The Sun.
London, England, 1827-07-24 00:00:00

MYSTERIOUS POISONING.

A circumstance of an afflicting and mysterious
nature has just occurred in Brill-place, Somer's
Town. A labouring man, Frederick Wittemburg,
has fallen a victim to poison, administered in a suet
dumpling, which is said to have been made by his
wife, on Saturday evening. On retiring to bed he
became sick, and, after repeated vomitings, sent for
Mr. Dillon, a surgeon, who found him labouring
under the strongest symptoms of poison. The
stomach-pump was immediately had recourse to, but
without the desired effect; and he died about five
o'clock, declaring that he forgave his murderer, and,
intimating that a portion of the dumpling was still
remaining in the cupboard. It, however, could not
be found, and the evasive answers of the wife, when
questioned on the subject, fixed a suspicion that she
was in some degree implicated. In the course of the
morning, however, she acknowledged having eaten it
herself, and in a short time became dreadfully ill, exhi-
biting all the symptoms which had. accompanied the
awful death of her husband, in which state she for some
time continued, occasionally rating of her husband,
and making use of very equivocal expressions,
which it would not in the present state %)f the busi-
ness be prudent to mention, a Coroner's Jury hav-
ing been summoned to investigate this affair. Two
cats, which had partaken accidentally of the contents
of the stomach-pump, have both died this morning,
and the presenee of arsenic has, it is said, been dis-
covered in the stomach of the deceased. The flour
was bought at a baker's shop in an adjoining street,
on Saturday, and the poison must have been added
afterwards to it, though the wife has stated that she
never lost sight of it until the dumpling was madd.
There are three children, who were fortunately from
home. The wife is likely to recover. The chil-
dren, we understand, are groivn up and married;
but some grandchildren resided with the parties,
who have been married 27 years. It is stated they
have lived on bad terms for a very considerable
length of time. •

thi
The tea most in estimation among
Russians, is scented with the flowers of
Chinese shrub (the olea
.fragrans, named b,
the Chinese quai:fa ), a small quantity of whicl
is placed at the top of each chest. The to
thus perfumed, is then termed " tioweD•teP
and is of a very fine quality.

SKR-4011g 0! SOCIITY.
•
DAVID, THE 41,4„fiENCH-PAINTER.
The following interesting conversation, (says
a foreign journal) between this artist and the first
consul, Buonaparte, hes not been noticed in any
• .
of their biographies, and may be considered as
authentic. After his return from the campaign
in Italy, the first consul wished to be painted by
David, and appointed him an audience, in order
to speak to him on the subject. " What are
you doing now ?" he addressed him when enter.
ing the room, " I am occupied with representing
the Battle of Thermopylm," was the artist's reply.
" This is of no use ; you do wrong to waste your
labours in representations of the conquered. '—
" But, Citizen Consul," cried David, " these
conquered were not the less heroes who died
for their country ; and, notwithstanding their
having been defeated, still the Persians were
driven from Greece for more thin a century."—
" It does not matte!'" replied the first consul ;
" the name of Leonidas alone remained—all the
rest are lost to history." " All ?—except the
high-minded resistance offered against a very nu-
inerous enemy ; all ?—except their resignation to
die for the glory of their memory; all ?—except
'the regularity and strict habits of the Lacedmmo-
iians ; to have a constant recollection•of which,
would be useful to our warriors," retorted '
the artist. David now promised to lay
aside this picture, and to set about paint-
ing the portrait of the first consul, re.
questing that he would favour him with a few
sittings. " Why do you want me to sit fur the
picture ?" asked Buonaparte ; " do you suppose
that those great men of the ancients, whose
pictures we have, ever sat to their painters ?"
" But I have to paint you for our own time,
for people that have seen and known you ; and.
they will require a likeness." " What-does that
signify _ The likeness is certainly not to be
looked for in the faithful representation a the
features, or of some little spot on the nose of
the person represented ; but only in the charac=
ter, physiognomy, and in the manifestations of
the mind." " The one does not exeittde the
other," answered the painter. '"
certainly did not sit to Apelles: no one cares
whether the portraits of great men are good
likenesses, if their minds be but alive in them,"
continued the first consul. " You teach me the
art of painting," exclaimed David ; " indeed, I
have not yet considered it in this point of view :
you are right : no ! you need not sit ; I bvill
present you on the field of battle, sword in hand."
" No," said Buonaparte ; " now-a-days, battles
are not won with the sword; but paint me sit-
ting calmly on a spirited horse." David having
finished the picture, representing the first con-
sul on horseback riding over the St. Bernard, pre-
sented it to him ; who, having looked at it at-
tentively for a considerable time, turned himself
to the artist, with expressions of great approba-
tion and praise ; then, again looking at the
troops that are represented in the picture mixed
up with the clouds passing over the mountain,
and placed by the painter in the back-ground,
according to the rules of perspective, and there-.
fore'appearing. to be very small,—=he said, laugh-
ing, " But, citizen `David, what are yonder little
men as large as the shoe of my horse ?—it- 'eau
crumble them to dust with one tread." This
observation of Buonaparte was not altogether
wrong,—Literary Gazette.

