TOPICS OF THE DAY,

West Coast Times, Issue 2741, 14 January 1878, Page 3

TOPICS OF THE DAY,

(spectator, oct. 27.)

As there have apparently been a great number of cases of hydrophobia latelj, and there is at present certainly no remedy, or even supposed remedy for that awful disease, it is worth mentioning that Mr Laporte writes to Tuesday's Times from Birkdale Park, Southport, to describe a case, dating, from three years back, in which a Coolie bitten by a mad dog was cured sixty days after the bite, and apparently in the worst spasms of that frightful malady, by having an infusion of datura stramonirini— the same leaves which asthmatic patients smoke for their asthmaadministered to him. A Handful of the leaves were boiled in a pint of water, till they had .shrunk to one-half their original bulk, and the water when strained off was poured down his throat. After a violent paroxysm, a profuse perspiration came on — tne Coolie then sank into a deep sleep, which lasted eight hour?, and when he awoke there was no sign of the disease. The cure, Mr Laporte thinks, was due to

I the perspiration, as in another case which he saw previous to the period of this case, the chief symptom, which vapour baths were in vain tried to cure, was the excessively, parched, and dry condition of the skin. It would be at least worth while for our medical men to try any alleged remedy for a disease which is at present supposed to be incurable; The plan for which Father Curci, has it is said, been expelled the Order of Jesus was a broad one. He recommended the Pope, in a letter addressed persoßalty to his Holiness, to rebdbcile Bim^elf with Italy, on condition that Catholicism should be made the sole religion of the State; that the King should be consecrated By the Pope, as receiving his power from God and not from the people ; that the Pope should have power effectively to vote any law cdntrary, in his judgment, to religion or morality, and that the conditions of Rome should be so altered that he could reside there as a dignified Sovereign— that is, as most persons interpret it, free of the rivalry of the secular Government. This letter was pronounced by the Pope an impertinence, but it is more than possible that the sentence was not written in . consequence of the advice. Farther Curci added comments on those who surround the Pope, and misuse his infallibility, which thus is reduced to a deception. An infallible Pontiff, who is told that his infallibility is abused, is by implication told that he is not infallible, — which Pio Nono, like any other dignified clergyman of his years, does not like, . , . The news from. South Africa is not nice, though it wilt help on Federation. Kreli, chief , of the Galekag, in the Transkei, is offended about something or ,other, and has sanctioned two attacks on Europens. In one, 9xl Sep 24j 120, frontier police and the friendly Fingoes defeated the Galekas ; while in another a. few days, later, 200 Europeans and 800 Fingoes routed a small army of 8000 men with considerable loss, the artillery and rockets doing good work. Sir B, Frere has gone to Williamstown, in British Cafiraria ; Volunteers are moving (For continuation of news see fourth page.)

to the front with great alacrity, and two detachments of troops— very weak, however — have been sent to tbe coast of Caffraris, to take the Galekas in rear. There are promptitade aud energy everywhere, but we do not like the news, or the reported murder of a judge, Mr Bell, by natives. A blunder in the field, a failure in the supply o: ammunition, a British defeat, and we mitfbt want 10,000 troops in South Africa. It will be necessary, we fear, to speak very roughly at Lisbon, and carry out an Arms Importation L>w --uch as has hardly been known, except in Ire land. Sir Bartle Frere, however, fo tunately understands this work. The Tim s corre-ptmdent gives us some interesting facts in his telegram of - atu - dny concerning the recent French Eicc tions, which are not altogether of a reassuring nature. 1 ■ appears that it was the largest popular vote taken since the election of 1848— th<- first election of Louis Napoleon as Pre dent of the Republic — but not quite so lar^e as tho popular vote of that ye*r. In 1848 the popular vote polled wa- 7.893,000, but on Sunday wee!., in spite oltlie increw in the population of France dtie to 29 years, the populai

