Papurau Newydd Cymru
Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru
29 erthygl ar y dudalen hon
DIVIDENDS BY POST.
DIVIDENDS BY POST. The Bank of England has made fresh regu- lations for the payment of dividends which will considerably extend the facilities for receiving warrants by post. At present divi- dend warrants are sent by post only upon the formal request of the stockholders. On and after July 1 next, warrants will, in the absence of in- structions to the contrary, be sent by post, without application, to sole stockholders and to first stock- holders in joint accounts. Where it is desired that the warrants be sent to anyone else, application in the prescribed form will be necessary, as at present. On and after the same date, dividends can be re- ceived by stockholders, on personal attendance at the Bank, only upon their written request on a form that will be supplied to them on application. The request should be lodged about five weeks before the dividend is due. Forms of request may be obtained at the Bank of England, or at any of its branches.
XMPEKIAL PARLIAMENT. 1
XMPEKIAL PARLIAMENT. 1 HOUSE OF LORDS.-IlAftCn 6. The Telegraph (Channel Islands) Bill passed through Committee. HOUSE OF COMMONS. The Attorney-General for Ireland introduced a bill to amend the law respecting promissory notes given to charitable loan societies in Ireland. THE TELEPHONE SERVICE. In Committee of Ways and Means, Mr. Hanburv moved a resolution on which to found a bill for the improvement of telephonic communication. He explained in the first place that the measure would facilitate the extension of telephone exchanges by the Post Office. He claimed that the Department had a perfect right to undertake the task of developing telephonic Communication in rivalry with the National Telephone Company. It was the object of the Department to popularise this system of communica- tion which was so vital to the trading and com- mercial interests of the country. At the same time the Department wish to deal as fairly as possible with the company. But the service supplied by the Company was, he maintained, neither efficient nor sufficient, and it was limited practically to rich sub- scribers. It was not right that so important a medium of communication should be limited in that way. Under the bill £ 2,000,000 would be placed at the disposal of the Post Office for the development of Communication, and London would be the first place where action would be taken. The operations of the Department would be extended to smaller municipalities subsequently. London was dealt with first because the area of the London exchange was enormous and because the number of its public wires was so large. With private wires the Poat Office had no concern. Answering the question Whether the Post Office was fitted to undertake work of this kind, be reminded the Committee that the Department had possession of the trunk wires, and that the Post Office exchanges had earned a considerable profit. It was not proposed to establish a mere sub- scription system like that of the Telephone Com- pany. The system in Switzerland would be copied and a small subscription of about £ 3 a year would be demanded, and then small fees or tolls would be paid as for telegrams. He believed that the Department would attract subscribers from clasaes which at present made no use of the telephone. Arrangements would be made to utilise the ex- press messenger system in connection with tele- phone exchanges, and thus anybody, whether a subscriber or not, would be able to take advantage of the system. It was also intended to give certain large municipalities power to establish telephone systems, the necessary funds coming from the borough rates. A competing municipality would not have the right to refuse the National Telephone Company way-leaves which it took itself. As much as was useful of the plant laid down by municipali- ties would be purchased by the Post Office at the end of 1911, and corresponding treatment would be meted out to the Telephone Company. Sir J. Fergusson defended the National Telephone Company against the charges which were brought against it and justified its policy, contending that it had done nothing to deserve punishment. He re- gretted, therefore, that it was proposed to treat the company with hostility. Sir C. Cameron congratulated the Secretary to the Treasury upon his statesmanlike scheme, and Mr. Boscawen, Mr. Provand, and other members also expressed their approval. Sir J. Lubbock doubted whether the telephone system would be more efficient under the Post Office, and regretted that the Government were ready to encourage municipalities to engage in business. He a I feared that the results of the scheme might be to check the development of the telephone and to increase local indebtedness. Mr. Begg thought the proposals of the Govern- ment were rash and likely to prove costly, and advo- cated a system of complete State control over the telephones. Some other members having spoken, The resolution was agreed to. FOOD AND DRUGS BILL. Mr. Long, in moving the second reading of the Sale of Food and Drugs Bill, said that the measure was based upon the report of the Committee who in- quired into the subject in 1896. That inquiry showed that an improved system of administering the exist- ing law was desirable, amendment of the law not being so necessary. Having assured the House that the demand for this legislation had not come princi- pally from the agricultural community, he stated that the wish of the Government was to strengthen the law. It was proposed that samples should be taken of certain imported dairy products at the port of entry for the purpose of detecting adultera- tion. With regard to home products, the Agricul- tural Department asked for power to stimulate local authorities to carry out the existing law. Where local authorities remained supine the Department ought to be able to act independently, the chief object to be aimed at being the uniform administration of the law throughout the country. The bill contained pro- visions for the purpose of preventing the sale of margarine as butter but it was not intended to interfere with the production and sale of that important article of food. The suggestion that the colouring of margarine should be prohibited ,,a ,t could not be entertained. The clauses of the bill having reference to the general law affecting food and drugs were based on the recommendations of the committee, and embodied the most valuable of their proposals. Mr. Lough, disliking the bill because he regarded it as a protective measure introduced in the interests of the agricultural community, moved that it be read a second time that day six months. The view that the measure would restrict the supply of certain useful foods was endorsed by Sir C. Cameron. Sir M. Stewart approved the bill generally, but regretted that under it harder measure would be meted out to the homfe manufacturer and producer ,r than to the foreigner. Mr. Strachey commented on the fact that the measure contained no definite pro- visions dealing with the practice of colouring certain .foods, and Mr. Heywood Johnstone thanked the Government for introducing the bill, in which there were several most salutary clauses. Sir W. Foster thought this legislation rather dis- appointing, because its promoters had passed over some very important recommendations of the Select Committee. He advocated the constitution of a Court of reference charged with the duty of fixing the stan- dards to which different foods ought to conform. Mr. Llewellyn maintained that when butter was coloured artificially or when it contained preserva- tives the circumstance ought to be disclosed to the purchaser Mr. Kilbride supported the bill in the interests of fair trade as against fraudulent trade, and after Mr. Lowles and Mr. Philipps had made eome observations. The debate stood adjourned. The Partridge Shooting (Ireland) Bill was read a third time.
MUSCAT.
MUSCAT. Beplving to questions in the French Chamber on Monday. M. Delcasse said that with regard to the concession of a coal-depot at Muscat, the British Government, having been informed of the facts and of the French Government's intentions, had not been Blow in recognisiug that the rights of England and France were identical, and that France could have a coal-depot on exactly the same conditions as England. The Queen's Government had also expressed its pro- found regret for the intervention of an agent of whom France had complained. J
' AN AWFUL STORY.
