The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-23 00:00:00

GAIETY THEATRE•

On Saturday Mr. T. W. Robertson's play of
"Dreams" was revived with, we might almost say,
a new cast. Mr. Wigan, it will be remembered,
sustained the parts Reittmeister Harfthal and his
son Rudolph, but the former is now performed by
Mr. Emery,and the latter by Mr. Henry Neville. Miss
Henrade succeeds Miss M. Robertson (now Mrs.
Kendall) in the character of Lady Clara Vere de
Vere, and Miss Ranoe follows Miss Rachel Sangar
as Lina ; added to this various changes have been
made in the concluding incidents of the piece,
all of which are decided improvements. The clever
burlesque of " Robert the Devil" has also been
revived, and on Saturday it produced as much
pleasure as if it had been altogether new. The
elegant theatre was filled in every part, and
it is higLly pleasurable to find that the
energetic steps taken by the lessee to abolish the
extortions usually made by box-keepers and others
in front of theatres has resulted in perfect success,
as every accommodation that can be required by
either lady or gentleman visiting a Pheatre are to be
had at the Gaiety free of all charge, a circumstance
that makes the place the most pleasant theatre in
the metropolis.

DusviLLE and C 0.,; Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exporta-
tion Quotations on application to 3.lessrs. Dunville and Co ,
Belfast; or 4, Beaufortrbuildiugs,Strand, Loudon, W,C.—[Ad

vet tir,o.iient

23, 1869.

THE BRITISH ASSQCIATION.

EXETER, SATURDAY.

The Vs _Luria Hail was filled again last night with an
audience as large and brilliant as the one assembledwithin
its walls to listen to the inaugural address of the present
meelieg, delivered by Professor Stokes, on Wednesday.
The attraction was a lecture on Vesuvius, by Professor
Phillips, at one time Assistant General-Secretary of the
Association, and in 1865, when it met at Birmingham, its
President. The Professor, who is 68 years of age, was
indeed one of the originators of the Association, and has
been an ardent student of geology for more than forty
years. Amongst the sevens he is a general favourite, and
the fact that he has devoted considerable attention to the
fossils of this part of the country will account for the con-
siderable interest felt in his presence in the West. Pro-
fessor Stoles, having very gracefully and briefly intro-
duced the lecturer to the snore modern members—the
older ones, he said, would need no such introduction—the
audience enthusiastically greeted his appearance at the
front of the platform. In a voice singularly sweet and
well modulated, and with quiet, but effectire, action,
Professor Phillips sketched the past history of the moun-
tain upon which he bad elected to discourse. In the
earliest periods of Roman •history that mountain was a
single rich vine-clad height. There are now, in fact, two
mountains, and that which is Vesuvius proper is a
thing of yesterday, a hill twice born. In 1822 the
whole upper part of it was removed by an eruption.
Seeing what took place at that time, it is understood
how, when the first eruption known to history
took place, the whole sky was covered with a perfect cloud
of ashes. What, it is naturally asked, is the origin of
such a mountain, which has thrown out since the first erup-
tion at least twice or thrice its entire volume? Not lessthan
hundreds of centuries must have been occupied in its for-
mation, and it is in its character a cone of eruption, and
not a cone of elevation. A fissure or opening from the
surface to some distance down into the depths of
the earth is, therefore, an essential of a vol-
canic mountain. The forces concerned in pro-
ducing an effect such as is visible in Vesuvius are
numerous, and foremost amongst them is heat below.
What that degree of heat is, is yet undetermined, although
there are many speculations about it. But of this there is
s>s Assibt, the‘ es you get further down below the surface
of the earth the heat increases. So much is tills sue case ts,ss
at thirteen miles the power of the steam generated by the
heat of the earth is sufficient to press up to the surface a
column of lava of an equal volume; that is, a column of
thirteen miles.

The presence here of Monsieur Pierre de Tchikatchof
has made the Association acquainted with the opinion of
a Russian on that great cause of national soreness the
Central Asian question. Ms opinion, if based on sound
data, removes (as Lord Halifax pointed out in
the Geographical Section) all apprehension of conflict
in Asia arising out of the advance of Russian
power so far towards our Northern Indian frontier. For
Tchikatchof holds that the Russian invasion of India is
almost a physical impossibility. It is (he thinks) the
interest of England to see the national thoroughfares
developed in Central Asia.
In consequence of the excursion to Plymouth, which
took place to-day—and for which tickets have been eagerly
sought after—only three sections held session. Gentlemen
who were interested in mathematics, geology, or educa-
tion were attracted from the pleasures of a Devonshire
ramble by the more earnest business of the Association.
Education was absorbing enough to draw a good number
to the Economic Section, and the subject was vigorously
discussed with warmth and energy. The Res'. J. Hey-
wood gave a description of a college. at Hitchen. An exa-
mination of a very high character, he said, was required for
admission. The Rev. J. Tuckwell followed him in a paper
on the method of teaching natural science in our schools
and colleges. He complained that now science was
neglected in the education of the young, if not despised.
It should hold, he earnestly considered, a more prominent
position ; it should form an indispensable part of a
liberal education. The minds of our students were now
trained by means of the classics, to which training
objection might certainly be taken on the score of its
inherent uselessness. But natural science, while posses-
sing in itself that which was most valuable to acquire,
formed quite as good a basis for education. He was glad
to notice that this was being understood and acknowledged
somewhat more than it used to be, and that the higher
schools thought a scientific education of the first im-
portance. A paper from Mr. Collins, of Birmingham,
gave some statistics, collected by the Birmingham Edu-
cation League. This association—as he informed his
audience, and our readers know—has been formed
to agitate for universal education and the teaching
of every child in the country. The society,
he pointed out, had found that of forty-five
thousand and fifty-six children above three years as many
as thirty-two thousand nine hundred and. ninety-seven
had never been to a school at all. The papers having
concluded, the meeting was declared open for
,diEcus,

