OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 850, 15 June 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

PHYSIQUE OF THE WELL-FED / CLASSES.

A remarkable fact that comes out from recent tables is that the boys at the public Schools and young men at the Universities, and entering the public service, average about 3 inches taller and from 5 lbs to 20 lbs ‘heaviei than boys in the Board schools and £ohng apprentices and workmen.-Court. Journal,'’ 1 • .. . -

HEWSSAFER MEL BILI,-

The* bill for the amendment of the Law of Libel in the'interest of newspaper reporting, which was last year brought, in by Sir Algernon and other members of Parliament .nonnested mqre or jess direetjy with the press, faf been reiatrgdifoed this ve|r. It hears the nances, in nddjtjqo po pfrift gf r A. Berth wick, of Sir Albert and Mr Jennings, who represent! the presept parliamentary majority while Mr Lawsqn, Dr Cameron, Mr John Mopley, a»d MrR. Cray stand «poosois for it in the Lipersi interest. Judged by the merits of the bill, its prospects of success should be equally good' Its general scope may be described as an enlargement of the doctrine of privileged publication to include all fair and accurate reports ef the proceedings at auy public meeting or meeting of aubffieial public or body, a simplification of-the proceedings in defence in a libel action, and a limitation.of the amount recoverable as damages to the amount of the injury which a plaintiff can show that he has actually sustained. This is manifestly the barest justice to defendant newspaper proprietors, and it is not very creditable to British jurisprudence that the law should still at this date stand in need of amendment to bring it into tolerable accord with the public conscience. Yet so it is, and we are even now dependent upon the enter; prise and success of. half a dozen private members of Parliament for this moat neoefi* apry boon. We cordially wish them a prosperous issue to their undertaking.—Lanoet.

LOCOMOTIVE CHECK VALVES.

The Rcnusyl vania Railroad are fitting an inside valve on their boilers', so that if by an accident the check valve chambers are broken off; the valve will close and prevent the escape of the Watar and steam. The Utility of this arrangement had already been Bhown ih the case of a Slight accident lately, where the locortiotiVe rah into the aide of a passenger car attd the Check valve chamber was broken off ; but no injury by scalding took place.— Industries.

THE LIABILITY OF DIRECTORS-

In the Queen’s Bench division, Mr Justice Hawkins gave judgment in the case of The Faure Electric Accumulator Company, Limited, v. Phillipart. It was an aotion to recover no less than £70,459 for two calls of£l each (with interest at 10 per cent.) made in November and December, I§B2, upon 22,532 ordinary £lO shares iu the plaintiff company, of which the defendant had been a director. The defendant denied his liability upon varioha grounds, and, among others, said that he held the shares as trustee for a Belgian company called the SocifittS la Force et la Lumifjre, and that the plaintiffs, being aware of this, bad agreed that the shares should be forfeited on the terms that neither the defendant nor the Belgian company should he liable for either calls or interest. The Belgian company, it was said, assisted in promoting the Faure company and paid £50,000 in cash upon the shares ; and it was contended that the agreement was that in consideration of the large payment which had been made, forfeiture would be a disoharge of all liability. As to the second call, the case for the defence was that it was not made by a properly constituted board of directors. His lordship, having gone through the various points at length, expressed his opinion that the defendant was liable for the full amount of the calls upon the shartß (£49,064), with interest upon the first call at 10 per cent, from' December 6, 18S2, to January 3, ISB3, the date of the forfeiture, which amounted to £204. Judgment was therefore given for the plaintiff for £49,268.

INFANT LIFE INSURANCE.

Some years ago a member of the Obstetrical Society made a suggestion which was so admirable in theory that it is to be lamented it was so hopelessly impracticable. It was that parents should receive a sum, not at the death of their infants and children, baton the latter attaining the age of twenty, one. Possibly some modification of this may bo adopted some day i for the present it will be better to notice the remarks of a daily contemporary on the carelessness with which insurances on infants’ lives are accepted without proper inquiry being made as to whether one or more insurances have not been previously effected. 1 The principle of ihsurarice.* cifa entering an infant in a burial club is a-most'laudable one, for it is a wise ptoyibion Coward* 1 meeting the expefisek #bi - cli death'foiffbt'qntftii ;‘ind as any child; However rfell Vredfjr, mhy die suddenly, or after a short illness, this* lends an additional importance \o the forethought proippts infant insurance. Rut, lijre all' movements begun with good Iptentippa, it is liable to very gros3 abuse. While the limit fixed by law for a child under five years of ago is £6, this mar be exceeded to any extent by multiple insurance, thus offering a terrible inducement for murder by omission or even commission. What is required is some system which shall do away with the neoeaoity for fingering money by parents and friends. Could it not be arranged that the funeral expenses shall be paid by the insurance company or club ’ It is the amount of margin above this necessary expense which leads to so muob evil, either in eating and drinking at the funeral, or even as an inducement to crime. The matter is one well worthy of consideration by philanthropists.—Lancet.

