NEWS AND NOTES

Evening Post, Volume LXXVII, Issue 102, 1 May 1909, Page 12

NEWS AND NOTES-

A PERPETUAL "CHALLENGER." The work of those who are engaged in this country in the teaching of tropical medicine (says the Westminster Gazetto) is handicapped tiom the want of some systematic means of providing the schools with the material they require. Ah excellent suggestion has been made by the Director of the Wellcome Laboratory at Khartoum, Dr. Andrew Balfour. He does not speak without reason. Every year, he tells us, he is inundated with applications for material, and the applications are not only_ from these islands but from the United States and from various European centres of study. He thinks the situation could be met by the provision of a well-equipped laboratory on board a vessel of some eight hundred to a thousand tons burden. The whole of the globe would be before Mich a craft. It could ascend the gisat navigable rivers, and bring back plenty of the most valuable material for both ' museum and teaching purposes. The personnel would naturally consist of the picked men of each year from the great medical schools. A happy combination of tutorial and research work during the voyage would make a post on board such a ship a prize fellowship, for which there would be no difficulty in finding any number of wellequipper applicants. The total amount of capital invested i:i buildings at Messina is calculated at aboiic three and a quarter million sterling, at Reggio at two millions, and the greater portion of this capital is irrevocably lost. Tne smallest current coin in the world is used by the natives of the Malay Peninsula. It is a sort of wafer made from the resinous juice of a tree and is worth about the four-thousandth of a penny. The smallest metal coin in circulation is the Portuguese 3-reis piece, twelve hundred to a penny. The sad scenes on the Republic at the . time of the recent disaster were not wholly without humorous incidents. A bald-headed gentleman was accosted by a woman whose hair was streaming down her back, and who asked him excitedly if he had a comb about him. Describing the incident, he says : "I looked at her very sadly. Then I took off my hat." The new Turkish Ambassador at Washington ha& a monkey which, when the bell rings in the morning, at once opens the steam heater, blackens his master's shoes, fills his Turkish pipe, and turns on the water in the bathroom. The last available number of Je Sais Tout gives an interesting account of this very clever little valet. During the forthcoming season, visitors to Manchester parks will be entertained by seventy-two gramaphone concerts. A recent press message from Washington to a London paper stated that invitations are to be issued for the immediate calling of an International I World Conference at The Hague in September next, to consider conservation of natural resources. President Cabrera, of Guatemala, during the last few months, has twice esI caped the bombs of his enemies, and is to-day as closely guarded at the capital as a monarch, of Continental Europe. Cabrera even fears poisoning. It is said about Guatemala City that, no longer trusting the- servants about the palace, he now has his mother prepare his food for him. | Mr. Roosevelt, says the New York i Herald, demands physical fitness of the American naval officers, from admirals downwards. They have their ohoice ot doing a fifty-mile walk, a ninety-mile horseback, or a hundred -mile bicycle ride. The comment of a German lady on the causes of the Civil War to the effect that "How could you expect the North and South not to disagree, with nothing to connect them but a narrow isthmus " finds almost a parallel in a review of Miss Mary Johnston's " Lewis Rand,' : which appears in a London weekly of some standing. Referring to the hero of this story, the reviewer describes him as "a kind of South American Bonaparte." It would .be interesting (remarks the Argonaut) to know how many otherwise intelligent persons Europe contains who suppose that Virginia and the country that we cal> "the South'' are in South America. Herr Eeuben Brainin, the noted Hebrew writer, has recently returned from a lecturing tour through the Pale ot Settlement in Bussian cities, and says that the tragic result of the massacres of 1905 stiU noticeable is in the increase ol nervous disorders among the Jewish people. Fear and sorrow invaded every household. There are still nve and onehalf million Jews in Russia. Miss Oxford, postmistress of Hanbury Post Office, near Burton-on-Trent, when in bed was alarmed by the sound of breaking glass, and, venturing part of the way downstairs, found burglars forcing the locks. She