HOW HE SACRIFICED HIS SON.

Patea Mail, Volume IV, Issue 335, 3 July 1878, Page 4

HOW HE SACRIFICED HIS SON.

Mr Darwin threatens to contribute to a magazine an article on infants, suggested by the mental development of one of his own sons. Mothers are cautioned against reading it, as there is insanity l in every line. He expects to prove that the texture of young Darwin-at his birth was analogous to the pulp of a clam ; that the - crown of his head was as gelatinous as a marsh mallow lozenge, and his bones as grisly as a simple polyp. These examinations were not made without difficulty. On one occasion the great scientist was boring his infant’s nose with a needle, to prove that the cartilage was penetrable, when be was discovered by Mrs Darwin and the nurse, who designed an intricate Italian flower garden on his face in less than two minutes. At another time he poulticed young Darwin’s spine surreptitiously in the hope of making a tail grow ; and- tried to fit him out with an amphibious breathing arrangement, which was so successful that, after the child’s head had been under water for thirty seconds, he was black in the face, and lay comatose for a week. Young Darwin can do, however, a great many things which other lads of his ago are not at all proficient in. Though not 15 years old ho can run on ail fours, trot or gallop, dig roots with an artificial snout, and climb trees like a coon. His brains were partially extracted when he was a week old, and he can neither speak nor understand. Though not exactly quadrumanoub, he is just as handy with his feet as ho is footy with his hands; and early training enables him to hang by one arm from a branch and eat nuts with bis toes with the greatest ease. The farther of modern thought hopes to live to see his son united to a well-bred Aztec, and is confident that his grandchildren will be three grades lower. In sacrificing his offspring to science, Mr. Darwin depends on fntuio generations to complete the work; but, as time rolls on, mankind will doubtless have the pleasure of gazing on a perfect gnsteropodous mollusc on a wall, directly and lineally descended from the great theorist.—San Francisco News Letter. A PROPHECY. Tub following translation from the Australian German Zeitung has been handed to a contemporary : Father Tranquil Wolfgang, Englishman by birth, left Ihe following prophecy before his decease, 1873, in the Franciscan Convent at Munich : 1874. —Spanish Republic established. Dissatisfaction inFrance. War preparation in Italy. Decease of Pope Bins IX. A new ruler in France. 1875. —WarbotweenltalyandFrance; the army of Italy besieges Paris. Defeat of the army of France. National vote taken in Corsica,Rizza, and Savoyen. Inundation of Austria.

2876.—Paris taken in, the month of March. Peace ratification in Corsica. Corsica, Rizza, and Savoyen incorporated by Italy, Revolution in Spain and England. Prince Frederick German Emperor.- The pest in Russia. 1877,—Communisms in France and Spain. European Congress in Rome. The new Pope is reconciled with Italy. General war preparation in Europe, France divided into four States. Inundation in Italy. Unbearable cold wink r in Germany.

1878. —European Congress in Berlin. Death of Queen Victoria. A new Government in Spaia. Deliverance of the Christians in Turkey.- Dissatisfaction in Portugal, Poland, and Hungary. Cholera in France. Remedy for cholera discovered in Bavaria.

1879.—Great storms in England. Universal peace and universal disarming. Important discovery at sea. The Pope, resisting the suprematic, reforms the Church, and abolishes the order of Jesuits.

1880,—Death of the Russian Emperor. Fraternity of all nations ; prosperity in all trades and husbandry. Important discoveries in Munich. Universal peace —the whole of Europe happy. The Pope blessing all nations, and peace lasts till 1890. ■

The Wellington Chronicle referring to the proposed railway between Wellington and Manawatu, says —We are pleased to see that the settlers of the Manawatu are alive to the importance of having the above line constructed. It would be well if more interest were taken in the matter at this end. The railway will be of as much advantage to the people of Wellington as to the settlers on the West Coast.

The Lake Wakatip Mail says : —The benefits of the railway are already being felt by oar settlers. We know that cue farmer sold some 3000 bushels of wheat the other day to an Invercargill merchant for 4s 3d per bushel, delivered at Frankton Jetty —and ho could have got 4s 6d for it a day or two afterwards. Another farmer sold a smaller quantity at 5s *3d delivered at Invercargill—which means a quotation somewhat similar to previous sale. In future there need be no doubt about fanners disposing of their cereal produce, and it is not unlikely that next season will witness the cultivation of thousands of acres which have been lying idle the last two or three years. The excellence of our wheat’and barley has been admitted by all judges —the former being equal to Adelaide we believe. The .value of Wakatip flour is evidently well known by Southland men, and- ere long it needs no prophet to predict that it will have a far wider reputation, and its qualities be more fully recognised. An impudent adventurer having married an heiress, a wit remarked that the bridegroom's brass was outshone ly the bride’s tin.