SCIENTIFIC NOTES.

The exhaust of an engine may be deadened by running it through a largo box filled with perforated beads, or with ordin ary pebbles all of one size ; if the box is large, there will be no back pressure made. Another method of utilising the exhaust is to heat tbe feed water.

Another instrument has been contrived for determining the velocity of trains and the efficiency of brakes. Its use has shown fiat a train weighing 150 ton 3 ran five miles five yards after steam was shut off, while travelling at a speed of forty-five miles an hour; the line and the day calm,

One of the French societies in tho interest of the industrial classes has recommended the suppression of all circular saws in work shops whore practicable. The following reasons are given for this action, namely : Such saws are extremely dangerous for workmen ; they require much more force than other saws ; they cut a broader line, and consequently produce more waste.

According to the best scientific authority on the interior finishing of dwelling-houses, wallpaper should not be manufactured, as has always been the case heretofore, in a manner to bo perfectly air-tight._ The reason of this is that,hygienically considered, the walls of a house, like the materials of clothing, should bo' porous, having free in tercourse with the open air. It is also be lieved that waterproof paper, such as In come into such extensive use, causes in creased dampness of the walls, the stoppago of all circulation of air necessarily prevent ing their drying—this prolonged dampness of the walls being unhealthy and productive also of other evils.

An improvement has been made in tho hands of watches, designed to enable tho wearer to see at a glance the ilili'erent times of tho place ho is leaving and the place of destination, or to enable him with one watch to koep both standard and local time. To this end thero is provided a simple device for uniting the two hands. It consists in a groovo turned upon the hub of one hand and a split spring ring formed on the other hand and. sprung into tho groove ; this, by its elasticity, preserves a constant and uniform frictional contact with the other hand, which always maintains its proper relation during the normal movement of the hands, but still permits an adjustment be tweon thorn,so tliattlioy may pointtodifforcnt timos when it becomes necessary to adjust them to the longitude of different places.

Ono of the refinements of mechanical art —as it may truly ho characterised—is a noodle now in tlio possession of Queen Victoria. It was made at the celebrated needle manufactory in Iledditch, and re presents tho column of Trajan in exact miniature. This well-known Roman column is adorned with numerous scenes in sculp ture, which immortalise Trajan's heroic actions in war. On this diminutive necdlo —thousands of which together would 'not weigh half an ounce—scenes in the life of tho Queen aro represented in relief, but, of course, so finely cut and so minute as to re quire a magnifying glnss to bo seen. This wonderful needle, moreover, can bo oiioned, and is found to contain a number of needles of smaller size, the.se being also equally adorned with scenes in relief.

In an account of somo experiments on tho efl'ectof friction between varioussubstancos, a writer in " Cosmos " shows that tho heat produced othor conditions being equal, is in proportion, to tho hardness of tho sub stances, and, on tho other hand, tho greater tho diflbronco in tho hardness of two mate rials rubbing against each other, the loss tho heat produced by the friction, and the hardor of tho two heats more than tho other. In tho relation of those facts to tho compo sition of bearings, it is remarked that tho alloys of copper and tin in genoral use are rarely homogeneous, with tho oxcoptionof that which contains eighty-two to eighty three parts of copper to sovontoen or eighteen of tin ; if there is less tin in tho composition, granulation takes placo during cooling, which alters the homogonoousnoss of the alloy, and causes tho cutting both of bearing and arbor. A good bearing iiliould havo its shell vory hard and durable, its interior being filled up with a softer com position.

A tank in tho Royal Botanic Gardens, London, in which the water is always warm, began to swarm with a vory delicate trans parent littlo jelly fish, new to scientific observers. Tho professors named it Lirana codium Sowcrbeii. Tho tank at certain soasotis of tho year is cleaned out and dried up, and no one could conceive whence the littlo fish came, how it survived, or how it multiplied itself. For a wholo yoar it disap peared, and it was supposed to have died out, whon, this spring, Mr Sowcrby (after whom, it was named) found it in tho tank again, and ho summoned tho wiso men, who, with glass jars, bottles, and nets, captured many' of them and carried them away for examination. Thoy wore placed in the laboratory at University College, in a tank of water always kopt at a fixed temperature. About tho middle of July somo of tho littlo creatures wero seen to throw off crystal globules from their own substance Much as Adam parted with a rib to form himself a Wife, so theso aquatic littlo bachelors ap peared to detach from themsolves ono or more portions of animated matter, which, when first examined under tho microscope, seemed to bo filled; with eggs. Tho in vestigation is still in progress. How our Moaning Is Convoyed to Animals.

