The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-08-31 00:00:00

niisceliaii COlts cilfrifigente.

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

SINGULAR SUICIDE AT BIR3fINGRA3I.—An inquiry
has been held at Birmingham, respecting the death of
Mr. H. Hill, a gentleman who committed suicide at
the Birmingham Library on Friday in last week, by
taking poison. The deceased left a note in his desk
saying, "My poor dear wife—ln spite of all your good
and noble efforts to drive me from this terrible mad
despondency, I cann,)t resist it, Good God have mercy
on you," In a note to a friend he wrote, "lam mad;
have been in a state of suppressed madness on and off
ever since I have been out of business. Some Irresis-
tible power seems to have been always forcing me into
the wrong course since that fatal mistake, Dear old
friend, forgive this trouble I pot you to. Forget the
wretched madman that cannot resist this horrid, irre-
sistible desire to die. God have mercy on my soul.
God guide and protect my unfortunate wife.—H.
HILL." A verdict was returned of Suicide while of
Unsound Mind.

MISSING JEWELS. M. Ferdinand Duval, the
Prefect of the Seine, who was recently returning from
Spain, arrived at Bayonne by the early morning train
on Monday last travelling in a separate coupe, ac-
companied by Madame Duval. In order at once tq
be enabled to continue their journey to Bordeaux, a
change of carriages became necessary. M. Duval
soon afterwards discovered that he had left a hand.
bag containing his wife's jewels in the compartment
which they had occupied as far as Bayonne. On their
arrival at the Lamothe Station a telegram was de-
spatched to the station-master at Bayonne to inform
him of the loss. The latter immediately made the
necessary researches, and found the handbag in a
third-class carriage, in a mutilated state, but without
any of the precious objects which it had contained.
The police are actively engaged in tracing the thief.
Galignani.

A CALCHLATING MACHINR.—A very simple calcu-
lating machine was described by Mr. Spottiswoode in
his opening address to the British Association, which
has been constructed by Professor James Thomson.
This instrument, by means of the mere friction of a
disc, cylinder, and ball, is capable of effecting a variety
of the complicated calculations which occur in the
highest applications of mathematics to science. By
its aid it seems that an unskilled labourer may in a
eiven time perform the work of ten skilled arithme-
ticians. The machine is applicable alike to the calcu-
lation of tidal, of magnetic, of meteorological, and
perhaps also of Other periodic phenomena. It will
solve differential equations of the second and, perhaps,
of even higher orders. And through the same inven-
tion the problem of finding the free motions of any
number of mutually attracting particles unrestricted
by any of the approximate suppositions required in the
treatment of the lunar and planetary theories is
reduced to the simple process of turning a handle!
THE CAPITAL OF BOSNIA AND HERZEGDVINA.—
Some information about Serajevo is given by the
Deutsche Zeitung of Vienna. Serajevo, it says, is both
the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and is the
seat of the civil and military government of those
provinces. It has nearly 50,000 inhabitants, the
majority of whom are Mahometans. There are
about 5,000 Greek Catholics, 1,000 Roman Catholics,
3,500 Jews, 1,000 gipsies, and 3,000 foreign colonists
of various religions. It is situated on three rivers,
and its numerous bridges, islands, gardens, mosques,
and minarets give it a very picturesque appear-
ance. Serajevo was founded in 1465 by the Bosnian
nobles Sokolovic and Zla,tarovic, who were the first to ac-
cept Mahotnetanism. The palace (called Serai, whence
the name of Serajevo) was bililt by the Vizier Usrenbeg.
In 1480 Serajevo was captured and burnt by the army
of the Hungarian King Matthias, and in 1698 it was
again captured by the Austrian "troops, under Prince
Eugene of Savoy. From a commercial point of view
Serajevo is the centre of the Bosnian trade most of the
goods which are destined-for Bosnia from Roumelia, or
from Central and Westean Europe, come to Serajevo,
and are thence despatched to all parts of the country.
ANTIQUITIES.—Vice-Consul Dupuis, in his report
made this year on the trade of Susa, Tunis, in 1877.
says :—" Nothing has rewarded research among the
antiquities in the country. I have secured the marble
statue of one of the emperors, discovered some years
ago but lost again from being buried up in rubbish,
and so baffled the endeavours of the author of Travels
in the Footsteps of Bruce' when here to discover. It
stands sft. 3iin. high from the knees, where it is
broken off. Two winged figures and the head of
Medusa are beautifully sculptured on the breast. This
has led some to suppose it to be one of the Christian
Emperors, but I am inclined to think they represent
the Glorire. I have had it fixed up in my office."
MICROMETERS. —The Times publishes the following
letter :

