MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 375, 8 October 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The advocates of cremation mutt look to their laurels, which appear likely to be wrested from them by a German savatn, Dr yon Stembeis. His proposed method "of disposing of the bodies of the dead provides agaiust injury to the living while it offers no violence to the feeling which shrinks from destroying the corpse of a beloved friend er relation. Decomposition it, of course, an innocuous process, proTided its results cannot infect the air. Dr yon Steinbeii, therefore, proposos to cover the body with Roman or Portland cement, which hardens into » solid mass,|and renders the escape of noxious gases impossible. According to his plan the corpse would be placed in a sarcophagus of already hardened cement, the cavity in> which it reposed could be filled up with the same material, tnd both would harden together into a thick slab of a substance resembling stone. Thus the deceased, buried in this manner, would rest within, imtead of under his tombstone, and grave and monument be composed of the same block of imitation granite. When the International Congress at Brussels was proposed, it was feared in military circles at Berlin, we learn from the Fall Matt Gazette, which gets its information from the Borrenzetung, that England would not be disposed to make any important concession as to the use of explosive projectiles in time of war. It has been ascertained that in> 1868, when a similar meeting was held at St Fetersbargh,. the English G-overnment instructed its representative to be very careful in avoiding any measure which would be calculated to hinder the improvement of weapons used in warfare,, adding that England cannot forego the advantages it has hitherto derived from his superior mechanical skill and inventive spirit in this respect. At the same time, reference was made to a statistical report prepared in the French War department from which it appeared that the losses of armies in battle since the introduction of arms of precision and * long-range guns have been relatively much less than when the old-fashioned artillery and muskets were in use. In the battle of Friedland, for instance, the losses of the French were 14 per cent, and of the Russians 30 per cent, of their respective troops ; at Wagrarn, the French lost 13 per cent, and the Austrians 14 per cent ; at the Moskowa, the French 33 per cent, and the Russians 44 per cent ; and at Waterloo, the French 36 per cent, and the allies 30 per cent. Forty years later, when the new arms had been introduced, the loss of the French and Austrians at Magenta was 7 per cent each only ; while a: Solferino, the losses of the French and Sardinians were 10 per cent, and of the Austrian* 8 per cent. The London correspondent of the Otago Daily, Times says : — Mr Stanley, who first achieved distinction by the discovery of Dr Livingstone, is about to undertake another, and in some respects even more difficult, expedition. His old journal, the New York Herald, and its London exemplar, the Daily Telegraph, have joined their forces, and have resolved to send Mr Stanley out to Zanzibar, in order to prosecute enquiries into the manner in which the now notorious East African slave trade is carried on. He is also to be despatched, in the modest words of the Telegraph, with the object of " pursuing to fulfilment the magnificent discoveries of the great explorer, Dr Livingstone, and of completing, if possible, the remaining problems of Central African geography-" To enable him to carry out thisambitious programme, the expedition under Mr Stanley's command is to be fitted out in th« most thorough wanner, without regard to expense, while no limit is given to the length of time during which it will prosecute its researches. There is thus every prospect of Dr Livingstone's work being taken in hand by an experienced and energetic successor, under whose direction some important and interesting results are likely to be arrived at. It is well known that tho slave trade is conducted on this coast in & particularly bntal' manner, and also that the treaty for its suppression negotiatedwith the Sultan of Zanzibar by Sir Bartle Frerehasnofc effected the results expected from it. It is more than su»pected, moreover, that both the Sultan and the other leading inhabitants of Zanzibar, Europeans as well as Arabs, are directly concerned in the maintenance of the traffic. Mr Stanley has therefore a dangerous as well as difficut task before him. The fitting out of an expedition like thi' for so great a purpose, and at so large an outlay, is a strikig evidence of the increasing influence of journalism. Sboni the expedition be in any degree a success, it is probable tit it will prove but the precursor of others by which humany and science cannot fail to be largely benefited. Apropos of some of tho members being burned in effig in Auckland, the following conversation was overheard i the lobby lately. A wag was chaffing a certain meinbr from Auckland about his effigy being stuffed with kauri gut The lion member, laughing, said, " Kahore, I don't care i F-I-G- for them." Tho wag gave the report by saying, " X but you're Lucky that you were not in Auckland at t) time.'"— Tribune.