A correspondent writes to the "Specta tor":—"Tho following anecdote may in terest somo of your readers :—Somo yoars ago, when starting for a foreign tour, I entrusted my littlo Scotch terrier ' Pixie,' to tlio care of my brother, who lived about three miles distant from my houso. I was away for six weeks, during tho whole of which time ' Pixie' remained contentedly at his new abodo. Theday, however, before I re turned, my brother montioned in tho dog's hearing that I was expected back the next day. Thereupon the dog started off, and was found by me at my bedroom door tho next morning, he having beon seen waiting outside tho house early in tho mornine when the servants got up, and been ad mitted by them. ' Pixie, ib still alive and flourishing, and readily lends himself to ex periments, which, howovor, yield no very definite result. He certainly seemstounder stand as much of our meaning as it concerns his own comfort to understand, but how he does it I cannot quite determine I should be sorry to affirm, clover as he is, that he understands Fn.«'—h ■'■'■A O.r.rai!!, yet it r-, certainly a fact that he will fall back just as readily if I say ' Zttruck I' as if I say 'To heel I' and advance to the sound ' Enavant I' as well as 'Hold up I' As in both cases I am careful to avoid any elucidatory gesture «r special tone of voice, I am inclined to think that there must be here a species of direct thought transference. At the timo I am bound to add that without the spokon ■wordlam unable to convey the slightest meaning to him. This, however, may be duo* to what I believe to be a fact, that it is almost impossible without word or gesture to formulate the will with any distinctness. If this theory be correct, the verbal sounds used would convey the speaker's mean ing, not in virtue of the precise sounds themselves, but of the intention put into

them by the speaker. I should be glad to know if the experience of others tends to confirm this theory, which I do not remem bor to have seen suggested before."

"E.H.J.," in your Saturday's Supple ment to the Star of October 13, asks some one to explain the following :—

Now, if he will look closely into it, ho will find that when adding the 7 to the 17 he is really adding 8 and 9, tho digits of 17 to 7, so when adding the 9 to the 15, he is really adding 8 and 7, the digits of 15 to the 9 ; the same when adding the 8 to the 16, he is really adding 9 and 7, the digits of the 10 to the 8, so that, let the figures be what they may, they will (as in tho diagram) always come -to the same, since in the second adding he adds all the corners together each time. Perhaps " E.H.J." can explain tho fol ing:— From 9876-321 added =15 take 123156789 „ =45 and 861197532 remains=ls then add, the whole gives 1975308612 „ =15 And all containing tho samo digits, but differently arranged, anij all divisible by 9, both backwards and forwards. Thos. Mincher, Burn-street, Great North Road.

THE MISER OF PECKHAM.