AN AWFUL STORY. An extraordinary affair was made public at San Prancisco on Monday. It arose out of the unwilling- ness of a young man, named Henry Black, to marry Miss Thula Bigheart, to whom he was engaged. There was, however, no unwillingness on the part of the young lady or her relatives. Every prepara- tion was made by them for the ceremony, ana. when the wedding day came all that was lacking was the bridegroom. The bride and her friends waited hoping Henry had been inadvertently detained somewhere, and would turn up, though late. As he failed to appear, inquiries were made which con- vinced the family that Henry. intended to shirk his obligation. Thula, accompanied by her brothers, went to look for him. They found, thrashed him, and having bound him with ropes they dug a grave and buried him alive. A search for him being insti- tuted by his friends he was discovered three days later dead. The bride and her brothers have been arrested.
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M, JAMES BLAYLOCK, provision dealer, Howard- ■treer. Blackpool, recently purchased a box of onifons from a wholesale dealer named Wilson, and whilst examining the contents of the box she found a piece of paper endorsed with a foreign name. The paper was taken to a local bank, and there identified as a Portuguese bank-note, which has since been cashed for £ 36. lb. MATHEWS, whose charming book, "Annals of Mount Blanc," is now being much read, has climbed that mountain 12 times. Mr. Mathews is a delight- ful writer as well as a great climber, as the following pssage may show: M those who know Mount Stanc well, and love it dearly, to whom often, in quiet lours, teeming thoughts which swarm like bees; aunny memories of successful endeavour, of tran- scendent beauty, and of priceless friendships which have added health and sweetness and happiness to life." Mr. 1IatMw.t,le recalls some of the most Moving mtmgm in 1k. Wbymper's grsat book.
'rPROGRESS IN SIAM. :
'r PROGRESS IN SIAM. In Sian:, as in Japan, the impulse towards reform has come from within and not from without; but, unlike Japan, it has not come from a cla.n or a cias3 Supported by the general feeling and spirit of the race, but from the Sovereign. During the time that Mr. Mitchell-Innes has been financial adviser to the King of Siam (says Engineering) the financial affairs of the kingdom have made much progress. In two years and a half the revenue accounts show an increase from £ 1.260,000 to £ 2,030,000, while expenditure has increased from £889.000 to £1,820,000. The latter increase is due to the payment of arrears, the im- proved administration of the police, and the outlay on public improvements.
IDR. PARKER'S EARLY BOYHOOD.
DR. PARKER'S EARLY BOYHOOD. In an autobiographical article by Dr. Joseph Parker in the Puritan, the eminent preacher savs Sunday came to me as a cloud, a task, and a solemn fear. It was the custom in our house, and in all the houses with which I was acquainted, to shut up all books, pamphlets, engravings, on Saturday night, and to keep them under lock and key till Monday morning, when people were too busy to take any interest in them. The only books left out for Sunday were the Bible, Watts'1 Psalms and Hymns.' I am not sure that a Concordance would have been permitted, for it meant much turning over the leaves, an action that was very likely to bring upon itself the charge of being Sunday labour. A book with a picture in it would certainly have been condemned, unless it were a picture of Daniel in the Lions' Den, or of the Flight of Mary and the Young Child into the Land of Egypt. What could a boy do but yawn, and stretch himself, and look wistfully out of a window too small to admit all the Sunday sunshine ? The only re- creation which some of us knew on a Sunday was to take the longest possible round to the Sunday-school. Say we could have walked to it in 10 minutes, we so arranged the course of approach as to reach the school in something like half an hour. My Sunday was divided between the school and the chapel—the Sunday-school beginning at nineo'clock, the preaching at 10, school again at two, and preaching again at six. One aggressive soul in our company thought to make the Sunday less severe by adding a little chorus to one or two of Watt's hymns. It was an evil day for him when the wicked thought took possession of hia mind We boys applauded him and almost loved him, and certainly longed for every chance to hear the new and cheerful lilt. It must not be understood that reading was wholly forbidden even on a Sunday, because as a matter of fact we had a SUD lay- school library in a cupboard neatly let into a wall, and securely locked up with the exception of one half-hour on the Sunday afternoon. It was in very deed a dreary cupboard The only book on all its shelves that was at all likely to cheer the spirits of Puritan childhood wasHervey's Meditations among the Tombs." I admit that there is a sombreness in the title which might well overpower the most buoyant and rampant spirits of childhood. Still, to some of us the book was not so bad as its title, for its pages are full of apostrophe, screaming exclama- tions to the invisible, the distant, the inaccessible, and the impossible. In childhood, when we cannot get fabrication, we are glumly thankful for exclama- tion and in the matter of exclamation Hervey of the Tombs is bead and chief above all his competitors in hysterics."
THE VOLTA CENTENARY.
THE VOLTA CENTENARY. On May 4th next Como will celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the day on which her great citizen Volta invented the pile which goes by his name. The occasion (says the Rome Correspondent of the Lancet) will be utilised for the holding of an Inter- national Exhibition of Electricity, the success of which the Italian Government is co-operating with the city and province to ensure. A section will be devoted to various medical applications —a field in which Italy has a highly honourable record. The catalogue J alone, with its descriptive letterpress, will in this de- partment have much to interest the medical profession, while the electro-therapeutic appliances in which the latest developments are to be represented will furnish a series of object-lessons from which the intelligent visitor cannot fail to profit.
A TOWN IN THE AIR.
A TOWN IN THE AIR. Three miles south of the Mesa Encantada is the most splendid specimen of fantastic erosion on the American continent, says Science Sifting>. An "island in the air a rock with overhanging side? nearly 400ft. high, 70 acres in area on the fairly level top, indented with countless great bays, notched with dizzy chasms, flanked by vast buttresses so sheer Assyrian in their chance-carving by the rain that one could believe the builders of Nineveh have learned their trade here, so labyrinthine Ín its perimeter that no man will find the last foot of it. It is a rock wonderful worth crossing the world to study, even if it had no other attributes. On its top stands a town which in artistic charm, ethnologie interest and romantic history together, has no peer. The pueblo, or village of Acoma is three vast parallel terraced blocks, each block nearly a thousand -feet long, and looking for all the world, from a little distance, as if carved from the bedrock. It is one of the most per- fect type still remaining of the prehistoi ic Pueblo architecture; three storeys high, with blank back walls of the old defensive scheme—and even in front, modern security and the nudgings of convenience have caused.the breaking of but few first storeys with doors and windows. Most of the houses remain of the type invented when every house must be a fort, as well as every town like Gibraltar. One climbed a dozen feet to his first roof, and pulled the ladder up at night; lived in the second and third storeys, and used the ground floor as a cellar, reached only by a trap-door in a room of the second storey. Nothing but the eagle ever sought such inaccessible eyries as these victims of their own civilisation. Because they were farmers instead of feeebooters. because they had homes instead of being vagrants, they were easy to find; and they were the prey of a hundred nomad tribes. It was only by their wonderful system of fortified town sites and homes that they held their own. To this day Acoma people go half a mile for water, and anywhere from two to 15 miles to the cornfield. In front of, and some hundreds of yards apart from, the houses of Acoma stands the huge old church, a miracle at once of faith and labour. Every grain of its enormous bulk was brought up the precipice from the plain its 40ft. timbers, 14in. square, came 20 miles from Mt. San Mateo by man-power; its graveyard— a stone-walled box 200 feet square, and 45 feet deep at the outer edge—is filled with earth brought, up the same wild trails on patient backs. And for that matter the infinite tons of earth and stone which compose the houses of 600 people came by the same way. When one knows the approaches to Acoma, the inconceivable labour which built this town, great wonderment is excited. During the present generation a trail has been built, up which horses go but that did not count in the construction of Acoma. Before it, the several trails which crept up by toe-holes in various clefts of erosion were not just the thing for the average tourist. Only two women have ever traversed any of the serious trails up that cliff. The shape of the mesa is that of a pair of eye- glasses. Its southern oval is unoccupied, but is much visited—since here is the chief water-supply, a beau- tifully picturesque rain-water reservoir in the living rock. And on this same cliff, but never seen by half a dozen, white men, is a perfect cliff-dwelling which faces the rising sun. The age of the present town is not known—except that it was already old in 1540. There is no possible doubt that this is the Acoma of Coronado and Onate.
