SCRAPS.

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 1586, 22 April 1887, Page 4

SCRAPS.

The world was made to be inhabited by baasts, but studied and contemplated by man; 'tis the debt of our reason we owe unto God, and the homage we pay for not being beasts. Without this, the world is still as though it had not been, or as it was before the sixth day, when as yet there was not a creature that could conceive or say there was a world. The wisdom of God receives small honour from those vulgar heads that rudely stare about, and with a gross rusticity admire bis works. Those highly magnify him whose judicious inquiry into his acts, and deliberate research into his creatures, return the duty of a devout aud learnt d admiration.—Sir Thomas Browne.

It is supposed that we owe the exclatna* tion " rialioo !" to the lingering traditions of the times when the woodsoi Leicestershire were infested by wolves. Tbe inhabitants of Chamwood Forest, it is alleged, when they desire to summon a person at a distance, o*U out, not " Halloo 1" but" Halloop !" This is said to have come down from the days when one cried to another "A. Loup! a loup!" or, m we should shout in similar circumstances, !" Wolf! Wolf! " The exclamation, or, as it is often considered, the war-cry, "Hurrah!" is, according to M. Littre, derived from the Sclavonic. In that tongue " hu-raj" means " to Paradise 5 and the cry implied that all soldiers who were slain while fighting valiant* ly went straight to hearen. Shells are used for various purposes. One kind of shell is used by the Shetland cottagers us a lamp; and a shell found in the West Indies (the fountain shell) is exported in i great quantities to be employed in the manu* tacture of cameos and porcelan. Ear shells are used for ornamental purposes, and tbe chank shell, the s&ored shell of the Hindoo, is cut into circular forms, and the rings painted and ornamented with gold and silver devices. These rings are worn by tbe Hindoo women as bangles—four on each wrist—and are not removed at death. These are called " sankka" bract lets. The interior layer of tbe pearl oyster shell furuishes mother-of« pearl; and the popular building stone in Paris is composed of fossil shells. The Crusaders adopted tbe cockle shell as their badge. As a matter of practice, potatoes may be cooked in almost as many ways as beef—via., by roasting, baking, boiling, frying, steaming, or stewing; but most vegetables have a more limited range and boiling may be raid to be the proper method of cooking them. Tue water in which they are boiled should be salted, in order to prevent a* far as possible the loss of saline matters, which form a meat valuable constituent of maay vegetables. Potatoes should be cooked in their skins for the same reason; and it is for the same reason, too, that steaming is to be preferred to boiling in the case of this invaluable root. It may be added that when potatoes are roasted or fried much of their si arch is converted into dextrine, which gi*es them their pleasant peculiar flavour.—Dr Priestly oa " Toe Preparation of Food."

At Bonn the English visitors attended the inauguration of the Beethoven statue, and were serenaded by an enormous orchestra, consisting of 60 military bands. At four o'clock on the same day a grand banquet was given at the Palace, on which occasion the Prussian King made a speech, in which he raid: —" Gentlemen, fill your glasses! There is a word of inexpressible sweetness to British as well as to German hearts. Thirty years ago it echoed on the heights of Waterloo from British and German tongues, after days of hot and desperate fighting, to mark the glorious triumph of our brotherhood inarms. Now it resounds on the banks of our fair tthine, amid the blessings of that peace which was the hallowed fruit of the great conflict. That word is Victoria!" His Majesty then diank to the health of the Queen and Prince Albert; i and the former who was muoh affected, rose, boot toward the King, ftud kiiwd bis ohe^,

