The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-01-03 00:00:00

GENERAL NEWS.

NMI POSITION FOR A SW—ALL CLERICAL PARTY.—It
la stated that three highly respectable gentlemen, resid-
ing is Bristol, are about to seek damages from the
Great Western Railway Company under the following
circumstances :—The party, two of whom are clergy-
men, and the third preparing for holy orders, took the
train from Bristol to Bath for the purpose of dining
with • friend at the latter city. As the train was leay.
!lag the station the guard sailed to the passengers,
`Take care of your pocket.; there are auspicious
characters in the train." On reaching Bath the
Brist liana found that the door of the carriage in which
they were seated was locked. They attracted the at-
tention ef the officials in the hope of being released,
when • policeman presented himself, and skid, "There
they are." It transpired that "from information
received" the guard had taken the parties for members
of the swell mob, and they had to bear the indignity of
being 'rased at by all present, and regarded as thieves
until they could pro.* their identity. On inquiry it
appeared that a stupid porter had given the guard the
information, acting, it would seem, upon his own ideas
only.
NOT BORN TO RI DROWN= I—J. Bulkely, the cox.
swain of the Teignmouth life-boat, was not born to be
drowned, we should say. In accepting a presentation
made to him the other day, he gave the following
account of himself:—" I went to sea at 13 years of age,
and have twice fallen overboard. Foos times I have
been capsized from boats. On one occasion I was
instrumental in saving three men, by keeping an oar
under them until picked up. Seven times I have been
shipwrecked—twice in one year—and I have been 14
days on a wreck, water-logged. Twice I have been
tweed by Manby's mortar apparatus, once at Teign-
mouth and once at Torbay. At Sutherland, I jumped
overboard and saved s boy from drowning, and on two
occasions I have reaceed boys from drowning in this
harbour. I was the first to enrol myself as one of the
crew of the life-boat when sent to this port, and have,
by the blessing of God, continued one of its crew to the
present day.'
THE MAYOR OF BRISTOL.—There are certain rights
connected with this office, such as the following : His
worship is aseociated with the judge of assize, and has
the power, in the absence of his lordship, of opening
the commission. He is also ex officio one of the Judges
of the Admiralty Court, and can, if he pleases, take his
seat on the bench at the Old Bailey in that capacity,
of which fact an amusing anecdote is recorded of John
Noble, who was mayor of Bristol in 1762, and who in
virtue of his office, proceeded to London for the apecial
purpose of asserting it, and succeeded in his claim, to
the no small astonishment of the presiding judge, who
politely begged his pardon, Andes politely requested him
to take the chair, to which his lordship was surprised
SD find he was legally entitled I This request was,
however, as courteously declined ; his worship, having
vindicated his right, bowed to the judge, and left the
court in which he had created so mush amusement.
The right, I believe, has not since been asserted.—Noles
and Queries.
SNOBS PROPERLY PUNISHED.—ReoentIq, Mr. and
Mrs. Charles Matthews took their benefit at St. James's
Theatre. The piece de raistance on the occasion was a
new comedy of the present day, by Mr. Cheltenham,
entitled "a Lesson in Love."—The Post, remarking on
It, observes : —"We feel ourselves compelled to add
that the success of this piece was rendered very critical,
not on amount of any demerits perceptible in it, but
owing to the unseemly conduct of certain individuals in
a private box close upon the stage. These gentlemen
amused themselves by making grimaces at, speaking to,
and lordly interrupting the actors on the stage--oo
loudly that at first the audience imagined that the words
proceeded legitimately from some one of the characters
about to enter. The annoyance at last arrived at each
a height, and so palpably penned the success of the
play, that Mr. Charles Matthews was compelled to make
a personal remonstrance on the subject to the individuals
from whom the interruption proceeded. The audience
a., once took up the cause, and both unanimously and
vociferously demanded that the offenders should be
" turned out." This they firmly insisted upon until it
was at length accomplished, and the play proceeded
satisfactorily to its termination.
THE MISTLETOE.—The mistletoe, though found
occasionally in all parts of England, is more rare in the
northern and midland coutties than in the south and
west; and of all counties, its chief home is in Hereford-
shire. It is well known that of all trees this dainty
and eapseious parasite likes best to grow upon the
apple; and in Herefordshire it has an ample field for
choice, taking more kindly, it is stated, to those trees
whose fruit is white-fleshed than to those which bear
yellow-fleshed apples. Curiously enough, too, though
found so constantly on apple trees, it seldom, if ever,
grows on the pear; and never, spontaneously at least upon
the beech, the birth, the holly, the walnut,the elder, the
sweet chestmt, or the laurel. Next to the apple-tree it
loves the poplar' the lime, and the whitethorn, and is
occasionally found on maple, the Willow, the sycamore,
and the acacia. There can be very little doubt that in
by far the majority of instances it is chance sown, most
probably its seeds having been dropped by birds, but
that, from some other cause, not as yet understood, the
wood of all ti-sea is not equally fitted to receive it and
support it. Where its seed has once found a congenial
home within the bark of a tree, like a true parasi,e, it
drives the fangs of its roots deep into the wood, whence
it draws its sap and nourishment, growing with its
growth, and strengthening with its strength.—Cence to
Week.

