Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-06-25
miscellaneous Items.

Somebody has said that the consumption of
| sulphur and sulphuric acid by nation Is sure
indication of the progress of that nation in the
arts and sciences, and consequently in clviliza-
| ton.
John Asher B. Bates, having become totally
blind, has been relieved of duty as register in
| bankruptcy at San Francisco. lie is native of
| Michigan, and was for many years attorney gen
eral of the Sandwich Islands.
1t is reported at Rome that the car Of Russia
desires to obtain from the holy see the suppression
of the archbishopuc Of Warsaw, and that he
offers in return for this concession TO establish at
| St. Petersburg an aTcl-epiScopal prlmacy Tor all
the Catholics of the empire. The pope is said to
regard the proposition with favor.
ga Solicitor" points out that in the London
Times advertisement sheet OF the list inst. there
are contained the particulars for sale of nearly
eighty properties, containing 10000 acres OF
land, besides many hundreds of houses. This,
the solicitor Thinks deserves notice, as tending
to show what small reason there is for COM
planning of obstacles TO the dealing in land in
England
AcuriOus discovery has Just been made at the
Charter house, in the shape of an autograph OF
Sir Henry HavelOck lthe Indian hero) when
boy at that school. 1t has on it the date Of his
leaving, and was probably pushed by his own
hands behind the wainscot of his cupboard or
locker, where mice and the rats have very kind
ly and considerably spared it for upwards of
half a century.
Prof. J. II. Steiner left Indianapolis, Wednes-
day, for the Pacific coast, making balloon as
tensions at different points along the route, I'M
der the auspices of the government, for the
signal service department and scientific pur
poses. Upon leaving San Francisco he will start
east in balloon, and determine how far the
currents will carry him.
Dr. Mary Walker was discovered the other
day by one of the officials of the interior depart
ment, with curious looking bundle OF clothing
in her arms, which, upon inspection, was found
TO be labeled, "Suit ofclothes worn by Dr. Mary
Walker when acting as contract surgeon in the
army" She wished to have them deposited in
the patent office, where the historical curiosties
and objects of interest are kept.
1t being proposed TO celebrate the thousandth
anniversary of King Alfred's founding the uni
versity OF Oxford, the Saturday Review shows
the absurdity of the current fable. The tale of
Alfred founding either university college or the
university of Oxford is not genuine tradition or
legend at all; it is a deliberate invention made
for an Interested purpose in an age when the
historic sense did exist, and when those who
interpolated Asser, or spread the fable about in
another way, must have known that they were
spreading abroad a mere falsehood of their own
devisng. The cheat is now fully exposed. No
scholar who is in the least competent TO judge
now puts the slightest faith in it.
A correspondent Of the New York Herald
gives the following description of the arbitra-
tors at Geneva: Count Sclopis is a tall stout
and frank expression of countenancc Favrot,
the secretary of the tribunal, is man of small
size, sharp and acute looking, as a secretary
ought to be. Citizen Jacob Staempill, the
Swiss member of the court is short and stout,
with fine, weather. beaten countenance,
bronzed with the mountain air. Chief Justice
Cockburn, the English iurist, is described as a
short-sized old man, with long vsage and a
red face-a somewhat brief and undigniied de-
scripton of the lord chief justice of England,
but borne out by the pictures of Punch. Mr..
Palmer, the British agent, is a tall, amia5le
looking blonde, and Baron It4Juba, the Brazil
ian arbitrator, is a short person, with strongly
marked features and a STOPPING gait. Our own
countrymen are too well known to need descrip-
ton, but we are told that Bancroft Davis ap-
peared very solemn aud very silent.
Every collection of English verse, made with
in the last quarter century, has contained GER
tain poem on the birth of Christ, through which
runs the refrain
''In the solemn midnight,
Centuries ago"