MISCELLANEOUS.

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIII, Issue 3122, 19 July 1867, Page 4

MISCELLANEOUS.

Malt.— Tie quantity of malt made by maltsters in the United Kingdom in 1864-5 was, reports the Times, 52,795,525 bushels, as compared with 53.988,359 bushels in 1863-4, and,47,415, 811 bushels in' 1862-3. Of this quantity, 47,396,461 bushels were consumed by brewers, and 4,408,812 bushels, by distillers in 1864-5 ; 43,833,030 bushels by brewers, and 4,986,758 bushels by distillers in 1863-4; and 40,535,312jbushels by brewers, and 4, 133,248 bushels by distillers in 1862-3. Englandjsustainedthe lion's share in the consumption as regards the brewers, English brewers absorbing42,332,275 bushels of malt inl864-5,39,330,680bushelsinl863-4,and36,381,904 bushelsin 1862-3. On the other hand, thequantity of malt taken by distillers was much larger in Scotland thanin England. Itwillnotesoapeobservationthatthe consumption of malt is much larger in the United Kingdom than it formerly was. Extending the review back some twelve or fifteen years, the increase is not less than 40 per cent., an augmentation which has, of course, outstripped the growth of the population. A Jewish Rabbi in a Chbistian Pulpit —The Cincinnati Gazette of March 4th has the following : — " Many persons, no doubt, had their sense of propriety somewhat startled, on Saturday morning, at reading among the religious notioes for Sunday that the Rev. Dr. Max Lilienthal, the elderly Rabbi of the Jewish congregation that worships in the Synagogue on the Bouth-east oorner of Broad way and Sixth street, would preaoh to the First Congregational (TJnitarian) sooiety in'Hopkins's Hall, in the absenoe of the pastor, on the following morning. Saeh a pulpit exchange — or oourtesy, rather, for we presume the Rev. Mr. Vickers ( would hardly have been admitted to the altar of the Broadway synagogue, as an expounder of the Law and , the Prophets as he understands them— has never been known before in this city, if anywhere. And when it is remembered that this Congregational Sooiety pro« fesses to be one of the advance outposts of the Christian Church, and that the Jewish religion is the most anbient known to accepted history, this circumstanoe seem a striking confirmation of the adage, " extremes meet." A large congregation assembled at the usual church-going hour, and after the customary introducductory singing, the venerable x*abbi made the followprayer: Lord, our God, Thou art our Father, and we are all Thy children. Thy paternal kindness knows of no distinction of either race or creed ; with all-loving heart thou art dispensating Thy blessings and Thy •mercies to all of them* Thou hast created us all in Thy image; Thou hast designated us all to be here the recipients of Thy grace, and to be hereafter guided to ; higher degrees of happiness and perfection. O grant that we imitate the example set to us by Thy 'divine dispensation; grant that, united in love, we may wdrship'Thy holy name ; that hatred, bigotry, religious' fanaticism, may disappear from among us, in order that the human . race, mutually assisting, •mutually helping, mutually teaching and advising, may accelerate the time in which Thou will be recognised as the One, and Thy name be one. 0 grant us, in thjs solemn hour of devotion and instruction, that we may be guided by the light of truth which 'thou hast planted in our mind and reason, so that, freed from self-conceit and privileged arrogance, we may pity those who err, assist those who are not yet up to the truth, and encourage one another not to falter, nor to wayer, but relying on the final victory and triumph of truth may contribute our share to the true redemption of mankind. Give us the firm spirit which is neverjdiscouraged, which never hesitates, but, having recognised our duty and deBtiny, leads on to more and greater triumphs.. Confirm us in this hope, strengthen. Ho in this faith, for the glorification of Thy, name, and thej improvement of the human race, which is reason, truth, righteousness, and perfection, for ever and ever. Amen, amen. — After reading the 45th chapter of Tiaiah, and the singing of another hymn— selected and read by the Doctor— he took his text from the 14th verse of the 14th chapter of Exodus : «Fear ye not ; stand ptill and see the salvation of the Lord.' " Gbaveyard Gardening.— rlmprovements are of very slow growth in the metropolis, and in our towns and cities generally. The rottenest of rookeri«s must tarjely be sacrificed for the most patent and desirable • of improvements. In one direction, however, there is a change to be observed in this respect— they are " improving " the graveyards, not merely where the tunnelling power of a railway company is brought to bea'r, but in places untouched in* this way, and where th» thing is done for mere love of improvement.'Evergreen shrubs are proverbially fond of London smut. 'J^he visitor to London who observes such matters can hardly fail to be struck with their luxuriance round, the! church in the Strand, in front of TattersalTs, and" many other spots in which they have been planted at some expense. Theverdant and luxurious aspect of these' places has had its effect upon the churchwardens and powers that be, and accordingly they have set to work to beautify our graveyards. Evergreens are to be substituted for headstones, and lamentable bits of cockney gardening for the memorials for the dead. , The| most notable instance of this,kind with which we -are is around the church in Bishopsga^estreet. Tombs and headstones appear to have been clealred out of the way and all obstructions, removed, so that a level surface might be qbtajned on lifaich to set a few hundred evergreens, which have 1 littlfe more chance of flourishing, in Bishopsgate-streej; , than if planted intheSafylakc. x

