GENERAL NEWS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 207, 23 March 1877, Page 9

GENERAL NEWS.

Raciborski, the great German physiologist, states that the heating- of the earth by the sun causes magnetic currents from the equator to each Dole. We should lie, therefore, in the direction of these currents ; if we lie across these the result is unpleasant, and want of sleep is the consequence. The head to the north is the best position, to the west the worst. Physicians who have charge of hospitals all attend to the directions in which the beds are placed, and with the best results. When the Prince of Wales was ill with fever he suffered much- from sleeplessness ; attention was drawn to the position of his bed, which was placed in the proper direction, and with the happiest result. Hawthorne wrote as follow 8 concerning " Spiritualism." Alas ! my countrymen, we have fallen on an evil age ! If these phenomena have not humbug at the bottom, so much the worse for us. What can they indicate in a spiritual way, except that the soul of man is descending to a lower state than it has ever before reached while incarnate ? We are pursuing a downward course in the eternal march, and thus bringing ouraelves into the same range with beings whom death, in requital of their gross and evil lives has degraded below humanity. To hold intercourse with spirits of this order we must stoop and grovel in some element more vile than earthly dust. These goblins, if they exist at all, are but the shadows of past mortality ; outcasts, mere refuse stuff, adjudged 1 unworthy of the eternal world, and, on the most favorable supposition, dwindling gradually into nothingness. The less we have to do with them the better, lest we share their fate. It of ten happens to an actor to find himself confronting an audience with whom he is evidently wholly out of sympathy His i playing may be excellent, and at other times he may be admired • I but occupants of pit and gallery had looked for another sort of entertainment, and will not consent to be baulked of their expected treat. In these circumstances the majority of actors resi<m themselves to misfortune, and go through the performance with the best grace they can assume. We venture to think that they mi<*ht take a hint from the actor, Mr. Samuel Butler, one of whose feats was recorded in a paper read the other day before the Manchester .Literary Club. He was bold enough one evening in a theatre usually devoted to melodrama to personate Macbeth The occupants of the gallery, who had anticipated the ordinary excitinoscenes, were disappointed, and became so demonstrative that it seemed as if the performance must come to an end. At last Mr Butler saw the necessity of throwing a sop to Cerberus, and advancing to the footlights coolly remarked, "I see what you want. He then deliberately drew a chalk line along the middle of the stage, and, "after a word to the leader of the Wd folded his arms akimbo, and then and there danced a Lancashire clo°hornpipe in a manner that brought down the house." Having finished he went again to the front, and thus addressed the now conciliated gallery— "You have had what you paid for- we will now go on with " Macbeth." History does not tell how these bold tactics ultimately succeeded; but they certainly did not deserve to fail. The nuns in the convent attached to the Church of San Lorenzo in Pamsperna are about to be driven from their home in order to give place to one of th* numerous Governmental offices who are said to be required for the ruling of thia unhappy country. These nuns will it is said, be sent to the Convent delle Puri/tcazione, near the Piazza isarberim «m t T^ de 3 OT J "£ iter V ltlie ' Ar S us >' un <*er the norn de plume of "The Vagabond," made, according to his own statements, some startling discoveries in connection with several institutions he visited. He has forgotten one important discovery which he made and as " modest men are of their own merits dumb," I will briefly narrate the facts :— " The Vagabond" is, or was, or professed to be a surgeon ; while on a visit to the Melbourne Cemetery on the look out for material, for a contribution to the 'Argus,' h« accidentally lacked against a hard, white substance among the gravel on one of the paths. Closer examination proved the obstruction to be a bone. Several other bones were unearthed close by, and "The Vagabond," having examined them carefully, carried them into the office, and said to the person in charge— "ls it not disgraceful that human bones are to be found imbedded in the gravel pathways in this cemetery ? Such a state of affairs is a disgrace to our common humanity. How do you, sir, account for the matter ?" "Well," said the person addressed, " I really cannot say anything on the subject just now, but will make inquiries. Are you sure they are human bones?" "Yes," replied " The Vagabond " "I am a surgeon, and lam satisfied they are human bones." He left promising to call next day for an explanation. Shortly afterwards one of the grave-diggers came into the office, when he was startled by the query—" How do you account for human bones bein» found in the gravel walk at the rear of the office P" " Human bones, be hanged, said the grave-digger. " Them's the mutton bones left by my dog. They were found in the exact spot where he plants the bones when he polishes them off." A gentleman called next day and received the explanation, but an account of the startling discovery now finds its way into print for the first time.—' Advocate"' «. I. alleged increase of drunkenness in Ireland has lately been the theme upon which many English public men and English newspapers have preached eloquent sermons, and it is unfortunately too true that the consumption of intoxicating liquors in Ireland is not decreasing—" we own it j we deplore it; we condemn it "—but it is at least some consolation to know that we are not so bad in that respect as some of our neighbors. During the year 1875 it appears that no less than 203,989 persons were apprehended for being " drunk and disorderly » in England-a far larger proportion of the population than the same class of unhappy people in Ireland It is also stated that 450,000 out of the 600,000 paupers iT&XEd have become pauperized by excessive drinking, and that 2 5(X> 000 men, women and children are recorded as being members of drunkards'families. The number of gallons of pure alodwdSitofiSlto

