of fire-damp near Bury, and a large fire near Rotherhithe, which was seen all over the Metropolis. There has also been a disastrous fire at Belfast, resulting in a damage of £50,000; an accident at Glandore, by which ten persons were drowned; the destruction by fire of the gardens of the British Charge d'Affaires at Tangiers; a desperate encounter between the troops of the Emperor of Morocco and those of a Pretender, &c., &c. Add to these the melancholy news from China, the builders' strike, the religious riots in London on Sunday last, and other occurrences which have, doubtless, escaped our notice, and we think it will be admitted that rarely has there been such a glomeration of startling disasters of a similar character and within so brief a period many of them occurring almost at the same instant, and at a time pointed out months before by those whose perceptive faculties enable them to read the "signs of the times.", if not always with unerring precision, certainly with so approximate an accuracy as to prove that there is truth in the science they advocate, let sceptics say what they will to the contrary.
Although on some points we may differ from the views of those whose names - real or assumed - have been here mentioned, the many hundreds of facts which in a long course of observation we have noted tending to prove their general truthfulness, induce us, now-and-then, to offer a few remarks thereon. And when we find men of intelligence and experience, possessing a knowledge of Oriental languages and customs, in addition to their mathematical attainments, made the butt of a scurrilous jester, and those who dare to read their essays branded with the opprobious appellation of fools and knaves (see Punch), we feel that we are only performing a public duty in placing a few facts and figures before our readers, the majority of whom, we are convinced, are too intelligent and too charitable to suppose that we have any other object to serve them than that of the propagation of truth so far as we have been able to comprehend it. It may not be out of place to say that the above article was reprinted by desire, and that whilst only one communication differing from conclusions was received by the editor, a considerable number came to hand with expressions of commendation, all writers of which were of good repute, one being a local M.D. and another a resident retired captain. In the following week, a paragraph appeared which began thus:- "We have received a communication in which the -