Sir,—l see in your review of American inventions at Par'
to-day a mention of the micrometer machine used by the
Waltham Watch Company for measurinz the 1-25,000 th of an
Inch as an extraordinary novelty. Nothing is further from
my wish than to depreciate eur Tramiatlantic ceusins, but
Sir Joseph Whitworth, of Manchester, made a machine to
measure the 1-1,000,000 th part an an inch over 20 years ago,
and machines meaeuring easily 1-30,000 th of an inch have
long been in everyday use for making his standard cylindrical
gauges. JULIUS F. M. PoLLoCK, of Pollock and Pollock,
Engineers, Louplose Works, Leeds, Royal Hotel, Sheffield,
Aug. 22.

A REPORTER'S ELYSIUM.— An American reporter'
who has been staying at the Grand Union Hotel, at
Saratoga, sends to his paper a glowing account of the
delights of that charming establishment. Among its
many charms is the presence of 600 civilized Ameri-
cans "some to the manner born and some with man-
ners gleaned," a splendid ball-room, magnificent
billiard saloons, and last, but not least, a "free
luncheon at all hours," its only drawback being the
prevailing style of hair-dressing among the ladies,
which goes by the name of the "Saratoga spit twist."
As for the reporter, however, he is happy in spite of
spit twists. "If I was rich," he says, "I would go to
bed when I pleased and get up when I pleased.
Servants completely trained, should obey my slightest
wishes; I would summon them by a touch, and dis-
miss them with a nod. Flowers, trees, and fountains
should surround me. Moreover, I would have about
me whatever society I desired, or be at liberty at any
moment to retire into seclusion." And all this he
believes he could do at Saratoga if his employers
would raise his salary.
AMERICAN FOOD IMPORTATIONS.—During the past
week, 2,000 quarters of beef and 97 dead sheep were
landed in Liverpool from America, 1,440. quarters being
brought by the White Star steamer Britannic, and the
remainder by the Inman steamer pity of Montreal.
The arrivals of live-stock were again on an extensive
scale, amounting in the aggregate to
.1,288 oxen and
1,596 sheep. The Mississippi and Dominion Company's
steamer Texas brought 271 cattle and the large num-
ber of 1,596 sheep. The screw steamer Massachusetts
brought 501 cattle, the Orchis 292, and the Caledonia,
164. An interesting feature in this newly-developed
live-stock trade was the arrival of 60 head of cattle
from Montreal in the sailing ship Glenmorag, belong-
ing to the Allan Company ; and the experiment having
turned out very successful, it is expected that other
clipper ships will go into the trade. In addition to
the above arrivals of cattle, &c., 61 horses were landed
in excellent condition from the National Steamship
Company's steamer Erin, from New 'York.
INSTINCT OF A LONDON CAT.—Twice during a
surgeon's holiday—last year and this—my cat (Jack),
a fine Tom, left the house the day we left it, causing
great distress to those who cared for him (servants in-
cluded), and on both occasions—a mouth in each in-
stance—reappeared the day after our return, with the
utmost nonchalance, in good Cabe, and, if anything,
rather improved than otherwiee in appearance. There
is a chapter to be written about these dumb things
which re quires writing. The mere statement of
"instinct " dees net quite explain away facts con-
nected with domestic animals that we notice every day
aimost.—E. B. in Land and Water.

