The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-09-03 00:00:00

SELECT EXTRACTS.

The best thing for stopping a leak in a cask, is whiting
beaten up with common'yellow soap ; if this mixture be well
rubbed into the leak, it will be found to stop it after every
thing else has failed.
THE SOLITARY EXCEPTION.—I never knew but one un-
equal marriage turn out happily ; and then, perhaps, it owed
its success to the short life of the lady, who died before the
husband had time to find out his mistake.—. Diary of the
Times of George IV.
George the Second being informed that a printer was to
be punished for having published a spurious King's speech,
replied that he hoped the punishment would be of the mild-
est sort, because he had read • both, and as far as he under-
stood either of them, he liked the spurious speech better
than his own.
The celebrated orientalist of Vienna, M. Hammer von
Purgstall, is stated, by the Carlsruhe Gazette, to have dis-
covered the true origin of " The Arabian Nights," by a pas-
sage in an aneient history of Arabian literature, by Fihris,
hitherto unknown, and which was written in the year 377 of
the Hegira, 997 of the Christian era. The author of these
tales was a Persian queen, named Hamai.
ATTORNEYS THE JUDGES' MASTERS.—The twelve judges
of the land are nothing, save only as the attorney gives them
function and consequence. For, as ships are steered by
their rudders, and fish propelled by their caudal extremity,
so a lawsuit finds its primum mobile in an attorney, who is
the tail of the legal hierarchy. The court, if not moved
through his agency, is brought at once to a stand-still ;he
is, therefore, the court's master.—New Monthly Magazine.
FECUNDITY OF THE SQUIRREL.—We found the common
grey squirrel very abundant in some places, particularly in
the low bottoms along water courses ; in some situations we
saw them skipping on almost every tree. On last Christmas
Day, at a squirrel hunt in this neighbourhood, about thirty
persons killed the astonishing number of twelve hundred,
between the rising and the setting of the sun. This may
seem useless barbarity ; but it is justified by the considera-
tion, that all the crops of corn in the country are frequently
destroyed by these animals. This extensive extermination
is carried on every year, and yet, it is said, that their num-
bers do not appear to be much diminished.—Townsend's
Journey acroas the Rocky Mountains.
ANCIENT BULLET.—On Friday week, a bullet of lead,
weighing 81 ounces, was picked up near Lochleven Castle.
This, we believe, is the only example of the kind which has
been found here. Some years ago, about thirty bullets, from
to 2 inches in diameter, were found near the same spot,
which, on examination, proved to be pebbles covered with
lead—implying, probably, a scarcity of the metal at the time
they were formed. These last, however, are not to be con-
founded with the stone bowies, of from seven to eleven
inches in diameter, found near the castle, after the partial
draining of the loch.—Edinburgh Evening Packet.
ENGRAVING ON MARBLE.—A discovery of some impor-
tance to the statuary has recently been made by Mr. C. Page,
of Pimlico, by means of which engraving on marble is greatly
improved. In cutting letters in marble, in the ordinary me-
thod, the edges chip off, and the defects are covered by
painting them over ; but Mr. Page obviates this difficulty by
covering the surface of the polished marble with a coat of ce-
ment before the chisel is used. The cement effectually pre-
vents the marble from chipping, and when the coating is re-
moved, the letters remain as perfect as if cut in copper.
NEW ALLOYS OF METALS.—A curious and valuable dis-
covery has just been made in the alloy of metals. A manu-
facturer of Paris has invented a composition much less
oxidable than silver, and which will not melt at less than a
heat treble that which silver will bear ; the cost of it is less
than 4d. an ounce. Another improvement is in steel. An
Englishman at Brussels has discovered a mode of casting
iron so that it flows from the furnace pure steel, better than
the best cast steel in England, and almost equal to that which
has undergone the process of beating. The cost of this steel
is only a farthing per pound greater than that of cast iron.—
Mining Journal.
THE QUEEN AND WESTALL THE ARTIST, HER MAJES-
TY'S PRECEPTOR.—On his death-bed (he had been hunted
from his own house by the lowest attorneys, extortioners,
and sheriff's men,) he wrote to the princess, (who had not
then ascended the throne,) whom he adored, and told her
that he had a blind sister dependent on him for support, that
he was dying, and had no means with which to provide for
her, and solicited her Majesty's protection. The Queen's
answer was immediate, containing words of sympathy and
sincere regret, and saying that she had settled henceforth
on his bereaved sister £lOO a year for life. Let the deed be
registered in every English heart.—British and Foreign
Review.

