The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-22 00:00:00

THE SUN, _LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 22, 1b69•

volcanoes." One gaping crater is ten leagues in
diameter. Some regions are riddled with craters, so
that their mouths tiach. Formerly these dark
spots, visible to the naked eye, were supposed
to be seas, and the ancients named them seas of
Nectar, Tranquillity, and the like ; whereas they are
awful abysses. On all the surface of the moon not a '
blade of grass grows, not a flower opens. Totally
deprived of water and of air, life is an impossibility.
A. threefold death—hunger, thirst, and asphyxia—
would overtake the least animal that happened to
alight there. "In these cold and horrid realms
everything is plunged into torpor and silence ; the
echoes are mute, nothing alters the dull monotony of
the heavens, and the breath of a zephyr never
plays round the summit of those rugged moun-
tains." Not only do we know that no
beings of our own earth could live there,
but (so powerful aro modern telescopes) that they
would enable us to discover cities if there were any,
and they tell us that there aro none. The yawning
gaps in the moon—huge as they are compared with
the mouths of Vesuvius and Etna—are mere worm-
holes compared with the spots in the sun. Some of
these are 75,000 miles in diameter, so that our own
planet might be engulphed in them many times over.
We have not yet ascertained the nature of these spots
as we have those of the moon. We have, however,
weighed the sun, and we have estimated its
heat. "Let the sun be considered a globe,
as large as 1,400,000 terrestrial globes, and
completely covered with a layer of coal seven leagues
in thickness. Thus the heat furnished by the com-
bustion of all this coal would be equal to what the
sun annually projects into space." Up to the time
of TYCHO BRAME sidereal globes contained only
1,000 stars. Sir WILLIAM HERSCHELL has disco-
vered in the Milky Way alone 18 million. The light
of the stars which form the nebulie in the furthest
confines of space has taken two million years to reach
us, though travelling 77,000 leagues in a second.
Let us turn from the "Infinitely Great" to the
"Infinitely Little." The city of Berlin is built upon
a stratum of fossil animalcules, so minute that
10,000 could be ranged on the length of an inch, and
eleven hundred millions of them would weigh only
fifteen grains. With such rapidity do similar
animalCules multiply that one of them would produce
I a million in twenty-four hours. Richmond, in
Virginia, is built upon a deposit of microscopic
skeletons several hundred yards deep, and if as many
human mummies were laid upon one another, they
would form a mountain as high as half the diameter
of the 'globe. Paris is built on these infinitesimal
creatures, so are the Pyramids and the Sphinx.
While the corpses of past generations are being used,
to form our cities their living successors are
creating continents. The coral insect, which is
gradually raising its structure in many a distant sea,
will, in the course of ages, completely alter our geo-
graphy. As soon as the surface of the waves is
reached, the insect ceases its work. The waves cover
it with floating detritus, in which chance seeds ger-
minate and form a vegetable deposit, and at last the
new land is ready for the lord of creation. We need.
not dig in the 'earth, nor venture around the coral
reefs, in order to appreciate the immense resources of
Nature. All about us are proofs thereof. Man
counts but 370 muscles, the caterpillar has
more than 4,000. It takes us a second to move one
of our muscles, a fly will move its wings 3,600 times
in the same period. The fly has 8,000 eyes to our two ;
the butterfly has 25,000. A man of average strength
can move with difficulty a weight of 441 b. placed
horizontally, or less than a third of his own weight ;
a mole-cricket can move 375 times its weight. That
most unpleasant of bedfellows, the flea, leaps a height
of 200 times its own stature ; if man leaped as high
in proportion, it would be necessary to build our
prison walls thrice the height of St. Paul's. The
ant builds huts 20ft. high. The gigantic

lycoperdon, or puff ball, acquires in one night a bulk
which it takes children ten years to attain, and pro-
duces 96 million cells every minute. This last fact
reveals the astonishing fertility; as the facts of the
sidereal universe reveal the boundlessness of Nature.
Everywhere, in all departments of Nature, we find
the same hymn of praise sung which we shall sing
on the coming festival. The heavens, and not only
the heaven; but the very dust of the earth also,
declare the glory of God and the ever-
shifting ocean, no less than the solid firmament,
sheweth His handiwork. Surely such a work
must be worth a portion of that time which hitherto
we have given to the loves of the gods and goddesses.
Surely, if to know the Metamorphoses of OVID I'S
well, to know the Metamorphoses of Nature is better.
Human fancy never conceived of any transformation
so wonderful as that of the ignoble larva, soiled with
mud and filth, into the gorgeous dragon-fly, with its
jewelled wings of gauze. The most extravagant
fables of poetry are not worthy to be compared, for
marvel, with the most ordinary facts of science.

