ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 523, 26 April 1872, Page 1 (Supplement)

ENGLISH EXTRACTS.

—o— A young lady at Dundee has hit upon a novel method of putting her leap-year privileges into practice. Being at one of the Free Kirks in that city, she dropped into the collec-' tion plate, held by an unmarried elder, not a bent six-pence or any other wellknown token of affection, but a lozenge, on which was imprinted the touching legend, “ Without your love I cannot live.”

A poor man, at Birmingham, was was summoned for not having had his child vaccinated within the time specified by the Act. He admitted the offence, but said (holding up a bible) “ This book warns me against having my child’s and my blood defiled tvith animal matter or the filth of a man, and it commands me to obey God instead of man.” After having been warned of the consequence if he still refused to have the child operate' l upon, his answer was, “ I don’t care. I won’t have it done.” The case was adjourned for a few days, in the hope that reflection would induce him to obey the law.

At the Denbighshire Quarter Sessions the name of an inhabitant of Wrexham was called over in the Grand Jury list, when there stepped forward a fine hale old man of eighty-five, who took his place without a murmur.

A pawnbroker, of Manchester, lias been committed for trial on a charge ot compounding a felony. Having charged a lad in his employ with robbing the till, he promised the lad's father to do his best to release him on payment of 10/., but subsequently agreed to accept 51. The father paid a moiety of the amount, giving a promissory note for the remainder. A correspondent of the Standard calls attention to the abominable rubbish which is sold under the dame of “ Bottled Beer,” and suggests the adoption of a half-penny stamp upon the label, both as a source ot revenue and a protection to the original vendor. To prevent a fraudulent use of the stamps it is proposed to place the same over the corks, as in the case of patent medicines, so that, when opened, the stamp must be destroyed. Lady Franklyn has offered a reward of 2,0001 for the whole of the journals or other records of the expedition ot the Erebus and Terror, which are believed to have been deposited near Point Victor, King William’s Sound, by the survivors of the expedition of 1848.

In the year 1873, the large number of horses 7,232 were exported from England, and 7,246 in 1871. The following Fenian outrage or. curred in Dublin. A bootmaker named Melvin was invited by two jmen to a public-house, to look at a “ tool.” Ho went, and a revolver was shown to him, and its working explained. 11 was then loaded, as if to show him the process, when one of the men pointed it at him and tired. It is supposed that Melvin had in some way, perhaps unwittingly, given offence to the brotherhood. The men were arrested, but they declare that the affair was accident.

The following case of abduction is reported from Galway. A girl of sixteen, while returning from school, was seized, and locked up in a house, by a young man, who tried to make her promise him marriage. Not succeeding, her father was sent for, and was similarly treated, to induce him to give his consent ; but in vain. The young man absconded, but his relatives are in custody, A distinguished Paris physician says :—“ I believe that during the twenty years I have practised my profession twenty thousand childrenhave been carried to the cemeteries, a sacrifice to the absurd custom of exposing their arms. Put the bulb of a thermometer into a baby’s mouth, and the mercury rises to ninety degrees. Now carry the same to its little hand: if the arm be bare, and the evening cool, the mercury will fall to fifty degrees. Of course, all the blood that flows through these must fall from ten to forty degrees below the temperature of the heart. Need 1 say, when these currents of blood flow back to the chest, the chill’s vitality must be more or less compromised! And need I add that we ought not to be surprisedat its frequent recurring affections of the tongue, throat, orhstomach. I have seen more than one child, with habitual cough or hoarseness, entirely relieved by simply keeping the hands and arms warm.

What appears to have been a fine specimen of the octopod was caught at Belfast the other day. The local correspondent of the Hamilton Spectator says:—“An unwelcome visitor, in the shape of a victor Hugo devil fish, made his appearance last week to the Workmen employed in the harbour improvements; A valuable litt'e dog belonging to Mr. Bell, the inspector of Government works, was tackled by theintruder and w-as rescued only with considerable difficulty. The combined efforts of two of the workmen resulted in this monster being brought to land, where it remained for several days an object of curiosity to the crowds who visited it. The power of this fish may be surmised from the fact that one of its dozen feelers attached itself to a stone weighing about 2Slb , and incredible as it may seem, was from the water still clinging to the stone.”