AWAKENING OF HODGE.
AWAKENING OF HODGE. The farm labourers of Longstantion, Norfolk, have gone on strike for shorter hours. Their hours of work in winter are from seven a.m. to five p.m., and for the rest of the year from six a.m. to six p.m. The time having arrived to commence the longer hours the men requested the farmers to sanction the shorter hours all the year round, urging that their pay of lis. per week was amply earned in a ten hours day. The employers have refused this latest form of early closing, and hence the men are out on strike.
I':::GRAIN DUTIES.1
GRAIN DUTIES.1 The City Press says: "The fact that within the next four years the duty on grain, from which the City of London Corporation derives a large annual revenue, will lapse, is a serious matter with which t.he Court of Common Council will have to grapple in the near future. The gross income derived from this source in 1897 (the 1898 account has not yet been published) was .£19,000, which was more than it had been for several years. It may be remem- bered that the question of the metage on gram was settled by the Government in 1872. when the Cor- poration, in consideration of its receiving for a period of 30 years a duty of three-sixteenth of a penny per ton upon grain brought into the port for sale, volun- tarily surrendered its ancient right to levy metage dues on all grain arriving in the port. In return the Corporation undertook to preserve all the open spaces in the neighbourhood of London that were not within the Metropolitan Management Act of j 1855."
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I O'KIEF How did you enjoy yourself at the opera the other evening ?" McKell; I didn't hear of the music, but I learned the details of a few society scandals which were highly interesting." I
(GREAT EXPLOSION NEAR TOULON.
GREAT EXPLOSION NEAR TOULON. MAGAZINE BLOWN UP. OVKT 160 KILLED AND WOUNDED. From Toulon comes the news that a tremendous explosion has occurred there. A powder magazine was blown up during Saturday night, and there were many persons killed and injured. The inhabitants of Toulon at first believed that a battleship had been destroyed, and there was a great rush towards the port. All the ships were safe, however, but flames and smoke were seen issuing from the maritime village of Lagouboan, half-way between Toulon and La eyne. Then it was known that the powder magazine had been destroyed. Ten houses were wrecked and the guard of marines or soldiers over the place were killed to a man. A vehicle passing near the magazine at the time of the explosion was blown into the sea, and two of its three occupants were drowned. The official reports give low figures for the num- ber of dead, but the news agency account states that about 60 persons, including officials, soldiers, sailors, watchmen, and artisans have been killed, and 100 persons injured. The noise of the explosion was heard at Nice, 100 milesaway, and reverberated along a good deal of the Riviera. Sixteen dead bodies were found near the rocks on Sunday morning, and it is believed that some of the unfortunate people living close by the scene of the catastrophe were blown out to sea. The bodies recovered were in a fearfully mutilated condition, and injured person, who were attended to as quickly as possible by naval and military doctors, were moaning piteously as they were carried to the hospitals. The magizine destroyed is the second in import- ance, the other, that of Milhau. being intact, although not far away. Both were built near the dockyard, and that of Lagouboan was on a small peninsula, behind which are the Marseilles railway line and the road from Toulon to La Srvne. The explosion occurred in Bay No. 1 of the Lagouban Magazine, which, it is said, contained about 50 tons of black powder. The city was plunged into mourning. All the flags were placed at half-mast, and were tied with crape. The theatres and casinos were closed. The minister of Marine telegraphed to the Maritime Prefect, expressing sympathy, and informing the admiral that he had set aside a considerable sum for the relief of the distress caused by the disaster. The vicinity of the scene of the explosion looks as if a volcanic eruption had occurred. The country for a radius of nearly two miles has been swept almost bare. Houses are razed to the ground, trees are overturned, or bent and distorted to the most extraordinary shapes, the fields are devasted and covered with st&nes and fine, impalp- able, black dust. Some of the stones are enormous, one weighing nearly 50 kilogrammes fell in the suburb of Pont de Las. Signs of the explosion are evident in all the suburbs, and also in the city of Toulon. Even at St. Jean de Var, a place five miles off, windows have been shattered and doors battered jn, and here also everything is covered with black dust. Peasants say that they found a zinc tank, completely flattened, in the fields three kilometres from the magazine. It was stated at first that every soldier on duty at the magazine had been killed, but this proves to be not quite accurate. Of seven sentries on guard at the time, four were killed outright, and the others were severely injured. The corporal in charge was literally scalped, the skin being completely detached from the upper part of his head, and hanging over his face like a veil. Nevertheless, it is hoped that he will survive his awful wound, which had to be dressed on the spot, before he could be transported to the hospital. Nothing could exceed the devotion and activity dis- played by the doctors, both military and civil, in searching for and tending the injured. Most of the latter are being taken to the military hospital, and others to the hospital of St. Mandrier, while a few have been conveyed to their own homes. The Municipal Council of Toulon met in special session at three o'clock on Sunday afternoon. The Mayor, in a voice broken by emotion, announced the terrible m'sfortune which had fallen upon the town, and proposed the immediate voting of a sum of 5000f. for first aid to the sufferers, and the opening of a public subscription. He also proposed that the city should defray the whole expense of the funeral of the victims. The cause of the explosion still remains a mystery. There it no suggestion that the disaster was due to foul play. The naval authorities have a theory that chemical decomposition occurred in a box of smokeless powder, which, becoming ignited, caused the explosion of a hundred tons of powder stored in the Lagouban No. 1 magazine. No. 2 magazine, which was close by and was filled with powder and loaded projectiles, escaped with alight damage to the roof and broken doors. The direction of the explosion was northerly. The contents and material of the magazine were dis- charged with an appalling report as from a mitrail- leuse, and worked terrible havoc. The displacement of air was so violent and sudden that it brought about a remarkable atmospheric change. At the time of the explosion the sky was clear and the stars were shining, but shortly after the disaster there was 1 a slight fall of rain. President Loubet and M. Dupuy have each sent 500 francs as a first contribution for the relief of the families of the victims.
DREYFUS IN PRISON.
