Untitled

Globe, Volume V, Issue 591, 11 May 1876, Page 3

When does a farmer double a sheep without hurting it ?—When he folds it. A Zurich paper reports a discovery which throws light on the hitherto obscure question as to how the Lake dwellers in Switzerland disposed of their dead. Between Anverneir and Colombier, in the vicinity of two Lake dwellings—one of stone, the other of the bronze age—house-building excava* tions brought to light in February last, a chamber supported by upright stones, and containing ten or fifteen skeletons, the skulls collected in one corner, the other remains in the centre. Near them were found a bear’s tooth, a wolf’s, half a boar’s tooth, a small smooth bone disc, two hatchets of serpentine stone, a bronze needle (all these bored through), a small copper ring, and four small bronze child’s bracelets. It is supposed to be a family grave of a date transitional between the stone and the bronze ages. A discussion is commencing in the commercial world upon the fall in the value of silver, which is greatly affecting trade with the East, and all persons interested in remittances from Asia. The Secretary of State for India cannot now sell bills much alnve Is 8d in the rupee, a nominal loss of Id in 2s, or 16$ per cent, and a real loss of half that amount, or a million and a quarter a year on the official remittance, now in round numbers £15,000,000 a year. The ultimate causes of the decline are the increase in the production of silver and the demonetisation of that metal on the Continent, which are steadily sending down the price:— 1872, Average price ... 60 5-16 d per ounce. 187 G, Ist February ... 54gd „ 1876, Ist March ... 53£d „ Sales have been effected lower than this, at 52|d.