We understand that Colonel Bray, 4;h Regiment,
has during the past week exhibited his " model in-
fantry soldiers" to the Adjutant-General, to the
Royal Engineers' staff, to the War-office, and to the
Pimlico staff. The proposed changes in equipment
and dress have been so favourably recAved, and so
minutely and carefully examined at the different
offices, that it is now tolerably certain they will
be brought to the favourable notice of the Minis-
ter of War, with a view to their being tested I y
actual trial.

Four companies of the 2d battalion of the 9th
Regiment will leave Warley, where the headquar-
ters of the regiment are now stationed, to-day for
the Isle of Grain, opposite Sheerness.
Colonel Gerald Graham, C. 8., V.C., R.E ,
who has been attached to the School of Military
Engineering at Chatham, is to proceed to Man-
chester for duty in the northern district, and
Colonel W. L. Morrison has been ordered to Chat-
ham for duty.
Colonel A. C. Cooke, C. 8., and a number of
other officers of the Corps of Engineers stationed
at Chatham, have received leave of absence for
various periods for the Christmas season.

Capt. Gwyn, of the Ist battalion of the 21 Reg',
ment, stationed at Chatham, is ordered to hold
himself in readiness to join the service companies
in Bombay.

A draught from the depot of the 31st Regi- I
ment, stationed at Chatham, which had been or-
dered to leave that garrison to-day to embark for
Malta, to join the service companies at that sta-
tion, will not leave till the 28th inst. The draught
will be under the command of Lieut. Frederick '
Ward.
No. 8 Battery, Ist Brigade, Royal Artillery, under
the command of Captain J. Kelly, with Second
Captain G. F. S. Chambers and Lieutenants J. F.
Jenkin and W. S. Poole, is expected to arrive at
Portsmouth from the Cape of Good Hope at the
end of this month, in the troopship Hitnalaya,
Captain S. B. Piers.
The embarkation of Royal Artillery and other
troops at Portsmouth in the troopship Simoom,
Captain T. B. Lethbridge, which was fixed for
yesterday, has been deferred to the 28th inst.,
owing to the unsettled state of the weather.
Four complete machines for the manufacture of
Boxer's cartridges for breech-loading rifles have
been prepared and packed in the Royal Arsenal,
Woolwich, for the use of the Ordnance Depart-
ments at BonAbay, Madras, and Calcutta. Pack-
ages are being shipped at the Arsenal as fast as
facilities will allow, for conveyance to their destina-
tion, and on their artival the machinery will be
put together, and cartridges made in India in sufli-.
cient gimmicks to meet the regular demand, thus
saving the expense of the cost of their carriage from
England.
Sate drill I as been commenced in the Tower
ditch by the second battalion of the Scots Fusilier
Guards, and it is proposed to continue the exercise
weekly during the season.
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dressing bags, envelope cases, blotting; books, inkstands, desks,
stationery cabinets, bookslides, workboxes, tea caddies, bawl
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cart trays, pocket books, ornamental articles in china, bronze
gilt, and elegantly mounted for mantel shelf, drawing and library
tables; bagatelle hoards indoor croquet and indoor games of all
kinds; Bibles, Prayer-books, and Church Services in every typo
Thousands of the above articles, all perfectly new and fres t
Small articles careiully selected and sent post paid upon pre
payment catalogues free. .

TEO INQUEST ON THE WELSH FASTING
GIRL.