COBBETT'S 'DEFINITION OF A HAVER-
SACK.--A soldier's haver-sack means a thing
to put his havings into. It is made_ up of two
French words, A VOIR and SAC. Allot,' means
to have ; when used as a noun, it meal s pro-
perty, goods, things possessed, or havlngs ;
and when a soldier has once got any thing into
this sack, be it lamb, or fowl, or goose, the
having is very safe, I assure you.
A few months before- Lord Eldon- retired
from office, he' provided a well-assorted- equity
library, which was much needed, for the use
of the Chancery bar at Westminster. We
understand it was a voluntary gift of his
Lordship, and that a printed catalogue of its con-
tents was submitted to several of the most ex-
perienced practitioners, with a request that, if
any deficiency could be discovered, it might be
pointed out, it being the wish of the Learned
Lord to render this library as useful as possible.
—Literary Chronicle.
TO PRESERVE SEEDS.—The following is
recommended as a certain preventive:against birds
taking seeds out of the ground in gardens, &c. :
—Mix together one pound of gas tar, a quarter
of a pound of brown spirits of tar, and a quarter
of a pound of grease. Into this, dip some shoe-
maker's thread, or twine, and- draw it several
times over the newly-sown beds, supported a few
inches from the earth on the tops of sticks.—
New Literary Gazette.

SINGULAR PROPERTY IN THE HUMAN
HAIR.--;Mr. W. Tulley has discovered a singu-
lar property in almost all (human) hairs, which
I do not think has ever been remarked or de-
scribed. If a hair is drawn between the finger
and thumb, from the end to the root, it will be
distinctly felt to give a greater resistance and a
different sensation to what is experienced when
drawn the opposite way; so that, if the hair is
rubbed between the fingers, it will only move one
way (travelling in the direction of a line drawn
from its termination to its origin, from the head
or body), so that each extremity may be thus
easilyin three
odlavrekd, byby
theth e
touch
mystery is
ch
alone.
distinguished,
e even
microscope. A hair, viewed on a dark-ground
as an opaque object,•with a high power not less
than that of a lens one-thirtieth of an inch focus,
and dully illuininated by a cup, which seems to
answer best, is seen td be indented with teeth
somewhat resembling those' of a • coarse round
rasp, but extremely irregular and rugged; as
these incline all in one direction, like those of a
common file, viz. from the origin•of the hair to-
wards its extremity, it sufficiently explains the
reason of that' singular property I have described.
This is a singular proof Of the acuteness of the
sense of feeling ; for the said teeth may be felt
much more easily than they can be seen. We
may thus understand why a razor will cut a hair
in- two much more ,easily when drawn against
its teeth than in the opposite direction. Dr.
Goring--Quarterly Journal of Science. Dr. G.
is mistaken in supposing that the property which
he so accurately describes has now been for the
first time " discovered." Many are the thou-
sands who have observed and
experimented
upon
it before him ; and but that, like the object of
their admiration, they were rather in the minute
order, their experiments would, doubtless, have
occupied a more conspicuous place than they do
now in the annals of science. i)r. G. directs the
hair to be drawn "between the finger and the
thumb ;" but school boys and girls will, pro-
bably, still prefer their old practice of drawing it
between the lips, as
.possessing greater acutenes.;
of touch.—Mechanics' Magazine.