DREYFUS IN PRISON. SERIOUS MENTAL STATE. In the course of a recent conversation, ex-Captain Drevfus declared that his return to France, to appear before the Court of Cessation, was imminent, but that for the past month he had been without any news. Dreyfus, I understand, has now fallen into a state of great prostration, and his mental condition in par- ticular gives rise to anxiety. Yesterday the chief physician here returned from the lie du Diable. The prisoner requested an interview with Governor Mouttet, who, however, declined to grant it.
MR. HOOLEY'S AFFAIRS.
MR. HOOLEY'S AFFAIRS. PROSECUTION ORDERED. It was announced on Saturday that at the instance of the Official Receiver Mr. Hooley was to be prose- cuted in connection with his bankruptcy. The order for the prosecution was made by Mr. Registrar Hope in the following terms In the High Court of Justice in Bankruptcy. No. 771 of 1898. R Ernest Terah Hooley, a Bankrupt. Upon the application of the Official Receiver in the above matter for an order to prosecute the above-named Ernest Terah Hooley under section 11, sub-sections 3, 8, and 9, of the DeHors' Act. 1869, and upon reading the report of the Official Receiver dated March 1, and upon hearing the Official Receiver, and it appearing to the Court, that there is reasonable probability that the said Ernest Terah Hooley will be convicted. It is ordered that the said Ernest Terah Hooley be prosecuted for offences alleged to have been committed by him under section 11, sub-sections 3, 8, and 9, of the Debtors' Act, 1869, Part 2. Dated this 2nd day of March, 1899. By the Court, HERBERT J. HorE, Registrar. By arrangement with the Court Mr. Hooley agreed to formally surrender on Monday. The action of Ernest Terah Hooiey William Sinclair, which has reference to the rights of Messrs. Hooley and William Sinclair, St. Clair Works, Edin- burgh, in a paper shaving machine, was set down for hearing on Tuesday, in the Court of Session, but on Saturday counsel for both parties appeared, and asked that the hearing should be postponed. Lord Kyllachie, in granting the application, said he thought it was very desirable from what he had heard of the probable duration of the case that it should be postponed. MR. BROUGHAM'S SUPPLEMENTARY REPORT. A supplementary report by Mr. Brougham, the Official Receiver to the Bankruptcy Court, on the subject of the charges against Mr. Hooley, alleges that he has not delivered up certain books and docu- ments relating to his property or affairs that after the presentation of a bankruptcy petition by him he has prevented the production of books and docu- ments, and that he has concealed, destroyed, mutilated, or falsified, or been privy to the concealment, destruction, mutilation, or falsifica- tion of books and documents relating to his affairs. The Official Receiver, therefore, submits that, if the Court is of opinion that there is a reasonable probability of the bankrupt's convic- tion, an order should be made to prosecute him accordingly.
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IT appears from the Consular Journal that British merchants are paying more attention than formerly to the South American markets. We are also jn- formed that the condition of Englishmen domesti- cated in Brazil, Argentine, or Chili is considerably worse than that of the Uitlanders in the Transvaal. And this in spite of the immense success of British money invested in the Continent and the develop- ment of South American territory by Britain. Two Nonconformist ministers are at the present moment candidates for Parliamentary constituencies, the Rev. Silas K. Hocking for the Camborne Division of Cornwall, and the Rev. G. H. Morgan for South Tottenham. Both these gentlemen can preach, but they have no great liking for pastoral work as such. Their precedents for leaving the pulpit for the Par- liamentary Bench are Henry Richard, the Apoatle of Peace, W. J. Fox, and half-a-dozen others. Mr. Acland, we remeeiber, wasooce a clergyman; so also were Mr. Macdonarand Sir William Marriott.
CURKEiNT SPORT.
CURKEiNT SPORT. The Championship of the National Cross-Countn L'nion took place on Saturday over a 10-mile courv at Wembley-park. Eleven clubs entered, including the winners of the Southern, Midland, and Northern 1 Championships, and the Haddington Harriers, the best of the Irish clubs. Each club ii entitled to start 12 men. and the positions of each ot the tirst six in each team are added to/ether, the club with the smallest aggregate being the winners. Five-sixths of the course consists of grass-land outside the limits of the park. The going on Saturday was very heavy and holding, although plough-land is conspicuous by its absence round Wembley. The day was fine, calm, and not too cool. The attendance was not large, probably because the spectators can see but little of the race, j Altogether the 11 clubs were represented by 117 runners. Directly the field settled down C. Bennett, of the Finchley Harriers, the Southern champion, took the lead, and passing the grand stand for the second time—time, 7min. 47sec.—Bennett led with H. Harrison, Manchester II., W. E. Stokes, Birch- field H.. and J. G. Wood, Highgate H., close up. After the first circuit of the outside country, Bennett passed the judges for the third time in 32min. 55 3-5gec., 43sec. in front of T. Bartlett, of the Essex Beagles, with Stokes and Wood third and fourth. After another lap of the outside country, Bennett finally won by Imin. lOsec. in 58min. 36sec. (very fast time) from T. Bartlett, of the Essex Beagles, J. G. Wood, High- gate H., was third in 60uiin. 28secs., and R. T. Pavey. Highgate H., fourth; W. E. Stokes. Birch- field H.. was fifth and G. Martin, Essex Beagles, sixth A. H. Meacham, Birchfield H., was iseyenth J, yratl, Highgate H.. eighth; J. F. Donelan, Had- dington H., ninth; and H. Harrison, Manchester, H., tenth. On going into figures the placings of the slubs resulted as follows Highgate Harriers (winners of the Southern Counties Championship over the same course on February 18) champions.—Their six men finished as follows: J. G. Wood, 3rd R. T. Pavey, 4th; J. Pratt, 8th Biss, 22nd; Home, 2Gth; Cleveley, 29th; total—92. The Irish team, the Haddington Harriers, were second with 124 points. The other clubs totalled as follows: Birchfield H., 138 points; Finchley H., 145; Essex Beagles, 149; Manchester H., 186; Salford H., 192; Polytechnic H., 288; South London H., 372; Blackheath II., 510 points. The Farnworth Harriers only finished five men and were not counted. Their best man, the Northern champion, J. Hosker, broke down in the first two miles of the race. The League Championship competition in the Held of Association football is still full of interest, and the fight for the actual championship has been made much keener by the comparatively ill success of Aston Villa of late. On Saturday the results were: Notts Forest beat Sheffield United (2-1). Derby County drew with Aston Villa (1 all). Stoke beat. I West Bromwich Albion (1—0), Sunderland beat Wolverhampton Wanderers (3—0), and Everton beat Sheffield Wednesday (2—1). In an International Association football match at Belfast on Saturday Ireland beat Wales by one goal to none. There were 8000 spectators of a hard match, but the football itself was not of any par- ticular excellence. The tie in the semi-final round of the London Senior Association Football Cup which commanded the greatest interest on Saturday was that between the Old Carthusians and Clapton at Barking. The teams had met in the final of the Charity Cup. when Clapton won by two goals to one. Now the Old Boys reversed the result, winning by three goals to none. In the other tie the London Caledonians beat Barnet, at Leyton, by 10 goals to none. The Corinthians had not a very strong side at the Queen's Club on Saturday, and Notts County, play- ing remarkably well, won by two goals to one. Among other Association football results on Satur- day Mill wall Athletic beat Tottenham Hotspur (2-1), Bury and Bolton Wanderers won the semi-final ties for the Lancashire Gup, and Casuals and South- ampton played a drawn match of two goals each. After an interval of three years the Rugby foot- ball representatives of Scotland and Wales met or. the Inverleith ground at Edinburgh on Saturday. The game gained peculiar interest from the fact that owing to the frost it had been postponed four times —a fate that never before had befallen a Rugby international contest. Curiously, in the meantime, the Scotchmen had on the same ground managed to bring off their match with Ireland and had sus- tained