LOOKING BACK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 234, 2 October 1937, Page 19

LOOKING BACK.

NOTABLE EVENTS. TREATY OF LIMERICK. RONTGEN'S DISCOVERY. (By MAX WHATMAN.) One of the oldest towns of Ireland is Limerick, anciently known as Lumneach, on the Shannon. After a chequered career, in which it was by turn Danish, Irish and English, it became the last stronghold or James 11. in Ireland. William 111. himself unsuccessfully assaulted it in 1090, but in the following year his general, Ginckel, had better fortune.

Limerick capitulated on the most honourable terms. By the Treaty of Limerick (October 3, 1691) all arms, property and estates were restored, all attainders annulled, and all outlawries reversed; it was agreed that no oath but that of allegiance should be required of high or low; the freedom of the Roman Catholics was assured, relief from pecuniary claims caused by the hostilities was guaranteed; permission to leave the kingdom was granted to all who desired it; and a general pardon proclaimed to all then in arms.

The violation of the civil part of this treaty by the dominant Protestant party during the reigns of William 111. and Anne, right down to the nineteenth century, has given to Limerick the name of the "City of the Violated Treaty." Irish Nationalist. One of the most tragic political figures of last century was Charles Stewart Parnell, distinguished Irish nationalist and politician. Misfortune dogged Parnell throughout his political and private life, and he died a broken and dispirited man, on October 6, 1891. Born in 1846, Parnell entered the House of Commons as an avowed Home Ruler when 2!) years old. He soon attracted attention, mainly by his discovery and utilisation of deliberate obstruction as a weapon in Parliamentary tactics. In 1880 he became leader of his party, and made it more powerful than it had ever been before. Parnell won the confidence of Mr. Gladstone, and was largely responsible for the Home Rule policy which that great statesman adopted towards the end of his Parliamentary career. Parnell suffered imprisonment more than once, and his supposed complicity in Irish political crimes led to the "famous charge made against him by "The Times," which published facsimiles of seditious letters approving deeds of violence and allegedly signed by Barnell. The charges were investigated by a Royal Commission, and Parnell was exonerated. He afterwards obtained £5000 damages from "The Times." This was in 1890, and was quickly followed by a divorce action which resulted in his being deposed from the leadership of the pairiy. He never recovered his lost ground. Queen of the Halls. How many New Zealand returned soldiers remember with affectionate admiration Marie Lloyd? To hear this gifted music hall artist was one of the highlights of leave in London. During the war she was in the middle forties, but her personality dominated every performance and those who saw her will never forget her.

Marie Lloyd was Tjorn in 1870 in London. She made her first appearance at the Royal Eagle Music Hall, under the name of Bella Delmere, on May 19, 1885. A few months later, her own name figured on the bills. She scored her first big success at the Middlesex with "The Boy That I Love Sits Up in the Gallery." This was in 188(5, and the result was a year's continuous engagement. After that time, she appeared in every important music hall in the United Kingdom and the United States, also making tours to South Africa and Australia. She also played in pantomime and musical comedv.

For thirty years Marie Lloyd was indisputed head of her profession. She earned from £300 to £400 a week, but was always in debt owing to her extravagance and her kindness to the unfortunate. She was three times married; first to Percy Courtney (marriage dissolved); secondly to Alec Hurley (died 1013); au<l thirdly to the weli-kuown jockey, Bernard Dillon.

Marie 1.1 >yd. active in her profession and outstanding in popularity to the hint, died oil October 7, 1022. Rontgen Rays. One of the most important scientific discoveries of modern times, and one that has been of the greatest value in surgery, was made on October 8, 189.">. by Professor W. C. Rontgen. While expei inienting with a Crookes vacuum tube, electrically charged and enveloped in a black covering, he discovered that some rays proceeding from the tube parsed through the black paper and affected a fluorescent screen at a distance of six feet.

C ontinued research |>roved that manv substances opaque to ordinary li«ht were transparent to these rays. These substances included flesh, and, in March. 1S!)6, the "Lancet" announced the remarkable news that the interior of a dead monkey had been photographed with great distinctness. The next step was to combine the rays with a cinematograph machine with the result that the movements of the bones in living animals were exhibited. e In the following year, the rays were adapted to medical use, 416 cases bein~ diagnosed by this means in St. Thomas' Hospital alone in 1897. There is no need to stress the universal use of what are now more generally known as X-rays to-day.