The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-26 00:00:00

tivity, that if she were imprisoned they should not
keep her long. This was supposed to refer to an in-
tention to commit suicide, but she denied the desire,
and said she had deeply studied magnetism and
spirit-rapping, and having been in communication
with the souls of suicides, she knew what tortures
and sufferings they experienced, and she would never
expose herself to such formidable punishment. She
declares that the receipts given to the Comptoir
d'Escompte were forgeries, but that she did not forge
them. The forger, she said, was Williams, the
Englishman, from whom she received them, and
that they shared the money together. The primer
still persists that she poisoned the widow Mertens
with prussic acid. Madame Mertens com-
plained of the heat, and asked her for her
bottle of smelling-salts, and on her smell-
ing the bottle of prussic acid she fell down
dead instantly. Subsequent investigations in the
locality do not support the theory of death suddenly
from a fall. It is now said that no bottle was found
near the body, only some fragments of glass. The
murderess, who preserves her coolness of manner,
tells various incoherent tales about Williams, who,
she says, committed violence upon her, and is the
father of the child whom she expects to bring into
the world.
A submarine telegraph has just been invented,
which promises to be of great utility. Some experi-
ments have been made with it in the Canal St.
Martin. The object of it is to give better means of
inspecting the condition of ships. One part of the
telescope is placed under water near the place which
it is wished to inspect. The other extremity, which
is not submerged, serves for the eye. The experi-
ments, under the direction of M. Boisseau, suc-
ceeded so well that at a yard and a half in depth in
the water it was possible to see very clearly two
marks traced with a pencil on a piece of paper.
There is a great abundance of reports, all of them
contradictory, and most of them very doubtful,
as to the supposed result of the interview between
the two Sovereigns at Salzbourg. The most pre-
cise of all these statements is contained in a tele-
gram from Vienna, published in the Independance
Beige, a very well-informed Brussels paper. It is
as follows :
" Telegrams from Salzbourg announce that the
principal object of the stipulations between the two
Emperors was to prevent the incorporation of
Southern Germany with the Confederation of the
North.
" The formation of a Federation of the States of
the South will not be considered as admissable ex-
cept under the presidency of Austria."
On the other hand the Memorial Diplomatique
says " that the result of the conversation and deli-
berations between the two Emperors is the convic-
tion, shared by both, that in the presence of pend-
ing international questions, of which the solution is
desirable for the maintenance of political equili-
brium and the general peace, there exists a com-
munity of interests between Austria and France.
To follow out that community of interests by ac-
tions, to which the other Cabinets will be united to
lend their moral support, such will henceforth be
the object of the two Powers. The support asked
for from the other States excludes the idea of a
private alliance."
In reference to this article the Siecle asks, what
can be understood by the " moral support" asked
for from the other Cabinets? Is it from that over
which M. Bismark presides? or from that of St.
Petersburg ?
The eminent surgeon Dr. Velpeau died on Friday
night from a painful inflammation of the bladder.
He was born at La Breche on the 18th of May,
1795, and was consequently 72. In 1830 he was
appointed surgeon to the Hospital de la Piti6. In
1832 he became a member of the Academy of Medi-
cine, and in 1842 honorary member of the Academy
of Sciences, in the room of the celebrated Larrey,
the surgeon. Dr. Velpeau was commander of the
Legion of Honour. This is the third great surge )n
whom France has lost in the space of a year, viz ,
Jolert de Lamballe, Civiale, and Velpeau.
Dr. Costello, the surgeon, whose death in Paris
has been recorded in The Sun, was a man of vast
attainments and general knowledge. He was a
native of Dublin. He attained great celebrity here
for his inventions relative to lithotrity, and by his
means many serious cases of stone in the bladder
were operated for with comparatively little pain.
The weather seems at last to hare settled into
ninterrupted sunshine and intense heat.