Pne inquest on the Welsh fasting girl held on Tuesday
ended in an adjournment. In opening the case the Coroner
said he intended to call the nurses and the medical gentlemen,
and perhaps the father; but the inquiry would not be further
extended unless it should be found desirable. The senior
nurse was examined for nearly three hours, but stated
little which had not been previously published. She
was certain that the girl moved her left leg and left arm
in her sleep. She told the girl she should let her know
when she wanted to pass water. The girl replied
that she did it involuntarily, and did not know when.
She only once passed excrement, and then only a stain ; no
substance. The witness's instructions from the committee
were not to offer food, but if it were asked for to give it
immediately, and to call in the doctors if any change took
pace. The girl did not have anything—not a drop of
w.iter—during the eight days of the watching. On the
Taestlay, four medical gentlemen visited the deceased. The
father refused to allow them to examine the girl's person.
She never offered the child food, being told that if she
dld so the child would go into a fit. Deceased com-
p'ained of no pain throughout. She was very restless
Lulu Wednesday. The body was cold, and there was
d Eculty in keeping her warm. The nurses ceased to
watch on Thursday night, seeing that the girl was dying,
ald allowed her parents to go to her. Could not say
wiether they gave her food; saw none given. The girl
el' ed at a few minutes past three on Friday, delirious.
Mr. James Thomas, surgeon, Newcastle Emlyn, made
the post-mortem examination, with Mr. Phillips, a sun-
g 'on, in the presence of several medical men on Monday.
He examined the body of the deceased, who was said to be
alx.ut 12 years and 6 months old. The body measured
about 54 inches, was plump, and well-formed, chewing
indications of puberty. He opened the head, and found
the membranes of the brain considerably injected with
blood. The substance of the brain was not very vascular,
but was of a perfectly healthy and proper consistence.
There was no difference between the sides of the brain, as
there would have been if there had been palsy. An
incision was made from the top of the chest to the
lower part of the body, which displayed fine layers of
fat from half an inch to an inch in thickness.
There was fat all through the incision. The contents of
the chest, lungs, and heart, and the great vessels, were
perfectly sound and healthy, though the latter contained
♦ary little blood. The most important part of the
examination of the alimentary canal shewed no obstruc-
tion. There was no stricture from the mouth to the ter-
mination of the gut. The stomach was opened, and it con-
tained three teaspoonfuls of semi-glutinous substance,
having a slight acid reaction with the test-paper. The
small intestines were empty. In the colon and rectum
there was about half-a-pound of excrement, in a hard
state. The liver was healthy. The gall bladder was con-
siderably distended with bile. The kidneys and spleen
were perfectly sound. The urinary bladder was empty.
The body was free from disease, judging from the healthy
appearance of the organs. Being questioned, Mr. Thomas
stated that he believed part of the excrement had been
in the body for a fortnight, and had probably been checked.
It was no snore possible that there could be excre-
ment without food than ashes without fuel. My opinion,
if you want it, is that death resulted from want of
food or sustenance. I believe the child laboured under
hysteria, which frequentlymanifests itself by very extraor
Binary freaks, and in her case by refusal to take food before
the public.—The Coroner: You mean that if it were
offered her when not beforetho public she would take it.—
Witness : I have no other conclusion to come to.
Mr. J. Phillips, surgeon, agreed with everything in Mr.
Thomas's evidence, and added that he found the toe-nails
had been recently cut, and also that under the left arm
there was a hollow sufficient to conceal a half-pint bottle.
He thought the hard portion of excrement next to the
rectum had been there for weeks. The intestines got
thicker near the rectum. In reply to a juryman, the

witness said there was plenty of room for fluid to pass.
The hard excrement might have been there five or six

weeks.

Mr. H. H. Davis, surgeon, Liandyssil, said he first at-
tended the girl in February, 1867. She was then suffering
from internal inflammation in the lower part of the chest,
the pleura was inflamed. He treated her accordingly, and
she was under his care for six weeks. He prescribed milk
diet. She adhered to it for a time. She was not then,
he thought, suffering from hysteria or epilepsy. He
thought it was catalepsy. There was a rigidity of the muscles
of. the left leg. She became much emaciated, and almost
a skeleton, and was for one month in a kind of permanent
fit. When he saw her he .scarcely knew whether sho was
alive or dead. She was almost pulseless. She recovered
in a fortnight. He discontinued, his attendance after
prescribing her diet. He saw nothing of her until the
spring of this year. when she was known as the " Welsh
Fasting girl." Ho did not believe her story, and
was cue of the committee for watching her to find out

