The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-02-24 00:00:00

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ROME, FOREIGN, AKE-COLONIAL

ROYALTY .I.ICD PUBS.—There is said to be a marked
preference shown by various royal ladles in Europe
for particular kinds of fur (says the Warehousemen
and Drapers' Trade Journal.) The Empress of Russia
wears sable by choice, the Empress of Austria pat-
ronizes Astrachan fur, the Archduchess Stephanie of
Austria prefers otter, the Queen of Roumania likes
grey fur, marten is specially favoured by the Queen of
Holland, while the Queen of Spain chooses beaver as
her favourite wear,

"SPRING HANDIOA.PS."—Mrs. Ramsbotham, on hear-
ing these mentioned, immediately asked where they
could be purchased, as they sounded like a most useful
inveution.—Puneh.

AGRICULTURAL PRospzurs.—Agricultural work has,
during the present week, says the likugnet, been almost
at a standstill, and the position is undoubtedly becom-
ing serious. So far we have had one of the worst seed
times ever known. Much of the autumn-sown grain
has rotted, and the work will have to be done over
again when the opportunity occurs, and unless that
opportunity speedily presents itself the prospects of
next harvest will be bad indeed. The acreage under
wheat must now in 'any event be small, and under
favourable influences from now, a large yield cannot
be looked for.

OIL OE PEPPERNINT.—This useful essence is very
largely produced in Western New York, two thirds of
the supply coming from Wayne county, which yields
00,000 pounds of oil yearly from 3,000 acres. The
harvest of the peppermint plant begins in August, and
the first year's crop is the best. The mint, after
cuffing, is allowed to wither in the sun for five or six
hours, and is then raked into socks, where it remains
a short time before being distilled.
MARINE ANIMALS.—The Zoological Station at
Naples (writes the correspondent of the Daily Naas)
has lately received a valuable collection of preserved
marine animals made on board the Italian man-of-war
Vittor Pisani, at present engaged in a cruise round the
world, and at this moment in Peru. An Italian naval
officer, after receiving four months' instruction in the
Naples Zoological Station, was sent with the Vittor
Pisani purposely to make collections of the femeta and
flora of the sea, and to his indefatigable industry is
owing the collection now received. The specimens are
admirably preserved after the improved methods used
at the Zoological Station, and it is remarkable what
delicacy of manipulation the Italian officer attained in
so short a period. As a layman I was especiallly
struck by the large size of the sea horses ( hippocampus)
sent as compared to those found in our gulf. A baby-
shark was enclosed in a glass tube not half a yard long,
and innumerable small tubes were filled with minute
transparent and opaque creatures, whose study is no
doubt more interesting than their appearance. It has
not yet been determined what shall be done with the
collection, which deserves exhibition in soros museum
where it could be seen to the greatest advantage.
THE QUEEN AND HER OFFICEES.—The British
Medical journal says :—Mr. J. Spencer Wells, pre-
sident of the Royal College of Surgeons, in his
Harveian Oration, said that in relating Ike story of
the gallant conduct of Surgeon Landon, who had laid
down his life unrepiniugly in the care of the wounded
at Majuba Hill, it would be a source of interest and
gratification to the medical profession and to eke
people at large to know that the Queen had been so
deeply interested in the details of this noble conduct
that she had directed a minute report of the facts
which had been laid before her by command to be
placed in her private archives.
Swiss Pzesewrs.—A recent letter descriptive of the
condition of some of the Swiss cantons is interesting
as showing the independence of the small proprietors.
It would seem that pauperism is unknown in the
Geneva district, since nearly every peasant, although
he works hard for others, has generally a bit of ground
of his own, on which by his industry he usually
manages to get a good return from his various crops.
Education has the credit of producing much of this
success and the schools are free of all expense. Every
Swiss commune has a communal estate, the profits
from which go for educational purposes and the re-
duction of local rates ; it is a benefit society on a large
scale, the members of which hold each other respon-
sible for support in case of need. In addition to agri-
culture and vinegrowing, almost every man has some
industry in the way of speciality to himself, as pill-
box and clock-case making, and the materials for
these growing close at hand, a fair profit is made.
These industrious people are particularly. clean and
neat in their dwellings, and afford a skikmg contrast
to that portion of France which abuts on that part of
Switzerland.

AVERAGB PRICES OE BErriss CORN.—The foLlowing
are the average prices of British corn for last week,
as received from the inspectors and officers of Excise,
—Wheat, 41s. Od. ; barley, 335. id. ; oats, 21s. 9d. per
imperial qr. Corresponding week last year :—Wheat
465. Od. ; barley, 31s. 10d, ; oats, 21s. lid.

