Miscellaneous Extracts.

Cromwell Argus, Volume I, Issue 20, 30 March 1870, Page 3

Miscellaneous Extracts.

Photographic portraits (says the London Athenaeum) are likely to become as cheap as pippins—two or three a penny. We have a<,eu " mechanical photographs," printed with printers' ink. They are necessarily as permanent as printed text, and so easy of production that 12,U00 may -,be produced from a single plate in one day. They may be printed on any sort of paper, and with any wid.h of margin. It is a complete revolution. The Nelson Eveniny Mail states that a hearty welcome has been accorded to Mr iKynnersley by the miners of Wangapeka, to whom his appointment to tho Wardenghip appears to have given great satisfaction. Andrew Bee, the Norwegian soldier of the Fourth Michigan Cavalry who captured Jetf Davis—the same man whom Secretary Stanton promised a gold medal for the deed—is a resident of Janesville. Andrew is a tinsmith, and is at present engaged in a hardware store, and he states, in the voice of a genuine hero, that had he known as much wiien he captured Jeff as he does now, he would have shot the old fellow on the spot, as he deserved. This Bee will probably get himself into a democratic hornets' nest. A French contemporary tells a curious story of a photographer's revenge. A Moldo-Wallachian prince had his likeness taken by one of those scientific artists the other day, and was so dissatisfied with the unflattering result, that he declined to pay for it. Thereupon the photographer had a large number of copies struck off, and offered them for sale as portraits of Traupmann. The success of the experiment was prodigious; and the Moldo-Wallacbian prince awoke one morning and found him self—or, more strictly speaking, his portrait —infamous ! We need hardly add that the money was soon paid,' and the obnoxious portraits taken out of the artist's windows. Recently an old gentleman died in England who directed in his will that his body should be taken outside the Needles, and deposited in the sea. The above strange injunction arose from the following cir cumstances : —lt appears that he entered into matrimonial relationship with '"sweet seventeen" and the union between " January and May" did not prove more happy than is usually the case. During one of the little breezes which disturbed the calm of their domestic atmosphere, the young wife exultingly expressed her confident hope of " living to dance on his grave." The couple seem to have been well matched, as in oi'der to deprive her of the above innocent amusement, he dictated the singular i provision in his will already alluded to The executors of the deceased strictly complied with his last wishes ; and, consequently, the young widow is left " to trip the light fantastic," if she feels so inclined, under more favorable circumstances. • A marriage recently took place at Clifton, near Bristol, in which the bride was attended by seventeen bridesmaids, who were clad in white tarlatan, with trains and paniers ornamented with ferns and white roses, round veils, and wreaths of wild roses and hawberries hanging low down the back. A cautious itetniser tells what is the matter with a noted lady in the following terms:—" The Princess deMett enrich is to retire from society for a little while. and is buying lots of edging, insertions, muslins, and so on, which she is making up into little garments too large for a doll and too small for herself." The New York Herald says that Tom Thumb found a beauty in California smaller than his wife, and fell in love with her; but Mrs Thumb soon broke in upon his dream, and brought him back to dread reality. The Messager de Toulouse gives an account of another hostile meeting in France, the combatants being women, whose mode of lighting suggests an improvement in duelling. Annon B. and Jeanneton L. han a difference respecting a sum of fiftyfive centimes which had been lent by the former to the latter. Happening to meet on market day, strong expiessions were used on both sides—one calling the other a " cheat," and the other retorting by the term '' miser." Annon, intent on paying herself, seized the handle of a basket of tggs which Jeanneton carried ; a struggle ensued, the eggs began to fly furiously and fast, and both combatants were freely bespattered al)out tho face and neck with yolk and shell. An elegantly dressed young gentleman in the crowd made him«elf somewhat prominent by inappropriate mirth ; this diverted the anger of Annon and Jeanneton from each other, and their concentrated wrath fell upon the head of him who mocked them. About two-thirds ot the contents of Jeanneton's hamper had been consumed in the encounter; the remaining eggs were expended by the justly indignant women pu the well-dressed offender, to the complete destruction of his irreproachable garments, and the utter confusion of himself. There can be little doubt that the egg might with advantage bo substituted for the sword in Freuch duels. In nine oases out of ten, the damage done, ariil the annoyances inflicted, by the e BS wo fl£ would exceed those whieh aie producv.',H)y the deadlier weapou.