The Wellington Pod asks might not the Government very fairly celebrate the Jubilee of our Sorereign's reign by, in her name, extending to a large number of persons the mercy and pardon which is ooe of her most sacred prerogatives. Iu our prisons there mast be a considerable number of persons undergoing sentences for offences already sufficiently expiated and atoned for by the punishment they have suffered or being confined for trivial offences. We are snre that all the rasters and visitiug justices eould recommend to the Government many cases where snch mercy might be shown without danger to the public, and with every reason to believe that it would produce a most beneficial moral effect on those to whom it was extended. Mr Travers was asked at one of his meetings if he was in favor of Sir George Grey's Practitioners' Bill. He answered in the affirmative, adding that he had no objection to any man being a lawyer, provided that he passed some examination. He avid that more than half of the litigation of the present day was the effects of bad advice from inexperienced ami unedncated lawyers. Locomotives now ran in Jeru«alem, and the shrill steam-whistle is heard in the streets once trod by Kin? Darid. Over 50,000 tons of soot were taken from the chimneys of London last year. Its value was set at £40,000 as a fertiliser. Britain It far in advance of all the other countries of the world in the use of sugar consuming, for every head of the popuiatiou 6SU»s per year. France comes next with an average of only lTlbs. SaPiran, the West Coast murderer, is now living in London, where he has written the history of his 40yeais colonial experience, and is neg >tiating with the publishers for an early issue. Sullivan is now 79 years of age. Professor Goldwin Smith says of the English Pre»s Its ability and p-.wer have Wen steadily on the increase; more and more it draws away the real debate from Parliament to itseli. The increase of force is espe i illy remarkable in the great provin ial journals. To a gre.it extent the future if E >glaud will lie in the keeping of the Pre«s. M. editor of the .1/lm"\)ic Uazrtte, was recently officially rib .iked for his violent antiGerntvn articles. The val ie of this reprimand is shown by the fact that he has since been invited to the Czar's t d ie. An Australian farmer complains bittcilv of the working <>f the Kabb t A> t in Victoria. He suirg-sts that, instead of piying £14,0(X) i>er year in official saliries, 6d j*r l.eud should l«e jiaul for every rabbit brought to justice. This, in his opinion, would make bunny's career not a very merry one. Loml>n has a population of 15.000 inhabitants to the sju ire mile. Canton, China, his 35.000 inhabitants within the same area. New York, leaving out the unlubitated portion, has a population of &5.000 inhabitants to the square mile. In the Sixth Ward there is a population of 149.C00 to the squire nnle ; in the Tenth Ward. 27fi.00<). At a meet ng of the Bullion Society held in London on 3rd March. Mr Cornish read a paper on the gold supply of the world, and argued that the present depression was caused by a fall nig-off in the supplv. Sir Graham Berry coincided with the view Liken by Mr Cornish, further stating that a remedy employment could be obtained for 10,000 miners in the r.s yet half-developed mine* of Australia. The attention which English farmers arc now paying to their pig-ties, birnyards and dovecotes •hows thit they an- beginning to karn the !e>so:.s whi.h tiie thrifty cultivators of France and Belgium have been teaching I hem for many y tars f>ast. The minor industries of country life have ong been neglected hy us ; but the had seasons of the f»ast few vears have !c l our tenant fanr.eis to 1 try whether money cannot lie made in other ways than those to which hitherto they have given mo-t attention. Wheat, everybody knows, is no longer a profitable enp, and even grazing is barely reainn>riti\e at present prices. The populisms of the t'ir. e largest Australian cities are Melbourne, 371,000 : Svduev, 307,' XX); Adelaide, 128.000. A lady states that the latest thing in the way of dress at Home is the "Jubilee l>u»tle' T which sets the dress out iu becoming folds and plays "<Jud Save the Qneen" when the wearer sits down. It is calculated that in the present year the Stir of ?Vthe!em w:il again l»e visible. It was last seen in 1572, and is snp|«is«l to have appeared lafoic t iat t:mc at regular intervals of aliout 315 years, so tiiat it must have been seen in the year 3 I>.<'., which is ten*ral!y sa>d to have Wen the coriect year of our Lord's birth. The star is described as of enormous magnitude, far larger ami brighter than the Urgest plaints. On its hist apj-varance it was '■ seen in full brilliancy for about 1 j years, and then i gradually fad-d a*»v.

