Richard Gibson, the dwarf, married Anne Shepherd, another dwarf. Each of them was only 3 feet 10 inches high. They had nine children, of whom five lived to maturity, and were of a proper size. Richard, the father, lived to the age of 75, his little widow to that of 89. It is presumptive, that the dwarf size is only occasioned by some obstruction during utero—gestation. The full size of the children proves that nature does not perpetuate abortions.
Cruelty and Epicurism.
A sharp axe, on the principle of a punch, is used in slaughtering bullocks, not to kill them at once, but to cut a circular hole in the skull, into which a stick is introduced to stir up the brains, for the purpose of making the meat more tender! The throat is not attempted to be cut till after the infliction of this torture, horrible even to think of, which instantly causes the most convulsive agonies, such as are never seen in death of any other kind.
Lord Somerville's mode of pithing animals, brought forward with the most humane views, is a horrible operation. The body is deprived of sensation, while the living head rolls its eye in agony on its tormentors.—Sir Everard Home.
USEFUL DOMESTIC HINTS.
APPLES.
The preservation of apples is now brought to great perfection, by keeping them in jars secure from the action of air; but there is one method of preparing them for culinary purposes which is not practised in this country. Any good baking sort, which is liable to rot, if peeled and cut into slices about the thickness of one-sixth of an inch, and dried in the sun, or in a slow oven, till sufficiently desiccated, may be afterwards kept in boxes in a dry place for a considerable time, and only require to be soaked in water for an hour or two before using.
At a recent meeting of the Horticultural Society, a large collection of the best late varieties of the apple, as grown in America, were exhibited. It was a remarkable circumstance, that, while these fruits are unusually handsome, none of them, except the New-town pippin, were, although sweet and pleasant, comparable to our fine European apples; and yet the New-town pippin, the only good variety, is as much superior to any variety of apple known in Europe as the others were inferior.