The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-10 00:00:00

THE PHYSICAL FEATURES OF A TEMPEST

In his attempts to control nature and to watch
its manifestations, the tempest seems to defy the
power of man. Such observations as scientific
men are enabled to make are worth record-
ing. On the morning of the 4th, Mr. Allnatt,
in Sussex, noticed a restless equatorial wind,
with a ragged sky. By the evening the barometrical
pressure had fallen, and the wind had risen to a
moderate gale. The barometer still fell, and the
wind increased till the night of the sth, when a
tremendous gust of wind. was followed by a rise of
2-10ths in the barometer. The wind moderated for
a time, and gave way to rain until ten o'clock at
night on the Gth, when the wind blew a hurricane
from S.W., the barometer falling 3-10ths of an inch.
After this the wind gradually began to diminish in
force and volume, and the barometer again rose. It
is worth the attention of scientific men whether some
such system as that inaugurated by Admiral Fitzroy
is not capable of rendering service. Are we to
confess ourselves helpless in the matter ? Most of us
will long remember Sunday night, the fearful
howling of the tempest, as if all living
things united in a chorus of agony, and
heaven and earth were shaken. We pictured the
storm upon the sea, the deafening roar of the ocean,
the rattling thunder of the shrouds, the darkness
which render man's senses of sight and hearing a
mockery. The demon of the storm shouted in our
ears his hideous wean. of triumph ; and our fears
anticipated what th 6 morning revealed. The ocean
has swallowed up many a life, to add to the huge
number of human beings for which it must some
day render an account.

SISTER SCIENCES.

Dr. Haviland has discovered a connection between
geology and medicine. Each disease is found to have
a special geological habitat. Take cancer, for
instance. A " cancer map " has been drawn up, from
which we discover that the whole of Wales and the
north-west of England are comparatively free from it.
"Coincident with this," says Dr. Haviland, "is thefact
that theseparts of England and Wales belong geologi-
cally to the oldest formations, namely, the silurian and
carboniferous, and physically include the highest and
best-drained mountainous districts in the country."
The cancer country is found in the regions of
the tertiary or more recent formations. There is
the Thames cancer-field, the East Yorkshire, South
Derbyshire, and North Leicestershire. The haunts
of cancer are proved to be " the sheltered
and low-lying valleys traversed by fully-formed
rivers, and having sites composed of the more
recent geological formation—such as the crag and
alluvium of the -Norfolk and Suffolk field, the
clay of the Thames field, and the alluvium
of the Lincolnshire and East Yori iiire groups."
Heart disease, phthisis, and rheumatism are traced in
a like manner. This theory of Dr. Haviland appears
to be another way of attributing disease to atmo-
spheric influence, which is by no means a new theory.
The unscientific people of the fens well understand tlp, t
liver complaints, ague, and iniasmatic diseases arise
from the condition of the atmosphere, and that such
condition is generated by the alluvial deposits, though
the term would be Greek to them.

THE TURF.

Many a favourite of the turf has seen as grca•,,
vicissitudes as the favourites of a monarch. Messrs.
Tattersall have just brought some of the horses of
the late Marquis of Hastings to the hammer. Poor
Lady Elizabeth, who fetched 6,500 guineas twelve'
months ago, was taken by her trainer, John Day, at
GOO. The Duke, a six-year old of the famous
Stockwell breed, fetched 2,200 guineas. Messrs.
graham, of the Yardley Stud Farm, bought him.
The Marquis's hunters, the hacks, and carriage horses
fetched some good prices. Would that "this strange
eventful history" ended here. It is understood that
the Day v. Rous trial must come on.

"FATHER IGNATIIIS.W'

For some as yet unexplained reason, Bishop Tait
has withdrawn Mr. Lyne 's license as curate of St.
Edmund's, Lombard-street, and he therefore writes
to say that his intended course of Advent lectures
will be given elsewhere. Probably, it will be found
that Mr. Lyne was licensed in the first place on the
condition that he would abandon his monastic
schemes. That he has not abandoned them may be
fathered from the fact that he has just accepted the
gift of a monastery at St. Albans, and that he signs
himself " f Ignatius, 0. S. 8., Sup."
STRANGE FREAKS.

The people of Islington have lately been alarmed
by what appeared to be a very clever burglary and an
attempted murder. A lad who was inthe house where it
took place, and who told the strange story of having
been awakened by burglars, of having roused his
grandmother, taken a sword from her room, and,
with that weapon ready in his hand, followed the
burgl rto the lc Rehm, where he wasshotat,nowconfcsses
that the whole tale was a fabrication. He himself fired
the pistol. The Islington people, who were quaking
with terror, are now greatly reassured. It is said
that £2 had been given the lad to pay a bill, which
he had failed to do. Perhaps a birch-rod might be
useful here.

A man has just escaped from Nottingham Borough
Gaol. lle had been sentenced to fifteen months'
imprisonment, and had only about a month to serve.
He had better have been patient for the other month.
If caught, he will, of course,
serve a longer term. It
is a singular instance of bad calculation, but it is to
be presumed that this was the first chance of escape
he had,