THE ASSUAAER OF THIRST.—Sir Joseph Fayrer,
Medical Officer of the Secretary of State in India, has
reported his experience in the use of ,coca-leaves,
chewed during mountain•climbing, as a means for
preventing or relieving thirst. His experiment con-
dated in the distribution of about eighty grains of the
leaf to each one of the four guides and porters who
accompanied him. During the ten hours consumed
by the excursion, no water and but a limited quantity
of wine were consumed. They drank no tea nor coffee,
nor did they use ice or snow. Nevertheless, the chew-
ing of the coca appeared to furnish great relief from
thirst, and to enable them to make the trip with com-
parative comfort.—The London Medical Record.

FOREST PRODUCTS AS FUEL nr AMERICIA.—The
consumption of forest product .1 as fuel in the United
e during the census year, as shown by the census
reports, is as follows :—The number of persons using
wood for domestic fuel was 32,375,074. The amount
of wood so consumed was 140,537,436 cords, valued at
306,950,040 dole. The amount of wood consumed by
railroads and steamboats, in mining operations, and in
manufactories was 5,240,698 cords, valued at 15,012,333
dole. In addition to this there were consumed
74,008,972 bushels of charcoal, valued at 5,276,736
dels.

CHARITY IN CATANIA.—A singular mode of collect.
ing money and clothes for the sufferers by the inunda-
tions in Italy was observed lately in Catania. Several
carts were prepared to receive the objects given and
taken in procession through the streets of the city.
Every window was crowded with people, who threw
down all they had to offer, pieces of linen or cloth,
gold, bank notes, all sorts of things. One lady, after
throwing down all the gold ornaments she had on her
person, took off her splendid fur and those of her two
little children and threw them also into the cart. In
this manner 4,000 francs were received in money,
about 20,000 francs worth of articles, and a quantity
of precious ornaments and objects, the value of which
has not yet been ascertained.

HALr•wav ANYHOW !—" You're getting quite bald,
old man; you try rum." " Rum ! So I have. I've
bought gallons of it." " Ah, I see; but then, p'eaps,
you could never get it any higher than your mouth ! "
—Judy.
THE LATE Ex-KrNo OF FLTI.—The other evening the
Hon. Sir Arthur H, Gordon, G.O. M. G., Her Majesty's
High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, referred,
in a lecture to the members of the Edinburgh Philo-
sophical Institution on "Fiji and the Western Pacific,"
to the annoucement of the death of the ex-King of
Fiji, Thakombau. He said he wished publicly to
express, not only the regret he felt at the intelligence,
but also his sense of the loss which the colony of Fiji
had sustained thereby. Although the cession of the
islands waspot wholly welcome to the ex-King in the
first instance, from the very moment that that cession
was accomplished, now nearly nine years ago, he never
for a moment faltered or hesitated in the loyal dis-
charge of every obligation that was incumbent upon
him, or in the offer of any assistance which it was in
his power to give to the British authorities. But for
him it would have been impossible to have attained
that measure of success which had been attained in
the goverment of the island.
TWEED SALMON FISHINGS.—These &things, owing
to the high state of the river, can hardly be said to
have got into proper order yet. Fish are, however,
being caught in fair numbers, and, as far as appear-
ances go, there is every promi.e of a good season. On
Fsiday thirty salmon of considerable size were landed
at the Salmon Fisheries Company's shed. Prices on
Saturday were: Salmon, is. 9d. ; and trout, is. 6d.
per lb. In the corresponding week of last year the
prices were: Salmon, is. Bd.; trout, is. 6d.

