greater part of an acre-was burning, the fire, doubtless, originating in the slag, &c., being thrown down in a heated condition. Steam also evaporated from the surface, and penetrated into the cellars and other parts of the houses just above. An excessively offensive smell pervaded the atmosphere of these dwellings, the inhabitants of which were afraid of ultimate suffocation. An examination was made, and it was found that the waste "made ground" and parts of the long length of road were not only burning, but in a red-hot state. Arrangements were at once entered into with the Sheffield Water Works Company, from whose mains a copious supply was poured on the surface. As soon as the water spread over the fiery mass, a series of explosions took place. Since then, the supply of water has been constantly kept flowing, with the effect of considerably reducing the fire. The sewer has been opened and puddled up, so as to prevent the effluvia and steam entering the dwelling-houses, and deep trenches have been cut in various directions to obviate any possibility of the fire extending. In parts the ground has been completely burned away for a depth of seven or eight feet, and we are informed that the total depth of the "tip" through which the smouldering fire has obtained a hold is not less than twelve or thirteen yards. The surface is still exceedingly hot in some places.

28. BICYCLE TRIP.-Mr. James Wood, of the Pickwick Bicycle Club, has accomplished a journey on his bicycle, from London to Bath and back in thirty-seven hours, having been in the saddle two whole days and one night, with short intervals for meals and one hour of sleep.

THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AT LIVERPOOL. The visit of his Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh to Liverpool, for the combined purposes of attending the Liverpool Musical Festival, opening the new building of the Seamen's Orphanage, and laying the foundation-stone of the Art Gallery, took place this week. The Art Gallery is to be erected at a cost of 20,000l., by Mr. Walker, the Mayor of Liverpool, for the benefit of the public. After laying the first stone of the building in the presence of a large concourse of spectators, His Royal Highness went to the Kensington paradeground, to review the assembled Artillery and Rifle Volunteers, numbering 3,500, under Colonel J. C. Jones. He was thence conducted to the residence prepared for him, as guest of the Liverpool Corporation. This was in Newsham House, the mansion in Newsham Park belonging to the town, and commonly occupied by the Judges during the Assizes. The Duke was present the following day at the Musical Festival, and on the 30th he formally opened the Liverpool Seamen's Orphanage, which has been recently erected in Newsham Park, at a cost of 25,000l.

30. MURDER AND SUICIDE AT PLYMOUTH.-A murder and suicide under very distressing and peculiar circumstances occurred at Plymouth to-day, a man killing his wife and taking his own life whilst waiting in a solicitor's office for the rectification of a

deed of separation between them. The murderer and his victim were called Thomas, and the husband, a retired builder of Portsea, had settled at Plymouth with his wife but a few months since, and they were apparently very well to do; but they lived very unhappily together, the husband being jealous and addicted to drink. The wife was frequently beaten severely, and her face was covered with scars from her injuries. At length she determined to separate from her husband, but he objected to a deed being drawn up, principally on the ground of the division of the wife's property. Afterwards, however, he gave way, and they met at Messrs. Whiteford and Bennett's offices to sign the deed. They were together for some time, and then the husband left, and Mrs. Thomas told one of the clerks that she feared her husband would do her an injury. Little notice was taken of this, and the woman was left alone. The husband, having procured a razor, returned to the office stealthily, and at once cut his wife's throat and then his own. Within a few minutes both husband and wife died without saying a single word about the distressing affair. At the inquest held on the bodies the jury returned a verdict that "Amelia Thomas was murdered by her husband, who afterwards committed suicide whilst in an unsound state of mind."

AN ARMLESS WOMAN.-A remarkable account is given by a local journal of an armless woman, of Jevington, Sussex, who has been recently married. She is a very good reader, writes very nicely and rapidly, is a member of the choir of the parish church, and has learnt to play upon a concertina, her feet, and especially the left foot, being the implements which take the place of hands. Amongst other things she manages to do fine needlework and fancy embroidery for sale. She is a skilful cook and dresses herself completely with very little aid. Most of her work is performed sitting on the ground.

OCTOBER.

