TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13610, 20 December 1909, Page 6

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

, A finely-illustrated Shakespeare's paper in the DecemBirds. ber "Windsor" has one notable omission. In an article on "The Birds of Shakespeare," no reference at all is made to his assurance that at Christmas-time "the bird of dawning singeth all night long." That amiable fowl, of course, only does it with the kind intention to disperse "extravagant and erring spirits"; though poor Leech, who was done to death by cocks and hens, would have thought a quiet ghost or so no annoyance whatever, compared with a too watchful poultryyard. It is only excusable, though, in a Christmas cock or a nightingale to sit up late. Shakespeare shared the usual prejudice against the owl, who is "ominous," "fearful,," even "vile," or "obscene," because it loves to hear the chimes at midnight, and does not happen to have a "shrill-sounding throat" or a nightingale's tongue wherewith to accompany them. Nightingales, by the way, are always feminine, and owls masculine, to the poet. The same conditions prevail still with wrens an 4 robins. " The robin and the wren Axe God Almighty's cock and hen," says George Herbert) and it would be difficult for anyone but the most determined naturalist to think of a Jenny Robin or of a Cock Wren. Perhaps the female wren is, indeed, the most typically motherly amongst songbirds. "Look where the youngest wren of nine comes!" is quoted to prove that Shakespeare had found nests containing that not abnormal brood; and the essayist cites some recent evidencfe of Mr Hudson, the ornithologist: "Not long ago, in a wood in Berkshire, I saw eight young wrens sitting in a row." But Shakespeare's favourite of all birds is judged to be either the skylark or the eagle. "The princely eagle," or "Jove's bird," is mentioned some thirty times, and the skylark twenty-five. Probably each may be taken as his nearest affinity, in different moods. Aβ a sporteman, he treats of binding, and "bat-fowl-ing," and is familiar with "springes to catch woodcocks"; but above all he delight* in terms of falconry. The sense of many a passage now requiring the explanatory note, must have been

clear as daylight when everyone who could afford it carried a hawk, and conversation bristled with tho fal " coner's jargon. And of birds in general and their ways he could speak with an accuracy in reference which has often been extolled. That the plays and po ems mention in such friendly allusions quite fifty species of British wild-birds," may justify the citation of Shakesneare as "a field naturalist of no mean order/ , though born in days when "Nature-know-ledge," as a Science with a capital letter, 'had not come to its own.

It is somewhat startling Explosives to realise that tho averin the ago modern 'home gives Homo. shelter to sufficient quan-

tities of high explosives which, if nS ed according to their original purpose, -would obliterate the entire neighbourhood. Tho destructive, power of guncotton is well known. A few pounds of it, ten years ago, sent tho Maine to the bottom and precipitated war between the I'nited States and Spain. And yet this selfsame strenuous material may be induced to assist substantially in the prosecution of the arts of peace. My lady's luxuriant tresses may be caught up with an orn amenta 1 comb containing enough guneottom to kill even-body within a radius of half-a-dozen yards ; her dainty shoes may be fitted with high heels covered -with guncotton in the form of artificial leather. She may be seated upon a divan upholstered -with artificial silk spun from guncotton, kicking her guncotton heels against a chair polished with gunootton varnish, awaiting, impatkntly, tho tardy arrival of her lover, who, decked out with guncotton and cuffs, and biting the guncotton stem of his pipe, may be playing billiards and knocking balls of solid guncotton about, entirely,forgetful of the tryst. Guncotton, the terrible giant of destructiveness, is the child of humble, harmless parents. It consists simply of old rags, wood pulp, paper, or, hest of all, cotton, treated with nitric acid. The finished' product intended to be used {fir manufacturing purposes, is just ac simply robbed of its lethal qualities. It is dissolved in ether and alcohol, and to this solution castor oil or camphor is added. A jelly-like mass which cannot be made to explode, is tho final result. From this material there can be fashioned celluloid as hard as c rock or as flexible as silk; it can be made to resemble ivory, amber, tortoiseshell, horn, wood; it can be made as white as enow or as black as ebony; it can be turned, cast, moulded or rolled into any conceivablo shape. Gunootton from which the sting of sudden death has thus been drawn has unlimited practical application' to the needs of daily life. In the earlier da 3's of its transformation, the resultant product was dangerously inflammable, but greater care in the manufacturing process has made it more fireproof, stable, and reliable. Its usefulness extends to the making of piano keys, billiard balls, knife handles, collar buttons, toilet boxes, hairpins, combs, collars and cuffs, artificial silk, artificial leather, cinematograph films, photographic plates, phonograph records, varnishes, enamel paints, and a thousand and one other articles of daily use. Indeed, if all the gunootton converted to the peaceful uses of man were suddenly and simultaneously to assert its original destructive qualities, the affairs of this sublunary sphere would be handed over to the care of the ■untutored savage, and he alone would be unaffected by the general cataclysm.

The Anglo-Japanese ExA hibition to be held next Unique year promises the opporExhibition. tunity of a lifetime for inspecting Japanese art and handicraft in every phase. Few, if any, Europeans have ever seen these objects, and even to the great mess of the Japanese themselves they are unknown. The possessor of valuahle art works in Japan, a "Times" correspondent says, jealously guards his treasures, and only on special occasions axe they withdrawn from their silken wrappings, to be reverently examined by such persons alone as are certain to appreciate them. That they, should , be sent to a far-off foreign country, with all the risks and* dangers entailed, must be regarded in the light of a high compliment to Great Britain. The exhibit -will include not only paintings, but sculpture, architectural models, metal work, arms and armour, textile fabrics and needlework, pottery, and the characteristic art of lacquer ware. Twelve halls are to be devoted' to historical display. At their entrance there will be a reproduction of the red-lacquer gate of the Thasuga shrine. Hall I. .will be devoted to exhibits illustrating the costumes, customs, end arts of the most ancient times, that is, the period anterior to the eighth century of the Christian era, and the other halls will represent various epochs in the national life. Hall XI. is to contain a pavilion for the Tea Ceremonial, and Hall Xllis to be arranged so as to give visitors an opportunity of learning the successive stages of Japan's civilisation, and of examining authentic specimens of her art in all ages. Amongst the embroideries to be exhibited is a very interesting reproduction of the last picture painted by Tharo Hagai. The picture is en allegorical representation of the creation of man—Thwannon, Goddess of Mercy, drops from her phial a bubble within which a new-born child appears, with folded hands, in a posture of veneration. The embroiderer worked on this subject from June 2nd, 1906, until July 12th, 1909, using 12,100 different shades of silk end 12 of gold thread. Despite the great difficulty of the work, the artist is said to have arrived at most delicate effects of atmosphere, clouds, and drapery. Amongst the realistic representations in the exhibition will be lay figures to illustrate the life of tho agriculturists from season to season; the various processes in tho silk industry; models of grim mediaeval fortresses. There are priceless specimens of Japanese art, such as porcelain and pottery, lacquers, and silver carvings, which alone are well worth going hundreds of miles to see.