The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-10-24 00:00:00

Oct. 24,1848.

Kfttraturr.

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VARIETIES.

Since the severB articles in the Times, Louis Blanc dew
dares that England is as bitter as Gaul against him.
Platina is stated to have been discovered in large quan-
tities in the Alps, on the frontiers of the department of
the Isere.
The editor of the Arkansas Journal says :—" Where
our office was two weeks ago, now runs the Mississippi
river. Out of respect for the father of rivers we left.'
Mr. Anderson, the tragedian, calls Poet Bunn "the
cholera of the dramatic world," and says " his approach
is fatal to it." _ .

An editor out west, wishing to give some faint idea of a
contemporary's meanness, says that his soul is so small
that it might dance a hornpipe in a musquito's watch fob,
The condor, in descending from its flight, frequently
passes through three miles of atmosphere in a few mo-
ments. The whale is said to go from the surface of the
sea to the depth of 1,000 fathoms.
France is a land of debt. A recent official report values
the soil at £1,600,000,000, and estimates the aggregate of
the mortgages now upon it at nearly a third of that value,
viz, £500,000,000.
SINK AND THE DEUCE.—A Seal Engraver, bearing
the Thames so poisoned the atmosphere that it was dan-
gerous to live near it, called it " a first-rate sink for a
die."

In 1775, there were in England 250,000 landed proprie-
tors in capite, who were reduced in 1815 to 30,000. and
now they do not exceed 10,000. In Scotland there are
only 3000, and in Ireland 6444 landed owners in capite.
A Goon INTERPRETATION—A gentleman asked a wit
the meaning of the passage, " He clothed himself with
curses as with a garment;" to which the wit replied,
" He had a habit of swearing."
A NOVEL ADVERTISEMENT.—A corn cutter lately ad-
vertised in a Manchester paper, stating that corns had no
roots, then adding that there are no such things as corns,
and concluding by a list of charges for removing them.
Buonaparte presented Moreau on one occasion with a
magnificent pair of pistols, and paid him a striking com-
pliment. " I intended," said he, "to have got the names
of your victories engraved upon them, but there was not
room for them."
The potato disease is often superficial, or, at all events,
lying but a short way below the surface, and the black
spot may be readily cut out before boiling, whereas the
process of boiling drives the plague spot inwards, and
diffuses the disease over a larger portion of the potato.
LADIES' FASHIONS FOR IRELAND.—TWO spinsters—
in correspondence with the rebels—have been committed
to Clonniel gaol. They wore percussion caps in their
hair; no doubt—with the spinster purpose—of the more
readily going off!
THE MARTYR'S OAK.—fhe Ipswich Express states
that this great oak, in Oxne Wood, said to have been that
before which King Edward the Martyr was shot with ar-
rows, has fallen, and, marvellous to relate, that, on cut-
ting up the trunk, an iron point, supposed to have been
an arrow bead, was found a foot below the bark and about
five feet from the ground. It is conjectured that this may
have been lodged there at the time of the murder, and
cased by the subsequent growth of the tree.
Chilblains arise generally from defective circulation.
Sitting in wet shoes, the habit of putting the feet close to
the fire when they are very cold, and neglecting to take
sufficient exercise, cause chilblains. Socks made of soft
wash leather, if adopted before the cold weather sets in,
will generally protect the feet from chilblains. As soon as
any indications of chilblains appear, rub the affected parts
every night with soap liniment, or with an onion dipped in
salt, or with an ointment composed of salt and hog's lard.
Great care should be taken that they are not suffered to
break, as they then become not only exceedingly painful,
but difficult to heal.

