The Sun. — 1833-06-21 (London, England)

SHAPE OF THE EARTH ILLUSTRATED. —We have before likened the inequalities on the earth's surface, arising from mountains, valleys, buildings, &c., to the roughness on the rind of an orange, compared with its general mass. The comparison is quite free from exaggeration. The highest mountain known does not ex ceed five miles in perpendicular elevation; this is only one1600th part of the earth's diameter; consequently, on a globe of sixteen inches in diameter, such a mountain would be represented by a protuberance of not more than one-hundredth part of an inch, which is about the thickness of ordinary drawing-paper. Now, us there is no entire continent, or even any very extensive tract of land, known, whose general elevation above the sea is anything like half this quantity, it follows, that, if we would construct a correct model of our earth, with its seas, continents, and mountains, on a globe sixteen inches in diameter, the whole of the land, with the exception of a few prominent points and ridges, must he compris-d on it within the thickness of thin printing-paper; and the highest hill would be represented by the smallest visible grains of sand.—Sir J. Herschel on Astronomy—Ca. binet Cpclopcedia. HORRID ATTEMPT TO MURDER A WIFE, AND SUBSEQUENT EFFORT AT SELF•DESTRUCTION The people of this town were, on Saturday morning, struck with alarm, on hearing the reports then preva'ent to the eff.-ct above mentioned. It aprars that the guilty nil now suffering individual, John O'Neill, a barber, residing in Mill-street, had been greatly addicted to whisky drinking, and that, under its baneful influence, he, a few nights back, deliberately proceeded to murder his wife, by the secret, and therefore inure than ordinarily atrocious means of pouring a quantity of aqua fortis into her ears and mouth, when asleep ! After the commission of this crime, his wretched victim still lingering, and though as yet unable to speak distinctly, intimating (as we are told) her knowledge of his guilt and determination to bring him to justice, he, either dreading punishment, or being stung with remorse, attempted suicide, o❑ the morning of Saturday, by cutting his throat, in the most determined and desperate manner, with a razor. He was discovered about six o'clock by his daughter, who gave an immediate alarm. Surgeon Morrison having been sent for, that gentleman succeeded in staunching the blood and sewing up the frightful gash, several arteries having been cut through and the windpipe nearly severed. As soon as safe or practicable, the miserable man was removed to the hospital, where he now remains under the care of Surgeon Morrison, but in such a state as to leave the hope of recovery extremely doubtful. His wife is not expected to survive.—Newry Telegraph.  CATSKINS SOLD FOR l'UßS.—Some of the Londoners (the lower ones, of cJurse, we speak of) are very ingenious and very cruel ; they have a particular zest for sacrificing domestic animals, and will skin them alive, or set them to gnaw one another just for the petty profit of one and the amusement (-o.ci, amusement !) of the other. The poor cats of the roetropolii are the chief holocausts to the god Pluf.o. In the vicinity of \Yapping and Shadwell the carcasses of dead cats used a few years ago to be as thick as paving-stones early of a morning. Sometimes the wretched animals were seen smoking from a  recent tomahawk operation, the nerves on their backs, shoulder=, and heads, still convulse I with pain. A trades man in the suburbs of London is out of employ, or haply is seized with a fit of intolerance of labour ; let him steal a dozen cats per day and he can live like a gentleman. Catskins are valuable things; they constitute very capital _ .  mock furs, and some of the most eminent furriers in trade give seven or eight shillings a dozen. The skin, however, is scarcely worth anything if it be not taken off when the cat is alive. It comes off with the greatest facility, and gives the peeler much less trouble when the creature is in the full vigour of life. in the flaying alive, too, there is no blood manifested ; the operator has no " damned spots" to wash away before his conscience can become quiet. The flayer begins by slitting up the fore legs, he then does the same with the hind legs; continuing the incision along the belly, he divides the skin completely in the middle line, and tears it up by degrees until he separates it on either side up to the back-bone. These monsters have some method of stifling the voice of the cat. The worst feature of all in this murderous crusade is, that some of the agents are women.-211onthly Review.