General Items.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XVII, Issue 5646, 26 November 1886, Page 3

General Items.

The last visible signs of the Commune in Paris that, yet remain—the magnificent i'uius of the Cour de Comptes—are about to be demolished. The bare walls of this immense building have long been ail eyesore to the .Socialists and those Who had most to do with its destruction, and frequent campaigns have been started agaiust it. It was burned down on May 24th. 1871, on'the order of Ferre, on ' the same day that the Tuileries and other buildings suffered. The grande salle was fil'ed with powder and petroleum'and then blown up.. It is now proposed to build new barracks on its site in place of those beside it on. the Qnai d'Orsay, •which was" going to be pulled down. This depot has always been very unhealthy, and is almost tumbling down of its own accord. . .

Dickens has been much criticised for his apparent acceptance of the fact of human spontaneous combustion, but fur W. Gull lately testified to. a surprising case before the Committee of the-House of Lords on Intemperance. A largo, bloated man,who was suffering from difficulty of breathiug and'great distension of" the venous system died at Guy's Hospital. At the post mortem of the following day there was no sign of .decomposition, and the.body was 'believed to 'be 'distended with gas. ' 1 When punctures were made, into the skin," said Sir Wi liam, " and a lighted match applied, the . gas which escaped burned with the ordinary .flame of carburetted- hydrogen. As many as a dozen of these small flames were burning at the same time."

Pleuro-pneumonia recently broke out. among a number of Galloway cattle imported to Canada, fifty-seven in 'number, the whole of. which were killed and burnt at the quarantine'station at Quebec. As these were valuable pedigree cattle the loss was heavy enough ; but unfortunately there was another lot of cattle on board the Hibernian, the vessel which carried the Galloways first mentioned, and there were also other imported cattle, in the quarantine stations, the whole numbering 340, valued at £60,000. As the, compensation granted by the Canadian Government, even for pure-bred animals, not actually: effected, but killed as a safe-guard,- does not exceed two-thirds of the value, or a maxinium of £30, the lossjto the importers will be heavy.

Three seamen recently, lost their lives upon the American ship 'Mauopouri, from an unusual cause.. Upon opening' one of the hatches, dense clouds, ascended,and water was poural into the hold to extiugirsh the supposed fire.- • The men ! who subsequently went below, found that the hold was full; not of smoke, but of far more irritating fumes;-and it was ascertained that a bottle.of nitric- acid, which had been shipped in" a case as something else in order to save the extra cost, had been brok n. The length of time during which the men were exposed to the fumes is not stated by Dr j.'WJ Stickler, who reports the circumstances in the "New York ,illedical Recorder. but no great suffering appears to have been -immed'ately produced ; withiii a few hours, however, the men began to complain of serious 'illness, and in. a very short time died.— British Medical Journal ,

Accoring , to the Pall Mali Gazette there is at leist some sign that the narrow prejudices against cremation, which has been more prevalent in' Germany than elsewhere, .will he overcome. In the course' of the present year two eminent Germans—-the cliief supsrintendent of the Evangelical Church, Dr Schwarz, and the • Brunswick minister, Ilerr von Liehe—have heeu cremated, and : their example has done more to clvmge public feeling than anythiug that has ever been said or written. The Berlin Cremation Society is now showing signs of new life, branch societies are springing up in most of the large German towns, aud a pet'tion for burial ' reform, bearing 80,000 signatures, has been presented to the Reichstag, to the delight of Professor Virchow the apostle of the movement..-

How to UliT blOK.—lSxpo'e yourself day and nlglu, sit too mu h without exercise work too liar I without vest, doctor all the irae, take all the vile nostrums and imitations advertipgj, ?ud then you wlli want to know

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