EFFECTS OF ON THE SYSTEM.—The ease of
the young man, recorded in the Hereford Journal, who
so suddenly recovered his speech and hearing, is easily
accounted for on physical principles. There can be no
doubt that the deprivation of the power of speech and
hearing was the result of the shock given to the nervous
system by the thunderstorm : such effects as this are not
uncommon whenever the mind. has been suddenly and
violently agitated by grief or other emotions—such as
terror, or even joy. How many of us have experienced
this effect in a slight and temporary degree, so far, at
least, as not to be able to speak for some moments after
the receipt of unexpected intelligence, which has strongly
affected us ? In persons of different temperaments the
effect would, of course, be varied, and more or less per-
manent in proportion to the excitability of the nervous
system.
STRANGE MODE OF ARRIVING AT A VERDICT.—I was
in a case some little time ago in which one of the parties,
from an humble anxiety to save his client the costs of a
Special Jury, acquiesced in a Common Jury ; who, to
his consternation, gave a verdict for four hundred pounds
to the plaintiff, who, the late Chief Justice Tindal had
told them, was not entitled to one farthing ! One of the
jury afterwards declared that he had hem resolved to give
a verdict for the defendant, but that all the others had
determined to give a verdict for the plaintiff, and after
several hours' altercation they put four slips of paper into
a hat, bearing respectively the four sums one farthing,
fifty pounds, four hundred .pounds, and one thousand
pounds ! It was agreed that the foreman should draw
one of them, and the verdict be accordingly; and he
drew the slip which bore the sum of £4OO !—Warren's
Practice of the Law.
SHARP PRACTICE—SCENE AT CHAMBERS.—A client of
mine had his declaration on a bill of Exchange demurred
to, because instead of the words " in the year of our Lord
1834," he had written " A.D. 1834." I attended the late
Mr. Justice Littledale, at chambers, to endeavour to get
the demurrer set aside, as frivolous, or leave to amend on
payment of a shilling; but that punctillious, though very
able and learned judge, refused to do either. " Your cli-
ent, Sir," said he, " has committed a blunder, Sir, which
can be set right only on the usual terms, Sir. A.D.' Sir,
is neither English nor-Latin, Sir. It may mean anything
-or nothing, Sir. It is plain, Sir, that here is a material
and traversable fact, and no date to it, Sir ;" whereupon
he dismissed our poor summons with costs ! That de-
murrer had been spun out by a pleader to an inconsider-
able length in ringing the changes on that one objection ;
and my client had positively to pay, out of his own pocket,
between seven and eight pounds.—Warren's Practice of
the Law.
MARINE CURIOSITIES NEAR EGREMONT.—III my daily
walks along the sandy beach between Egrement Ferry and
Sea Bank, in the summer months, after the reflux of the
tide, and especially after a few hours of clear sunshine,
my observation has been drawn to hundreds of the im-
pressions of medusa that have been left in the sand, vary-
ing in size from 3 to 18 inches in diameter, and of several
species. These impressions almost always assume the
forms of the perfect animals; and their surfaces, when
desiccation has been complete, are covered with a very
thin film of glistening animal matter—the only apparent
remains of the animals ; and, according to the volumes of
their masses, the impressions left are more or less deep in
the sand. The larger masses, of course, being always
deeper than the smaller. From the outer margin of these
impressions, all round, there is a slope downwards and
inwards, at an angle generally of about 45 deg., upon
which is retained very distinctly the fringed and concen-
tric lines of the lower sides of the discs, also the steps, as
it were, of the progressive stages of contraction during the
progress of desiccation.—Paper, by J. Cunningham, Esq.
A STORY OF A SPARROW.—A very pretty trait of na-
tural affection on the part of these despised birds, the
sparrows, occurred here on Monday. A large number,
old and young, had gathered together in an entry in the
High-street, Perth, and were partaking of a dainty dish,
which had been laid down for some hens as their afternoon
meal. The tiny birds were all unconscious that one of
their fiercest foes, a black Tom cat, was eyeing them from
the side of a door, and gathering himself up to make his
afternoon's repast upon some of them. Tom was, how-
ever, watched too, not by a dog or any of the inferior crea-
tion, but by a fair lady, who, seeing his purpose, deter-
mined to defeat it, and that when he fancied himself se-
cure in having possession of his dinner. He at length
selected his victim, made the spring, and had it in his
remorseless maw, when he was at the same instant seized
by the lady. Reluctantly enough, no doubt, he dropped
his prize, but the poor bird was so much hurt as to be
quite unable to fly and rejoin his companions, who assem-
bled on the top of the dyke, testifying the feelings with
which they were agitated by an unwonted chirruping and
chattering. The lady took her little charge and placed it
in the inside of her window, watched all the time with
great anxiety by his companions. Seeing that kindness
was meant, they immediately set about contriving to keep
up and comfort the spirits of their wounded mate. A
number circled about him, while others went for food,
with which he was liberally supplied. This attention is
still kept up with unceasing constancy, for we regret to
say the little invalid, although much improved, is not yet
able to trust to his pinions, to which the presence of the
lady forms no barrier. Indeed she may be seen sewing
with half a dozen of the birds beside her, throughout
almost the entire day.—Perth Courier.
VEGETABLE MARROWS A SUBSTITUTE FOR POTATOES.
—I have been trying various experiments this autumn
with ripe vegetable marrows, and I find they contain a
rich sugar and farinaceous matter ; and to my taste, are
fine ; and those gentlemen to whom I have sent them very
much approve of them, if cooked after the following man-
lier :—Cut the marrow into manageable lengths, take out
the pith and seeds, boil them in plenty of water with salt,
and when well boiled scrape out all the marrow, and put
it between two dishes and squeeze all the water out of it,
then put a little salt, pepper, butter, and a little milk,
and mash it well ; it is then fit for a Queen, let alone a
poor person. Nothing can be better for fattening pigs.
We will suppose that early potatoes are grown (to grow
late ones any longer is a waste of land), the early sorts
having been taken great care of during the winter, and
treated as recommented in my pamphlet. The seeds of
the marrows may be sown about the first of May in the
open ground in any warm corner : when transplanting
time comes, the early potatoes will not be near ripe, but
proceed thus,—lift a root of potatoes every five or six feet
In the row, leaving six or eight rows of potatoes, and then
another row of marrows, and so on. I find that with
moderate rich land, I can grow twenty tons to the acre
easily, and when ripe can be stored away anywhere, and
'boiled along with other food for the pigs—for all food for
,pigs ought to be boiled • whenever we find the cottagers
boiling the food, they always have the best pigs, and in
less time fit for market or home consumption. The cot-
lager will find room to grow the marrows in all ways he
.can think of, and where other things will not grow; such
as over walls, up the pales, trellis, up poles, or over his
•cottage ; the trouble of training will not be much, and it
would occupy his time in the evening, Landlords and
farmers perhaps would be induced to give those cottagers
a prize in the shape of a load or two of dung who grow
the largest and finest crops ; there is no mistake about
the marrows being first-rate food for pigs. 1 have, up to
this, eaten half a pound, dressed as above, every day
these six days past, and like them much better than those
d'ar and half poisonous potatoes that we now buy.—
lames Cuthill, Florist, Camberwell.