The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

Volcanic Islands.

Since the 28th of Jun; 1831. an island, succes-
sively graced with the names of Ferdinand, Graham,
Hotham, Nerita, and Julie., has several times ap-
peared and disappeared off Palermo, and is now on
the point of getting above water again. There is
no doubt that this curious phenomenon is attribut-
able to volcanic agency ; nor is this the only instance
of the kind on record. In the neighbourhood of
the Philippine Islands, and on other points of the
Chinese waters, small islands occasionally rise and
make their exit again without attracting much no-
tice. Of this the Pattie relates the following curious
instance :—" A German skipper, Capt. Hilmacher,
who had passed many years of his life in those
parte, and knew every shoal and sandbank within
100 miles of the Chinese coast, suddenly, about 20
years ago, discovered an island which be was per-
fectly certain did not exist on that spot before. Ho
took his soundings, determined the latitude and lon-
gitude, sailed round it, and found that it was from
12 to 13 miles in length and breadth. There
were several springs of fresh water in it,
and it consisted of the richest pasture-ground
imaginable. Captain Hilmacher instantly re-
turned to Europe, recruited a number of German
emigrants, bought all kinds of seeds, agricultural
implements, poultry, and cattle,
setygUt again for
this new El Dorado, and in a couple of years there
might be seen on the desert island a flout ishing
village, fields waving with coro4 meadows peopled
with oxen, goats, end sheep; everything in short
that might constitute a thrivir,g colony. This happy
state of things lasted about tiveyeare,when a British
merchant vessel unexpectedly made its appearance.
The captain and crew expressed their astonishment
at finding a European community in such an out-
of•the•way place, entered into amicable intercourse
with the colonists, and gave them a quantity of
brandy in exchange for their produce. This unfor-
tunate circumstance proved the ruin of the colony ;
drunkenness grew into a habit, insubordination was
the consequence, and one fine day poor Capt. Hill-
macher, who had hitherto ruled hie little kingdom
with great wisdom, was obliged to make his escape
in a boat to avoid being mnrdered. He succeeded
in reaching a vessel, which took him home again.
There he easily obtained the command of a ship,
which he took care to provide with plenty of arms,
for the purpose of punishing his unruly subjects and
make them repent of their ingratitude. He set
but on arriving within the latitude where his ielend
had once existed he was astonished to find the place
empty; not a vestige of land was to be seen ; the
island had gone as it had come. Had the catas-

trophe occurred so suddenly as to preclude all pos-
sibility of -nape? This is what Capt. liilLmacher
never learnt."—Gailynam.

`POISONING BY ABSonPTION.—On Saturday Mr.
B. T., Grose, one of the coroners for Suffolk, con-
cluded an inquiry into the death of a child named Boatman,
the daughter of a small fanner at Wissott, near Haletworth.
The case presenting remarkable features, the coroner ap-
plied to the Home Secretary to enable Professor Taylor to
make a more than ordinarily careful and costly analysis. The
circumstances are briefly as follows :—The deceased was
aged nine years, and lived with her father and stepmother at
a small farm house in a lonely situation. The child was
taken ill, gradually got worse, and died soon after a medical
man was called in. The surgeon (Mr. froward), feeling sa-
tisfied the child died from poison, refused to certify the cause
of death. An inquest was accordingly hold, and when the
jury viewed the body the scalp of the head was found to bo
in a shocking state front ringworm,i andi
I.°°vered Powder wlitnthl vaermlititnle.
p
The stepmother said that about tan days before the death of
the child she applied some prec
poison in the shape of an ointment to the head to kill the
saft.oGrmuya,reouthoesrp, it
ta wi,as felt important
vermin. The coroner ordered APoet-mortem examination,
and the appearance of the Intestines and stomach pointing
eirntshoeehtld died from arsenical poison, and
ttoo arsenical poison
if
so, how it Was administered. The viscera were accordingly
sent to Professor Taylor,
inan stated and that gentle-
st the inquest on Saturday that the child died
wh ot h
from arsenic applied externally and absorbed into thesystem.
The condition. of the viscera, in their appearances, in the
nature of their contents, and in the minute imponderable
luantity of arsenic present in them, was not consistent with
the supposition that arsenic had been given in a solid form. or
In a liquid form by the mouth, but it was quite consishmt
with the absorption of the poison through the shin of the
scalp and its subsequent diffusion by the blood. The scalp
of the deceased was found to contain a larer,e quantity of
arsenic associated with a quantity of merc'try (white pre-
cipitate) which had been applied as above stated in the loran
of an ointment. The jury returned a t,erdict to the eff,et
that the deceased died from the mettles of an ointment con-
taining arsenic applied to her head by Mrs. Boatman, she
being ignorant of the censequeu cos, and intending morctY
to heal disease of the scalp; at the seine time the jury de-
sired the coroner to express to Boatman and his wife their
sense of the neglect and gt. treatment of the deceased.
DIOCBBS OF SALIABURY.—On the 27th of .Peb.

instituted to the irstutnbency of Liam, mu the Rev. CtArlee Sumner Border, M.A., was
W'ilie, by the Bishop
of Salisbury, or. the presentation of the Bishop of Win-
chester. The, Rectory of Fisherton Anger, Salisbury, haft
just becomes vacant by the decease of the liuv. George
of whom the Lord
Henry Do Starch, wile has held it for a period of 27 years.
The livitig is in the gift of trustees,
Li2AC,4E2.4_.
Tho
£B3iosl2oa;,:corfanCnaurmlis,le is one, anti is worth between £2OO and
REFILESIIDIENWTi
St
hArcT
Bri
dir:eoCf;it P:rBePTftirAletia'llt hi (;111:0 11 tti a t the
contract for the supply
Crystal Palace, which during the last three years has been
held by Mr. Frederick Strange, yesterday passed into the
hands of Messrs. Bernina and Roberts. Mr. Bertram was
formerly on the staff of Mr. SAwyer, of the London, in
Fleet-street, (luting his joint occupancy of the refreshment
department of the Crystal Palace some years since with
Mr. Strange, and he su-osequently filled the important pest
of manager for Mr. F. E. Morrish at the Itaternatier.tal
Exhibition of 1862.