A STRUGGLE WITH A BULL.—Mr. Simmons, J.P.,
a gentleman well known in the lower part of Surrey
as an active magistrate, as well as a first-flight man
with hounds, was walking round his farm, when he
saw a bull attacking a valuable colt. He went to the
rescue, and with his spud kaocked the bull off. The
bull then attacked him. There happened to be a piece
of rising ground near to where Mr. Simmons retreated.
This gave him an advantage, as the bull could not
make the usual rush up the rising ground, and he beat
the bull back. It then made another attack on the
colt, which was too much injured to get away. A
second time Mr. Simmons ran to the rescue, and as
before beat the bull off, the boll again attacking him,
and once more Mr. Simmons retired to the high
ground. This was repeated, with attacks and counter-
attacks, for about half an hour. The farm men being
at dinner, no assistance came. There were several
narrow escapcs, but Mr. Simmons, by his coolness,
managed to evade the thrusts made at him, and so
saved his colt, which was twice tossed during the en-
counter. At last Mr. Simmons managed to open a
gate leading to an adjoining pasture, and so parted the
animals.

AN ALLIGATOR'S ML.—While some of the hands
were going to their work in the field of Colonel
McLeod, in Florida, they discovered a very large
alligator making its way to Hamburg lake. Colonel
McLeod fired both barrels of a shotgun, loaded with
buckshot into its neck. Then a field hoe was brought
up, but the first blow shivered the stout pine helve.
An axe was then brought, with which he was killed.
An examination showed that he had feasted upon a
hog's head, a turtle, and about a peck of blaatherries.
Though but fifteen feet in length, it was the largest
ever killed in that part of Florida in the lakes or fresh
water streams. The buckshot did not penetrate the
skin. No one that we have met ever knew before
that alligators were fond of blackberries, and how
one can manage to pick the berries is still a mystery.
Did he eat a little black boy, and digest him, who had
eaten tin biadkberries ?

INS AND OUTS.—lrish Innkeeper (to "Boots," &c.)
"H Where's Biddee ? Out, is she? Bad luck to the
hussy! She'll go (Alt twinty tolines for wonce she'll
come in I "—Punch,

CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE.—The following appears in
the Asiatic Journal for 1820 :—" This celebrated
monument of antiquity may be shortly expected to
arrive from Alexandria, a present from the Pasha of
Egypt to his Majesty George IV. It is we under-
stand, to be set up in Waterloo-place, opposite to
Carlton-house, where, it will for ages, we hope, serve
to keep alive the recollections of the exploits of our
naval and military heroes in that country. The
weight of the column is about 200 tons, the diameter
at the pedestal seven feet. We understand that we
are indebted to the influence of Mr. S. Briggs, British
Resident at Grand Cairo, with the Pasha of Egypt for
his magnificent monument."

COST OF WAR.--The Cape Argus states that it has
been calculated that every Caffre killed in the recent
conflict cost the colony £125.
A CENTENARIAN.—There has just died at the little
town of Tenbury Wells, on the borders of Worcester-
shire, a woman named Element, said to have been
aged 103 year sand :38 days. To the last she was in
the full Obsession of her faculties, and she was able to
walk till within a few days of her death.

FOR SCIENTISTS.—The following diagram of the
two great epochs of the world will show that the
universe is, alphabetically considered, still in its in
fancy : A.D.
B.C.

the first four letters only having as yet been brought
into request. —l7 an.
GALLANT B,ESCUE FROM DROWNING BY A BOY.—A
few days ago a boy attempted to cross a bridge over
the Avon in River street, Chippenham, the river being
much swollen with the heavy rains. In doing so he
lost his footing, and was carried along with the
current. Some persons who witnessed the accident
raised the cry of " A boy in the water." W. Rudman,
a youth, aged 14 years, hearing the shout as he was
passing to his woik, rushed into the water, clad as he
was, and succeeded, at the imminent peril of his
own life, in saving the boy, and bearing him safely to
land.

NOT BAD.—A means has at last been invented to
make money go a long way. It is simply the 100-ton
gun, which will fire five pounds' worth of iron six miles
and a half in fifty seconds. If that is not making
money go a long way perhaps some one will say what
it is.—Judy.

