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

Volcanic Islands.

Since the 28th of June, 1831, an island, succes-
sively graced with the names of Ferdinand, Graham,
Hotham, Nerita, and Julia, 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 Patric relates the following curious
instance :—" A German skipper, Capt. Hilmacher,
who had passed many years of his life in those
parts, and knew every shoal and sandbank within
100 miles of the Chinese coast, suddenly, about 20
years ego, discovered an island which he was per-
fectly certain did not exist on that spot before. He
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 llilmacher instantly re-
turned to Europe, recruited a number of German
emigrants, bought all kinds of seeds, agricultural
implements, poultry, and cattle, set out again for
this new El Dorado, and in a couple of years there
might be seen on the desert island a floutishing
village, fields waving with corn, meadows peopled
with oxen, goats, end sheep, everything in short
that might constitute a thriving colony. This happy
state of things lasted about five years,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 his 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. lie set
but on arriving within the latitude where his island
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 escape? This is what Capt. liillmacher
never learnt."—Galignani.

POISONING BY ABSORPTION.—On Saturday Mr.
B. L, Gross, one of the coroners for Suffolk, eon•
chided an inquiry into the death of a child named Boatman
the daughter of a small farmer at SVissett, near Halesworth.
The case presenting remarkable features, the coroner ap-
plied to the Homo 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
I man was called in. Tho surgeon (Mr. Howard), feeling sa-
tisfied the child died from poison, refused to certify the cause
of death. An inquest was accordingly held, and when the
jury viewed the body the scalp of the head was found to be
in a shocking state from ringworm, and covered with vermin.
The stepmother said that about ten days before the death of
the child she applied some precipitate powder and a little
poison in the shape of an ointment to the head to kill the
vermin. The coroner ordered a post-mortem examination,
and the appearance of the intestines and stomach pointing
to arsenical poison in some form or other, it was felt important
to ascertain whether the child died from arsenical poison, and
if se, how it was administered. Tho vises' a were accordingly
sent to Professor Taylor, at Guy's Hospital, and that gentle•
man stated at the inquest on Saturday that the child died
from arsenic applied externally and absorbed into the system.
The condition of the viscera, in their appearances, in the
nature of their contents, and in the minute imponderable
quantity 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 consistent
with the absorption of the poison through the skin of the
scalp and its subsequent diffusion by the blood. The scalp
of the deceased was found to contain a large quantitY
arsenic associated with a quantity of mercury (white Pre-
cipitato) which had been applied as above stated in the form
of an ointment. The jury returned a verdict. to the effect
that the deceased died from the results of an ointment con-
taining arsenic applied to her head by Mrs. Boatman, she
being ignorant of the consequences, and Intending merely
to heal disease of the scalp; at the same time the jury de-
sired the coroner to express to Boatman and his wife their
sense of the neglect and ill• treatment of the deceased.
DIOCESS OF SALISBURY.—On the 27th of Feb..
Witte, by the Bishop
nary the Rev. Charles Sumner Burder, M.A., Was
presentation of Ithe Bishop of Win-
oinfsstiotluistebdortyo,thoeuithucoupturbeseenncl.
cheater. The Rectory of 'shorten Auger, Salisbury, has
just become vacant by the decease of the Rev. Ueorge
Henry Do Stack, who has held it for a p3riod of 27 years.
'Brhehl)ipvionfgCisarlisintlhoe gift of trustees, of whom the Lord
Bishop
is one, and is worth between £2OO and
£3OO per annum, with residence; population, £2,424.
REFRESHMENTS AT TIM CRYSTAL PALACE.—The
contract for the supply of refreshments at the
Crystal Palace, which during tho last three years has been
held by Mr. Frederick Strange, yesterday passed into the
bands of Messrs. Berta= and Roberts. Mr. Bertram was
farmerly on the staff of Mr. g twyer, of the London, in.
Fleet-street, during his joint occupancy of the refreshment
department of the Crystal Palace some years since with
Mr. Strange, and ho subsequently filled the important post
of manager for Mr. F. E. Morrish at the International
Exhibition of 1862.