defeat, their forwards giving an indifferent display. Early in January Wales gained a brilliant victory over England at Swansea, and as ten of the players who had part in that engagement took the field on Saturday the chances appeared to be all in1 favour of Wales. Alter their beating at the hands of Ireland the Scottish executive had reorganised their side, and the changes were efficacious. The Scottish: forwards playing in a sturdy, characteristic fashion, j held the upper hand for the major portion of the match and enabled their side to win by the hand- some margin of two dropped goals, a goal from a mark, and three tries to two placed goals, or 21 points to 10. It was in many respects a remarkable game but, if a little favoured by luck, the Scotchmen thoroughly deserved their triumph. It was the out- come of superior scrummaging. The Scotch for- wards, who played in a disappointing fashion against Ireland, came out in quite their best style. They packed well and smartly, broke up the scrum- mage by superior force and energy, and used their feet to good effect in the open. Moreover, they tackled with resolution and, except at one period when Wales scored twice, quite broke down all attempts of combination by the Welsh backs. That Scotland should in the end win by such a handsome margin was quite extraordinary after being led at half time by 10 points to three. Owing to a mis- calculation by the referee the first half was extended 10 minutes beyond the customary period—viz., 40 minutes, and towards the interval the Welshman were going so strongly as to leave the impression they were outstaying their opponents. Accordingly, when the representatives of Wales, who had had.the worst or the actual play in the first half, crossed over with a clear lead of seven points, it was expected that they would repeat their performance against England. This view proved quite erroneous, as in the second half the Scotchmen had the game really in their own hands. The Scottish forwards played wonderfully well, and their shoving and their footwork were worthy of the best tradi- tions of Fettes and Loretto. A try by Monypenny and a goal by Thomson from a mark quickly brought the record to 10 points all. Bancroft had placed two Welsh goals in the first half. With the game once all square Scotland quickly put the result beyond doubt. Lamond and Gedge each dropped a goal and there was another try by Smith. To the Scotch forwards the honours of the day undoubtedly belonged. They adopted the sound, old-fashioned tactics, being quick and resolute in their movements and never giving their opponents any rest. It was a bright, brisk, bustling game, and, except for one briet period, one of which they made good use, the Welsh backs had no chance of displaying the brilliant com- bination they exhibited against England. Bancroft. who was playing in /his 26th international match, thus equalling the record of A. J. Gould, kept full back admirably. Sides; Scotland H. Rottenburg (Cambridge University), back H. T. S. Gedge (Fettesian-Lorattoniana). G. W. Lamond (Kelvinside Academicals), D. B. Monv- penny (London Scottish), and T. Scott (Langholm), three-quarter cks; J. W. Simpson (Royal High School) and R. T. Nedson (West of Scotland), half- backs M., Morrison (Royal High School), W. McEwan (Edinburgh Academicals), H. O. Smith (Watsonians), G. C. Kerr (Durham), A. Mackinnon, R. C. Stevenson, J. B. Dykes (London Scottish), and W. J. Thomson (West of Scotland), forwards. Wales: W. J: Bancroft (Swansea), back; V. Huz^ey, E. G..Nicholls (Cardiff), R- T. Skrimshire (Newport), and Llewellyn (klwynypia), three- quarter backs S. Biggs (Cardiff) and Gk Lloyd (Newport),.ha*ac*s j \y Parker, A. Serines (Swan- sea), W. H. Alexander. R. Hellings (Llwynypia), A. Brice (Aberavon).J. Hodges (Newport), T. Dobson, and J. Blake (Cardiff), forwards. The return Rugby football match between the London Scottish and Blackheath, at Richmond, on Saturday, was won by Blackheath by one goal to nothing. Both Bides were deprived of sundry good players, but the Scottish had the assistance of tive of this season's Cambridge team. Although the game was chiefly with the forwards, the football was fast and interesting. Blackheath were the better in the tight scrummages, but their foot-work was not so good as the Scottish, who frequently gained ground in the loose rushes. At balf-back the Scottish were superior; but M. A. Black and F. H. Fasson had a tendency to off-side play. It was only five minutes before the close that Blackhead secured the lead. The goal wat the outcome of good play by the Blackheath backs in the Scottish 25." Percy Royds, after a strong run nearly to the line, passed to Latter, who gained a try behind the posts, from which Russell kicked a goal. After a good Rugby game Richmond beat Guy's Hospital, at Richmond, on Saturday, by two goals to nothing. The Guy's three-quarters combined well, and brought off some good bouts of passing j but the ^tackling of fttchmood was Tsry-effectire. .1 In a match in the Rugby county championship, at Keighley, on Saturday, Cumberland beat Yorkshire by one goal and three tries to one goal. Devonshire and Northumberland have to play for the actual championship, on a ground to be nominated by Northumberland. Oxford University beat Lennox, at Oxford, by five goals and a try to a try and other Rugby matches of more than passing interest resulted thus Ken- I sington beat Harlequins, Old Merchant Taylors beat Sandhurst, Northampton beat Old Leysians, Rosslyn Park beat Bedford, Marlborough Nomads beat St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Wickham Park beat Croydon, Devon beat Lancashire (two tries to one), Cardiff drew with Swansea, Newport beat Coventry, and Gloucester beat Leicester. The 100-gainea challenge cup presented by the committee of Prince's Club in the grand Military Racquets Championship competition has at last changed hands again, for on Monday in the club court at Knightsbridge the pair from the 2nd Battalion the King's (Shropshire Light Infantry) beat the holders, the 12th Lancers, by four games to one. Such a result was not unexpected by those who had closely followed a preliminary competition which had furnished such a series of triumphs as those gained by Lieutenant-Colonel Spens and Mr. E. M. Sprot. These players had won their right to challenge the holders in a way that spelt success in the fight for the championship, particularly as it was com- mon knowledge that Major Eastwood, of the Lancers, had lost his brilliant partner, Captain Crawley. But if lacking the genius of Captain Crawley, Mr. Miles Tristram was known to be a strong average player, so that there was every pro- spect of a hard match. These expectations were realised. The 12th Lancers did not sacrifice the honours which have been so generally theirs since the institution of the cup until something like an hour's keen struggle had furnished racquets so brilliant as to have pleased the most fastidious critic. Most at- tention was perhaps given to the first strings of the two pairs, and it was really hard to judge to whom the chief individual honours belonged, to Colonel Spens or to Major Eastwood. In the service there were the length and the cut of the former, just a trifle more profitable than the strength and variety upon If which Major Eastwood depended. Nearly all the individual honours of the match belonged to Colonel Spens and Major Eastwood, and the greatest player among the two pairs was Colonel Spens, whose game and knowledge of the right thing to do at the most profitable moment in no degree made unmerited the praise bestowed upon him in the Times last week during the pre- liminary competition. It is very wonderful that Colonel Spens should have so long preserved his great name in the racquet court, for he is now almost a veteran; but his splendid knowledge of the game and his keen application to athletics have continued to him the capacity for fighting with success in a great game so sensitive to youthful activity as racquets. Major Eastwood played extremely well the other day, and the honours of Eton racquets lost nothing by his brilliant service and his skill in the return. Both the second strings did good work at times. It will not be harmful to the competition that the monopoly of the cup by the 12th Lancers is broken down, for the regularity with which Major Eastwood and Captain Crawley won it offered little incentive to more average pairs to enter the lists. The better side won in a brilliant demon- stration of racquets, and the rallies were often sus- tained for a great length of time.
