The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-11-16 00:00:00

SATURDAY, NOV. 16, 1878.

A SWAM= REMEDY roll CONSTIDErnort.—A
correspondent of the Lexington Press writes as follows
about the flower of a well-known plant :—I have dis-
oovered a remedy for consumption. It has cured a
number of cases after they had commenced bleeding
at the lungs and the hectic flush was already on the
cheek. After trying this remedy to my own satisfac-
tion I have thought philanthropy required that I
should let it be known to the world. It is common
mullein steeped strongly and sweetened with coffee
sugar, and drank freely. Young or old plants are
good dried in the shade and kept in clean bags. The
medicine must be continued from three to six months,
according to the nature of the disease. It is very good
for the blood vessels also. It strengthens and builds
up the system instead of taking away the strength; it
makes good blood, and takes inflammation away from
the lungs. It is the wish of the writer that every
periodical in the United States, Canada and Europe
should publish this recipe for the benefit of the human
family. Lay this by and keep it in the house ready
for use.

A CIIRRICITLII2C—Judy's cook doesn't seem to know
anything now; she says, "I can curry rabbit, and I
can curry chicken, but what I want to know is how to
curry favour? and should I use a curry-comb to do
it ?" Judy herself says, "This sort of questioning must
not occurry 'gain."—Judy.
THE PEASANTS OF THE LIMAGNE.—The Rev. F.
Barham Zincke, well known for his advocacy of the
reasant•proprietorship system, has a very interesting
paper in the Fortnightly Review on "The Peasants of
the Limagne." He lodged with a peasant who had
begun life without any capital, and had become
the owner of between 14 and 15 acres of land.
This man and his wife worked from dawn till evening
day after day and year after year, with hardly any
intermission, and it is therefore no wonder that they
lived in comfort, and were able to train their only
child for a professional career. If an English labourer
and his wife would work as hard, and give as few
hostages to fortune, they could do as well or better;
but then it is precisely the chief merit of the peasant-
proprietor system that it induces industry wad saving
In a quite exceptional degree.—Mark Lane Express.

A PROMISING PARTNER.—" Have you played much,
Mr. Green ?"—" Oh, yes; a great deal."—" I hope you
have good luck."—" Oh, yes—very ! Once I had
thirteen trumps in my own hand."— Really! Then
of course you were dealer ?"—" Oh, no; indeed I
wasn't. I played third hand ! "—Punch.

COMMUTATION OF TITHES.—A very useful short Act
was passed in August, providing that wherever land
charged with rent-charge in lieu of tithes is taken away
for certain purposes, such as building a church,
hospital, &c., the Tithe Commissioners may order the
redemption of the rent-charge for a sum of mono/
equal to twenty-five times the amount thereof, it
often happens that the collection of tithes becomes
very difficult, owing to the division and redivision of
property. We know an instance where the annual
amount collected of many distinct holders of property
is only a shilling, and yet the sum total is about fifty
pounds. Every year the division of the property goes
forward, and in a short time it will be difficult to, re-
cover." Now, why shouldnot this Act extend to any
case wherever both parties are willing to arrange for
rendering the property free? Might it not be well to go
further and to say that where tithe has been divided
and subdivided thus, it shall be compulsory, within a
period of (say) seven years, to redeem it upon the rate
of twenty (not twenty-five) times the annual amount
paid? The money thus obtained to be, of course, in-
vested in securities, Such an Act would be very
valuable to all parties concerned.—Church
BRAN AS A DETERGENT. Among the capita
domestic wrinkles to be gained from the feminine por-
tion of our "kin 'beyond the sea," is the plan of using
damp bran instead of tea leaves for sweeping carpets
(says Land and Water). Moistened bran not only
entirely clears the carpet from dust and cleanses it at
the same time, but keeps the broom clean too, so that
the sweeper has not to stop continually to free her
broom from collections of dust and rubbish. The bran
must be only sufficiently moistened to make the par-
ticles cling together • then distribute it evenly over the
floor. One great advantage in this use of bran is that
very little dust arises to suffocate anyone who is bold
enough to enter a room being swept, therefore there
is but little dust to settle on furniture and be cleared -
away afterwards. All lint, dust, and shreds, etc.,
that are gathered into the bran cling into it and re-
main incorporated with the mass. Bran thus used is
time-saving as well as cleansing.
• METEORIC GOLD.—The Yuma Sentinel of California
gives an account of a singular specimen of meteoric
iron, which resembled steel, that had been found in
the Mohave desert. It weighs about a pound; has
some free gold on the surface, is not magnetic, and has
successfully resisted the action of various acid baths.
One of its surfaces shows a fracture of crystalline
appearance, the colour of which is steel gray, tinged
with yellow. It has defied the best cold chisels, and
has neither broken nor chipped under heavy blows.
If its composition could be imitated, it would be the
hardest and toughest alloy kno

UNPARALLELED.—Servant, in evident disgust, to
Registrar. A very nice place you recommended me
to, 1 must say, mum. Registrar. Why, what's the
matter? They are as rich as can be, and they never
look after your perquisites. Servant, in greater dis-
gust. Rich, indeed! Why, when I went there to
apply for the sitiwation I see'd two young ladies both
a-sitting at the same piano.—Judy.

