planet, set them selves to inquire what must be the mass and orbit of an unknown planet which shall be capable of producing by its disturbing knee the unexplained deviations in the position of Uranus from its calculated place. The result of these inquiries is too well known to require notice. The science of astronomy is indebted to that of optics for the principles which regulate the construction of those optical instruments which are so essential to the astro nomer. It repaid its debt by furnishing to optics a result which it is important we Ebou'd kee p in view in consider ing the nature of light. It is to astronomy that we are indebted for the first proof we obtained of the finite velocity of light, and fur the first numerical determination of that enormous velocity. Astronomy, again, led, forty four years later, to a second determination of that velocity in the remarkable phenomenon of aberration dig covered by Bradley, a phenomenon presenting special points of interest in relation to the nature of light, and which a s given rise to some discussion, extending even to the present clay, so that the Astronomer Royal has not deemed it unworthy of investigation, laborious as he foresees the trial is likely to prove, to determine the constant of aberration by means of a telescope having its tube filled with water. If in respect of these phenomena optics received much aid from astronomy, the latter science has been indebted to the former for information which could not otherwise have been obtained. The motions and the masses of the heavenly bodies are revealed to us more or less fully by astronomical observations ; but we could not thus become acquainted with the chemical nature of these distant objects. Yet, by the application of the spectroscope to the scrutiny of the heavenly bodies, evidence has been obtained of the existence therein f various elements known to us by the chemical examination of the materials of which our own earth is composed ; and not only so, but light is thrown on the sf.ate in which matter is there existing which, in the case of nebulae especially, led to the formation of new ideas respecting their constitution, and the rectification of astronomical speculations pre viously entertained. I shall not, however, dwell further on this part of the subject, which is now of some years' standing, and has been mentioned by more than one of your former presidents, but will pass on to newer researches in the same direction. We are accus tomed to apply to the stars the epithet fixed. How shall we determine whether any particular star is approaching to or receding from our sun? It is clear that astronomy alone is powerless to aid us here, since such a motion would be unaccompanied by change of angular position. Here the science of optics comes to our aid in a remark able manner. The pitch of a musical note depends, as we know, on the number of vibrations which reach the car in a given time, such as a second. Suppose, now, that a body, such as a bell, which is vibrating a given number of times per second, is at the same time moving from the observer, the air being calm. Since the successive pulses of sound travel all with the velocity of sound, but diverge from different centres, namely, the successive points in the bell's path at which the bell was when those pulses were first excited, it is evident that the scnnd-waves will be somewhat more spread out on the side from which the bell is moving, and inure crowded together on the side towards which it is inovivg, than if the Len had been at rest. Consequently the number of vibrations per second which re..eli the ear of an observer situated in the former of these directions will be somewhat smaller, and the number which reach an observer situated in the opposite direction somewhat greater, than if the bell had Leen at rest. Hence to the former the pitch will be somewhat lower, and to the latter somewhat higher, than the natnral pitch of the bell. And the snme thing will happen if the observer be in motion instead of the bell, or if both be in motion ; in fact, the effect depends only on the relatice motion of the observer and the bell in the direction of a line joining the two—in other words, on the velocity of recession or approach of the observer and the bell. The effect may be perceived in standing by a rail way when a train in which the steam-whistle is sounding passes by at full speed, or bet ter still, if the observer be seated in a train which is simultaneously moving in the opposite direction. Having noticed the fact that the present state of optical science was such as to furnish evidence of the strongest kind that light consists of a tremor or vibratory movement propagated in an elastic medium, filling the planetary and stellar spaces, a medium which fulfils for light an office similar to that of air for sound, the President drew attention to the splendid researches of Professor Kirchhoff, to whom i 3 owing the inference from an extension of Prevost's theory of exchanges that a glowing medium which emits bright light of any particular refrangi bility necessarily (at that temperature at least) acts as an absorbing medium, extinguishing light of the same refrangibility - . In relation to radiant heat (from whence the transition to light is easy) Kirchhoff was, said Professor Stokes, preceded, though unconsciously, by our own countryman, Mr. Balfour Stewart, and the inference which Kirchhoff drew from Prevost's theory thus extended led him to make a careful comparison of the places of the dark lines of the solar spectrum with those of bright lines produced by the incandescent gas or vapour of known elements ; and the coincidences were in many cases so remarkable as to establish