Untitled

Southland Times, Issue 1522, 12 January 1872, Page 3

" A curious case of mistake respecting the presence of scab in sheep," reports the Benalla Ensign, " occurred on Mr Ryan's Goomalibee station lately. We are informed Mr Ryan had observed his sheep plucking and biting themselves for some time back, and fearing that they had become infected with scab he sent for the inspector of sheep (Mr Kerr), who examined them carefully and was at a loss to account for the obvious irritation, as he could find no scab. That gentleman at last decided that it was caused by mosquitoes having injected their poison into the bare sports denuded of wool made by shear cuta when the sheep were shorn, and on which the wool had not yet grown. We are told that the inspector had never seen a case of the kind before, and that he thinks some of the irritation may have been caused by the sheep having had a good deal of salt and sulphate of iron some time since, as the irritation was so great that some of the sheep had actually gnawed the skin so as to cause raw places." The return of the number of persons killed by wild beasts during the past year in the Madras Presidency has lately been made up : — lB3 persons were killed by tigers, 21 by cheetahs and panthers, 7 by bears, 10 by bisons, 5 by wild bogs, 4 by elephants, and 3 by alligators. Tigers are more destructive in G-anjam, Vizagapatam, Jeypore, Kurnool, and Coimbatore. Seven persons were killed by tigers in Canara in 1869, 11 in 1868, and 1 L were killed by cheetahs. All this slaughter by wild beasts sounds very horrible (says the Pall Mall Gazette), but it is really far more horrible to reflect that more people are killed annually in the streets of London by horses than are killed by tigers in the Presidency of Madras. Cab horses are far more destructive than cheetahs. Dr Petermann, the well-known geographer, writes to several German papers to announce the success of an Arctic expedition. According to a telegram received by him, dated Trorasoe, Oct. 3, Lieutenants Weyprecht and Payer, the one of the German Navy, the other of the Austrian Engineers, have penetrated to the 79th deg. N. latitude, and actually discovered the open Arctic Sea, so long the El Dorado and Fata Morgana of northern explorers. The feat was accomplished in a Norwegian sloop, penetrating northwards between Spitzbergen and Nova Zembla. The discoverers, who themselves chartered the ship, report having found an open sea from the 42nd deg. to the 60th deg. E. longitude, which they navigated up to the 78th deg. N. latitude. The greatest width was at the 79th deg. N. latitude, and but little ice was to be seen northward. As this occurred in September, there seems to be a chance that the long sought passage to the extreme north has been found at last. At any rate, it must be admitted that the anticipations of Dr Petermann, who long recommended a trip north of Spitzbergen, are borne out by the event.