DESTRUCTIVENESS OF AN OTTER. An instance
proving that fish otters are able to catch even the
largest of the inland water fish has been communi-
cated to the German Fishing Gazette as having
happened in Norway. The fresh remains of an otter
meal have been discovered a few days ago upon the
banks of the Lardalsely in Norway, consisting of the
head and tail end of a salmon. The weight of the
head was six pounds, and that of the tail end up to
the lowest point of the dorsal fin, twenty English
pt.unds. The marks of the fore paws of the otter upon
the tail end of the salmon indicated clearly that the
otter must have caught hold of the fish at the tail,
rnd that he had let himself be dragged along by the
Damon until the latter's strength had been entirely
exhausted, when it fell an easy prey to its enemy. To
judge from the proportions of the discovered remains,
the total weight of the salmon could not be estimated
at less than fifty pounds; the otter having, therefore,
in one single meal devoured some twenty-five pounds
of fish flesh.—J., in Land and Water.

IMPORTANT NOTICE.—For the use of all Political
Students of Geography, we intend publishing a correct
Map of the World, when the present Eastern and
Western Questions are finally settled to the satisfac-
tion of everybody. Orders, with subscriptions in
advance, may now be sent to our Office.—Punch.
MOSQUITOES AND THE FILARIA SANGULNOLENTA.
—The British Medical Journal remarks that the mos-
quito has been regarded as a particular nuisance by
man wherever they have been met. The bite of this
peculiarly objectionable insect has an irritating effect
upon most people, over and above the mere discom-
fort produced thereby. But it would appear that
mental disturbance and systematic bleeding are not
the only injurious actions which the mosquito can and
does exercise upon us. From what was recently said
at the Pathological Society, it would appear that the
mosquito is the means of spreading the filaria san-
guinolenta amongst human beings. They suck up this
tiny entozoon with the blood of their human victims;
and the female mosquitoes, after their banquet, go to
the rivers to deposit their eggs. In doing so, the
filarim and their larval find their way into the water,
and again to other human beings who drink it. In
order to ascertain how far the mosquito is thus a
carrying agent of disease from man to man, a patient
known to have the filaria in his blood was placed alone
in a chamber, and an opportunity furnished to mos-
quitoes to feed upon him. After that the spoilers
were captured and dissected, and in the stomach of
one no fewer than one hundred and twenty filarial
were found. This newly-found relation of the mos.-
quite to man adds materially to its objectionableness ;
for not only does it feed upon us, but it helps to spread
among us an entozoiin which is known to cause a de-
finite series of unpleasant pathological consequences
by its presence in the blood.

EQUAL TO THE EMERGENCY,—Biddy (to Old Gent) :
"Please help a poor woman with siven small children,
all to—" Good-natured Old Gent (who knows her):
"Yes, but I say, don't you think your family in-
creases rather too rapidly ? Last week it was only
five." Biddy (not a bit abashed) : "Sure, and isn't it
all the more reason why yer honour should help me
again? "—Fun.
AN EXCITING INCIDENT.—The Whitehall Review ro-
lates the following :—" A naval officer who was
Eastern waters with the Duke of Edinburgh informs
me of an exciting incident which, I believe, has not
hitherto appeared in print. One night the officer Of
the watch on board one of the Turkish men-of-war wag•
surpri•;ed by a slight splash under the bows, and on
going to the forecastle to his dismay he beheld the
crew of a Russian torpedo boat in the act of fastening
one ot those infernal machines to his vessel. It was a
critical moment. Nevertheless, the Turkish officer
was equal to the occasion. Observing that one of the
bow anchors was directly over the torpedo boat, with
admirable presence of mind he let it go. The result
can be easily imagined and need not be described.
The anchor weighed some five tons, and fell fairly On
to the boat, which with its crew at once went down
fully forty fathoms deep. 'So,' quietly remarked the
stolid Turk, 'perish all the enemies of Islam ! "

•
GOLDEN SPARROWS.--The English soamow in the
Antipodes, with a short-sightedness of ihich I should
not have supposed so acute a bird capable, has gone in
for collecting bullion, a taste which must inevitably
result in his extermination (says the Sporting and
Dramatic News). I read that some stfiall boys st
Ballarat recently shot a number of sparrows, and theY
found two amongst them that had fine specks of gold as
well as quartz gravel in their stomachic department.
There is no accounting for taste, but I should have
thought any sensible sparrow would have preferred
grain to gold,
A TERRIFIC EXPLOSION.--.-The inhabitants of Crews
were startled in their sleep the other morning at the
early hour of four by a tremendous explosion, which
was heard not only in Crewe, but for miles roond.
appears that the gverberation proceeded from the
casting-pit at the Steel Works. Here two immense,
bulbs, called "cupolas," are filled with several tons "1
fluid metal, and a blast Of -air is sent through thon3;
which burns out the impurities. After 'a blow one.°
these had been emptied of the red-hot refuse which
clings to the bottom, and a jet of water had bee!!
directed upon this refuse, which lay upon the floor el
the pit, to cool it. Shortly after this the other cupola
was turned mouth downwards, and no sooner had the
white hot residue from within it dropped upon a little
pool of water which happened to have formed than an
explosion followed which sent the roof off the largs,
and lofty building. Masses of molten metal an"
burning rubbish flew in all directions, one of theln
striking and bending a hydraulic crane some 18-incheE.s
in diameter, another damaging the blowing fan. Sem°
of the escapes WCT2 almost miraculous. One man had,
his whiskers on one side burnt off by a quantitY ne
metal which flew past him; another had the lantern
in his hand fused into a shapeless form, but was hoe*
self untouched, while of the half-dozen individuals
thrown down by the bhacic not one was hurt by the
flying metal or falling debris. The damage to tht! pro-
perty of the London and North-Western Itallwa7
Company is considerable, that portion of the pod
Works enclosing the meting pit being left in a rume"
state.