In the Public Eye

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 126, 24 November 1923, Page 16

In the Public Eye

SOME POINTS OF NOTABLE

PERSONAGES

If nothing unforeseen happens, the Prince of Wales will be. off. to East Africa early next spring.- All arrangements are being made for His Royal Highness s visit, and, in addition to several official functions, the Prince will have at least a month's big game shooting. It is possible'-that the return journey may be made by way of the Nile trom Lake Victoria. That is the ordinary hunters route, but it takes time, and the Prince may have to hurry home

• A man in an old straw hat stood beside an exit of the Promenade at the «neen s Hall, London, lately • when Vaughan-Wilhams's London Symphony was being played. He did not applaud j mdeed, he was seen escaping hurriedly a\ )Y° rried by a guilty conscience, when the storm, of appreciation broke. He was Dr. Vaughau-Williams! A question asked by one who knows him was did he wear the same straw' hat he wore at a symphony concert last November? •

■ .^e Tawleigae, priest of a small parish at Poutigny, France, has been warded a Carnegie medal for devoting his Ills to the interests of science and humanity. The abbe is dying by inches as a result of X-Eay bums received while experimenting- with the problem of lobody. The inability to discover shell fragments and bullets which .caused so much loss of life during the war inspired the abbe to made his unique experiments, but as he was not attached to any hospital and had no medical assistance he frequently burned his flesh. Though warned that he was imperillinz his life, the abbe continued to practise iiis theories on himself, turning all his data oyer to Atmy officials. It is computed that thousands of lives have been saved as a result ofthe priest's sacrifice. Interest m there's plight has initiated a movement m Paris to promote an insurance fund which will enable scien tists to continue their worlr with the assurance that in « se of loss of health or sight the investigator will be supported for the remainder of his life

Professor Besredka, pupil and collaborator of the great Metchnikoff, has been officially recognised by the French Government for perfecting a method of giving anti-typhoid serum in capsules. One of the last works in which the late Professor Ehe Metchnikoff was edeaeed was a search for a method of administering the^ serum simpler than injection His experiments were carried on by tSesredka with efficient result*. The name of Professor Alexandre Besredka, of the Pasteur Institute, was included on the list- of those elected to the Legion of Honour on the occasion of the Pasteur centenary.

The President of the Polish Republic, Stanisla, Wojciechowski (pronounced V«-]e-hof-ski), was a printer in London. Up to 20th December, 1932, when he was elected President in succession to General. PilsudsM; he was living in the fiunplesf.way possible'in-a little fiat of an- apartment house in Warsaw. Now he lives in the palace.allotted to the President,;.: surrounded -by luxury,: which' he does 1 hot covet. H«.is, however, a dignified figure,.,wherever ; he may be livuw and is popular and trusted. President do not-have much power. That is wielded chiefly by th«. Prime Ministers;.but by reason of .his sterling qualities, in which simple.sincerity is conspicuous, the new Polish President has wide influence, the influence of personality rather than of position, and when it is really necessary he can speak with firmness and conquer distrust.

An interesting man is Mr. Luther Burbank, now in his seventy-fifth year and directing the Santa Rosa Experimental Farm in California; It is a pity that for 40 years past periodical claims have been made which tend to render agriculturists suspicious. The Thaumaturugus or professional wonder-worker is regarded by men of science with a certain amount of disesteem (says "The Field ').• A really authoritative report on Mr. Burbank"s life work would not be unwelcome to Mr. Burbank himself. Farmers more particularly want to know '(1) what experts like Dr. Saunders and Professor Biffen think of his "super wheat?" (2) What South African and South American owners of vast areas covered with cactus think of his method of making cactus a splendid cattle food; (3) are his "potato-tomato," "coreless apple,'^ "stoneless plum," "quince-pine-apple," and "plum pear," practical propositions on the market? • '

Marshal Wu Pei Fu, China's military genius, recently passed his fiftieth birthday. He is thoroughly modern in his methods of training the evergrowing army of Chinese regulars. The marshal is said to be the real power behind the Government of Pekin.

Valdimar de Pachniann, the eminent pianist, who is 75 years old, recently arrived in America from England. He appeared" very vproud of his new method of playing the piano, with hi s wrists perfectly stiff, which he declared gave him greater power arid precision over the instrument. When asked by those who greeted him to America, who was the greatest living piankt in the world the maestro modestly replied, "I am the great player ... the grandest player." He'considers Brahms one of the greatest composers, and said that Godowsky is his only living equal. De Pachmann carried an old Russian passport issued thirty years ago under the regime of the Romanoffs, and would use. no other, so the various countries have kindly humoured the aged musician in his whim.

To be the master of your own shop at the age of twelve is not a bad start The hero of,this story is Sir Eobert Maule, head of a famous Edinburgh firm. "I began my business career at the age of eleven," Sir Robert said, "by collecting bad debt* for my father. Then, a year later, another man opened a rival shop One day I found a number of my father's customers in the new shop. I immediately went in and'offered the man five pounds more rent than he was paying for the possession of his shop. HeAccepted and I stocked the place and started m business for myself. Luck favoured me, and the venture was a great success. '

Although nearly 83 years of age, Sir Edward Clarke, the famous lawyer-poli-tician, is still devoted to Alpine climbing. Miss Lily F. P. Baldwin, of South Australia, has described a trip by an Australian party, of which she Was a member to Switzerland in the war year 1914. 'We were well entertained while waiting to cross the continent in safety with. Sir EdwardClarke's 'Twenty Yeats m the House of Commons' one evening, and on another occasion his description of a famous law suit, the Esther Penge case. At the age of 73 years be was very active, for he mountaineered with us, and on Sunday mornings regularly took the Anglican service in the village church. . 6