ELECTIONEERING IN THE BACKWOODS.—When you see
me electioneering, I goes fixed for the purpose. I've got a
suit of deer-leather clothes, with two big pockets ; so I puts
a bottle of whiskey in one, and a twist of tobacco in t'other,
and starts out ; then, if I meets a friend, why I pulls out my
bottle, and gives him a drink ;—he'll be mighty apt, before
he drinks, to throw away his tobacco ;—so when he's done, I
pulls my twist out of t'other pocket, and gives him a chew.
I never likes to leave a man worse off than when I found him.
if I had given him a drink, and he had lost his tobacco, he
would not have made much ; but give him tobacco and a
drink too, and you are mighty apt to get his vote.—Colonel
Crockett.

ELECTRIC OR MAGNETIC GIRLS OF SMYRNA.—We and
most of the newspapers of France have detailed, upon the
authority of the Smyrna journals, the extraordinary pheno-
mena manifested between two young Greek girls of that
city, without its being exactly known with what order of na-
tural facts they must be ranked. When stationed at little
distance from one another—three steps for instance—the
girls communicate to the objects placed near them a rapid
motion, which displaces them in spite of their weight, which
is often considerable, and carries them violently against each
other. The two girls arrived at Marseilles a few days ago,
and have been received under the roof of a respectable mer-
chant of their country, who, the day before yesterday, ad-
mitted us with several distinguished persons of the town, to
witness experiments in his drawing-room ; among the spec-
tators were—Drs. Chauviere and Roussett, M. Barthele-
mey, Director of the Cabinet of Natural History, and M.
Sake, Director of the Jardin des Plantes and Professor of
Physics at the Royal College. The two Smyrniots, the eld-
est of whom is named Zambellon, and the youngest Dhes-
pinon, were separated by a round walnut tree table, of six
feet diameter. We shall not just now detail the results of
the experiment, but confine ourselves to affirming that we all
of us saw the table repeatedly move of its own motion, as -if
it had been suddenly animated on the side of Zambellon
towards Dhespinon. This always takes place in the same
way, and it is this circumstance which had given rise to the
belief of a magnetic fluid rushing from one to the other—a
hypothesis which the experiments carefully made at Smyrna
by Dr. Galien Clado have, however, not confirmed. In the
meanwhile, and until better informed as to these extraordi-
nary facts, we can but re-assert that we repeatedly saw the
very heavy table move by itself; and we shall add, that the
manner in which the different articles of furniture were sta-
tioned, independently of the respectable character of the
person at whose house the experiment took place, removes
even the shadow of a suspicion of connivance or juggling.
We intend to witness other experiments wherein the faculties
of the young Greeks will develope themselves in other more
curious circumstances ; for the extreme emotion they feel in
the presence of strangers has hitherto partially marred cer-
tain singular manifestations of the unknown fluid which
radiates from their persons.—Marseilles Print.