ME. SPURGEON AND THE PUBLISHERS.—The sermon
preached by Mr. Spurgeon in June last, on baptismal
regeneration, has excited an amount of public attention
unparalleled. The sale reached 100,000 copies in four
or five weeks. Still the demand continued, and was
immensely augmented by the numerous pamphlets
which appeared almost daily, either in opposition to or
in defence of the original sermon. These pamphlets,
varying in price from one shilling each to one penny,
now number more than four score. Amongst the
authors of the replies are deans, rectors, vicars,
incumbents, curates, and ministers of the Established
Church, and an almost endless variety of other persons
of humbler position on both sides. _ _

THU DIME OP WISLLINGTON AND THZ Panics
ARGENT. —The Duke of Wellington dined frequently
with the Prince Regent, who, when he bad finished his
iced punch and bottle of sherry, began to be garrulous.
The Regent would invariably talk about the battle of
Waterloo, and speak of the way in which he had charged
the French with the Household Brigade. Upon one
oc anion be was so far gone that he had the temerity to
tell the Duke he had oompletely holed over the French
commanded by Marshal Nay. This was too much for
the Duke to swallow, and he said, "I have heard you,
sir, say so before, but I did not witness this marvellous
charge. Your royal highness must know that the
French oftealry are the best in Europe." At this same
dinner Sir Watkyns William Wynn asked the illustrons
Duke whether he had a good view of the battle of
Waterloo, whereupon the baronet got the following
laconic reply, "1 generally like to see what I am about."
—Pronely'. Celebrities of London and Paris.
SALE AND PURCHASE OP CROWN LANDS. —The con•
centration and improvement of Crown lands for the
year 1863-4 is shown in the report of the Commissioners
of Woods, Forests, and Land Revenues for the year,
just issued. The principle kept in view was the disposal
of outlying property, and the investment of the pro-
ceeds in the purchase of lands by which existing estates
could be enlarged and extended. The chief Bales were
as follows :—Barnard's Wharf, Rotherhithe, to Messrs.
' Gabriel, for £16,700; Great Park Farm (339 acres),
Newport, Isle of Wight, to Sir J. Simeon, for £12,000;
farmland in Dunsforth, Yorkshire, in lots, £6,000:
Wymondhant Manor in Norfolk, £5,500; and small
allotments,"&c., in Yorkshire, by auction, £1,246. The
most important purchases in the year were the following:
—Tyle Place Farm, for £26,429, abuts on Windsor
Great Park; and Stray Marsh Farm, for 113,500,
annexed to an adjoining farm belonging to the Crown.
THR ONE.LRGGED DANCER.—The Times, referring to
Senor Donator, who appeared at Covent Garden for the
first time :,on Monday night, says he is "a real
phenomenon in the fullest acceptation of the term!
Whatever uncomfortable impression may attach to the
notion of a man performing feats of Terpsichorean
agility with only one leg to sustain and serve him is dis-
pelled almost as soon as Senor Donato has hopped up to
the footlights. 'ln the twinkling of an eye' he bad
won the sympathy of the whole house, and the applantw
that greeted his performance, as wonder after wonder
gave it increased and increasing interest, became at last
quite uproarious. The most entirely satisfactory exhi-
bition is that during which a shawl is brought into play;
nothing more skilful and easy than his manipulation of
this graceful adjunct, which mmasionally is so handled
that it bides the want of the loss of which, in Senor
Donato's case, can hardly be regarded as a misfortune;
and at intervals the spectator is almost inveigled into
the belief that an unmutilated biped is before him. The
endurance of the man is 88 singular as his vigour and
address. He danced, never flagging, for little short of
ten minutes, and finished with a series of rapid evolu-
tions, enough, under the circumstances, to make the
beholder dizzy. And then, to crown all, Senor Donato
scoompanie., himself on the castanets, to absolute per-
fection. He was twice called back and vociferously
cheered, bringing with him the crutch that stands sub-
stitute for his absent leg, and evidently well pleased
with his reception."
M ATTER. —We know nothing of the ultimate atoms
or particles of which bodies are made up, hut whatever
they may be, and whatever be their size, they certainly
are not in contact, and they are probably never for one
moment at rest, for every change of temperature alters
their mutual distance asunder. This is only another
way of saying that heat expands, and cold contracts all
known substances. The tire of a wheel is put on by the
wheelwright whilst hot, in order that when it cools it
shall tighten the whole structure. Rails laid down in
summer to touch one another will be found separated
by a marked interval when cold weather comes. A
hundred similar examples might be given. So, again,
when matter that we know to be made up of one or
isore elementary substances is exposed to certain in-
fluences, the material or compound may become
changed. Cast iron is iron combined with a little
carbon, and a cast-iron gun left at the bottom of the sea
for many years is found, when brought up again and
examined, to have lost much in weight, and while re-
taining its external form has been converted into
another combination of iron and carbon. Now, how-
ever, carbon predominates and exists in that curious
form known as graphite or black lead. Part of the iron
has, in this case, been removed, and replaced by addi-
tional graphite carbon. Bones of animals, or fragments
of wood buried, or even merely lying on the surface,
become converted into flint, which exhibits perfectly
the minute structure of the aninial or plant. In these
cases, and in many others equally familiar, it has been
possible that a solid substance, buried out of sight, or
exposed to no other than ordinary influences, should
have had some or all of its atoms removed, and each
one as it is removed replaced by a corresponding atom
of some other substance, either simple or compound.
Thus in the case of wood, every atom of carbon has
been replaced by • compound atom consisting of the
metal silicium, and the gas oxygen. In the new form
there is still an interval between the atoms, but
whether the same or greater, or less, we cannot tell.
All we know is that the dimensions of the resulting
solid are not different from thole nf the original.—
Prof. Ansted, in Tie FosgbisAtiian'sMegasint..
IMPORTANT DISCOVER'S& IN CONNRCTION WITH PRAT '
111088 —We hear from Stornoway that a product likely
to prove invaluable has been successfully extracted from
peat m 0811 by Mr. Fleury Counter, the intelligentand accom-
plished manager of the extensive works erected by Sir
James Matheson, Bart., M.P., for the utilisation of the
immense quantity of peat on his estate of Laws, by con-
verting it into oils and paraffin. In the course of the
' manufacture, Mr. Counter was struck with the apparent