ENGLISH NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 979, 3 September 1870, Page 6

ENGLISH NOTES.

{Pall Mall Gazette.)

A RußsL"ja newspaper publishes a letter from, a German savant, engaged in exploring the plains of Troy, which will cause great excitement in archaeological circles. While making some excavations near the village of Cyplax, this gentleman suddenly cam a on the ruins of a cyclopean wall about eight feet thick. The works were actively pushed on, and, from what has already been brought to light, the writer is convinced that he has at last discovered the remains of the famous palace of Priam. Indeed, he asserts that the part of the ruins already uncovered exactly tallies with the description of the palace given by Homer in the "Iliad." As soon as the works are sufficiently advanced, he promises to publish a detailed memoir concerning this marvellous discovery.

We should be sorry to raise hopeß which, after all, may not be realised, but there seems to be just a possibility that the devil is dead. The New York Herald says that some workmen at Mooresville, Indiana, in making an excavation, have dug up a skeleton, well preserved, corresponding to the human skeleton in all respects except that the forehead is villainously low, with two horns curving backwards. The arms are of unusual length, and the spinal bone terminates in a tail, of which about a foot in length still remains. If the devil is no more, and this is his skeleton, he has been treated with some injustice. His death has certainly not put an end to crime on this aide of the Atlantic ; and either we have attributed too much evil to the instigation of the deceased, or, perhaps, only the American devil is dead. For, unless all the views of the devil which are popularly entertained are devoid of foundation, he is not only alive in England at the present moment, but, if possible, rather more active than usual.

A French journalist, M. Bertrand, has discovered a new profession which, it is interesting to know, is pursued in London. He calls it a strange, eccentric profession "bizarre" is his own word — and, as regards its characterisation, he is not far wrong. It consists, M. Bertrand explains, in picking out pretty girls of low station, washing them, dressing them like young ladies, giving them a few lessons in deportment, manners, and the art of speaking English, and then exhibiting them in the park, public gardens, and theatres, until they attract the attention and gain the heart, and ultimately the hand, of some rich man. "Little by little, "we are told, "the poetie illusion of the honeymoon disappears until at last the husband discovers that he haß married a oirl without position or education. So much the worse ! But in the meanwhile the bargain has been struck, and the saatrimonial agent has pocketed his premium." These improvised young ladies are, it appears, called " drapery aaisses."

We have heard so much of late years -about the beneficial influence exerted by the presence of ozone in the atmosphere that even non-scientific readers may like to know how it can be artificially produced. Hitherto electricity, phosphorus, and permanganate of potash have been the recognized Boucces of production, but Professor JVJantegazza has discovered that it is developed by certaia odorous flowers in a still greater amount. A writer in 3Ja±ure states that most of the strong.smelling vegetable essences, such as mint, .cloves, lavender, lemon, and cherry laurel, develop a very large quantity of ozone when in contact with atmospheric -oxygen in light. Flowers destitute o£ perfume do not develope it, and generally the amount of ozone seems to be in proportion to the strength of the perfume emanated. Professor Mantegazza recommends that in marshy districts and in places infested with noxious exhalations, strouj- smelling flowers should be planted around the houses, in order that the ozone emitted from them may exert its powerful oxidizing influence. So pleasant a plan for making a malarious district salubrious only requires to be known to be put in practice. French thieves seemed possessed of a fertile invention. The other day, says a French paper, a lady went into a haberdasher's shop, Rue Richelieu, and bought A pearl-grey silk dress. The shopman fcadnoliced a tolerably well-dressed man standing at the door after the arrival of -the lady, and seeming to watch all her movements. .Stepping up to the cashier s desk, the lady •drew a 200 franc note from !her purse. At that moment the man outside rushed into the shop, gave the lady a box on the ear, and tore the note out of her hands. " I had forbidden you to buy that dre B s," cried he, " but I watched -you, and you shall not have it." With -these words he hastened away, the lady lainted, and the persona employed in the ■shop, supposing the intruder to be an offended husband, made no remark and

hthimgo. When the lady recovered, the proprietor of the establishmenT"^ pressed his regret at this violent scene, and pitied her for being dependent on bo brutal a husband. "My husband !" cried the lady eagerly. " Sir, the man is not my husband ; Ido not know Mm, and have never seen him." The pretended husband was a daring thief.

