FROM THE MAGAZINES.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXIX, Issue 249, 17 October 1908, Page 14

FROM THE MAGAZINES.

LOST CHARM OF THE WAYSIDE INN. The inns o£ England, celebrated by Harrison and famous far and wide at the beginning , of the last century, have degenerated into the sad places which we visit only of necessity. Little did Stephenson think, when he proposed the line from Manchester to Liverpool, that he would ruin the wayside inns of England, and kill the art of cookery.— "Blackwood's Magazine." "TIRED" BRITONS. The German works longer hours, takes fewer holidays, and often spends his leisure in perfecting himself in his business, v.ith the result that he is cutting out our men in many spheres of life. The waste places of the earth used formerly to be colonised by the Briton; now he finds the labour of subduing nature too severe for his enfeebled energies, and settles in the towns.—Earl of Meath in "Nineteenth Century." POTENTIALITIES OF THE AIRSHIP. In the near future, at any rate, the uses of airships will be mainly protective, and may be summed up as follows:— In land warfare: Reconnaisance for the purpose of gaining information. Transmission of information and secret dispatches. A Protective including watching a sea-coast against invasion, or raids. Checking an enemy's attempts to obtain information. Destroying hostile airships and captive balloons. Harassing communications and convoys. Carrying out minor demolitions at a distance. Against ships: — Observation, and harassing of a blockading fleet. —Major H. Bannerman-Phillips in "United Service Magazine."' A CITY THRALL. I salil I wili shut my enrs to the siren lure of thr town; For rue the untrammelled wnys — the dingle path tmd ifco town; And the Mnsfcome and reeds and graes to weave mc v sylvan crown! I said no r.avc fov mc, no Babel roar. of His sr;-e<t, Licit nitbcr the lyrics of birds, the brook sung ih in- anil sweet, Au'l thu sr-ringiuK feel of the sod under the truant feet! 1 saiil no walls for mc, cruel and wide and i-t'li. lllit the tree*, with their outstretched arms an.l tlu-ir Tender sympathy, And Hi- happiness of tbp hills, and the mirtll it [he open sky.' Vet 10. 1 in" scif aud slave: Lo, I am lioud and thrall! I llec tti. ujili I may not bide, but return ut the summonlnK call. Aud so it will be to tut end — aye. to the end «( nl!. I'lHiton Scollard, In "The Hronflwuy Magazine." OX TILE PSYCHOLOGY OF AIDJEXCES. Apropos of "The Profligate." I may mention a curious fact which shows how unreliable and uncertain are the tastes of the public. Pinero's play was performed to crowded houses till the end of the London season, and in the autumn I started my provincial tour at Manchester with the same piece and cast. Having at all times met with the warmest support from the Manchester public. I naturally expected in this most threatreloving of all cities an endorsement of the London verdict, and looked forward with confidence to a great success. To mv dismay, however, we opened at the Theatre Royal, Manchester, to a house of forty pounds, which, strange to say, did not show any signs of increasing , . On the Tuesday the manager of the theatre entreated mc to revive "Mamma,"' the play previously produced at the Court. "The Profligate -, company very kindly consented to rehearse in two days parts they had never seen played, and on the Thursday "Mamma" was presented to a hundred-pound house. This continued, and the extraordinary circumstance was emphasised by the fact that the Manchester public had not hitherto seen cither play. Then came the reverse. We went to Liverpool the next week and played to the utmost capacity of the theatre with "The Profligate'"! We did not require ''Mamma" at all.—Wγ John Hare in the "Strand Magazine." CAUSE OF SLEEP. According to Dr. Boris Sidis, in the current number of the "Journal of Abnormal Psychology,"' there is method in slumber. In an article on Experimental Study of Sleep, he says that human beings arc more creatures of habit and inscinct than of reason and will, especially in the ease of fundamental reactions such as the induction of sleep. Almost everyone has a delinite way of going to sleep, liy far the greater majority of right-handed people go to sleep on their right side, while left-handed people go to sleep on their left side. The reason for this is that to bring about a condition of rest and sleep we must have the conditions of monotony and limitation of voluntary movements; hence righthanded people, whose right side is more active in their waking moments, limit that side by Tying on it during sleep, and vice verse with left handed people. Sleep is not so much due to the mere cutting oil" of sense impressions as to the monotony of sense impressions, which may even be intense and numerous. The point ot intensity at which an external stimulus begins to affect a nerve is called the '■.stimulus threshold." If the action of the stimulus is kept up without variation this threshold point rises, and the nerve ceases to react to it. It is this phenomenon of monotony in the action of external stimuli which produces sleep. In the course nf our daily lives we are being continually alfected by the stimuli of the external world. These stimuli, by their constant action, become monotonous, the threshold of reaction of our sensory nerves is thereby raised, and the individual falls asleep, the vital interests of his external being falling into the background of his consciousness. Supposing, however, that whensthe individual is just read}" tb fall asleep a variation should occur in some of the stimuli. the threshold in their case is lowered again, and the individual, though asleep to all cUe, is awake in regard to them. It is in this partial waking state that dreams occur. We do not dream when wo arc asleep; we dream only when a part of our organism is awake.