Items from Paris.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XVII, Issue 3882, 11 May 1896, Page 2

Items from Paris.

From Our Own Correspondent. THE SULTAN'S PRESENT. A splendid Arab stallion, a present from the Sultan of Turkey to the President of the Republic, arrived at the stables m the Elyse£ last week. It is a fine animal, of light bay colour, with a long flowing mane and tail. It is believed that the President will hand him over to the Minister of Agriculture for breeding purposes. A PRINCELY BETROTHAI* The betrothal is announced of Princess Marguerite d'Orleans, second daughter of the Duke and Duchess de Chartres, and sister of Princess Waldemar of Denmark, to Patrick de MacMahoD, Duke of Magenta, eldest son of the late Marshal Mac Mahon, former President of the French Kepublio. The Duke Philippe d'Orleans, the present head of the family, gave his full consent to the union. A NEW "ARGOT" DICTIONARY. The French language is probably as rich m slang as any other, but hitherto, it is said, no really exhaustive work has appeared on the subject. An industrious student of French argot however, M. Georges Deleaalle, has, after many years investigation, produced a dictionary which is described by those who are well versed m such matters to be remarkably complete. It contains nearly 12,000 terms, distributed under appropriate heads, and exhibiting the slang of the street and the family, as well as of the criminal classes. THE NEW RADIOGRAPHY, | Roatgen s method of photographing the ' unseen has now been applied to detect false | from genuine pearls. The imitation gem ia transparent to the invisible rays, the true pearl is opaque ; hence the latter gives a. good radiograph or " shadow photograph " and the former does not. It has been found that fir wood, especially when free of resin, and better still, alderwood, is very transparent to the rays. Mahogany is not so transparent, and, therefore, is not so well suited for a ewe to hold the sensitive plate. A NEW WAY OP EXECUTING CRIMINALS. A German chemist has just submitted to the Government of that country a new way )of executiug criminals. According to its inventor, it is of the most simple character. The condemned man is to be placed m a cell which would be filled with the fumes of carbonic acid gas. When the gas reached the mouth and nostrils of the victim he would at once fall into a comatose Btate, and death would follow without any suffering—ia fact, according to the inventor, the last sleep would be entered with quite pleasant feelings. A PROESSOK OP SUICIDE. Ia connection with the subject of suicide, attention was drawn a few days ago to the existence of a professor of suicide, a professor, too, who m the zeal of demonstration, nearly suicided himself. He was explaining the various ways of making the passage to the other world, and was distinguishing accurately between the merits and demerits of suicide by charcoal vapour, by drowning, by drinking, and was winding up his lecture by showing how the suicidal revolver should be used, when— crack, ping, the weapon went off, and the professor fell. The ball had passed through his cheek, and after taking away a portion of bis nose, settled m the body of one of the audience. The demonstrations are bus* pended for the present.