The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-29 00:00:00

TFIE:J f SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 29, 1866.

on the sack .s during his brief rest, "He was
not bound to supply him with a bed." We
may, however, be allowed to feel a little sur-
prise that Mr. WHEELER did not keep two men be-
cause, there was " not half work enough" for one.
If eighteen -hoiars a day is not half enough work,
Mr. WH EELER'S computation of time must be a little
different from that of ordinary mortals, seeing that we
do not usually reckon forty hours to a day. Of
the time for sleep or rest we say nothing, since that
is a necessity which is evidently not dreamt of in
Cow-cross philosophy ; but Mrs. YELLALY fashion.
Mr "WHEELER has a good deal of virtu-
ous indignation to spare for the public
who insist upon hot rolls for breakfast.
On one point we must cordially agree with him :
" The state of the journeyman baker is a disgrace
to the country." The remedy, however, is not easy
to find. Mr. WHEELER might, of course, hare em-
ployed another journeyman, and so secured them
each at least an alternate night's rest; but the whole
system of night work is bad, and the simple obser-
vation of the poor widow " that GEORGE had too
much of the bakehouse altogether," expresses a
melancholy truth, applicable to a very large propor-
tion of the 15,000 men of his class in London.
The end came at last, the inevitable end,
of such excessive and protracted labour,
but its extreme suddenness has made the story
remarkable. One morning about 3 a.m. the journey-
man called his master, and asked to be laiddown on
his old Mends, the sacks. There was no possibility of
reviving him, and two doctors sent for, with singu-
lar heartlessness, refused to answer the call. A cab,
after some trouble, was secured, and poor SPRIGGS
was sent to St. Bartholomew's Hospital—a goal he
never reached, for the man who had been knocked
about by fate all his life ended his restless career in
a cab at last, and only the corpse of the poor journey-
man reached the kindly shelter of St. Bartholomew's.
Certainly this story reads as if Reform was not
only wanted in the electoral system. It seems as if
industry needed to be protected against itself, as if
trade was destructive as well as creative,
and as if the sooner the whole system of
journeymen, apprentices, and others in similar po-
sitions, were put under regular and impartial in-
spection the better. Let us hope that poor GEORGE
SPRIGGS, humble, patient, and neglected in his life,
may not have died in vain, but that the public sense
of justice and humanity may be roused to help
those who cannot help themselves.

The ninth meeting of the Royal Geographical
Society this session was held on Monday evening at
Burlington House, under the presidency of Sir
RODERICK MURCHISON, and the paper of the even-
ing was singularly interesting. It was written by
Sir 11. RAWLLNSON, K.C.8., on M. VENINKOF'S
recent account on the Pamir and the sources of the
Oxus in Central Asia. The region lying between
the southern frontier of Russia and the northern
frontier of our Indian empire in Kashmir is very
obscure, and presents almost a terra incognito
to the geographer. M. VENINKOF'S work
is founded on a MS. by an unknown author,
whose MS. is date d. 1806, and who professes
to be employed by the East India Company
to purchase horses for their army. It is accom-
panied by sketches of the country, tables of astro-
nomical positions, and several maps. The details
given of the natural features of the country and
the inhabitants are minute and interesting ; alto-
gether the production, if authentic, is of the highest
value and interest. Sir 11. RAWLINSON, in his re-
marks upon this singular manuscript, observed that
the map founded on it had been made use of in the
compilation of the best modern maps of Asia. He is
himself, however, of opinion that the whole MS.
is au elaborate hoax. Sir HENRY entered at some
length into his reasons for this belief, and the diffi-
culty of the whole question shows the obstacles
against which our geographers have to contend.
We commend the whole controversy to the atten-
tion of the curious.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, WQdnesday Evening.

The Moniteur to-day is completely barren, as far
as foreign news is concerned, and indeed in other
respects it is to-day quite devoid of interest. It
publishes rather a long letter from Florence, devoted
chiefly to the discussion in the Italian Chamber re-
lative to the election of Mazzini. The latter cha-
racterises the disc-ussion as remarkable for modera-
tion, but of course Agrees with its decision that
Mazzini, " being deprived of his civil rights by a
condemnation for a capital offence, is not eligible
for election to the Chamber."

There is a lull in the horizon of German politics
to-day, but it is rather curious to remark that
several of the Paris papers which for some time past
have professed to consider war between Austria and
Prussia to be inevitable now seem to entertain the
possibility of " making things pleasant" between
them.
A curious case of resuscitation from death has
occurred at Brocou, near Vienne (France). A lady
named Degusseau, 34 years of age, was supposed to
be dead, and the time for the funeral was fixed.
The mourners assembled at the house, but before
the undertakers were about to take the coffin to the
church, a woman who is in the habit of attending to
the dead put her hand to the supposed corpse, and
felt a slight movement. It was a living, not a dead
body. Some brandy was administered, and breath
returned. The lady has been in a state of lethargy
for some days, and was still in that condition when
the last account of the case was sent from Vienne.

The annual ham fair, held in Passion-week on
the Boulevard Bourdon began yesterday, and pre-
sented a scene of great excitement in consequence
of the fears entertained relative to trichinose. The
crowd was so considerable that it was difficult to
move. It is customary with the Parisians to pro-
vide :larger quantities of ham during Passion-week
as an adjunct to the festivities of Easter. This year
the sale has been considerably checked, although
the dealers took the precaution to post bills contain-
ing an extract from the report of the French veteri-
nary surgeons sent to Germany to study the disease,
in which they state that it does not exist in France.
Unfortunately for the pork dealers, however, people
are afraid of the trichinose.

The alternations in the weather in Paris during
the last week have been really extraordinary. Yes-
terday morning at six o'clock the air was frosty,
but before sunset there was a storm of thunder and
lightning, not very heavy, it is true, but the rain
fell with violence and abundance. To-day the
weather has been warm and beautiful.

The negotiations between the Governments iof
Berlin and Hanover relative to the construction of
a railway direct have terminated satisfactorily. The
advantage of this railway for Prussia will be very
great, for, in addition to the facility of transport to
Hanover, it will give her a direct commufiication
with the North Sea.

The Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Drouyn de
Lhuys, " albeit unused to the melting mood," can
sometimes unbend from the asperities of foreign
politics, and prove that he knows the .value of in-
dustrial and scientific progress. At the recent
meeting of the Zoological Society of Acclimatation,
at which M. Drouyn de Lhuys presided, he made a
very interesting speech, full of historical research
and information, relative to the culture of the
vine, a branch of industry so vitally important for
France. He said that the culture of the vine and
the manufacture of wine from the juice of the
grape could be traced to the earliest ages. In the
days of Pliny tho wines made in the district of the
Delta were purchased at a high price by the con-
, notsseurts of 'tome, The Bible mentioned the cul-