MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 396, 30 September 1884, Page 5

MISCELLANEOUS EXTRACTS.

Vanderhilt's : Wealth l X\ . Vanderbilt has told an intimate fri'erfd, that he is worth 194,000,000 dols. He can take life compaartively easy on an income of 12,000,000 dols a year, and watch his wealth , pile up without any effort of his., From his Government stocks he draws 2.372,000 dols a year: from Ms railroad stocks and bonds 7,394,320 dols. ; from his miscellaneous securities, 575,695 dols; ' or ' 10,342,045 dole, from his investments alone. A Rich Farmer. . The late Mr Nicholas Anchorena, who died! two months since at Buenos Ayres, was pro- i bably the richest farmer in the world. His, executors report hig ruralestates as follow:—; Land, 1710 square miles; cpws, 152,0,00; sheep,! 410,000. He also owned much house pro-!, perty in Buenos Ayres, and his assets have been valued at £2,400,000 sterling. He inherited £200,000 from his father thirty years; ago. ' I Big Prize for a Baby. : The miners of the Par West are freehanded with money. Lately a fund of five thousand' dollars was collected in the Coeur d'Alene mining region for the first baby born within! the territory, and it was awarded to the wife; of a freight hand on the Northern Pacifi«,who walked 25 miles that her child might first see' the light in accordance with the terms of the; prize. ' i The Proportion of the Sexes. It is a well- known fact that among human beings the proportion of male and female children born into the world is ab,oufc equal,! That such is the result of some hidden law! cannot be questioned ; and' it would seem to be in operation among plants as well as id the human family. MrF, Heyer,in a recent paper published in London, states how he gottne impression that sex in plants was determined by outside . influences, such ad soil, temperature, or similar conditions, and relates the result of a series of experiments' which he made to test this suspicion; Hig . trials proved that tfae regular proportions in) the separate sexes were not brought about byj the accidents of external influences. These Had not the slightest effect 'in changing: the 1 balance, which persisted ia being about equal; under each experiment. Mr Heyer concludes by expressing • his belief, derived from his patient investigations, that sex is not the result of any external conditions, but is deter-j mined at an earlier period than the ripening of the seed. The law is a mystery, which re-j mains to. be discovered, The students of plant life have a broad field of investigation before them. ' j Capital Punishment in Prance, j The ' Standard's ' Paris correspondent says : — A bill introduced into the Senate bjj M. Charton, who proposes to do away, with! the present mode of inflicting capital punishf ment, and replace it by a more scientific and less unsightly process, is exciting a good deal of • attention. M. Charton 1 does • not deny that decapitation by the guillotine i| expeditious ; but no one who has witnessed! an execution in France will disagree witt his opinion that there is no more ghastly i, spectacle. Of late a number of scientists have, pronounced the opinion that for a s,hors space of time the. head, iives, and. the;braiE performs it's function of .thinking after its sevarence from the body, and Sf. Cnartoi proposes that criminals shall be no longe] ' guillotined, but put to death in 'a manne] more humane to the. sufferers and less, .distressing to behoidl' M. Charton suggest! that poisoning by prussic acid kills in'stan taneously without pain i.and if that mode oi: destroying, life be objected to, he recommends electricity. He quotes the v authority of. the well-known, savant, ;Dr. Berthelpts tothe effect that the discharge, of a powerful electric battery will cause instantaiieoui death, without producing a . contraction- of the features or . a quivering of the frame! The Senate has taken this proposal into consideration and referred it to' a:com| mittee. . . } Two Singular and Fatal Accidents! . Two singular accidents that occurred recently at Kouen and. in Monmouthshire point to the fact that danger lurks lid the innocent occupation of drawing a cork from a- bottle. - At Rouen a young gentleman^ while at breakfast, took up a bottle of wine which his servant, was unable .to ;uncork, and), ' placing it between his legs, attempted' to : draw the corK himself. The pressure waji too great, the sides of the bottle broke, afi artery, was severed by a piece of glass, and the unfortunate gentleman bled to death;.. Even more remarkable was the fatality that took place at Symond's Vat, Monmouthshirei A workman's fete had. arrived there from Bristol, and amoDg them a brewer named Mitchell, who was thirsty, and- purchased k bottle of ginger-beer. The woman who sol<^ it to him cut the string, and before she had . time to prevent it the cork flew out in hi£ face, hitting him on the eye with such violence that it brought on congestion of the brain. The poor fellow was taken back to Bristol, btut he soon afterwards died. In the warm months, when drinks of so many sorts are used, it will be well to keep the warnings afforded by these two cases in mind. j Shocking Outrage. The Paris ' Soir' relates the following .strange.-, story :— At tb.3 beginning of the month, a Polish' Jew left Russia for Paris, in order to attend his brother's wedding. On arriving, at a station in the neighborbod of the' metropolis, tlie traveller was asked for his ticket. He. was- totally ignorant of French, and the employe o*f Russian, and after a time : the latter,- losing patience, knocked him about, handcuffed him, and inrprisoned him in a dark and filthy cellar, where he was detained four days withoujb food.' ■ A •■■rope was' put round his neck, buckets of water were emptied on him, and on the day qf : theNational Fete squibs werb let off in his face. At length the Mayor oi the place; getting wind of the affair paid thp Jew : a visit, in company with a man who spoke Russian,and, after a short conversationduring 'which' "his brother's address was hscertained, a telegram was sent off, and he was released. Thisj(says the 'Soir'),, is the ' story told by the Jew's brother, who. hasnaturally appealed to' the authorities. ' The <Soir' adds that M.Glement,: the 'police' magistrate, was to see the Jew with a viewto commencing an investigation into thematter.- ; ' •' ; ' ''• -.- «— — imp— m— — i— ■' ,: •'! i