The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-02-01 00:00:00

; isallanery

HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL.

GERMAN BOOKS.—The official list of German hooks
published during last year has just been issued by the
Leipsic Booksellers' Association. The total number
of novelties, together pith new editions was 13,912,
I
agaihst 13 925 in the preceding year. n 1868 the
number began to exceed 10,000, and since then there
has been a steady increase. The class entitled " peda-
gogic works" stands first. Of these there were in
1878 no fewer than 1,775. Second come law, politics,
statistics, and social questions, with 1,319. These are
followed by theology, with 1,246; belles lettres, with
1,181; chemistry and pharmacy, with 793; medicine
and veterinary. surgery, with 789; popular publica-
tions and calendars, with 715: history, biography
memoirs, with 699; art, with 571; trade and indus-
trial subjects, with 577; and classical and Oriental
languages, with 500. Among the remaining cate-
gories philosophy figures with 161.

CIREALIBSI. C. 0. writes to The Times :
" There is one point with regard to the discussion now
being carried on throughout this country on the sub-
ject of food, which I think needs rectitication. The
term ' vegetarian ' is a misleading one. Cerealism
should take its place. Vegetables impart but little
strength; they are merely the purifiers of the blood;
grain is the substitute for meat upon which cerealists,
as they should be termed, exist, and if this expression
came into general use, a great step would have been
gained towards the enlightenment of the public on this
important matter."

PARRlED.—Facetious Parson (to Parishioner, who
is not believed to be a rigid Abstainer). " Ab, Mr.
Brown! Fools stand in slippery places, l've heard F'—
Mr. Brown (the footpath was in a frightful state).
"So I see, Sir; but I'm blest if I can !"—P.unch:
A MONSTER - OTTER.—A fish-otter of an extra-
ordinary size, its body measuring 1 8 metres, or nearly
six feet in its length, has, according to the German
Fishing Gazette, been killed a short time ago by an
attendant at the Kamtnerling bathing establishment,
situated upon an island in the River Oder at Stettin.
WHEN THE BILL COMES IN ABOUT AFGHANISTAN.
—lt will be well if the "cost of pacification" can
be as easily provided for as the "pacification of
Khost " seems to have been thus far.—Punch.

FISH CONSIMIESS.-It is well known .that sea birds
eat fish, but few people have any idea of the quantity
they consume. According to the report of a commis-
sion appointed to inquire into the herring fishery,
Scotch gannets consume more than 1,1 10,000,000 her-
rings per annum, It is also calculated that codfish
and its congeners consume about 20,400,000,000 per
annum. Compared with these birds and fishes man
makes a poor figure in taking the herring. Upon an
average the number of herrings caught by fishermen
is estimated at 843,250,800 per annum, a very thin
show compared with the long figures given above.
Yet there are 7,000 boats now fishing for herrings in
the Scottish seas with nets which could be made to
reach in a continuous line for nearly 12,000 miles, and
cover a superficial area of seventy square miles. Not-
withstanding this, and also the fact that the power of
capture has been increased, the results have not provld
sathfactory, and the take of herrings has been much
below what it should be. Herrings are known to be
extremelyprolific, but judging from the figures given,
they are principally consumed by fishes and birds.

-
A TORPEDO PISTOL.—A
operations
instan-
taneous fuzes in connection with torpedo operatjt
is
pistol for firing
has just been adopted by the Royal Navy. 1
muzzle-loadingetal The end
similar in appearance to an ordinary
pistol, but is made of copper or
gunT into the
of the ',fuze 'passes by a tape arrangementpercussion cap.
lock, where it rests under an ordinaryd 'epmition for firing,
The torpedo having been
is instantly exploded.
the necessary spark and the LICaDe
with the fuze attached, placed
alaAell in
position
trigger creates
York and New Haven
incident happened in a N
hennwthe train arrived at the
—The following amusing
AN AMUSING INCIDENT.
train the other day :—W
depot in New Haven an old gentleman got lip and
but a few steps before the old lady who had been
started for the rear end of the car. He hadn't gone
with her hands full of knit-
sitting
down the aisle, her hands
extended. i
It was now notced by the Passengers that
laced her ball of yarn n his pocket.
ti n g
and him
i followed
u
the old lady had p i
'When he got up he turned around several times before
1 starting, and in so doing had wound the yarn around
him so that the old lady had no choice except to follow
him, drop her knitting or see her yarn broken. She
said not a word, but a passenger noticing what was
,
going on, reached up and gently taking the uncon-
scious old gent by the car, turned him around, sO he
saw what he was doing and the yarn was saved.
AVERAGE PRICES OF BRITISH (.:ORN.—The follow.
January 25 as received from the i
leg are the average prices of British corn for the week
ending
e nspectors and
of Excise :—Wheat, 395. id. ; barley, 365, 5d.; imperial qr. Corresponding week
oats, 20s. ld. pq
last year :—Wheat, 51e. I.od. ; barley, 445. Bd, ; oats,
248.
END OF AN ADAGE.—A Continental telegram
announces that American coals are beginning to be
sold at Geneva. Perhaps they will soon be on sale at
Newcastle.—Punch.
A DOG SHOOTS A MAN.—At Stockton, a railway
,
station near Charlestown Illinois U.S., nn the 14th
December last, a Mr. B. Williams was out shooting,
and training a young dog. He had killed a quail and
was holding it up with his left hand, so the dog could
scent it, »nd at the same time was holding his gun in
his right hand cocked. The deg weal reariug up after
the quail and knocked the gun out of Williams's hand
and shot him in the right arm, between the elbow and
shoulder. It ik a very serious wound. The doctor
has taken out several pieces of bone. The above
account, obtained from an American paper, illustrates
the folly of allowing dogs to jump and fawn about the
sportsman when he has a gun in his hand. It is a
very fertile source of Fun accidents.— Land and Water.
A LARGE SALHON.—A monster salmon, measuring
4ft. Sin. in length, has been presented to the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons in Lincoln's-inn-
fields, by Mr. Frank Buckland, to whom the &h had
bean sent from Hampshire, where it was found in a
dying state a few days ago, lying in a drain. The
salmon had evidently lost its way in descending the
river after spawning, probably in consequence of the
floods. It was a kelt or spent fish, and weighed about
59Lb. Had it been eriabled to reach the sea and re-
cover condition it would probably have weighed
nearly 701 b. next summer. The body is to be made
into a skeleton, which will mako a beautiful and
unique preparation; the disestEed and discoloured and
lank condition ut the body, combined with the pro.
longed and beaked conciitiot of the jaws —a condition
pe. ‘o knit salmon—giving it thuythiug but an
etinctlio apparauc4 in tin Sub.