The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-14 00:00:00

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

The Athenaeum announces that Sir Henry Bulwer's.
" Life of Lord Palmerston " will appear before the end
of the present season. It is said that it will probably shew
Lord Palmerston's character to have been simpler and more
frank than the present generation is inclined to believe.—
Mr. S. P. Tregelles has nearly finished the fifth and con-
cluding part of his elaborate critical and annotated New
Testament in Greek. The issue has been confined to sub-
scribers, but on the completion of the work it will be pub-
lished on the ordinary terms.—Mr. George Macdonald is
preparing for publication a number of plays
for young people, several of which have
been duly tested by actual performance. A com-
mittee has been appointed by the Society of Arts
to confer with the Lord Mayor of London and the Chair-
man of the Metropolitan Board of Works, with the view
of establishing such harmonious action between the seve-
ral authorities they represent as may prevent the erection
of ugly public buildings in future.—Before leaving Paris
for London, Mdlle. Nilsson received from Napoleon the
Third a group of daisies in diamonds.—According to
L'Art Musical, the programme of Mdlle. Nilsson is com-
plete up to the point of her retirement from the profes-
sion. After the present London season she goes to
America, remaining there thirteen months. Returning,
ehe takes the place of Madame Patti at St. Petersburg,
and then bids farewell to the lyric stage.- Some new and
stringent rules are in force at the Munich Opera. No-
body is ellowed to enter during the performance of the
overture and those who arrive while the curtain is up
are required to wait till it falls before taking their seats.

Nature announces that Professor Stokes will be a
member of the Royal Commission to inquire into the
present state of Science, in this country. Up to the
present time then, so fdr as we are informed, the Com-
mission stands as follows : President, the Duke of
Oevonshire. Members : Professors Huxley, Stokes, and
W. A. Miller : Dr. Saarpey, Sir John Lubbock, Bart.,
M.P. ; Messrs. Lyon Playfair, M. P., and B. Samuelson,
M.P.—At a meeting of the Royal Geographical Society, on
Monday, Su. Roderick Murchinson announced that the
Earl of Clarendon had decided, on the part of Her
Majesty's Government, to provide means for relieving
Dr. Livingstone by land from Zanzibar, news from the
doctor having been cut off some time since by the out-
break of cholera on the caravan route.

The filmic& Standard says :—" Mr. Sims Reeves will
make his first appearance (on his return from Italy) in the
" Messiah " at IVIr. Leslie's concert, to be held at St.
James's Hall of the 25ti inAtp-t.

COMPULSORY PILOTAGE.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, FRIDAY,

The select committee upon compulsory pilotage resumed
their inquiry this afternoon, Mr. Shaw Lefevre in the
chair.

Captain J. Roper, harbour-master of the port of
Bristol, was called, and stated that all sailing ves-
sels exceeding eighty tons were obliged to take
a pilot iu the Bristol Channel. The jurisdiction of the
Bristol authorities had been diminished because various
new local authorities had sprung up at Newport, Cardiff,
Swansea, &c. The Channel was very dangerous at
Bridgwater, and the haven up .to Bristol was even
more dangerous. There were at present no less
than sixty. pilots at Bristol, and forty-four
boats of various sizes up to forty tons. The pilots
were a very respectable class of men; there was a general
tendency to confine those of each port to that port.
He was in favour of adopting the compulsory system as
far down the Bristol Channel as Lundy, while it was
absolutely necessary from Kingroad to Bristol on account
of the tortuous character of the Severn. The maintenance
of the compulsory system would tend very much
to the efficiency of the pilots and the protection of the
shipping. The restrictions were not so great but• that the
master of a brig might employ a tug. If they were to
Abolish the compulsory pilotage from Lundy to Kingroad,
it would still be necessary to have it up the Avon from
Ree to Bristol. . .

Captain J. Rosser, deputy harbour master, and Captain
Ford, merchant and ship-owner of Swansea, having al .lo
given evidence,
The committee then adjourned at four o'clock.

LOCAL TAXATION.
HOUSE OF COMMONS, FRIDAY.