almost to a certainty the existence of several of the known elements in the solar a tmosphere, p' c n by their absorbing action the dark lines coi nciding with the bright lines observed. Among o.Uer elements may be mentioned in particular hydrogen, the spectrum of which, when traversed by an electric discharge, shows a bright line or band exactly coinciding with the dark line C, and another with the line I'. By careful and repeated observations with a telescope fur nished with a spectroscope of high dispersive power Mr. Huggins found that the F line, the one selected for obser vation, in the spectrum of Sirius did not exactly coincide with the Corresponding bright line of a hydrogen spark, which latter agrees in position with the solar F, but was a little less refrangible, while preserving the same general appearance. What conclusion, then m , are we to draw from the result? Surely it would' be ost unreasonable te attribute the dark lines in the spectra of the sun and of Sirius to distinct cantles, and to regard their almost exact coincidence as purely fortuitous, when we have in proper motion a vcra eausa to account for a minute difference. And if, as Kirchhoff's labours render almost certain, the dark solar line depends cn the existence of hydrogen in the atmosphere of our sun, we are led to infer that that ele ment, with which the chemist working in his laboratory is so familiar, exists and is subject to the same physical laws in that distant star, so distant, that, judging by the most probable value of its annual parallax, light which would go seven times round our earth in one second would take fourteen years to travel from the star. What a grand conception of the unity of plan pervading the universe do such conclusions present to our minds! Assuming. then, that the small difference of refrangibility observed between the solar F and that of Sirius is due to proper motion, Mr. Huggins concludes from his measures of the minute difference of position that at the time of the observation Sirius was receding from the earth at the rate of 41.4 miles pereecond. A part of this was due to the motion of the earth in its orbit ; and on deducting the orbital velocity of the earth, resolved in the direction of a line drawn from the star , th ere remained 29'4 miles per second as the velocity with which Sirius and our sun are mutually receding from each other. Considering the minuteness of the quantity on which the result depends, it is satisfactory to find that Mr. Huggins's results as tc the motion of Sirius have been confirmed by the observa tions of Father Secchi, made at Rome with a different instrument. Turning to another application of spectral analysis, the President referred to the subject of total solar eclipses, especially dwelling upon the results obtained by means of the equatorially-mounted telescope provided with a spectroscope procured by the Royal Society for the purpose of observing the eclipse of August 17th last year. Shortly before the conclusion of the meeting of the Association at Norwich last year, the first results of the observations were made known to the meeting through the agency of the electric telegraph. In'h telegram sent by M. Janssen to the President of the Royal Society, it was announced that the spectrum of the prominences was very remarkable, chewing fright lines, while that of the corona chewed none . Brief as the message necessarily was, one point was settled. The promimmi could not be clouds in the strict e f " ;o tl i t n et . b ro below. I.' i ll hey i 3t r coonn sist of incandeeceie. matter in the gatente form. It op hseenaste, or o l t,i y ie l f ig es . l Y ' re s fl i tt l e g il post from the various observers, and put togethei at let peared from the more detailed accounts received by sure. that except in the immediate neighbourhood of the mu the light of the prominences consisted mainly of three bright lines, of which two coinck i ed with C and I', and the intermediate one nearly, but, as subsequent re searches chewed, riot exactly with 1). The bright lines coinciding with C and F indicate the presence of glowing hydrogen. Several of the other lines were identified with those which would he produced by the incandescent vapour of certain other elements. But valuable as these observations were, it is obvions that we should have had long to wait before we could have become acquainted with the usual behaviour of these objects, bond their possible relation to changes which may be .going on at the surface of the sun, if we had been dependent on the rare and brief phenomenon of a total ao!ar eclipse for gathering infor mation respecting them. But how, the question might beasked, shall weever be able so to subdue the overpowering glare of our great luminary and the dazzling jllumination which it produces in our atmosphere when we look nearly in its direction. as to perceive objects which are coropara- total - aeon, Which must ctecioe t tie quee - ston or len tee,: mercial employment. But assuming it to be thus obtained at a sufficiently cheap rate, what a remarkable example does the discovery afford of the way in which the philosopher quietly working in his laboratory may obtain results which revolutionise the industry of nations ! To the calico-printer indeed it may make no ye; y important difference whether he continues to use madder, or replaces it by the artificial substance ; but what a sweeping change is made in the madder-growing interest ! What hundreds of acres hitherto employed in madder-cultivation are set free for the :Auction of human food, or of some other substance useful to man ! Such changes can hardly be made without temporary inconvenience to those who are interested in the branches of