A SUFFERER FROM GOATS !—An American paper
has the following letter from a correspondent :—Some
days ago, I saw an article in your paper stating that
dried 'apples were an effective remedy for the goat
nuisance. I tried it yesterday. A goat got into my
yard and I fed him with seven pounds of dried apples.
After that, I set him out a bucket of water, and he
drank it dry. Then he began to swell, and in half-an-
hour he was as big as the bass drum of a circus. His
skin stretched out so that when he got to the sunlight
you could count his ribs. He kept on swelling, until I
supposed he'd burst and blow things all to pieces.
But he didn't. Finally I got tired of waiting for him
to burst, and tried to drive him out of the yard with
bricks. The first brick I biffed him with bounded
back as if it had struck India rubber, and
knocked one of the lights out of a French plate-glass
window. He's swelled so big that I can't get him
through the gate, and the swelling refuses to come
down. If I take down that fence it will cost me 25
dole, to put it up again. What shall I do ?- -JOHN
DOBSON. The American paper answers Dobson
thus :—Keep cramming him with dried apples and
water until he explodes. Make a grand Fourth of
July salute of him.

LOCOMOTION IN FRANCE. According to official
statistics, the Paris omnibuses carried 113,000,000 pas-
sengers last year; the tramways, not yet developed,
28,000,000; the fly, and other boats, 0,000,000; and the
public carriages, '26,000,000. Counting private car-
riages and traps, 500,000 or 600,000 persons are con-
veyed about Paris every day; and 200,000,000, in round
numbers, during the year. In 1829, the daily number
of conveyed persons was but 60,000. The annual
number of travellers by rail in France amounts to
85,000,000, of whom a quarter belongs to the suburban
lines—Auteuil, Vincennes, and le Chemin de Ceinture.
Size 01' THE HUMAN HEAD.—The Paris Tribune
Medicale gives some curious facts relative to the size of
the human head. It is still a disputed question
whether there is a relation between the volume of the
cranium and the development of the intellect, although
these facts seem to point to that conclusion. Cuvier,
Byron, and the First Napoleon required larger hats
than the average man, and their head-covering, says a
contemporary, would probably come down on the nose
of an inmate of the Earlswood Asylum. Bismarck
and Moltke measure more round the crown than the
Emperor William. Inferior races have heads smaller
than European, the heads of Negroes, Red Indians,
and the Cochin-Chineee being particularly small,
although, by way of compensation, they are particu-
larly hard. Women have small heads, but as has been
hinted, a deal of mischief is sometimes packed in
them. Men in the south lid,ve smaller heads than
those in the north, mountaineers than denizens of the
plains, artisans than artists. The heads of peasants
grow, says the writer of the article, when their owners
come to ;wide in towns. The head increases in
volume with the ordinary mortal until the age of forty-
five; with ecclesiastics it comes to a standstill at five-
and-twenty.
A LIGHT ENTERTAIN3IENT.—The Electric Illumina-
tion at the Gaiety.—Punch.
THE PRINCE OF WALES.—Vanity Fair remarks :
Assassination of distinguished persons seems to be-
coming on the Continent a regular moral epidemic. It
is to he hoped that it will not spread to this country.
Should it unfortunately do so, we know of at least
one exalted personage who will face the dangf r with
calm courage. At the time when Fenianisu: was
rampant, letters threatening the life of the Prince
of Wales were frequent, and the police authorities
considered that there was really some cause to
fear for H.R.H.'s life. Nothing, however, would in-
duce the Prince to take precautions. He hunted, shot,
and walked over the country as usual, seemed much
annoyed if any measures to secure his sat ety were
taken, and the few precautions deemed indispensable
were kept a secret from him. He displayed similar
courage on the occasion of his visit to India, when
those best entitled to speak on the subject considered
it n 4 improbable that some desperate fanatic might
endeavour to kill the Prince. Generous, brave, cour-
teous, with the courteezy which comes from the heart,
H.R.H. is wanting in no one of the knightly virtues
or the qualities which secure the affection of the
English people.

