The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-07-30 00:00:00

A BEACON FOR PROTESTANTS.—Bohemia presents the
curious contrast of a country which, having been one of the first
to contend with indomitable sternness and resolution against
the corruptions and unhallowed power of Rome, has now
become thoroughly and contentedly Popish.
MEDICAL MYSTERY.—Although mystery is the essence of
quackery, it will be necessary to have recourse to it in order
to ingratiate yourself in public estimation. Secrecy is com-
monly mixed up in medical affairs. It is said that a great
city practitioner, half a century ago, had little closets like a
pawnbroker's shop, to indulge this feeling of fanciful patients,
that they might not be seen by their fellow-sufferers. The
Compte de Virey carried this mystery so far as to make the
slightest indisposition a state secret. He one day called a
surgeon to dress a wound in his leg, and when a similar one
broke out on the other, he sent for a different surgeon, that
the disordered state of his limbs might not be known, a cir-
cumstance which was the cause of his death. To a person
who inquired for him after his death, his secretary said, " He
is dead, but he does not wish it to be known."—Physic and
Physicians.

FOSSIL TREES ON THE MANCHESTER AND BOLTON
RAILWAY LINE.—At a late meeting of the geological society
of London, a paper was read, entitled—" A Description of
five Fossil Trees found in the Excavations for the Manches-
ter and Bolton Railway," by Mr. J. Hawkshaw. One of
these trees was discovered in 1837, and the other four during
the present year, in forming a drain. They are situated in
a nearly stright line, in beds of shale belonging to the great
Lancashire coal-field ; and the distance between the first and
the fifth is about 105 feet. The roots, as far as they have
been exposed, are spreading; and they are apparently quite
conformable in position to the inclination of the stratum in
which they are embedded. The stems are nearly at right
angles to the plane of stratification, and were enveloped,
when discovered, in a thin coat of friable coal. The internal
argillaceous casts are fluted ; and Mr. Hawkshaw states, that
there are indications of a fibrous structure. The largest tree
is eleven feet high, fifteen feet in circumference at the base
and seven and a half at the top. The others vary in height
from six to two and a half feet, and in circumference, at the
thickest part, from nine to six feet ; but the girt is not always
proportioned to the height. The roots of one of the largest
specimens extended between five and six feet from the trunk.
A thin stratum of coal was cut through on the same plane as
that of the roots ; and, on excavating on the opposite side
of the railroad, the seam was also found at the distance of
about ten yards. In the immediate neighbourhood of the
roots, the shale contained so great a number of Lepidostrobus
variabilis, that more than a bushel of specimens were
collected. Of the generic characters of the trees, Mr.
Hawkshaw offers no opinion, as the coal which occupied the
place of the bark was too friable to permit the external
markings to be determined. He, however, alludes, to the
opinion of M. Adolphe Brongniart, that the Lepidostrobus
variabilis was the organ of fructification of a species of
Lepidodendron. Mr. Hawkshaw has not only prevented the
trees being removed from the position in which they were
discovered, but he has had them protected from the weather ;
and he invites geologists to examine the interesting phenomena
which they present.—Athenceum.
SINGULAR OPTICAL DELUSION.—I have often remarked
the strange effects of intoxication, and the different manner
in which persons are effected by liquor. When I was on the
road from London to Chatham, a man, who was very much
intoxicated, got into the waggon, and sat beside me. As
people in that state usually are, he was excessively familiar ;
and, although jerked off with no small degree of violence,
would continue, until we arrived at the inn where we were
to sup, to attempt to lay his head upon my shoulder. As soon
as we arrived, supper was announced. At first he refused to
take any ; but, on the artful landlady bawling in his ear that
all gentlemen supped when they arrived, he hesitated to con-
sider (which certainly was not at all necessary) whether he
was not bound to take some. Another very important re-
mark of the hostess, which was, that he would have nothing
to eat until the next morning, it being then eleven o'clock at
night, decided him, and he staggered in, observing, " Nothing
to eat till next morning—well, I never thought of that." He
sat down opposite to me, at the same table. It appeared as
if his vision was inverted by the quantity of liquor which he
had taken ; every thing close to him on the table he consi-
dered to be out of his reach, whilst every thing at a distance
he attempted to lay hold of. He sat up as erect as he could,
balancing himself so as not to appear corned (drunk), and,
fixing his eyes upon me, said, " Sir, I will trouble you for
some fried ham.' Now, the ham was in the dish next to
him, and altogether out of my reach : I told him so. " Sir,"
said he again, " as a gentleman, I ask you to give me some of
that fried ham." Amused with the curious demand, I rose
from my chair, went round to him, and helped him. " Shall
I give you a potatoe ?" said I, the potatoes being at my end
of the table, and I not wishing to rise again. " No, sir," re-
plied he ; " I can help myself to them." He made a dash
at them, but did not reach them ; then made another, and
another, till he lost his balance, and lay down upon his plate;
this time he gained the potatoes, helped himself, and com-
menced eating. After a few minutes he again fixed his eyes
upon me. " Sir, I will trouble you for the pickles." They
were actually under his own nose, and I pointed them out to
him. " I believe, sir, 1 asked you for the pickles," repeated
he, after a time. " Well, there they are," replied I, wishing
to see what he would do. " Sir, are you a gentleman ? As
a gentleman—l ask you as a gentleman, for them "ere
pickles.' " It was impossible to resist this appeal, so I rose
and helped him. I was now convinced, that his vision was
somehow or other inverted ; and to prove it, when he asked
me for the salt, which was within his reach, I removed it
further off. " Thank you, sir," said he, sprawling over the
table after it. The circumstance, absurd as it was, was really
a subject for the investigation of Dr. Brewster.—Captain
Marryat's Diary in America.