-.-)..„1.„„ I,a tlie way by an address
on the education of women. t.,rlr:w,slng
'fuel:well's paper, she remarked thLt she was
pained that he did not speak- of the absolute necessity
there was of providing teaching in natural science fur
girls. She thanked Sir Stafford Nortbcute, who presides
over the section, for the efforts lie had made in the House
on behalf of women. In the course of her speech, waxing
warm, she exclaimed that she fel the meetings
of the British Association were attended by the
ghosts of women —women who would have been con-
nected with the Association if they could ; women who
would have been quite as eminent as the learned men who
now formed it, had they been given scope, but whose
opportunities had been taken from them, and whose
promptings after learning had been suppressed. She
contended that it was cruel to shut women from
the walks of life which they were qualified to tread.
They were admirably adapted for teachers, for instance.
Yet the country, to its now great loss, had thrown aside
the great power of education which it possessed, and let
its women go unemployed. Lord Houghton praised Mr.
Tuckwell's papers and supported its conclusions
—going even farther than that gentleman with
regard to the scientific education of the young. He
was of opinion that even children in village schools might
be taught the conclusions of science. Sir John Bowring
thought that the classics might with advantage in many
instances give place to the modern languages. These
latter were not by any means sufficiently attended to in
elementary schools.
From education the section passed to railways. In
this matter a startling, but not a novel, proposition
was made by Mr. Brandon. He advocated a
uniform low fare for all distances. His proposal was that
is. should he charged first-class, 6d. second, and 3d. third.
He declared his confidence that the adoption of the plan
would renumerate the shareholders, benefit the public,
and bring profit to the State. But he was not for the
continuance of half-ruined companies competing to
their own destruction. The Government (lie said)
ought to unite all the railways under a general manage-
ment. The number travelling under his plan would be in-
creased sixfold. Those who wished to be exclusive couldhave
the right to travel in a " special" carriage by paying £lO
first-class, and £5 second per annum. Passengers should
be required to pay for all luggage that would go
in the van. From that source an additional
income of three millions might be obtained. He pro-
posed that the Government should issue to the shareholder
Government railway stock bearing a guaranteed minimum
interest of 4 2-sths per cent. From the known statistics,
and if the increase in the number of travellers
was anything like what was anticipated, it was clear that
most gratifying monetary results would ensue. , Where
a less than the proposed rate was at present adopted
the same would continue, he thought, under the new plan.
Canon Girdlestone expatiated on the importance of the
subject, especially to the poorer classes. He referred to the
penny post as an instance of what might be accomplished,
though at first sight it seemed impracticable and improbable
of success. Captain H. Dalton opposed the argument of
the paper. He was inclined to think its calculations fal-
lacious. Sir John Bowring thought the best results
would ensue from the Government taking the
railways, and combatted the general impression on
the subject. He thought, and the usual idea was, that
a journey from London to Exeter for a shilling first-class
would be a highly-pleasant and not altogether an impro-
bable thing.
The above were the only subjects of interest discussed
in the sections to-day. They all broke up early.

It was not until Thursday last, says the Birming=
ham Daily Post) that official intimation was received the
governor of the Worcester Gael that the sentence of death
upon Fanny Oliver had been commuted to penal servitude
for life. The unhappy woman is now placed under the
same rules as other prisoners. Her health is good, and hor
demeanour has altered but little since the knowlt dgo of her
repri, ye reached her, except that she is calmer than 11, reto-
f.,re. It, is not yet known whether she will be sent to 3111 l •
lank or P,ntonville, nor when her removal will b ordered,

On Fri,lay ten Irishmen, concerned in the row
which took place at Stockton, were brought before the
borough magistrates charged «ith drunken and riotous
conduct. The bench committed six of them to prison
for seven days, and discharged the other four.
In anticipation of further riotous proceedings amongst the
Irish on the race-course, all the police who could be
brought from the small stations were drawn up on the course
on Friday. In one tent, kept by a man named Monaghan, a row
was got up, and pots and glasses wero thrown in all direc-
tions. The officer; soon Whorod round, and a rovolvor was
taken pospeas:on of from one of the ringitadere, and twelve
of them at once taken into etoVody: That mined to qutvt
the infurleted feller e, and no oti:ov ECM Of
Ourrod.durinu 11w fettAf the dart