voto s.^sonly 7,773,0()0. Kven this, however, wa* con,.derahly greater than the popular vote of last year, which reached only 7,200.000, aud the differences, indeed somewhat more 'han tbc difference, is dm: apparently io the pressure of tbe Government, In 1876 the Reactionists polled only 2,884,000, while on Sunday week they polled 3,571,000 showing an additional number of 687,000 reactionary votes, a gain of nearly 25 per cent. These vote», however, were almost all screwed out of those who abstained from the poll laat year for the Republicans lost oaly 43,000 votes, or just one per cent, their total vote last year being 4,316,000, and this year 4,273,000. Thus while Ministerial pressure screwed a gain of 25 per cent out of the indifferentists, it only converted one per cent of the sincere Republicans. The special correspondent of the Tim's at Rome gives a curious sketch o* the Cardinals likely to be of consequeuce at the next Papal election. The most influential are said to be Di f ietro, a Roman noble of 72, noted for extravagance De Luca, a learned Sicilian, possibly tinged with Liberalism ; Mertel, a " native of Allumiere." a jurist, 71 years ago, and " one of the wisest and most moderate men of the Sacred College ;" and Nina, a Roman of moderate spirit and inclined to compromise. Cardinal Bonaparte, with aj reputation for ability, has since the fall of the Second Fmpire kept almost entirely out of sight ; whilst Chi^i is a diplomatist, intent on correspondence with the great, but believed to desir tehe Papal Throne. Pecci, the Camerlengo, is a Roman of 67, blameless and moderate 5 while his immediate rival, Panebianco, considered in many quarters the most probable of all candidates, is held in Rome to be a monk, obstinate, gloomy, and fanatical, with a temper hardened by sleeplessness, which in him amounts to a disease. These sketches it should be understood, only profess to represent popular opinion in Home, where the bad qualities of a Cardinal, whose character may be a good one on the whole, are very carefully noted. That habit will cease by-aad-by, now that the favor or wrath of a Cardinal no longer brings any one material advantage or detriment. Mr Forbes, the well-known correspondent of the Daily News, in an article in the Nineteenth Century, states positively that " he has himself seen great dumps of mutilated Russian dead on battle-fields," and " has watched without the need of a

glass the Bashi-Bazouks swarming out after an unsuccessful attack on the part of the Russians, and administering the coup di grace with fell alacrity I . under the. eyes of the regulars in the sheltered trenches." He also positively denies that the Rußsiana commit atrocities, declaring them kindly and humane men, who even when drunk spare the Turks. This is the more remarkable, because Mr Forbes writes most bitterly of the corruption and jealousies in the Russian Army, believes the Turks, though avowed and hopeless barbarian 0 , the most competent of the races in Turkey and entertains for the Bulgarians the loathing which rough Englishmen usually express for men who display the vices born of slavery. He considers the Bulgarians better off than English labourers, and Beems to forget that English labourers' wives and daughters are not at the mercy of a foreign gendarmerie, bred to believe that a Christian has no rights.

A Turkish newspaper, called the Zemur and Bassiret, had discovered that Mr Gladstone is the eon of a Bulgarian pig-dealer named Trozadin, and that he himself was a pig-dealer in early life and ran away to Servia at the age of sixteen whence he was sent to London to sell pigs ; that he stole the proceeds, changed his name from Trozadin to Gladstone, and became Prime Midair ; finally, that he was offered five thousand pounds by the Ottoman Government to put their finances in order, and that the withdrawal of the offer vexed him so'much as to embark his bad Bulgarian nature in his anti-Turkish policy. And no doubt the Turks believe the legend invented to gratify their fury. Mr Pope Hennessy is in hot water again. The man will not let white men flog yellow men any more than black men in peace and comfort, ile had been directed to inquire into prison discipline in Hong Kong, where punishments for offences committed in prison mount up at a fearful rate, and found the facts recorded in the following table :—: — FJoggings in Prison for five years, ending July, 1870. Population. England 4988 ... 24,000,000 Scotland 679 ... 3,400,000 Ireland 34 ... 5,250,000 Hong Kong 1149 „. 140,000 The proportion in Hong Kong being therefore about forty times aa great as in England and Scotland. Moreover, prisoners being flogged on the back only are liable, on the testimony of medical officers, to. serious lung complaints. Sometimes the wounds do not heal for ten days. The Governor, therefore, directed that priBoners should be flogged as in India and Eton, on the breech, and that no flogging should be inflicted without his sanction, and replaced some foreign assistant-turn-keys by Chinese. Many of the residents in Hong Kong accordingly declare that be is currying favor with the Chinese, and relaxing British authority, and are forwarding complaints to London on that ground. All experience, nevertheless, shows that the discipline of a prison, like that of a ship, may be tested by the absence of violence.