industry affected ; but we must not on that account attempt to stay the progress of discovery, which is con ducive to the general weal. Another example of the way in which practical applications unexpectedly turn up when science is pursued for its own sake is afforded by-a result recently obtained by 1)r. Matthicssen, in his investigation of the constitution of the opium bases. He found that by the action of hydrochloric acid on morphia a new base was produced, which as to composition differed from the former merely by the removal of one equivalent of water. But the physiological action of the new base was utterly different from that of the original one. While morphia is a powerful narcotic, the use of which is apt to be followed by subsequent depression, the new base was found to be free from narcotic properties, but to be a powerful emetic, the action of which was unattended by injurious after-effects. It seems likely to become a valuable remedial agent. In relation to mechanism, this year is remarkable as being the centenary of the great invention of our countryman James Watt. It was in the year 17G0 that he took out his patent involving the inven tion of separate condensation, which is justly regarded as fodming the birth of the steam-engine. Little could even his inventive mind have foreseen the magnitude of the gift he was conferring on mankind in general, and on his own country more particularly. In these days of steamers, power-looms, and railways, it requires no small effort to place ourselves in imagination in the condition we should be in without the steam-engine. It needs no formal celebration to remind Britons of what they owe to Watt. Of him truly it may be said "si monumentuni regu i ra s eircumspice." With reference to those branches of science in which we are more or less concerned with the phenomena of life, my own studies give me no right to address you. I regret this the less because my predecessor and my probable successor in the preSidential chair are both of well-known eminence in this department. But I hope I may be permitted as a physicist, and viewing the question from the physical side, to express to you my views as to the relation which the physical bear to the biological sciences. No other phy sical science has been brought to such perfection as mechanics ; and in mechanics we have long been familiar with the idea of the perfect generality of its laws, of their applicability to bodies organic as well as inorganic, living as well as dead. bus in a railway collision when a train is suddenly arrested the passengers are thrown forward, by virtue of the inertia of their bodies, precisely according to the laws which regulate the motion of dead matter. So trite has the idea become that the reference to it may seem childish; but from mechanics let us pass on to chemistry, and the case will he found by no means so clear. When chemists ceased to be content with the mere ultimate analysis of organic substances, and set themselves to study their proximate constituents, a great number of definite chemical compounds were obtained which could not be formed artificially. I do not know what may have been the usual opinion at that time among chemists as to their mode of formation. Probably it may have been ima g ined that Chem cal affinities were, indeed , concer ned in their formation, but controlled and modified by an assumed vital force. But, as the science progressed , man y of these organic substances were forded artificially, in some cases from other and perfectly distinct organic substances, in other cases actually from their elements. This statement must, indeed, be accepted with one qualification. It was stated several years ago by M. Pasteur, and I believe the statement still remains true, that no substance the solution of which possesses the property of rotating the plane of polarisation of polarised light had been formed artificially from substances not possessing that property. Now several of the natural substances which are deemed to have been produced artificially are active, in the sense of rotating the plane of polarisation ; and therefore in these cases the inactive, ar tificial substances cannot be absolutely identical with the natural ones. But the inac tivity of the artificial substance is readily explained on the supposition that the artificial substance bears to the natural, the same relation as racemic acid bears to tartaric —that it is, so to speak, a mixture of the natural substance with its image in a mirror. And when we remember by what a peculiar and troublesome process M. Pasteur suc ceeded in separating racemic acid into the right-handed and left-handed tartaric acids, it will be at once under stood how easily the fact, if it be a fact, of the existence in the natural substance of a mixture of two substances, one right handed and the other left-handed, hut otherwise identical, may have escaped detection. This is a curious point, to the clearing up of which it is desirable that chemists should direct their attention. Waiving then the difference of aceivity or inactivity, which, as we have seen, admits of a simple physical expla nation, though the correctness of that explanation remains to be investigated, we may say that at the present time a considerable number of what used to be regarded as essen tially natural organic substances have been formed in the laboratory. That being the case, it seems most reasonable to suppose that in the plant or animal from which those organic substances were obtained they were formed by the play of ordinary chemical affinity, not necessarily nor probably by the same series of reactions by which they were formed in the laboratory where a high temperature is commonly