LITERARY NOTES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXIX, Issue 148, 25 June 1898, Page 2 (Supplement)

LITERARY NOTES.

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE EARLY HISTORY OF NEW ZEALAND.

By Thomas Morland Hocken, M.R.C.S.,

Eng., F.L.S

The story of New Zealand has been told in many ways. We have had missionary narratives, glimpses of life from the vieAv point of the PakehaMaori, reminiscences by old colonists, elaborate detailed histories like Brett's 'Early History of NeAv Zealand,' and Rusden's History, and sketchy accounts, descriptive and historical, the latest and. best example of Avhich is the little brochure Avritten by the Hon. W. P. Reeves, Agent-General. Dr. Hocken's book may be described as the reminiscences of an old colonist, extended and elaborated into something like a complete history of the Settlement of Otago. Its personal and anecdotal character imparts a life and colour to its narrations which one often finds lacking from the works of the historian AA-ho has been obliged to rely entirely upon documents for his facts. Dr. Hocken has "had the advantage of personal intercourse Avith Avitnesses of the incidents he narrates. He has brought to his task a boundless enthusiasm and tireless industry, and the result is a charming account of a very remarkable and successful experiment in colonisation. The history deals specially Avith the settlement of Otago, but incidentally many historical facts are recorded relating to other parts of the colony and the administration of public men. A number of excellent illustrations enhance the attractions of the volume. The book is published bA' Messrs Sampson Loav, Marston, and Company, London, and Aye have received a copy from Mr James Horsburgh, bookseller, of Dunedin.

For a concise, Avell-classified and lucid guide to the culinary art it Avould be difficult to beat 'The Kingswood Cookery Book,' by 11. F. Wicken diplomee of the National Training School for Cookery, South Kensington, and late Lecturer on Domestic Economy at the Sydney Technical College. Unlike some exponents of o-as-tronomy, Mrs Wicken has kept wet in A'ieAv the limited resources of the majority of colonial kitchens, ancl he chief aim has been to shoAV hoAV tast dishes can be produced at a cost Avei within the means of the most ecoiv mieal of housekeepers. Her dire, tions are so explicit that the most unskilled in culinary matters can folk them; at the same time tlie reeip ... cover such a wide range that feAv si <•<■ jects coming fairly within the scop of a general cookery book are ova looked.. As an exponent of sou-d principles in a branch of knowlec' -c which is too little studied by th - whose dxitjjr, it is Jo cater iox '■#. v

much-abused organ th__ ..„ "" mach, Mrs Wickedes^vesTSh^ support for her excellent' Wi beral publishers, Messrs An^\i3tf>"' son, of Sydney, are So Si^M commendation for th P £« -H to which it has been prepareTfo?^ eral circulation. or &en« The practice of Hydron__H__ _ taken a definite place ir ithV has healing, and although the ot medical practitioners are *& -y" ing to acknowledge the univ ersa , W ity of the 'cold Avater cure' nt^ not deny the applicability oftt. ° tern to certain human ailment* improbably not generally know* V s the founder of the system vL^ 4 Priessnitz, was a man altogWhftS* . learned in medical science H? the son of a small farmer a'tGra ) Vas berg, in Austrian Silesia, and h i s __' tention Avas first drawn to the oni tiv e power of cold water by observin a young roe, which hacl been shni - g the thigh, go day after day a n d,s merse its injured limb hi a fl ow ** stream until the Avound .vas on pletely healed Young Priessnitz W thus led to study and experiment L the same direction, and having with a severe injury himself, he w ceeded to apply cold bandages xvitw great benefit. The neighbours"&*? ing of his skill, enlisted his service," and so successful Avas this new' ftnfi-' of treatment that his fame spread fa! and Avide throughout the country anrf patients flocked into Graefenbere in such numbers that it became neces sary to erect accommodation for them. In this way an extensive S ana torium greAv up Avhich now empW. the services of several medical men The story of Vincent PriessniU' s re* markable life and achievements has been Avritten for the edification of English readers by Richard Metcalfe director of the London Hydro! establishment, Richmond Hill,' Sur rey, London. Apart from fti question Avhether hydropathy merits the high encomiums passed upon it by the founder of the system ancl his disciples, the biographical sketch of a remarkable man which Mr Metcalfe has Avritten forms a very interesting story of human achievement. Incidentally the author gives an outline of the practice of hydropathy, Avhich will prove instructive to those Avho have never studied the subject. The book is written in popular style; its facts are well arranged, and the Avork altogether forms a .worthy contribution to medical literature;