crept back, and, ringing a bell vigorously, had the satisfaction of seeing the- intruders running away precipitately, leaving all behind. The school garden idea, has been remarkably developed in San Antonio, Texas, which is said* to ha;ve more gardens att-ached to ita schools than any other place of its size in the world. There are 949 of these cultivated plots attached to the twenty-nine schools, the gardens varying from one-tenth to one-quarter of an acre. A .nessage to The Times from Ottawa, dated Ist March, states that for the first time for many months the Customs returns for February show an increase, the duty coilected being £822,729, an increase of £4980. Although the increase is small it is regarded as evidence of returning prosperity. The total decrease in the duty during the 11 months of this financial year is £2,116,991. A lawsuit regarding the possession of twenty-four titles of nobility, wMch has lasted for a century, has been decided in Rome. By the decision of the Court of Cassation the twenty-four tittles have been awarded to Signor Baldasarre Caracciolo, of Naples. Signor Canacciolo will therefore be entitled to bear the title of prince, that of marquis, three titles of count, and eighteen distinct titles of baron. A twenty-fifth distinction which Signor Caracciok) wHI receive is that of Grandee of Spain of the First Class. The Abbe Loisy has been appointed professor of the history of religions at the College de France. He is one of the most famous of French moderjaste. The Osservatorc Romano, in March last y«ar, published ci> decree from the Cctngregation of the Inquisition, by which sentence of greater excommunication was pronounced against the Abbe Loisy by name and person. The decree stated that this step was taken at the express command of the Pope, who, having hitherto delayed action in the hope thai; the Abbe Loisy might repent of his; errors, was at last forced to recognise his contumacy. A year previously Loisy's works had been placed on the Index, and he himself was deprived of the right of celsbra&ng mafia.

At a meeting of the Capetown City Council, Dr. Abdurrahman, an Indian medical practitioner, and a member of the council, protested, against the grant erf £2000 to the South African College while the college council refused to admit coloured students. The objection of the^poliege council, states The Times, I is one of practical difficulty rather than of principle, as the white students would probably withdraw if coloured students were admitted. In conversation with Eeuter's representative, M. Homiakoff, President of the Duma, who is an enthusiastic panSlavist, said that, both as President of the Duma and in his private capacity, he earnestly entreated his brother Serbs to withhold any rash explosions, and to face the situation with cool judgment. The less aggressive Servia was, the better for herself and Europe. The | idea that Servia should be territorially compensated at the expense of Turkey could not be entertained, and M. H-omiakoff addend : "Servi^, must be patient and must prepare herself. The time will come when Bussia .will again ; 3 strong and able to speak. Forward measures now by Servia would be a folly tantamount to suicide." Professor A. W. Porter explained, in the course of a^ lecture at the London Working Men's* College, that lightning cracks the air, 'and that the visible form of the flash follows the cracks. It might be thought that the air was not j a likely thing to crack, said Professor Porter, but neither was cobblers' wax, the liability of which to split under a sudden blow was well known. They had all heard the crack of the carter's whip, but which was it that cracked — the whip or the air ? He thought it was the air. Joseph Grau, aged thirty-six, a French prisoner who is undergoing three years' imprisonment, has declared to the authorities that he is tired of life, and asks to be executed. He states that he murdered an old woman at Montpellicr in 1907. Enquiry has shown that the murder was perpetrated in the circumstances described by the prisoner, and that the author was never discovered. Grau, when informed of this, said : "Very goosi. You will find I am telling the truth. I am the murderer, and I want to be guillotined, for I deserve it." In the March Contemporary Review Mr. Charles Wa/tney describes the methods of the three combatants in the tripartite struggle for Manchuria, and gives his' reaeons for backing the Chinese. In his view, China holds most of the cards: "a rich, country capable of much return, a fairly able administration, a comparatively well-to-do population, with, little poverty and much intelligence, a very clever body of