employed, but still by chemical reactions of some kind, under the agency in many cases of light, an agency sometimes employed by the chemist in his labora tory. And since the boundary line between the natural substances which have and those which have not been formed artificially is one which, so far as we know, simply depends upon the amount of our knowledge, and is continually changing as new processes are discovered, we are led to extend the same reasoning to the various chemical substances of which organic structures are made up. But do the laws of chemical affinity, to which, as I have endeavoured to infer, living beings, w 'tether vegetable or animal, arc in absolute subjection, together with thwe of capillary attraction, of diffusions and so forth, account or the formation of an organic structure, as distinguished from the elaboration of the chemical substances of which ;t is composed? No more, it seems to ins, than the laws ef motion account for the union of oxygen and hydrogen to form water, though the ponderable matter 89 uniting is subject to the laws of motion during the act of union just ,es well as before anti after. In the various ',recesses of crystallisation, of precipitation, and so forth, which we witness in dead matter, I cannot see the faintest shadow of an approach to the formation of an organic structure, still less, to the wonderful series of changes which are concerned in the growth and perpetuation of even the lowest plant. Admitting to the full as highly probable, though not completely demonstrated, the appli cability to human beings of the laws which have been ascertained with reference to dead matter, I feel con strained at the same time to admit the existence (I a mysterious something lying beyond—a something s:ti genesis, which I regard, not as balancing and suspending the ordinary physical laws, but as working with them and through them to the attainment of a designed end. What this somethin g, which we call life, may be, is a profound mystery. We know not how man y links in the chain of secondary causation may yet remain behind ; we know not how few. It would be presumptuous indeed to aesumein any case that we had already reached the last link, and to charge with irreverence a fellow - worker who a tt em pted to push his investigations yet one step further back. On the other hand, if a thick darkness enshrouds all beyond, we have no right to assume it to be impossible that we should have reached even the last link of the chin ; a stage wh ere further progress is unattainable, and we can only refer the highest law at which we stopped to the fiat of an Almighty Poe er. To assume the contrary as a, matter of necessity, is practically to remove the First Cause cf all to an infinite distance from us. The boun dary, however, between what is clearly known and what is veiled in impenetrable darkness is eof ordinarily thus sharply. defined. Between the two there lies a misty region. in which loom the ill-discerned links of the chain which are yet beyond us. But the general principle is not affected thereby. Let us fearlessly trace the depen dence of link on link as far as it may be given us to trace it, but let us take heed that in thus studying second causes we forget not the First Cause, nor shut our eyes to the wonderful proofs of design which, in the study of organised beings especially, meet us at every turn. Truth we know must be self-consis tent, nor can one truth contradict another, even though the two may have been arrived at by totally different processes,. in the one case, suppose, obtained by sound scientific investigation, in the other case taken on trust from duly authenticated witnesses. Misinterpretations of course there may be on the one side or on the other, causing apparent contradictions. Every mathematician knows that in his private work be will occasionally by two different trains of reasoning arrive at discordant con clusions. He is at once aware that there must be a slip s omewhere, and sets himself to detect and correct it. When conclusions rest on probable evidence, the recon ciling of apparent contradictions is not so simple and certain. It requires the exercise of a calm, unbiassed judgment, capable of looking at both sides of the question ; and oftentimes we have long to suspend our decision, and seek for further evidence. None need fear the effect of scientific inquiry carried on in an honest, truth loving. humble spirit, which makes us no less ready frankly to avow our ignorance of what we cannot explain Lan to accept conclusions based on sound evidence. The slow but sure path of in duction is open to use. Let es frame hypotheses if we will; most useful are they when kept in their proper place, as stimulating inquiry. Let us seek to confront them with observation and experiment, thereby confirming or upsetting them as the result may prove ; but let us beware of placing them prematu re ly i n Vie rank of ascertained truths, and building further conclusions on them as if they were. , When from the phenomena of life we pass on to those of mind, we enter a region still more profoundly mysterious. We can readily imagine that we may here be dealing with phenomena altogether transcending those of mere life, in some such way as those of life transcend, as I have endeavoured to infer, those of chemistry and molecular attractions, or as the laws of chemical affinity in their turn transcend those of mere mechanics. Science can be expected to do but little to aid us here, since the instrument of research is itself the object of investigation. It can but enlight en u s a s to the depth of our ignorance, and lead us to look to a higher aid for that which most %early concerns our wellbeing. Her Majesty's