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Colonist, Volume III, Issue 285, 13 July 1860, Page 3

Rifle Corps Antics.—An allusion to the Rifle Corps movement reminds us of the numerous complaints that have been called forth in various parts of the country respecting the freedom with which some of the members use the deadly weapons placed in their hands, to the annoyance of their neighbors and "the safety of the Queen's subjects. These antics on the part of young and foolish men must be discountenanced by the strongly- expressed voice of public opinion, and, when necessary, by the strong arm of the law. The other day a young rifleman was brought before one of the Ldndon police-courts for shooting a lady's dog on a common in the vicinity of the metropolis, under circumstances both irritating and unmanly. After committing the act, and alarming a small party, he and two others ran away with true Falstaffian courage. As the offender tendered an apology, no fine was inflicted, but the sitting magistrate read him a severe lecture on the impropriety of his conduct, and the case was dismissed. In Scotland these pranks have assumed a still more alarming form, shots having preforated the interior of dwellings, and in one instance a passer-by was seriously injured. We hear in our neighborhood of freaks equally scandalous and reprehensible.. Perhaps a little target shooting, now that Summer is approaching, may absorb much of this superfluous energy and capacity for mischief; but the remedy rests with the rifle corps bodies themselves. Any member who thus misconducts himself should be immediately dismissed, and that in a way which will brand the dismissal with ignominy. Such a course would speedily put a stop to the foolery. : Geography of Consumption. — Consumption originates in all latitudes—from the equator, where the mean temperature is eighty degrees, with slight variations, to the higher portion of the temperate zone, where the mean temperature is forty degrees, with sudden and violent changes. The opinion, long entertained, that it is peculiar to cold and humid climates, is founded on error.

Far from this being the case, the tables of mortality warrant the conclusion that consumption is more prevalent in tropical than in temperate countries. Consumption is rare in the arctic regions, in Siberia, Iceland, the Faroe Islands, the Orkneys, Shetland, and Hebrides. And in confirmation of the opinion that it decreases with the decrease of temperature, it is shown, from extensive data, that in northern Europe it is most prevalent at the level of the sea, and that it decreases with increase of elevation to a certain point. It is uniformly more fatal in cities than in the country. Dr. Hall, in the ' Journal of Health,' says to his consumptive friends:— 'You want air, not physic; you want pure air, not medicated air; you want nutrition, such as plenty of meat and bread will give, and they alone; physic has no nutriment; gaspings for air cannot cure you; monkey capers in a gymnasium cannot cure you; and stmulants cannot cure you. If you want to get well go in for leef and out-door air, and do not be deluded into the grave by a dvertisenaents and unreliable certifiers."