A HINT TO THE TEMPERANCE FOLKS.—ATI old Dutch-
man, who kept an inn at Hohoken, had long resisted the
attacks of the temperance societies, until one night he hap-
pened to get so very drunk; that he actually signed the paper
and took the oath. The next morning he was informed what
he had unconsciously done, and much to the surprise of his
friends, he replied, " Well, if I have signed and have sworn,
as you tell me I have, I must keep to my word," and from
that hour the old fellow abstained altogether from his
favourite schnapps. But the leaving off a habit which had
become necessary had the usual result. The old man took
to his bed, and at last became seriously ill. A medical man
was called in, and, when he was informed of what had oc-
curred, perceived the necessity of stimulants, and ordered
that his patient should take an ounce of French brandy every
day. "An ounce of French brandy," said the old Dutch-
man, looking at the prescription, " Well, dat is goot ; but
how much is an ounce? Nobody present could inform. " I
know what a quart, a pint, or a gill of brandy is," said the
Dutchman, " But I never yet heard a customer call for an
ounce. Well, my son, go to the schoolmaster, he is a learned
man, and tell him I wish to know how much is one ounce."
The message was carried. The schoolmaster, occupied with
his pupils, and not liking the interruption, hastily, and with-
out further enquiries of the messenger, turned over hisßony-
castle, and arriving at the table of avoirdupoise weight, re-
plied, "Tell your father that sixteen drachms make an ounce."
The boy took back the message correctly, and when the old
Dutchman heard it, his countenance brightened up—`,` A
goot physician, a clever man—l only have drink twelve drams
a day, and he tells me to take sixteen. I have taken one
oath when I was drunk, and I keep it ; now dat I am sober
I take anoder, which is, I will be very sick for the remainder
of my days, and never throw my physic out of the window."
Captain Marryat's Diary in America.
INDIAN RECRIMINATION.—The Sioux and Winebagoes,
had been for some time at war, but had agreed upon a tem-
porary cessation of hostilities, when a party of about eight
warriors of the former tribe came down to the bank of the
river, and saw on the island a Winebago encampment con-
taining eleven persons, all women and children, the men
having gone out on a hunting expedition ; the sight of these
helpless victims aroused the thirst of the Sioux for blood;
and regardless of the truce, they plunged into the river, swam
to the island, and commenced an indiscriminate massacre.
One heroic boy only escaped ; he drew his little arrow to the
feathers, buried it deep in the breast of one of his enemies,
then plunging into the thickets, fled, not for safety, but for
revenge. Swimming the river, he ran down its eastern bank
to Fort Crawford, where his dreadful tale soon drew to 'his
side many of his own tribe, who instantly returned with him
towards the island, accompanied by a party of soldiers and
several officers (of whom my informant was one), who were
ordered to use their best endeavours to overtake and capture
the Sioux; but in the meantime, these latter, aware of the
pursuit that would immediately ensue, completed hastily their
murderous work, and scalping all their victims, retreated with
their bloody trophies into the wilds of their own territory.
When the Winebagoes arrived at the scene of slaughter, their
shouts and yells were deafening. Women and children had
joined them in great numbers, and mingled their shrieksand
lamentations with the revengeful cries of the men. At length
they espied the body of the Sioux whom the brave boy had
pierced with his arrow ; he was by this time quite dead, but
had contrived to crawl a few hundred paces from the encamp-
ment, and thus his companions had, in the hurry of their
flight, forgotten to carry off his body. The Winebagoes now
surrounded it, and prepared to wreak upon it all the indigni-
ties which fury and revenge could suggest. The minister on
whom the office devolved was a handsome young girl of 18,
who was the nearest relative present of those who had been
massacred : she stept forward with a countenance calm and
unmoved, seized the scalping-knife, divided the bones of the
breast with a skill and rapidity which proved that the work
was neither new nor unpleasant to her; and tearing out the
heart, cut it into small slices, which she presented warm and
reeking to the savage men around her, who ate them in
gloomy and revengeful silence !—Murray's North America.
One of the most odd of all the out-of-the way modes of
gaining a living in our metropolis, is that practised by gen-
tlemen who haunt the wine-vaults at the docks. They are
understood to inherit from nature an unusually delicate pa-
late, which, with great experience in the characters of various
wines, is supposed to qualify them to an unusual degree for
making selections of those liquors for intending purchasers.
Their living is literally from hand to mouth. They are fee'd
by both dealers and private gentlemen to accompany them
into the vaults, and give their judgment respecting the wines
submitted to them. If they were to swallow any considerable
part of what they taste, they would soon lose the power of
judging, or doing any thing else. They are scrupulous to
discharge from their mouths whatever they take as a tasting ;
and yet, it is said, this cannot be done so effectually, but that,
in the course of time, their health is affected by their course
of life, and they break down at a comparatively early age.
The sensations which they experience in the line of their
duties, are of a very exquisite nature, and these they describe
in a language quite their own—full of fine analogies. One
engaged as a witness at a trial, where a cargo of wine was the
matter in dispute, avowed his certainty that the wine which
was sent was different from the sample, as was contended by
the plaintiff. " And how do you know that ?" inquired the
opposite counsel. " Oh, it is quite a different wine to my
taste. There was a fine farewell flavour about the sample,
which the wine sent really wants." A book on his trade by
one of these gentlemen would be a pm umatological curiosity.
Why, in this age of practical literatin e, does not some one
bring out a little gilt-edged tome, entitted " A Gentleman's
Adventures is wargh Qf a Pip@ @f Wll4O ree-PcnOeree