traders, a reorganised soldiery, and some serviceable police, and finally general goodwill in her undertaking." China, he goes on to say, is not only helped by the popular hostility to the Japanese and the growing indifference to the Russians, but by the great fact that she has at last a clearly-defined railway policy^ — '*the repurchase of every line now in foreign hands."' The Cologne Gazette learns from Ber&n that the German Government has conformed,' with the wish, of the Emperor Menelek of Abyssinia to acquire the services of Dr. Zdntgraff as his adviser. Dr. Zintgraff was for some time a dragoman in, the German service, and was employed at Addis Abeba, where he hae acted as Charge d' Affaires. It is further stated that, a Gerjnaa tutor, Dr. Piano, will shortly take up an appointment in the Abyssinian Imperial hoiu-ehold. In the most recent number of Je Sais Tout the European medical man who Is attached to the person, of the Etliiopian monarch, writes a eulogistic account of the potentate. A good deal of curiosity (says St. James's Budget) is being evinced by old Parisians as to the possibility of the famous chestnut in the Tuileries gardens keeping up to its reputation. This venerable and punctual tree is so regular in bursting out into flower every year on 20th March that it is generally known by the name of the "marronnier dv 20 Mars." This year it has frozen every night and during many of the days since sth February, and it scarcely seems possible that the old chestnut will be able to fulfil its annual engagement. It is now clothed in snow, with a carpet six inches deep over the whole of the gardens, and it gives little signs yet of blossoming in a fortnight. A few days of sunshine, however, may make all the difference needed, and the betting is still slightly in favour of the marronnier as against the late spring. 11l modern life (writes the Argonaut) efficiency — clean-cut capacity to do the work in hand — outweighs and outranks all other claims to consideration. Whether it be the construction of an Isthmian Canal, the' building of a railroad, the organisation of a department store, or the administration of a State, , the demand is for the man equipped for the job. And it is perhaps due to the enforcement of this principle that modern society, in all practical ways at least, is so much more effective than any ether in the history of the race. The Times special correspondent, writing from Fez, says :—lt: — It is quite evident that Malai Hafid is a man of large and independent ideas, with a leaning toward democracy. In appearance and manner he is most attractive, and both his looks and his conversation betoken a character at once strong and of quick decision. EveryQiing he says is very much to the point, and his remarks are often touched with humour and even cynicism. His openmindedness and cordiality extend almost to breaches of the rigorous Moorish etiquette, and clearly prove how utterly absurd were j the reports — which were never circulated by The Times — as to his fanaticism and anti-European tendencies. If any proof were needed, it is sufficient to state that his Majesty has already received the ladies of the North African Mission, and commended their schools and medical work; while sfciil later he received in audience in full view of the Court and troops Madame de Beaumarchais, wife of the secretary of the French Legation, who accompanied her husband on the French Mission now at Fez. I Die Information publishes details of a Russian romance in which figures the wealthy and beautiful young Baroness nn n iWf, thn widow of 'a distinguished Russian Government official. All the ,)wcn. o ot Alosuow were hopelessly in love with her. The baroness, however, rejected all attempts to obtain an introduction to her, and lived in perfect seclusion, attended only by an elderly relative. Some months ago a young peasant girl began to visit the re- j sidence of the baroness, offering the servants cheap articles for sale. Subsequently the baroness used to buy different articles from the peasant, who was intelligent, had good manners, and considerable conversational talents. The baroness eventually asked the girl whether she would enter her service as a lady's maid. She agreed, and discharged her duties to perfection for a fortnight, and then revealed "herself" as a young Russian nobleman named Maximoff, who, taking advantage of his fair hair and complexion, liad masqueraded as a domestic servant to break down the barriers with which the beautiful baroness had surrounded herself. The baroness' was so much impressed by his extraordinary perseverance that she engaged to him, and the martriage hae *i-sken place.