TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LVI, Issue 10482, 21 October 1899, Page 7

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Some —Ltraorctnary medicinal Animal remedies are quoted by Dr. "Simples." Fernie, of Bristol, in his just-published book "Ai_-___l Simples." The use of animal preparations for the cure erf disease Ins been the practice of all races in all ages, but few people probably realise the remarkabie variety of beasts, birds, fishes, and insects from which such "remedies" were drawn, or that to some extent they are used to this day. Homoeopathic doctora, we are told, use bee venom for various aihnent*. A number of bees are put into a bottle, and in their rage they secrete a good deal of venom. Being then chbrofarmed, the part containing the poison is cut off, crushed with glycerine, treated with spirit, of wine, and taken internally. Lively bees, placed in an inverted tumbler over the tender and swollen limb of a sufferer from rheumatic gout, and then irritated into stinging the part, have aeen. found to be helpful for mitiga_mg the pain and swelling. For the rime being, the patient would no doubt forget all about h» r__»motian. The remedy, however, sounds too heroic; many people, w* can imaynw, would prat er not to so complicate their sufferings. "Bee tea," made by pouring a cupful of boiling water over a donen bee* and letting them ix-fvee for a couple of hours, haa been reported by some American doctors to be efficacious in oaring tumours, and baked bees, ground into powder, ore said to be powerful against dropsy. Wasps have not the virtue of bees, as remedial agents, but on the other hand they have aome value as food, wasp grubs, baked m the oomb, being reoom_BS_jd_d as an artide of diet, and said to be moat appetising. Among the infallible Qttaar Cures remedies** for meotal for disorders are same Brain Trouble*, strange c«—-ctio__s. Powdered _-_-__. -tall v tt potsai ears sor sf-lsptg-.

•o is cat's blood — three drops from the end of tfie acjnal's tail — whole crow'a brain, toad's venom, frog's l'.ver. burnt mole, dog's flesh, peacock's tongue, tincture of ants, spider's bktcd, and portions of creatures las. c<»_u_jo__!y met with, such as the <_roood_e, lion, salamander, turtle and elk, are all strongly reoommo-tded for the epileptic. Mummy—presumably as a powder—is abo highly, spoken of, and when the real thing is not obtainable an artificial one may be

prepared. There might be some difficulty nowadays in following the instructions, the first line read—g, "Take the body of a young man," who should, if possible, be red-haired. Red-haired young men must have had an anxious time when this prescription was in vogue. All sorts of birds are declared to be good for epilepsy and insanity. Princess Bismarck wrote, less than twenty years ago, to a German shooting ciub, asking that as many magpies as possible should be shot and sent to her, so that anti-epileptic powder might be manufactured from their burnt remains. For "frenzy" a roast mouse is sovran, and was being widely recommended 200 years ago. Fried mouse is to this day prescribed in some parts of England as a cure for 9uch different ailments as smallpox and wliooping-cough. We laugh at these odd remedies, but, after all, modern medicine employs some quite as strange. The blood of a horse which has been inoculated with diphtheria has set bounds to the ravages of that much-feared disease as nothing else in the pharmacopceia could do. A preparation from the thyroid gland of the sheep, or some other animal, is declared to be one of the triumphs of modern medical science. Pepsin, which comes to the aid of our weak digestions, is but a preparation from the mucous membrane lining tne stomach of sheep, p'<*. or calf, while another preparation, from the brains of sheep, is applied to the cure of some of the brain disorders of poor humanity. There may be properties yet undiscovered in roast mouse or bee tea, or powdered skull, which may prove that the "simples" of old times have virtues unsuspected by a generation which uses anti-toxin.

