FOREIGN MEMORANDA.

Colonist, Issue 60, 18 May 1858, Page 4

FOREIGN MEMORANDA.

Dr. Parola, of Turin, has been prescribing ergot of rye as a remedy for consumption;: and he reports that he has cured 16 cases out of 3Fof confirmed consumption in, an advanced stage. \ A new comet has been discovered by Dr. C. Bruhus, first assistant at; the Royal Observatory at Berlin.. It was observed in the constellation of Andromede, ■'. visible only by telescope. ,; The Impierial Academy of Sciences at St. Petersburg has just instituted a prize for political sciences. The first, : question offered to the competition of authors is the v Abolition of Serfdom:" The essays are i to be written in Russian, German, or J French. The prize is fixed at 500 ducats. We have received from the Red River I settlement accounts of an active agitation going on there on behalf of annexation to Canada. Meetings have been held to petition for deliverance from the authority of the Hudson's Bay Company, and the petitions have been signed by the two archdeacons and all the clergy of the Church of England. The United States possess but 57 ocean steamers, measuring .94,725 tons; a small amount against the %6fQi L of -Cfreat Britain, with their 666,330 tons. : ';. 1 The remnant of the Polish legion raised by Turkey during the war against Russia, and which had occupied the barracks of Haidar Pacha, at Scutari, have lately left for various places. The government presented each officer of the staff with 11,000 piastres, the subalterns, with 5000, the non-commissioned officers with 2000, and each soldier with 500; The Turkish piastre is worth about 4J sous. : : ! The Pope has addressed a letter to the. Emperor of the French, in which after congratulating him ;6n his escape from the assassins, he ..gives his, benediction to the' emperor and empress. . ! Great additions have been made to the; French riavy of late; At the, breaking out of the war in the Crimea France, had only nine steam line-ofrbattle ships, whereas in the course of the present year-she will have 24. The wprk of improvement is not to stop here. ■ 'V.,.""".. . . •.''.'.■ "'. '"■V'.'\"';-' A public school at Brooklyn, says an American paper, hag been destroyed by fire. There were nearly 900 pupils present at the time the fire broke but, and in the excitement attending their exit from the building, seven boys, between tlie ages of six and ten, were crushed, arid suffocated by their companions on th<e middle landing qf the lower stairway* The Neio Yorh~^Tribwie gives a horrible account of an execution in California: —" Three men, Edward M'Canley,. Robert Poor, arid C.C. Lyons,* were hanged for! murder in Sonora on the 11th January.: They were all intoxicated at the time, the sheriff having furnished them with gin at their own request/! One was too drunk to stand. They all confessedl tlieir guilt." - ' The slave trade at Hayanriah is in a very flourishing condition. A slave has driven off by force the Boats of a Spanish war schooner sent tP .intercept her, arid landed her cargo in defiance of the naval officers. Santa Anna is said to be ; preparing at Havahriah, with tlie aid of Spain, for a yigbfpus effort to regain Kis ppwer in ■ Mexico.- '■.• v .' .■'.-; "... •'../-. ~ ,'. ;.'