O.v the 27th of August a somewhat curious inquest, resulting in a verdict of "Death, from natural causes," was hold on tho ; body of Henry Davies, the hermit in tho South of London, who, by his asceticism and singular habits of life, had como to bo known in tho neighbourhood as "the Old Miser of Peckham." Not that ho was sup posed to hoard up money, for no one know for cortain that ho had any to hoard. He lived alone, however, wont out only in tho dusk to do his frugal housekeeping, and had no acquaintances; and this eccentricity of behaviour earned for him, on purely negative grounds, the unenviable reputa tion which ho carried to tho grave. When tho polico broko into tho houso of the dead man at Peckham, thoy found an empty cashbox, a little loose cash, bonds of incou sidontblo value, and a quantity of legal docuinonts relating to a law-suit, which, from tho fact of one bill of costs receipted, being for six hundred pounds, went to show thnt the miser, if such ho was, showed his ruling passion in a manner vory unusual with misers, that is, in prosocuting a costly action at law. It further appears that Honry Davies had lost his parents, with whom ho lived, some twenty years ago, and' that ever since thoir death ho had main tained tho strictest jwssiblo seclusion. Now bore, if such wore our purpose, is abun dant material for the comploto refutation of tho popular misunderstanding about tbe so called miser, and at any rate a colourahlo justification of his protracted isolation. Wo have noiii—-tion, howovor, of suggesting tho outlines of an apologia ; it is sufficient to show on what vory inadequate grounds tlio charge of miserliness—which, if not exactly a crime, has always found a place among tho things donounced by moralists, just as misers havo always found a placo with " usurers " in the purgatorios of poote—can become formulated against an individual whoso only offence really may bo that ho refuses to explain his conduct and to satisfy neighbourly curiosity. Without breaking any of tlio by-laws or regulations of the parish in which ho resides, he yet puts himself boyond tho - protection of tlio law, in so far as tho conduct of thoso whom he moets in his infrequent excursions is concerned, and fooling contact with the world becomo more and more odious to him, insensibly accumulates against himself tho ill-will of tho wholo com munity. From the parson who finds him impracticable, to the street-boy who resents the miser's removal of bell-handle and_ door knocker, there is a concurronco of dislike. But why ? Simply bocauso tho recluse has sinned against ono of tho radical canons of human existence, which makes it imperative on every man to satisfy the inquisitiveness of his neighbours. Of quite another typo of "miser" was tho old man known a few years ago as "the llormit of Fulhain-marshes," who built himself a log cabin on a site that a water-rat would hardly havo approved, and then crammed it full of ovory conceivable kind of " proporty " ho could lay Ids hands upon. Thoro was nothing top worthless for Ins acquisition. He hoardod what beggars had thrown away ; aild this, too, not apparently from any desire to make monoy, but simply from an irresistible mania for collection. Most children suffer from this weakness at ono timo or another in their lives, and parents and nursos know well what inconcoivablo hoards of rubbish the littlo ones, if unmolested, will amass in tho cupboard cornors wliiek thoy have been told aro "all thoir very own." Poriodical overhauling.-! of theso treasures—eithor bo causo thoy havo becomo too bulky to bo tolerated, or bocauso a lost thimblo is bus peetod to bo among tho proporty acquired by tho innocont littlo miser—reveal a pro misouousness of tho acquisitive appetite that bafllos all conjecture and routs hypothosis. Yet tho child who has accumu lated them values everything impartially, and, whatever be the obiocts selected for romoal to tho dust-bin, those very objects are specially pleaded for, eithor as being uniquo in tho collection or precious abovo all the rest. A child had promised to give away ono of four kittens, and when the presont was claimed, could not decide which was to go. "Shall wo send away Snow ball?" askod tho mother. " No-o-o," sobbed the child, " not Snowball." " Woll, then, Topsy?" "Oh! no-o," was tho reply, "not Topsy." "Then, Ginger. Shall I give away Ginger?" "Oh I please no, not Ginger." "Well, then, wo.I give away TabDy." "No, no, no—any one but Tabby." In the abstract, the child was prepared to part with a kitten, but when it came to either tho white one or the black, the sandy or the grey, its little heart was torn with grief at the sacrifice. So it is with the adult miser. When the police came to ransack the heaps of tho Hermit of Fulham-marshes, they found him just as tenacious of his old potted-meat tins and brimlcss hats or hatloss brims as of his oloctro-plato and clock*. His nffections wore distributed over the whole of his possessions without any difference in degree; they were all his, and, being his, were all alike precious. Now and again, but very rarely, human nature is so com pletely distorted that a rich man values tho actual coins above the comforts and posses sions of which thoy are the current tokens, and eventually dies, half-starved and from want of a nurso, upon his darling bags of specie. These cases, however, are very rare indoed, for the local traditions of the wealth of a miser generally prove to have far ex ceeded tho facts, and sometimes to have had no foundation at all. In the present instance, " tho Old Miser of Peckham " appears to have been really squandering his money.—" Daily Telegraph."

RESTORED TO LIFE.