In our remarks yesterday on The the -scarcity of domestic serServant vants in Dunedin, we said that Question, as time went on the difficulty

would in all probability become more acute, and that the next, generation would most likely have to do a lot of things for itself which are now relegated to ser—-sits. A lady correspondent, however, bods our lady readers not to be downhearted at the prospect of the gradual dying out of domestic service as a means of livelihood for girls. "Let mc assure them," she wr.ites, "that at amy rate in small households the best way out of the difficulty is to boldly try and manage without a 'resident help.' Put aU your washing out (this being far less costly than you imagine), have a good char-woman once a week, use Westport coal in your sitting- rooms, and a gas stove in your kitchen, and you will save -money, and add to your comfort. After _ax months' trial of this plan, we have no wish to return to the vexation of spirits and trial of nerves caused by a rather superior specimen of *reside_tt help.' Half the work a servant has to do in a house she makes for herself by want of method. Try and do your own work with the assistance of a charwoman." Here speaks the voice of experience. The scheme is apparently well adapted for some small families, although it does call for the employment, of a really good char-woman, whose price is beyond rubies, but it offers no charm to the mother ofy a f««r_i_y mailer in size than in number. To such a one the a—-stance of a servant is less a luxury than c necessity,, and it is to her that the prospect of a servantless future seem, most gloomy.

j Save for an occasional isolated Settling instance Melbourne has been the purged of the cycling scorcher. Scorcher. Little more than a year ago

he lay like a curse upon the city, a terror to pedestrians and a disgrace to every decent cyclist. The police authorities, moved by tbe groans of the public, sought to slay tne scorcher in his wild career, and to this end they equipped a flying brigade of two, in whom, dressed as ordinary cyclists and mounted on road-racers, the "road-hogs" of Melbourne utterly failed at first to recognise two of the sjnartest constables in the city, force. One of them, Norris, was a racing cyclist, and more than a match for the average tcorcher, who fell an easy prey at the cod of a half-mile burst. Of all the suburban thoroughfares St. Kilda road, we learn, was by far the most afflicted. In the early morning long strings of riders raced, heads down and backs rounded, into town, and in the evening the same performance was repeated in the other direc-

tion. Other roads suffered badly, and were in turn visited by the flying brigade, "with the result that the summoning officer of the City Council had to sit up all night preparing a p'*- of gummonses several inches high." The cycling constables had some funny experiences. At first, as we have said, they were not recognised, and the way in which the scorchers fell into their clutches must have been a continual joy to them. "The first day they were on duty they set off after a band of six -coroners, and captured one near the Government House gates. Content with one prize they were in, the act of explaining their status to him when his five companions turned back to ascertain tbe reason of his stoppage. As they dismounted Norris calmly grabbed their machines, while Howard took their names, the whole halfdoeen being too mystified to invent any story to account for their excessive speed." Sheer astonishment at their capture compelled the early victims to tell the truth, but by the time every scorcher in the city had learned to curse the flying brigade by name they called upon their fertile imagination to invent excuses for their apparent speed. "Some in pieturesqu-*. and florid language would deny that they had at any time ridden more than five miles an hour, the more ingenious explaining that they -had heartdisease, and that eminent surgeons had pronounced death inevitable, if that speed werg exceeded. Others would swear tbat tl_eir machines were geared to only 52hn., and that the statutory speed was impossible for them to attain, while a few would content themselves with sarcastic remarks about tbe police catching burglars, instead of nowiding down poor chaps that was doin' a bit o' cyclin'." Later on the number of men who were I—-toning to fetch a doctor to a dying child increased «> rapidly that the brigade might have feared for the Jives of the entire infant population of the city. One youth mode the best of a bad "Stop!" cried Nam* "No fear," was the reply; "I'm in for a fine, a__d I'll have a run for my money," and with that lie shot off and led the constable a _pk_o_d cha_e for a mile aad a half before ho was run down. While protecting the public against the sc—rcbers the flying brigade also waged war upon tbe drr—«e of waggons and carts who made things unpleasant for the cydiats by driving all over the road, and the wayfaring man, un less ha is a fool, can now ride or walk with eossios-. and asi-ty in at—eta. where hitherto im iaT-f- tn i _r_rr his Tifa