RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 22, Issue 175, 20 April 1929, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

SIDELIGHTS ON CURRENT EVENTS LOCAL AND GENERAL

(By

Cosmos.)

“Is it really unlucky for thirteen persons to sit down (to a meal?” asks a correspondent. Yes, if you have only catered for twelve. '* * * Homes are cleaner now than they were a generation ago, claims a writer. Perhaps it’s because they’re used less. * * » Necessity is the mother of invention. Just when we were wondering if we’d live long enough to pay off the bouse we bought last year, a scientist cornea . along, with a serum to prolong life. » ■ * -• Hundreds of Auckland women are said to be learning ju-jitsu. Proficiency will enable even the smallest and weakest to hold her own at the next bargain sale. » * • Poppies were much in evidence in the streets yesterday, and judging by the brisk business conducted by the various “sellers,” the returned soldiers’ funds should benefit to a considerable extent. In England the sale of poppies takes place on Armistice Day, when disabled soldiers and their helpers dispose of hundreds of thousands of these emblems. Last year a miniature ‘(Field of Remembrance” was created outside Westminster Abbey, where purchasers of poppies were invited to place their emblems in the grass round a cross, thus making a diminutive Flanders field. While poppies were disposed of here, primroses were much in evidence in London yesterday, where “Primrose Day” was celebrated. The primrose is the emblem of the Primrose League, an organisation which has for its object the spreading of Conservative principles amongst the British democracy. On the day of the unveiling of Lord Beaconsfield’s statue all the members of the Conservative Party in the House of Commons were decorated with a primrose, which was believed to have been Beaconsfield’s favourite flower,. It was at that gathering that the idea of the Primrose League was first suggested. It was later found that the late statesman had no particular regard for the flower which had been associated with his memory, as, in the words of Wordsworth: A primrose by a river's brim: A yellow primrose was to him. And it was nothing more. However, -the primrose has ever since been emblematic of Conservative principles in England. * * India believes in the personality of gems; and to t 1 Indian the emerald is particularly sacred and sought after, we are told. It is regarded as the stone of purity and guards against poison and oth.r ills. To-day the great historic emerald- which Akbar wore, and which can be seen in all portraits of Mogul emperors, is now on the market The Maharajah of Jodhpur has perhaps the best collection of emeralds in India. His Highness of Palanpur and His Highness of Patiala hold second place. The Gaekwar of Baroda also has his rare gems, but perhaps the most unique thing in his possession is a carpet made solidly of jewels. This carpet is about four feet long, just big enough for two people to sit on, and every inch is sewn with diamonds, emeralds, rubies and pearls—an almost Incredible sight. Baroda’s jewels have been valued by European experts at one million pounds. It was from the Gaekwar of Baroda that the late Queen Alexandra, when she was in India as Princess of Wales, got the pearls that made her famous necklace. “Can you supply the story of Jack Cornwell, the boy hero of the Jutland Battle?” writes “D.E.R.” John Travers Cornwell, the 16-year-old boy who served on the Chester during the Battle of Jutland, had been at sea less than a month when he was killed. The following letter, sent to his mother by the captain of the Chester, vividly describes the act of valour which resulted in the posthumous award of the. Victoria Cross: “I know you would wish to hear of the splendid fortitude and courage shown by your boy. His devotion to duty was an example for all of us. The wounds which resulted in his death within a short time were received in the first minutes of the action. He remained steady at his most exposed post at the gun, waiting for orders. His gun would not bear on the enemy, all but two of the crew were killed or wounded, and he was the only one who was in such an exposed position. He felt he might be needed, as indeed he might have been, so he stayed there, standing and waiting, under heavy fire, with just his own brave heart and God’s help to support him.” • * * From Germany comes the latest example of George Bernard Shaw’s peculiar class of humour. A German friend recently asked the Irish dramatist and wit his opinion of the recently announced invention of the Russian professor, Brjuchenenko, who kept a severed head of a dog alive for more than three hours by means of a pumping arrangement. Shaw replied: “I find the experiment frightfully interesting, but cannot imagine anything sillier than the suggestion to try it on a criminal sentenced to death. To prolong the life of such a person is undesirable. The experiment should be tried on a scientist whose life is endangered by an incurable organic disease, whereby . humanity is threatened with the loss of services of his brain. What is easier than to save such genius from the deathbed by cutting off the head, thereby freeing the brain from disease and keeping up artificial circulation in the arteries and veins so that the great man mav continue to lecture and advise us without being impeded by body infirmities. •. ♦ * “I am greatly tempted to have my head cut off so that I may continue to dictate plays and books independently of any illness, without having to dress' and undress, or eat, or do anything at all except to produce masterpieces of dramatic art and literature. I would, of course, expect one or two vivisectionists to submit themselves to the experiment to prove to my satisfaction that it is practicable and not dangerous, but I assume that would not mean any serious difficulty. I am deeply obliged to you for bringing to my attention this highly satisfactory possibility. A universitj in which all chairs were occupied by a row of the finest brains in the country with nothing but pumps attached to them — briefly, where the whole system of teaching was purely cerebral —would be an enormous improvement on the present state of things.**