GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 113, 29 November 1879, Page 3

GLEANINGS FROM THE PAPERS.

During the process of excavating for foundations of the new bank about to be erected for Messrs. Child and Co. on the site immediately adjoiug the recently removed Temple' Bar a discovery has been made within the last few days which is invested with considerable historical interest, and which in all probability will be made the subject of investigation by the archaeologist and antiquary. The old bank buildings which have just been demolished are known to date from an earlier period than the structure forming Temple Bar now removed, and the subterranean erections in the basement under the bank with which the workmen have come in contact are believed to be several hundred years old. They consist of a series of Gothic arches in stone, springing from circular columns, the bases of which, and the floor area now revealed to view, are upwards of 20 feet below the'street level of the Strand and Fleetstreet. The arches are at right angles, and present all the appearances of what has formerly been a crypt under some ecclesiastical edifice. « They extend a considerabe number of yards southward from the Fleet-street frontage of tho bank promises, and are carried up to, the sito on which the south pier of Temple Bar stood. Those in charge of the works now in progress are under tho impression that when Child's hank was originally erected it was upon a site which at former period had been occupied by churoh and that these arches forming the crypt were allowed to remain. It is believed that before the excevations for the new new buildings are completed other relics will be met with. Tho sense of hearing iu sheep surnoses, .it is said, all things in nature. The cwo will distinguish her own lamb's bloat among a thousand all bleating at tho same time. Besides the distinguishmeiit of voice is perfectly reciprocal between the ewe ami the lamb, who, amid the deafening sound, run to meet one another. Fow things have ever amused us more than at sheep-shearing, and then the sport continues tho wholo day. We put the flock into the fold, drive oul all the lambs tu a hill, and then send the ewes to them as they arc shorn. Tho moment that a lamb hears it's dam's voice it rushes from tho crowd to meet her, but instead of finding tho rough, well-clad comfortable dam which it left an hour or more ago, it meets a poor naked shrivelling—a inost deplorable-look-ing creature. It wheels about, and uttering a loud, tremulous bleat of despair, Hies from the frightful vision. The mothers voice arrests its flight. It returns flies; and returns again, 'generally ton or a dozen times, before the reconciliation is perfect. A short time since Thonms Wilson, a miller'on the South Fork of Sixes river, started to prospect a claim on the hillside where there was no sign of any work ever having been done. He was engaged in running an open cut, when at a considerable depth under ground he found an old pick of an awkward pattorn, and worn off nearly to tho eye. On the bedrock, at a depth of about ten foot, he also found a small coin a little larger than a dime, apparently composed of a mixture of gold audjeoppcr. It was very rusty; but ou being oloaused, letters or characters of some kind are distinctly visible. They aro not Chinese nor English, aud tho experts of the camp are Borely perplexed. They are huntiug for a Daniel to deciphor the character. It is evident that the earth whore this coin was found bad never been moved by the present generation' of men, and the question naturally arises whether, in the dim and unknown past, some other peoplo had mined for gold in that unattractive mountain gorge, the last traces of whose work have long since disappeared upon tho surface. The subject opens a field for conjecture. —Coast Mail, Oregon. • While in Sydney lately, tho men of tho Gorman war-ship Bismarck had a friendly rowing match in outtors with the men of H.M.S. Wolverine. The contest excited a considerable amount of interest, not only amongst the. various warships now iu harbour, but.also amongst peoplo ou shore who became acquainted with what was going on, aud whojiissombled in considerable numbors on the points overlooking the course of the boats- The cutter of the Wolverine was manned by a crew of ten, including Mr. Banyard the coxswain, while the Bis-; marok was represented by a crew of twelve The race was for £24, and the courso was from Farm Ceve, around tho s.s. City of Sydney (lying in Lavender Bay), around Pincbgut, back and around the City of Sydney again and back to Farm Cove. The boats got away well together, but unfortunately one of the Wolverine's crew, named Henry Tuffnell snapped his. oar at the start, and as there were no spare oars in the boat, and he could render his shipmates no help, in that spirit which has often characterised a British man-of-war's man, he determined that ho would be no obstruction to them, and at once jumped overboard, thus leaving a orew of only nine British, seamen'agaihst the dozen Germans. Notwithstanding this disadvantage, howevor tho WoWerine's cutter went ahead, and oame in a. winner by about twelve lengths. Tho pluoky fellow who jumpod overboard from the Wolvorine's outter, was picked np by a waterman's boat. Astronomers in Tsrious parts of tho world are on the out look for the return of one of those mysterious visitants whoso composition and functions have ever orcstcd so muob diversity of opinion in the scientific mind. The exported event is the' reappearance of Bielsa comet.

