The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-09-10 00:00:00

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HOME, FOREIGN, AND COLONIAL,

FOR THE ADVANCEMENT or SCIENCE.—A Mutual
Autopsy Society exists in Paris whose members pledge
themselves to leave their bodies to the Anthropological
Laboratory for dissection, a statement of the result of
the post morton being drawn up at a very low price for
the members of the de;!eased's family. The society has
prospered for two years, and now, the Parisian tells
us, appeals for furtlaer nembers, who, "after having
been useful during their I:fe, are fired by the noble
ambition of being useful after death." The advantage
to science is specially urged, because, whereas generally
the dissection subjects are u .known to the operators,
in the preseht case the exami ters, knowing the charac-
ter and personality of the deceased would be able to
study properly the relations between the body and the
brain. Members of this society would certainly look
on cremation as a waste of valuable material, and yet
in the United States the process is fast creeping into
favour, though not so successful as in Italy and Ger-
many. The tenth case at the Washington furnace is
just reported, while a dying spinster has expressed her
desire to form the next subject.
FUNERAL OF AN ITALIAN DRAMATIST.—The funeral
of the Roman poet Pietro Coma on Friday in last
week was attended by many thousands of people, re-
presenting all classes and shades of opinion. Apart
from the pride taken by all in the fame of the man
who undoubtedly caused a revival of dramatic art in
Italy, Cossa was personally beloved by every one who
knew him, and the gathering round his bier was such
as might have contented the poet's heart. The funeral
car was completely covered with wreaths of flowers
and crowns of oak and laurel leaves. Thirty societies,
political, artistic, and industrial, with their banners,
took part in the procession. A noticeable group was
that of all the dramatic artists of Rome, who followed
in deep mourning. The principal shops in the Corso
were closed.

A BOSTONIAN MISTAKE.—At a late Boston party
the host said to a guest—"l beg you to entertain Mr.
Blank a little; he looks utterly forlorn and bored to
death. I will introduce him and you must interest
him. By the way, his strong point is butter, on which
he has written a book." The lady guest graciously
undertook the task of entertaining the man, inwardly
wondering that he should be so much interested in
butter (of which she knew very little), when his face
indicated a mind given to much profound thinking.
However, with butter in view, she began on the
weather, gradually got to the country, then on to a
farm, from that to cows, and at last to butter. The
man looked more bored than ever, the magic word
producing not the slightest effect, and he somewhat
abruptly left her and soon withdrew from the house.
"I did my best," she explained to the hostess; "I
went through agonies to prove that I was deeply
interested in butter, but it was all in vain.'
" Butter ! " exclaimed the hostess, "what possessed
you to talk to that man of all men on butter? I told
you he had just written a book on Buddha, and I
knew how deeply you too were interested in the same
subject." And they said in chorus, "Gracious ! "

PROMOTION FROM THE RANKS.—Within the last
week the War Office have conferred commissions on
Sergeants Charles Seton and John de la Poer Beres-
ford, both of whose names will be found in " Burke "
and "Lodge." Sergeant Seton, who is gazetted to a
lieutenancy in the Norfolk Regiment, is the fifth son
of Sir William Coote Seton, Bart. of Pitmedden, and
was formerly an ensign in the 85th Light Infantry.
Sergeant Bere4ord, just promoted to a commission in
the South Wales Borderers (24th Foot) is a grandson
of the first Lord Denman, and cousin of Sir H. Beres-
ford-Peirse, Bart. Serjeant Forbes son of Major
General Forbes, has also been promoted from the 17th
Lancers to a commission in the King's Dragoon
Guard?, after six years' service in the ranks.

THE SUGAR 'INDUSTRY IN AUSTRIA.—The returns
just published respecting the Austrian sugar industry
show a remarkable increase in the exports during the
past six years. In the fiscal year 1974-75 the total
quantity exported amounted to 62,393 tons. During
the past year 1880-31 the exports had fncreased to
316,600 tons. The increase in six years is, therefore,
upwards of four hundred per cent. This large aug-
mentation is attributable chiefly to the bounties
allowed upon the export of sugar. Of the 316,600 tons
seat out of the country during the past year 211,000
tons were raw, and 88,000 tons refined sugar. In the
preceding year, 1879-80, the total quantity exported
was 227,314 tons, so that the increase in the last year
alone was much as 89,286 tons, or nearly kat), per
cent.

A PHENOMENAL MEMORY.—In the St. Louis post-
office is employed a man with a phenomenal memory
(says a New York paper). He was taken on in
the mailing division about eighteen months ago and
given the lowest position. He was several times pro-
moted on account of his good record, and at his last
examination gave evidence of his close application
and phenomenal memory. It is customary for the
examiner to name the post-offices in a certain amount
of territory and require the examinee to give the loca-
tion. In this case the employo was examined on the
post-offices of Missouri, of which there are 1,790.
He did not need to be questioned, but without
prompting named every post-office in the State and
the county in which it is situated, and without miss-
ing or mistaking a post-office or a county, and did this
in thirty minutes.

