Rhyl Record and Advertiser

L LORD SALISBURY'S ILLXESS. The fallowing official announcement was issued at Hatfield on Monday forenoon: "Lord Salisbury InJ a restles-s night. His condition is otherwise unchanged. Fortunately the restlessness of the n_!14t, though in itself an uafavourable sign, was Wtt attended by any appreciable diminution of strength. Buring the afternoon his lordship's con- dition remained unchanged, and in the evening the following official bulletin was issued: "Lord Salis- bury lias had a good day, and there is no material change." This marked some slight improvement in the distinguished patient's health. It appears that although neither Sir Douglas Powell nor Dr. Walker was summoned on Sunday, the latter visited ti e patient late, and remained in attendance throughout the night. Throughoi'.t the day messages of inquiry were e;-ivcd' with little intermission 1'iv.m all over tli" country, and from far-off Simla, and other distant parts of the Empire. The King, Queen, the Prince of Wales, the Viceroy of India, ;¡tl1 other distinguished personages sought iniormation as to Lord Salisbury's progress. I" was officially stated later on Holiday night that the more favourable symptoms were maintained, that Lord Salisbury had passed an altogether more restful day, and had had more sleep, with the consequent result that his lordship had gained slightly in strength.

THE ROYAL COMMISSION ON TRADE DISPUTES. Mr. Sam Woods, secretary of the Trades Union Congress, has addressed the following communica- ti :i to the secretary of the Royal Commission on Trade Disputes Ir. reply to your invitation to give evidence be core the Commission, I beg respectfully to decline such invitation on the following grounds 1. Because the composition of the Commission is solely representative of capital, no representative of labour being appointed, although representations w re made to the Prime Minister to give labour representation on the Commission. £ To give confidence to the working classes such a Commission should have been fairiv representa- tive. 3. Because the Commission is regarded by trades unionists s being unfair and one-sided. d. Because- it has been decided at a representa- tive conference of trades unionists that no evidence should be given before tlw Commission until after the Trades Union Congress at Leicester ivTvt month, when the whole question respecting Commission will be discussed.

A CANDIDATE'S ADVENTURES. Mr. Stewart, the Unionist candidate for Argyll- shire, was proceeding in a yacht along Loch Eil, on Monday, when the top cf the engine cylinder blew the yacht's machinery being wrecked. The engine-room staff fortunately escaped injury. Sails wre set to prevent the vessel drifting ashore. The candidate, with Lord and Lady Arthur Ce it. ashore, where they chartered a contractor's loco- motive and travelled to Ballachuiish. Lady Arthur occupying a seat on the coal tender and Lord Arthur acting as engine-driver.

LONDON STEAMER IN DANGER. The General Steam Navigation Company's excur- sion steamer Mavis, which left Boulogne at ten o'clock on Tuesday morning on her return to Mar- gate and London, was unable to weather heavy seas outside Boulogne, and was obliged to put back. about four miles out off Wimereux, the Mavis ir-arts* foundered. She vrns struck 1,\ a -udd'ei •squall, and heavy seas broke over the stern, swept tit" decks, stove in the doors, swamped the cabins, and Hooded the engine-room. The captain, fearing that the fires would be extinguished, put about, and with great difficulty returned to the harbour in th" teeth of a south-westerly gale. Seventy passengers were landed.

p —— EX-OFFICER LIVING IN A TENT. The public examination of X. A. Berkeley Dealtry, lately an officer in the Army, has been ordered by Mr. Registrar Linklatcr, at the London Bankruptcy C xirt. to stand over the long vacation, it being stated that the debtor was residing in a tent some- where 011 the coast of Cornwall, and wai without in 'His. The failure is attributed to the debtor's InLJility fur the prizes given to dog shows held by the Ladies' Kennel Association in 1902. He was sued fort he money for the prizes, although, as he asserts, he received no portion of the show takings.

