MISCELLANEOUS.

Southland Times, Issue 1719, 25 March 1873, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

" I cough no more," said a consumptive patient, " so I commence to think I am , ill." A Dallas county, lowa, man bas bought 2,000 hens, and is going to try to produce sufficient hen fruit for his own family. A marriage is spoken of between tbe Princess Thyra of Denmark and the Prince Koyal of Hanover, son of the exKing George. Tbe bride is tbe sister of the Princess of Wales, and of tbe prospective Empress of Eussia. It is said by a San Francisco journal tbat murders are so common in New York that wben a gentleman went home and announced to bis wife that Mr Greeley wasdead, his little three-year-old, playing on the floor, looked up and said, " Pa, who shot him ?" As a proof of tbe indefatigable literary , ability of Lord Lytton, it may be menI tioned tbat, independently of Kenelm j Chillingly, the novel which be bad just I completed before his death, he was writing The Parisians anonymously in Blackwood. To him also, as we are now informed, we owe tbat clever and brilliant book, The Coming Bace, whicb has been attributed to so many pens. The Chemical News gives a very interesting paper " On tbe Presence of Gold in Sea Water," by E. Sonstadt. The proportion of gold in sea-water is stated to be less than one grain to the ton, consequently especial precautions are necessary to detect and obtain tbis very small quantity. The processes given are said, however, to be very satisfactory. " I declare," said an old lady, reverting to the promise made on ber marriage day, by her liege lord, " I shall never forget when Obadiah put tbe nuptial ring on my finger, and said, ' With all my worldly goods I tbee endow.' He used to keep a dry goods store then, and I thought he was going to give me all there was in it. I was young, and did not know till afterwards that it meant one calico dress a year." A Colorado paper says : "We hope our next Legislature will vote funds enough for the establishment of a hospital for the deluded individuals wbo came to this State to die. This is too healthy a clime for such people." Expobto* Ibon. — The Board of Trade accounts show tbat in tbe month of November there were exported from the United Kingdom 257,949 tons of iron and steel, of the value of £3,189,433. The quantity is less by 14,995 tons than in November, 1871, but the value shows an increase amounting to £880,264. ExPEBIMENTS WITH SITLPHUB. —Dr Hochstetter, in tbe Revue Hebdomadaire de Ghimie, describes some curious experiments with sulphur, which serve to explain some volcanic phenomena. When sulphur is melted under water, and with a pressure of 451 b. to tbe square inch, the sulphur absorbs some of tbat fluid. As the sulphur cools, tbis is driven out as steam, accompanied by explosions. When the quantity of sulphur is large, upheaval takes place, craters are formed, and molten Bulphur is ejected. Mutual Accommodation. — During a late Conference at Worcester the following conversation was overheard between two newsboys : — " I say, Jim, what's the meaning of so many ministers being here altogether ? " " Why," answered Jim, scornfully, " they always meet once a year to swap sermons." New Kind op Gunpowdeb. — A novel description of gunpowder, possessing extraordinary projectile power, is said to have been recently adopted by the Prussian artillery. It is composed of a certain proportion of nitre and sawdust, and in this state can be kept in store without fear of explosion. To render tbis composition explosive it is necessary to add a sufficient quantity of sulphuric acid to make it cohere, and when dried it is ready for use. This composition has certainly the advantage of cheapness, combined with extreme simplicity in its manufacture, and is said to leave but little residue after being fired. Pbofessob Agassiz and the Glaclal Theobt. — It is stated in American papers that Professor Agassiz bas written a long letter from South America — where he is now engaged in scientific explorations with tbe aid of the United States 1 * steamer, Hassler — to Profesgor Benjamin Pierce, superintendent of the coast survey, in whicb be describes his geological discoveries, aud as a conclusion from them says :— " I am prepared to assert that tbe southern extremity of the American continent has been uniformly moulded by a continual sheet of ice. The great geological agents are not alone fire and water, as universally admitted. Ice has had a great share in the work, and I believe this also will sooner or later be recognised with equal unanimity. I am well aware that my results will be questioned, and I shall be thought fanciful by geologists of all schools, as I have been at every step of my glacial researches. But an old hunter does not take tbe track of a fox for that of a wolf. I am an old hunter of glacial tracks, and know the footprint wherever I find it." A Pbactical Illustbation. — " I can't bear," said Sydney Smith, "to be imprisoned in tbe true orthodox way in my pulpit, with my head just peeping above the desk. I like to look down upon my congregation — to fire into them. The common people say I am a bold preacher, for I like to have my arms free and to thump the pulpit. A singular contretemps happened to me once, when, to effect tbis, I had ordered tbe clerk to pile up some hassocks for me to stand on. My text was, ' We are perplexed but not in despair ; persecuted but not forsaken * cast down, but not destroyed.' I had scarcely uttored these words, and was preparing to illustrate them wben 1 did so practically, and in a way I had not at all anticipated. My fabric of hassocks suddenly gave way, down I fell, and with difficulty prevented myself from being precipitated into tbe arms of my congregation, wbo, I must say, behaved very well, and recovered their gravity sooner than I could have expected."

A Slight Mistake. — We read that a gentleman from " sunny Italy," residing in San Francisco, recently made a trifling mistake in arranging tbe preliminaries for his marriage. He wished to procure a license, but being from " sunny Italy," and ignorant of the language which is spoken in California — which is said to resemble the English in some respects — he could not make himself clearly understood. Thus it happened that when be presented himself with the expectant bride before the officer who waa to perform the ceremony, it was found that he had a license, not to take a wife, but to keep a dog ! The record ends at this critical stage of the proceedings, but if that young woman was a representative California female, it is fair to infer that there was rather an animated scene in that vicinity about that time.