MEWS AND NOTES.

Evening Post, Volume LXX, Issue 13, 15 July 1905, Page 12

MEWS AND NOTES.

The highest price ever paid for a violin at auction was recorded at Glendining's, ■ when an instrument by Joseph Guurnerius fetched £900. The violin was stated to be as perfect as it could possibly be, and had been played on by Paganini. The purchaser was a foreign gentleman. The oldest clergyman in the United States, the- Rev. Dr. William Howe, of Cambridge, has just celebrated his ninetyninth birthday. For more than half a century he has laboured in Boston. At a scientific congress sitting at Rome, »n American doctor, Miss Robinovich, exhibited an apparatus' for producing antesthesia by electricity. A rabbit, subjeoted to the treatment, became unconscious, as if under the influence of chloroform. Millions of flies (says the Westminster Gazette) have invaded the docks at Cardiff, and have so infested the principal thoroughfares that traffic has been diverted to other streets. The pier gatemen and dock policemen have actually had to run for protection behind the closed doors of the watch-houses. These flies are supposed to have arrived in a foreign vessel f— clearly alien undesirables. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, who was the chief speaker at the recent annual meeting of tee United Kingdom Band of. Hopo Union, said that was the jubilee of the movement, but it was one tinged with sorrow, for the gigantic evil at which the movement was levelled was still alive. King Drink had been hunted from the church, the chapel, and the home, but its stronghold and last refuge was now in tfce House of Commons, and it would need . the moßt determined efforts to turn him out. A flexible bullet-proof shield has been invented by Messrs. Weidenkeller and Hofal, of St. Gall. The Swiss military department held experiments with -the shield last week. At 300 yds it resisted the fire of a Maxim, firing 2000 shots in thirty minutes. The shield was then fixed to a goat, 1 and' at a hundred yards the bullets of the regulation rifle, it is said, liad no effect on the animal. Mt. Pritchaid Morgan, who as Consulgeneral of Korea has taken charge of the Korean Legation for the present (says the Westminster Gazette), is known as an indefatigable goid-seeker, in which capacity he has been chiefly responsible for our only British gold-mine. For many years ere has been crushed and the precious metal extracted near Dolgeljy, but owing to the scurvy character of our mining la»va the yield does not pay a dividend. In Australia Mr. Morgan's efforts in this respect were better rewarded. In an article on "Brug Treatment for Inebriety," the British Medical Journal has much. t» say against the extensively advertised alleged cures. As is pointed ©ut, chronic alcoholism produces lesions in most of the organs of the body, especially in the digestive and nervous systems, and any treatment, while it must he toainly directed to preventing the patient from continuing to poison himself with alcohol, must also have regard to means for restoring the functions of the damaged organs. Experiments by Dr. William J. Russell have shown that a section of a tree trunk, er of a branch, cat across the grain, possesses the power to impress upon the photographic plate in the dark a distinct image of itself, plainly showing the rings of growth. There is a great difference in the intensity of this power among different kinds of wood. Tbe conifers — the pines and firs— possess it in a high degree. An amazing thing (says the Westmin*ter Gazette) happened recently at the South-Western Police Court. A bandmaster of his own accord went into the witness-box and declared that he meant to murder his wife if not restrained. He found it impossible, he said, to tolerate her "nagging." The' Magistrate naturally enough declared that the witness could aoi be m earnest, but he declared he was. "Oh, yes, I am. Til murder her if I come in contact with her. I don't wish to do it, and for this reason I invite you to take measures to restrain me." What ■was there to do but to yield to such pressing solicitations? Trenches, works, and defence lines jfjmtes the Kharbin correspondent of The Times) are constructed by the Russians "tafh great dLSScalty owing to the lateaess of tne spring. The soldiers, who have been without shelter since the retreat from Mukden, have been building dng-outs throughout April to iwcteet themselves from the snow and iei. Site rainy- season begins in June, and the conditions will be less favourable for operations than they were in Southern Manshuria. A curiosity in,, insurance circles (says an English journal) is a clerical life policy which has just matured. The policy was effected with the Clergy Mutual Society, so far back as 1847, for £5000, the minister being then at the age of 37. The premiums paid amounted to £2287, but, ■owing to the application of repeated bonuses, no premium has been payable nince 1876. The bonuses since that date liave exceeded £9000, and the total claim . paid is now £14,040. It is an example in thrift. Stamp collectors will he interested to learn that the Philippine Islands, at present using surcharged United States ntamps, will enjoy from 4th July a postal currency of their own. The design will include the familiar figures of Washington, Franklin, and' Lincoln. In addition there will appear portraits of M'Kinley, under whose presidency the islands ■were acquired; Magellan, their discoverer; Lagaspi, who first established civil government fiere ; General Lawton, killed in battle m »,he islands ; Admiral Sampson, distinguished in the Spanish war; and Carriedo, the philanthropist, who provided Manila with its first watersupply. Professor Janssen has laid before the .French Academy of Sciences an interesting report upon his recent researches on Mount Vesuvius, There was something fascinating about the way in which the octogenarian scientist described his arduous climb to the very brink of the great crater, and the way in which he extracted gases from the very depths, like drawing water from a deep well with a. chain pitcher. His receptacles were- sunk to a great depth, and then, by an ingenious arrangement of valves, were opened and closed after taking in gas. These gM*s v*ill be subjected to special tests, with a view to establishing their relation to the solar emanations and vapours. The latest fashion in precious stones is kunzite, a Californian gem, which has found its way to London. In colour it is * beautiful peach-pink. It is more brilliant than the topaz, and has greater lustre than the sapphire ; iudeed, an expert with, a poetic imagination has deScribed it as "the rose of jewels." Exposed to X-raya the. stone becomes fluorescent, photographing itself upon a piece of sensitised paper if placed in the dark —a unique property among gems. Writing on 26th May from St. Petersburg, The Times correspondent »ays-— I feel bound to make mention of the ugly reports coming from all sides that the reactionaries are again uppermost at Tsarskoe Selo. It is even eaid that 2ML BobiedonostzeS i» about to raeeive m appointment which will place

the destinies of the Empire as well as of the Church within his hands. The reactionaries again proclaim 'confidence in their ability to annul reforms and, to render the impatiently expected national assembly a sham. It is to be noted that the army under the command of General Kawamura has been officially designated "the Yalu army," to distinguish it from the Manchurian army (writes The Times correspondent). In case of strategical necessity the operations of the two forces are to be combined, as they were in the Battle of Mukden, when Kawamura's columns directed their march against the Fushun positions. But, for the rest, Kawamura is understood to be entrusted with a special duty, and no one doubts that his ultimate goal is Vladivostock. The transfer of the Eleventh Division from the Port Arthur to the Yalu army means that the. latter now includes a large body of men rich in all experiences connected with the attack of fortresses. We are waking up to the fact (writes a Home correspondent) that the betting mania in England is bringing ruin and desolation to thousands of homes, and the papers are full of pathetic stories about it. Ip the space of five and a half years betting has been responsible for 80 cases of suicide, 321 embezzlements, and 191 bankruptcies. " And all the missionaries to the poor and the teachers find it to be a curse, and we are asked to pass laws to prevent it. But what is the good of law, without public opinion? When, "nice" people gamble at Bridge, and "respectable" people gamble iv the Stock Exchange, and "religious" people gamble at bazaars, what is the use of trying to keep foolish people from risking their all on a horse? The Baku correspondent of The Times writes, under date 25th May :—Particulars of the assassination of Prince Nakashidze, .the Governor, show that His Excellency was returning from making a call upon the Persian Consul in connection with the arrival of the Shah, and was driving to the Hotel Metropob to visit the special Persian representative, when an unknown man hurled a bomb from a street corner. The bomb fell into the open carriage, blowing it .to fragments. Besides the Governor and a Cossack officer, two Persians who were passing at the time were killed. The assassin escaped. Intense excitement prevailed in' the town. At a conference held in Paris on 23rd May between the Northern of France and South-Eastern and Chatham Railway Company's administrations, in addition to the questions relating to the improvement of the Channel service via Calais and Boulogne, opinions were expressed respecting