A PRISON EXPERIMENT. An interesting experiment is being made at Dart- moor Prison to raise young convicts to the level of Lr.v a b i d i n g manhood. A Times correspondent, who describes the experi- ment, says in Dartmoor Prison at the present time tu -re arM as many as forty-six boy conv icts under the age of twenty-one. They would not be there, o: course, if they had not committed serious crillws; but they are mere boys all the same. Two are murderers. Some of them may prove to he "mis- iias an eminent mind-specialist calls them, and incapable of living permanently straight lives if left to themselves. The majority, however, are capable of being educated in the paths of virtue. Thirty-two of the youngest convicts have been picked out, after careful consideration of their j--cords and apparent dispositions, as the most likely to benefit by the scheme, and have been formed into a class by themselves. After morning prayers, while the other convicts are parading for la hour, they have a quarter of an hour's brisk in their own yard. Then they march off to on" of the old French war prisons, where part of the ground-floor has been fitted up as a carpenter's s:t .p. It is an important part of the scheme that every lad should be turned out with a thorough knowledge of some trade at which lie can earn a living, and it has been found in practice that the only of which a young convict is pretty sire not to grow tired is carpentering. After leaving the workshop for the day they go to lessons with the schoolmaster. The school desks and blackboards (all made by themselves) are briiight out into the middle of the hall, out of which their cells open. The lessons vary with the clays of the week. The library books set apart for them are, of course, carefully selected. As might be expected, tl" most popular stories are of adventure and travel, such as you would find in the library of any boys' school. Many of the lads also study practical handbooks on carpentry and building, and. with the aid of cardboard scales and rulers, make draw- ings of machinery and buildings on their slates. During the summer the lads keep the flower- garden in order, mowing the lawns and weeding an I watering the flower-beds. These outdoor o<: pat ions prevent the youngsters from getting '•>"ale"at their indoor work: and the spirit of J- althy emulation is fostered by giving each lad a llov.er-bed to do his level best with. So far, the experiment has been justified by its results. Years 1111Lt elapse before it will be possible to claim complete success—to point out this and that honest, man who had the foundation ot ris honesty laid in the special at Dartmoor.

During a military f<;te at Spezia a portion of the ruins ot the ancient baths of Silenus, on which a number of persons were standing, collapsed. Fifty people were thrown into the sea. No life was lost, but several persons were injured. Knrly on Tuesday morning the Crown Princess of ■ltoumacia gave birth to a son, who will r- ceive the name of Nicholas. A girder of the new bridge over the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway :11 Ageerol't. near Man- chester, tell on Sunday night and completely blocked both the mam lines. The traffic 011 Mondav had to be work' d by circuitous routes. On Saturday the town of Thornton, in Fil'eshire, was thrown into a sta.fi- nf excitement by receipt ot a telegram that an excursion from the town had met with an areident resulting jM two men and a boy being kWled. The post-office repeated the tele- gram on request lh>- wives of the men were in a great state, hut. on 1111" arrival of the excursionists, it only a cruel hoax. A memurd tablet for hie Empress Frederick v> as solemnly tin* eih-d in the Knglish Church at. iiomburg on Sat unlay. The memorial takes the form of four relict's p\:>ced iu the spandrels ot th" arches illt ilt, aisle, ivpre-eie ingthe four Kvang-liats, and a tablet with an inscription beneath. Manv of the survivors from the Paris railway disaster are suffering from the poisonous gases inhaled during the ibght. Five are said to have since died. BUTTONS ON THE BACK OF A COAT. When a man carried a sword he held his sword belt in place by means of two buttons on the back of the coat. But though swords and sword-belts have long gone out of fashion the two buttons on the back of the coat still remain, and no man would consider his cutaway or his frock coat properly- finished if it did not have two buttons placed in the smat of the back immediately above the coat tails.

QUAINT HOUSEHOLD REGULATIONS. The following curious regulations for the house* hold of Henry VIII. are taken from an old MS.: His Highness's baker shall not put alum in the bread, or mix rye, oaten, or bean flour with the same; and, if detected, he shall be put in the stocks. His Highness's attendants are not to steal any lacks or keys, tables, forms, cupboards, or otker J furniture, out of noblemen's or gentlemen's house where they go to visit. The officers of his privy chamber shall be loving together, no grudging nor grumbling. There shall be no romping with the maids on the staircase, by which dishes and other things are often broken. Care shall be taken of the pewter spoons, and that the wooden ones used in the kitchen be not broken or stolen. The page3 shall not interrupt the kibchen-maids. Coal to be only allowed to the King's,Queen's, and Lady Mary's chambers. The brewers are noc to put any brim- stone in the ale.

