The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-06-24 00:00:00

Itlisallanenus 4Atellignut.
FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

TABLETS TO EMINENT MEN.—Tablets have
been set up in London by the care of the Society of
Arts, during the past month, on houses formerly lived
in by the following distinguished men in London :
Samuel Johnson, 17, Gough-square, Fleet-street;
Edmund Burke, 37, Gerrard-street, Soho; George
Canning, 37, Conduit street; Michael Faraday, 2,
Blandford-street, Portman-square ; David Garrick, 5,
Adelphi terrace; Horatio Nelson, 147, New Bond-
street; Mrs. Siddons, 27, Upper Baker-street. The
following is a list of tablets previously erected :—John
Dryden, 43, Gerrard-street, Soho; John Fiaxman, 7,
Buckingham-street, Fitzroy-square ; George Handel,
25, Brook-street; Benjamin Franklin, 7, Craven-
street; Sir Joshua Reynolds, 47, Leicaster-square
Lord Byron, 16, Holles-street, Cavendish-eqnare
Napoleon 111., 31, King-street, St. James's.
ALCOHOLIC AND NON-ALCOHOLIC STIMULANTS.
—At the present time, scientific opinion is divided as
to whether stimulants are to be properly classed as
foods or not. In this regard the much larger series of
stimulants denominated alcoholic is that alone which
is generally alluded to. As yet, the food Value of
alcoholic fluids is by no means exhaustively determined,
and although we incline to the opinion that the import-
ant part played by alcoholic fluids in the prodess of
nutrition must be sooner or later generally admitted,
still the food value attributed to the so-called non-
alcoholic stimulants, tea, coffee, and cocoa, has been
frequently over-rated. Without attributing to each
of these articles the power of injury which the ignorant
and excessive use of the first two indubitably entails,
if from no other point of view than that a larger atten-
tion has been devoted to the subject of cocoa in these
chapters, it must be recorded in favour of that article,
that no evidence at present exists of its having caused
nervous irritability, and deterioration of tissue conse-
quent upon that state, which have followed as certainly
upon the misuse of tea as upon that of opium or
ardent spirits —Notes on Food and its Effects, by G.
Overend Drewry, M.D.
FROM Ems. His Majesty the Emperor
William of the Emperor

Bt.i

ot -1

met at the railway station&
at Ems. The greeting between the .two sovereigns
(of course) was of the most cordial chitraOter. Great
interest is naturally felt by the great personages of
other European countries in this meeting—an interest
which is csupled with no little uneasiness on the part
of some. These feel that while the Kaiser 'and the
Czar are engaged together at M's, -it will be well to
look after their own P's and Q's.—Judy.
NOT THE FIRST EMPRESS..—The -New York
loiie Journal says Her Majesty is not the first Essg-
lish Sovereign who has received thb title of Empress.
The only daughter of Henry 1. married the Roman
Emperor at Mentz, A.D., 1140,1 and was ever afterwards
called the Empress Maud.- Upon the decease of Henry
I. Maui returned to England, and)Stebbingi Qomerset
Herald, in his-work on "The Genealogy of the English
Royal Line" (1707), states that the nobility swore fealty
to her as an Empress. She was previously called "Lady
of the English, which would bs a bad title at the pie-
sent day. On her epitaPh.ehe is described as "Cesar
Oxor "—the wife of Czcsar. Empress was not at that
date considered a title which ottght td be boliae by an
English Sovereign. Her son, called. Henry Fitz-
Empress, son of the't inPiess; ascended the throne of
England he Henry 11. Other members of the Royal
'line have borne the Imperial .title.. -In, AtDl 1257
Richard, Earl of Cornwall, was crowne4 Bing of the
Romans i 'or -Emperbr, and Wrote "himself "Ever
Augustus." Upon -his -seal there are the word,
" Semper Augustus." • • - -
17...sciEta=lat AND TEMPERANCE CONGRESS:—
The annual meeting of this body was held in London
last week at the Cavendish Rooms. Mr. Groom
Napier, in addressing those present, said that much of
the disease which prevails is due to the unwholesome-
ness of some of the meat consumed, either of British
production or imported. He said the supply of whole-
some meat was less than the demand. As the pole
means of prevcnting disease the demand should he
limited, which he proposed to do by having less flesh
consumed in gaols and workhouse& He produced
petitionata ttie Lords and Commons asking for Com-
mittees to take evidence on food, and moving a resolu-
tion that these. petitions be adopted by the meetingi
Which, being seconded•by Dr. Ellis, wakoarriedtmant:
mouslyi' -
04‘‘‘.1L LITTLE' ,KNOWLEDGE."—Farm Labourer
' tvho-bas a landscape artist as lodger, and can't "make
't' beggar out") :—` Well, Tommy, what be he a do'en
now?" Tommy (a very sharp lad) :—" Oh, I dunno ;
he sits down in the middle o' the field, opens a book
without any leaves, and then looks about and tries to
write in it. An' I clunno what the language is I"—,
Pun.

