The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-11-30 00:00:00

vaPedwaist tbo wits of roan, when !opt, weya to be found in
the Monti. The remnant of this Naplo, scattered over the
face of the earth, is still known by an appellation connects d
with their fate. Their number is inconsiderable, in com-
parison with the mass of any nation amongst whom they
dwell. But it has, of late, been much on the increase; and
there is reason to fear that, if they should become the ma-
jority, they I l t
d exercise the power and the right, which a
majority is a itted to have, of locking up the minority in
bedlams and atic asylums; for it is one of their most in-
yeterate• maxims,—that reason resides with the multitude,
and that the majority can never do wrong.

RATHER Too Soon.—An apprentice was brought before
the Warrington magistrates on Illondav, and committed for
six weeks, for absentinLhimself from the service of his mas-
teri,'Messri. TheiTii-and-GrilVa, file ctiftel7Fr ertzetting
the adage which says " never holla before you are out of the
wood," on his way down the Bridewell stairs he called out,
" Hurra, my boys, I've only got six weeks of it ;" and for
that pieee of impertinence he was again placed at the bar,
and his commitment was made out for three months, just
double the time originally awarded His employers had been
at the expense of sending to Birmingham to apprehend
him. •

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A FEE-LEI2.—A surgeon and a lawyer had very little good
feeling towards each other, and the following occurrence
took place :—" If," asked the surgeon, " a neighbour's dog
destroy my ducks, can I recover damages by law?" " Cer-
tainly," replied the lawyer, " you can recover. Pray what
are the circumstances?" " Why, sir, your dog, last night,
destroyed two of my ducks." " Indeed! then you certainly
can recover the damages; what is the amount? I'll in-
stantly discharge it." " Four shillings and sixpence,"
chuckled the surgeon. " And my fee for attending and
advising you is 6s. 8d.," responded the attorney, " and un-
less you immediately pay the same my conduct will be suit-
able."—The Honest Lawyer. •
NV ATERLOO.—In a letter to Marshal Beresford, written
soon after the event, the Duke of Wellington thus described
the battle of Waterloo :—" You will have heard of our battle
on the 18th. Never did I see such a pounding match. Both
were what the boxers call gluttons. Napoleon did not tna-
nceuvre at all. He just moved forward in the old style, in
columns, and was driven off in the old style. The only dif-
ference was, that he mixed cavalry with his infantry, and sup-
ported both with an enormous quantity of artillery. I had
the infantry for some time in squares, and we had the French
.cavalry walking about us as if they had been our own. 1
never saw the British infantry behave so well."—Colonel
Garwood's Dispatches glthe Duke of Wellington.
MAN AND SWINE.—I may here take occasion to observe,
that there is a remarkable similarity of constitution between
the man and the sow. Scrofula, which woad is derived from
the Latin name of the sow, "scrof," is peculiar to man and
swine. These last are also subject to apoplexy : a friend of
mine lost several by this disease. They ate also liable to
softening of the brain; a disease rare, if all, to be met with
among other brutes, but common in the human subject.
They are also liable to tubercles in the lungs and liver, to
diseases of the heart, to ruptures of blood-vessels, accidents
almost peculiar to mankind with them. And, more remark-
able still, they are subject to a species of madness quite dif-
ferent from the hydrophobia of dogs and other brutes, but
bearing an exact resemblance to human insanity. This re-
semblance between man and swine I notice that Juvenal re-
presents the Jews as being in part aware of.
" Nec distare putant, that is, the Jews,) humana crane,
suillain."—SATlßE, XiV., line 98.
—Dick's Diet and Regimen.
ASPH ALTU PAVEMENT.--The promoters of asphaltic
paving on the Continent mention with triumph, that some .
which has been lately laid down in the "Electorial-street,"
at Warsaw, has borne with success a trial which must re-
move all doubts of its stability. A train of carriages lately
passed through Warsaw, carrying machinery. from the ma-
nufactory of Cocker-hill, at Seraing, in Belgium, for the use
of a great cotton spinnery, belonging to Mr Geier, at Loda.