AN UNFORESEEN CONSEQUENCE.—" What's your
Holiday Task, Arehy ?" "Oh, the Geography of the
Mediterranean! This comes of Dizzy finding out
Cyprus—Bother it "—Punch.

"MINISTERIAL SIISTENTATION."—On Sunday night
the pulpit at the Green-lanes Wesleyan Chapel was
occupied by Mr. S. D. Waddy, M. 1"., for Barnstaple,
who delivered a sermon in aid of the Ministerial Sus-
tentation Fund. He was of opinion that the amount
contributed by the Wesleyan people for the support
of their ministers was insufficiently small and he urged
them to compare it with what they willingly spent on
personal amusements. A calculation had been made
that the contributions from the members of the society
averaged only sd. per head per week, whilst from the
remainder of the congregations the sum only equalled
a halfpenny per head, though many worshipping
Wesleyan chapels were well-to-do.
"NOT IMPOSSIBLE."-Shy Boy :—" I flirt with Miss
May !—I couldn't do it !- -I have not known her long
enough !—I don't know her well enough !—l—."--
Sly Girl :—" You wicked boy, you have known her to
be 'well enough '—all your life; and I'm sure you
know she's 'long enough' for anything! "—Fun.
FARMERS AND SOCIALISTS IN AMERICA.-URtil
recently it has been the general belief that the great
number of farm-owners in this country would form an
effectual barrier against any assault upon rights of
property. But it has come to pass that many farmers
have adopted ideas essentially communistic in two
respects. A very large number of them desire reputa-
tion of local or national indebtedness. A large num-
ber, also, want inflation of the currency, in order to
secure higher nominal prices for land or products.
The fact that enormous sales of bre adstuffs abtoad are
effected only because the prices here are low, and that
the farmers themselves would be the chief sufferers
if inflation should so raise prices as to check exports,
does not have weight with them. Neither do they
rightly estimate the enormous losses of a community
which result from repudiation of its debts. These
farmers think only of immediate gains—lighter taxes
and higher prices—and they find themselves in un-
natural alliance with socialists who are as hostile to
ownership of land as to ownership of bonds, and
whose real purpose is to destroy the savings of all who
have accumulated property, and to place on a level in
rewards the shiftless spendthrift and the most thrifty
and enterprising accumulator of wealth.—New York
Tribune.

PRINTING IN CHINA AND JAPAN.—Type setting in
China and Japan must be somewhat arduous labour.
In our own and most other countries of the world, ex-
cept China and Japan, the language is Written by
means of an alphabet of separate letters. Among the
Celestials and their next-door neighbours, on the ether
hand, each word has a distinct character. The com-
positor's difficulties in either instance are obvious al-
most at a glance. In setting up this note, he has the
letters conveniently arranged before him ill what is
known as the "case." But in Japan, according to a
contemporary, a full fount of type comprises 50,000
characters, of which 30,000 are in constant use, and for
20,000 more there are frequently calls! Instead of
being compactly arrayed before him the type is disposed
about the composing-room on racks, and the unfor-
tunate compositor ins to wander up and down the room
setting his "copy and stretching his legs. It is for
the reason that it is impossible to apply the syitem of
single-character words to telegraphy that that inestim-
able boon is denied to the inhabitants of Japan and
China.

S. PARTRIDGE'S DAY IN OUR PARlSH.—Sporting
Rector: "Saturday being the Feast of St. Enurchus,
there'll be Morning Service at eleven. To-morrow,
there'll be the usual Bible Meet--" Ditto Clerk (in
a loud whisper) : " Houd on, Pairson ! Thu's for-
gotten t' Pairtridges ! " Rector (hurriedly) : "Hem !
—the usual Bible Meeting will not take place. Let
us sing," &c.—Punch.
BETTER THAN THE SEASID' !—For the past two
weeks a Woodward avenue tit b,gist has put up a pre-
scription of some kind or other about four times a day
for a certain small boy, besides filling orders for a large
variety of patent medicines and porous plasters. The
sales were all cash, but the druggist's curiosity was at
length aroused, and he said to the lad: "Got sickness
in the family?"—" Kinder," was the reply.—" Your
father ?"—" Yes—all but me. Ala is using the plasters
for a lame side and taking the tonic for a rash which
broke out on her elbows. Pa takes the troches for
tickling in the throat, and uses the arnica on his shin.
Louisa uses the catarrh snuff and the cough medicine.
Bill wants the brandy for sprained ankle, and the
squills are for the baby. That's all but grandma, and
this prescription is to relieve the pain in her chest,
and make her sleep harder."—" Rather unfortunate
family," remarked the druggist.—" Well, kinder; but
pa says its cheaper than going to the seashore, and so
we plaster up and swallow down and feel purty happy
after all."—Detroit Free Press.