the deception. Four men watched for a fortnight, and
reported satisfactorily ; but witness believed they were
deceived. In compliance with a request, he attended
a meeting at Llanfihangelarth about a month
s:nce, when it was decided to have four nurses from
Guy's Hospital. He was one of the medical committee.
Tile instructions to the nurses were not to desire the child
to take food or water, but if she asked for them they
were to be given to her. He visited the girl on Tuesday
last. After five days' watching she appeared weaker.
He told her father, who seemed indifferent. He (witness)
d'd not suggest any food, because it was against the rules
laid clown by the father. He did not think any immediate
danger was to be apprehended. Saw her again on
Thursday, when she appeared much weaker, and he
went to Pencader and saw an uncle of the child named
Daniels, and asked him to try and get the father to
send the nurses away, or allow them to give her food.
He also telegraphed to the medical committee at Carmar-
then. By the Coroner : Did not ask the father about food,
because he knew ho would feel annoyed, and wished first
to have a consultation with the medical men.—Coroner :
The child might have died in the meantime.—Witness :
She was net, I think, in such imminent danger as that. I
slw her again on Friday morning, when she was sinking
Est. I told the parents so, and asked permis-
sion to give her stimulants. I mentioned brandy
and water. The father said in Welsh, " No,
nothing ; she cannot swallow ; it would kill her
Coroner : Did you believe that ? Witness : I did not
know what to believe ; nothing is certain.—The Coroner :
Except that the child is dead. You have watched the
case; what do you think is the cause of death?
Witness : Exhaustion.—The Coroner : Yes ; but exhaustion
from what? Witness : Want of nourishment.—The
Coroner then read the evidence of Messrs. Thomas
and Phillips' post mortem, and asked, " Do you think the
childwould have lived if the parents had allowed you to give
it stimulants on Friday ? " Witness : I do if they had
been given on the day before.—The inquest was then
adjourned till Thursday (this day), the coroner stating
that it would be competent for the persons believing
the story of the girl's fasting to give evidence on that
day.

Mr. Charles Kendall, who was Assistant-Secretary
of the Royal Defence Commission for many years, has been
selected to fill the new office of Registrar of Habitual
Criminals, under the Habitual Criminals Act.
EXTRAORDINARY LONGEVITY.—The obituary of
the Times of the 21st inst., contained some remarkable
illustrations of prolonged existence in the case of four
ladies and three gentlemen, whose united ages amounted
to 590 years, giving an average of' 85 years and rather more
than ono month to each of these seven persons. Of the
ladies, the youngest was 80 years of age an the oldest had
reached the great age of 90. Of the opposite sex the
youngest was 85 and the oldest 88 years of age.
ENGLISII GIRLS AND INLAIIOMEDAN ADVEN-
TUItERS.-A. writer in the Indian Daily News, commenting
on the case of the young English lady, who married
Mussceh-ood-deen, the Queen of Oude's agent in England,
and who was afterwards divorced by her husband accord-
ing to the Mahomedan law, mentions a similar case which
occurrel some years ago. " One of the passengers by the
Blenheim was a beautiful young lady who had been
married to a Mahomedan noble. She was wealthy, and
a certain amount of interest attached to her. She
evidently fancied she was coming out to reign over
either Oude, Cawnpore, Burdwan, or Ooteparah. She
had first seen her Mahomedan husband through
the grating in the House of Commons. He
was bejewelled, and was a young, good-looking man, with
a melancholy countenance suggestive of a departed king-
dom. Sho was the daughter of a banker ; and they mar-
ried. The individual who received her when the vessel
arrived at the Indian port was not prepossessing Her fol-
io v.--passengers had been looking forward to a display of
awabc:lip in her reception ; and she herself was disap-
pointed. However, she accompanied the dirty 111alican-
mNlan, entered a [harry, and was driven to one of the
filthloA suburlA of the tc,wn, devoted to the followers of
tho prophet. At a dirty house there the gliarry stopped,
and she beheld her husband at the dcor. There were two
or three other wives inside ; but the very appearance
of the dwelling was worse than that fact. She was a
woman of resolution, and immediately saw the captain of
tho vessel in which she had been a passenger. Ho tock
her to his agents, who happened. to know the banker of
whom this was the unhappy daughter. She went home
by the next mail, and it was not long after discovered that
the Mahomedan husband was a moonahee in the employ
of a native nobleman on a salary of GO rupees a month,
who had been sent to England, and provided with jewe's
awl funds, with Vgs object of presenting a petition to the
1 luta (2/A4g. • .