The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-12 00:00:00

STATE OF TRADE,

NOTTINGHAM, 11th —There was a moderate de-
mand for lace yarns at this Exchange-hall to-day,
and late rates were well maintained. The change
in the value of hosiery yarns was unimportant.
Silks as before. For brown nets the demand was

very flat, but the rates of last week must be quoted.

Antiquity of Man.

To complete the subject treated of in our number
of Thursday, we must notice a paper by M. de
Vibraye sent in to the Academy of Sciences at the
same time as that of Messrs. Lartet and Christy.
M. de Vibraye, while confirming some of the state-
ments of those gentlemen from his owu observation,
adds some new facts of peculiar interest. We have
seen primitive man armed with flints; M. de
Vibraye shows that although he had no knowledge
of metallurgy, he was well aware of the existence
of metal, although the drift strata are not me-
talliferous. In the lower bed of the grottoes of
Arcy (Yonne), containing the bones of the ex-
tinct Ursus spelceus, or fossil bear, our author
found a fragment of hydrated iron, exactly si-
milar to a specimen discovered in a cromlech at
La Birochire, near Pornic (Loire-Inferieurc; the
same bed also contained a piece of peroxide of man-
ganese. Two similar spccimens were brought to
light in the Fourneau du Diable at Bourdeilles (a
reindeer stratum) ; and lastly, a small mass of pure
copper, almost entirely covircd with a coating of
green carbonate of copper, and cubic crystals of
protoxyde of the same metal was dug up in the drift
of Laugerie, in the commune of Tayac. AL de
Vibraye is decidedly of opinion that some com-
merce existed in those remote times, because the
various manufactured articles found in the drift
often lie together with sea-shells, which could
only have come from the coast, the drift being
of too modern formation to admit of any other
explanation of the circumstance. Our author also
mentions the discovery of a Intunan atlas (the first
vertebra of the neck) amidst an accumulation of
bones of the hyena and other extinct species; a fact
which tends to carry man's first appearance upon
earth several thousand years farther back than any
historical record in existence. Among other sin-
gular discoveries we must not forget to mention a
small statue representing a woman, and carved out
of an elephant's tusk—a wonderful feat, consider-
ing that it could only have been achieved with flint
implements. The drift is sometimes found to cover
places where fires had been made, and the ashes and
cinders revealing the fact lie on blocks of limestone
foreign to the district, and evidently chosen ex-
pressly on account of their power of resisting the
effects of heat. RI. do Vibraye does not hesitate to
admit the existence of man during the geological
drift period, and considers the question definitively
set at rest.—Galignani.

Governor and Mrs. T. T. Stevenstone have left
,he Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-street.
Conseiller Tartouffa and M. de Reyneaus have
arrived at the Brunswick Hotel, Jermyn-street, from Paris
BARON ROTIiSCIIILD.—In reply to many inquiries
with reference to the absence of Baron Rothschild from his
Parliamentary duties, we have to state that it is caused
through ill health.—City Press.
The marriage of Miss Gore, daughter of Gen. the
Hon. Sir C. Gore, with her cousin, Colonel Rich, of
the 71st Highlanders, great grandson of the late Arthur
Saunders, Earl of Arran, was celebrated on Thursday at
St. John's Church, Kensington. The bridesmaids were
Lady Cecil Hay, Lady Anne Duff, Lady Caroline Gore,
Hon. Emily Cathcart, Miss Throckmorton, Miss Gore, Miss
Randulf, Miss Shiel, Miss Mutkerke and Miss Stothard.
The bride was given away by her gallant father.
ETON FOOTBALL—Eton football is very different
from that of Rugby. They do not allow the ball to
be caught or carried, nor one player to be held, struck, or
pushed by another. They have no cross-bar, and in their
matches only 11 players are allowed on each side. Their
game is at the head of what is called the close system. They
commence a game with a bully in the middle of the field,
One player on each side, chosen for his skill and
speed in running, is placed at the goals to guard
them. Two others act as cornerers, to keep the ball in
the bullies. The other eight form themselves into a
compact wall, two deep, standing shoulder to shoulder, with
heads bent down and hands on knees, each side facing the
opponent's goal. The ball is placed between these two lines
at their toes by one of the cornerers. Then they push and
struggle, each side trying to bear the other down, and
drive the ball through the ranks. With sides of equal
strength, these struggles are often protracted. When the
bully is broken up, all is fair kicking at the ball, but every
player must keep on the right side, and must avoid sneak-
ing—that is, kicking the ball along with less than three of
his opponents before him. A goal so sneaked does not
count. A goal is counted where the ball passes between
two poles 11 feet wide. Whenever a ball is kicked out at
the sidelines, it is brought straight in, and a bully is
formed on the spot. When it passes the goal-line there is
a race to touch it. If one of the side to whom the goal
belongs first touches it, it is carried to the edge and kicked
off into the middle of the ground again; but if an oppo-
nent touches it first, the grand feature of the Eton game
ensues : the ball is planed one yard in front of the
centre of the place marked out by the goal-sticks of the
side where the ball was touched. The players close
up, each side forming a semicircle, with their strongest
men in front. They meet each other, the ball
being in the centre of these, and then push, kick, and
strugg:e, till the weaker side gives way and goes down, the
other side falling on the top of them, and the ball being
somewhere beneath. In this position they carry on the
battle, and continue to writhe and struggle, trying on the
one side to creep the goal and drag the ball with them, on
the other to drive it away. These struggles scuaetimes
continue for 10 minutes. Players get exhausted, and creep
out; wipe the beads of perspiration from their faces; and
plunge down again with renewed vigour, till at last the
ball is dragged through the goal or got away, when every
body gets up and declares it very jolly,—Chambers's Jour
nal, New and Improved Series.

