The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1848-06-18

preme Court, and Of Sir John Grant, one of the
Judges Then are Mr.. A. de H. Larpent of the well
known Baronet, and senior partner of the firm OF
Cockerell & Co.; Sir T. Turton and others. But
must not anticipate
In bringing the commercial part of my letter to a
close may mention and 1t will to your satisfaction
that none Of the American houses here have suffered
seriously If materially from the storm that has brought
down so many Of their neighbors. Yankee merchants
here have the reputation of being canny set OF fcl
lows They do not like English merchants, put them
selves in the hands of the natives but are ever wide
awake to the necessity Of acting for themselves Least
of all they addicted to that cxtravagance OF when
have spoken. =.
But must give this heavy writing for the pre-
sent I shall degenerate into a Stock Exchange
grumbler Calcutta is not entirely beaten down.
There is hope plenty of life in her yet. We had an
earthquake the other day to keep us going ana IL
was very successful move, in far as it gave US
something better to talk about than commercial con-
vulsons. Earthquakes by no means uncommon
worth newspaper paragraph The last one, however
just came up to my idea Of what q well penaveo EARN
quake ought to be- Compared with one Of the South
American breed, it was certainly no great shakes"
but yet 1t sufficient to remind one that people who
talk of frma don't know what they are driving
at and to lead one to suppose that geology must be
highly interesting study The shock lasted for some
seconds and at last succeeded In knocking down three
empty brandy bottles the property OF an Invalid MAJOR
whose next to mine 1t was accompanied by
rumbling noise-but this was nearly drowned by the
screams of the and Coolies who nfest my neigh
borhood One house. in the European part Of the CITY
was rendered untenable don't believe 1t did any
harm In fact the houses of Calcutta are so well
built that it is 10 easy matter to knock them down.
Ths connection between earthquakes aud the atmos-
phorc is curious subject and am inclined to think
has not yet been satisfactorily accounted for am
that Mr. Scrope has suggested that the pheno-
menon may be simply barOmetrical; thai IS, II re-
member him correctly that the intensity Of the action
depends tho degree Of atmospheric pressure exer-
csed tho lava in volcanic craters This is intel
gble and satisfactory enough In the case o. earth
canoes but have volcanic vent of any sort within
800 miles Of Calcutta, and these only eject little
mud and then. More than this the last shock APP
peared to from west to cast and as it was not felt
ut Bombay, 1t must have arisen in central India, where
there are no active volcanoes at ALL Perhaps the
nection between the air and the earthquake is
electrical than anything else but one thing certain
that in India the connection is so marked That you
almost always predict shock from the state Of the
atmosphere just sailors anticipate storm from the
bad behavior of the barometer
You perhaps, heard Of such thing as school
Of elephants The idea was new to me until yesterday
when hoard Of 1t from passenger on board the Eng
ish steamer 1t seems that as the Haddington was on
her way up the river, she suddenly came upon what
at first supposed to be wreck but which turned
out to be school Of elephants No less than nine OF
these animals were crossing the channel each with
mahout (drivcr) on his back. They oil tied to-
gether, and were in tow Of small boat This where
the stream is nearly two miles wide. The story has
been a good deal laughed ut here and wondered at
still more for elephants and their ways nre unknown
to Calcutta cockneys There are probably Thousands
of natives in Calcutta who have never seen an ele-
plant in their vesthe animals not permitted to
enter the town The is true Of the other stars
is far of lion in Calcutta than in any obscure
Yankee village. Lord Hardnge brought fine fellow
into town the other day en- route Tor England TINS ~
that has entered it to my knowledge for two years
was told the other day by lady born and bred in
the country, that she her first tiger Mt Womb
wells menagerie in England! Laughable as this Is
the case is very common one .qpropos, of this !
may mention that heard person say recently, that
he afraid to visit England ut now for fear Of the
cholera | suppose this was meant for joke but
last visited the west it's horrors increased ten
fold by absurd notion that the disease was infec
tous and that to visit the bedside of cholera patient
u1,,> otn 1aut lopn rfnn nj
then the sufferer left to help himself and no
wonder that the pestence should have revenged itself
for this Islander on ts character. We manage these
things differently here. No one ever dreams OF dan
ger whether in waiting at the bed side of sick friend
in visiting the wards of cholera hospital every
has the best attendance and in good attendance
comprised the most favorable conditions for reco
very. The favorte remedy is half a tumber of raw
brandy with from forty to eighty drops Of audanum.