The load carried by some of these carriages was nine tons,
their weight was a ton and a half, and the combined weight
of 10 tons passed over the new asphaltic pavement without
occasioning the slightest fracture or other injury. The cir-
cumstance is noticeable in itself, but its accessories give it
additional interest. The "great cotton factory at Loda,"
beyond Warsaw, and the machinery supplied to it from the
workshops of Englishmen settled in Belgium, are striking
facts in the history of the "march of manufacturers."—
Mechanics' Magnzine. . _ _

POLITICAL Duets.—The violence of political parties
during the early part of the reign of George 111. gave rise to
many duels. lu 1762 Wilkes discharged a brace of pistols
with Lord Talbot, which meeting he has described ina man-
ner irresistibly ludicrous in a letter to his friend Earl Tem-
ple • in the following year he fought his well-known duel
with Martin, the secretary to the treasury, and was severely
wounded. Just previous to the American war Mr. Whatley
was found dangerously wounded .by lieutenant-governor
Temple. In 1779 Mr. Adam called out Mr. Fox for words
spoken in the heat of a debate. Two cases of pistols were
discharged • Fox was slightly wounded. When the affair
was over, iox, in allusion to the clamour which existed as to
the badness of the ammunition supplied to the troops, is said,
on discovering his wound to the party, to have remarked,
" Egad, Adam, it would have been all over with me, if you
had not been charged with government powder." In 1780
Colonel Fullerton, the member for Plympton, wounded the
Earl of Shelburne, for designating him a " mere commis."
in the house of lords; and in the same year Sir Philip
Francis challenged Warren Hastings, then governor-gene-
ral of India, for severe animadversion on his conduct as one
of the members of the council of Bengal. Hastings waived
his dignity, and gave Francis a meeting, at which the latter
was severely wounded. Francis, on his recovery, hastened to
England, and accused his antagonist of high crimes and
misdemeanours, and to him Burke was deeply indebted in
his gigantic attacks upon Hastings. In 1786 Geu. Stuart
wounded Lord Macartney in a political duel; and in 1798
Pit and Tierney discharged a brace of pistols each with a
lucky perversity of aim, and shook hands in the harmless
smoke they had raised. We pause ins the threshold of the
19th century.—United Service Journal.
ADULTERATION OF Mmes.—Professor Thomson, in, his
examination before the Medical Poor Inquiry Committee,
stated, that the trader sorts the drugs: the purest kind he
-sells in its natural state, the second kind he reserves for pow-
ders, and the worst of all he uses for tinctures, and this infe-
rior kind is very often in a state of decomposition. Frauds
are often ,practised in the drug market. Opium often con-
tains a piece of iron embedded in it; calomel often consists
of very little more than sulphate of barytes, which is an inert
substance • and white precipitate of mercury is sometimes
sold as calomel; but in scatnony the adulteration is even
more remarkable, an-immense quantity of chalk being found
in it, so that the active ingredient in it often varies from 8i
per cent. to 811 per cent. Gamboge is often a manufactured
article ; milk of sulphur commonly contains one-half of
stucco, as is proved by exposing the composition to heat.
Peruvian bark, as it comes from the hands of the drug-
grinder, consists of charcoal, with Venetian red, Catthage-
nian bark, lignumvitue, and satinwood. Eisen so late as
forty years ago this composition was made by the Apotheca-
ries' Company, and was supplied to the army as Peruvian
bark. It is known that; on one occasion, two chests of the
genuine article having been sent to a drug-grinder, he put
eighteen chests of extraneous matter to the two of pure bark,
and sold the remaining eighteen chests to. his own profit.
Calamine, or carbonate of zinc, as it occurs, in commerce,
contains very little zinc at all, consisting principally of sul-
phate of barytes, coloured with a little iron. Ginger is adul-
terated with 50 per cent. of capsicums, saw-dust, satinwood,
and flour; and sometimes the article sold does not contain
more than 30 per cent. of ginger. Julep is frequently adul-
terated with twenty-eight pounds of barley-meal per cwt.,
and lignumvitw dust is sometimes used. Liquorice.powder
is made of equal parts of common sugar and barley-meal,
with a little turmeric. Lac and plumbago are adulterated
with coal and opium, with extract of senna, and there is
sometimes an infusion of from 30 to 60 per cent. of water.
Rhubarb is often made of 141hs. of flour, Boz. turmeric, and
981bs. of rhubarb; and the article sold often contains no
more than one-half of its weight of rhubarb. Nittate of
silver, which is extensively used in medicine, is often adulte-
rated with nitrate of lead. Tinctures are diluted with-
ti, when the
water.