THE LATEST FROM AFGHANISTAN. The British
Government will not stand any Shere (Ali) nonsense I
—Punch.

THE DECLINE IN FIRST•CLASS PASSENGER TRAFFIC).
—lt appears that the receipts from first-class passen-
gers, which have been so distinctly declining on
English railways during the past few years, have also
fallen off in Germany. In Prussia, it seems, the
Minister of Trade has directed that, in order to in-
crease the employment of first-class railway carriages,
return tickets shall in future be issued by the rail-
ways, not only for second and third-class journeys,
hut also, which is a new regulation, for first-class.
These carriages have of late years fallen so much into
disuse that some measure of the kind was necessary
in order to draw the public back to them. There is
no doubt that the recent years of trade depression has
affected foreign countries fully as severely as England,
and has affected most nearly the richer classes of
society everywhere.—The Statist.

DISUSED BOOKS, &0., FOR SUIPS.—The Standard
of Monday publighe3` the following letter :
Sir,—Thanks to the press, 80,977 second-hand books, maga-
zines, and pictorial periodicals have been placed on board mer-
chant ships going to sea within this year, by the Missions to
Seamen Society, having been sent to this office in sacks, ham-
pers, or boxes, by rail or carrier, by those who read your
appeal. These include 2,801 disused Bibles and Prayer-books,
and 9,003 hymn-books, which are very useful for services at
sea. May I ask leave to say that the supply Is exhausted,
and that merchant ships going to sea require many thousands
weekly. Our 58 hon. chaplains, and 55 chaplains and
readers working afloat in 43 harbours and roadsteads,
would he thankful if your readers would place our small
book notices on their church boards, and collect old books
from their neighbours for seamen.—l emain, Sir, yours
faithfully, WM. DAWSON, Commander R.N., Sec. Mission to
Seamen, 11, Cuckingham-street, 'Strand, London.

ANVIIING BUT —Brown and Jones (thinking to
have a bit of a lark with the " Bobby ") : "I say,
Bobby, whereabout 4 is the Working Men's Club
held? ":—Bobby "Working Men's Club ?—h'm—you
see, I ain't a working man, so I dunno."—Fun.

THE ODGER FUND.—*The report and balance-sheet
of the fund started in the lifetime of the late George
Odger to provide him with a competency, has just
been presented by the committee. The . committee,
state that the amount received reached an aggregate.
of £1,130 5. lid. So much was spent on Mr. Odger
during his life, and about £BOO remains on hand, with
which the trustees of the fund have bought Mrs. Odger
an annuity for life of £1 ss. per week. The committeo
specially thank Mr. P. A. Taylor, M.P., who, beeistes
being the best and truest friend to Mr. Odger `when
alive, had kindly agreed to take charge of the fund at
good interest. The report adds that the response from
not only the trades of London and the country, but
from all classes of people, was of sneh magnitude and
high tone as never before was witnessed in this or any
other country as an expression of profound admiration
for the life and character of a workman. The report
commends Air. Odger's motto to his sympathisers—
"the honour of our country has been the 'polestar' of
my political life."

WANTED TQ iirrow.—How to cook a raw recruit.—
Judy.

