The Sun.
London, England, 1870-04-14 00:00:00

IMPERIAL RAT-KILLING.

" Our lively neighbours " at Paris are really becoming
such Anglo-maniacs that we quite expect to hear of their
endeavouring shortly to import London fogs to the
banks of the Seine, and to replace M. Chevreau
by Sir John Thwaites. Not content with introducing
horse-racing and pigeon-shooting into France, they
have lately opened a rat-killing establishment in the
Champs Elys4es, where MM. les petits era* are enabled
to see rats slain with the greatest skill and rapidity by
small boule-terriers. As usual, they have improved on
English ideas in Paris, and the pit in which the unfortu-
nate rats are put to death is surrounded by mirrors so ar-
ranged that the victims are enabled to see the last of them-
selves before giving- up the ghost. On Thursday the Prince
Imperial honoured the newly-opened institution ,wtih
a visit, and expressed great delight at the exploits of a
small English terrier named Coquette, which destroyed
twenty-eight rats in a minute. But, id spite of the Impe-
rial patronage, the 43ociete Protectrice des Animaux
attempted on Saturday to. stop the much-admired ratting
sports, Having appealed to the Minister of Justice, they
were referred by him to the Prefect of Police, who gravely
informed the deputation that there were a great many
million rats in Paris, that the said rats did an immense
deal of damage in the sewers, &c., and that really killing
such noxious animals was a very meritorious act. And
with this answer the Soci6t6 Protectric3 was obliged to
content itself. As, however, all the rats used for the de-
light of the Parigian public are first caught in the sewers,
and thence brought in traps to the Champs Ely§des to
await their fate, it might have been thought Viet it would
them oien the head at once
wibetshimeaptltehr
etoinhtae
-terriers.—Pall Mall Gazette.
Gazette. intervention elkitilioocnk oe fd the

OMINOUS SYMPTOMS IN THE LIBERAL

RANKS.

The Globe has reason to believe that the ingenuity
of the managing members of the Liberal party is just now
sorely burdened to discover a new force of political cohe-
sion. The symptoms of approaching decomposition which
are appearing in the organism which has been' consti-
tuted of elements so incompatible as Radicalism and
Whiggism, become alarming, and give rise to much solici-
tude and many misgivings. In the localities of South-
wark, Newark, and other places; we understand the
disintegration is very extensive. lo the existence of this
secret evil the party attributes its recent reverses.
We have reason to believe that a solemn conclave
with closed doors was held at the Reform Club a
few days ago, to take the whole subject into
vßaerryn d seriousaresaid t
consideration.
assistedrati A
the consultationonalriGlynntnd
had the advantage of other advisers no less influential and
equally official. We can easily understond how much
uneasiness the deplorable condition of matters to which
we refer must occasion the chiefs of the party. Would it
not be well to test the entire organism as to its fundamen-
tal combinations? It is always better to know the real
)iture and extent of a malady.

LIVERPOOL COTTON MARKET.-(THIS DA E

Sales probably 8,000 or 10,000 bales. lifarkst quiet.

The Rev. W. R. .13owditch, in a lecture on Uhurch
Property, remarked, " It mayastonish many to learn that
the cler of England pay out of their own pockets more
than £400,000 a
year, or £B,OOO a week, to curates f“'
Msictance rendered to the people of their parish."
Mr. 0 Donovan Rossa has given a reading in the
Town Hall of Waterford. Such a crowd attended that
numbers had to remain outside. The opening chorus
"Let Erin remember," was sung by twelve little boys,
I?rotestants and Catholics in equal numbers.
Dr. H. Charlton Bastian, after stating the facts if
some experiments he has made, asks Professor Tyndall to
suspend his judgment on the germ theory of disease, and,
above all, not to attempt by his influence to inspire the
public generally with a belief in such theories when these
are dependent upon evidence of so doubtful a nature that
they may at any time be thoroughly abandoned.
A woman named Susan Rice, who was in receipt
of is. 6d. per week, 41bs. of bread, and a little tea and
sugar, from the Homerton parish authorities, has died of
starvation. The room she inhabited is said to have been
little better than a pigstye. A post-mortem examination
shoved that the stomach of the deceased was empty. The
verdict of the jury was that the woman died of starvation,
and that her death would not have occurred had she been
visited by the relieving officer and removed to the work-
house before she was in a dying state.
The applications of photography are becoming
month by month more various. The last that we have
heard of is the Dallas-type process, named after its
inventor, Mr. Duncan C. Dallas, of Gray's-inn-road,
who claims for it, besides the power of doing all that
the graphotype process can, the following advantages :
That the artist can choose his own material and instrument;
that every detail and touch can bo rendered in perfect
fat-simile, without destruction of the original ; that the
design can be reduced or enlarged without loss of detail ;
that by anyone accustomed to the .use of the etching-
needle, old engravings may be roproduced ; and lastly,
that by letterpress printing photographs from nature
be reproduced, with every gradation of light and colour.—
aardian.
SUICIDE OF A PROFESSOR.—The Independance of
Brussels says :—" One of the most learned historians of
Germany, Dr. Jaffe, has just committed suicide atWittem-
burg with a pistol. He was born in 1817, of Jewish parents.
After having passed his degrees in medicine he devoted him-
self to the study of the' history of the Middle Ages, and
became one of the principal contributors to the work en-
titled ' Monumenta Germanize Historica. He afterwards
published the Regesta Romanorum Pontificum ' and the
'Bibliotheca Rerum Germanicarum.' His great merit
caused him to be nominated professor at the University of
Berlin, he being the first Jew to whom such a post was
confided in Prussia. Two years ago he embraced Chris-
tianity, and was subsequently so harrassed by the calum-
nious attacks of his former co-religionists that a profound
mqhineholy took possession of his mind, and led him to
vut an end to his life."
The American Anti-Slavery. Society was to In:::
its last meeting, a commemorative jubilee, in Apollo
Hall, New York, on the 9th of April, and the society to
be dissolved on the same evening. Repiesentative aboli-
tionists from all parts of the country were expected.

A NEW ROUTE TO INDIA.—It is proposed to
establish a new route to India which will rival that via
Brindisi. A railway is to be built connecting the
Austrian lined with the harbour of Santi Quaranta,
Epirus, via Dalmatia, Bosnia, and Albania. It is 760
miles nearer Alexandria than Brindisi, and ships using it
for the Indian traffic would avoid the dangerous naviga-
tion of the Areliiiielagat•