The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-28 00:00:00

KING THEODORE'S SON.

Says an evening contemporary:_" It was very easy
to bring King Theodore's son to England, bnt it was
not so easy to decide what should be done with him
afterwards. Ho could not bo turned loose to gain his
livelihood, and it would have been unreasonable to ex-
peat the nation to provide for him after spending five
millions to accomplish the ruin of his father. To have
kept him in England all his days would also have been a
mistake, for that section of society which is always on the
lookout forßummun Lolls would have gone wild with delight
over a king s son, and would have soon contrived to
render him good for nothing. A plan has, therefore, been
adopted which opens up a career of usefulness to the youth-
ful "1-have-seen-the-world," and will probably satisfy his
ambition hereafter. He is to bo carefully trained for the
Indian Civil Service. He will have to enter through
the open gates of competition, but he is said to
be a quick boy, and there will bo no unusual difficulty in
rendering him fit to appear before the examiners. Ho is to
be brought up, it is stated, in the house of a private gentle-
man. 'We hope there is no mistake as to the orthodoxy of
the gentleman in question, or we shall soon hear from the
Record."

AN EXPERIMENT IN WHALE FISHING.

A novel experiment in whale fishing has been tried at
Peterhead during the past fortnight. At this season of
the year large numbers of the species of whale known by
the seamen as " finners " appear in the bay. It has
always been a matter of some surprise, and even
regret, that these fish could not be caught and
utilised in the same way as the Greenland whales.
Several attempts have from time to time been
made to capture some of them, and about thirty years
ago a Mr. Hutchinson succeeded in securing two fish,
but he does not seem to have prosecuted the undertaking
much further. A party of gentlemen belonging to the
town, headed by Captain Gray, of the Mazinthian, screw
steamer, have been making arrangements for trying what
can be made of the business with appliances specially con-
structed. The lack of success hitherto doubtless arose
from defective fishing apparatus and ignorance of what
was really required. The boats used were the common
whaling boats, and these were too light in themselves,
while the plash of the oars drove the fish away, so that it
was impossible to get near them. The party have procured
from Messrs. Hall, Aberdeen, a decked fishing-boat, which
is fitted with an engine and screw, and otherwise made
suitable for hunting the whales in the bay. The craft,
which was originally intended for the herring fishing, is
about the size of the boats used for that purpose, her engines
being from five to six-horse power. The miniature whaler
has been several times at sea, but no fish have yet been
landed. Numbers of fish have been seen, and a few have
been fired at and struck, and on one occasion when the
harpoon was fast in a fish the line broke, and the whale
escaped. These failures,however,shew the promoters of the
undertaking what is required to prosecute the fishing suc-
cessfully, and they have Leen acting upon the information
and strengthening their gear. The harpoon is made with
four "flukes" instead of two. On its point is placed a tin
case containing prussic acid, in order to make the fish die
quicker, as this species often run a long way after being
struck. Unlike the Greenland whale, they are not
frightened by the noise of the vessel. They will swim
about almost within hail for hours, but when struck they
dart off at an immense velocity, making it almost im-
possible for a common boat to give them line or follow
them. The vessel now in use has au advantage over the
boats formerly employed in that a harpoon-gun can be
placed at each side, and thus command a greater stretch of
the sea than can be done with the one gun placed in front
of the regular whaling•boat. This species of fish are
said to measure from thirty to eighty feet, and to yield
from six to eight tuns of oil, so that one fish would he
ample remuneration for a few days' unsuccessful work.
The oil is about two-thirds of the value of the common
whale oil.—Scotsman.

