The Sun.
London, England, 1852-12-31 00:00:00

THE WEATHER IN SCOTLAND.

The weather still continues very changeable, wet and
stormy. High and boisterous winds, often suddenly
rising towards evening, blowing with great violence dur-
ing the night, and moderating towards morning, have
been of frequent occurrence during the last ten days.
On Friday night a heavy gale set in from the south-west,
and continued without intermission till daylight. On
Saturday morning, about four o'clock, a thunder-storm
passed over the city. The flashes of lightning were very
vivid, and reports of the thunder so loud as to rousefrom
sleep many of the inhabitants. During Saturday, seve-
ral heavy thunder plumps fell, and by Sunday morning
the Pentland hills were covered with snow. During the
early part of Sunday the weather was fair though cold,
but by mid-day it again rained heavily, and during the
night another gale from the same direction as that
of Friday night set in with still greater violence.
Though somewhat•lulled by morning it still continued to
blow so hard as seriously to inconvenience those who
ventured out, and especially in passing along the bridges
and Mound. Monday forenoon was fair, with bright
sunshine and a brazing breeze from the south-west. The
afternoon was, however, showery. The barometer has
been disturbed in a remarkable manner by the weather
of the last ten days. On Monday at 9 a.m., at about
120 feet above the level of the sea, it marked 27.806,
and by three o'clock suddenly rose to 28.278. The
barometer has not been at such a low point since 1838,
on the 29th November of which year it stood, at
12 at noon, at 27.85. In December of the same
year it was even rather lower. The thermometer
has also shown sudden variations, ranging from the
freezing point up to 53 degrees ; but the average
temperature of the month has been several
degrees above that of recent seasons. The quantity of
rain which has fallen during the last twenty days is 5.16
inches ; a quantity, however, considerably below that of
any other district from which we have received accounts.
In Westmoreland, the fall of rain during one week of
December was above eight inches. In the counties of
Roxburgh, Berwick, Perth, Forfar, and Ross, large
quantities of rain have also fallen, and in some districts
considerable damage has been done by the floods. Be-
sides retarding field labour, they have also injured the
wheat crop, which in all parts of the country is repre-
sented as covering an unusually small breadth. Upon
some farms which are thoroughly drained, the usual
breadth has been sown, but such cases are extremely.
limited. Anxiety is also now felt concerning the inju-
rious effects which these heavy rains must have on the
general fertility of the soil, especially where drainage is
defective.— Scotsman.

THE LODGINGS OF THE POOR IN PARIS.—The commis-
sion appointed to examine into the state of the lodgings
occupied by the poorer classes in Paris, has just pub-
lished a report of its proceedings in 1851. The investi-
gations of the commission have embraced three categories
of habitations ; the lodges of porters, private houses, and
lodgings and furnished lodgings. Among the first cate-
gory there are many which are really uninhabitable infec-
tious holes. Their insalubrity arises from various causes,
from the dampness of the walls, and from the want of
space, air, and light. Tie commission has been able to
remedy many of them by enlarging the lodge and opening
the windows, but in many cases all improvement has been
found impossible, and the commission has required from
the owners that no one should be allowed to sleep in them.
In the second category (private houses and lodgings) the
commission has found the same causes of insalu-
brity, and similar measures for rendering them more
healthy. As to the external causes which still more
increased the insalubrity of different houses, such as
piles of rubbish, stagnation of water in courts and alleys,
want of proper drainage, exhalations from cesspools
and water-closets, bad state of the staircases and pas-
sages, the commission has found no difficulty in removing
them as an application to the owners has been almost
always promptly attended to. It is only in very
rare cases that it has been found necessary to have re-
course to the intervention of the prefect of police to enforce
the execution of the regulations. The furnished lodging-
houses have excited the particular attention of the com-
mission. The circumstance which most struck it was the
crowded state of those places, where nothing but air of
the most corrupt kind could be breathed. It appeared to
be impossible to think of improving them in a completely
satisfactory manner, and it therefore caused the most ur-
gent measures to be adopted, such as ordering the
number of beds in each room to be diminished, and
prescribing the observance of more cleanliness. The
number of private or furnished houses visited by
the commission amounted to 100, of which 42 have
been pronounced to be in a healthy state, and 58 have
had improvements made to render them so. Eight
houses or lodges have required the application of
coercive measures against the owners for the execution
of the necessary works. Although the commission has
directed its examination in every quarter, it has
directed its particular attention to thole districts
which are inhabited by the working classes, par-
ticularly of the 12th arrondissement. The Quar-
tiers St. Jacques, Jardin des Plantes, and St. Marcel,
contain many narrow streets, into which the rays of
the sun never ester, and which being built on a
steep receive the infiltration from the ground above
them. These quarters remain just as they were in
the middle ages, and their unfavourable situation„which
is rendered more unhealthy by the careless habits of the
inhabitants, is such that only the most general measures
can be adopted. It is to remedy this state of things that
the city has dedided on opening the new street called the
Rue des Ecoles, which will tend to admit more air into this
part. The commission concludes its report by stating
that with but very few exceptions, the landlords of the
houses have shown the most praiseworthy eagernesss to
satisfy the demands of the commission.
ALEXANDER HIIMBOLDT.—HumboIdt now (1850) lives
wherever his royal friend (the present King of Prussia)
lives. There are apartments for him in Berlin, Pots-
dam, in all the royal palaces, and not a day passes that
he does not see the king. In spite of his 81 years, he
works unweariedly in those hours not occupied by the
court ; he is active and punctual in his immense corres-
pondence, and answers every letter of the humblest
scholar with the most amiable affability. The inhabi-
tants of Berlin and Potsdam know him personally, and
show him as much honour as they show the king. With
a slow but firm step, a thoughtful head rather bent for-
ward, whose features are benevolent with a dignified
expression of calmness, either looking down or politely
responding to the greeting of the passers by, with kind-
ness and without pride ; in a simple dress, frequently hold-
ing a pamphlet in his hand, resting on his back—so he
wanders through the streets of Berlin and Potsdam, alone
and unostentatiously ; a noble picture of a blade of
wheat bending beneath the weight of its numerous rich
golden ears. Wherever he appears he is received, by
tokens of universal esteem, the passers by timidly step
aside for fear of disturbing him in his thoughts ; even
the working ran looks respectfully after him, and says
to his neighbour, "There goes Humboldt !" and whoso-
ever has had the happiness of conversing with him never
forgets the force of his lucid, simple, natural, and unaf-
fected conversation ; for in everything he says depth
and learning, clearness and unbounded knowledge are
revealed, without any of the pride of learning, the stiff
pedantry and preciseness of many German men of
science. Humboldt has evidently been educated in the
highest society ; his manner is dignified, open, unaffected,
and frank ' • he has lived with all nations, and adopted
and united in himself the advantages of all.—Lives of
the Brothers Humboldt.

THREATENED COLD.—" Notwithstanding the mildness
of the season," says a letter from Valenciennes, " er-
mines have been seen in the neighbourhood of this
place. Recently Count de Fourmestraulx killed one on
his property of Gussignies. The fur was just as white
as that of the same kind of animals in Norway and
Russia."

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