UNITED STATES.

Otago Witness, Issue 399, 23 July 1859, Page 6

UNITED STATES.

[From the Illustrated London News, April 9.]

The Tariff Bill has been hurried through the Legislative Council, being read a first, second, and third time in one evening. A fire on the 28th ultimo at* Napoleon, Ohio, destroyed all the business part of the town, causing a loss of 17,000 dollars, which is partially covered by insurance. A fire at Joliet, Illinois, on the same day, destroyed stores, involving a loss of from 25,000 dollars to 30,000 dollars.

The inmates of Mrs. Beetham's board-ing-house, New York, sixteen in number, were all poisoned on the 24th ult. Mrs. Beetham was dead, and others were in a critical condition.

St. Patrick's Day was celebrated in New York and all over the United States with great enthusiasm. There was a terrible riot among the Irish near Baltimore on St. Patrick's Day, in which weapons of various kinds were freely used, and 100 persons were injured, some of whom have died. The fighting lasted three hours, and was as bloody as some skirmishes that have place in history.

There has been another riot in Auburn Prison. The warder shot three men. Great floods have occurred in Massachusetts, and done immense damage. There have been several duels at New Orleans, one of which terminated fatally. Piccolomini was the occasion of them all. Some of the shots in the bloodless duels evinced skill and nerve, balls going through gentlemen's clothes in a manner affecting to tailors.

A despatch from Leavenworth says a severe fight had occurred near Fort Arbuckle, between fifty troops and fifty Wachita Indians, under Lieut. Powell, and a large party of Comanches, in which two Cotnanches were killed and two soldiers wounded. Another fight occurred between Lieut. Stanley's command of fifty troops and the Comanches, in which eight of the latter and one of the former were killed. Captain Carr and fifty men had left Fort Wachita for the seat of war. It was stated that the Comanches numbered upwards of 3000. Another battle %vas anticipated.

A Clergyman Arresteb while Preaching a Funeral Sermon. — As the Rev. William Watson, the pastor of the Methodist Church in Glenwood, lowa, was preaching a funeral sermon, he was arrested by officers from an adjoining county for passing counterfeit money. The people in attendance at the funeral were so incensed at the officers that they thrust them from the house, and they concluded to retire until the obsequies were concluded. The clergyman did not accompany the procession to the grave, and the officers arrested him. They had previously searched his house, in the cellar of which they found inks, presses, papers, rolling machines, and the entire apparatus for the manufacture of counterfeit bank bills. They also found 1000 dollars in counterfeit bills, 800 dollars of which were tens on the Forest City Bank of this city, and about 200 dollars in fives on the State of Ohio. The clergyman made a clean breast of the matter. He became connected with some counterfeiters about two years ago, and, as he had been in early life an engraver, he became a useful and hard-working member of the gang. He has preached in Glenwood about three years. He is about forty years old, a man of family, and has been very generally esteemed and respected by his congregation and neighbours. He said he joined the counterfeiters to get money " to do good with." This explanation was not very satisfactory to his parishioners, however, and they discarded him at once. He must have been a nice minister. An examination of his " study" showed that he was a regular subscriber to the Life in Boston, Venus Miscellany, and other flash papers ;

and the shelves of his bookcase were adorned with the yellow-covered lives of numerous celebrated highwaymen, forgers, &c. He was taken before a Justice of the Peace, and in default of heavy bail, was committed to the county gaol to await trial before the Court of Common Pleas. The incident created a great sensation in the little town. — Cleveland (U.S.) Plaindealer.

Marriage Extraordinary. — A bridal party were assembled at the Roman Catholic Chapel in Lhnerick, ready to take one another " for better for worse," but the gay Lothario could not screw up his courage to the sticking point, and when asked if he was willing to take the lady as his wedded wife, he became absolutely tongue-tied. Meanwhile the lady, who before blushed with modesty, now crimsoned with indignation ; but the would-be Benedict put into her hand a £20 note as a reparation to her wounded feelings. Sensibly enough she took the money, and thinking it a pity that she should be disappointed, and knowing that no time was to be lost, as it was the last day of Shrovetide, she turned off from the fickle swain, and asked a young man who came to witness the ccremilfiy, and with whom she had been preYioualy^^uainted, if he would have her. He jurappjjUt the proposal, and the necessary forms having been gone through, the marriage rite 3 were completed. Oh the conclusion of the ceremony the newly-made bride took from her pocket £200, and handed it and the £20 to her new lord and master, to the amazement and chagrin of her former suitor, who, it would appear, " founded his proposal" upon a report that the lady had money, and backed out of it at the last moment, not seeing it forthcoming before the marriage. To increase his trouble the now happy fair one exclaimed, " Ah, you lost a bargain."

