The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-10 00:00:00

THE ROYAL VISIT TO BELGIUM.

BRUSSELS, SEPT. 9.
The Danish Princesses and the Duchess of Brabant
visited the Royal Theatre yesterday evening.
To-day the Prince of Wales and the Royal family of
Denmark paid a visit to Laeken. A dejeuner and a State
dinner were given at the Palace.
The Royal visitors have taken several drives in the city
and its environs.

THE PROGRESS OF SLANG.—A marriage in high
life is called an alliance. People being generally prone to
ape their superiors, this foolish word will soon come to be
applied to marriages in middle life and low life. The ne-
cessary consequence will be, that a married couple will be
called allies. Aheady we speak of Captain So ,and-So and
his lady instead of his wife. It will next be Captain So-
and-So and his ally, and ultimately "Me and my ally"
instead of " My wife and I," or " I and my husband" will
be a customary form of speech amongst the lower orders.
—Punch.
"A HEAVY BLOW, AND GREAT DISCOURAGE-
MENT."—It seems very strange that at the present moment,
in America, when they are experiencing the greatest cliff.
culty in raising the wind, that every one should be rushing
away as fast as he can " to get out of the draft-;"—Punch.
AN ENGRAVING BY Doo.—A forged bank-
note.—Punch.

ETHIOPIAN BLOOM.—Under the head of exports
is included a quantity of walnut-ketchup, to St. Domingo.
This article, for which a groat demand exists in Hayti, is
destined to be employed as a cosmetic by tha ladies.—
Punch.

JOKING IN A CIRCLE.—We have the authority
of Mi. Batty for saying that "the first horse-laugh must
certainly have proceeded from an Os humerus."—Punch.
SUICIDES.—The last number of the Journal de la
Societe de Statistique of Paris contains an interesting paper
by M. Hippolyte Blanc on suicides in France, from which
it appears that since 1827, the number of suicides has been
constantly increasing. From that year to 1858 inclusively,
there have not been fewer than 92,662 in France, being on
an average 2,895 per annum. Taking the numbers of each
year by periods of five, it appears that suicides have in-
creased in regular progression. In 1827, the proportion
was 4 8 for every 100,000 inhabitants ; in 1858 it was 10.8.
Regarding the age of the individuals, we find that the ten-
dency to commit suicide increases until the age of 80; but
suicide is much rarer among females than among men.
From 1836 to 1858 the number of males that committed
suicide was 56,562, or 2,456.2 per annum ; that of the fe-
males was 18,548, or 8061 per annum. Suicides are un-
equally distributed with respect to the periods of the year;
the maximum occurs in Jane and July ; the minimum in
November and December. Touching the mode of death,
men prefer hanging, and women drowning. The geogra-
phical iistribution of suicides shows that the departments
of the centre and south-west of France have fewer suicides
to register than the north and north-east. The department
of the Seine naturally furnishes the largest number owing
to its dense population; thus, from 1844 to 1858, the num-
hPr of suicides for every 100,000 was 80. M. Blanc also
mentions the strange fact that the number of suicides is
1 those departments largest in those -ePartments where the number of priests
ordained is smallest,