CAUSES OF INSANITT.—Some curious statistics are
furnished 14y the Lunacy Commissioners of the causes
of insanity, supplementary to those which were pub-
lished some time ago. Out of 1,221 paralytics ad-
mitted into asylums, &c., in England and Wales in
one year, it seems that the insanity of 49 was attri-
butable to domestic trouble and bereavement, 9 to
religious excitement, 76 to business anxieties and
pecuniary difficulties, 1 to a love affair, 58 to mental
anxiety, 6 to fright and nervous shock, 272 to intem-
perance, 42 to over work, 38 to sunstroke, .57 to acci-
dent or injury, 103 to hereditary causes, whilst in 178
cases the cause of insanity was stated to be unknown.
OF CORSET DOES.—The dress reformers are at it
again. There is, it is asserted, in formation a "School
of Beauty," in which the members, male and female,
pledge themselves to do all they can to make them-
selves good-looking "by natural means." Prizes will
be given to those ladies who can move with ease and
grace, and so afford evidence of the free use of their
limbs; whilst it will be a leading rule of the " School "
that though stays may be used "as a means of
support," they shall not be deemed essential as an
accessory to beauty. This determines the question.
While the present fashion in female costume obtains!
it is easy to predict that any crusade against stays will
speedily come to a full stop.—Judy.
AN HISTORICAL SHIP.—At low tide at Monterey,
California, a part of the wreck of a vessel, formerly
the Natalia, can be seen, though very few who see it
are aware that she was the ship on which Napoleon
Bonaparte escaped from Elba sixty-three years ago.
The old vessel, now slowly going to pieces in the
Pacific, brought to California, in 1834, from Mexico,
the colsny of Elijas whose members intended to settle
in what was then Sonoma county. Not liking Sonoma
they returned to Monterey, and gradually dwindled
into indiatinction' being typified by the ship that had
transported thennthither.
A WONDERFUL WALKING STICK.—We have ye.
ceived (says Nature) from Messrs. Eberstein, of Dres-
den, a specimen of an interesting "walking stick for
naturalists or tourists." The stick is a perfect muitinn
in parvo, and contains quite a museum of scientific
instruments. The handle alone contains a compass, a
double magnifying glass or pocket microscope, and a
whistle. Below it there is a thermometer on one side
of the stick and a sandglass on the other. The body of
the stick is partly hollow, and in its interior holds a
mall bottle, which is intended to contain chloroform
or ether for killing insects. Along the outside of the
body there is a half-metre measure, showing deci-
metres and centimetres. Near the end of the stick
knife blade may be opened, which serves for cutting
off objects which cannot be reached by hand, such as
aquatic plants, &c. At the extreme end a screw may
hold in turn a spade (for botanists), a hammer (for
geologists or mineralogists), a hatchet, or a strong
spike, which would be of great use on glaciers. The
whole is neatly finished in black polished wood.
rHE FUTURE LITTLE GAME OF CANADA.—Lornd
tennis.—Fun.

THE "CONFIDENCE DODGE" AMONGST WILD
HORSES !—The difficult feat of capturing the wild horses
that roam over south•western Kansas by means of the
lasso is now accomplished by another method. Entire
hens are, it is statPd, secured en masse by this nevi
plan. The hunter's outfit ordinarily consists of a
pair of fast-walking horses attached to a waggon, four
saddle-ponies, provisions for several weeks, and six
men. A herd being found, the pursuers go towards
them at a leisurely pace, taking especial care to do
nothing likely to frighten them. No effort is made to
drive them in any particular direction or to hurry
them. This system is kept up day after day until the
wild horses become accustomed to the sight of the
men, who at the end of two weeks are, as a rule, able
to go among them. They have by this time also be-
come somewhat docile through hunger, owing to their
having been kept steadily moving, and deprived of
sufficient grazing. They are at length driven to a
ranch and secured. This "confidence dodge," which
has superseded the lasso, is in accordance with the
system of training unmanageable horses practised by'
the late Mr. Rarey, who owed his success in great
measure to the tact he displayed in dealing with the
animals he operated upon. Allaying their suspicions
and ill-temper by a course of gentle treatment, he per
suaded them at last that they were in the hands of a
friend and not of a foe, and thus established friendly
relations between himself and his charges.—Pall Mall
Gazette.
AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The
ing are the average prices of British corn for the week
ending August 24. as received from the inspectors
and officers 15f Excise :—Wheat, 458. 2d.; barley,
365. 3d.; oats, 275. 9d. per imperial qr. Correspond.
ing week last year :—Wheat, 635. 10d. ; barley, 33.1. 9d.;
oats, 28s. 4d.
A COMMON INTEREST.—Rector's daughter (invited
to Tenants' Ball at big house. "I say, Miss Tucker,
when are you coming to try on our dresses? I suppose
you are very busy? "—Miss Tucker. "Yes, Miss, 0°
busy I have not had time yet even to think of my own
dress! "—Punch.
AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS OF IRELAND.—The de-
crease in the extent of land under crops in Ireland ill
1878 is, as the Registrar-General's returns show,
62.196 acres. The chief decrease in cereals is in oats,
and in green crops is in potatoes. Flax also shows *
decreased acreage of 11,572. There is an increase in
the number of horses in Ireland, but a decrease in
cattle, the latter entirely in the province of Ulster.
The general result is to indicate a decline in agricul-
tural prosperity, though a slight one in consequence
of the bad harvest of last year. The yield from ell
crops this year will be large.
THE TURN or THE TlED.—What is the difference,
between a man divorced from a slatternly wife aro
the lady herself ?—One is untied and the other untidP
—Judy.

