The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-06 00:00:00

S U N

•:.
THE HULSEAN PRIZE, 184b,,:mt, ':±, r 1 V'
UNIVERSITY INTELL , 14)
JAN. s.—The late Rev
CAMBRIDGE,
having bequeathed to the University of eigAirifgeett'
tain estates for the advancement of reliadikilarWKA2,
and having directed in his will that out of the rents an
profits, so soon as annuities and other incumbrances
would admit, an annual premium should be given " for
the best dissertation in the English language on the evi-
dence in general, or on the prophecies or miracles in
particular, or on any other particular argument, whether
the same be direct or collateral proof of the Christian
religion, in order to evince its truth and excellence," to
be written by a member of this University under the
degree or standing of Master of Arts; the trustees have
given notice, that a premium of 1001. will this year be
given for the best dissertation on the following subject—
" The influence of the Jewish and Christian Revelations
on Pagan writers."
The dissertations are to be sent to one of the trustees
(the Vice-Chancellor, the Master of St. John's College,
or the Ma=ter of Trinity OoUege) on or before the 20th
of October, 1849, with the names of the respective
authors sealed up.
The author of the essay best approved is to print it at
his own expense, and is ;lot to be a second time a candi-
date fur the premium.
THE SEATONIAN POEM.
The subject of the Seatonian Poem for the present
year, as announced by the electors, is " Edom."
s e
pname,tieshmi
stabotenrattmhh eee
next,Vws same
cimwtet-ei,,Ctnhht
wiamsnioteemhe
iletnl
00,
Each candidate is to send his performance, without his
the
vae orr
sspael :imepfloprroei,
Latin
the
it ;dy2ea9urntsph:
a'saentnliinnd
ohwneiththe outside.

The electors also give notice that if any poem shall
appear to possess distinguished merit, a premium of SOL
will be adjudged.

POISONED PARTRIDGES.

Dr. Henry William Fuller, of St. iie;rge'Ts
pital, has sent to the .Lancet a communication of cu.
rious interest :
" For some months past, in certain parts of Hamp-
shire, partridges have been found dead in the fields,
presenting a very remarkable appearance. Instead
of lying prostrate on their sides, as is usually the
case with dead birds,
.they have been found sitting
with their heads erect and their eyes open, presenting
all the semblance of life. This peculiarity, which for
some time had attracted considerable attention among
sportsmen in the neighbourhood, led to no practical
result until about ten days ago, when a ; covey of ten
birds having been found nestled together in this con-
dition, two of the birds, together with the seeds taken
from the crops of the remaining eight, were sent up
to London for examination."

By analysis, Dr. Fuller discoved considerable
quantities of arsenic in the viscera of the birds:
this was traced to the seed-corn in their crops. In-
quiry established that " inHampshire,Lincoln shire, and
many other parts of the country, the farmers are now
in the habit of steeping their wheat in a strong solu-
tion of arsenic previous to sowing it, with the view of
preventing the ravages of the wire-worm on the seed,
and of the smut on the plant when grown ; that this
process is found to be eminently successful, and is
therefore daily becoming more and more generally
adopted ; that, even now, many hundreds weight of
arsenic are yearly sold to agriculturists for this ex-
press purpose; that although the seed is poisonous
when sown, its fruit is in no degree affected by the
poison ' • that wherever this plan has been extensively
carried out, pheasants and partridges have been poi-
soned by eating the seed, and the partridges have been
almost universally found siting in the position I have
already described ; and lastly, that the men employed
in sowing the poisonous seed not unfrequently pre-
sent the earlier symptoms which occur in the milder
cases of; poisoning by arsenic." The question was
then suggested, "Might not the flesh of birds so poi-
soned prove injurious when eaten ?" Dr. Fuller cut
off the breast of :a bird, and gave it to a fine healthy
cat. " She ate it with avidity ; but in about half an
hour she began to vomit, and vomited almost inces-
santly for nearly twelve hours, during the whole of
which time she evidently suffered excessive pain.
After this, nothing would induce her to eat any more
partridge.—l kept her without food for twenty-four
hours, but in vain; she resolutely refused to touch
an atom more of the bird. This being the case I gave
her some beef and some milk, which she eagerly.
swallowed; proving, beyond doubt, that her instinct,
and not her want of appetite, induced her to forego
the dainty meal which had just been offered her.'
Dr. Fuller also found in every part of the flesh of the
other bird strong traces of arsenic : the bird could.
not have been eaten by a man without very serious
consequences. "It is notorious," Dr. Fuller says,
" that many of the dealers in game are supplied
through the agency of poachers and others who have
a direct pecuniary interest in supplying them with
the largest possible number of birds. It is certain,
moreover, that if men of this sort were to find a covey
of partridges in a field, dead, but fresh and in good
condition, they would not hesitate to send them with
the remainder of their booty to the poulterer; who
would as certainly, without suspicion, sell them to
his customers." The conclusions are, that " sus-
picious cases of bellyache" at this season are not
always to be taken for cholera; and that. the practice
of steeping seed in arsenical solution may become
matter for restrictive legislative interference, both on
sanitary and medico-legal grounds.

LOCHCARRON.—The herring fishing has failed in
Lochcarron this season, and there are few potatoes in the
place. The people on the coast wbo depend on the fish-
ing will be very destitute when the present stock of grain
is consumed. The grain cannot last long.—Ross shire
Advertiser.

