HABIT V. CUSTOM.

North Otago Times, Volume XXV, Issue 979, 21 June 1902, Page 4 (Supplement)

HABIT V. CUSTOM.

The difficulty in defining the word habit is occasioned by the confusion of two words, custom and habit, which are oflen used as synonymous, though really distinct; they denote respectively cause and effect, The frequent repetition of any act is a custom. The state of mind or of body thereby produced is a habit. The custom forms the habit, and the habit keeps up the custom. So a river is produced by a continued flow of water, which scoops out for itself the bed which afterwards confines it. And the same conduct, occasioned by different motives, will produce different habits. A man who controls his temper, and who acts honestly only from prudence, acquires the habit of being geutle among his equals, and of acting honestly where there is danger of detection; hut ho may be habitually insolent and irritable and fraudulent when he has nothing to fear, —Archbishop Whately, TRIAL OF THE PYX, The "Coinago Act" became law on the Hist May, 1870, since which, on May 31 in every year, a curious ceremony known as the" Trial of the Pyx," takes place at Goldsmiths' Hall in the strictest privacy, It is the assembling of a jury to test the quality of the gold coinage issued by the Mint, the authorities of the Mint being bound by law to place in the Pyx for the use of jurors at such trials, one coin out of every 15lb. troy weight of gold coins, technically called" a journey weight," and one coin out of every 601b. troy weight of silver coins, These coins are pealed up in dated packets, with money values endorsed, and are so produced at the trial. THE KHEDIVE'S GRANT. The Khedive receives a yearly grant of about a hundred thousand pounds. His private wealth is great, and is chiefly invested in productive farms and cotton plantations in the Nilo Delta, His habits tend to thrift, perhaps as the natural result of the downfall of Khedive Ismail, whose extravagance has no parallel in history. In addvtion to theKhedivo'sgrant from the.National Exchequer he receives another hundred thousand pounds for the support of his mother, brother, sisters, and the various relatives of the Khedivial family, nearly a hundred in number. The Khedive is described as a strict disciplinarian, but is just, considerate, and kind. I