stea:n storeship Megmm, Staff- Commander J. Loane, left the T pier, Royal Arsenal Woolwich, this morning, at five a.m., and proceeded up tly. river under steam, having com pleted discharging condemned warlike stores yes terday. LAD VERTISEMENT.J—Henceforth no one will doubt the valuable properties of Du Barry's health-restoring Revalenta Arabica Invalids' and Infants' Food, since to the thousands of blessings it has already received from Invalids whose position had been deemed hopeless, we may now add that of his Holiness the Pope, whose health has been perfectly restored by it after thirty years of unsuccessful medical treatment. We quote from the " Gazette du Midi," July 2.51 h :—" Rome, July 21,1866. The health of the Holy Father is excellent, especially since, abandoning all other reme dies, be has confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabica Food, of which he consumes a plateful at every meal. It has pr.iduced a surprisingly beneficial effect on his health, and his Holiness cannot praise this excellent food too highly." We extract a few out ofmore than 68,000 cures :—Cure No. 58,216, of the Marchioness de Brahan, of seven years' liver complaint wasting away, debility, nervousness, with a nervous palpitation, all over. bad digestion, constant sleeplessness, and the most in toleral le nervous agitation. Cure No 1,771: Lord Stuart do Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterford, of many years' dyspepsia. No 49,832: "Fifty years' indescribable agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough, constipation, flatulency, spasms , sickness, and vomiting —Maria Joly " Cure No. 46,270: Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley, Surrey, of 30 years' diseased lungs. spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness. Im portant Caution—Beware of the many unsavoury and more thaT sloppy imitations to which, without authority, Baro n Liebig s name is most audaciously attached. In tins, atls lid ; 1 lb 2s 0d; 2tbs 4s 6d; Sibs lls; l 2 lbs 225; 21 lbs 40s, - Also Du BARRY'S REVALENTA ARABICA CHOCOLATE POWDER is packed in tin canisters: for 12 cups at - 5, for t.+ cupssp.ss at 3s 6d, for 48 cups at 6s, for 288 cups at 30 s , for 576 ' cu p s at —being about one penny per cup. The 30s and 55e tins aro sent free of carriage in England on receipt of Post-Office Order. — Y Du BARRY and Co., No. 77, Regent-street, Londbn, and, all Grocers and Chemists MISCELLANEOUS NEWS. TUE DUKE OF EDINBURGH. Tasmania is as angry with the Duke of Edinburgh as is Victoria. The inhabitants of the latter country are indignant because the presents which the Duke distributed amongst them have been charged to the British taxpayer ; the men of Van Dieman's Land are out of humour because the Prince behaved rudely to the New Zealand chiefs. Here, they say, was a golden opportunity. There was reason to believe that the natives, friendly and neutral, looked forward to the coming of the Prince as a means of bringing about a settlement. But no attempt at conciliation was made. The Duke was, indeed, present at the meeting of some of the Maori leaders. But he addressed to them only a few inflated sentences of the dinner-table type, and was unable to restrain his impatience at the loquacity of the Maories - • - . " They presented addresseS, made speeches, sang songs, until his Royal Highness broke in upon the privileges and customs on which they set a high value. He told them, through the interpreter, to put an end to the speeches and not let everyone speak, as he bad' other engagements. What these engagements were we may easily imagine, but for the sake of such frivolities the Prince sent away all dis gusted, and very probably Ton ver ted into enemies, only waiting their opportunity, those who, by his impatience and rudeness, were prevented from being heard.'' LORD CLARENDON AND TUE BELGIANS. The London correspondent of the Manchester Guardian says that the distinguished reception accorded to Earl Clarendon in Belgium was a demon stration of gratitude for his diplomatic ser vices.. Whilst C0.;1:4t . Beust was advising the Belgians to subnErs%o France in the matter of the railway d;A_alty, the English Secre tary for Foreign Affairs counselled Leopold 11. and his Ministers to maintain an attitude of firm ness and self respect. lie bade them believe there was less real danger to their country in such an attitude than in that of evasion, whimpering, or yielding. Strengthened by British sympathy, and feeling that they could probably reckon upon aid from Prussia in the last resort, the Belgians resolved to hold their own. Franee.got nothing out of them save a trivial concession in the shape of arrange ments for through booking. THE BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. The Archdeacon of Winchester writes to the Standard denying a statement that the Bishop of Winchester does not discharge his diocesan duties. " For a few months after last March twelvemonth, when the Bishop of Winchester's sudden illness arose, and for those few months only, diocesan powers were exercised by the archdeacons. After these few months the Bishop resumed his diocesan functions. Not a single letter on public business, let the case be ever so perplexed or difficult, has reached him but the Bishophas answered it himself,using only his son's aid as an amanuensis. Not a day's delay has arisen in the discharge of any diocesan duty. Wherever purely episcopal duty has been required Bishop Ryan has been ready to discharge it." To which defence the Standard replies by the pertinent ques tion, " Does it not appear from this that the epis copal duties of the Bishop of Winchester are per formed by a bishop commissary, and the diocesan duties through