The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-09-11 00:00:00

SATURDAY, SEPT. 11, 1880.

THE QuEEN AND MRS. BROOKE.—The Army and
Navy Gazette says that on the news reaching England
ot the late disastrous sortie from Candahar, her
Majesty graciously expressed, through Sir Henry
Ponsonby, her sympathy with Mrs. Brooke on the
death of her husband, the late Brigadier General
Brooke, who fell in the sortie when endeavouring to
carry off Captain Cruiksha,nk, R.E., when wounded,
out of action ; and her Majesty at the same time
made known her deep regret that she should have
been deprived of the services of so gallant and worthy
a soldier.
MESMERISING INDIANS.—M. Henri de Parville tells,
in the Debats, a curious story of mesmerism. M. de
Parville was living twenty years ago among
Mosquito tribe of Red Indians. One evening, for
want of better sport, he "hypnotised" half a dozen
able-bodied Mosquitoes ty making them fix their
eyes on the stoppers of carafes-. After a few seances -
the Mosquitoes became expert subjects, as At, de rat-
line found out in a curious way. He was passing their
huts in the dark, while the hypnotised patients laY
asleep. One by one they rose and followed him like
shadows. When he walked they walked, when he
ran they ran, and they imitated each of his actions.
With a little trouble he might have become the medi•
eine-man of his tribe, and led a host of automata to
peace or war.

WEEKLY REVIEW OF THE CORN TRADE.—A week
of brilliant weather has enabled the farmers to make
rapid progress with the harvest, and as far as England
is concerned, very little now remains to be done in
connection with cereals. Two weeks of very pio-
pitious weather have raised the hopes of the country
with regard to the result of the harvest, though
scarcely more could have been effected than to bring
the cereal crops to a more complete state of maturity.
The wheat crop has evidently suffered from the heavy
rains of the summer months, and the early gathered
crops show thi3 somewhat distinctly. Much of the
early cut wheat will improve by being kept in stack;
but the produce harvested during the last fortnight
is expected to show good results. The year seems to
be proving to be one of full average abundance, and
this fact, combined with the liberal supplies in exist-
ence in America, produces a very quiet, if not de-
pressed feeling in the trade.—Bell's Weekly Messenger.

THE POPULATION OF THE CITY OF LONDON.—It
may be interesting (says the Citizen) in view of the
discussion in the House of Commons on Thursday on
the Census Bill, to say that in 1866 the Local Govern-
ment and Taxation Committee of the Corporation pre-
pared returns of the day and night population of the
city. These showed :—The night population (city and
liberties), consisting chiefly of caretakers of property
and the humbler population, 113,387; the mercantile
and commercial population engaged in the city daily
(not included in the above), 170,133; the total day
population residing in tly city, 283,520; the number
of persons resorting to the city daily (in 16 hours), not
included in the above, being customers, clients, and
other frequenters, 509,611. Total persons frequenting
the city daily—in 12 hours (6 a.m. to 6 p.m.), 549,618;
in 16 hours (5 a.m. to 9 p.m.), 679,744 ;in 24 hours,
728,986.
THE WESTERN TEMPERANCE LEAGUE.—This league,
which extends over fourteen counties, held its annual
conference at Plymouth, on Tuesday, under the presi-
dency of Mr. Sessions, of Glocester. It was resolved
to hold the next conference at Bristol. The Rev.
William Barker, Chaplain to the Queen, preached the
annual sermon in St. Andrew's Church. The confer-
ence passed a resolution expressing gratification that
the Government had promised to introduce a measure
dealing with the licensing question.
How TO TREAT DAIRY STOCK.—Mr. Farce in the •
report of the New Jersey Agricultural Society, says
"It is important that dairy stock from the young
calf to the old cow that is being fed for beef, should
be handled and treated kindly. If a calf is handled
roughly, and becomes wild and vicious thereby, when
it becomes a cow you may expect the same ; but if
handled carefully and treated with kindness, when
grown up she will be mild and gentle. It may not
always be so, but in general it is. There have always I
been many cows spoiled by the person having the care '
of and milking them, by whipping or frightening them
whenever they come in his way, or if, when milking,
a cow hoists her foot or kicks (which is generally
caused by pain), such,a fellow stops milking and com-
mences whipping, or worse, kicking the caw, and she
becomes enraged, holds up her milk, kicks back, and
is finally ruined. Never whip a cow for kicking, if
she does kick the milk pail out of your hand, and
sometimes upset and knock you, but be kind and
gentle evith her, and milk her out with as little excite-
ment as possible, and if she gets over her kicking pro-
pensity, it will be by mild and not by harsh treat-
ment. Never whip a cow because she kicks, for it
will do no good, but will do a great deal of harm."
BRICKS. A correspondent writes (says the
Builder) :—" What is the average annual consumption
of bricks for building purposes in London? I think I
saw in a paper that at a meeting of brickmakers, held
last autumn at the Cannon-street Hotel, the chairman
stated the average metropolitan consumption to be
750,000,000." A precise answer to this could not be-
given without special inquiries. Mr. W. T. Wiseman,
who is agent for many of the manufacturers, supposes,
in, reply to our question, "that probably 800 millions
of bricks annually, taking the average of the past five
years, are sent to London within a radius of four or
five miles from London-bridge."