A gentleman, now retiring from the drug trade, bad been
offered any powder he chose for 365. per cwt., and,
person making the offer was asked if the article Was genuine,
his answer was, that it was the best he could make at the
price, thus showing that the powder might be brought down
to almost any price ! The druggist himself sometimes sends
out the genuine article to the grinder, mixed with a number
of foreign ingredients; the griuder then does his share of the
adulteration; so that very little of the genuine article ever
reaches the customer ! The apothecaries who are supplied
by the chemists, only consider themselves judges of the roots
y any chemical tests to
and drugs as they present themselves in the natural state:
they
adrte
oinleo.t pretend s
atorebleikaebil)ettoobaepiocured p)r in their genuine
state where the apothecary employs a respectable druggist
who grinds for himself. To the knowledge of witness only
two houses in London grind their own drugs. It was his
opinion, that drugs adulterated as described were commonly
sold to country practitioners, and he thought that the educe-
tint' prescribed to medical men was nut calculated to direct
detect
their
aststrecnhtattention
frauds.to chemistry
whirls medicine is purchased, the poor are more liable than
others to be supplied with bad remedies. A chemist had
sufficiently to enable them to
price is one of the tests by
inasmuch
urged the witness himself to deal with him, saying, in refer-
ence to his prices, that he could supply him with drugs for
paupers much cheaper.
TEMPERANCE AND SNUFF-TAKING.—"Tht present age,"
said Mr. Phillipson, "is an age pregnant with quackery.
Every scheme that is fitted to charm the vulgar is set forth
ac the regeneration of the race. Diseases are to be cured by
homoeopathy, men ate to be made immortal by auimal mag-
netism, and morals are to expand into a milenium by dint of
tee-totalism and temperance societies. I hate drunkenness
and immortality, but even more do I hate that mercenary
spirit which turns these to a good account, and daubing the
wall with untempered mortar' keeps men from solid and
real papaceas. The whole system of temperance and tee-
total societies is but a new edition of Monasticism. The monk
retired from the world rather than 'use, as not abusing it,'
and the anti-whisky man runs from the blue ruin and its sis-
ter spirits, rather than resist the intemperate use of them.
Both are indolent ways of overcoming evil and ruinous pas-
sions. • What think ye 0' sneeshin-takin'?' said one of the
old elders. • I'm thinking it's ua better than dram drinking.
Ma mull inaun be an ee-sore to sae partiklar partialities;
but it will naed muckle logic and main divinity than
poopit or pen can steak out to gar me abjure the custom
o' three score an'ten.' Snuff,' said the parish minister,
`must be put on other ground. It never intoxicates—it never
steals away the senses. Its orthodoxy depends on its influ-
ence on the physical system. But it always struck me that
if it had been the design of the creator that we should be
snuff-takers or tobacco smokers, the nose would have been
inverted!' "—Fraser's Magazine.
Slower: OF Memons.—The following description of the
meteoric phenomena, during the night of the 12th instant, is
given by Mr. Robert Carr Woods, of Hatton-garden, in a
letter to the Times:—" The night of the, 12th of November,
being the time for the .periodical return of an unusual num-
ber of meteors, I determined to leave London, on account of
the obst ruction buildings offered in this crowded city, to locate
myself in the delightful village of Richmond, Surrey, for
the purpose of observing the annual returnn, of this remark-
able phenomenon. In the afternoon of the 12th the sun sunk
below the horizon as to predicate a clear night. When be-
low the horizon, there was a grand display.of a rich profusion
of red, orange, and rosy coloured hues. The wind blew fresh
from the N.N.E., and the night was, in consequence, very
cold. At 10 hours 13 minutes p.m. (clock time) a meteo,
without train, fell from the star Lyra,
and took its di-
rection across the Milkey Way. At 11 hours-48 minutes
a large meteor with train fell from Cassiopeia, and
crossed the Milkey Way at an anle of nearly 90 de-
grees. From 12 o'clock (midnight, 'l2th) till 3 hours 25
minutes on the 13th, nine meteors fell, crossing the galaxy at
angles of from 70 to 80 degrees; six were without trains, and
three with trains. 1 now began to despair of witnessing the
'grand display' seen in former years, recollecting, however,
on some occasions, the • shower' did not commence till near
four o'clock. 1 continued to direct my attention to the N.N.E.
whence the greater number of meteors had fallen. At three
hours thirty-five minutes nothing could exceed the beauty
and grandeur of the heavens: from E.N.E. to N. meteors
fell like a shoiver of bomb shells in a bombardment, and in
such rapid -succession as to defy every attempt to watch their
particular direction and course among the stars, or to ascer-
tain their number. The whole visible heavens were illumi-
nated by the light of such a prodigious number of meteors dif-
fused in their descent towards the earth, and a more beautiful
and maeatificent sight cannot possibly be conceived. At
three hours fifty-five minutes the 'shower' ceased, and after
fotr qAock all traces of meteors were gone; the stars, how-
evdr, shone with no diminution in number or brightness, and
the atmosphere was remarkably clear. The total number of
meteors could not have fallen short of from 400 to 500, the
maximum number at three hours forty-five minutes. We
tnay, therefore, conclude the 'meteoric shower' was equal in
interest and splendour to any of a former year."