the medium of the post ? " DIOCESAN CONFERENCES. , The Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol has issued to each of his rural deans a circular on the forth coming diocesan conferences, which are to be held at Gloucester October 8, Bristol October 12, and at Cirencester October 15. Dr. Ellicott says that he will not personally summon the clergy, sa s s that holds these conferences to be voluntary. Ile reminds them, however, that all the beneficed and licensed clergy are invited. Laymen will be represented by the lord-lieutenants and high sheriffs of Gloucester shire and Wiltshire; the mayors of Gloucester and Bristol; and the members of both Houses of Parlia ment connected with the diocese : all the church wardens and lay representatives in each deanery : these last-mentioned are to be elected at ruri-decanal conferences of clergy and laity, which will probably shortly be held. THE IRISH LAND QUESTION. The Times " Commissioner" continues his investi gations touching the relations of landlord and tenant in the neighbourhood of Tipperary. Ile finds no diversity of opinion touching on important matter —the condition of the agricultural labourer in this district, as elsewhere in Ireland, has marvellously improved of late years. Partly owing to the increase of wealth, partly to the influence of the poor law, but principally to the immense emigration which has taken place since 1840, the population around Tipperary is now 1n a state of comparative affluence. The labourer's wages paid in utvalent cashaverage regularly sevenf u r l o a i r l y au th t e o y r o , ng or s a a f %N o . es in money and food, the rent of his dwelling being about Li 10s., and he has in a great measure given up the potato, and substituted for it a better diet. Indeed, his condition in some places escites the jealousy of the farmers. The " Commissioner " like wise draws the conclusion that the occupiers of the soil axe by no means an unprosperous class. Rents have increased since the clays of Arthur Young ; bat the quantity of produce raised is one-half more now, and the prides obtained are three times as great as in that arve. Many of the farmers have good balances at the binlis. The small holders are doing ns well as the large. • But neither farmers nor labourers are contentea, and, the writer thinks, not without cause. The tenants are nearly all Roman Catholics; the land lords nearly all Protestants. Most of the largest proprietors seldom or never visit the neighbourhood. Though there are some material exceptions, most of the improvements on the farms are the work of the occupiers, not of the owners. The tenantshave received no compensation for their outlay in this direction; in several cases, indeed, the rents have actually been raised. Furthermore, very few of the tenancies are leasehold. Most of them are terminable at six months' notice ; and though no general system of oppression exists, it is evident that the one class is at the mercy of the other. Such a condition of things cannot be satis factory. There is yet another grievance. An out-going tenant is accustomed to sell the goodwill of his interest, and very large prices are sometimes paid in this way. But such payment confers no title to occupancy ; the tenancy is still at will, and a farmer who may have bought a goodwill at the price of £lO an acre may be turned out without the slightest compensati on . " Fixity of tenure " is the general cry amongst the farmer class of Tipperary. Their discontent, which is not weakened by the conviction that some change in their condition will shortly be made, takes its worst form in the agrarian organisations which are. so common in Ireland, and which meet with so much sympathy. Such a combination now exists ill Tipperary, and, though its members may be few, it meets with much general sympathy. " Nor, though its activity has not been great, though it has not left the mark of its presence in outrages on an tex ensive district, though its positive achievements may not have been many, is the scope of its influence limited; its spirit is probably widely diffused, and it has had an effect, more or less to be traced, in con trolling the management of landed property." LODGERS. The Lambeth Lodger Registration Committee complain that, owing to a defect in the Reform Act, which while conferring the franchise upon all lodgers paying a rental of £lO per annum failed to provide any facilities for their registration, not more than 400 out of at least 8,000 qualified lodgers in the borough of Lambeth succeeded last year in having their names placed upon the register for 1808-9. The committee urge " energetic action" in view of the ensuing registration. Considering that every lodger who wishes to get upon the register must send in his claim before the 25th of this. month, the action required to make any great change must be very energetic indeed. CATTLE DISEASE. The magistrates at Knutsford have had the last outbreak of cattle disease under consideration. Lord Egerton stated that his herd had been assailed by the foot . and mouth di sease, an d t h at pleuro-pneu mo ma was spreadi ng i n var i ous par t s o f th e coun t r y. His lordship urged the court to rigidly carry out the General Order in Council relating to infectious dis eases, which has been issued consequent upon the pissing of the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act. The magistrates have appointed a committee to take the matter into consideration. EMIGRATION. The last party of emigrants which will be sent to Canada this season under the auspices of the British and Colonial Emigration • Fund has departed for Montreal. Three hundred.and fourteen men, women, and children left the East-end of