or memorial disturbed for the ill-digested schemes of a Ian dscape gardener is bad enough, but when it is considered that this sacrilege is performed to plant shrubs which have no chance of growing, then the wisdom of the change is fully seen. It is true the sculpture in our cemeteries is anything but Greek, and the inscriptions not quite so simple and elegant as those in the catacombs ; but the rudest and most monotonous of them tell of Ioto and death " where human harvests grow," and to all but the most vulgar minds must be sacred and beautiful. - What must be the feelings of those who hare had the memorials of friends and ancestors disturbed for such purposes ? Why, it is enough to draw an anathema from a leis ready rhymer than he who wrote " Carried be he who moves my bones !" And it is the 1 more inexcusable when -we reflect that there is not the least occasion for any mutilation of the kind, and that the most suitable trees for such, places are those that would not require any alteration of the ground, aod would flourish freely in a town atmosphere. The weeping willow, birch, weeping elm, and a considerable variety of drooping and other deciduous trees, are above all others suited for this purpose, and might be planted without interfering with the stones in any way. Would the latter look any the worse for being shaded by. a beautiful pen* dulous tree here and there ? The fact is, town cemeteries may be made as beautiful as it is possible to make them with vegetation by the use of deciduous trees and shrub3 alone ; and that, instead of any clearance or levelling being required for the judicious placing of these, they will look all the better for being picturesquely grouped among the irregularities of the ground, — Field. Thb MYSTEBr of Life. — We have all heard how the Esquimai swallows pounds upon pounds of raw blubber, and concludes a meal which would, make an English dog sick with a few pounds of candles by way of dessert. However little external work ho does, he is compelled, -by Hke, coldness of the air 'around him, to do a great deal of heat- work, his • heat being constantly plundered by the icy blast. , Every pound of dry fat he eats produces as much heat in his body' as would raise nine gallons of ice* cold water to the boiling point. The same fact explains the efficacy of work in reducing the'fat of the body.' The body has the power of producing fat from its food and of storing it up, sometimes in very large quantities. If food be withheld, this superfluous fat soon disappears, being, in fact, burnt to do the work of the body. If, the food remaining the same, the work of the body be increased, a similar result follows, the stored-up fat having to provide for the extra work and the extia heat which always accompanies it. In an oft-quoted case, a fat pig, which had been accidentally buried in his stye by a fall of earth, was found alive more than five months afterwards, having in that time taken no nourishment but water, which he had licked from the wall. But he had lost 1201b. in weight ; he had, in fact, been living on his own fat. In confirmation of this view, we may take every »day experience. Who ever saw a very fat postman or labourer ? They do too much work to be fat ;,but coachmen and others, whose work is not very laborious, frequently become so. The work which 'a heavy man does on the treadwheel in three hours and a half is equal to that producible from about one ounce and a half of dry fat. Hitherto we have taken but one view of the great food question. We have regarded food but as fuel — fuel added to the lamp of life, just as coals are shovelled into a 'furnace-fire. But the analogy between a human body and a fire, though it is accurate enough., only holds good up to a certain point, and at that point many most important lines of divergence begin. Some of these lie quite out o£ our province. We must not here speak of the soul, the "noble guest," which, dwelling fora while in its material tenement, keeps every sort of mastery over it, and controls some even of its merely physical operations in a manner that amazes while it puzzles us. But of the operations of the body in its character of a vital organism we must not lose sight. The body is not a changeless mechanism, like the steam-engine. No instance of its existence finds it the same as it was the instant before. It is taking birth and growing, it is decaying away and dying, in each second of Its life. Every organ and structure of it, eve*y fibre and cell, is, informed with the mystery of life, and lives, Bubject to the common life of the whole. We do not know what life is, and the more prudent among us do nob dare to guess ; but there are certain things about it which we may lately venture to asierb. Whatever it be, it is certainly no creator of matter or force. — Macmillaris Magazine.