Take this ut the first appearance Of decided symptoms
and The chances are three to one that you will get
we'll
We caught new governor general few weeks ago.
and turning him to the most profitable account.
Lord Dahousie is little man. but by means insig
nihcant looking He has not yet had any opportuni
ty for mmortazing himself but he is getting very
popular not only because he Is hosptable but on
count of his attention to business.
Old Bishop Wilson is becoming daily more inhrm.
but still has his heart about his work The bishops
hobby of late has been the cathedral which he ha.
erected on the margin of the magnificent plain that
bounds Calcutta to the south. This edifce has cost
f60000, ten thousand Of which was paid out Of the
good metropolitan e private purse. IL seems pity
that much money should have been thrown away
The church accommodation Of Calcutta Is already
mare than ample, and the money was sadly needed by
affair The style is bastard gothic the material brick
and stucco; the coup deiI that Of highly ornament
ed Christmas cake But perhaps after all, the worst
thing about it that it not needed and that now
when built at such enormous expense it will only
400 or $50 PERSONS though its dimensions are some
$50 feet by 1S0
There is painting on glass in the chance which has
been highly admired by the newspaper reporters and
highly abomnatcd by everybody else. 1t represents
the cruciaxon. and is said to have been left in
finished state by West, and completed by | don't
know who. 1t Is altogether worthy Of George the
Thirds pet painter If 1t have any particular fault
besides that Of being altogether sad daub 1t is that
the angels the piece, have any
thing but tendency to fly edwards. They look more
like set of cari too heavy for their wings and in the
act of falling from their high estate 1t may be, ac
cording to Newton and Lapace, to aict cherubs and
that sort of people with gravity; but 1t isn't very
tstical, and don't think it is orthodox, either. In
to be there two throe airy crea
lures, that seem to have been touched with kinder
hand than their neighbors; but friend Of mine main
tains that these second hand spirits which have
transmigratcd from another canvas and am disposed
myself to believe in this sort of metcmpsy Ghosts for
like the Hindoo and his cow, think remember to
have them in another state Of ex-tence though.
to throw away the metaphor, can't pretend to say
from whom they copied The saints are not
much better than the superior beings aud ] don't
think, the piece the whole, likely to improve any
body's devotional feelings. The cathedralbas large
staff attached to It, such and al the other
appurtenancos of the church militant. have heard
one of these canons. His calibre Ia small If you
can get over the contradiction, he is great bore.
see am making q long letter of It; and have
come to punning at last, perhaps you and had bet
ter part for the present My head full of subjects
which / must defer. Among other things, have
wonderful chapter to give you on mcsmcrism in India
Perhaps you not aware that mesmeric hospital
established here in 1915 by order of government
and at government expense II has done wonders, and
there not ten regular surgeons In India who
not mcsmerists. OF course we have chloroform.
too; but mesmersm has a higher destiny than any
nostrum, however benefccnt But, as said before
must not anticipate. SO with my best saiaam,
bid you good bye for the present DOWN EAST
CALcurrA, March 20, 1S4S.
Imporiant Commercial .4rrdngemenf-More Funny Fail
es--Mesmerism and Chiorcform in Indid-Th,
Choiera-Ethonoissy Of the Natives Of hdia-Inte-
resting Information.
had scarcely posted my last letter. when govern
ment gazette was put into my hands, containing an