0 I TYPOGRAPHICAL ABSURDITIES. A newspaper man wrote an ad for a theatre, and in it soad From liallf-past eight ilirkil half-past ten You laugh and laugh and laugh again. The style on that paper called for expressing the hours by figures, so when the ad appeared it read like this: From 8.30 to 10.30 You laugh and laugh and laugh again. One Sunday a preacher took for his text, "Be ye therefore steadfast," which, being interpreted in the weekly paper, meant, Be ye there for breakfast." Style is everything in a newspaper office, and some papers speli "theatre," "centre," "livre," and so on with a final "er." That is why one of these papers a while ago announced that a celebrated French actor received a salary of "300 livers." It would be a long story to tell in detail how mix- ups happen, but they that really do happen can be doubted by no newspaper man whose knowledge of the business ever led him to explorations of the mysteries of the composing room, as well as the somewhat intricate mazes of the editorial room. And so this heart-breaking account of a marriage may be vouchd for as an actual occurrence: "The church was finely decorated with holly and evergreen and the altar was hidden in a wealth of flowers. Out of the recesses rose rare tropical plants, and frcm the ceiling hung fifteen Western veals, which at this time of year are scarce and correspondingly dear, who wore a white corded silk, a creation of Worth's with pearl ornaments. Then came the maid of honour, the cousin of the bride, Miss Henrietta Blower cf Chicago, wearing a dress of white tulle, with diamond ornaments, and she was followed by a small bunch of Montana sheep, who after the ceremony was over were served with a sumptuous dinner at the house of the bride."

NAMKS OF THE MONTHS. January was named after the Roman god Janus, the deity with two faces, one looking into the past and the other gazing forward to the future. February comes from the Latin word februo, to purify. It was customary for the Romans to observe festivals of purification during that month. March owes its name to the old God of War. Among the Saxons this month was known as Lenct, meaning spring, and this is the origin of our word Lent. April was named from the Latin aperio, to open, in signification of the opening of flowers. The Saxons called the month East re, in honour of their Goddess of Spring, from which comes our word Easter. May- was named after the Roman goddess Maia, and June was so called in honour of Juno. July was named in honour of Julius Caesar, and August gets its name from Augustus C:e3ar. September is from the Latin septem. seven, this being the seventh month according to the old Roman calendar. October, November and December also retain the names by which they were known under the old calendar, when there were but ten months in the year-octo, novem and decern meaning eight, nine and ten.

THS CAT AND THE RATS. Here is an amusing specimen of macaronic verse: Felis sedit by a hole, Intentus he, cum omni soul, Prendere rats. Mice cucurrerunt trans the floor, In numero duo, tres, or more— Obliti cats. Felis saw them, cculis; 'I "I'll have them," inqait he, "I gue33, Dum ludunt." Tunc ille crept towards the group, "Habeam," dixit, "good rat soup- Pingues sunt." Mice continued all ludere, Intenti they in ludum vera, Gaudenter. Tunc rushed the felis into them, Et tore them omnes limb from limb, Yiolanter. Moral. -4 Mures cranes, nunc be shy Et aurem pnebe mihi, V Benigne. Sit hoc satis "verbum sat." Avoid a whooping big tom-cat Studiose.

THE PROCESS OF DIGESTION. First, in the mouth the food should mix thoroughly with the saliva, which is slightly alkaline, its most potent agent being an active ferment known as ptyalin. This acts directly upon starchy foods, converting them into sugar. The saliva has no special action upon albuminous or fatty matters. Nevertheless, all food should be thoroughly masti- cated. The foods are next received in the stomach, there to meet with the gastric juice. By what is known as the churning process of the stomach the contents are reduced to a viscid fluid mass known as chyme. The proteid parts of the food are con- verted into an absorbable substance called peptones. These being diffusible, or capable of passing through animal tissues, are believed by many to be absorbed through the walls of the stomach. During gastric digestion the entrance to and exit from the stomach are tightly closed, but when completed the pyloric valve opens and the chyme passes into the small intpstine or second stomach—the duodenum. This substance is now composed of digested, undigested. and partially digested foods, which consist of the starch which was changed into dextrine, starch which has undergone little or no change, fats wholly unchanged, and the proteids not changed into peptones. These are now acted upon by the bile p(, i and pancreatic juice, which, in turn, converts the starch into dextrine, the proteids int-o peptones, and emulsifies the fats. iNext comes absorption through | the minute blcod-vessels of the intestines, and then assimilation takes place.

CHEMIST'S DEATH BY MISADVENTURE. Mr. Charles Whitworth Matthewman, analytical cli.'niist, Hall Gate, Doncaster, died under distress- ing circumstances on Sunday. The evidence at the inquest on Monday shewed that Mr. Matthewman, who was employed at the Great Northern Railway Company's Works, rose early on Sunday morning, arid after going downstairs to see if there were any returned to his bedroom with a glassful of 1 ■■iriey-water. Shortly afterwards he cried out Mother," and added something about poison, which his mother could not understand. She found hira/an his bedroom unconscious. Medical aid was summoned, but he died later in the morning.—Dr. (rh.ver said he had no doubt that Mr Matthewman (/¡",1 from cyanide of potassium poisoning. His l>e.room was full of chemicals used in his business, <111, there was some of the poison in a tumbler. It ■was the most deadly poison known to chemists.—A verdict of death from misadventure was returned.