The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-11 00:00:00

TEM STOURBRIDGE OBSETIVETT

VEGETARIANISM RECOMMENDED.

The Times of Tuesday published the following letter :

Sir,—Your publication of my letter on "lentil
soup" has produced some extraordinary effects. It
has tied me to the desk for eight days replying to
about 200 letters, and still they come. It has startled
Mark-lane with the number of inquiries for Egyptian
lentils. I have had two letters of inquiries from
there. It has annoyed can dealers with the ex-
pcsure of prices. It has caused two philanthropic
'brothers in Glocester to open a shop there to sell Egyp-
tian lentils at .£1 a sack, 2401 b., and at ss. a bushel,
601 b. Allow me, at this time of scanty means, not
only of artisans and labourers, but of educated and re-
fined people, to pqint out other inexpensive and
wholesome articles of food. Tomatoes in tins can be
bought at 71. to 10d. a tin. They are advertised, at
the first price in the Birmingham papers, and at the
second I buy them in our little market town. A. tin
will make the relish for four dinners of three persons.
Put a fourth of the contents of the tin into a frying.
pan, with a liberal quantity of salt and some butter.
Fry and boil; toast a slice of bread for each person;
let it soak in the gravy; and then eat bread, tomatoes
and potatoes, all covered with rich gravy.
Celery, cooked, is a very fine dish, both as nutri-
• ment and as a purifier of the blood. I will not
enumerate the marvellous cures I have made with
celery, for fear the me:iical men should, like the corn-
dealers, attempt to worry me. Let me fearlessly say
that rheumatism is impo=sible on such diet, and yet
our medical men allowed rheumatism to kill in 1876
3

640 human beings—every case as unnecessary as a
dirty face. Worse still, of the 3 f,481 registered as
dying from heart-disease, at least two-thirds of these
are due, directly more or less, to rheumatism and its
ally gout. What a trifle is smallpox, with its 2 403
deaths, alongside an immense slayer of over 20,000
human beings ! Yet rheumatism may be put aside for
ever by simply obeying Nature's laws in diet.
Look, again, at this rheumatism, and the havoc it
playa with our army. On foreign stations our soldiers
are Incapacitated to as high a number as 10 per cent!
One hundred in the thousand by rheumatism ! At
home the invalids from this scourge have been as high
as 91 in the 1,000, as stated in the Army Medical
Report of 1871. And yet no one takes it to heart. If
it were smallpox—a contagious disease—what a fuss
there would be of vaccination and re-vaccination, or
of something as goods charm as pills against an earth-
quake!
Plainly let me say, cold or damp never produoes
rheumatism, but simply developes it. The acid blood
is the primary came and the sustaining power of evil.
While the blood is alkaline there can be no rheu-
matism and equally no gout.
I must return to cooked celery. Cut the celery into
inch dice ; boil in water until soft. No water must be
poured away unless drunk by the invalid. Then take
new milk, slightly thicken with flour and flavour with
nutmegs • warm with the celery in the saucepan ; serve
up with diamonds of toasted bread round dish, and eat
with potatoes.
Remember, Sir, my views are not he crotchets of a
speculative mind, but eternal verities, witnessed by the
fact that we can chew and drink, which no carnivorous
animal can do ; that I am not advocating a mere ascetic
view of human dietary, but contending for a simple
plan to eradicate nearly all diseases which now afflict
humanity; that I am not urging a mean saving in
daily expenditure so much as a national economy
upon which depends our existence as a nation, or our
decay as a nation of riotous eaters of flesh and reckless
drinkers of intoxicating drinks.—l am, Sir, your obe-
dient servant,
WILLIAM GIBSON WARD, F.R.His.S.
Perriston Towers, Ross, Herefordshire.

lordship then "humbly presented" the gifts and
placed them upon the holy table, As the ushers re-
tired the choir sang the anthem "Lift up thine eyes,"
by Sir- John Goss. The Bishop celebrated, and, on
the offertory services being read, the service continued
in the ordinary way.

which we publish an account
_befell her. One of the
38 ton guns in the forward turret burst, killing two
officers and, it appars, at least eight men. As only
seven persons altogether are necessarily engaged in
each turret during gunnery practice, it is to be inferred
that no one of the party on this fatal occasion escaped,
and that the fragments scattered around caused loss
of life and maiming to others of the crew. The mas-
sive walls of the turret, fortified with armour fourteen
inches thick, are believed to have resisted even the
shock of this explosion, but the rotating gear' is
damaged, and the turret, in fact, becomes useless
until it has been repaired. It is conjectured that the
other 38-ton gun has not been injured, and, if so, the
fact bears in itself testimony to the solidity of its con-
struction. . _ _