. Germany, al
r„m I Alexander of Rus3ir ha

THE OYSTER FISITERIES.—Land and Water
learns that the Oyster Fisheries' Committee have de-
cided not to make any report to the House of Commons
until a Government inspebtor, sent by the Bard of
Ti;ade to examine into the methods of oyster culture
adopted in France—methods which, it is said, have,
turned out far more successful than -our own—shalli
have furnished further information to the Parliamen-
tary Committee. ;The Fret ch oyster companies declare
that in a very short space of time they will be able to
supply 90,000,000 oysters per Itnnum_to _the
,Ecglish!
markets. The public in France and the public in!
England differ in their taste about oysters. Paris:
delights in a thinsoyster, with a strongirelieh of the
,salt-water.- "Lotidon prefeis an oyster rich, fresh-
tasted, and fat. The French oysters have, therefore,
to be specially fattened on English beds before being
ret died in the markets here. "
HAZARDOUS DESCENT INTO A CRATER.—
§heliand papers state that two enterprising Icelandtrs,
named Jow Thorkellsson and Sigindur Kraksson, have
explored the volcanic region of the Dyngyur ‘Jelden.
They started on their hazardous expedition from the
Bardadal on February 7th, and in the course of two
days' investigation they succeeded, under great diffi-
calties and dangers, in descending into the crater of
the volcano Askya, where, at about 3,000 feet below
the upper margin, they reached the bottom, and found
themielves on the brink of a lake of seething hot
water, which was apparently of great depth. Near
the southern extremity of this lake the ground was
broken up by fissures and pools, which prevented fur-
ther progress in that direction. The entire space re-
sounded with the noise of subterranean thunder.
North of the great crater the explorers found an open-
ing about 600 feet wide, which appeared to be of about
equal depth, and from which issued dense masses of But.
phurous smoke, accompanied by loud and deafening
sounds. This adventurous expedition, which is described
at length in the Icelandic Nordlinger, excited great in-
terest among the Icelanders, both on account of the
daring exhibited by the travellers, and the extent and
novelty of the ground they passed over. -

THE ROYAL NAVY.—From a- return to the
Houee cf Commons (obtained by Mr. Rylands, M.P.)
It appears that the naval force in commission on the Ist
of October last of ships was 211, with 1,689, guns. -The
complement of officers, men; boys, and mirines -was
33,930, consisting of 25,156 officers and risen, 2;721 boys,
and 6,053 marines. Oaths 'lst of October; last-the
number of Coastguard serving ashore was 3,873, the
number of marines serving ashore _6,929, .and the
number of men in steam reserves at home ports 478.
The number of disposable supernumeraries at the home
ports in receiving ships was—men, 3,933- ana in gun-
nery 1,269, and of boys 961. The number of boys
training at the home ports was, in the first clasa 72,
and 2,619 in the second cIaSS.
CHARITABLE RINKING.—The Parisians have,
it appears, hit upon a new form of benevolence. We
have all heard of charity bazaars and charity balls.
'Last Saturday there was held in Paris a fancy rink,
and the Tinkers had the satisfaction of feeling that
while they were skating they were, as the -announce-
ine,n t eloquently said, "helping to dry a few tears." This
Would.doubtless be a great comfort to the riuker who,
,while he was doing "all he knew," suddenly found
himself sitting down "like a thousand. of bricks," at
the same time that his Astonished eyes saw several
pounds' worth of fireworks all at once.—Js/dy.
• MEMORIAL To AN ENGINEER.-- A br&nze statue
of the late James OM michael, the celebrated engineer,
.from the chisel of.,Mr. John Hutchison, R.S. A. , was
'on Saturday unveiled in Dundee, in presence of a great
concourse of spectators. The ctremony was, hell on.
the centenary of the birth of Mr. Carmichael. Some
time ago the idea of erecting a statue to perpetuate
Mn Carmichael's memory was mooted, and was so
-warmly taken up by the leading citizens that the
necessary funds were speedily procured. Mr. Car-
michael wa,s the inventor of the fan blast and of many,
improvements in mechanics. The statue and Pedestal
rise to the height of 17ft.- 'Jr: -CarmLhael is repre-
sented in sitting posture examining a plan, with minia-
tures of his inventions on the- plinth. The statue is
erected on the grounds of the Albert Institute.
. _
TILE SOUNDINGS OF mit ATLANTiC.—Thefloor of
the Atlantic,'is determined by deep soundings, consists
of a seeies of descending steps, not very closely resemb-
fing the form of any large tract of land now above the
sea, but having more resemblance to Africa than
Europe, Asia, or America. Very broad and compara-
tively level terraces extend for a certain distance be-
yond the existing shores, and are succeeded by steep
cliffs dropping some 9 000 feet. For a distance of 230
miles from the coast of Ireland, there is a slope of only
about [-ix feet in a mile (one in a thousand). In the
next 20 miles there is a fall of 9,000 feet (one in twelve),
after which for 1,200 miles, there seems little disturb-
-since of level. Th's vast terrace is one of several that
appe tr to characterise the bottom of the great Atlantic
canal. By a succession of droos we at length attain
• he greatest depth, about 30,000 feet, which is on the
American side of the ocean, some distance south of
the great bank of Newfoundland, and botween the 30th
kid 40th parallels of latitude. At this depth, there is
a basin-shaped depression, nearly 1,000 miles in length.
—Anstas Plivical Geography,