FOOLHARDY FEAT. —The Buffalo Express says
quite a sensation was created at Niagara Falls recently by
the exploit of two labourers employed in the construction
of the new suspension bridge. The main wires of the
bridge have been stretched across the river, and these
ambitious individuals, by holding to the upper cable,
walked on the lower one from bank to bank, the wind
blowing furiously at the time, to the great consternation of
the crowd which thickly gathered.
Jewellery of the value of £2,000 has been stolen
from a luggage van attached to the London and North
Western train, starting from Victoria Station, Manchester,
for Liverpool. A traveller of Messrs. Schwabe's, jewellers,
London, saw his boxes deposited in the van, and at Liver-
pool one of them with watches and jewellery of the value
of £2,000 was missing. The police are on the alert, and
the robbery is supposed to have taken place at Manchester.
No intimation was given to the railway authorities as to the
value of the contents of the boxes, and as this is required by
the bye-laws of the company to be done before they cau be
made liable for special loss, Messrs. Schwabe, the proprietors
of the stolen goods, iu case the property is not recovered,
will be the sufferers.

COST OF PAUPERISM.—The return showing the
expenditure from the poor rates on in-maintenance and
out-door relief in England and Wales in the half-year
ending at Lady-day 186 S states that it amounted to
£2,626,466—viz., £788,351 for in-maintenance, and
£1,838,115 for out-door relief, being an increase of
6'B per cent. over the expenditure in the correspond-
ing half of 1867. Owing to the absence of returns
from some places it is probable that the real ex-
penditure in both periods was nearly one per cent.
greater than these figures represent. Wheat, flour, and
bread were dearer in the half-year ending at Lady-day
1868, than in the half-year ending at Lady-day 1867 ; but
meat was cheaper. Comparing these two half-years, the
returns shew that in the later (ending at Lady-day 1868)
the increase of expenditure over the earlier was 12.3
per cent. in the West Riding and in Worcestershire, 11'3
per cent. in Derbyshire, 101 in Staffordshire, 10'6 in
Bedfordshire, and 10 per cent. in Lancashire. On the
other hand, the increase did not exceed two per cent. in
Hampshire, Cheshire, and Cumberland, and was less than
one per cent, in Cambridgeshire and Warwickshire, and
in Huntingdonshire there was a small decrease. In the
metropolis there was an increase of 10'9 per cent. in so
much as lies in Surrey, and 9.1 per cent. in that portion
which is in Middlesex ; but in the small part which
is in Kent there was a slight decrease, leaving the
increase for the whole of the metropolitan districts 81 per
cent.

ABSINTHE SUISSE. —We (Lancet) have analysed
a sample of what we believe to have been the veritable
Absinthe Suisse, in order to determine whether the
analysis would throw any light upon the extraordinary
effects produced by this compound on the human
frame. These effects, as is well known, are high
and even delicious excitements, followed by propor-
tionate subsequent depression, with, ultimately,
early decadence of the nervous and vital powers.
The results of the analysis were as follows :
Specific gravity, 890'2. - Alcohol, absolute, 65'528 per
cent., 655'28 per 1,000; green essential oil, '202 per cent.,
2'02 per 1,000; sugar, gum, &c., '354 per cent., 3'54 per
1,000 ; mineral matter, '056 per cent., '56 per 1,000. Two
particulars of the analysis especially challenge observation
and remark, and we believe that, taken together, they go
far to explain the highly injurious and even deleterious
action of absinthe upon the system. First, we observe
that alcohol is present in very large amount—as large.
in fact, as in the very strongest brandy. Second, we
notice that it contains no less than 2 per 1,000 grains of
essential oil. Now, a great variety of essential oils
exert the most marked effects on the system—take, for
example, those of tea and coffee ; and amongst those
which exercise these effects we must certainly
include the oil of absinthe. Now either the alcohol or the
essential oil alone is capable of affecting powerfully the
human organism, but when they are consumed together the
body is subjected to the double power of two most potent
agents, acting mainly on the nervous system. It is there-
fore far from surprising that it should give way under
repeated doses of this but too seductive beverage. Of the inju-
rious operation of an essential oil on the economy we have
another example in oil of grain, or fusel oil. The absinthe
was specially tested for metals, such as copper and iron,
as, had they been present in considerable amount, they also,
in combination with essential oil and alcohol, would have

explained iu some degree the deleterious properties of extrait
d'a,bsinthe ; traco only, however, were
_PA