BRIEF MENTION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 116, 14 May 1909, Page 5

BRIEF MENTION.

" A little nonsense now and then, is relished by tiie wisest men."

As much as £1500 lias been paid for a prize collie dog. Not a Blenheim transaction. It is estimated that there are 44,----000 total abstainers in the English Army. Mother: What is the trouble between you and Charlie? Daughter: I always thought Charles was fond of the turf—but he won't simply touch the garden or the lawn mower. On an average each resident of Berlin spends one-eleventh of his income in intoxicating drink—laager peer ! Teacher: What is the highest form of animal life P—Schoolboy: The giraffe. May 14.—Born: Gabriel Daniel Fahrenheit, 1686; Robert Owen, philanthropic social reformer, 1771. Died: Henry IV., of France, assassinated at Paris, 1610; Sir Wm. Congreve, Bart., inventor of warlike missiles, 1828.

On the 14th May. 1796, the im- | mortal Edward Jenner conclusively established the important principles of vaccination; proving that itwas possible to propagate the vaccine affection by artificial inoculation from one human being to another, and thereby at will communicate security to all who were liable to smallpox. A boy was inoculated in the arm from a pustule on the hand of a young woman, who was infected by her master's cows. The boy was afterwards inoculated for smallpox, which, as Jenner predicted, produced no effect. The discovery met with virulent opposition. Dr Mosely, one of the first of the anti-vaccinists, sagely asked:— "Can any person say what may be the consequences of introducing a bestial tumour into the human frame, after a long lapse of years? Who knows but that th© human character may undergo strange mutations from quadrupedan sympathy?" Another anti-vac, a Dr Smyth, said: "Among the numerous shocking : cases-■ of cow-pox which I have heard of is that of a child at Peckhani, who, after being inoculated with the cowpox, had his former natural disposition changed to the brutal; so that it ran upon all fours, : bellowing like a cow, and butting with its head like a bull." A satirical poet of the day "worker off" the following:— "O Mosely'! thy books mighty phantasies rousing, Full oft make me quake for my heart's dearest treasures. For fancy, in dreams, oft presents them" all browsing On commons, just like little Nebuchadnezzars. There, nibbling at thistles, stand Jem, Joe, and Mary; On their foreheads, oh, horrible, crumpled horns bud: Here Tom with a tail, and poor William all hairy, Reclined in a corner, are chewing the cud." Owing to the declining birth-rate in lowa, 4s is, to be paid to the mother of each child born in that State. An action has been begun at Caracas charging ex-President Castro with the murder of General Antonio Paredesin 1907. . Bacon: And does your sonshow any signs of his college training?—Egibert: Oh, yes; he's quite lame from j injury he received ixi the -football team. ■ There ; are no patients in South Stafi fordshire Joint Smallpox Hospital at ! Wolverhampton, which was erected ■ four years ago at a cost of £18,000, : and its annual expenditure is £1500, I but so far there has not been a single patient. . I Peculiarities with our present and immediately previous governors were summed up recently (says the Tara- . naki News), with terseness. "When Lord Ranf urly was here he centred his mind on the old chaps that, were soon to leave this world. Lord Plunket's wife displays a big interest in the babies that are just coming in." A country convert, full of zeal, in his first prayer-meeting remarks offered" himself for service. "I am ready to do anything the" Lord asks" of me,'! said he, "so. long as it'shonourable." "Do you" think it is an advantage for a young singer, to go abroad to study?" "I dunno as it's any advantage," answered Mr Cumrox. "But j it's mighty considerate of the home folks and the neighbours."—Washington StarThere are no half measures about the law. If it means to be absurd, absurd it will be. The Lee corner was about to hand five shillings to a bargeman for pulling a woman out of the water, when it was pointed out that the woman was alive when rescued. Had the woman been dead he would have been given five shillings. "Mummy, are there really mermaids?"— "ies, dear, they are sea fairies."—Pause. "Mummy, you do want me to go to sea, don't you?"— "Yes, darling, I want you to go into the Navy,"—"Well, then, I think I'll be a diver."