DISCOVERY OF AN OLD INDIAN MS.—The remains
of a very old manuscript have been found near Bak-
shali, in the Mardan Tahsil, in the Peshawur district.
The discovery, it is stated in the Civil and Military
Gazette, was thus made. There are some mounds on
the west side of the Mardan and Bakshali road, which
are believed to be the remains of a former village, but
little is known for certain respecting them. It was
while digging in a ruined stone enclosure on one of
these mounds that this ancient papyrus manuscript
was found. At the same place were found a tri-
angular-shaped stone " diwa," a soapstone pencil, and
a large-sized " lotah " of baked clay with a perforated
bottom. Unfortunately, much of this valuable and
curious MS. was destroyed by the ignorant finder in
removing it from the spot where it lay between the
stones. The remains are described as being like dry
tinder. The character, however, in some of the pages
is clear, and resembles Peakrit, and it is hoped. that
when iereaches Lahore, to which place it is to be sent,
it may be deciphered.

AV r RAGE PRICES OF BRITISH CORN.—The following
are t- le average prices of British corn for the week
end ,; September 3, as received from the inspectors
and c.ilicers of Excise :—Wheat, 555. 2d.; barley, 325.
101 ; oats, 245. 2d. per imperial qr. Corresponding
week last year :—Wheat, 435. 3d.; barley, 355. Od. ;
oats, 225. 11d.
HONOUR TO A VETERAN NOVELIST.—Most men of
letters pass through life without receiving the honour
of a public dinner (says the Pall Mall Gazette). Mr.
Harrison Ainsworth is doubly fortunate. One com-
plimentary dinner was held in his honour soon after
the publication of the "Tower of London," forty
years ago; another will be given to him by the citizens
of Manchester early this month. Sixty-four years
since Mr. Harrison Ainsworth was admit ted to Man-
chester School, and he is now the best-known, if not
the oldest, of its scholars. All the celebrated writers
of fiction who divided the suffrages of the reading
world when Mr. Harrison Ainsworth's works were at
the height of their popularity have passed away. No
novelist of his generation survives to compete with
him in popular favour. The compliment which he is
about to receive from the inhabitants of his native
town is a fitting tribute to the merits of a veteran
author, whose writings fill twenty-three pages of the
British Museum catalogue, and have enjoyed a circu-
ation which can be numbered by tens of thousands.

FAIR TRADES' FALLACIES. —The Manchester City
News says :—" Fair traders are not fair in their treat-
ment of facts relating to progress in this and other
countries. They tell us that under protection the
commerce of the United States has risen• the last ten
years sixty-eight per cent., while that of England has
only increased twenty-one per cent. But measured
by the population the increase per inhabitant in
America was thirty-one shillings, but in Great Britain
it was forty-nine shillings. The increase has, there-
fore, been greater in England per inhabitant than hi
America. American manufactures have increased
within ten years 30 per cent., but English manufac-
tures in the same period have increased not 18 per
cent. But when we come to take the figures in relation
to the increase in population we find that the increase
in America has only been is. per inhabitant, but in
England 325."
THE WILD BIRDS' PROTECTION ACTS.—The effect
of recent legislation with regard to the protection of
wild birds during "close time" is, says the Citizen,
likely to prove beneficial, as there will be admitted
into the markets of London alone upwards of one
hundred tons of additional food, such as capercailzie,
black game, ptarmigan, brown and white hares,
quails, rutts and rees, wild fowl of all kinds, foreign
wild birds, and venison. The supplies will be im-
ported from America Russia Austria, Sweden,
Holland, and other part's of the 'Continent, and they
will arrive at a time when British meat of all descrip-
tions is dearer than at any alter period of the year,
viz., in the months of March, April, May, and
June. Those engaged in the trade, whether in
London or in different parts of the kingdom, express
general satisfaction with this new legislation. At
Leadenhall Market grouse this year have arrived in
larger quantities and of better quality than has ever
been known.
THREE STRANGE VISITORS. Three enormous
Egyptian Crocodiles are considerably perplexing the
Paris authorities just now. The monsters were sent
over to M. Bert, the naturalist, and in his absence
were taken to the Jardin des Plantes, where they were
refused admittance' as they had not been presented
to the Gardens. Accordingly they have been tern-
porarily lodged in the courtyard of the Sorbonne, and
at present are in a perfectly dormant condition, having
eaten nothing whatever since they left the Nile, but
the keepers are puzzled what to do if their charges
should suddenly wake up hungry. The reptiles are
kept in huge cases lined with metal, so as to allow of a
small amount of water being contained in each.
DRIVING A HEN.—When a woman has a hen to
drive into the coop she takes hold of her skirts with
both hands, shakes them quietly to the delinquent,
and says, "Shoo, there !" The hen takes one look
at the object to convince herself that it is a woman,
and.then stalks majestically into the coop. A man
doesn't do that way. He goes out doors and says:
"It is singular nobody can drive a hen but me," and
picking up a stick of wood, hurls it at the offending
biped, and observes : "Get in there, you thief !"
The hen immediately loses her reason and dashes to
the other end of the yard. The man straightway
dashes after her. She comes back with her head
down, her wings out, and followed by an assortment
of stove wood, fruit cans, and clinkers, and a very
mad man in the rear. Then she skims under the
barn, and over a fence or two, and around the house,
and back again to the coop, and all the while talking
as only an excited hen can talk, and all the while
followed by things convenient for handling, and a man
whose coat is on the saw-bubk, and whose hat is on the
ground, and whose perspiration has no limit. By this
time the other hens have come out to take a hand in
the debate and help dodge missiles, and the man says
every hen on the place shall be sold in the morning,
and puts on his things 4a goes down the street,
and the woman has every one of those hens housed and
counted in two minutes,