The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-06-15 00:00:00

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HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

" GREEDINESS.—A Banquet of Nations at Paris has
been talked of for some time, which is to comprise
several thousands of guests. Russia will of course be
represented at the feast as one of the nations who has
cut for herself a great deal more than she can eat.—
Judy.
ANTIQUITY OF VACCINATION.—Dr. Huillet, late of
Pondicherry, undertakes to show that vaccination was
known to a certain Dahnwantori who flourished
several thousand years before Hippocrates. Dr.
Huillet appears to have arrived at this conclusion from
the contents of certain Hindoo manuscripts preserved
at Pondicherry, in which are described the eVects pro.
duced by inoculating the human subject with the
matter taken from a man or a cow. The secondary
disease is described as identical in appearance with its
source, with this important difference, that it is quite
harmless.—Medical Examiner. -

A PERSISTENT INQUIRER !—A young philosopher
last week started on his first railway with his mamma.
One minute after starting he began, "What makes
that noise?" "The carriages," answered the mother.
"What for?" "Because they are moving." "What
are they moving for ? " "The engine makes them."
"What engine?' "The engine in front." "What's
it in front for ? " "To pull the train." "What
tram?" "This pne." "This carriage?" pursued
the young:ter, pointing to the one in which they. sat.
"Yes." What does it pull it for ? " "The engineer
makes it." "What engineer?" "The man on the
engine." " What engine?" "The one in front."
"What's it in front for ? " "I told you that before."
"Told who what?" "Told you." "What for?"
"Oh, be still! you are a nuisance." "What's a
nui,ance ? " "A boy who asks too many questions."
"Whose boy?" "My boy." "What questions?"
At this point the train pulled up at a station to collect
tickets, and the gentleman{who had listened impatiently
got out, and into a carriage as far off as possible, just
catching the boy's voice, as he did so, exclaiming—
' Tickets. What tickets ? "
A MEMORIAL. Sir Kenneth Mackenzie has just
set up, at Loch Maree, a monument of the Queen's
visit to that place last autumn. The inscription runs
thus:-
- -- •

-
~" Air an dara latha-deug deth mhios meadhonach an
t,noghair 1877, thainig Ban•Righ Bhictoria a dhlhaicinn Loch
alaruibhe, agus nan criochan mu'n cAairt. Dh'ilan I sea
oidhche s'an tigh-osda so thall ; agus 'na caomhalachd,
dheonaich i g'um biodh a' chlach so 'na caimhneachan air an
tlachd a fhuair 1 'na teachd do'n chearn so do Rs."
The English translation is as follows
"On the twelfth day of the middle month of autumn 1877,
Queen Victoria came to visit Loch blaree and the country
around it. She remained six nights in the opposite hotel,
and, in her kindness, agreed that this stone should be a
memento of the pleasure she experienced in coming to this
quarter of Ross., '
CONSUMPTION OF SPlRlTS.—Official returns show no
sign of abatement in the demand for spirits. In the
first quarter of this year 1878 duty was paid on
7,668,607 gallons of home made spirits for consumption
in the United Xingdom as beverage. This is more by
247,273 gallons than in the corresponding quarter of
1876 and more by 395,571 gallons than in that of 1877.
The Custom-house returns show that in the first three
months of the present year duty was paid on 2,714,222
proof gallons of imported foreign spirits for home con-
sumption, and this is more by 69,690 gallons than in
the corresponding quarter of 1877, though less than in
; that of 1876, when the quantity -exceeded 3,000,000
gallons, •