DANISH TUMULI.—The sepulchral tumuli, of which such
numbers still exist in Denmark, and from the spoil of which
the museums of the capital have derived many of the choicest
specimens, must ever be objects of the highest interest, both
to the antiquarian and the traveller. Two of these tumuli
may be seen at Jagerspries ; but the one which will best pay
the labour of complete inspection is this sepulchral tumulus
at Udliere, a few (English) miles from Fredericksund. "It
is enclosed," says a Danish writer, " in a very regular,
almost globular hillock, the circumference of which, at the
foot, may be about 100 paces ; there are no circles of stones,
nothing on the exterior of the hill to attract particular no-
tice. On the east side of the hill is an opening a little above
the level ground, formed of four blocks of granite, the up-
permost projecting somewhat above the others. The descent
to the subterraneous vault is very narrow ; the passage from
this opening, which is about four feet high, about three feet
wide, and about four or five yards in length, is formed of
hewn granite ; the entrance to the tumulus itself is by a
square aperture." " Difficult, however," he continues, "as
the access may be, the visitor will find himself amply com-
pensated for the trouble he has been at. By the light of a
lantern he will discover 15 large blocks of granite, of which
some are two yards and upwards in height above the ground,
placed in an oval form about seven yards in length, and three
in breadth in the middle. Above these blocks, which are
closely fixed, there are four of much larger and more irregular
forms of the large stones has been closed up with smaller
ones ; and the blocks forming the walls have been carefully
filled together, with wedges of granite or sandstone-'-inane
of these wedges cannot be removed without breaking them.
The cave, in fact, appears rather to have cut in the solid rock
than a burial chamber formed of several blocks of stone ;
one of the irregular masses of stone forming the ceiling is
above four yards in length, and two in breadth ; the height
of the cave varies from three to four yards. The bottom is
covered with yellow sand, in which are imbedded a few flint-
stones. Another tumulus, at a short distance, is said to have
been the last resting-place of King Frode the Good.—Hand-
book for Travellers, ore.
A FIGHT—SNAKE AND DOGS.—Near the roots of many
of these plants were holes resembling rabbit-burrows. Sud-
denly, one of the dogs (a spaniel) which had been hunting
about at some distance in advance of us, gave a yell which
summoned the others to him, and we followed as fast as our
bipedal powers would permit us. The (logs united in a ge-
neral howl; and when we Caine up with them, we found
them scratching almost madly in the neighbourhood of one
of the abovementioned holes, but at a very respectful dis-
tance from it, for from its interior issued an indescribable
sound which might have appalled a lion. As near as I can
convey the idea of it, it was a fierce hissing mingled with a
growl. Conceiving that the tenant of this asylum might be
a weasel or some animal of that tribe, we poked at the aper-
ture with our sticks, and cheered the poor dogs on to an as-
sault. We could not, however, with all our endeavours, in-
duce our best dog, though a noted scratcher, to invade the
sanctuary ; on the contrary, it appeared to be his object to
fill up the hole, by throwing the earth into it. He also bit
off every branch of the mudar plant, laying each cautiously
over the same place. At this time one of the party suggested
that the occupant might be a snake ; whereupon we would
have called off the dogs, but they were under the influence of
a spell, and paid not the least attention to us. At length, to
make a long story as short as with justice I can, an enormous
cobra de capello burst forth, furiously enraged. On the first
appearance of his head, the four-footed tribe retreated a few
yards, then halted, turned, and held the foe at bay, whilst
the rational portion of the party commended themselves to
the protection of those locomotive engines so well spoken of
in Hudibras, and so naturally referred to on such occasions.