SHAM SENTENCES OF DEATH.I
SHAM SENTENCES OF DEATH. A JUDGE'S CRITICISM. Mr. Justice Darling, in his charge to the grand I jury at Chester Assizes on Monday, referred to the case of William Upton, who was charged with the murder, by an illegal operation, of Mary Murray, at Macclesfield. He said it had been laid down, and there was no doubt about the law, that any person committing such an unlawful act, and killing another person, was guilty of murder. Quite recently several persons had been con- victed of murder, but no one who did not live in the clouds — and he did not think it his business to reside there—could help knowing that there was the gravest discussion about the law on the subject being what it was, and that the sentences of death which had been passed in three of these cases within a very short time had not been carried out. At the time they were passed everybody knew they would not be carried out. To his mind it was putting the Judges and the juries inan undignified and absurd position. It was not well that the highest penalty which man had it in his power to inflict should be gravely decreed against people with the full know- ledge that the whole proceeding was nothing but a sham from the moment the trial began. He should advise the grand jury to consider the bill in this way—if they thought that the person who inflicted the wound wished to kill the woman, or did not care whether he killed her or not, then they would find a true bill, and he would be tried for murder; but if the prisoner only meant to procure abortion, and in so doing did not mean to kill the woman, then he would advise them not to return a true bill for murder. But he had taken care that another bill should be sent for their consideration—under the statute which made it a punishable offence to pro- cure abortion. He advised the grand jury to assist in putting an end to those unsatisfactory, and, from some points of view, ridiculous performances which had lately been seen. It was time something was said by someone in authority on this question, which had engaged so much public attention. The grand jury adopted his lordship's suggestion.
THE STAMP ACT.
THE STAMP ACT. ISLAND REVENUES RECOVERS HEAVY PBNALTIE3. The information trial instituted at the instance of the Inland Revenue authorities to recover penalties incurred by Mr. Arthur Reiss. an outside broker, under the Stamp Act, was concluded before Mr. Justice Grantham and a special jury in the Queen's Bench Division on Monday. There were in all 67 counts, the penalties claimed against the defendant amounting to £2720. The first 23 counts were for affixing adhesive stamps to documents which it was alleged had been fraudulently removed from other documents, and the next 23 counts were for uttering instruments with the stamps fraudulently removed. The remain- ing counts were for uttering contract notes not properly stamped. The first 46 counts involving charges of fraud were, however, withdrawn, and defendant con- sented to judgment against him on the other 21 for issuing documents insufficiently stamped for £240 and costs.
MR. RUDYARD KIPLING.
MR. RUDYARD KIPLING. The reports of Mr. Kipling's physicians showed on Sunday that the force and virulence of the disease —which last week made his life despaired of—had abated. The patient was making slow convalescence, with a slight continuing fever. Many boxes of flowers continue to be sent to Mr. Kipling by his friends and admirers, and numerous cablegrams and telegrams, sympathetic and congratu- latory, arrive daily. Amongst these messages one of Sunday's date was from the Germn. Emperor at Berlin. It was addressed to Mrs. Kipling, and read as follows: I "As an enthusiastic admirer of the unrivalled books of your husband, I am most anxious for news about his health. God grant that he may be spared to you, and to all who are thankful to him for the soul-stirring way in which he has sung about the deeds of our great common race. — (Signed) WILLIAM." DEATH OF THE ELDEST DAUGHTER. Mr. Kipling's eldest daughter, Josephine, six years of age, died at six o'clock on Monday morning from pneumonia, to the regret of her father's innumerable friends and sympathisers. Mr. Kipling himself gains steadily. "¡''
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To general opinion has been that coal was first used as a fuel about 700 years ago, at Liege, in Belgium, but the fact is it was employed for this purpose at a much earlier date. The discovery was made on German soil in the beginning of the twelfth century that the mineral we call coal was good to burn. The place where it was first obtained is exactly known; it is ths present Kohlenberg, in Wurmthal. I
BISMARCK SARCOPHAGI.
BISMARCK SARCOPHAGI. The sarcophagi of the late Prince and IVinr.es* Bismarck have just been made in the marble works at .Kiefersfelden, in Upper Bavaria. Their form is Roman. That of the Prince is 2'70 metres long, 1'40 mdre wide, and 1'50 metre high. Small columns, with alternating decorated capitals, divide its length into three parts, and support the cover. The sarco- phagus of the Princess is exactly like that of the Prince, save that it bears on the foot a verse from the Bible, while that cf the Prince has the well- known inscription devised by himself. The two sarcophagi will then be put together over the coffins by the 25th or 26th inst.
STRIKE OF RUSSIAN STUDENTS.
STRIKE OF RUSSIAN STUDENTS. A fresh meeting has been held by about 3000 students of the University of St. Petersburg, who have resolved not to attend lectures. The agitation has spread to the students of other higher educational establishments here, to Cronstadt, and to the provin- cial' universities of Kieff, Kharkoff, and Moscow. At all these establishments the students have ceased to attend the lectures, but have refrained from creating any disturbances in the streets. Their only demand is, says Reuter, that the police shall make reparation to the students of the St. Petersburg University for the blows the latter received from the whips of the mounted police who charged them.
CONSUMPTION IN NEW YORK.
CONSUMPTION IN NEW YORK. The movement which has been inaugurated by the medical profession, under the auspices of the Prince of Wales, to erect sanatoria for the open-air treat- ment of consumption, has not been allowed to pas? unheeded in the New World. A special committee of the Senate of New York state, which has been ap- pointed to investigate the subject, has, says the Birmingham Post, reported in favour of establish- ing a State hospital in the Adirondack Mountains. They point out that 13,000 people die every year in that State alone from this disease, and that through- out. the country generally, where the population is most congested, the death-rate from this cause is correspondingly great.