DISCONTENT AMONG IRISH PRISON OFFICIALS.—
The Dublin Correspondent of The Times says that the
Government have refused any compensation to the
Irish prison officials for the additional labour and
responsibility cast upon them during the last three
years. "As they were exposed to temptations which
to men but poorly paid at the best were trying,
and had very severe duties to perform under an
exeeptional state of circumstances, they feel under a
sense of grievous wrong that no consideration has been
shown to them, especially as they made representa-
tions to the authorities at an early period, and were
given to understand that they would be rewarded. It
is to the credit of the whole staff, whose vigilance was
unwearied day and night, that not one of the 900
prisoners arrested under the Protection Act, many of
them for murder and other serious crimes, effected his
escape,"
AGREEING—WITH A DIFFERENCE.—Waiter.—" Beg
pardon, gents, but—but--" Junior Gent (sharply).
—"What's the matter, waiter? Can't you see were
busy talking? Shut- up, do!" Waiter.—" Yeseir ;
certainly, Sir. That's just what I'm waiting to do,
Sir, if Ton% only please to go. Its striking alf-past
now, Sir."—Fun.
A PREDICTED STORM.—A prediction which has been
published that a terrible gale will occur in March, and
that it will not be safe for ships to be on the water
between March 5 and 31 having caused alarm in tine
minds of smack owners as to the safety of their pro-
perty, Mr. Emett, underwriter, of Ramsgate, wrote
to the Meteorological Office, London, on the subject,
and received the following reply :—" The prophecy
to which you allude emanates from some one in the
Finance Department of the Canadian Government.
It is utter nonsense. No living man can predict the
weather two days beforehand, much less six months.
The idea that the Admiralty have ordered ships to be
in port is also absurd and utterly false."
MEDICAL STIIDENTII.—The British Medical journal
says that the number of medical students officially
registered in Great Britain during the year 1882 was,
we find, 1,862. Of these, 1,064 , were registered in
England, 585 in Scotland, and 424 in Ireland. These
numbers are considerably less than those registered
as in course of study during either of the three pre-
ceding years, the falling off being exclusively in
England and Ireland. Two hundred and fourteen
fewer students were registered this year in England
than last, and 116 fewer students in Ireland. There
was no falling off in Scotland. Looking back over
the last decade, the numbers seem to have pretty
steadily increased from 1872 up to 1879. In 1872 the
total number registered was 1,317 in the three
countries, being 500 fewer than those registered for
the year just closed. The entries this year in England
are smaller than thcy have been for the last five years,
while the entries for medical students in Ireland and
Scotland shows a pretty continuous progressive in-
. crease throughout the decade.

RETROSPECTIVE REFLECTIONS ON PIIDDINCi.
Irascibility on the part of inanimate nature is as re-
prehensible as the ditto on the part of animated
nature. The pudding should not cut up rough.—ln
our youth at the sight of the pudding we were inclined
to cut away; in after age, with the spectre of
dyspepAia haunting us, we are inclined too to cut
away, but with a diffenent interpretation. The proof
of the pudding is in the doctor's bill.—Judy.

AMERICAN CIGARS.—As an eridence of the extra-
ordinary progress of the cigar manufacture in the
United States, it seems, from recent statistics, that of
the 3,290,109,447 cigars consumed in the States in the
year 1881, only 40,000,000 were imported, the rest
being of domestic manufacture. Putting out of
account the imported cigars, the highest tax paid on
the most costly cigars is 6 dols. per 1,000 or less than
two-thirds of one cent. each. The cigars and cigarettes
being sold to consumers at prices ranging from sc. to
Bc., 10c., 15c., and 25c. each, the profit picked up on
the route from the crop of tobacco selling at 100. per
pound on the farms in Wisconsin, New York, and
Connecticut, to the side pockets of the consumers is,
therefore, considerable, the weight being 100 cigars
per Ilb.

A NAVAL RELIC.—The Royal Garet& (Demerara
states that a curiosity has turned up at the Stone
Depot in the shape of a round shot embedded in coral
which came among a quantity of stone ballast now
being landed from a vessel lately arrived from
Martinique. From the appearance of the surface,
there can be little doubt that it had been in the sea
for a considerable number of years. It measures five
inches in diameter, and bears evidence of being one of
the identical cannon balls fired by that gailatit
admiral, Lord Rodney, in 1782, when he encountered
the French fleet, commanded by Count de Grasse, Bud
totally defeated it, taking five ships of the line besides
making a prisoner of their admiral. Antiquarian
students can see the ball by calling at the Town
Superintendent's office, as fortunately it was not
broken by the stone crusher.

THE LABOUR MAREErr.—Latest reports from the
labour centres show that business in some of the staple
industries is still depressed. The iron trade remains
quiet, and all the aspects of the market are dull, the
inquiry from all quarters small and transactions com-
paratively limited both on home and foreign account.
The Lyield of the mills, in the steel department is
greater than it was ever known to be, although the
demand is easy and prices are low. Railway carriage
and wagon manufacturers continue busy, and there is
a well sustained inquiry for wheels and axles and
machine made nuts and bolts. The cotton market is
dull, but the wool and worsted market during the
week has been more animated, although there is no
particular increase in the business transacted. There
is no improvement in the state of the yarn trade.

A SINGULAR NUMISMATIC DISCOVERY. The
stomach of a cow is ab3ut the last place where a
numismatician would expect to find a valuable old
gold coin ; yet, incredible as it may seem, such a dis-
covery has just been made near Namur, in Belgium,
The animal swallowed it, no doubt, while grazing,
and as it perforated the intestinal membrane it pro-
duced a violent inflammation which led to the animal
being killed. The gold coin, which has been so
strangely brought to light, is now to be seen in the
Brussels Bibliotheque. It is described as a quad-
ruple pistole of Franche-Combs, and was struck at
Besancon in 1578. On the obverse is figured the head
of Charles V., and on the reverse the double eagles
and the Pillars of Hemles.