Advices from Bordeaux state that the holidays had
during the week interfered with business. The markets
were firm, however.
Accounts from Smyrna, of the 15th ult., represent
much dulness: in trade, which was much increased by
the character of the news from Europe. From Con-
stantinople the news extends to the same date. The
grain market was very quiet, with accumulating stocks.
Good qualities were firm in price. A resumption of bu-
siness was, however, shortly looked for.

The rage for the gold mines of California proceeds
with gigantic paces. Besides vessels for that quarter of
the globe previously advertised, Mr. John Shepherd, of
Lime-street, advertised one for this modern El Dorado
on Thursday, and in the course of the day he had no
fewer than twenty-five applications for passages.
An effort is to be made in Aberdeen for the aban-
donment of open fishing-boats, and the substitution of
small- decked vessels, with air-tight compartments, to
prevent sinkii g. The boats at present in use cost 501.,
those proposed would cost 130/. ; but, then, instead of
being employed, as at present, for some six weeks in the
herring fishing only, they could be at sea all the year
round, for every kind of fishing trade.
BUSINESS IN TILE WESTMINSTER COUNTY' COURT.
—The number of causes entered for trial in the West-
minster County Court during the year 1848 amounted
to 14,600. Of these, upwards of 14,400 have been
heard, and judgments given upon them, but of this name
b2r but twelve have been tried by juries, thus showing
that litigants, in the present day, are desirous of getting
law as cheap as
possible (the cost of a jury being some-
thing like 145.), and abide by the decision of one man,
sitting in the capacity of " Judge and Jury." TO
enable the Judge (D. C. Moylan, Esq.) to PI
through this immense amount of business (which is ex-
clusive of applications for summonses out of districts.
&c.) he was compelled, during the first portion of the
yk ar, to sit six days in each week, and latterly, fnou.r
sattlh'i:ldth:vbeetr(:l3ishop,
days; frequently, from ten o'clock in the morning
_u
the
six or seven o'clock in the evening. In several of
samet:
other courts the judges do not sit more than as
days in each month, and yet they receive threom
. one
amount of salary. Taking the above returneef
'lsidore-
out of the nine courts in the metropolis into
who
must
tiOD, it will show the great number of persons
u r ng
ACTOR. Joe
ANECDOTES OF JOE HAINES, .
TUIB7OI, WU no I
be interested in the proceedings of them d i the yea.
Haines, the comedian, who died
nien _
....d his
wick,:
in danger on
pranks than for his acting. II
celebrated for his great fade
ed an English Peer, and
etitiruoww'ainsisntmouthe B '1".
ash e at
occasion of being seized atn
to him,mig
in London he was
g they
3,000 livres in debt.
for a debt of 201. by on
1- -7
arrested in the street
...,.
was . a couple o.
the Bishop -yy Passing in his coach.
Paris, for having personated
bailiffs, as
Joe to the bailiffs, "here's
withinf E
i three or fourhatnydehnetur'ller
say
~ Ahr said let m
o thought
ktime
my cousin, the
;Jet
beiliffs
Bishop
_ yards of him; so up goes
close to the coach, and taking off his •
J.,93
science, that I fear
who
Lhoorhdashviep
ordered the coach to stop, while Joe, thrusting his head
oe,
in at the window, said
and, calling
loftily, " My Lord, here are two.
great heavy scruples of con•
stuocshpeak with them." " Certainly,"
they may hang themselves, and I be-
come tome to-morrow • to the bailiffs, said, "You
speoeocchlnyeonu
morning, and I'll satisfy yon." The
men bowed and went away,'
and Joe, hugging himself
with this fallacious advice, was permitted to go free. In
the morning the bailiffs, expecting the debt and charges,
repaired to the Bishop's, where, being introduced, " Well.
said the Bishop what are your scruples of conscience?"
" Scruples !" said the bailiffs, " we have no scruples; we
are bailiffs, my Lord; arrested your cousin, Joe Haines,
for 20i Your Lordship promised to satisfy us to-day,
and wo hope your Lordship will be as good as your
word." The Bishop, reflecting that his honour and
name would be compromised if he refused to pay, was
reluctantly obliged to discharge the debt and costs.
FOREIGN OILS.—By the revised tariff (8 and 9
Vic., cap. 90), train oil, blubber, spermaceti oil, and
head matter, the produce of fish, or creatures living in
the sea, caught by the crews of British vessels and lal
ported direct from the fishery, or from any British pos-
session, in a British vessel, were declared to bo free; and
train oil and blubber, the produce of fish, or creatures
living in the sea, of foreign fishing, and spermaceti oil of
foreign fishing, were charged with six and fifteen pounds
per tun respectively. The same enactments provided
that the former-mentioned oils should be free of dutyon
and after the let January, 1847, and also declared sper-
maceti oil to be free on and after the Ist January, 1849.
Spermaceti oil, of foreign fishing, is now thereone free
of duty, the privilege having come into operation on the
Ist inst.
STATUE OF CIIARLES I. AT CIIARING•CROSS.—" A.
subscriber " writes—" I think it is much to be regretted
that some effectual step is not taken to restore the beau.
tiful pedestal of Charles the First's statue at Charing
cross before the ornaments and mouldings have so en-
tirely perished as to preclude the possibility of twin ,
eau she one or the other."—Builder.