A Discussion os Two Stbange Cases,

Stra-GE things happen at the San Francisco receiving hospital. Men have been taken thero, battered out of the likeness of humanity, and have beon patched and sewed together until thoy look liko a child's puzzle-map. Women, who once ruled the best society and trotted children on their knee, have been carried there in the filthiest drapery of the veriest drab, yelling out the foulest language and tearing with wild hands at horrible self-inflicted wounds. _ Disgusted poots havo died on its pallets with the last stertorous breaths of chloral-hydrate poison ing, and writers have dropped from This into That in the muddled unconsciousness of profound inebriety. There have been cases there ,jn which all accepted rules of medicine and physiology have been set at naught. In one instanco a Chinawoman, with a skull hacked into furrows by tho cleaver of a murderous " highbinder," had ounce after ounce of her brains removed with a teaspoon, yet lived as though she had been a frog. In another instance a man with a bullet-hole clean through his lungs and tho air rushing out like a furnace blast at each respiration, laughed death in the faeo and still goes about his daily work. TWO STRANOE CASES. More recently a couple of cases have oc curred which have caused somo discussion upon another branch of tho great question of tho tenacity of human life. Thoy have, indeed, brought up another and still more curious and entertaining subject—that, as a debating society might put it—of extinction or suspension of life : wlion does the ono begin and the othor end '! The first case is tho simpler, and is briefly as follow s: A young man named Michael Heeney, while walking down Vallcjo-streot somo nights ago, slipped and dislocated his hip. He was taken to the hospital, where ether was applied. While under the inlluence of the anaesthetic, young Heency's respiration died away, the heart ceased perceptibly beating, tho pulsation was gone, and it was only by iuducing an artificial respiration and by the application of a strong galvanic battery that the boy was " snatched from the grave." The other case presents more remarkable features. A man named William Calhoun wits taken to the hospital, suffering from aggravated symptoms of alcoholism. His wite, who accompanied the patient, said ho had been steadily drunk for two weeks. Almost immediately after his admission he was seized with convulsions and in one he, to all appearances, expired. Dr. Dennis, who was in attendance, saw the man tako three long and fluctuating breaths, saw the respiration cease, the jaw drop, felt tho pulse die out, and was unable to distinguish the faintest heart-heat. "He's gono," said a bystander. Being in an experimental mood, Or. Dennis called to the steward to bring the galvanic battery. To do this tho steward had to walk about fifty feet away, take tho battery from a cupboard, bring it to the bedside and set it in operation—pro ceedings which it is caloulated occupied be tween three and four minutes. FROM DEATH TO LIKE, The poles were placed in the patient's nerveless hands and the button tumod up to the highest notch. At tho same instant tho doctor jumpod upon tho man's abdomen and began the vigorous work of bringing about an artificial respiration. Some visiting Knights Templar were present, and to them the operation appeared repulsively brutal. The man was thrown violently about the bod, the arms wrenched forward and back word, tho patient placed with his head on the floor and his heels on the bod, while all tho time the lungs were compressed and ex jianded by every possible exterior device. All this time, too, the galvanic battery was buzzing away at its loudest, and a stream of electricity was being shot through tho patient's framo which, had he been sensible, would havo knocked him down like a thunderbolt. At last, aftor an hour of this tremendous work, the heart wns felt to begin "a short, uneasy motion," then the lungs began to operate spasmodically but naturally. The battery was now thrown oil", but still the doctor continued his work. When the machine seemed in something liko running order, the stomach-pump was applied, all the bad whisky was drawn out, and at last, after five hours, the patient was left resting comfortably. Next day when tlio doctor visited tho hospital ho found the pationt in a fair way towards complete re covery—which, by-the-by, has been since effected—and shaking half seriously, said : " Well, my man, what news do you bring us from the other side ?"

The patient stared stupidly, and, on his experience being related to him, he con fessed that everything hud boen blackness and blankness to him up to tho time of his being emptied out by tho pump.

THE FIXE DIVIDIWI LINE

This latter case having, as has been already said, somo peculiarly interesting features, a reporter called up Dr. Dennis and asked him the plain and somewhat abrupt question : " Can tho dead be brought to life ?"