THE ELECTRIC LIGHT AND VEGETATION. M.
Dehdrain, reporting on the result of experiments on
plants at the Electric Exhibiton at the Palais
d'lndustrie in 1881, sums up his conclusions thus :-1.
The electric arc light emits radiations which are in-
jurious to vegetation. 2. Most of these radiations are
arrested by colourless glass. 3. The electric light
emits radiations powerful enough to maintain mature
plants in vegetation for two months and a half. 4.
The beneficial radiations are not sufficiently powerful
to cause the growth of germinating seeds or to allow
of the maturation of fruit in older plants.

HER FIRST RIDE ON THE RAILWAY.—A young gir
on an Illinois railroad, who entered the cars for the
first time to take a ride of sixteen miles to the next
station, heard a brakeman, soon after the cars started
call out the name of the nod station. She rose from
her seat, rushed on to the platform and jumped from
the train while it was going at full speed. The train
was stopped and backed down for her remains, but
met her coming down the road, her face covered with
mud and blood and her clothes torn and dirty, but she
was apparently unhurt seriously. She said she sup-
posed when he called out the name that it was already
at hand and that the train was not going to stop, so
that unless she jumped she would be carried by.

WEATHER OR No.—A most welcome piece of news
is conveyed in the short sentence, "The Bishop of
Peterborough has left the palaoe, and taken up his
residence at Stoke Dry." It is comforting to know
that there is a Dry place in England during the pre-
sent moist management. —Fun.
THE RoomANIAN OIL WELLS.—An elaborate and
Interesting report on the oil wells of Moldavia and
Wallachia appears in the well-known New York com-
mercial journal Bradstreet's, under the title of " Ame-
rica's European Petroleum Competitors." The petro-
leum regions in North• Eastern Roumania are stated
to cover about 856 square miles. The writer con-
cludes that the wells, which are rapidly extending,
are well able to supply all the needs of Austro-Hun-
gary and the Danubian provinces at very remunera-
tive rates, and that they will "undoubtedly drive
American oil from the Austrian markets." The im-
portanoe of this impending change to the American
trade in mineral oils is shown by the fact that out of
the total quantity of crude and refined oil annually
imported into that country, namely-115,415,000 kilo-
grammes, America is now furnishing 107,618,400. The
totsl consumption of this important article of com-
merce in Austria is stated to be a little over 211.000,000

kilogrammes—equal to 70,345,430 gallons.
Ti 017LITTATION OF COFFEE. - Statistics prove
that the coffee plant will bear climatic extremes, and
that it will thrive in localities differing as much as
20deg. to 30deg. in average temperature. It flourishes
best on uplands and mountain sides, from 1,5001 t. to
4,500 ft. above the sea level, and in the tropical belt
between the 25th degree north and the 30th degree
south of the Equator. Brazil boasts 16 species of the
plant growing wild. But coffee, as an article of com-
merce, only began to be known in Brazil in 1722. By
the year 1780 that country exportad 14.0001 b., though
Cuba at that period was shipping 25,000,0001 b. To-
wards the end of last century, however, large sugar
and other estates in Brazil were converted into coffee
plantations, and in 1830 the exportation reached
2T,985 tons; in 1840,48,432 tons; in 1850, 98,907 tons;
and in 1860, 143,671 tons.

OPAQUE GLASS FOB CoEsus.—Dr. Alex. Mayer
proposes a new mode of burial. For wooden coffins he
would substitute glass ones • the glass thick and
opaque, and hermetically closed with a silicated mastic
as inalterabla as the glass. So inclosed, bodies would
give out neither gases nor liquids, and would have no
injurious effect on the public health. The body, more-
over, might be preserved indefinitely from decomposi-
tion, by substitution of an antiputrid gaseous atmo-
sphere, under suitable pressure, for the air contained in
the coffin. For this purpose, two tubulures would be
added, one for entrance of the gas, the other for exit
of the air. If carbonic acid were used, the difference
of density of that gas and air would render the opera-
tion very easy. This mode of preservation, it is claimed,
would present all the advantages of embalming, with-
out mutilation or great expense. Glass coffins would
allow of deferring burial, as is sometimes desirable;
in the case of death during a voyage, the body need not
be consigned to the sea, but kept till arrival.—The
Sanitary Record.