The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-19 00:00:00

LETTER FROM DR DEICE.

lIALAI, ABYSSINIA, March 13, 1866.

Dr. and Mrs. Beko left M. Kulla near Massowah on
the 3d of March, and reached !falai, on the edge of tho
Abyssinian table-'and, on the 10th. They had previously
made an excursion to Zulla, in Annesley Bay, in company
with a shooting party of the officers of 11.M.5. Syria, with
a view to discover whether an entrance might not be made
in that direction, but the attempt was frustrated by cer-
tain intrigues.

On their way up to Halal, the gratifying intelligence
reached them that Dedjatz Tekla Georgis, the Emperor
Theodore's Lieutenant in Tigre, had completely defeated
Derasa, the General of Waagshum Gobazye, at Hauzeyn,
about 70 miles south of Ilalai, and that the rebels were
retreating in all directions. This important event is
likely to materially facilitate Dr. Beke's journey into the
interior, and he has despatched a messenger to Dedjatz
Tekla Georgie, asking for an escort for himself and his
wife.

The change of climate has completely restored the health
of the traveller.

It was at first reported that the rebels bad been defeated
by the Emperor in person, but this i not the fact. It is,
however, still believed that ho is clotirrs:ig,to Tigre.
It is not at all unlikely that
arrangement made approachwill be '
ac-
celerated by the news of the arran
e between
the newly-appointed Egyptian Mudir of the Daukql
'
East and the rebel Gorbazye, for thegirxaann)' a
grant to the
former of Daggira, near Digsa (D
other villages along the edge of the high land, which havet
always belonged to Abyssinia, though held as fiefs of the
empire by the Naibs of Arkiko. This arrangement was
only completed whilst Dr. and Mrs. Beke were on their
way up to llalai, as they passed the Mudir Ahmed Araye
on his way down, and some of the tribute oxen being
driven down to the coast.
No later news from Mr. Rassam has come to Dr.
Beke's knowledge, but before he left Mr. Kulla
he heard for certain that when Mr. Rassam
wrote on the 4th of January announcing his entry
into Abyssinia with an escort sent by the Emperor, he had
been stopped between Wekhni and Tjelga by the troops of
i esso Gobazye, and that those of the Emperor had gone
to attack them and clear the way.

DISEASED MEAT.—Last night, at a meeting of
the Society of Arts, Dr. J. L. W. Thudicum read
a paper on the diseases of meat and their effects on man.
There is only one disease of a specific nature which can be
transplanted to man from the lower animals, and that is the
malignant pustule or anthrax, a malady of rare occurrence.
The entozoa, or " worm" class of diseases, are more com-
mon and more dangerous. The lecturer stated that fish
introduce into man their own class of worm, veal and beef
supply the great hookless tape-worm, whilst pork gives
the hooked tapeworm. All of these were shown in a
magnified form by the aid of the oxyhydrogen microscope.
Most of the worms have flat heads, with a circle of hooks
in the centre, and four or five suckers round the circum-
ference. These hooks are worked and wrenched into the
flesh of the sufferer by strong muscles in their rear ; the
suckers then hold on firmly, so that the worms can rarely
be dislodged without tearing away some of the intestine or
other part of the body to which they are attached. The
Trichina spiralis, at the root of the pork disease now
causing such devastation in Germany, is a worm, which it
is believed produces about 1,000 living young in the course
of a fortnight. Dr. Theddicum produced a living rabbit
full of the disease, and, picking a small piece of flesh out
of its back, put it under the microscope ; several of the
worms were then observed curling on the screen. They
are not killed till boiled a very considerable time, and the
best measures to prevent the disease are to give the pigs
good food, to examine the flesh under the microscope, and
to conk it thoroughly before eating. Mice and rats are
much infected by the worms, and the pigs sometimes
catch the disease by eating the dead bodies of these
animals. After a few remarks from Dr. Cobbold, F.R.S.,
the chairman, and Professor Owen, the meeting broke up.
NATIONAL INSTITUTION AND HOME FOR LADIES.
Yesterday the annual meeting of the friends and pro-
moters of this institution took place at Willis's Rooms,
King-street, St. James's, Mr. J. B. Talbot in the chair.
After a few preliminary observations from the Chairman,
the secretary read a report, which stated that the institu-
tion was established in March, 1864, for the purpose of
providing a respectable and comfortable home, at very low
charges, for gentlewomen, who, having received a good
education, have been cast upon their own resources by
bereavement or loss of property. It also undertook to
render all possible assistance to thorn in obtaining situa-
tions, and to guard them against danger and imposition ;
and there was, moreover, in connection with it a relief
fund, out of which many applicants had received
tempo-
rary assistance. Applications have been made at the insti-
tution by upwards of 300 ladies in search for situations,
and between 80 and 90 had entered the Home, which they
had left on obtaining suitable situations. Others are con-
stantly applying, and many of them fail to obtain relief
for want of funds and sufficient room. During the past
year eleven cases of extreme need have been relieved at
a cost of £l3 12s. 6d., and the committee only regret
that the means at their disposal were not such as
to enable them to increase the benefits they conferred.
Applications are constantly being made by individuals and
by institutions requiring ladies in various capacities, as
housekeepers, companions, secretaries, matrons, &c., and
the best endeavours aro made to meet their wishes;" but
such cases aro few in -comparison with those of persons
seeking engagements. Every lady and gentleman who has
become acquainted with the home has given it the most
umualifiod approbation, and it has received the patronage
of many persons of the highest distinction ; but still tho
need is great and the contributors are few. The mana-
gers aro working gratuitously, and they are oppressed
by remaining liabilities which they aro most anxious to
remove. They therefore look forward to the day when the
patrons and subscribers to this work shall be multiplied,
all debts liquidated, and a largo number share in the
benefits of the institution. The report was adopted, and a
resolution was passed to the effect that the meeting consi-
dered the design and objects of this institution to be most
needful and useful, and as such to be wotrhy of publio
patronge and support.
It has already been determined to raise a memo-
rial fund in honour of the late Mr. Henry Hoare, whose
death was announced on Tuesday, and the scheme has
received the full approval of the Archbishop of Canterbury.
It has not been decided to what specific object the fund to
be raised shall be applied, but the proposal which at pre-
sent finds most favour is a suggestion that scholarships
shallbe founded for encouraging youngmen to devote their
attention to those ecclesiastical and religious subjects
which the deceased gentlemen had so much at heart. Mr.
Hoare was educated at St. John's College, Cambridge,
where he graduated in 1827, when he was fifteenth
wrangler. Mr. Hoare was married in 1836 to Lady Mary,
the daughter of the second Earl of Romney.