The ta&te for gambling, or large profits and quick returns, is strongly developed in Paris, and in spite of the disaster which has recently overtaken several tripots, new " hells " are being constantly discovered. The other day the police broke up an establishment in a very clever manner. The proprietor only received a select and limited number of pigeons, who had to produce a formal introduction before being admitted. The special agent of police charged with the suppression of gaming tables, considering that it would be difficult to enter by the door, determined to storm the "hell" by the windows. To effect his purpose without exciting suspicion, M. Bondeville dressed several of his men like painters, who arrived at the house indicated, and planted their ladders without attracting any attention. The Burprise was moat complete, and the whole affair so quietly managed that not a dozen people in the street knew what had happened. The people arrested were of the usual style — students, retired tradesmen, and a member of several religious societies who belonged to the concern, and waa engaged in exhorting young men to try their luck at baccarat, and subsoribe to various charities.

There can be no question of the very large adulteration of beer with water. It has been established by the concurrent testimony of the best authorities. Although a fraud, this can hardly be aaid to be, in any sense, an unmixed evil. Those who contend that the more serious adulteration with cocculus indicus is rare, should remember that the amount of cocculus indicus imported into this country at j,the present moment is sufficient for the adulteration of three-fifths of the beer consumed in the United Kingdom. There is no other known uae for the deleterious drug. It is utterly useless, and never employed in medicine; and is equally useless and unemployed in the arts. Nevertheless, while the quantity imported in 1857 amounted to 68cwt., it amounted in 1868 to 1064cwt. It may also be stated that the use of cocculub indicus to give a fictitious strength to beer, is not by any means confined to thia country. According to a statement of Professor Dragendorff, formerly chemist to the St. Petersburg police, picrotoxine — the active principle of coccuius indicus — is largely used for adulterating beer in Russia; and it is a frequent occurrence that brewers are fined on thia account, and the beer confiscated. Schuberl, of Wurzburg, also states that Bavarian beer is very often adulterated with cocculus indicus. Adulteration is not the peculiar privilege of British beer.

The Telegraph brings up again the disagreeable topic of the Haymarket night-houses, but does not seem to have any special information, as the phrase goes, on the topic. We have, however, ascertained some curious facts in connection with these establishments. In one an attempt has been made to constitute the society of the place into a club, it being thought that under such a title the proprietor might carry on his traffic with complete impunity. Male visitors were invited to subscribe a sovereign each to promote the idea, but this request was simply a matter of form. At the club a whole relay of scouts gave warning, not only of the approach of police, but of any one not introduced to the select manager of the institution. Ladies were not excluded, and, indeed, were prominent figures in the bar-chamber of the den. To realise thoremghly the Pallmall or Piccadilly notion of a club, a porter received every guest and passed him on to a second porter who was fenced behind a counter. If these blackguards were satisfied with their scrutiny, the " club " man went rejoicing into the delightful penetralia, where his face might be gashed with broken tumblers and his bead pretty certain to be turned with gooseberry champagne cup. We have alluded to the quarter historically in the past tense, but if an active constable could be found he might use our description with effect any night in the week.

MrE. A. Freeman, in his lecture on "The Origin of the English Nation," assails very vigorously the time-honoured theory that race is indicated by the colour of hair. He admits that the old Teutons are always described as a blue-eyed and light-haired people, but observes that they shared those characteristics with the Celts. We should therefore expect to find 9 preponderance of light hair among the moclew English, but in the opinion of Mr Freeman tfoe contrary iB the case. And the argument f rom hair, if it proves anything, tfovjtother fV°?P *&»* English

are neith'e* Oeltio nor Teutonic, but, luce~ThrSilurians of South Wales, the descendants of an Iberian colony. On the whole, he is disposed to believe that no feature seems so liable to change among whole nations and to be so mnch .i matter of chance in particular families as the colour of the hair, and that there has been a decided tendency at work for some centuries by virtue of which the fairhaired nations, Teutonic, Celtic, or any other, are gradually becoming dark. Perhaps the Kegistrar- General may assist in solving the difficulty by putting a question on the subject at the census to be held next year. That local circumstances have an influence on the colour of animals is a fact well known to naturalists. The red cattle of Devon and Hereford correspond with the hue of the soil in those countries, while the lighter coloured short-horn is to be found on the limestone formation ; and with fish the principle holds equally good.