It is our painful duty to record another uielaucholy case of drowning,, by which two young men—Thomas White, son of Mr James White (formerly schoolmaster at Blenheim), and Henry Cleaver, the adopted son of Mr Ockley—lost their lives in the Wairau river, near their homes," on Friday evening last. From what we can learn, it appears that both young men were returning from Pino Valley in the even ug of the above day, and that in crossing the river, Cleaver by some rneaiis was thrown or fell from his horse into a deep hole. White, it is supposed, made for the bank, where he got off his horse, aud, divesting himself of part of his clothing (which was afterwards found on the bank), went to the assistance of Cleaver, who must have caught him by the leg and pulled him under water, as, when the bodies were found next morning, White's leg was firmly grasped by Cleaver, while his arm was stretched out as if seeking for something to hold on by. The two horses went direct home, aud their appearance without their riders gave evidence that something had happened. Search was immediately made, but owing to the night setting in, nothing was discovered until the following morning, when the bodies were found as above. The inquest and funeral were to take place on Monday last. Both young men were the main support of aged parents, and were most highly respected in the neighbourhood.— Marlborough Press. The injection of ammonia into the blood circulation is being practised at home. Dr Tyler Smith, of London, used it with perfect success in a case cf puerperal fever (blood poisoning), in which the patient was tending rapidly to dissolution. He said that he had never before seen a patient recover from a similar condition. Mr Richardson, of Dublin, injected it several times l*meath the skin only in the case of poisoning by tincture of aconite The woman was pulseless, and the extremities as cold as death. She continued pulseless for 35 minutes. After the fourth injection the pulse returned, and recovery soon followed. A slough, about the size of a halfpenny, followed one of the injections. There is a wonderful account in all the French papers of an astounding baby just ' dead, at the age of ten months, t.t St. Ur-' bain, near Lyons. The strongest medical j evidence.is said <o be given that the child was so highly endowed with electricity that all the persons in the same room with him received constant electric shocks. Its end was apparently painless, but accompanied by still more astounding manifests'*, tions. At the instant of death, luminous effluvis. proceeded, it is affirmed by the doctors, from the body of the child, which continued for several minutes after its decease. The case is supposed to be quite unprecedented in the world of science. A discussion arose recently in the forge attached to a veterinary as to the extent of the human powers in the production of shoes for horses. The making of six pairs in an hour is allowed by all competent judges to be something above average work ; and on Mr Taylor, the foreman of the forge department, asserting that he was capable of finishing twelve pairs in an hour, exception was taken to his statement, and a proof of his skill was appointed to take place on Saturday forenoon at 11 o'clock. To give additional interest to the trial, £\ a side was staked. Accordingly, at the time appointed, the contest commenced, and was witnessed during the whole time by a large nunber of students and others. Mr Taylor being ' ably seconded by bis hammerman, Mr D. M ( Farlane. Within tnree minutes and a half of the hour the twelve pairs were all completed, amid a hearty round of applause and the congratulations of those assembled. The iron used in making them was inch by half-inch, and they were all fore feet shoes. They were examined by people competent to judge, and pronounced well made. We may add that the men seemed nowise fatigued by their extraordinary exertions. It would have done a disci pie of the Exeter Hall school good to have seen, as we did, one day last week, a Maori woman supplying the wants of her infant out of one of the latest patented feeding bottles, whether one of Mather's or Maw's we are not quite ceitain. The woman was seated complacently smoking a black pipe, on the doorstep of a public house, out of which a ministering sister issued with the aforesaid bottle, and handed it to the mother, who, promptly withdrawing the " baccy pipe" from between her lips, extracted the air by a vigorous suck from the feeding tube, and then popped the latter into the child's mouth. The little creature liked it, at least we inferred as much from the extraordinary rapidity with which the contents of the bottle disappeared. After this we shall be quite prepared to hear of the introduction of swinging cots and baby jumpers into raupo w hares.— Times (Thames). Amongst the passengers by the Matoaka was the late minister of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church, Christchuroh, the Rev. Mr Grant, who, -with his family, Bailed from Lyttelton for England in that ship. Yesterday, St. Paul's was hung with hlack, and the service was conducted by the Rev. J. D. Ferguson, of Lyttelton. The rev. gentleman chose for his text—" To-day if ye will hear His voice harden not your hearts," and preached an eloquent and impressive sermon, many of tho congregation being moved to tears.— Press (Cauterhury).