" Why not ?" said tho doctor, very seri ously. " Life is a purely mechanical ar rangement, duo to the action of tho hoart and lungs. Stop the action of these organs and death ensues; sot them going again and the man lives once more. But can you do so? you say. Isoo no reason why not, and lam ready to contend that my man was dead and yet by tho application of eloctricity and the inducement of arti ficial respiration I was enabled to bring bun to life. Of courso this cannot possibly tako placo where death has ensued from the de struction of an organ, as, for instanco, con sumption or ossification of tho heart; but where the denth hspjVv.is to a mm organi cally woll conditioned, as, for instance, from drowning or hanging, I see no earthly reason why the machine should not be made to move again. In the case of Calhoun, tlio man cued from a convulsion inducing paralysis of the heart. The means adopted overcame that paralysis, and the man, instead of being buried, is alive and walking about. I know of courso the answer to all of this will be —-" But tho vital spark was not extinct, it was wavering." Well, it was wavering so feebly that it was im perceptible, and if that is not virtually death, I must confess that I am not open to conviction from hair-splitting argument. I contend that the heart may stop and be sot in motion again, but on the other hand I hold that the faintest trace of coagulation of the blood will prove an insuperable obstacle to revivification.

DEATH VS. EXTINCTION. When tho oase was related to Dr. J. J. Clarke, formerly Police Surgeon, he said curtly : " The man was not dead." " How do you know he was not!" " Well, common senso would teach us so in tho first place, and medical science con firms that common-sense belief. All deaths take place in ono of three ways—f_ >tn as phyxia (of tho lungs), coma (of the brain), or syncope (of the heart.) But while death may ensue from only one of theso three causes, resuscitation can only be brought about by simultaneous setting into opera tion of all three organs—brain, lungs and heart.J This wo know to bo the fact, and this I triuno revival, wo know, cannot be effected

by any appliance yet known to human in telligence. Artificial respiration may and does do much to savo thoso who aro appa rently dead, but no artificial respiration could bring a man to life whose brain was dead and whose heart was stopped. Eloc tricity is a wonderful aid to vitality, but the strongest battery in the world cannot make the heart pulsate when once it has ceased."

" Do you know this from experience ?" " I know it from practice. Some two or throe years ago a sailor was being rowed to his ship by a boatman. When out iv the stream the boatman demanded his pay, with a sinister purpose, I believe, and lifted the boathoOk to enforce the demand. The sailor thereupon drew his pistol and shot the boatman through the liver. He was brought to the hospital, and died just as he was laid on the bed. One of the nurses ex pressed a doubt as to the man being actu ally gone, and for experiment's sake I ap plied a galvanic battery to him. Why, sir, I could not even get a single contraction of the cardiac muscles. If there had been a spark ot life left in him it might have beon fanned into a flame, but who shall or can say where that spark is to be sought ? I for one don't oven profess to have the faintest idea, nor do I think the mystery will ever be solved."

'' WHEN DOCTORS DISAGREE, ETC."

Another ex-Police-Surgeon, Dr. Stivers, was next interviewed on the subject, and as he was found in the rooms of Dr. Blach, the veteran city physician, the subject was broached to both at the same time.

"I remember hearing of the case from Dr. Dennis," said Dr. Stivers, "and I re member expressing my doubt to him as to tho complete cessation of the heart's pulsa tion. My opinion is that no case has ever occurred of suspended animation in which tho action of the heart might not have been perceived." "And yet," returned the reporter, "a long list might easily be made up of thoso who have been buried alive after having beon declared dead by eminent physicians. "I doubt their authenticity," said Dr. Stivers, doggedly. " There I beg to differ with you," said Dr. Blach, "and Ido ,so partly from per sonal experience. When I lost my leg se condary hemorrhage set in, my pulse went down lower and lower, until it finally ceased, as far as outside perception went. Ton doctors, good and true, said I was gone, and for the moment my wife was a widow. Yet with my feet in the waters of the river I was brought back by alcoholic injections, and am sound as ever to-day, except that I am less a good leg." "1 don't consider that you were dead," said Dr. Stivers.

"There was but a shadow between it and the real thing, then," answered Dr. Blach.