JN"bw Plastic Material. — We were shown some peculiarly beautiful specimens of a new embossed compound veneer, which, in its original condition, is as soft as sealing-wax, and is as capable of receiving any impression. It can be made to any size, and will be found useful for panels of doors and other wide surfaces in cabinet, or fretwork for pianofortes. It becomes very hard, ia not inflammable, if plain will take a high polish, and is a perfect substitute for ebony. — Spectator.

Sawing Cloth. — The immense expenditure^ in army accoutrements has, among other benefits, developed new machinery for making regimentals by a wholesale process; a slender flexible saw is made to do the duty of the snip's scissor. Pile up a heap of cloth containing^ 100 layers, squeeze the mass, and the saw, which is worked by steam-power, can be directed by a skilful hand so as to cut out all the pieces simultaneously as required for a complete suit.

How to Obtain Photographs of the Moon and the Inhabitants thereof. — An article has appeared in a very serious contemporary to the following effect ;— " Suppose that a successful attempt were made to obtain a surface for the photographic picture perfectly free from irregularities capable of distorting the most imperceptible lines of a photograph. Suppose, also, that on this surface a photograph of the moon were taken with every precaution. If this picture were examined*ander a very powerful microscope, the most minute details would become visible ; and if the instrument possessed sufficiently high magnifying power \'ou would be able to see living beings if there are any residing in that luminary. This is one of the applications of photography to astronomy ; and it has been said that an Italian savant, after trying for six years to obtain this result, has succeeded, and has recently been able to obtain pictures of the moon on which figures of naked animals are depicted, one species of which bore a great resemblance to human beings. * * * It is certain that important discoveries may be arrived at by this means, the great difficulty being to find a substance on which, to take the picture, the surface of which shall be so perfectly even as to receive the luminous image without in the slightest degree distorting its most miuute details." — The Photographic News.

New Method op Cauterization. — Dr. Maissonneuve, in a paper recently addressed to the Academy of Sciences, descrihes a peculiar, method, of his invention, by which the largest tumours imaginable may be destroyed, without danger to the patient in the course of a few hours. The method consists in puncturing the tumour if necessary, and then introducing the caustic into the wound. All caustics are applicable to this operation ; but that which Dr. Maissonneuve prefers is that known among French Chemists under the name of patade canqirion, consisting of one part of chloride of zinc, four of wheat flour, and quantum suff of water. This is made into a paste of some consistency, which may be cut into various shapes, namely cones, strips, or double cones, resembling spindles. These different pieces are allowed to dry and harden in the air. The first kind is used in what the inventor calls SBtcidar cauterization. This is applicable to very salient tumours of a certain size. The operator punctures the tumour all round the base at distances of about half an inch each, and introduces caustic cones into all the wounds, which will all meet nearly in the centre of the tumour. There is' no effusion of blood, the caustic acting itself as an haemostatic ; in the course of an hour or two all the tissue intervening between the cones is eaten away, and the tumour, being thus deprived of all vascular or nervous communication loses its vitality. All the dangers resulting from purulent infection or traumatic reaction are avoided by this process. In what the inventor calls parallel cauterization the caustic i« used in the form of strips or pointed laminaj, which are thrust into the tumour parallel to each other so as to form, as it were a bundle of caustic harrows. The destruction of the tumour is here direct, its tissue is disorganized throughout and as rapidly as before. This process is specially applicable to tumours deeply seated in the flesh and not- very prominent. The fusiform caustic is used in Dr. Maissoneuve's third process— that of central cauterization. In this process a single deep incision is made, and a double cone or spindle thrust in, which scoops out, go to say, the matter of the tumour, forming a thick eschar all round. This eschar may be extracted through the aperture already made, and fresh caustic may be introduced until the tumour is reduced to an empty egg-shell, as it were, which will gradually contract and heal in course of time. — Galignani.

Melons. — A correspondent of the Farm and Garden furnishes the following account of his experiment in the culture of melons :—": — " I sowed 120 holes with water-melons as follows : — I dug up the ground to the depth of two feet, and about two feet square to each hole, putting in a layer of manure at the bottom, then a layer of earth, then more manure, and more earth up to the top, and sowed six seeds in each hole In old pigs' dung the plants are healthy, but yield very small fruit. la old stable dung, healthy plants, little fruit, but of medium quality. In night-soil the plants seemed at a standstill for some time, but eventually began to run, spread rapidly, and have now an average fruit, but of very fine quality and size, though I have been told the manure is too heating, and would certainly not succeed. Sweet melons seem to do equally well with all manures, or with no, manure at all, , Pumpkins were very fine in old pigs' dung, \ bnt the 4th, sth, and- 6th, of February burnt ,- up nearly all the leaves \ they are now, hw- . ever, recovering, and have fine large friiiV; though few in number. ,1I, 1 I watered" the plant* about two, months back with guano wate* (2 oz. to 3 gallons,), but; discontinued it, as even, this iseemed too strong for them."