CYPRUS NEWS.—The Gibraltar Chronicle of Aug. 27
publishes the following Cyprus news, dated August
10, from an occasional correspondent at the Camp,
Mount Troodos :—" The troops have now been en-
camped up here for more than a month, and are feel-
ing all the benefits of the cool mountain breezes and
pure mountain air. On Saturday July 31, Sir Robert
Biddulph, Lady Biddulph, and ' Staff arrived hers
from Nicosia. The health of the troops is perfect, and '
in time, I feel sure, this delightful spot will become 0, ,
favourite sanitarium in the Mediterranean. On
Monday, the 2nd inst. (the Ist falling on a Sunday), _
the 20th Regiment celebrated the anniversary of the
battle of Minden, with all the honours. The regi-
ment was paraded at half past ten, and after the pre-
sentation of a medal for long service and good conduct
by Major Webster to Drum-Major Kaill, the cere-
mony of trooping the colour was performed before his
Excellency the officer commanding the troops, who ,
minutely inspected the regiment. Every officer and -
man wore a rose in his helmet, and the regimental
colour was decorated with a handsome wreath of
roses. The dinners were visited by the officers, *hose
healths were drunk with great enthusiasm, and after
dinner the regimental sports took place. These lasted I
till after seven, the shades of evening, in fact, putting
the last two or three events out of the programme.
In the evening
.the officers entertained Sir R. Biddulph
and a large party of guests at dinner." ,
- -

A CLOCK AT NURNBERG.—A fine specimen of horo-
logical art has been lately added to the Germanic
Museum at Nurnberg. It has been erected at the
expense of the Princes of the Royal House' and is
intended as a memorial of the Wittelsbach Jubilee,
celebrated a few days ago. The clock is placed at an
elevation of 142 metres, or a little over 46ift. It is
.surrounded with ornamental work in medimval style
and several gilt figures' most of which move by .
mechanical arrangement. The idea intended to be
expressed is that the Bavarian people at all times
reverences its king, who governs under the protection
of God. Above is the sitting figure of the Saviour,
and below that of Louis 11., also seated. Around the
Saviour are arranged eight angels, some of whom
strike the clock bells, others blow trumpets, others
hold a curtain behind the king, before whom two
citizens bow down reverentially. An inscription
records the object and authors of the work. The old
arms of the Palatinate are set below. The whole
work is in the style of the 14th century.

PHONETIC.—Maiden Aunt to tall young Nephew :
"As I stood by you in church, Percy, I could not help
being struck by your size."—Percy : "Very sorry.
aunt, but there was such an awfully pretty girl the
other side the aisle, I couldn't help sighing "—Fun.
EFFECT OF STARVATION ON THE BLOOD.—During
the last hour of Dr. Tanner's fast, some of his blood
was withdrawn and examined in the microscope by Dr.
Van der Weyde. It proved to be quite different from -
healthy blood. The corpuscles, which are usually
smooth and round fiat discs, with a central depression,
were found to be ragged, irregular, and shrunk (on an
average) from 1-3,600 th to 1-5,000 th part of an inch in
diameter. There was scarcely a smooth corpuscle
among them. The white corpuscles, however, were -
smooth, and nearly of the normal size; and their pro'
portion to the red was apparently 'lncreased to about
i
one in 100 (the normal being one n 400). The rough
appearance of the red corpuscles was due to projecting
points, thought to represent a fungoid growth going on
at the expense of the corpuscle (those most densely
covered being the smallest and most irregular in
shape). Such growths have been observed on the
corpuscles of patients suffering from various malarious
diseases.' Twenty-four hours after Dr. Tanner had
broken his fast it was observed that many smooth and
fresh corpuscles had been evolved. At the second day
about half of the blood had become normal, while
on the third day nearly all the corpuscles were of the
normal kind,
BOAT ACCIDENT.—A fatal boat accident occurred
off Bournemouth last Saturday. At about six o'clock
the steamer Florence, Captain Joseph Robertson, was
backing out from the west side of the pier with TAP
sengers for Swanage when a rowing boat, 25 feet long
aneofifaifiing seven persons,•came round the head of
the pier.' The son of the captain of the Florence called
to his father to stop the engines, anclsSimultaneously
was heard the cry of the late occupants of the rowing
boat, which had been run into by the steamer. The
steamboat was at once stopped, and one of the first in-
cidents which occurred was that Lieutenant Mouse%
the divisional officer of Coastguard, threw off his coat
and boots and jumped in to the assistance of those
who were struggling in the water, several of them
being children. Life-buoys were thrown and the boats
lowered. The accident happened about 50 yards from
the pier, so that assistance was soon at hand, but three
children and a young lady were drowned. The persons
in the boat were Mrs. Machel, a resident in Bourne-
mouth, her two nieces, aged eleven-, two lady friends
named Taylor and Pritchard, the boatman Jesse
Cutler, and his son, aged nine. Mrs. Machel, Miss
Pritchard, and the boatman were saved, but the other
four Were drowned.

BATHING FATALITY. - -Mr. George Stevens, an Oxford
student, aged 20, was drowned at Teignmouth last
Saturday. He went with a brother to bathe at a spot
called the Breakwater, about a mile from Teign-
mouth, on the Dawlish side. Both of the brothers
could swim, but not strongly. Soon after entering
the water Mr. George Stevens either got beyond his
depth or was seized with cramp. Seeing that he W 93
in danger, his brother went to his assistance,` caught
him, and tried to swim ashore. The ebbing tide, hoc
-
ever, proved too strong for him. Mr. George Stevens
lost his hold of his brother, and the latter, totally un-
able to render any further help, was himself in inv
minent peril. At this moment the 'Rev. H. C.
Deshon, vicar of Teignmouth, happened to be passing
aloeg the sea wall. He at once threw off a portion of
his clothing, and, though a poor swimmer. gallantl
plunged into the sea. Mr. Deshon, however, found
himself overpowered by the current. By this tirne
Mr. George -Stevens had disappeared, and the lives Of
the other two would possibly have been sacrificed
had not a railway servant arrived with a rope, 137
means of which Mr. Deshon and the deceased
brother were enabled to get ashore. The body of
Mr. George Stevens was found about half an hour
later,

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