, Bigmncant. The latest return gives the number of pallnnn ni '■ spints consumed in Ireland as 6,176,501.-arißhmtn' * X» M loe ,& ra8 snoppers (say tho 'Creswick Advertiser,' Victoria) ' fairi S? c IT** d | steu «tion with the gardens throughout S S 8 i o ! er there betw een a patch of snow and those heavy boulders' oi^SnFT * VOt A and the Switzer has found he canmise a brt £,££ or flax and some potatoes there. And beyond still is S^fJf 0118 ? £ and ' and the motheT and child ren are mow! S233*t*£S£»S;S2s s " terW to '*-» "•■ • On Friday night, the 16th ult, Mr. L. Kong Meng, the wellImEwi Chm g e ™ er .<* anfc . while standing at the hall door of his house, at Malvern Hill, with two of his little daughters, was surrounded all at once for a few seconds with what appeared to be a blaze of blue name. Ihe electrical phenomenon resolved into a b*ll of fire, which effected a passage through the drain leading from the bathroom, and shivered a large willow tree, standing about 10ft. from the hall door, l lie lightning in finding its way to earth made a large hole about 2ffc "\. dl uT to^ on the Burface of fche gronnd. Thia is the third large tree wmcn has been split up by lightning in the same neighborhood durine the last year or two.— 'Advocate.* 6 i cj. £h l ', Lake Snore Visitor' says :— " Amcng the passengers who left Buffalo on the ill fated train that was wrecked at Ashtabula was Father Albinus, Passionist. He was en route for Madison, a tew miles west of Ashtabula, to commence a mission the following Sunday. But on being told that the train would not stop at Madison he got off at Erie, and was thus probably preserved from an awful death. r> «. T^ c */ ewish World' has made investigations concerning the Protestant sects in England. It finds that they, like the Jew!, are fast becoming infidels. It says : " There are three hundred curacies vacant in the English Church in London alone at this moment, from sheer inability on the part of the. mitred heads of the Church to induce fervent and efiicient young men to enter Holy Orders. An Oxford Professor stated some time ago, that, owing to the latent spirit of religious scepticism at the University, he had not seen a student of superior talent take Orders for ten years. We have caused extensive inquiry to bft made in leference to the condition of the Church of England relative to the point under consideration, and we have unquestionable authority for asserting that large numbers of thoughtful clergymen have long ceased to believe the prominent creeds and articles in the national liturgy, and that as far as possible in their discourses they evade allusion to the \ cardinal doctrines ' they are expected to preach ; and the increasing section of the National Church clergy seize the first opportunity which presents itself to them to quit the pulpit and enter upon lay work, from which they can support their families without any longer doing violence to their consciences by preaching what they do not believe. . . . Similar marks of prevailing alienation from current religious faiths are quite as conspicuous amonff the more intelligent sections of Non-conformists. The popular Baptist divine, Mr. Spurgeon,not long since declared that the Nonconformist pulpit was ' honeycombed with philosophical infidelity * We are, consequently, neither better nor worse off, in all probability, in respect to the encroachment of religious belief and neglect, than other faiths are," 'Charivari ' publishes another Anglo-phobiac cartoon to flatter the chauvin taste of the Parisian public. A French soldier is seated smoking at his ease. Up comes Albion, and with outstretched arms exclaims, " Dear friend, come to my assistance ! What a position for you to take!" To which the soldier replies, "lam taking the same position as you did in 1870." I must, however, admit that this cut very fairly represents the popular belief in France. * Russia permits 337 foreign newspapers, 107 of whicli treat of politics, to cross her borders. The majority of these journals nre German ; but there are 55 English, 30 Slav, 19 French, 16 Swedish, 12 Italian, 10 Greek, and 1 Hebrew. * The Bishop of Cork and Dean Nevi.le have just commenced an important work in the capital of the South. They have re-established the Mechanics Institute which was founded there several years ago and intend to make it. a thoroughly efficient school for uffordfmr technical instruction to the local working men. And yet the Church 13 sometimes accused of fostering ignorance !