This luminous visitor was first discovered by an Austrian officer named Biela in 1126, but has been supposed to lie indentical with with one seen in 1772 and 1805. Its period has been calculated at 0} years. It was next observed in Nov. 1832. It has since returned to perihelion six times but has only been visible on three occasions. In 1815 it was seen to split into two distinct comets having separate nuclei, with parallel tails. But according to Sir David Brewster it afterwards resumed its single state. On this point however authorities differ as I in the March of 1856 the distance between I these bodies was estimated by other as- ! tronomers at 180,000 miles and on their return iu August 1852, the distance was found to have increased to 1,605,000 mile?, and thoy were then and henceforth regarded as two separate bodies. Sir David Brewster further writes :—" M. Damoiseau having predicted that this fact excited much alarm iu Baris, and M. Arago was summoned from his studies to allay the terror of the community. The fears of the people will not, however appear unreasonable when we recollect that Sir John Herachel has stated, that the orbit of this comet so nearly intersects that of the earth that an actual collision is not impossible, and indeed must iu ail likelihood happen in the lap:,o of somo millions of years." Astronomers assert a connection between the non-ap-pearance of these comets on their return to perihelion, and the abundant moteoiio j showers observed at that period ; notably in 1859 and 18Go, and which in eonneu- i tiou with their waning brilliancy and the rapid separation of their components, ic- ' duces the inference that the comet is uxhausting itself. Should it again appear j it will nv). ; t probably do so between the present date and the 15th proximo. It, will be visible to us iu the north-western ; hauvei.B. j A German engiuoer, JJ. Sprinz, h?.s been engaged in conducting some interesting experiments, on a small scale, on the extent to whioh various powders may be solidilied by the action of powerful" pressure. For this purpose ho made use of a piisra of steel, pierced with a hole in the direction of its axis; this hole was filled with the powdered substance rammed down tightly with a piston, and these were then subjected to a pressure of about 20,000 atmospheres by means of a powerful vice. Under this treatment Baltpetre and uitro powders yielded perfectly homogeneous transparent blocks, like porcelain, harder, and more resistant than if they had been obtained by fusion. Sawdust, under similar pressure, yielded a substance considerably harder than the wood it originally formed part of, but the toxture of the now material was far from uniform. In the direction of the pressure the blocks exhibited great resisting power, but at right angels to that direction they broke very readily. Lime-dust and the dust of a common grindstone gave no result at all when treated dry, but line dust that had been slightly damped bi - came so oompact and hard it was almost impossible to remove the blocks formed from the apparatus. Protectionist Doctrines are making such headway across the Channel that a new association is about to be formed under tho auspices of Mr. Pouyer-Quer-tier, the object of which is to impose a tax upon all foreign ladies imported into France. English, American and Canadian beauties are, it appears beating the home products entirely out of tho marriage market so that Mr. Pouver-Quertier proposes to tax the imported wives in a sum equal to tho tenth part of the fortune of the importer. The Postmaster of New York has issued an imploring notice to the public to direct their letters more carefully—it boi.'ig stated that there are often as many as 00.000 imperfectly directed letters posted in that city in one day. Moreover many people omit to add the State in which the town where the correspondent resides is situated, and that this in itself is ft difficulty- may be gathered from the fact that the United States can boast of 18 Brooklyn*, 20 Williamsburg*, 5 Baltimores, 10 Bangor*, 12 Bostons, 10 Bulfalos, 17 Charlestons, 4 Ch.io.igos, 8 Cincinnati*, 15 Louisevilles, 7 I'liilladi.ij.hu.-' 'k& hj. liuioi d., ;•;) Spriaglielde, o Omaha*, and 3d Washingons. "Au industrious man at Yangehuu" (says the Celestial Empire) " determined, to clear away some rubbish that remained of the ruins of a dwelling that had been J burnt during the occupancy of that city by the Taipiug rebels, and to plant vegetables on the spot. Having reclaimed the ground, he proceeded to dig, arid soon came to ajar, which, on opening, he discovered to be filled with gold. Watohing uu opportunity to carry it away unobservod, he conveyed tho treasure to his own house, staggering under the load. Tlie first thing that lie did was to destroy certain papers which were laid orer the gold in tho jar. Gradually he invested the money in houses and lands, disclosing his good luok to few until he got secure from melestatiou. Latterly he has become unhappy; his peace of mind has gone for aver! A friend suggested that the documents which ho liad destroyed contained information a* to the localities of other deposits of gold. The thought was dreadful, and he suffers from the upbraidings of wife, paronts, children, and other dependents,. besidos constantly reproaching himself. But tho papor* were consumed by fire, and tho oshe* afford no consolation. When he wa» a poor manihe seldom lamented hie poverty, now that he is rich, ho bomoan* his pitiful condition, for ho fully believes that but for the destruction of the papers he might have spout all his life \t counting his money."