Dr Lyon Playfair, M.P., has b6en indulging the students of St. Mary's Hospital with some curious bits of medical archaeology. He traces the growth of modern sanitary science to an accidental circumstance. The Court and Parliament were at Oxford, which had been recently drained, and the citizens had removed all accumulations of filth and garbage from the streets, lest they should offend the nostrils of their distinguished guests. The plague was raging at the time, and Oxford was the only place which enjoyed an immunity from it. Cause and effect were for the first time connected in the public mind, which was thus enlightened for the first time as to the nature of what we now call pythogenic, or filth-born maladies. Prior to that, the measures recommended by the council of the physicians of Paris for the arrest of the plague were : That if a shower of rain fell during the day a spoonful of treacle should be taken, and that fat people should not sit in the sun. Michelet declares that for several centuries during which filth reigned supreme not a . man, woman, or child in Europe took a bath voluntarily and out of a desire for cleanliness. Out of this chronic and widespread filth arose the black death, the plague, the sweating sickness, and other pestilences, the consequences of bad hygienic conditions. He congratulated himself and Mr Edwin Chadwick, who was present, that the death rate in this country has been brought down from 30 per 1000 annually since they first met as colleagues on the Sanitary Commission to 17 per 1000 ; there was a sanguine prospect of reducing it to 12 per 1000. Referring to his being confronted recently in the House of Commons with the argument that diseases were a divine punishment for sin, and that it was presumptuous for medical science to interfere, he said that this was the argument which resounded from the pulpit when Jenner strove to arrest the "divine scourge" of smallpox ; still more lately it had been urged against the introduction of chloroform as a means of abolishing pain. Eighty thousand lives are annually &aved by vaccination. The argument should be banished with other mediaeval superstitions and instruments of torture.

Mr George Pother contributes to the current number of the Contemporary Eeview a paper upon trades unions, and does his best to be fair in stating the matter from the workman's point of view. We need scarcely say that there is much in the essay which is valuable and worthy of consideration, but we must protest against the arguments from analogy with which Mr Potter endeavours to support his view of the case. For instance, he quotes and endorses the following arguments in favour of a minimum rate of wages, calculated upon the value of the average workman's services :—": — " If a man had 950 sacks of corn, each of the same value, would you ask him to part with one at half the price paid for another ? You never heard of such a thing. If 950 sacks of corn are all alike, they all fetch the same price ; and it makes no odds whether the articles be corn or flour, beer or treacle, rods of iron or human sinews." Mr Potter forgets that all workmen are not alike, and that the labour of one is more valuable than that of another, on account of greater diligence, dexterity, and general intelligence. But perhaps he is beat answered in the words which six pages further on Mr Potter quotes with approval : — " Labour, when performed, becomes capital, and subject to laws regulating such things ; but to begin with reducing human qualities to the level of corn and sugar ia to debase the moral constitution of man, and to lower his proper estimate of himself." " Here," adds Mr Potter, "is political economy, sound philosophy, common sense, anything you will." Again, Mr Potter endeavours to draw an analogy between black-balling at a Weßt-end club and tho refusal of unionists to work with non- society men. Of course such a line of argument is simply | absurd, for, to mention no other points of utter divergence, the refusal of the

unionists iB only a covert method of compelling union, while the blackballing at the club is an open avowal thut the introduction of the proposed member would be distasteful to those with whom he would have to associate. And again, we fail to see what the demand of workmen for shorter hours and larger wages has to do with the case of clerks and shopmen who are permitted by their employers to attend, the drills and reviews of volunteers without loss of salary ; and, moreover, we are pretty confident that the wages received by this class are proportionately less, and the hours of labour actually greater, than these of the mechanic. We should like Mr Potter to ascertain what number of City clerks and West-end shopmen work for less than fifty-six hours in the week.