Our ignominous flight continued to the full distance of 20
paces, when we halted and faced about. We then witnessed
a most extraordinary spectacle. In the centre of a large
circle formed by the dogs, rose the snake, with hood dis-
tented, and about a yard of his body erect, gracefully curved
like the neck of a swan. In this attitude he wheeled rapidly
about, fixing his diamond-like eyes, quickly as light, on any
antagonist, which, bolder than the rest, attempted to draw
the circle closer around him. This war of " demonstration"
lasted for perhaps a quarter of an hour, the dogs barking
furiously all the time, when one of them (the spaniel too)
made a spring upon the reptile, when his head was partly
turned in another direction ; but he underrated the activity
of his foe, and was bitten. A general attack now com-
menced, and the snake was soon torn to pieces. He died
not unavenged, as Byron says. Two of the dogs received
their death-wound, each bitten in the upper lip ; viz. the
spaniel before mentioned, and a valuable Scotch terrier. For
about ten minutes afterwards, their spirits appeared to be
naturally excited ; they then began to sicken and retch,
though they were unable to vomit; violent convulsions and
death soon succeeded. The spaniel, which was first bitten,
died in about twenty minutes, and the terrier half an hour
after the infliction of the wound. .Eau de lace would have
saved them, had we had it at hand. I have myself witnessed
the cure of a man who was bitten by a very venomous snake:
he was restored by a teaspoonful of eau de luce, given in half
a wineglass of water ; and, although he was in a state of in-
sensibility, foaming at the mouth, and with his pulse ap-
parently gone, yet in less than twenty minutes he became
convalescent and able to walk stoutly.—Memoirs of a Cadet.
Low RAILWAY FARES.—There is nothing now which
ought to be more attended to by railway companies than
keeping their fares down ; and this has, in many instances,
been very much neglected. The effect of this on travelling
is fully shown in the report of the Irish Railway Commission.
For instance, the travellers from Brussels to Antwerp by
railway, in the year 1836, were 872,893 ' • whereas those on
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, for the same year,
were only 522,991. Now, the population of Brussels, Antwerp
and Mechlin, was 209,200 ; whilst that of Liverpool, Man-
chester and Warrington, was 486,812—considerably more
than double ; or the ratio of population was as 2,327 to 1 ;
while that of the travelling was only as 599 to 1 We must
seek for the solution of this problem in the respective fares
of the two companies. On the Manchester and Liverpool
Railway, the average charge is nearly 2d. pence per mile ;
while on the Brussels and Antwerp *Railway, the charge is
about ld. per mile, or about double the price, and this dou-
ble price is accompanied with only one-fourth of the tra-
velling—the ratio of population to that of travelling being
very nearly 4to 1. A still stronger case is that of the Paisley
Canal, where the fly-boat fare is only id. per mile. Here,
with a population of 262,725, the passengers in 1835 were
373,290; whilst, in the same year, with a population of 486,812
the Liverpool and Manchester Railway had only 473,849 pas-
sengers—being less by 13,000 than the whole population ;
while on the Brussels and Antwerp Railway the number of
passengers conveyed was upwards of four times the popula-
tion. The Railway Company from Paris to St. Germains
has tried the experiment of low prices with complete success.
Their greatest reduction of fares was was at the station of
Nanterre, where they were lowered from 71 to sd. ; and the
result was, that twelve days ending the 4th December, 1838,
at the low fares, compared with twelve days ending Novem-
ber 22, at the high ones, showed an increase of 839 passen-
gers; and although the diminution in price was 34 per cent.,
the increase in the amount received was 161 per cent. We,
therefore, strongly recommend that fares should be moderate.
We have already stated, that, upon the Brussels and Antwerp
Railway, where the average charge is about Id. per mile, and
a o
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the travellers
On
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872,893,
Manchester and Liverpool Railway, where the average charge
is about 2d. per mile, and the population connected with it
486,812, the travellers by the by the railway do not amount
to ale whole population.—Encyclopceaia Britannica.