The plan proposed by M. Thome de Gamond for uniting England and Fiance by a submarine, tunnel has been subniitted to the examination of an official commis4 sion, named by the French Minister of Public Works"; and the commissioners have recommended that a, sum of 500,000 francs be appropriated to examine jthei plans already prepared. "•'' ; ■■■• •- \ ■:■. ;-.,^■'.•-■'■■ \ ; Ttie detachment; oflancefs of thQ giiarcf which escorted the imperial,carriage|to the opera on the night of the Jtth of January, recently went to the Tuileries,'; being composed of two officers, one of them the marecliial-desiogis, recently promoted, one sub-officer, a trumpeter, and 23 privates. Five others, who are still detained in the hospitals by the wpundswhich they, received, could not join their corprades.on this occasion* when they were to receive the recompenses awarded theni by the emperor. After alighting from their horses, the detachment were introduced to the emperor and empress, who received them with the greatest kindness, and presented to each a watch and chain, the former having engraven on the case the letter N, with a crown. The watches of the officers were in gold, and the others in silver. _ Apropos of the impression made upon, the poor empress by the late attempt at' assassination, M. M——, the senator, and her majesty's friend, speaking of a recent i ball, made some remarks on her gaiety; to which the answer was, "Yes, I aih resolved to fly reflection (dem-'etourdir), for my conviction is, that one day our end will really be what was projected the other night.'* ; , t ... •" ? One of the noblest families of Verona, it is related, has just learnt that it has been the victim of an audacious fraud. The young heir to the property having many years ago been put out to nurse, it so happend one day, that he fell from a chest of drawers and broke his arm. Soon after the mother arrived to visit her infant. The nurse, afraid of revealing the truth; presented her own child instead of the little sufferer. The fraud succeeded, and the idei then' struck her that she had better allow it to continue. The young peasant, accordingly, received the education of a noble, and, the no-h bleman was brought up to follow the plpugljj. It was but a few days ago that the nurse, oh her death-bed, confessed her crime. 'The { peasant, her son, is now married to a noble lady, and it is hot known how the interests engaged in /the matter can 3 be; fairly conciliated/ . ':"■ "':.' :'-'" v' "•;;/ :' ' :.: ■.'' ;,' '.'

; The Federal Council of Switzerland has decided that the French and Italian refugees who reside at Geneva, arid dp not exercise any? profession' there, or who carty; on political intrigues, shall be sent to some fixed residence. > A Federal delegate has been charged to see to the execution of tins resolution* : i"

American ladies extend their crinoline beyond the most extravagant measure'of London or Paris Fashions. The patriarch of Utah, in one of his recent sermons, says, "I am not in the habit of saying much about the women; but they are said to be the weaker vessel, but I tell you some of them carry mighty heavy sail.. I advise you, sisters, to take in your extra sail." The Court Journal says that "the greatest marriage which, in point of fortune, can take place in Europe, is about to be contracted at Paris. A Princess Troubetzkoi is about to marry her cousirf, and each of the parties is entitled to' a fortune of £1 00,000 per annum. The bridegroom, a young officer wounded in the Crimea, being left for dead upon the -field, has arrived in Paris for medical advice. He is fast recovering from an almost hopeless condition, with the loss, however, of the left eye and the amputation of the left arm just above the elbow. The mutilation has in nowise affected the sentiments' of the fair intended, who insisted upon accompanying her fiance to Paris, in order to comfort and attend him during his convalescence."

Spurgeon and Slavery.— O ne of our (Gateeshead Observer) readers,' who has got hold of a Spurgeon anecdote, thinks it may do for the Gateshead Observer. So here it is:—An American minister called upon Mr. Spurgeon, and said, in the conversation, .that he had a congregation in the States of 3000 people. Spurgeon': And have you blacks in your congregation?— Jonathan: Ohyesj^ And do you all worship togeather, or^have you partitions and curtains-?—Oh; the blacks are behind a curtain.—And dq.youta'ke thb Lord's Supper with the blacks belling a .curtain ?—Oh, yes.—Now, sir, do you'lcnow What a monomaniac is' ?—Oh, yes. Well, sir, I am a monomaniac on the subject of jslavery.' (And Spurgeon dashed his- ha,hd into his pocket,.and, bringing out his penjknife, opened it.)1 Yes, sir, I'm a perfect 1 monomaniac; I have no control over myself, I sir; and if you stay here ten'minutes longer1, I may put this knife into your hypocritical bosom. So I warn you. jße off/sir! be'off! ; I feel it rising in me". Be qff, I say! * (And ; he hustled Jonathan to the door, nervously handling his knife all the while.) «And did you really mean to stick the fellow V said the friend to whom he relate^ the story. • Why no,' said he,' perhaps m ot quite that;' but I am goingto America before long, and I wanted them to know, befbre'l go,'that they won't humbug me about slavery/ ' ' -