. A singular case of fruit-poisoning . came under pur notice a few days ago. A family were enjoying a pie made of rhubarb, which had been preserved in tins, when they commenced to feel very sick, and afterwards vomiting ensued. An enquiry into . the cause of the sickness resulted in one of the members of the fomily taking' up the tin, and finding that some of it was coated over with rust, the acid having eaten away the tin, which was in solution, causing the sickness. The attack was a very severe one, and continued for tho space of an hour, not ceasing until, by the aid of emetics, tho poisoned fruit had been removed.— Thames Advertiser. The London Times says of the gun" boat fleet ordered by China, of whioh four have arrived on the coast and the remaining four are an route for China, that each of the wasps is capable of penetrating the armour of the Indexible without beiug liable from the extreme littleness and end-on position in time of action to run much risk of being hit in return. Each has a displacement of 400 tons; speed, nine knots au hour; draught, eight feet; with 27 £ and 38 ton guns, worked by hydraulic power. The Times assorts that the power and range of these guns are enormous. .They hare a superiority of peuetrative power of 25 per ceut. over the guns of the Dreodnaught, the most formidable of English warships. The gunboats are named after the first letters of the Greek alphabet. The New York Commercial Bulletin says:—lt is tolerably certain that the Chinamen will speedily lind business for these vessels iu sealing the long outstanding account thoy have had with Japan. It thinks they may also try conclusions with Russia,- whose hostile disposition on the western frontier is becoming more and more pronounced, and which lies orouchiug liKe a lion in the near-by island of -t>!iguali»n. There is a talk of the Duke of Argyll intending to marry agaiu—to lire. Ausqji, widow of the lato Colouel Anson, M.P., and daughter, I believe, of the Bishop of St. Albans. But a far moie interesting subject to the Upper Ten is tiie case of Colonel Wellesley, late military attache at St. Petersburg, mid now first Secretary of Embassy at Vi-nna. No young niau has had such prospects of promotion as he, but he has dashed all his chances by an indiscretion. He has been the hero of an unpleasant scandal anent an actress, and as the Queen is slow to forgive peccadilloes of this description, when her notice is officially called to them, Colonel Wellesley is going back to soldiering. Sixty years ago a young Italian was condemned to death for a political offence. The scalfold was erected, when he found means of esoape. He finally lauded in England—a stranger, and unable to speak the language, and he began to teach his own. For ten years'he lived a life ef penury. One day he found a friend in iloscoe, author of " The Life of Lorenzo the Magnificent," who gave him tetters which obtained him employment at Uni Tcrsity College. One of tho letters was to Sir Henry Ellis, who was then Chief Librarian of tho British Museum. Two years later, when Brougham interested himself in the young Italian, this letter to Sir Henry no doubt helped to obtain for hire tho position of Assistant Librarian. He was thirty-four when he entered the Museum, and at forty he was appointed keeper of the printed book?, lie instituted wise reforms, administered his department with groat skill, and showed a marvellous knowledge of books ; and, with a liberality which is creditable to the Government of the time, when destii onco more made tho higher place vacant, he was elevated to the post, and, being naturalistd, ho was knighted. This, in a nutshell, is the brief history of Sir Antonio Panizza, Librarian of the British Museum, who lately died at the ripe old age of eighty.