LETTERS FROM IRELAND AND TIIE CONTINENT.--
The Postmaster- Gmeral has made arrangements by
which letters brought by the Irish and French night mails,
which arrive too late for the first delivery, will now be sent
out for distribution in all parts of London at about nine
a.m., or a little after; being, except in the East Central
District, about an hour earlier than heretofore. This deli-
very will also include letters posted up to 6 30 a.m., at the
receivinz, houses and pillar letter boxes in the suburbs
nearest London.

HIGH SPRING TlDtS.—Yesterclay the tide at
Liverpool rose to an unusual height, and washed
over some of the more exposed piers and abutments. There
was a strong westerly wind, which appeared to be increas-
ing last evening, so that there was a probability of a still
higher midnight tide. Tli height reached was nearly 21
feet,

MANCHESTER, March IL—The market continues
very II It and drooping. In shipping yarns only a
very limited business has been done. There nave
been some offers, but at prices too low to meet with
consideration from spinners. We have heard of
one or two contracts for 40's for delivery this month
and in April, at a moderately fair price, but gece-
rally buyers appear more disposed to operate where
there are available stocks than where goods have to
be produced. There are a good number of orders in
the hands of merchants, which they have not confi•
deuce enough to place at present prices. If they
could be sure that yarns had reached the lowest point
they would no doubt give out such order, but an im-
pression still prevails that ell descriptions of cotton
goods will continue to decline, and purchasers limit
their demands to such only as aro more pressingly
required. Home-trade yarns are quoted the same as
on Tuesday, and it there is any change it is in favour
of buyers. In cloth the same dull feeling prevails to-
day as on Tuesday. There is almost a total absence of
business for all markets; and though the continued
decline of prices is attracting the attention of
buyers they appear quite as disinclined to do busi-
ness as they have been at any time during this
month past. The consequence of this inactivity is
that prices are again somewhat easier, though in
the absence of business to test them it would be
difficult to give reliable quotations. Messrs. Pender
and Co., in their semi-monthly circular for India of
Wednesday, say the dulness reported at the close of
last month has gradually increased, and during the
past week has amounted to positive stagnation.
They add that " quotations are now irregular and
rather lower, though comparatively little afftcted
in consequence of the smallness of stocks and the
moderate extent of production." They report that
in Calcutta goods, during the past fortnight, only a
few sales of light fabrics are reported, while the
sales for China are trifling. For Bombay business
limited-39 inch 531 b. gray shirtings, 12s 93 to
13s 3d ; 71b, 17s to 18s; wide shirtings dull at 2s
6d to 2s 7id per lb; long cloths nominal at 2s 3d
to 2s 4d per lb. India yarns Id per lb. down in the
last fortnight.