Untitled

Inangahua Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1310, 15 October 1883, Page 4

An ejUraoidiuuiy s-teie was that "v\li <h lecently took pluii- in a church iv Connecticut. Ti»e bnilding belongs to t' if Baptists; bur, n. sect of Congr •^rationalists ejiU-:rtaim-d a design of tit king pos:-essioii of tin; building by force, in the hope of " converting the Uai Lists." The pastor of the Con I regationalists. full of zeal, determined to invade the church on a certain day, and to baptise a number of children in the spacious font or reservoir set apart for ihe purpose. He entered the Inilding unexpectedly, accompanied lv h portion of his flock with their children, and no one but the verger bang there, he was master of ihe situation. The latter, however, at Once infornit-d his pastor of what was going forward, but before lie could arrive with his followers the font had linen filled with water, and the baptismal cex'emony had commenced. A 1 attle ensued, the principal combatants 1 eing the two pastors. Clothes were torn to shreds, umbrellas were broken up, blows were exchanged freely, and finally the two commanders-in-chief rolled together into the reservoir. Here they continued their combat, conscientiously trying to drown each other, whilst their, respective flocks looked on. Finally, as it appeared likely that both would be drowned, they were drawn out of the water by a rope, dried in the vestry, and l'estoied to consciousness by energe ie friction. The result of their immersion was that their ardor has cooled dow n.

There is in Hampshire county, in Virginia, a human monstrosity which excels anything Barnum ever exLihited. It is a young woman, or child, born in Pennsylvania in 1565, and therefore eighteen years old, who is in everything but age, an infant. She is the daughter of Mr John E. Miller of Shanesville. A gen+lemau "\vho recently saw her, learned her age from reliable authority, . found her lying in a cradle. She is twenty-eight iuches in height and weighs but twenty-five pounds, she cannot walk or talk, and eats nothing but milk, which is fed from a bottle. She has, however, a quick perception and remarkable memory, and a brief poem or sentence repeated to her once, and weeks after again repeated with but one word varying, arouses her anger, and she frowns at the changed word. An article laid down in the room in her sight may be allowed to remain for days, yet an inquiry for it will" be answered by the child by pointing in its direction. She is quite an attractive baby; and no reason for her stunted growth has ever been assigned. The facts narrated above seem to be well attested, and many physicians have ■visted the child without bi-ing able to even conjecture the cause of her condition.

Writing on tho land-grant railway projects and the alienation of large tracts of territory in Western Australia, a recent correspondent of the ''Perth Inquirer" says : — "I am not surprised -that Mr Carey has dissented from the recommendations of a majority of the committee appointed to consider the amendments to the land regulations, on the ground that they are opposed to the trne interests of the colony. I may also mention the tracts of country applied for last month by Messrs Cruickshank and Co., of Victoria, encompassing no less an area than l ,824, 000 acres in the northern district; 1, 340,000 acres in the eastern district, applied for by Messrs Sep, Burt and Co. of Perth ; a small estate, comprising 51 2,000 acres afc Hampton Plains, leased in blocks of 64,000 acres to the Earl of Carnarvon, Sir «. R. W. Herbert, Sir Julius Yogel, "ir A. O.Ttepney, Mr Win. MeKinnon and other capitalists, -v^ith a preemptive right of purchase in fee.

The Marlborough "Daily Times*" says that alter twenty-five years' active service, Judge Johnston retires from the Judgeship of the Supreme Court of New Zealand, aud that Mr Conoliy, the present Minister of Justice, will accept the vacant position. We are sure no one in the col ny will grudge Mr Johnston his leisure after being so long connected with the judicial bench. And it is not only iv that capacity that he has rendered sterling service to the State. From his position on the Statute Revision Commission he has contributed in no small degree to simplify — if that were possible and consolidate hundreds of Acts which are on the >ew Zealand Statue Book. His standard work of reference for Justices of the Peace is also another instance of his splendid ability.

A meteorite which fell in the provinre of Entre Rios, argentine Republic, has teen examined by M. Daubree. The meteorite recalls certain kinds of lignite and clay coals, such as the boghead coal. In the black paste of the nietorite are to be seen email angular grain* of a bottle, green of a hyaline colour, others again are •whitish. The whole appearance of the stone resembles some of our volcanic conglomerates. Brass-yellow grains like pyrrhotine are also visible, find reddish spots like the chloride of iron sometimes seen in meteorites. Chemical analysis shows that the meteorite contains iron, lime, and magnesia. The. most important peculiarity of the meteorite is, however, that it contains carbon in an organic form. This is chiefly proved by the action of potash on it. In fact, Dr. Daubree liopes yet to find a metorite bearing organic remains. Other carbonaceous meteorites have fallen in divers places, V)ut none, so far as we are aware, have yielded traces of organic life. The theory of Sir William Thomson, to the effect that metorites have brought the seeds of life to earth, may, after all, have something in it.

Sorne researches have rrcentle fern made on tit flora of tbe amber-bearing iorwatipus of East Prussia ' y Mcssr*

Goeppc-rt In ancient times there must have been in this part of Europe a group of conifers comprising specimens from almost all parts of the world. Among the spleudid specimens of the California coniieira were the red wood, the sugar pine, and the Douglas spruce; and of the examples of tbe Eastern States were the bald cypress, red cedar, thuya, and the Finns rigida, ; from the eastern coasts of Asia where the Chilian insense cedar, the parasol fir, the arbor vitre, the glyptostrobus, and the thuyopsis ; cypress of Europe, and the callitiis of Southern frica. It appears that the deposits of amber for which the Baltic is noted are the product of generations of resin-bearing trees. The richest deposits are situate along a strip of coast between Memel and Dantzic, through the real home of amber has been supposed to lie in the bed of 'he Baltic between Bornholm and tlio mainland. It rests upon cretaceous rocks, and consists chiefly of th'jir debris, forming a popular mixture known as blue earth, which appeals to exist throughout the province Samland at a dupth of 80ft to 100 ft, and to contain an almost inexhaustible supply of am tor. Immense quantities of amber are washed to sea from the coast or brought down by rivulets and cast up again during storms or in certain winds. The actual yield by quarrying is 200,000 ib to 800,0001 b a year, or five times the, quantity estimated to be cast up by the waves on the strip of coast above-mentioned. . •

Don't die in the house. — " Rough on Rats " clears out rats, mice, beetles, roaches, bed-bugSy flies, ants, insects,' moles, jack-rabbits, gophers. 7|d. Moses, Moss & Co., Sydney General Agent.