"We must not attempt to prejudge a question of the
utmost gravity not only to individuals, but to the whole
service and to the interests of this country as the
greatest of naval Powers. We have only to observe
that enquiry ought to be specially directed to the point
at which the possibility of error or carelessness comes
in. Meanwhile, the keenest sympathy will be felt for
the officers and men who were swiftly and without
warning hurried into eternity. Only two e'ays ago we
published a letter giving an account of the pro-
ceedings of the squadron in the Sea of Marmora,
from which it appeared that the crews wese,
wearied of the dulness of Artaki Bay and were
eager to get away to Isimid. Their return to that
anchorage has been signalized by a honor which will
banish too surely all ennui and craving for amuse-
ments. It is melancholy to note, in our Correspon-
dent's account of the sports on the Princess of Wales's
birthday with which the officers beguiled their tire-
some vigils at Artaki By, that two of the races were
won by Lieutenant Coker, of the Thunderer, and
Lieutenant Daniel, of the Marine Artillery serving
in the same ship. These were the two officers who
lost their lives in the explosion on Thursday. The burst-
ing of the gun may have been due to some defect in its
structure, or to improper loading. The former alterna-
tive cannot be accepted, in the face of all the evi-
dence showing kow enormously massive and solid
those weapons are, until we have conclusively dis-
proved the latter. Unskilful or hasty loading, result.
jug in the shot not being rammed thoroughly home,
may burst the most massive gun in the world, even
without an extraordinary charge. It is possible that
in the competition for 'smartness,' which is encour-
aged by energetic officers like Sir Geoffrey Hornby,
caution may sometimes be lost sight of. Not only
is the squadron in the Sea of Marmora proud, and
with good reason, of its perfection in manceuvring,
but every ship maintains a rivalry with all her con-
sorts, and every gun's captain has probably his repu-
tation to make or to keep. The desire to gain a few
seconds in the firing of a certain number of rounds
may easily become so intense that the whole atten-
tion of the officers and men engaged in the business
is fixed upon the question ot time. The importance
of ramming the charge home does not force itself in
the same way upon the mind, and it may well happen
that at some fatal moment this part of the work will
be imperfectly done. What the results would be the
disaster to the Thunderer reminds us. Whatever the
cause of that calamity, its consequences are to be
deeply lamented. We cannot persuade ourselves,
however, that a full investigation will cast any
serious doubt upon the safety of the armaments used
in our Navy. These are subjected, as may be seen
from what we publish elsewhere, to tests of the
strictest kind, but, like, any other delicate and com-
plicated machinery, they need the most careful
management."

The sad fate which has befallen Lieutenant Augustus
Heylinger Coker and Lieutenant Edward Daniel, of the
Royal Marine Artillery, by this terrible disaster, is much to
be regretted, as they were both young officers of much
promise. The first-named entered the naval service of his
country as sub-lieutenant on board the Dmid, 14 guns, steam
corvette, and in that capacity served with the Naval Bri-
gade during the Aehantee campaign in 1874. For his ser-
vices on this occasion he was promoted to the rank of
lieutenant, his commission bearing date date March 31,
1874, and was awsraed the Ashantee medal with the
Coomassie clasp. Be had but just lately been transferred
to the Thunderer from the Boscasven, training ship for boys,
16 guns, lying at Por;land, to which he was only appointed
lieutenant on the 30th November, 1877. Lieutenant Edward
Daniel had only seen four years' service, baying entered the
Royal Marine Artillery on the let o.:tober, 1874, and, like
his ill-fated brother officer, had but recently been transferred
to the Phanderer from the Warrior, 32 guns, armour-plat.d
iron steam ship, commissioned at Portland, a ship of the first
reserve coastguard service, and bearing the flag of Rear
Admiral Henry Boys, to which vessel he was appointed on
the 4th June last.

It is said that the heads of the Admiralty and War
Offiee have conferred as to the desirability of bringing
the Tnunderer home, loth for examination and repairs,
and the rtturn of the ship may shortly be expected,

NEW YEAR'S WISHES.
(By a Poor Relation)
WISEE my old Hat looked as new as it did this day last
year.
Wish I knew where to buy another without paying for it.
Wish my Sunday Trousers would not bag so at the knees,
although I seldom kneel down on them now.
Wish that my Umbrella ind not caught that awkward
knack of turning inside out when a whiff of wind gets under
it.

Wish that Mr. Edison would invent some indestructible
clothing for small children. and also some cheep and filling
substitute for butchers' meat.
Wish some rich young fellow of a gener ms disposition
would fall in love with our J,mima, and ask my leave to
settle something handsome on her pare nts.
Wish old Uncle Sky nflynt would finish that Marsala, which
he always passes off instead of Sherry when I dine with him.
Wish that somebody or other would take a fancy to
Augustus, who really is a &ever boy, and I am sure would
prove a credit—to anyone who woutd trust him
Wish th it something would turn up, in the mining way,
or otherwise, which would enable me to snap my fingers at
my creditors.
Wish I could afford to take the children to the Pantomime,
an i give myself the treat of an oyster-s.ipper after it.
Wish that somebody would die, and leave me something
worth living for.
With Iliad the chance of getting something under Go-
vernment.
Wish profoundly I may get It.—Punch.

A QUARTER OF A CENTURY'S WARS.

The St. Petersburg Gazette publishes a summary of
the cost in blood and money of the great wars of the
last twenty•five years. The Crimean war cost the
lives of 750,000 men ; the Italian war (1859),
45,000 • the Schleswig - H '
Holstein war, 3,000; the
Prusso:Aubtrian war (1866), 45,000; the Mexican
expedition, 6,000 ; the Franco- Prussian war,
215,000; the Turco-Russian war, 600,000—total,
1,748 000, or, with the 800,000 men killed in the
American war, 2,548,000. This number does not
include deaths from typhus, cholera, and other diseases
inseparable from war. As regards the cost in money,
the Crimean war cost the countries engaged
£340,000,C00 ; the Italian, £60,000,000; the Ame-
rican. £1,480,000,000 ; the Schleswig-Holstein,
£7,000,000; the Prusso-Austrian, £66,000,000; the
Mexican Expedition, £40,000,000 ,• the Franco-
Prussian, £500,000,000 ; the Turk° • Russian,
£250,0u0,000. Total, £2,743,000,000.