Mr J. Shaylor, in the Tublishers' Circular,' has given some amusing examples of blunders in the" titles of books asked for by the public,, whi:h are Avorthy to rank Avith that of the music vendor, who, A\'hen asked for 'Moses in Egypt,' said he Avas out of that, but Avould not 'Ehren on the _ Ithine' do as well. A gentleman who asked a bookseller for a translation o? Omar Khayyam AA-as told that Homer AA-rote the Hiad and the Odyssey, Avhich Avere in stock, out he did not Avrite the book inquired for. t'A gem is 'Moses Hart's T^welve Masses,' probably a Jewish book, which was the free rendering '.of 'Mozart's Twelfth Mass.' A 'French Vocal BradshaAv' Avas found to indicate Bradshaw's 'French Vocabulary,' and tThe Treatment and Civilisation of Savages,' by Corfield, represented Professor Corfield's 'Treatment and Utilisation of SeAvage,' and 'Curiosities of Nomenclature.' Mr J.M. Barrie againhas been fathered with 'The Little Monster' and 'WidoAv's Thumbs.'

Mr Robert Buchanan has .vritten 'The Reverend Annabel Lee' with a purpose but -will probably faitto convince most of his readers. He pictures society in the twenty-ii-Sli century managed, on the lines of humanity, AA-hen Christianity is. regarded as a mediaeval doctrine pernicious in its retardation of the Avorld's progress and long since discarded. Crippled and diseased children, old people tired of life, or those incurably diseased, find everlasting rest in the Chamber of Euthanasia, The religion is that of humanity. Those unrolled in the book of the Unfit axe prohibited from marriage on pain of death. Except for accident people live their allotted span of life happy and contented, albeit,the unalloyedjoy of existence somewhat palls upon them. There is, hoAvever, still left a small band of Avretched offerers, the relic of the old regime «'h? have a craving for some alleviation.of their lot, for a happiness in a world fo come—in Avhich the hum&mtariaiij do not believe—that has been detlied them in this life. To these comes Annabel Lee, one of the finest specimens of the 21st century, preaching a revival of Christianity. Her avowal of love for a crippled musician: Uriel, leads to their trial for infringing m laAv that condemns the unfit to -celibacy, in the course of Avhich Urn. after condemnation to death, is strucK down in a struggle that ensues, an* dies the first martyr in the cause of Christianity. At this point the -bo* stops, the impression left upon tne reader's mind being that Mr Buchanan has made out an excellent ease for the doctrines of humanity and that ne himself realised as the bookF' gressed that the attempt to re-mW duce Christianity would be a failure. His picture of the Society of mm ity is extremely vague-and Utop!an'

Mr Walter A. Wyckoff, a yo»n£°^ of good family in the United M&te. also Avrote his book 'The 'WotwrsAn Experiment in Reality. The Mj* Avith a purpose, and has also »» to impress the literary public^ w» satisfied Avith his vague vi»« » labourers and the life'they lead, M* out to the East to look as a lWm himself. He found employment « vicarious nature as a day la#BKffs West Point, demolishing Wsjß as a hotel porter, as a hired jHSjbi an asylum, a farm hand, and ana of wood at a logging camp, |B|A has set out his experiences in alj^ accurate, but unpicturesque narral^ published by Mr Heineman. • Wyckoff seems never to h**sJi» enough time at any one occllP"" Q rfa ! have entered thoroughly into m >■ feelings of the working man aiva cannot help feeling that half his employers and fellow-la bo« recognised him either as a gen"% is . doAA-n on his luck or a chiel in■ . guise taking notes and 'pulled ws » accordingly. He says that fMfr with an open mind and ende?. se ts vieAvs, but the only vieAVS that- ne_- ( out • his book are that' even. . ■-.<.•■,.-.,,. >; v.v, urer hn9sometb --Xi 7-. hi;; s.n:\ :hnt it is $*&&■■ ,- j -_~-, ~.,,, a t a ioh M"#E , 7: ~:)■ .» - .;.., • sponsibihty M.J, h M^.ii.l, ...aidfor work atg, !-,- .- -.. v, .-thing more,no* rf 7! --..-Vt.k- dl us in the r» Kis P y.w.. , sin the cities oi 6 ■■-■■: ;- . '._■-..- ; ocialists, tne >.-.-, ■■• _ ii-: *!•:_ dead beats, ».-„ s.o. t .<■.:,-,■ The West' £«.* ,;r );.>.: ~,.t>he acute labour P^ i?-' 7 -.; :\. ...res. r ,„ui_--r_K-' ,v"' -