The Sun.
London, England, 1862-09-11 00:00:00

ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SHOW.

The last show of the season took place yesterday, but
the weather in the early part of the day was far from pro-
pitious. As a natural consequence the attendance in the
early part of the day was not large; yet, as the clouds dis-
persed and the sun shone forth, the company very largely
increased. The flowers were arranged in the usual semi-
circular form, and showed to the greatest perfection. A
curiosity was shown by Mr. Moore, gardener to Earl de
Grey, namely, a bough on which both peaches and apricots
were growing, a curious result not brought about by grafting,
but by a mere freak of Nature. There was a magnificent
collection of no less than 40 distinct kinds of grapes, of
every size and colour, sent in from the society's grounds at
Chiswick, some of the single bunches of which weighed up-
wards of 51b. There was a remarkably good show of roses,
but the soft tints of these beautiful flowers were almost
eclipsed by the noble rows of double holb hocks, which in
many cases had quite the beautiful form of England's
flower, and all the additional advantages derivable from
every possible variety of colour. Mr. Youell and Mr.
Standish each sent in a superb display of the " Gladiolus"
in full bloom.

The principal prizes for roses were awarded to Messrs.
Mitchell, Paul and Son, J. B. Hedge, Turner, and Dr.
Cooper; for hollyhocks, Messrs. Chafer, May, and Downie;
for asters, Messrs. Belleridge ; for gladioluses, Messrs.
Youell and Messrs. Cutbush ; for dahlia bloom, Messrs.
Keynes, Turner, and Hall. The miscellaneous prize for
flowers not specified was awarded to Messrs. Veitch and
Son.

GLOUCESTER MUSICAL FESTIVAL.

GLOUCESTER, SEPT. 10.

The first miscellaneous concert attracted a large audience
in the evening to the, Shire-hall. Mademoiselle Titiens,
Mademoiselle Parepa, Madame Sainton Dolby, Mr. Sims
Reeves, and Mr. Weiss, each took part in the programme.
The concert began with Meyerbeer's " Exhibition Over-
ture." A few pieces from Handel's Acts and Galatea—
" Hush ye pretty warbling choir" (Miss 'Wilkinson) "Love
in her eyes" (Mr. Sims Reeves), " 0 ruddier than the
cherry" (Mr. Weiss), and " The flocks shall leave the
mountains" (for the three)—came next, The feature in
this selection was " Love in her eyes," which, sung as it
was by Mr. Reeves, would most likely have been'the case
in any selection. The well known though but lately resus-
citated air from the same composer's (wholly forgotten)
opera, Admetus, sung with her accustomed purity by Ma-
dame Sainton, was an appropriate climax to this brief ex-
cerpt from Handel. A bass air from Verdi's I _Lombardi
(Signor Bossi) ; " Lo here the Lark," brilliantly given by
Mademoiselle Parepa, the flute accompaniment being in
the experienced hands of Mr. Pratten ; Mr. Leslie's trio
" Memory" (Miss Wilkinson, Madame Laura Baxter, and
Mr. Montem Smbh) ; an air from Dr. Arne's Comus (by
Mr. Winn) ; and Mercadante's "Se m'abbandonai" (Ma-
dame Laura Baxter), were also included in the first pai t,
which Signor Verdi's " Exhibition Cantata"—thanks to
the superb execution of the solos by Mademoiselle Titiens
(the original at Her Majesty's Theatre)—brought to an end
amid rapturous applause.
The second part of the concert gave equal satisfaction.
.Eliah—The oratorio of the 19th century, the most mas-
terly composition of recent times, and the grandest sacred
work since Handel's Israel and ,Messiah—attracted an au-
dience this morning as large as to warrant a revival of hopes
which had been somewhat dashed by the comparatively
poor attendance at The Creation yesterday.
The collection at the doors after the oratorio amounted to
£176 16s. 2d.

The prospects of the festival appear to brighten daily.
A capital attendance is expected to-morrow, and a bumper
for 2he /Messiah is already assured. To-night, at the second
miscellaneous concert in the Shire-hall, Professor Stern'lale
13ennett's " Exhibition Ode" will be performed.

BRIGHTON.—We are happy to learn that their
Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and the Prin-
cess Mary purpose passing, as usual, a few weeks here this
autumn. Their royal highnesses are expected to leave
Cambridge Cottage, Kew, in the course of the ensuing
month..--Brighton Gazette.