The litest sensation from Mormonland is the reapjwarai.ee of IS:ii.h-.fn Young. It seems t'.e venrral le gentleman was m.ver dead and buri-d, as his eiemi'S reported, bnt was simply living in retirement • and has come forth to keep Ins proi le steadfast t<> the faith. The oilier story preached by t:i- Morm -ns themselves is thst he lias been verittbly re*urie<-ted in ennseque ice of the etfoits of the United States Government to p;;t doau polygamy. Ah lawyer, writing on some of the anomalies of EntlMi law. sa\s "It I think, to be generally kr. -wn th.it if a man leaves anv amount of money in his banker's hands f«>r six \eirs without drawing up m i', the money, at the end of tiiose six vears, It-comes tii« absolute proper - y of the ba:.k~r. Most hankers are of cour-e tione-.t men, a>'d wou'd scorn to take advantage of such a state of the l<w. but would refund th- m-r.ey to the customer < r his execntois as *oon as claimcand the interesting raritv of persons who are likely to leive their bankeis alone for six years makes this point not a very pr.actic il oi>e. I)r Faib-a famous s dentist of Vienna, who has hitherto been remarkably correct in fcretelln-g various natural events and phenomena—predicts tiiat there will le considerable atmospheric disturbances. an 1 hea*y gales ami rams, possibly accompanied by shoeks of earthquake. on the following 27 days of the present year:— 22..d and 23rd Msr-h : Tth *'> d Sth Apnl; sth, G h and Tt'i M >y ; 3rd, 4th, sth, 21s? and 2S'h June ; 20th, 24ih an 1 2-Vh July ; 3rd, lf»th ar.d '2olli August; 17th and ISth September ; Ifith Octot»er; oth. 14th and loth Novendier; 12 h I3:h and 14th IVceinlier.

The Birmiit'jham Uaz/ttr publishes the following letter, which lias l*v» addressed by Mr Kusktn to a Cnm'wrland gentleman who ha«l communicated with him respecting the Am! leside railway prcjwt: —" Brantwood, ('oiiintr.n, Lancashire. Ist March, 18ST. My de*r Sir.—l do not wrile now fnrth-r conct-rn : n_' railroads hen* oreNewhere They are me the laithes"m«-st form of devilry now extant, animated and deli l e-ate earthquakes, deat'urtne of all *l3* social habi: or )*«sible natural brauty, carriages of dammed sonls on the ridges i f their own graves.—Ever faithfully yoars, John Rcskin." Wells' llaip. Balaam.—lf crav, retires to original color. An «-l«-g»nt dres&in.' softrns and beautifies. N<* oil nor grease. A tonic restorative. Stops hair coming out; strengthens, cleanses, heals scalp. Skivvy Mev.—"Wells' Health restores health and vigor, cures dyspepsia, im|Mten--e. sexual debility. At chemists and druggists. Kiir.ptuonie, Proper k Co., Agts., Utinedin. "Rocoh ov Corns."—Ask for Wells' "Rough on Corns." Quick relief, complete, permanent cure. Corns, warts, bunions. At chemists ami druegiats. "RorGn ox Itch"—"Rough on Itch" cur's skin humors, eruptions, rim; worm, tetter, salt rheum, frosted ftet, chilbiains, itch, i»y poison, barber's itch. " Roccn ox Catarrh " corrects offensive odors at once. Complete enre of worst chronic cases; ulso unequalled as gargle for diptiieria, sore throat, foul bresth. '• RorcH ox Ph.l»."—Why suffer piles ? Immediate relief and cmolete cure lroinuiteej. Ask for "Rcogh on Pil-s." Sore cure for itching, protruding. bleeding, or any form of Pihs. " RorcH ox Rats."—Clears out rat*, mice, roaches, fiiM, ai:t«, bed-hugs, beetles, insects, skunks, jack rabbit#, sparrows, grophir3. At chemists and dru ,gi->t3. "Bucnr-PatßA."—Qiick, complete cure, all annoying kidnev, bladder and urinary diseases. At the chemists snd druggists. Kempthorse, yap«4Ca, Agts., DoMdia- * ♦