London on Tuesday . to try their fortune in a wider sphere. This makes the seventh detachment sent out this season through the aid of the fund. It is gratifying to learn that favourable reports have been received of the pros perity of those who have been sent out. now MUCH FOR KILLING A MAN ? Money, the preacher so often tells us, is not almighty ; but it has a power of which few persons have cognisance. That money can hide a multitude of sins most people know; that it can aton e for slight crimes everybody is aware ; but fining a man for culpable homicide is a striking develop ment of the potency of gold. Yet, if the Scotch papers are to be believed, the Sheriff of Perth has just been paid £lO , which he required in punishment of an engineman who by gross negli gence ran into a luggage train and caused the death of a guard. The man was respectable, it is true, but his recklessness was proved, and it was shewn that it had resulted in a man's death. TREATMENT OF TILE POOR. A London jury had before them on Tuesday a sad case. which sumzesis some imuortant reflections ~'~ • touching the treatment of the - 1100?. Tile " b e en these : A coachman named Crew, aged 59, had m -- a discharged cured from • Colney Hatch Asylum, s il l was then allowed five shillings per week out -do° relief from the St. Pancras guardians. This, 11°1" ever, was withdrawn a short time ago, the guar.,, i3111 ,, n declaring that the man, his wife , and three ehil'vr, b must go into the workhouse if they r equired 1 11 ° 0 aid. The old coachman went to the wor khousa ; ,,,, the wife did not. She received ten ebil l ti a week for taking care of a gentleman' Though s-ot with this she could support her children, IL, an invalid husband. But the guardian s —the charge committee—insisted that the goods belong to the wife must be sold to pay for the maintea3lio of the husband, and that the whole fam ily ra ni , enter the " house." The wife appealed t o the Ito mittee not to press this determination, and offere 01 keep the husband and the children too, if one shilliqo eighteenpence per week were allowed. The retif l i ; officer advised the discharge committee to con tin..., the out-door relief as a better course than paaperieuel the whole family. The committee did not I l t r e , with this, but insisted that the house must be br, ° i e n up and the goods sold. Before any action was ',, 3 , 93 $ the man died. The widow affirmed that the tP' 3O , of the committee to " sell them up" preyed 9 1 4 her husb ind's mind and caused his death, and the plainly intimated that they were of the same 0pn,,11;3 They declared tint it was a wretched policy to trY O ; , 9 make this poor woman give up a situation of 1 week, break up her little home, sell what few ,P he r she had, and go into the workhouse wi tu i for children because her husband was too ill to viar': ro of his own living. To the verdict of cc Death u . r o f Natural Causes," was added a resolution in f' ll° l , e ttet a more judicious system of outdoor relief as " for the poor, and more economical. NITRO-GLYCERINE.of An Act to regulate for a limited periodthe 1 , rt o tation and sale of nitro-glycerine comes ink t ftios at once. Its chief provision is that the imPor. a dea and shipment of this dangerous stuff is forb e l oil during the operation of the Act. Breaches °l n as, stipulation are to be regarded as misdenleil"for punishable with a year's imprisonment and te leitarfrof the nitro-glycerine. VACCINATION. rer Si The conviction of a whiting m anufactu r e Dartford for refusing to vaccinate his inlarto- i ens been followed up by a public meeting at tbau b aiag at which the culprit himself presided. The w ', ls " no manufacturer had nothing to say, b u t there w`ccre lack of energetic oratory. Mr. Gibbs, 1 101 ' tary to the Anti-Compulsory Vaccination oc' tlia e reminded his hearers that Dartford I _,/ as tb place where Vat Tyler knocked clov— that tax - gatherer, and gave his opinin n ,,,, OS another insurrection of the kind NV" 'll th e means improbable. Tie did not, however, himse lf.° meeting what became of the worthy Tyler frets Dr. Pearce set forth that the returns o btaine wo rst the French departments shewed smallpox to be rt a in the best vaccinated districts. The 1 4i s among young children was increasing . to he other-scientific information seemed, lioweverhoo of ungratefully received by succeeding speakers. ' T O wl them attacked doctors generally, and 11 0 1 0 declared that doctors supported vaccination be oiet i o e brought them in half a million a year. Ar t advocating the repeal of the Compulsory -r'-c passed. THE INTERNATIONAL YACHT BACS', vi .g ta g Six yachts started in the race from Che",°rire Portsmouth and back for the Einpere rs rf t e - he' l £l2O. These included some of the moat „ aloi t- English yachts,as well as th e A m ericau less and the French yacht Mystre. Both the i e u ne tt'a representatives were " nowhere." Ir. 13 00 513 4 vessel Dauntless kept well up with the t Egeria, which gained the Queen's PriZe a , o eat' ) this year.; but the Guinevere was leading •*1 Dcar° an hour at Portsmouth, and finally won by 43 minutes. SHIPWRECKS. r a SM.," of Penzance, suggests that the 13 , 1 °3 c0 30 1 Trade should prepare a chart of the Britis'l, laying down all the lifeboat and rocket stati.o,nia in that a guide-book should be published g l `_, fro° formation as to the distances of these statiow..oa each other, whether they are transportable,_fected., what time assistance from each might be en'booil -.Thus captains of vessels driven on shore scoui.niu t beif exactly what resources could be brought to the c orgi; assistance, and if, as is often the case, they vi n e g ege r t polled to run ashore in order to