2. EXPLOSION ON THE REGENT'S CANAL.-Shortly before five o'clock this morning a dreadful explosion, which alarmed nearly the whole of the metropolis, occurred on the Regent's Canal.

Five of the small boats known as "fly barges," about half the size and draught of a Thames lighter, started from the City Basin of the Regent's Canal Company in charge of a steam-tug. They were laden with general merchandise, consisting of nuts, coffee, sugar, rice, &c.; the middle boat, called "The Tilbury," being stored with four tons of blasting powder. Each boat was in charge of three men—a captain and two helpers-the small vessels being the property of the Grand Junction Canal Company. They passed the Zoological Gardens, and were near what is known as the North Lodge Bridge, when the barge containing the powder ex

ploded with a tremendous noise, blowing the boat containing it to atoms. The bridge is situated at the end of the Avenue Road, and opposite to the Regent's Park Baptist College, and at its foot was the lodge from which it takes its name. The first effect of the explosion was to blow the bridge, which was of iron and brick, to pieces, the fragments falling into the canal and choking up the stream. The men who were on the boat were of course killed instantly, and their bodies blown on to the bank, where they were found by the officials of the park shortly afterwards. The men on the other barges were, strange to say, not dangerously injured, though three of them were taken to St. Mary's Hospital, Paddington. The lodge itself was a complete wreck.

The affair produced a perfect panic in the neighbourhood. For more than half a mile around, windows in the houses were smashed, Venetian blinds torn from the sashes and thrown into the rooms, curtains blackened, and furniture broken in many cases. Numbers of the inhabitants rushed into the streets in their night-dresses, screaming for help, and it was some time before quiet and order were restored. The fire brigade heard the noise, and several engines were shortly on the spot, but their aid was not required. Such was the force of the explosion that it put out the lamps at the Great Northern Railway Station, King's Cross. It also severely shook the St. Pancras Station of the Midland Railway, but did not do much damage to the structure. Its effects were very severely felt at the goods station at Camden Town, which had several of its windows broken, and a portion of the roof damaged. The explosion caused great commotion amongst the animals in the Zoological Gardens, and their howling added considerably to the excitement which the disaster occasioned in the neighbourhood. All the glass houses in the tropical department of the Botanical Gardens were more or less damaged.

Later reports give the particulars of immense destruction of property, and had the accident happened at almost any other point of the canal, the loss of life, which, as it is, was confined to the three boatmen, must have been frightful. At the bridge under which the explosion took place, the canal is carried between two steep banks, which to a very great extent deadened its force, and the immediate neighbourhood is not crowded with buildings. The lodge of Mr. Edwards, the park-keeper, was blown about his ears, but of six persons who were in the house, Mr. Edwards himself was alone hurt. North House, the mansion of Mr. Ochse, a German merchant, who lived exactly opposite the bridge, was dismantled. The adjacent row of buildings, called Lancaster Terrace, suffered most severely; but, in truth, all the property within a mile felt more or less the effects of the shock. The wave movement of the air, crossing Primrose Hill Park, fell with a peculiar force on the north-eastern angle, near the Chalk Farm Tavern. Although at least 1,000 yards distant, there was but one shop in Regent's Park Road that escaped. In St. John's Wood the da

mage was very extensive; one of the chief sufferers being Mr. Alma Tadema, in Avenue Road. It is only quite recently that Mr. Tadema has become a permanent resident in this country, having received letters of denisation from the Queen, and the house intended as his home was filled with everything that an artist could desire, and fitted with all that the highest taste could suggest. Each room was decorated in a special style; the walls and staircases were lined with photographs, drawings, and pictures, and the idea which governed the whole had been carried out to the minutest detail. In all the rooms fronting to the park the ruin is complete. Mrs. Howard Paul, who also resides in the Avenue. Road, had a very narrow escape :-She was awakened by a terrible concussion, which seemed, as she said, like an earthquake, and at the same moment the window came flying in with a crash. As a great deal of gas is burned in the house, she at once feared that a burner had not been turned off, and that an explosion had resulted. She knew that it would be dangerous to strike a light; so, getting down-stairs as best she could, she examined all the gas-burners. Finding these safe with the exception of one, which she plugged with soap, she returned upstairs, and, lighting a match, was able to examine her room. She found that the window had been entirely blown in, and that round where her head had lain the glass was driven in large and small pieces into the wall.