The Select Committee on Local Taxation resumed their
sittings this morning, the Right Hon. Mr. Goschen, the
President of the Poor-law Board, in the chair.
The first witness called was Mr. William Middleton, the
Chairman of the Board of Guardians, of Leeds, who gave
evidence as to the principles of rating in that locality.
Speaking generally, he said, if the landlord paid the rates
in Leeds he would increase the rent, whereas if the
tenant paid them he would expect a reduction from his
landlord. Houses were the same as any other marketable
commodity. A man of business would not pay more for
a house than he thought it worth. If he thought that the
rent and rates together exceeded the value of the house
according to his estimation, he would not take the house.
Mr. Avery, who has been twice Mayor of Birmingham,
was then examined, and described the rating of Birming-
ham, but was of quite a different opinion to the last wit-
ness, and thought that it would be far better that the
rates should comtinue to be collected by different
local bodies. He stated that a very considerable sum was
received from the rating of railways.
Mr. Dudley Baxter, a gentleman well acquainted with
the subject generally, and with the condition of property
at the East En:. of London, stated that at the time of the
distress at the East End it did not in the least
degree affect the rents of the houses, because
there happened to be at the time a great
demand for them. He was of opinion that the rates fell
partly upon the landlord and partly upon the tenant, and
that so far as the ground landlord was concerned, he had
received a great advantage by the granting of his land for
building leases, because in consequence of doing so he had
escaped all the subsequent local taxation.
After hearing some further evidence from Mr. Baxter
the committee adjourned at four o'clock.

M. FLOURENS AND THE FRENCH POLICE.—It is
stated by some French journals that in awaiting the per-
mission of Parliament to alter the provisions of the Alien
Bill, Lord Lyons has been commissioned to inform the
Court of the Tuileries that the English Government will
have no objection to the supervision of the refugees by
the French police. M. Pietri, it is added, has availed
himself of this permission to send over a certain number
of his most skilful agents, charged with the special mis-
sion of discovering if Flourens has really left England, or
if his pretended departure is not a ruse invented by his
friends to baffle attempts at investigation.
SPANISH CARICATURES.—PoIiticaI excitement is
producing at Madrid a plentiful crop of caricatures. One
represents Prim dancing on a slack rope upon the points-
of swords, which he wears as stilts, while the Republi-
cans and partisans of the various candidates for the
throne look on, in expectation of a fall. It is called
" Equilibrios del Interinidad." Another consists merely
of a sheet divided into thirty squares, each square con-
taining a comic portrait of some of the claimants of the
throne. In the host of others, the " Auction " and the
duel are worthy of notice. The former represents Prim
knocking down the crown to the highest bidder ; the latter
depicts him as engaged in a mortal combat with a friar,
while a bishop acts as second for each of the opponents.
THE TOAD AND THE CARP.—In the seance of the
11th of 'April M. Duchemin brought before the academy
of Sciences of Paris the following curious fact in natural
history. :—ln the park of the Chateau de Montigny (Eure)
belonging to M. Deroche, there is a large piece of water,
through which a gentle current of beautifully clear
water flows. In this lake numerous carp are
reared, which thrive well, except during the first days of
spring, when each year an extraordinary mortality oc-
curs amongst them. In each animal one morbid
symptom is always. observable in the dead animals as
they float on the surface of the water. In every case the
animal is blind ; a kind of film covers the eyes and even
a part of the head. An examination of the body brings
to light no internal disease, beyond a slight fatty degene-
ration of the tissues. The viscera appear healthy, and
contain no intestinal worms. The cause of this
strange malady has not hitherto received any
notice ; but from M. Duchemin's researches, in con-
junction with M. Deroche, it seems that the toad
(Bufo catamita) is an enemy, if not of all fishes, at least of
the carp in spring. It attacks it, exhausts it, conquers,
and kills it. To determine the point, they examined
all the carp in the pond, and found squatting on the head
of each of those that were diseased an enormous toad, the
fore-paws of which were placed on the two eyes of the
unfortunate fish. Thus, this ugly Batrachian, which
presents so stupid an aspect, has yet sufficient intelligence
to assume the offensive, and to overcome a large fish. If
it has not agility and energy, it has cunning and persever-
ance. It would appear to kill by exhaustion, but it
remains to be ascertained whether the acrid secretion of
is skin assists in the conctuest.--Nature.

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few: -The Pope's health restored by Du Barry's Food. Cure No
68,413 —" Rome, July 21, 1866. The health of the Holy Father is
excellent, especially since, abandoning all other remedies, he has
confined himself entirely to Du Barry's Revalenta Arabic°, Food,
of which he consumes a plateful at every meal. It has produced
a surprisingly beneficial effect on his health, and his Holiness
cannot praise this excellent food too highly."—From the "Gazette
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merchant, of Frimley, Surrey, 'of ihirty. years' diseased lungs,
spitting of blood, liver derangement, and partial deafness. Cure
N 0.1,771. Lord Stuart de Decies, Lord-Lieutenant of Waterford.
of many years' dyspepsia.—No. 49,832. "Fifty years' indescrib
able agony from dyspepsia, nervousness, asthma, cough
stipation, flatulency, spasms, sickness, and vomiting.-2 con
vomiting.—. Maria
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