the feasibility of the construction of the Channel Tunnel. It was thought that the time was approaching when the existing prejudices would disappear and that the long-deferred scheme for bringing England and France into closer touch would take a practical turn, resulting in an enormous increase of business. At the annual dinner of the Japan Society at Tokio on 22nd May, General Terauchi, Minister of War, replying for the Japanese Army, declared that the British Army was inspired by the essential elements of the spirit of "bushido." The assurance and confidence displayed by the Japanese in times of crisis was the result of their trust and faith in their powerful ally. Admiral Saito, who responded for the na7y, said that the British Navy had been its teacher and the model on which it was founded. Count Katsura, the Premier, said the world could thank the Anglo-Japanese Alliance for limiting the area of the war. The end of the struggle was far off, but the people were prepared to defend their country to the last drop of their blood. According to a report prepared by the Home Office for presentation io Parliament (says The Times) the number of experiments performed upon living animals during the year 1904 6howed a large increase, mainly in consequence of the progressive importance attached to biological tests generally in practical medicine, for the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, and to the more widely recognised need for such experiments on the part of those responsible for the caTe of the public health. During .the twelve months under Teview 1821 experimente were made for_ the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis j 5852 inoculations were carried out for testing antitoxic sera and vaccines; and 8292 experiments, mostiy inoculations were performed on behalf of the Imperial Cancer Research Fund. In no case has a cutting operation more eevere than a superficial vene-eection been allowed .to be performed without ancesfcbstics. In no instance has a certificate _ dispensing with the use of anaesthetics been aUowed for an experiment involving a serious operation. Unless a special certificate be obtained, the animal must be kept und&r an anaesthetic during the whole of an experiment. I must ask permission (The Timea correspondent writes) to make one correction in my account of the- battle of Mukden. Describing the disposition of the Japanese forces, I assigned to Nogi'a turning army four divisions, whereas fuller intelligence shows that one- of the divisions originally forming this army at -Port Arthur— the Eleventh Division—was detached beforo the great battle anil cent off to operate on the extreme east rwith General Kawamura's forces in the Hsingking district. This was an important feature of the Japanese strategy. The Russians were allowed to learn about the transfer of the Eleventh Division from the west to the east, and they naturally interpreted the operation to mean fhat the whole of the Port ArthuT army was .to join in an extensive outflanking essay against their extreme left at Fushun. Thither, therefore, they drafted a heavy force, and when they discovered the truth — when, at a late stage of the huge fight, t)hey found Nogi'a araiy not on the east, but 1 enveloping them from the west and north — .they hastily moved back the battalions posted in the Fushun legion and marshalled them in a weaTy, bewildered, and dispirited condition .to meet *he Japanese rush. It used to Jbe predicted by military experts (says the lokio correspondent of The Times) that arms of precision and the other deadly instruments furnhhed by modern science must hay© the offect of shortening flghte. The opposite seems to .bo the caee. Thus the iight a* Wagram in 1809 lasted fourteen hours; that ia 1812 at Borodino twelvo-and-a-half hours; that in 1813 et Leipzig three days; and that on the Lisaine also three days. But the fighting at Liaoyang went on for eight days; that on the Shaho for five days'; and that at' Mukden for fourteen days. ' Everything is on a similar scale of increased magnitude. At Liao-yang the Japanese had more than 140 lines of telegraph and telephone in operation. In the -war with China ten years ago th© number of letters Sent home from troops in fcha field throughout the whole war was twelve millions, whereas in .tlhe single month of December last the men despatched 15,284,900 letters to Japan and received 14,567,(500. Agtiin, wnereae the aums lodged by tho troops in the postal savings bank during the campaigns of 1894-5 aggregated only 6,600,000 yen, they totalled twenty millions in the pre*ent -war up to th*. end -of December last. This war proves, in tho opinion of tho Japanese Staff, that, whereas tli© contrivances of science, were expected to minimise tho value of the ooldier's physique, the latter possesses more importance than tysh.