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At the inquest held on the bodies of the victims before Dr. Hardwicke the minutest inquiry was made into the manner in which the barge was loaded, and the regulations under which such dangerous cargoes are allowed to be carried through the metropolis. It apppeared that, in addition to the four tons of gunpowder, the Tilbury" carried six barrels of petroleum, and there was no restriction against the lighting of fires in boats so laden. The verdict, which was not given till October 19, was to the effect that the three men were killed by the explosion, and that this was caused through the ignition of the vapour of the benzoline on board the "Tilbury" by the light or fire in the cabin of the barge. They added an opinion that the Canal Company were guilty of gross negligence in the matter, and that the existing laws are inadequate to secure the public safety.

A crowded meeting was held at the Eyre Arms, St. John's Wood, on October 5, under the presidency of Mr. Forsyth, M.P. for Marylebone, when resolutions were agreed to, appointing a committee to collect subscriptions for the poorer class of sufferers, and organising a deputation to the Government, with a view to the prevention of any such calamity in future. Various public bodies in the metropolis have subsequently formally expressed their opinion as to the necessity for more stringent legislation with respect to the storage and transport of gunpowder.

7. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AT DEVONPORT.-The Duke of Edinburgh laid to-day the foundation-stone of a new wing of the Royal British Female Orphan Asylum at Devonport. The ceremony took

place at noon, His Royal Highness driving to the spot in the carriage of Sir J. St. Aubyn, M.P., in company with the Port Admiral, the Hon. Sir Henry Keppel. In the procession which preceded the Duke, rode Sir Massey Lopes, Civil Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Eliot, Capt. the Hon. Charles Eliot, Sir John Duckworth, Lord Blachford, Sir Frederick Martin Williams, M.P., and Mr. Carpenter Garnier, M.P.

10. CREMATION.-Much has been said lately in favour of the advantages of disposing of our dead by cremation rather than by our present system of burial, but we still adhere in England to the latter. On the Continent cremation has in some few instances been practised, and we copy from a letter of the Berlin correspondent of the Times an account of the funeral obsequies of a wellknown English lady, which will hardly influence us in favour of the new system. He says:-"The body of Lady Dilke, who died five weeks ago in London, was burnt on October 10 at Dresden. The ceremony was performed in the furnace recently invented for burial purposes by Herr Siemens, and the relatives of the deceased lady permitting strangers to be present, a large number of scientific men attended the experiment. When the company had complied with Herr Siemens's request to offer up a mental prayer, the coffin was placed in the chamber of the furnace; six minutes later the coffin burst; five minutes more and the flesh began to melt away; ten minutes more and the skeleton was laid bare; another ten minutes and the bones began to crumble. Seventy-five minutes after the introduction of the coffin into the furnace all that remained of Lady Dilke and the coffin were six pounds of dust, placed in an urn. The brother-in-law of the deceased was present.

GREAT FIRES are reported from different parts of Scotland. At Kinnaird Castle, Forfarshire, the seat of the Earl of Southesk, the kitchen, scullery and coachhouse were entirely destroyed. A second fire has taken place at Errol Park, about twelve miles from Dundee, recently purchased by Mr. Francis Mollison, a retired merchant. The house had been undergoing renovation for the last nine months, which, according to plans prepared, would cost about 5,000l. The renovation was very nearly completed, and the house would soon have been occupied. The fire was discovered about eleven o'clock on the night of October 10, but owing to the want of appliances and the scarcity of water, the whole pile, in the course of five or six hours, was reduced to a ruin. The Dundee fire brigade were sent for, but by the time they were able to reach the spot the building was completely gutted. The fire seems to have broken out in the roof, but its origin is a mystery. The total loss is estimated at about 9,000l. The third fire took place in the Established East Church, one of the largest and finest edifices in Aberdeen. The fire appeared to have first commenced in the roof, close to one of the sunlights. The molten lead ran down the slates and ignited the roof in every part, and within half an hour the roof fell in with a crash, and the interior of the building became