after immunity from sickness or death for the
rest of the lieges who have a taste for
sweetmeats. If, however, destructive "Burnt
Almonds" were sold at Eton or at Harrow
and a scion of an influential house were to
be taken ill in consequence of indulgence in
these poisoned sugar-plums; a bill would
speedily be carried that would shield both
rich and poor.

The difficulty, if any should arise, of passing
an act to prevent the dissemination of poison,
either neat or confected, is very much lessened
by the existence of such laws on the Continent.
In France, for example, no one can sell poisonous
drugs without a special licence, and even
then only under strict and wise regulations.
There, too, where confectionery is much more
used than on this side of the Channel, the
medical officials exercise a vigilant inspection
over its manufacture.

THE TRUE REMEDY FOR COLLIERY
EXPLOSIONS.

SIR,—With great interest and curiosity I
perused a letter which appeared in number
forty of "Household Words," purporting to
supply a remedy for those lamentable colliery
explosions that are unhappily so frequent.

Briefly, I beg to inform you that Artesian
wells are only a partial and very uncertain
method for carrying off a portion of the gas
accumulated in the "goafs" of a mine.

In a properly managed colliery, this
important object is thus effected:—The "goafs"
are securely cut off from communication with
other parts of the workings by stoppings, and
the gas continually accumulating in these
spaces is carried away to the "dumb-drift,"
which is an air-passage rising gradually, and
forming a junction with the upcast shaft,
about five yards above the fire of the furnace.
At a glance it will be perceived that this is far
more efficacious than any number of bore-
holes—the draught of the furnace is powerful
enough to draw off the impure air in the
"goafs," while the greater space afforded by a
drift, instead of a bore-hole, is another
important advantage.

But it is not that we are without the means
of ventilating our mines, or that we are in
want of clever practical men; both are within
our reach, and explosions most frequently
arise from those means not being made available.
You, Sir, have told us, in a few judicious
remarks at the close of a "Coal Miner's
Evidence," in No. 37 of "Household Words,"
the best and most effectual remedy for
colliery explosions.

Government Inspection—not the appointment
of four gentlemen for the United Kingdom
—but a searching and daily scrutiny into
the system of working pursued in all fiery
collieries, is the only remedy within our reach.
The present arrangement adopted by Government
is miserably inefficient. No four men
can inspect all the collieries in the kingdom.

Not till some chemical agent is discovered
capable of absorbing or neutralising
carburetted hydrogen, will mines be perfectly safe.
It may, or may not be, in the power of our
chemists to achieve this, but it does not seem
impossible; and if our Faradays amd Brandes
can effect it, they will do more good to their
fellow creatures, by such a discovery, than any
that has yet been made. S. R.

THE MODERN SOLDIER'S PROGRESS.

PART II. FOREIGN SERVICE.

THE pleasures of a barrack-yard, which
Maurice began now to enjoy, were not destined
to be of long continuance—at least without
further probation; for one fine day in June,
a letter arrived from the Horse Guards,
ordering the commanding officer to hold the
regiment in readiness for immediate embarkation
for foreign service. The news soon
spread, and a stir was visible throughout the
barracks, every man eagerly asking what was
"The Route?" To enhance his national
importance, which stood little in need of
anything out of the common, the serjeant-major
made a mystery of this particular, until he
had assembled the "none-commissioned"
(so he called them) to whom he communicated
the fact—with as much circumstance
as if he had received it personally under the
Duke's own autograph—that the regiment
was ordered to Halifax in Nova Scotia.

In spite of the regimental school, which
did not, however, at that time, attract one-
twentieth part of the voluntary scholars who
now flock to it, there were very few who
knew exactly where Halifax, or indeed, where
North America itself was situated. The
prevailing idea was in favour of "Chiny," that
being the region to which all terræ incognitæ
are generally consigned by the uninitiated;
but some, whose geographical notions were
even less precise, associating Halifax with a
proverbial expression current in the army,
were inclined to think that it claimed kindred
with even a warmer climate than that of
'the flowery land." They found out their
mistake before they had been many months
on the other side of the Atlantic.

But the regiment was not left altogether
to burst in ignorance, or discover, by dint of
experience where Nova Scotia really was;
or it happened that there was one old soldier
in it—and he richly deserved the appellation
—who had formerly been quartered there.
This was a man of the name of Patrick Mac
Manus, who had commenced his military
career in the "Music" of the regiment, when
he was barely ten years old, and just able to
jingle the triangles, whose melody he was
called upon to elicit. From the band he was
transferred to the drums; and after two or
three years' experience in drubbing sheep-
skin, was elevated to the fifes. To what
further musical eminence he might have
aittained, it is difficult to say; perhaps he