Miscellaneons.

Colonist, Issue 12, 1 December 1857, Page 4

Miscellaneons.

A Nation of Shopkeepers.—All men, taken singly, are more or less selfish; and taken in bodies they are intensely so. The British merchant is no exception to this rule; the mercantile classes illustrate it strikingly. These classes certainly think too exclusively of making money; they are too oblivious of every national consideration but that of extending England's (i. c. their own) commerce. Chivalrous feeling, disinterestedness, pride in honour, is too dead in their hearts. A land ruled by them alone would too often make ignominious submission— not at all, from the motives Christ teaches, but rather from those Mammon instils. During.the' late war, the tradesmen of England would have endured buffets from the French on the right cheek and on the left;

their cloak they would have given to Napoleon, and then have politely offered him their coat also, nor would they have withheld their waistcoat if urged; they^ would have prayed permission only to retain their one other garment, for the sake of the purse in its pocket. Not one spark of spirit, not one symptom of resistance would they have shown till the hand of the Corsican had grasped that beloved purse; then, perhaps, transfigured at once into British bulldogs, they would have sprung at the robber's throat, and there they would' have fastened, and there hung—inveterate, insatiable,— till the treasure had been restored. Tradesmen, when they speak against war, always profess to hate it is a bloody and barbarous proceeding; you would think, to hear them talk, that they are peculiarly civilized—especially gentle and kindly of disposition to their fellow men. This is not the case. Many of them are extremely narrow and cold hearted; have no good feeling for any class but their own, are distant, even hostile to all others; call them useless; seem to question* their right to exist: seem to grudge them the very air they breathe, and to think the circumstance of their eating, drinking, and living in decent houses, quite unjustifiable. They do not know what others do in the way of helping, pleasing, or teaching their race; they will not trouble themselves to inquire: whoever is not in trade is accused of eating the bread of idleness, of passing a useless existence. Long may it be ere England really becomes a nation of shopkeepers.— Shirley. On Oatmeal and its Uses.-—'The oat is distinguished by its remarkably nutritive quality compared with other grains. This has long been known in practice in the northern parts of our island, where it has for ages-formed the staple food of the mass of the population, though it was doubted and disputed in the south, so much so as almost to render the Scotch ashamed of their national food. Chemistry has, however, set the matter at rest, and has brought oatmeal again into general favour. We believe the robust health of many fine families of children who now feed upon it in preference to wheaten flour is a debt they owe, and we trust will not hereafter forget, to chemical science. The portion of the oat crop consumed by man is manufactured into meal. It is never called flour, as the millstones are not set so close in grinding as when wheat is ground. Oats, unlike wheat, are always kiln-dried before being" ground; and they undergo this process for the purpose of causing the thick husk in which the substance of the grain is enveloped to be the more easily ground off, which it is by the stones being set wide asunder, and the husk is blown away on being winnowed by the fanner, and the grain retained, which is then called groats. The groats are ground by the stones closer set, and yield the meal. The meal is then passed through sieves, to separate the thin husk from the meal. The meal is then made into two states; one fine, which is the best state for making into bread, in the form called oatcake or bannocks; and the other is coarser or rounder ground, and is in the best state for making porridge-— (Scotch pan-itch.) The fine meal is best adapted for making bannocks or bread. There is no doubt that the round meal, properly made, makes the best porridge— that is, seasoned with salt and boiled long enough to allow the particles to swell and burst, when the porridge becomes a pultaceous mass. So made, with rich milk or cream, few more wholesome dishes can be partaken of by any man, or upon which a harder day's work can be wrought. Children of all ranks in Scotland are brought up on this diet, verifying the poet's assertion— -~.'.

The halespme parritch, chief o' Scotia's food.—Burns. * Forfarshire has long been famed for the quality of its brose and oatcake, while the porridge of the Borders has as long been equally famous. It has been proved by the researches of Professor Johnson and others, that the Scotch oatmeal is the most nutritive meal we have, and also that the bran of wheat, though less readily digestible, contains more nutritive matter than the whole interior of the grain. Brown bread, therefore, which contains a portion or all of the bran, is to h$ preferred, both for economy and nutritive quality, to that made of the finest flour. There are persons who assert that there is no economy in baking at home. An accurate attention to the matter, deduced from the statements underneath, enables us to show that a gain is made of from l|<i. to 2d u on the 4 lb. loaf: —4 lbs. wheatmeal made 7 lbs. 9 oz. bread, or 3^ lbs. gain on .4 lbs. of flour. 4 lbs. seconds flour made 6 lbs. of bread, or 2 lbs. gain on every 4 lbs. of flour.'— From Stephen's Book of the Farm.

Roman Coins.—The excavations necessary for the new road now in course of construction on the estate of Major Sibthorp at Canwick have revealed many relics of the past. The last discovery of interest would seem to denote that during the Anglo-Ro-man period the Canwickhill was a station— and possibly an important one—of the then powerful and warlike rulers of Britain. This appears the more probable because the site is a commanding one, and especially applicable for military operations ; and it is a well-known and oft-recorded fact that the Romans generally raised their works anc^ fixed their camps upon the br-ow of some Kill overlooking large tracts of country. Of this abundant evidence presents itself in this city and neighbourhood, and scarcely in any part of Britain are there more remnants of the enterprise, might, and magnificence of the Romans to be found than in Lincoln. The other day a number of small brass coins, evidently from a Roman mint, were dug out at'Canwick at a depth of 18 inches from the surface. The majority are in a high state of preservation, especially some of the time of Constantine, commonly known as the first Christian Emperor, whose son Constantinus died A.D. 340; consequently they musthavp been struck previous to that date. The final abandonment of the island by the Romans occured about A.D. 414, and doubtless the

Roman coinage continued to circulate until that time, and, it may be, until superceeded by the Saxo"n currency. A small brass coin lying before us is comparatively little impaired by the immense lapse of years it must have lain in the ground; the obverse, which is sharp, clear, and distinct, has upon it the helmed head of the Emperor and bears, the inscription " constantinvs AVCr"(Constantinus Augustus). The reverse is less distinct but upon it may be traced two winged figures apparently in an act of ovation, and an inscription which, though partially erased, in all probability was " victoria brittastmcm." Though the statues of marble, the arches of triumph, the gorgeous palaces reared by the monarchs of the empire of Rome have been razed to the ground and have crumbled into dust, these, in themselves, paltry coins remain monuments of the might of the age they represent, and record fresh as the day they were coined such great historical facts. in their inscriptions as " Victoria Brittanicse " and " Judse Captse."— Lincoln Times.