" Well, in tbe case of the man Calhoun," said Dr. Stivers, "we have the positive assertion that the man was dead, and that ho died from paralysis of the heart, and yet was brought to life again. That, I say, is such a wild impossibility that it would be folly to consider it seriously." INSTANCES AND INFERENCES. " I remember a somewhat similar case," he went on. "I refer to that of poor Hull, who died from paralysis of the heart, the re sult of an epileptic fit. As soon as I had him on the bed I attempted to produce arti ficial respiration, even tried to inflate the lungs by breathing into them, but all, of course, to no purpose. I was working upon a piece of clay." "But you did not try electricity," sug gested the reporter. "Why should I? Electricity at the best could only produce a spasm. The muscular coating of the heart might be affected by a severe galvanic shock, but that would have no more effect upon the valvular muscles, which are within the heart, than an electri cal current applied to a dead eye would mako that dead eye see. It may aid the heart to koep up the motion when it is flag ging, but when the motion has ceased no power on earth can revive it." . " I concur," said Dr. Blach, after the fashion of a Supreme Court Judge. "As in my own case, there must be something to work upon. The pulsation of the heart may be imperceptible even to the acutest ear up plied to tho finest stethoscope, but some where or other is movement and life. Let that go, and death ensues, and when death takes place extinction reigns." " Does not this mean," asked the reporter, " that it is a very difficult thing and deli cate thing to say when a man is really dead?"

" Undoubtedly it does," said Dr. Stivers. "It is a decision that puzzles the best of them sometimes."

""And that will continue to," chimed in Dr. Blach. " The stethoscope is not infalli ble, as Sir John Hunter has proved; tho test of temperature varies with the age and habits of tho patient; rigidity is not a sure sign of death ; nor is the glazing of the uyu alwuys to be depended upon. Putre faction is the only true test and that can not always be watched for. Wo must take our chances, and trust that no one will hurry us into our graves as dead when we are only in a state of suspended animation, But at tho same time wo may as well, give up hoping that when once dead there can be any calling back to life."

More Murders at the New Hebrides.

The French schooner Energy arrived at Noumea on September 28, and reports that three more murders have been committed at Api, and one not far from where the boat's, crew of the Lavinia were recently massacred. Ono of the murdered men was McEwen, an Englishmen ; the others wore a Frenchman and a native, aU In the employ of Messrs Morgan. McEwen was trading at Api,and lived with a sea coast tribe, who had a quarrel with an inland or bush tribe. The inland people wanted a " body " to eat be fore their wounded honour could be satisfied, so a number of them crept through the bush and fired a volley into their adversaries' village, killing McEwen. The Frenchman was in a little cutter buying cocoa-nuts on tho coast of Aoba. A number of natives came on board, and when he was in the act of handing somo tobacco to a native in payment for cocoanute, he was cut down with a tomahawk. A Malicolo native shared the same fato; but a Loyalty Islander jumped overboard and swam to shore amongst friendly natives. Next day the Loyalty Islander ana tho friendly natives recovered the cutter, which had been com pletely pillaged, and navigated her to a place of safety. The two bodies were taken away and eaten by the murderers. H.M.S. Hart shelled the place where McEwen was killed: but directly she ceased firing, the natives opened fire on her from the shore with Snider rifles. The Governor of New Caledonia goes to the New Hebrides in a man-of-war very shortly. He is, it is announced, going to the Island of Vanikoro, to look for more relies of La Perouse's ex pedition. When la the islands, he will take the opportunity of goingto different places to inspect the operations of the French New Hebrides Company,.and will j be accompanied by Mr John Morgan, the I local director of the company.

Effects of Advertising.

"I can't see it," said Buffer. "Nobody reads all these little advertisements. It's preposterous to think of it." " But," said the editor, " you read what interests you?" "Yes." " And if there's anything that you par ticularly want you look for it?' "Certainly." "Well, among the thousands upon thousands who help to make up this busy world of ours everything that is printed is read. Sneor as you please, Ido assure you that printer's ink is the true open sesame to all business success." And still Buffer did not see it. He didn't believe that one-half of those crowded ad vertisements were read. " Suppose you try the experiment," said the editor ; " just slip in an advertisement, of the want of one of the commonest things in the world. For the sake of the test I will give it two insertions free. Two will bo enough ; and you may have it jammed into any out-of-the-way nook of my paper you shall select. Two insertions of only two linos. Will you try it ?" Buffer said of course he would try it. And he selected the place where he would have it published—crowded in under tho= head of " Wants."

And he waited and saw the proof of his advertisement, which appeared as fol lows :

Wanted.—A good house-dog. Apply to J. Buffer, 575, Towser-street, between the hours of six and nine p.m. Buffer went away Bmiling and nodding,. On the following morning he opened his paper, and after a deal of hunting he found. his advertisement. At first it did not seem at all conspicuous. Certainly so insignificant, a paragraph, buried in such a wilderness of paragraphs, could not attract notice. After a time, however, it began to look more^ noticeable to him. Tho more he looked at, it the plainer it grew. Finally it glared at him from the closely-printed page. But that was because he was the person, particularly interested. Of course it would appear conspicupus to him. But it would, not be so with others.