VISIT OF MR. LAING TO MANCHESTER—The
presentat ion of the address, lately agreed upon by the Man-
chester Chamber of Commerce, to Mr. Laing, the finance
minister of India, will take place on Thursday, the 18th
inst., in the Mayor's parlour, at the Manchester Town-hall.
The Mayor will take the chair on the occasion. The state
of Mr. Laing's health will prevent his acceding to the pro-
posal made to him that the pesentation should take place at
a public dinner.

Accounts from St. Petersburg state that at the
end of last month there were in Russia 33,104 versts of
electric telegraph (24,000 miles). The number of stations
was 150. An additional length of 10,335 versts is in course
of being established.

An illustrated journal of Turin, the Fischieto, has
just published a lithograph, which has obtained a great
success throughout Italy. It is an imitation of a celebrated
picture by Signol, at the Luxembourg ; Garibaldi, with his
arms crossed, is awaiting the decision of the Ministers,
when Cavour re-appears, and exclaims to the latter :—' Chi
di voi e senza peccato gli getti la prima pietra,' (Let him
among you who is without sin throw the first stone.)

While the driver of a truck containing merchan-
dise was the day before yesterday engaged in a shop in the
Rue Vivienne, receiving the amount of his note for some-
thing he had delivered, a thief on the look out for prey was
tempted by the appearance of a small bale of cloth which
lay:on the truck, and throwing it on his shoulder walked
quietly off through the Passage Colbert. When the ear-
man returned, he was in consternation at discovering his
loss. A man standing near told him that he had seen an
individual carry the package through the passage, and the
carman started in pursuit, but without effect. Information
was given to the police, and the thief was at length traced
to the house of a tradesman in the Route de Neuilly, in
whose shop the stolen article was found, having been, ac-
cording to the account of the master, left there by a person
who was to call for it again. Subsequent investigation,
however, led to the discove' y that the tradesman in ques-
tion, although considered in the neighbourhood a respect-
able man, was a regular receiver of stolen goods, particu- ,
larly for packages taken from carts. Both the master of I
the shop and his wife were arrested, as were also the man
who effected the robbery and an accomplice.
ALCOHOL AS FOOD.—Apart from moral in-
fluences, all that we see of physical misery, of weakened
intellect, of shortened life, in the habitual drunkard, is due
to the degeneration of tissue, which is gradually but in-
fallibly brought about by continual alcoholic excess. Even
the very blood, the beginning of all tissues, is affected in a
similar way, as indeed we might expect. There is no
doubt, that in excessive doses, alcohol, if it be a food at all,
is a very bad one ; and we must remember that the drun-
kard does, in fact, test its capacity to act as a food, for by
his habits he so impairs his appetite that he can take, very
little, if any, ordinary food. :o far there is no room for
dispute—all physiologists would agree that this is a sub-
stantially correct account of the result of chronic drunken-
ness. But many physiologists strangely overlook a set of
facts which I am now about to mention, and to which I
solicit attention, viz, the frequent instances which are
to be met with, among regular dram-drinkers, of almost
total abstinence, for years together, from any food except
alcohol and water. The fact above mentioned of the dege-
neration of tissue, caused by long-continued excesses,proves
nothing more than alcohol alone is a bad and insufficient
food ; but it does not explain the fact that it is capable,
almost unaided, of supporting life for years; and yet of
this fact I myself, and doubtless many others, have had the
clearest evidence. Among about 7,000 hospital outpa-
tients who annually come under my care, there are a very
large number of persons who indulge in habitual alcoholic
excess ; and I have taken particular care,in many instances,
to arrive at the real truth as to their habits of life. The
revelations which are thus sometimes brought about are
sufficiently astonishing. With regard to tavern waiters
and potmen, I am ix a position to state that a gr6at many
of them live almost entirely upon drink, that they rarely
get intoxicated in a high degree, tut they eat almost no
solid food. Of this number a considerable proportion suc-
cumb, in from a few months to two or three years, to dis-
eases of which the starting point is mal-nutrition—a de-
generation of tissue. But a very considerable minority
remains which comes to no such tragic end; the indivi-
duals who compose it drag on a sodden and degraded
existence, some of them even to an advanced age. I
know also, personally, of one case, in which a gentleman,
who was afflicted with an intermittent mania for drink, re-
peatedly abstained from any nutriment except spirit and
water for two or three weeks together, without even becom-
ing
perceptibly emaciated, much less starved.—Cbt nhill
Magazine for September.