Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-03-02
OLD WORLD ECHOES.
THE Dying BIRGE OF THE GUILD
HALL. GIANTS.
All About the Queens Pipe-The
Severed Head-An Ancient As
size-A City of Salt.

corporation falls heir to
host of responsibilities whose magnitudeis
with the five millions @.
people whom it will have to govern. Cow
troll Of police and fire brigades, street light
ing, sanitary matters and water supply,
duties which formerly fell to the share of
a number of independent bodies, will now
have to be discharged by one. The
gorgeous pageants that erstwhile filed
down King street, the remembrancers, the
train-bearers, the man in armor, nay, the
civic pigeons themselves, will soon be
things of the past, archaic and obsolete as
the wooden giants in Guildhall. A Lord
Mayor and Aldermen there will still be,
but how the Office of the dignitaries is to
command respect when shorn of its out
ward magnihcence, it is hard to say.
Henceforth "the nameless grace of beadle-
hood" will have to be sustained with none
zled the eye of the intelligent foreigners,
and made the wearer appear to him as
civicall, transfgured. The reign of low
ing cups and turtle soup will disappear
more slowly, for of the good things of this
life the new order has probably an equally
keen appreciation as the old one it has
supplanted.
Last year there was consumed in hec
Majesty's pipe over 10, 600 pounds of snug
gled tobacco, and probably double that
quantity of such leaf as from its poor qual-
ity was not worth the duty levied on it.
The Queens tobacco pipe, or rather pipes,
for she has more than one of them, is quite
an Institution. Neither she nor her sub
jects smoke it, and while always slight,
the fumes arising therefrom are destined
to be enjoyed by nobody. The pipe in
shape and dimensions resembles kiln,
and is set up in some lonely spot, the APP
proach to which is carefully guarded bv
officers of the customs. The spectacle of
so much valuable merchandise going up
in smoke is wasteful one and suggests
the more rational alternative of devotng
the proceeds which could be realized from
its sale, to Z reduction of the national
debt.
The question of whether consciousness
survives an che severed head has been
mooted in these columns before, and while
the recently published experiments of DIR.
Paul Loye do not conclusively answer it,
the burden of proof which they adduce is
decidedly negative and reassuring. The
various muscular movements observed in
the decapitated heads of animals are not
to be considered as implying sensation,
but are the visible expressions of shock,
the consciousness of which is at longest
momentary. The facial contortions noted
both in the cases of decapitated human
beings and animals are not, in the opinion
of the author of "La mort tdecapi-
tation,D to be interpreted as evidence
of present suffering, for they ex-
list as much in subjects that have
been previously chloroformed as in those
who have been operated on in the full
flush of consciousness. In regard to this
class of experiments, it is singular to OBJ
serve that the lower we descend in the
scale of animal creation, the mere pro-
nounced are the reflex phenomena which
exist in the trunk after decapitation.
Thus, while the trunk of a decapitated
man is invariably motionless, that Of dog
exhibits certain well-defned itremors,
while the bulk of an ostrich will run a
matter of several hundred yards after the
loss of its brain case.
The citation of the learned and vener-
able Bishop of Lincoln to appear before
the Ecclesiastical Court of his superior at
Lambeth Palace, and there stand trial for
ritualism, is au anachronism to which Eng
land has not furnished more than two par
allels in this century Ritualism Is about
the only practice of an historic church
which mas not taken root in this country,
and Americans will be amazed to hear of
a tribunal which can compel don of Ok
ford, spiritual Lord and an octogenarian to
answer at the bar of justice for offenses
that, nationally considered, have neither
name nor meaning The chancels of Eng
lish churches, however, are fenced about
by most peculiar code of ecclesiastical
etiquette, and while it is fash
ienable TO transgress this code,
the priest or Bishop who does so lays him
self open to prosecution for ritualisin. In
the case of less distinguished preIate the
Court of Arches is the tribunal which adj
Indicates, but in the present instance, in
view of the fact that Lord Bishop of the
Established Church is the offender, to meet
the emergency the Archbishop of Canter-
bury has revived medieval assize to try
an issue absurdly modern contrasted with
the antiquity of the Court. At the worst,
DIR. King may be deprived of his
see, while ct the best he may
be acquitted, thereby winning q
victory for ,ritualism which they
will be quick to take advantage of.
Between these extremes, however, there
are many means, and considering the ex-
cessive slowness of ecclesiastical curtis and
the advanced age of the defendant, the
latter may easily stave off the consequence
of an adverse decision by timely slipping
into his grave before it can be pronounced
against him.
The extent to which the exhumatioR OF
salt has been carried in the brine-beds IN
DERIVING Cheshire and Worcestershire
threatened to produce a general subsistence
of the land. In the country districts tkis
has occ1rred repeatedly, but only recently
has attention been drawn to the very dar.
gerous state of the centers of population of
the salt industry. The appearance of Nor
witch conveys the impression that the place
HIS but idtciN ItCONciCu iiUll du tdIliS-
quake, SO assured are the roadways, and SO
sunk the buildings. In this town not long
since the earth opened and swallowed q
hotel yard, the subsistence happily not in
volving any loss of life All the houses OF
the town have sunk below their for
mer level, and the principal bridge has
been voted dangerous. A building for
merly occupied as a Court has had
to be abandoned as unstable, and
gas and water pipes are an end.
less source of trouble in this rapidly
settling community. The salt industry is
most remarkable one, and the brine
springs and brine caves ef its Cheshire
seat are ameng the most wonderful aatural
phenomena TO be encountered anywhere
in the island. Ar.As
TOOL CHESTS FOR GIRLS.