save,their I°, o s ele c t and crews, they would be able in many cases ' co els e a more favourable spot. Supposing, for instoo;,. th life a boat af h et e bao e ta a p p t a vessel were driven ashore at Ounwallne' east coast of Mount's Bay : ,li s t 0 ; 1 t e aa r ti t n i leavingo this chart, lboatniteti the w ' o n e t s t ' I m t o h o onty i m u C c i el a iy a ,re til b r : 9s : l ; rocket apparatus he at m e . a o c u l l t d place. fl,:i s r om ef e e t rV n b gf (t tosil li ir e l l I . l * tO 1 s l l u a l n l i d o t l i h f c e b p o o a r t Li e i I v l e r o would find n ort'% I n from the beach opposite ; the boats will be alongside in less t'fyin w ell, 1 0 1ouri,% ad c he , Look out and get ready for the ro'cke a .t n lines after striking."' THE HARVEST. th e t The harvest is now in its youth, exceP ly ov e p South-Western counties, where it is Cutting among the forward crops has 3 ° aeas r e 'rs throughout the country. It is by no me'ul-efitral-11. howe v er,and the variable weather is causing ot; Some of the farmers, wishiuo. to to feel anxious. At present matters I ° oiat i .; catch th,, e es a t b 3 ,3 spine districts. In North and East sun, are beginning to use the scythe tc)u-shire gall yor ve t not t ps be a g r e e ne a r d al van ti c il ing nex ra t p w id e ly e i c. bu t _ i v i r r : or t° has been m a d e in the Midlands -11, reP ie Nottingham, and Derby are alive. „l hpo teci ; sr show all the var i a tion which we an o titi .$ to some ground excellent quality and ~.fit r t h ese soken of ; on the farms almost a djoinuiP,,,or e, to be found a thin, straggling, and v er Ya'see T-11 'ell i Essex, Unfortunately, the latter kind of yiel fr t, f occupy the largest ground. Mr. Mechi, vr o r ps j os ot says :—« The condition of the er a wet 1 3 .1e1 where two or three bushels of fear, be lamentable on undrained claYs o f hs, e re , w heat, f° per der and five or six of oats have been sovr io es,c' t al Chalks and dry soils have, some of thorn, '9'00013 much injury, while in Scotland a art thin", months 'has I am told, prevailed. N ie Ora wheats, barley, and oats are the best on "'" so ies TABLE-TURNING . ais ed ,ve lf Indications are abundant that a str°llg s p ieitualilespe ° • on that-old worn-out to SP be got up during the recess. one a' fli ° bet lad/ d of the Times has met with a you P- lace t she P oes ot t. " possessed of wonderful powers!' re c i hand on one part of the sofa, a',„„ s lte another lady to touch the °N o ce a t s' l ,o o ,l The sofa immediately moved from i ts i lble. yrs the wall, and violently struck the centre re.t a che e fe a was advanced in Themilar way,. as rsel 11 04;1 a heavy bed. last article re'ci ti The r oo t men to replace it in its original positiolfiro' guarantees the truth of these fact s , 4,, observation. Another corresponu t t a " ta" a asserts that table and bed-moving 'iriti n n f ad lle has seen a whole r ailway / 4. 0 13 0 its departure without ostensible sg D croe eo ; engine had been removed ; ' ll° no gli`, l lo been put to ; we were propelled hi s y. c o were not on an incline ; yet 11 , 1r as ",e 5 0 :0 0 , smoothl3 , , as if by magic, at the rate m jel ti o° o l, an hour." But this writer attaches L e e 10 r clea ti o to such phenomena. " They are the even 0, Ishii ; places of modern magic." He is, h? we i v ~r o r elo disbeliever in spiritual agency sul l P h i s a l o ve t o grounds. Religious miracles .have. can can b9l ° _,.° this table-turning, train-moving, e' e '' irte's sonle.gobsy purpose whatever. There may b e e a a 0 10 our knowledge, says 4( A Harden But - o , i rer which give rise to these movenient%,ould certain that supernatural ageneY exerted for such useless ends. I ADVERTISE ' —'Thousands tires oir o l pl l b t h iood o o . wi dust Holloway's ch a oll a , n e r 0 gestion, biliou lll sn in es d s tutions y . and s a a re nd de fi p ea r t eis ae e n d_ c i y n . W in ar d rtl eb f li c o ure :: e r r o ,: : n p e i r il v s our h s a e b n i t t s thesed ;71 i e s 1 1 : ! the b es eac e 've suffer . i----- ---- - ------- fromli°ltll%ws avY;:rliTilif:g. --aSociios:l' ep greer:slitliotilli:gi:::. wholsvee correct all the unpleasant :gon:ise;:in:;:,t; I ndil the liver, thoy remove d i s tend al ''lllei..,, reular action. For all abdeyjoive ; ,i eo tri,, i Holloway's pills are the safest possible We stress die' once paw and comfort, and in ._ co s o on and rieF . ; of organs concerned in the Pr° 4o o. " Kent, t :v t ill a be found useful in every hours. RYAN—On bi ll ' HICKMAN—On the 18th Binfoßt.,TalitS'ihe Firs , S 3 de :f ill:1'3111;16°' tdearb.o, wife of Edwin F. llickreap, Ems'' ,iOC Si° te the wife of Charles Lister 11.33°' r ii°dg °I Bucks, Abraham the 17th inst., at Wardou , siq, sons. r' , AV' 11 ROBARTS—BARRINGTO II N f 11—RORnitAhGe El37.th leo-, n o - 00; • F a t 18-fle'Ocr‘d' illin'st° .13° 1)0 1/' to Edith, 4, J' Cm odfit Westbury e y o t i b i l o l g r ; j . 3, t o i d h a t a n , uolgr:libtiiiitcol'f:t.flt 0121 o n. l' ore ) 3f3.J1,1v00 1 IRINE —LAKE On the 17th inst., at S t ' FA , 10 0 nybrook, Dulilin James Llenr , Cochrane, r 0 0) 0 side, co. Cork, to ' Emit Mary, >elder dauglite 11. Atwell Lake, C.B. y S' .9EA TES. t, P .. 1 f'° 1 BUTLER—On the 16th inst., at Beadonsvel , ho t), T. Butler, aged 78. pt, NELsoN— On the 17th inst., at Lowishatu, sent, ,tfeet" Nelson, Esq., aged 64. r ,... : . , v e te ' WHITEHEAD —On the 17th inst.. at 60, nt- Mile-end, Mr. George Whitehead, age d 63. . e.o'''' IIY ,t, 1- A 1%1 AS9•4OJ London: Printed and Pub lished by WILLi,-,0 i ll, -.Or of No. 112, Strand , Print er, at V aa IE SUN °MCC '''' iii,olo- in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the Cetl °I Thursday, August 19, 1.8. r.