CLIPPINGS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 8622, 25 October 1893, Page 4

CLIPPINGS.

Writing in the Journal of the Polynesian Society, Miss Teuira Henry, of Honolulu, says that a strange ceremony used to be practised by the heathen priest 3at Raiatea, but can now only be performed by two descendants of priests, Tupua and Taero by name. This ceremony consisted in causing people to walk in procession over a hot earth-oven, without any preparation upon their feet, Whether barefooted or shod, yet upon their emergence they did not even smell of fire. The ovens are frequently thirty feet in diameter and are filled with roots of tho ti-plant (Dracama terminalis) and short pieces of ape-root {Arum costatum). It is hoped that someone will endeavour to solve the mystery of the feat while those men who practise ib still live.

What was called a Tuberculosis Congress has been held at Paris, and the members have arrived at the conclusion that all persons dying of ''consumption" should be cremated, as the earth-worms bring the germs of tuberculosis to the surface, and so distribute the disease. There is some reason for thinking that germs of disease are not destroyed by earth burial, and as wo pointed out recently, in well-regulated establishments it has Jong been the practice to bury horses dying of glanders in a thick bed of quicklime ; but the whole question is one of sentiment so far as human beings are concerned. If infectious diseases can be shown to be spread by the practice of earth burial, that would be a powerful argument for general cremation —a question coming very prominently to the front in all great towns where cemeteries begin to crowd one another.— English Mechanic.

It is not likely that success will attend the "marriage service" classos which a philanthropic lady would like, to set up for coaching aspirants up in matrimonial duties and obligations. The idea is admirable in theory, but utterly impracticable. If la porte dv mariage is only to be opened to successful competitors, as though it were a Government office, tho little romance that is left in marriage will vanish, and the contract be more than ever a matter of business. No doubt the examinations will be ethical rather than, economical, yet to he useful they must comprise both. Imagine Edwin, in. the moonlight, whispering tenderly to Angelina as a discreet preliminary to proposal: "Do I understano: you have passed with honours in the marriage service exam. V And Angelina responding with modest pride: " Yes, Edwin, with distinction in modesty, pastry, and milk puddings;" the satisfying information being followed by the ardent lover's ejaculation: "Modesty, pastry, and milk puddings ! Be mine!"

The latest discovery of medical science is a tear pump. This ingenious instrument is used for the purpose of irritating the lacrymal glands and producing tears. In this'respecb it has for its rival the onion, but the tear pump has no smell. It is scarcely possible (says an exchange) to exaggerate the uses of +.his implement, if, as oue concludes, it is portable and of moderate size. Upon the stage—where only a half dozen performers have hitherto been able to weep ab will—it will be invaluable. In domestic life it will place the husband, as regards the play of emotion, upon equal terms with the wife ; she may still havo the advantage of him so far as screaming is concerned—rthough through future improvements the tear pump may even produce hysterics—but in the mere "fountain display," as the Crystal Palace posters term it, the eye Water will be on the same level. We shall be surprised indeed (adds our cynical contemporary) if it does not become an article regularly supplied by the undertakers, though they will hardly venture to put it in the bill. It will probably be made a matter of private arrangement with the mourner—" Use of tear pump for the ceremony, 2s 6d."

. One effect of a long and hot summer has been the supersession of the bathing machine at some of the English watering places. At the little town of Broadstairs, for instance, during the extremely hob .days the bathing-machine accommodation was quite unequal to the demand, and ono or two of the local tradesmen, seeing their opportunity, hurried in a supply of small tents, which they sold or let out at 4s or 5s a week. "I found," said one family man, " that to say nothing about the bother of getting machines, bathingcharges would amount to £54 while we were down here. For £2 15s I have got a tent that serves for all my family, and which will of course Berve for future uae. No more bathing machines for mc." A good many other people appeared to have hit on the same idea, and at all events for children these little tents took the place of the unwieldy and. inconvenient boxes to an extent quite unprecedented. At the. same time the longer passage to the water natmally suggested rather more elaborate bathing dresses, and there has consequently this year been a very evident advance towards the fashion of French watering places.