CURRENT TOPICS.

Hastings Standard, Issue 417, 4 September 1897, Page 2

CURRENT TOPICS.

A few months ago the excavations which are being systematically carried on in Pompeii brought to light the villa of an opulent citizen, named Vettins, remarkable for the number and beauty of its mural paintings, and its bronze statuettes. On its outer walls were a number of handbills which showed that the owner of the villa was a candidate for civic honors in a municipal election which was apparently pending at the time of the eruption. Since then, as we learn from the NuovaAutologia, some highly interesting discoveries have been made in the immediate neighborhood of the abode of the late Mr Yettins. One of these is a small baker's shop, which probably supplied that gentleman's family with bread, and presented the customary evidences of the activity of the business carried on in it at the period of the calamity; which, as a matter of fact, did not destroy, but preserved Pompeii. Near the baker's shop was another house of some importance, in the peristyle of which has been found a niche containing several statuettes of conspicuous merit as works of art. One of these represents an old woman under the the influence of liquor, which is described as being a figure of " marvellous realism," as if the sculptor had been a sort of Zolo in his way. Another represents an elephant, with a negro perched upon his neck; while the back of the animal sustains a tower, around which shields are suspended by chains. In another house, inhabited by a family of some social importance, the excavators discovered several paintings of rare beauty; one of which portrays Perseus about to rescue Andromeda from the rock ; her deliverer holding in his hand the head of Medusa, the grim face of whom is reflected in the water. Not more than one-third of the city has yet been unveiled, and it is believed that an incalculable wealth of antiquities remain to be brought to light during the next 20 or 80 years.

We learn from an article in the " Nineteenth Century" that the experiments of Dr Calmette, which he has been prosecuting ever since 1892, prove that the curative property of serum taken from animals which have previously been "immunised" a clumsy neologism is, beyond all question, an absolute antidote to snake poison. It was tried upon rabbits in the first instance, and it was found that " a dose of pure cobra poison sufficient to kill 80 rabbits could be introduced into the blood of them (previously ' immunised ') without any danger to its health." Since then the efficacy of the serum has been tested with regard to human beings, in India, Egypt, and elsewhere, with the most gratifying results. Perhaps the most striking cure on record was one made at Cairo in October last, which is thus described:—"A girl 13 years old was bitten by -a snake in the forearm while she was picking cotton. It was then between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon, and only at 7 o'clock she was brought to the hospital ia a desperate ooa<

dition. "When the doctors (Professor'Keatinge and Dr. Rnffer) examined her, at half-past 7 o'clock, sho was in a state of full collapse. The pulse was hardly felt at all, the pupils of the eyes showed no reaction to light. Twenty cubic centimetres of serum were injected under the skin in the abdominal region. At 11 o'clock an amelioration in the state of the poor girl became evident, and another 10 cubic centimetres of serum were injected. All next day the girl remained drowsy, but recovery set in, and she was saved." It may be added that there is a reasonable probability that the means of obtaining curative serr.ni in a quite novel and simple way will shortly be brought to light.