WELLMAN POLAR EXPEDITION.
WELLMAN POLAR EXPEDITION. The Christiana Morgenbladef states that a contract has been concluded with the well-known sealci Capella, of Goteborg, by which, in the event of the Wellinan Polar Expedition not returning by the autumn, the vessel Sandefjord will at the close of the autumn sealing season proceed to Franz Josef Land to search for the expedition and bring it back.
BEER MATERIALS.
BEER MATERIALS. FINDINGS OF THE COMMITTEE. The Departmental Committee appointed in August 1896. to consider whether legislation is required to pre- vent the use of deleterious substances in the manu- facture of beer presented their report in January last, and it has now been issued to the public. The corn- mittee was composed of the Earl of Pembroke (chairman), Sir J. H. Gilbert, Dr. James Bell, Pro- lessor W. Odling, Mr. H. W. Primrose, and Mr. Clare Sewell Read. The report, which ex- tends to 15 pages, contains some passages of interest to the general public. For in- stance, in reference to the dietetic value of beer, the committee state "that, in the present position of scientific knowledge, chemical analysis, by itself, is an imperfect test of the food value of any article of diet. We are thus thrown back on the aid of experience and common-sense, but they do not yield any result possessing certainty and accuracy. Dut we may observe The amount of extract' (con- sisting of nitrogenous and non-nitrogenous organic substance, and ash) found by analysis in beer, and generally assumed to represent approximately the 'nutritive matter,' depends as much on the methods of malting, mashing, and fermenting, as on the materials used, within the limits practically preva- lent with regard to the proportions of the different materials. The amount of organic extract in beer is, as a rule, small, and it is doubtful whether the dietetic value of beer (any more than the commercial value) varies at all directly with the amount of such extract which it contains. It is quite possible that a fceer with a low proportion of organic extract may be more valuable as an article of diet, as well as more acceptable as a beverage, than a beer containing more extract, but inferior in, flavour, brightness, soundness, and digestive properties. The question as to the relative merits of different brewing materials can- not be unconditionally settled with the data at present available but the balance of experience and authority inclines to the view that, while an all- malt. brewing from a. blend of malt made from the best English and foreign barley, is still the best for some descriptions of beer (pale bitter ale, for example), yet, for other descriptions, which consti- tute by far the larger proportion of the beer con- sinned, the medium or lower qualities of British barley-malt are improved as brewing materials by the addition of a moderate proportion of good brew- ing sugar; and this is especially the case when the barley from which the malt is made has been imper- fectiy ripened1, or harvested under unfavourable con- ditions.' The practical proposals with which the report con- cludes are two. The first is the declaration ot materials by labelling on sale. The committee observe that this proposal may take various forms; but the general idea brought before them was that beer should be defined as a liquor made from malt, hops, yeast, and water only; and that any person selling beer made with any other materials should be obliged to mark it with a label showing in more or less detail that. such other materials have been used. In its simplest form the requirement, would be that a notice should be put up in the place of sale that beers are or are not guaranteed to be made from malt and hops only. The second proposal is the publication of a return showing the amount or proportion of materisls of each class used by indi- vidual brewers. The committee think that this pro- posal is practicable, but is open to objections which make them unable to recommend it. From the evidence the committee are satisfied thjit, no dele- terious materials are introduced into beer by way of substitutes for hops. Mr. Clare Sewell Read dis- sents from his colleagues, and presents a separate report.
MENTALLY-DEFICIENT CHILDREN
MENTALLY-DEFICIENT CHILDREN Tracing the history of this interesting question, the School Board Gazette says that in the year the Queen came to the throne, it occurred to a French medical man (Edouard Seguin) to attempt to improve the mental and physical condition of feeble minded children. He began with one child, and, after five tears' further study and experience, in 1842 he took charge of the education of the idiot children of the Bicetre. About the same time similar work was undertaken by medical men in Germany and Switzerland. Dr. Shuttleworth, in his valuable work on Mentally-deficient Children," tells us of the curious coincidence that almost simultaneously in France, Switzerland, and Germany, independent efforts ware inaugurated for the benofit of the men- tally-defective class; and the year 1842 must be looked upon as an epoch memorable in this matter. Although Seguin is entitled to the credit of priority, he himself modestly avers that at certain times and eras; the whole race of man, as regards the discovery of truth, seems to arrive at once at a certain point, so that it is hard to say who is the discoverer. In England and the United States, as well as in Denmark and other countries in Europe, measures were taken to further the education of afflicted chil- dren. These measures dealt mainly, however, with those who were idiots or clearly imbecile. Within the past 15 years the attention of the public has been drawn to a class whose mental defects canuot be so clearly defined, but who, being of feeble mind, ire unable to hold their own in the ordinary primary school—even were it possible to provide there for them the kind of instruction they require. In 1888 the British Medical Association appointed a com- mittee to study school children as to their mental and physical status, and with others, Dr. Francis Warner examined 100,000 children individually in different, parts of the country, and reported thereon. The children were divided by Dr. Warner into dif- ferent groups, and we are told that of those seen, 16 per 1000 required special care and attention. As far back as 1884. at the Social Science Congress, Dr. Warner advocated classes for special instruction. In 1889 the Royal Commission appointed to con- sider the cases of blind, deaf. and other classes re- quiring exceptional modes of education, recommended that, feeble-minded children should be separated from ordinary scholars in public elementary schools in order that they may receive special instruction. In March, 1895, the Education Department ad- dressed circular letters to her Majesty's Inspectors of Schools, and to some of the principal School Boards, jnviting their views as to the suggested extension of the Blind and Deaf Children Act to defective epileptic children"; but the replies, while they showed that attention was being directed towards the subject, did not afford a sufficiently clear basis for further action on the part of the Department. In 1896, further representations asking for legislation were addressed to the Education Department by persons interested in the subject, of feeble-minded children in connection with the Education Bill then before the House of Commons. In December, 1896, a Departmental Committee was appointed by the Lord President, to inquire into the existing systems for the education of feeble-minded nd defective children not under the charge of guardians, and not idiots or imbeciles, and to advise as to any changes, either or without legislation, that may be degirabfei" )
-......" SCIENCE NOTES. -,…