TWENTY YEARS AGO.—Twenty years make a great
difference in everything, but it is not often that such
a change—and that too for the better—is noticeable,
as a correspondent assures us (Echo) is the case, in the
private and publi life of Stamboul. Twenty ye3re
ago, the streets throughout Constantinople were Un-
lighted, without written names: the houses without.
numbers • there was no organised fire brigade, no locul
post; no telegraph, railway lines, nor tramways;
street cabs but the crazy talikas ; wild doi,e3 the ull'J
scavengers. At that time the narrow sombre alleYs
in the heart of Pera were the scene of almost nightll
assassinations; Galata and Tephaneh were utterly lor
safe after sunset, Now, however, all this is chauge'l
Civilisation, in fact, seems to have even converts"'
Stamboul. During the interval since the Crimea°
War many important administrative changes hive
been adopted. Thus, the tenure of land in Turkey
has ceased to be an exclusive pi ivilege of the Ottorail
subject ; foreigners can now purchase estates wit.,
equal rights; the scope of popular education has bee'
much enlarged, industrial schools have been foundeas
female education for the humbler classes has be,,,et
attemptei, and last, but by no means least, even tuy
Sultan himself has been reformed.
At
DEATH OF A DIVER.—An inquest has been oe--id
Folkestone on the body of Thomas James Thomas, °II;
of the divers employed at the wreck of the Grosfed
Kurffirst. Edward Young said he was a diver,
was employed with Thomas and another at the vire°
of the German ironclad. Thomas went down to the
vessel on Monday morning about half-past Well°
for the purpose of attaching a large anchor t0...0,
pontoon with which it was intended to raffie..ll;
He came up three times, and was down altogeY!fA
about an hour and a half. On his rising the tn
time he said the pontoon was all right,
that they could get the steam pump at work to
fiate it. Directly his diving dress was taken off he be.
came insensible, and was subsequently taken asilorl
where he died shortly afterwards. Dr. Eastes
he had made a post-mortem examination of the bodYe;
Thomas, and had found the heart dilated and To
kidneys diseased. There was extreme lividness Of bi'd
neck, head, and chest, and there was a remarkubl
tarry state of the blood like pitch, which was rioci
firmly clotted anywhere. The vessels of the brain 1113,3.
its membranes contained too much of the dark blooui
Inhaling air rendered impure by breathing it over Oil:
over again would make the system altogether wealcs_!.
On returning to the surface of the water the press%
of the atmosphere was removed, and the action uf be
heart was paralyzed. In the majority of cases
tly
man gradually recovered. In this man's case else
the same chain of events took place, but, havin,.,,g
dilated heart, it was the more readily paralyrdi
re-
recovery was rendered less probable. The lurYA;O4
turned a verdict in accordance with the 12343"--
testimony.