MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VIII, Issue 432, 10 April 1875, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

The trial of what is announced " Bowman's Improved Reaper " has taken place in South Australia and hts received high commendation by a portion of the press in that colony. This, we submit, is much to be deprecated in the particular instance under notice. The so-called improvement consists in attaching a cleaning apparatus to the present Ridley micliine, known here as the "Adelaide stripper." By his patent Mr Bowman claims to be able to effect a still further reduction in the labour required in harvesting by this machine, but this, •we fear, is being obtained at too high a cost in another direction. One of the leading drawbacks to the stripper at present consists of the foul condition it leaves the land in, by grain being dropped in the stripping and left in the straw. Stuhbleburning and the growth of wild oats are effects involved in the use of the Adelaide machine, sufficieutly pernicious ; Bowman's * patent, however, proposes to aggravate these evils % blowing out all the drake and other weed seeds, jtnd distributing them over the field as the stripper proceeds. The curious cases which we recently mentioned of persons, one of whom swallowed a fork and another a thermometer, are completely overshadowed by that of an individual who recently died in an asylum in Prestwich, England. A medical contemporary, in its account of the post-mortem examination, gives the following catalogue of the contents of the .man's stomach :- 1,639 shoe pegs, 6 nails four inches in length, 19 nails of three inches, 8 of two inches, 58 of one inch ; 39 metal eyelets, 5 copper screws, 9 copper buttons, 20 scraps of buckles, 1 pin, 14 bits of glass, 20 pebbles, 3 pieces of twine, a fragment of leather three inches long, a piece of lead four inches long, and a bodkin bearing an American trade mark. In all 1841 objects, a total of 11 pounds and 10 ounces. The person was crazy, and his mania, whenever unwatched, consisted in swallowing any small object. It is remarkable, however, that the functions of digestion could continue with this immense mass in the stomach. Mr Grant Duff, M.P., in his address at the Philosophical Institution of Edinburgh in October last, said : — The words once spoken amongst the Syrian Hills will never lose their echo. The saying falsely attributed to Julian is profoundly true, ■ 0, Galilean ! Thou hast conquered ! ' One mu3t not forget, however, that the victory of the Galilean is the defeat j of antichrist ; and the worst antichrist of our days are the bungling sophists who denounce science and historical criticism, because they do not square with the vile little systems which they, and others like them, have built on those immortal words — who help at our modern musters of those who know— our Darwins, Huxleys, and Tyndalls, as if these were not doing in their own way the work of God in the ( world, as much as even those who have in our times j most perfectly echoed those divine words. This I say, believing that in no time have those divine words been more clearly echoed than they have in ourown, — no, not by the writers of the great hymns of the Latin Church nor the author of the Imitation. A rather amusing scene (says a Sydney exchange) occurred at an inquest respecting the cause of the death of a female infant, whose body was found near a house in Bourke-street. It was quite evident, from occasional remarks made by several of the jury men while the examination of witnesses was pro I ceeding, that something very novel, if not amusing* J must occur before the close of the proceedings. The i jury were asked whether they wished to make further • examination, and one of them thus opened fire :—: — ' (Addressing a witness) — " S'pose now, which was I the best — to send for a doctor or lave the girl in I pain ? " No answer. " Well, s'pose now one of I us fell on the floor with pain, which would it be | better — to lave us on the floor or go for a doctor 1 " ! Witness, cuttingly : " Lave you on the floor." I "Would you ? Then, that's all* I want." Silence | reigned awhile. Then one of the " gentlemen of the j jury " said : " It's my opinion, your Worship, that j the girl as born the child killed it." Similar expressions of opinion were made by one or two others, j and then the coroner again directed the jury. A J decidedly original consultation ensued. Then the foreman advanced to the corner, and thus solemnly delivered hiirself : "We find that the girl bore the darling child, and that it was alive, and now, mon, dead, your Worship, and that it died — that, that the billet-wood — we wouldn't like to say.' Coroner : I " Upon my word." Cries from the jury : "Go along, that's not it." Foreman : " Well, sir, that's my own opinion, and if it's not theirs I can't help it, I suppose." Consider your verdict, gentlemen," replied the coroner with official wrath. Another consultation, and then the verdict was announced to the coroner to the effect that wilful murder had beon j committed by the girl, when one of the jurymen cried out, " That'snot my opinion at all; I never said ! so." " Send for the girl herself, and let us get at the truth," said a second juryman. Another con- j sultation, when a verdict that half of the jury appeared not to comprehend was returned. A great modern writer says :—": — " when a young professional man marries he often fondly imagines that he is acting wisely in choosing his wife from a j family poorer than his own. He fancies that a young lady brought up with few luxuries will be simple in her ideas. He calculates that, having never had money to spend, she will be moderate in her expenditure, that being a poor man's daughter she is better fitted for the part of a poor man's wife, and that, having lived in a household supported on, say, £400 a year, she will be easily able to make ends meet where there is .£5OO. He could hardly nake a greater mistake."