That evening Mr Buffer was just sitting down to tea (Buffer was a plain old-fashioned man, and took tea at six) when the door bell was rung. The servant announced that, a man was at the door with a dog to sell. " Tell him I don't want one."

Six times Buffer was interrupted whilei taking tea by men with dogs to sell. Buffer was a man who would not lie. He had put his foot into it, and he must take it. out manfully. Th.e_twenty.hird applicant was a small boy with a girl in company, who had a ragged poodle for sale. Buffer bought the poodle from the boy, and im mediately presented it to the girl, and then, sent them off.

To the next applicant he was able truth fully to answer : ' ' Don't want any more— I've bought one." The stream of callers continued until nearly ten o'clock, at which hour Buffer locked up and turned off the gas. On the following evening as Buffer ap proached his house he found a crowd as sembled. He counted 39 men and boys. There were dogs of every grade, size, and: colour, and growl and howl. Buffer ad dressed the motley multitude, and Informed them that he had purchased a dog. " Then, what dyer advertise for ?" And Buffer got. his hat knocked over his eyes before he reached the sanctuary of his homo. Never mind about tbe trials and tribula tions of that night. Buffer had no idea that there wero so many dogs in existence. With the aid of three policemen he got through alive. On the next morning he visited his friend the editor. The advertisement "wanted"' was taken out, and in the most conspicuous place, and in glaring type, he advertised that he didn't want any more dogs. And for this advertisement he paid. Then he, went home and pasted upon the door " gone, into lhe country." Then he hired a special. pnliccman to guard his property. From that day Josephus Buffer has never been heard to express doubts concerning - the efficacy of printer's ink, neither has he. asked, " Who reads advertisements ?"

A Fashionable Scandal.

Here's a delicious piece of scandal, fresh, from one of England's most fashionable, seaside resorts. It appears that a young lady living at a neighbouring seaside town, went by steamer to see some friends, nt the fashionable town, and on board, the boat got into conversation with two other young ladies, and so well did they agree that she accepted their in vitation to call and see them and their uncle, with whom they were living, the> unci; being a major in a well-known regi ment. A day ,or so after her arrival, she r called on them, and was shown into a. gaudily got-up room, where the major and another man were sitting smoking. After being saluted by the two men, she inquired for the major's two nieces, but, much to her astonishment, the major declared that he had no such relations, and that she must ■ mean someone else, at the same time asking her to have a glass of wino, but this-. she refused, and quickly left the house. Upon returning to her friend's house, Bhe told them where she had been, and,much to iler horror she learnt that she had been in. ono of the worst houses in the town, and. she likewise discovered that the two ladies. she met on board the steamer were living under the protection of the major. We are informed that legal proceedings will be immediately commenoea, for it has como to - tho knowledge of this young lady's parents and friends that she is not the first female that has been trapped to this den, and her friends and parents have also learnt that she is about the only one that has left that i house the same as she entered it.

My Lords and Peacocks.

One of the earliest indications of tho ap proaching mental aberration of George HI. was his declared intention of beginning his speech from the throne with " My lords and' peacocks." Against all remonstrance, he porsistod in his purpose, but the crisis came before the day of opening Parliament. No one could understand the phrase till Pro fessor De Morgan, long after, gave a happy conjecture in a letter to Sir John Herschel, who had heard of the story at the time. The old kiug knew Shak- ■ spere well. In " Hamlet" there are several places in which Hamlet seems on the very point either of disclosing his step father-vm-nyorrivinghimßome reproach, . but breaks off and substitutes something. In one case, where'" ass "is clearly coming,, he makes it " peacock:"—

" For thou dost know, 0 Damon, dear, This realm dismantled was Of Jove himself; and now reigns here A very, very (ass) peacock." Now George 111. hod old score recollections of the House of Commons. I suspect that when his mind was in his wanderings he determined to be revenged, and to say, " My Lords and Asses," and he remembered and imitated Hamlet's substitute.—"Leisure Hour,"

STAR SATURDAY SUPPLEMENT, OCTOBER 27, 1883

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