CLIPPINGS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8477, 8 May 1893, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

Besides the method of producing artificial diamonds exploited by M. Moissau, a writer in Cosvws names certain liquids which would yield the same result if a re-agent could be discovered for separating out the carbon which they contain in the proper form. Amongst others he names terebenthine and naphthaline. A hundred parts of the first, he asserts, would yield 88.23 per cent, of carbon, and a hundred parts of the second 93.75 per cent. Thus from one pennyworth of carboniferous liquid could be produced £50,000 worth of diamonds.

The-dock of the Assize Court of the Seine was literally filled to overflowing recently, no fewer than twenty-three housebreakers being up for trial. They had companions who "spotted" for them well-furnished flats, the tenants of which were not in town. Thirteen, habitations were thus plundered by them. Among them were four jewellers, one brassfounder, one trunk-packer (emballeur), a book-keeper, a butcher's assistant, a girl, a gilder, a shopman, a plumber, an assistant optician, a locksmith, and two tailors.

Captain Burton, K.N.R., commander of the s.s. Rangatira, supplies the Otago Daily Times with the following account of his treatment of a hive of bees, which will be of interest:—The s.s. Rangatira being in the Calliope dry dock, Auckland, in November, 1892, a swarm of bees was observed settling on one of the shores or spars supporting the vessel. When they had collected, the boatswain swept them off into a box, and covered it with a sack. They were then placed close to the forecastle, in which the sailors aud firemen live. After the vessel left Aucklaud a number of flowers and leaves were spread near the extempore hive. These were afterwards supplemented with sugar and molasses left ia the vicinity. The bees seemed to thrive and enjoy their eea voyage, and were afterwards sold in Newcastle, New South Wales.

Mr Hawes Craven, the famous sconic artist of the Lyceum, has been revealing some of the secrets ot his craft to an interviewer from Sala'e Journal. There can be no doubt, he saya, that a great advance has been made in scene painting of late years. Not so very long ago a large coarse brush was considered good enough for the worft, but now-a-days the brushes are small ones, such as one would 4ee in an ordinary studio. Then, again, scenes must be true to Nature. When Mr Irving has decided upon a new production, he and Mr Hawes Craven generally go away to the locality from which the scenes are taken in order to study it. They were five or six weeks in Germany for "Faust"; for "Macbeth? they went to Scotland ; for " The Merchant of Venice" to Venice; and for " The Bells" to Paris. Models of each scene are prepared and submitted before the actual work is commenced. " Here, for instance," he said, bringing down a nrodel from a faraway coiner, "is the woodman's hut in ' King Lear, , and here a different one of the same scene. We often make more than one model before a final decision is come to."

A Spanish Government (says the Daily News) can bring to bear upon the eleotors an enormous pressure, because in Spain the spoils of office are for the victors, aad the party that takes office does' not make a general election until it has swept out all the officials aud the employees of its predecessor—from civil governors, mayors, collectors of revenue aud Customs downwards to the humblest village authorities, and to the clerke in every state, provincial, and municipal administration. With such a system and with their frequent 1 changes of Government, Spaniards themselves confess that it is difficult to get meeb. morality or respectability in their public administrations, but their Governments thus secure ready tools for their electoral aims; witness the capital of Spain, which has more than 22,000 State, provincial, and municipal officials of all grades on the electoral register out of 118,000 registered electors. The «ame state of things exists more or less everywhere in the provinces, and will allow Sacpsta to get about 300 Liberal deputies ont of 437 members of Coogressv and 140 out of 180 isenatore. Unfortunately, the Liberals are not in Spain a very disciplined or homogeneous party, but a coalition of Democrats and Constitutionalists, Centtaiiate aod Radicals, Free Trader* and Protectionists.

A specimen of the chameleon, an animal well-known from the frequent references mode to it, but rarely seen here, has been brought to Dunedin by Mr Bill*, and is now amuugat the live stock in his George atreet shop. The animal (wye the Otago Dally Times) in of thq lizard specie*, andi» about oin io length. ~ It, of course, noseess&s the characteristic for which its kind-Ja famous an<| by which alone it is common!? known'

This chameleon, which was brought from Africa, is similar to those found at Gibraltar, where thoy are said to be plentiful. As may be supposed, the changes in its coat are best observed in the day time, and the only change noticoablo in tho evening was from light green to a dark, almost black, colour. Darin a the day, however, it wasatouo time ay olio wish white, at another ltlco burnished gold, and at another a dark grcou, changing rapidly and completely. How many other colours and tints it m»y take upou itself rem&ius to be seen, and they will, no doubt, be ivatchfd with care. Tho chameleon's eyes project' some distance, and seem to turn on a pivot in any directiou, while the head remains Suite stationary. Another peculiarity is iat tho animal can project its tongue, it it said* a distance equal to tho length of itt body, and by this means catch v % and bring its prey for consumption without any further exertion. The chameleon, which it probably tho first that haa reached Dunudiu, is a very intorestiug object, »nd will probably attract a good deal of attention.

Dr. W. A. Hammond, writing in the Worth American Review, describes the various drugs by which tho sleepless endeavour to obtain sleep. He says that eulphonal is by no means so harmless as was believed when it first came out. You continually need to increase the dose, while it brings about sometimes stupor and convulsions ; while it occasionally brings on such intense mental excitement as almoat to approach acute mania. Dr. Hammond speaks most highly of a drug named paraldehyde. It is a liquid possessing a strong odour of ether, and a burning, followed by v cooling taste, something like that of peppermiut. It ia of about the density of water, but its boiliug point is much higher, being 255ileg Fahr. At 50ilug Fahr. it becomes solid. On account of its strong burning tasto it is rarely administered in a pure form, being generally given in an emulsion with mucilage oi almond oil. It is particularly valuable as a hypnotic, owing to the fact that it does not tend to weaken the heart. A teaepoonfu) produces sleep in from five to fifteen inimites, and it ia especially useful in those forms of insomnia, which are accompanied by much mental excitement, such us wo eometimees witness in tho insane. A single dose of it can bo detected in the breath twenty-four hours afterwards. It rarely, if ever, produces any gastrio derangement, and is rapidly absorbed by the Btomiich. In proper cases it is one of tho most valuable of all the hypnotics; but, though it has been ten yeats before the profession, it has scarcely passed beyond the knowledge of neurologists.