COCKB AND CURS.—When Parliament is re-
formed it is to be hoped that the representatives
of the people will do justice to rich folks in the matter
of dogs. At present the laws are unjustly in favour
of the poor. From the way in which the dog tax is
planned and levied, every disreputable fellow in town and
country contrives to keep a cur as disreputable in look and
in morals as himself, and to shirk the payment of the duty
which is half-yearly extracted from more decent dog lovers
with rigorous punctuality. But here we have an unfortu-
nate gentleman at Hammersmith applying to the magis-
trate, and learning that it is not only in the matter of the
dog tax, but in that of dog howlings, that the poor are
exempted from the penalties which afflict the rich. It ap-
pears from the magistrate's statement that if you keep a
pack of hounds so near to other people's houses that they
are annoyed by their barkings in the kennels which sport-
ing men call " music" when in the field, you may besoin-
dicted for a nuisance. But, at the same time,
tif
e.p_
me
wretched little mongrel entertains itself with nfigh
0137 y: _
ing, to the ruin of your sleep and the discomusort,s of
0:
whole household, you have no remedy, and lir
this the
in such silence as your self-control can endure'to his complaint
Hammersmith gentlesnan-learnt in replyupon
perpetually
about a dreadful cock that would insistw
to deal with the
crowing, to the distress of a sister,
ill. Mr. Dayman confessed his in
rd of an action successfully
matter, saying that he never
in such a case, and the com-
a:iiiotyseems to have been
brought against the owtnheerd.
Those who have learnt by
plainant departed unsoo
pass night afternight the neigh.
is to
bourhood of much
hich supposes that cocks crow only
experience what
superstition w
Poultry are aware that it is merely
popular also at midnight.
withall
that there
at the case, indeed,
This may be
anudutoictcaissieoualallyveertaiti -
assion for crowing is restrained by proper
cocks, whose p
sunrise and
sentiments of deco
rum.
re
do exist other cocks who, like certain members of Parlia-
ment, suffer from a most morbid passion for hearing their
own voices, and who will crow at short intervals all the
night through; while the misery these ill-regulated animals
inflict upon their human fellow-creatures is a thing not to
be laughed at by those persons who, as they think very
little by day, are able to sleep soundly by night though
all the cocks in a village are crowing in their ears. It is
to be hoped that the suffering gentleman will ascertain
how the law really stands, both as to cocks and curs.—
Gazote,

Curragh

FRENCH RACI:

Bruxelles 3, 6
Chantilly (Derby) 6, 10, 13
La Marche 2l
JU.
Vincennes 3
Montaüban

~.......
I Abbeville
Le Pin 22
Chalon-sur-Saone ... 22, 23
Saintes 2B, 29
Caen 29, 30, 31.
UST.

16, 17 18

G FIXTURES.

Vissembourg 2l
Paris (Summer) 26, 27

E.
Toulouse 24, 28

JU
Toulouse
St. Omer
Rouen
Metz B, 9
Amiens

AUG
Deauville..... 4, 5, 6 1
Rochefort 5
Bourges ..
Valenciennes
Moulins
Cherbourg l9
SEPTE
Baden-Baden 3, 5, 7 1
Chantilly

Le Mans

Leon l9, 20
Tarbes l9, 22
Blois 26, 28
Baden-Baden 3l.

AMBER.
Paris (Autumn) 23, 30

It is not improbable that a vacancy will shortly
take place at the Admiralty by the appointment of Rear-
Admiral Fanshawe to the command of the Fleet in the
Pacific. Admiral Hastings will, in all probability, suc-
ceed Admiral the Hon. G. J. B. Elliot, C. 8., in the com-
mand of the Fleet on the South-east coast of America.

