The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-28 00:00:00

Course of Exchange,—Yesterday.

Amsterdam
Ditto
Rotterdam — 11 188 i
11 18f
Antwerp — 25 50 25 55
Brussels — 25 50 25 55
Hamburg — 13 7 13 8
Par is
Ditto
:Marseilles ...

Frankfort on Maine
Vienna
'Trieste

120 1201
12 0 12
12 0 12 5

Petersburgh

Berlin -

Madrid

Cadiz

Leghorn
Milan
Genoa

25 721 25: ant
25 72i 25 77i
25 72i
25 77i

Naples
Palermo
Messina

- 25 72} 25 77i
- 25 721 25 77t
- 25 72} 25 77}

Foreign Gold in Bars (Standard)......per oz., L 3 17 9
Mexican Dollars
Sil%er in Bars (Standard). 0 0 0

AN EITRAORDINARY CHINESE SWORD.— General
Gordon, of Southampton, has received the following
letter from his distinguished eon, Colonel Gordon, who
fought against the Chinese rebels:—" I send home Chung
Wang's sword. It is wrapped in a rebel flag belonging to
Tien Chwang, a rebel chief, next in command to Wang, and
who was killed on it at Chan-Chu-Fa. You will see marks
of his blood on the flag, Chung Wang's sword was given
by him to Tye 'Wang, a rebel chief, of Leyang, at Wusich,
in Dec„ 1863, after the fall of Souchow, and at the time
that Chung Wang, disgusted, determined to return tm
Nankin, and take for a time no further active operations.
It is more than an ordinary sword. 'The Emperor of China
gave one to San-quo-jan, and this gift was accompanied
with permission to San• quo-jan to execute any one, what-
ever his rank might be, without reference to Pekin. In fact
it was a symbol of the power of dictator. Tien.Wang, the
rebel chief at Nankin, gave this sword to Chung Wang,
with the same power as the Imperialists, and it was this
symbol of chief and supreme command which Chung Wang
handed over to Tye Wang when he was recalled to Nan-
kin. It fell into my hands at Seyadg, on the 9th of March,
1864, and has on it Chung Wang's name, ' Li-tzn-tquen,'
Chung Wang meaning faithful prince.' Chung Wang
has since been taken prisoner by the Imperialists at Nan-
kin."

RUMOURED CAPTURE OF A CONFEDERATE Go 4
VERNMENT BLOCKADE-RUNNER,-011 Monday it was reg
ported in Liverpool that a private despatch had been re-
ceived announcing the capture of the blockade-runner
Colonel LtLa
hmnbi
tw at
ns am
Liverpoolag ni fic ene tt pt andedbl ee-gwi
nhneienl
gsteamer
Colonel Lamb, the property of the Confederate Government.
oTfkgerCeaotlosnp
present year, of steel, specially for blockade•runuing. in
which service she made several successful trips. The last
accounts were that she had put back to Nassau, after un-
successfully attempting to get into Wilmington.
BIRMINGHAM EICHANG E.—Mr. Bright will be
present at the inauguration of the new Birmingham Ex-
change on Monday
next. The opening ceremony will be
pet formed at 12 o'clock by W. Scholefield, E: q., M.P. There
will be a luncheon in the Assembly-room at two o'clock,
The proceedings are expected to be very interesting.
A MAN CHOKED 'WHILE EATING A BEEFSTEAK.—
Yesterdv morning a well dressed man of about 40
years of age, entered the coffee-shop kept by Mr Vousden,
Chichester-place, St. Pancras, and was supplied with a beef-
steak. While eating it he attempted to swallow a rather largo
piece that he had not properly masticated, and it stuck in
his throat and choked him. lie was removed to the Royal
Free Hospital, Gray's Inn•road, His throat was opened.
and artificial respiration resorted to, but without avail.
From the papers found on the deceased it is supposed that
he was a carpenter. Information has been forwarded to Dr
Lankester, but the time of the inquest has not been fixed,

1111,

DON.

(Front .Registrar-General's Report.)

The deaths in London, which had declined to
1449 in the wteek that ended Saturday, the 17th
inst., again rose last week to 1523. The average
number of deaths in the 51st week of ten years
(1854.63) is, with a correction for increase of pope•
lation, 1390. The present return exhibits an exm
cess over the estimatEd number of 133.
The deaths from typhus were 84, and they were
more numerous than those from any other z➢motic
disease. 18 were returned by the Registrar of
Islington West, in whose subodistrict the London
Fever Hospital is situated. Three deaths from the
same disease occurred in the Kehsington Town sub.
district, 3 in Chelsea Northwest, 4 in Mile-end
Oldatown East.

Scarlatina was recorded in 60 cases, 8 of which
were in Islington, 3 in Chelsea North-west sub-
district, 3 in Holton New Town, 3 in Mile-end
Old-town East, 4 in Greenwich and Woolwich.
The deaths from measles were 57, of which 4
occurred in the Kensington Town sub-district, 4 in
Paddington, 3 in Islington West, 5 in Stepney.
It is very remarkable that bronchitis and pneu-
monia exhibited directly opposite tendencies in the
week ; for while the mortality from the former in.
creased, that from the latter decreased in an extra-
ordinary degree. In the last three weeks the
deaths from bronchitis were successively 200, 189,
and 223; those from pneumonia were 97, 123, and
68. While the deaths from bronchitis were last
week above the average, the deaths from pneumonia
were much below it.

Five nonagenarians died in the week. Twn
women had arrived at the age of 94 years, and a
man at 96.

Last week the births of 947 boys and 900 girls, in
all 1,847 children, were registered in London. In
the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1854.63
the average number (corrected) was 1,858.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29.957ia.
The mean daily reading was above 30in. on the last
three days. The reading fell to 29.66 in. on Sunday
and Tuesday, and it rose to 30.42 in. on Saturday,
The mean temperature of the air in the week was
34.5 deg., which is 4 deg. below the average of the
same week in 43 years (as determined by Mr
Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was below
the average on five days, and on Sunday the defect
was 10.4 deg. The lowest night temperature was
171 deg. on Sunday. The highest day temperature
was 46 7 deg. on Tuesday. The range of tempera.
tore was therefore 29.4 deg. The mean daily range
was 9.2 deg. On Friday the range was only 3.6
deg. The difference between the mean dew.point
temperature and air-temperature was 4 8 deg. The
mean degree of humidity of the air was 82, come
plete saturation being represented by 100. The
wind blew from the south-east on the first three
days, and on the last three from the north-east.
Snow fell thickly on the morning of Sunday. On
four nights the thermometer fell below freezing
point. The mean of the highest temperatures of
the water of the Thames was 42.1 deg.; that of the 4
lowest was 38.3 deg.

The deaths in Vienna, as returned by Dr Matter,
were 373 in the week ending Dec. 17, when the
mean temperature was 28.6 deg., that :at Green-
wich having been 37.3 deg.