SCIENCE NOTES. ii, ALTHOUGH the United States Senate have declared (says the Globe) that the canal across Central America shall be built by the United Statea Government at Nicaragua, one of the most distin- guished and representative bodies of engineers ever gathered together have recently pronounced in favour of Panama, where the world has a canal two- fifths made, which can be completed for a smaller sum than the Nicaraguan Canal. A leading Ameri- can scientific journal, therefore, calls on the Senate to pause, and apparently from telegrams received it has paused. To build two canals at present would be folly, and as the Panama Canal is within a measurable distance of completion it should hav& the precedence. The necessary capital for its com- pletion is subscribed, and most of the machinery is acquired. Moreover, the United States, by a treaty with New Granada in 1848, would have a right of protectorate over it. ACCORDING to M. Herve, the eminent aeronaut. the invention of a steering sail for balloons, which the newspapers have ascribed to Andree dates as far back as 1785, when Professor Kratzenstein, of Copenhagen, some months after the invention of balloons, pointed out that one could use such a sail. Others, and notably Green, the English aeronaut, also considered the steering sail and guide rope. Herve J' himself got a deviation of the balloon of 65 to 70 degrees by using this means in 1886. Andree (1895-97) only obtained a deviation of 10 to 12 degrees. M. Herve, in conclusion, remarks that such devices can only be regarded as helps, not as the instruments of a regular process of aerial navi- gation, and that to attempt vast explorations with the possibility of deviating only 10 to 12 degrees appears to him an enterprise as bold as it is incon- siderate. M. DESLANDRES, in a paper to the Academic des Sciences, Paris, lias maintained that the sun emits cathode rays, or, in other words, is virtually a source of Rontgen rays. The base of the solar atmosphere i is, he thinks, the seat of this emission, which is greatest at sunspots and faculae. The light of the solar corona, and of comets, is partly owing to the cathode rays falling on the matter composing these bodies. If this be true a comet should be brightest when a sunspot crosses the line joining the comet to the centre of the sun. DR. S. TOLYER PRESTON was, apparently, the first to point out that the moon has probably lost its atmosphere through the particles of the gases nying into space. Sir Robert Ball and Mr. Johnstone Stoney have since advanced the same explanation, and the latter has recently argued that for the like reason neither the minor planets; nor the satellites, except perhaps the satellite of Neptune have atmo- spheres; also th»t-Mars and Mercury cannot have water in their atmospheres, though Mars may have water vapour in the shape of fogs. r THE printing presses of the Chicago Ræord and the Daily News of Chicago are driven by electric motors, and a full account of the installation is ghren m a- recent number' of the Western Electrician. Com- pressed air is also employed to control theactioD of the motors and the presses. 4 IN a late number of the Bulletin de la SociMe Giographie M. de Sainville describes the Indians (Eskimo) and regions of the lower Mackenzie River, and mentions that phthisis is unknown among the "s natives, and that, colds only affect them on contact with civilisation. An experiment was tried of open- ing a soldered zinc case in a healthy camp of natives and distributing its contents among them. Next ."1 day every member had a violent cold, which was cured by administering camphor. >' Is the United States Monthly Weather Review Mr. H. Earlscliffe suggests that inventors should find a means of causing night fogs to descend in drops, or j,, catch on something and drip as they do on leaves of trees. Explosions of dynamite are, he thinks, too expensive. Such an invention would be useful in dry climes, for example, California, and in seasons of drought. r IT is an interesting thing to know that 4200" species of plants are gathered and used for commer- Y cial purposes in Europe. Of these 420 have a per- fume that is pleasing and enter largely into ihe- manufacture of scents and soaps. There are more species of white flowers gathered than of any other colour—1124 in all. Of these 187 have an agreeable Y scent, an extraordinarily large proportion. Next in order come yellow blossoms, with 951, 77 of them being perfumed. Red flowers number 823, of which 84 are scented. The blue flowers are of 594 varieties. 34 of which are perfumed, and the violet blossoms number 308,13 of which are pleasantly odoriferous. MEN who work in compressed air are liable to a new malady called "caisson," or compressed air disease, and Dr. Thomas Oliver traces it. to increased solution in the blood of the gases met with in com- pressed air, and the liberation of these gases after the person escapes from the compressed atmosphere. BY the new regulations of tbe Pharmaceutical Society, approved in Privy Council, poisons cannot, be sold to the public by any but an authorised chemist and druggist, and they must, be duly labelled. Poisons must also be kept in vessels distinguishable from other vessels, closed in a special manner, and kept in a special place. M. BRFNETIERE, the well-known French critic, and editor of the Bevue des Deux Mondes, has been attacked for making war on science and the scientific spirit, and thinking that science has failed. In a recent letter he defends himself from the imputation, and states his real views. After applying the term science to knowledge of general phenomena, which occur more than once, and erudition to the knowledge of phenomena which never occur twice. or by way of example classifying mathematics and natural philosophy as science, and philology, moral philosophy, &c., as eruditions, he declares that the sciences, the true sciences, the only ones worthy of the name, are powerless to illiumi- nate us on the problems which concern U8 most: "Whence are we? Why are we? Whither do we go ?" Science, intoxicated with power, thought at one time that it, could solve these enigmas, but according to M. Brunetiere it has failed. All this, of course, has been said often before, and so has his further remark that men of science adepts in their own line, are apt to imagine that their scientific habits of thought, their trained in- tellect can enable them to settle all manner of ques- tions, to pronounce on politics, art, morals, and matters with which they have least to do. In that they deceive themselves, we are afraid, because the highest things of all elude scientific analysis, and must be interpreted by* sentiment. Professor E. S. Morse declares against the hypothesis that Central America was peopled from Asia. One of his argu- ments is the absence of any interchange of social commodities between the two continents. ) HYSTERIA, that and nothing more, says Dr. Gille de la Tourette, is the explanation of all the modern miracles in which M. Huyamons and hia friends believe. He is the author of books on the subject known to men of science everywhere. He has in- quired into these saints who bear the stigmata "— the five mystic wounds—and his opinion may be lead in the Humanitarian. He does not deny that the red wounds do actually appear on the skin, as the Church declares, and Mr. Huysmans believes. But the saints are simply hysterieal subjects. All the cases show that there is a connec- tion between the mental condition of these peoplo and the marks that show on their bodies. Sometimes the marks appear spontaneously, as the result of auto-snggestion. One Saint," Louise Lateau, had. besides the stigmata, marks around her head as though made by a crown of thorns. If anyone doubts, says Dr. Gilles de la Tourette, that Sceur Jeanne and the other famous modern saints are merely instances of hysteria, let it be remembered that precisely similar phenomena can be induced by the doctors at Saltpetriere on hysterical subjects in & hypnotic state. OR keeping scientific or other pamphlets Mr. C. S. Minot, an American, uses a thin wood box, 7in. by 4in. by 10^in., open at the back, and covered with marble paper. A pull or tag with a label holder is attached to the side so as to draw it out when placed like a book on a shelf. Journals and magazines can also be kept in such boxes. A separate box for each magfezine. A SCHEME for utilising the power of the W hirlpool Rapids. Niagara, by a canal 530 feet long and 100 feet wide has been organised at Buffalo and New York. It will furnish 35,000 horse-power of elec- trical energy.
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JOHNNY When Mr. Hankinson comes this evenj Willie: Hankinson ain't coming this evening." Johnny I'll bet you my watch against your gun." Willie (after a struggle with his conscience): "No, I won't take it. It's wrong to bet when you've got a sure thing. I know it's Mr. Ferguson's night, 'cause I saw Laura in the parlour A little while ago turning^the clock back two hours." THE dear, dear girls exclaimed Mrs. Pawkins. looking at. her fashionable daughters enthusiastically. Yen. the dear, dear girls," Cluttered Mr. PattkiQfti despondently. > t.. J } it t!