MR. MARSH AND HIS CONSTITUENTS.--Mr. Marsh,
M.P. for Salisbury, has received a letter signed by
99 of his constituents, calling him to account for his conduct
in opposing the Franchise Bill. The hon. gentleman, in
reply, asserts his claim to independent action on whatever
measures may be brought under the consideration of Par-
tflearemennegcneot tsoanot hdn el)
oo expressedGi
enoatvys.
neo:
Government
mt
well-known
it-tk
nbht
ihuroeewigcsonacorns principles.etsoi hsmteeynn toww takes
thhisin
pre-
viouslyre
tmhyerceownsatsitauneyntoscacfatesrioLnofrdorPizlmaseirtstmoing'shtdebaet not Mcoin..sMula
sea
rtinshg
h'prerscaumnendottnet
there would be no change in the principles of a Government
which consisted almost entirely of the same individuals as
before. I think, however, that Lord Palmerston was much
too good and wise a statesman to have introduced a Reform
Bill into the House of Commons which he, in common with
all really thinking people, must have known could never,
under any circumstances, have been passed by such a sub-
stantial majority as to justify for one moment its being
attempted to be thrust upon the other house of Parliament.
I need scarcely say that I made my speech at the begin-
ning of the session against lowering the franchise -without
consulting any one ; this you will, I think, infer from any
general independence. Since that time others have taken
the same course, and so far from thinking that they are a
small and discontented faction, perhaps the division will
prove that they aro not so very small, and they are, I be-
lieve, only discontented with a Reform Bill which, by
beginning to lower the franchise, must in my humble
opinion inevitably lead to manhood suffrage and democracy.
In fact it is avowedly accepted by its best supporters with
this view."

FOR BETTER ? OR WORSE ?—Society knows all
about Jones, had examined Jones from top to toe, and has
decided that it can stand him—he will do. Suddenly the
rumour goes forth that Jones is going to be married. So-
ciety bridles up in a moment, as on the qui tiro directly,
and justifiably enough, as you will admit, if you will bear
in mind what was said just now on the "other half." For
what is this marriage of Jones from Society's point of
view ? Jones, a nimble, presentable, useful, and convenient
creature, has gone away for a little season, to return pre-
sently with another human being belonging to him, part
and parcel of him, and inseparable from him. Society
knew half of Jones and approved. The other half, which
ho hasgone to fetch, it does not knew, and waits to examine
with eager, and somewhat critical curiosity. What will it
turn out to be like ? Can anybody tell us ? Shall we be
able to stand it ? Is it like the demi-Jones with whom we
have been hitherto acquainted, presentable, initiated? or is
it a clumsy and impracticable addition to our old friend ?
Is it a better-half or a worse ? The half-Jones originally
known to us. Is the complete Jones to be a soucce,sssotohrear
failure ? This is how the matter stands when Jones's
half is unknown to the world in which Jonese,s
ash
aolthecrohnatlifnui is
lived. But when, on the then indeed
already perfectly well known t,o Jones's
half has already got
all things are different. Jones's new
Jones himself—bette
its credentials, it is as well known r
more influential, perhaps. Let
known, more popular,
business together by all
contrary, Jones's
them set up in the social . Means,
We liked Mr. venal,' ones and Miss
separately, and
Demi-Jones very well.
a state of uni
to countenance them in ow—Dickens' All flia
says tho world.
Year Round.
A SNAKE STORY.--A correspondent of the Uiten-
hage Times, writing from the Winterhock, says :
"An extraordinary snake affair occurred in this neigh-
bourhood a few Sundays ago. A large snake of the cobra
tribe, about 4ft. 6in. long, got unseen into a farmer's house,
it is supposed on the Saturday afternoon, and concealed
himself under an harmonium. On the Sunday afternoon,
the children being at school, the farmer and his wife wer e
quietly reading, the wife sitting in front of a window.
The snake quietly crawled out, got unperceived under
the good woman's crinoline, and twisted itself round her
from the ankle to the knee, which position it kept for
upwards of half an hour. The farmer's wife all the while
thinking it was her favourite kitten, took no notice of
it, until at length, wishing to eject the intruder, she
slightly raised her dress for the purpose. Judge of her
surprise on finding so deadly a creature twisted round her
leg. She sat perfectly still, not even looking at her hus-
band lest he should disturb the reptile. At last it uncoiled
itself, and then twisted itself about her foot. The shoe
fitted loosely, and she softly withdrew her foot, made one
bound across the room, and called her husband's attention
to the cause of the disturbance. The savage creature
now charged the wife, and was only kept off by the hus-
band
with his Sunday coat. It soon retreated and
got under
a footstool, putting out its head as if to
threaten death to any one wno should approach it. A. stick
was brought to the farmer, who struck a terrible blow at
its head, but hit the stool instead, shivering the stick to
pieces. This exasperated the creature, which darted out
farmer, and was again kept at bay
at the by the coat. It
at length retreated into tho Woo; whore A wag killed,"