jl ' • EFFICACY OF VACCINATION AND - . RFVACCIJTATIOJf' 0 L>

Thq report by Dr giholai/ Wffite of the smallpox epidemic imSheffifeld from its commencement in Mdrch last lip till the "end bf last year ‘furnishe's some very striking and ini struotive ‘figures which ought to convince eyejji tbp most opponents cjt vagqfn'ation of the unwisdom of their course, yhug it appears that Q 0 per cent, of the peoi pie l9 f Sheffield being vacoinated and 10 per pent, unvapeinated, 97 d!eaj;hs only the g,lj)S yagoifpted persons wfto yere attacked, and }57 the 3§2 un ; yageinafod peyspns who wpre attacked, tfie death-rate m° a g tjie vacated peing 4-4 per pent,, the ffijatb-rgtp a«PPUg f*9P jpvftcpfpated 41-3 pep pent. Tbip, relates to the whole popplatiop, including those who, pot haying bpep reyaccipated , bad jn adplf: age lost the protection lyfeich would have afforded, and were bgt ipaperfectly protected. If. the oases of children, under ten years of age be examined tbe result is still more striking. Of the 109,000 children in Sheffield 95,000 were officially reported as vaccinated, and 5,000 as unvaooinated ; among the 95,000 vaccinated children there were only 2 deaths, and among the 5/00 unvaccinated there were 70 deaths, it should be noted that in the outbreak, of 1857-58, when vaccination was practically voluntary and not compulsory, the figures were exactly reversed. There were .170 deaths among children, under, ten, .and on}y IJ. deaths.amopg the w.hoje population,abnve that age.—Medical .Press, and. Circular. ,

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE DIOCESE OF LIVERPOOL:

(jur eba temporaries the Standard and Morning Post, and Lord Oranbrodk in the House of Lords, have lately called attention to the gratifying fact that during thejast five years £244,000 have been contributed in the dideese of Newcastle to extraneous Churoh objects. It may interest some of dur readers to be informed that duiing the last six years the voluntary contributions of the diocese of Liverpool have amounted to no less than over £559,000. Thi? is a striking fact, and deserves the attention of those who think fit to say that the new Bishopric of Liverpool has proved a failure.—Rock.

DOUBLE SIGHT,

It is only within the last sixty years that scientific men have arrived at full perception of the use of having two eyes instead of only one. Previously to the year 1830, doubtless many a man who had lost one eye had found that he lost with it some of his power of recognising the relative position or distance of objects, without anybqdy being able to tell him why ; but about this time Wheatstone was investigating tho facts of binocular vision, and in the year 1832 he proved clearly that the primary reasqn why we have so distinct a perception of the solidity of objects we look at is that each eye re-, ceives a different impression of tffe same object. Other investigators seeip'td have had some idea of this kiud, but Wheatstone was the first to prove it by drawing two slightly different piptqres of the saipe object, as seen by tffe tw° eyes separately, apd to construct, an instrument by means of which each eye should look at jts corresponding picture alone. Re thus produced artificially a perfect impression of solidity by means of pictures on plane surfaces, and gave the name « Stereoscope 1 (from tbe Greek stereos, meaning solid) to the instrument.

RECIPROCAL INFLUENCE OF SENSE ORGANS-

Some interesting experiments on the reelprocal influence of organs of sense ham been reoently made by Herr Urbansohitsch, of Vienna. His geoeral conclusion is, says Nature, that any sense exoitation has for result an increase of the acuteness of other senses. Thus, sensations of hearing sharpen ,the visual perceptions. If coloured plates are placed at such a distance that one can hardly distinguish the colors, and various sounds are then produced, the colours become generally more distinct the higher the sounds. Similarly, one can, while a sound affects the ear, read words which one could not read before. Again, the ticking of a watch is better heard when ths eyes are open than when they are closed. Red and green increase auditive perceptions; but blue and yellow weaken them. Several musi oians, howevor, were agreed that red, greon, yellow, and blue caused an intensification of sound about one-eighth ; while violet had a weakening effect. Taste, smell, and touch are under like laws. Light, and ied and green, colour increase the delicacy } while darkness,, blue, and yellow diminish >it. Uuder the influence of red and green, -taste extends from the a-pterior bor. der of. tiiettqngue to the whole surface.

THE IMPORTANCE OF EXERCISE.

Every ihovement of arm, leg, tongue, or eye is the result of an active double nerve current tb aud from tff’e bruin, ahff there is no better vydy of securing U'fffagHcql !&• telligfiqt rpind ttfap ' by‘tfiusj developing the bra-ill by exercising qud eduqatjug every part of the body to its proper use. Every child is improved in mental power by learning some skilled handicraft, whereas mere mechanical work deteriorates the brain. I have been much struck with the great lack of general intelligence in the factory lads and 1a8563 in the North, who spend years with their eyes fixed on a machine piercing a thread or filling a box in precisely tbe same way .every-minute of .their time, compared with other children of the same age. The study of the violin is an excellent means of educating the brain as well as of producing a perfect arm and wrist; beauty of form depending on musoular development, whereas mero fat is shapeless. The fashionable white hand of the young lady of society is about as well developed as the Chinese ladies’ foot. Nothing but active use can produce the outlines of true beauty so dear to the sculptor’s eye. Exercise, moreover, is of great use,in strengthening the blood-vessels, and iq aid; ing the circulation!, only, like all good things:, it is sometimes bverdone ; and I kiioiv' several young ladies, and young men also, who are injured for life by excessive walks and climbs.—Leisure Hour. *

THE FRENCH NAYY.

A raporp of considerable interest has just boen'prepared by ‘Menard Dorian upon the French navy. According to‘this report the French Marine coin’prises 386 vessfels of all kinds—viz, 'lB fi'rst-olass (9. ironclad oruiserg, ff ifppcicds qged Wooastguarff p‘m*pc>s6S, 4f ironclad gudhoats, 1 ironclad floating battery,' 9 "battery cruisers, 9, first-class efuisers, 11 second-class cruisers, I*s th'irff-class cruisers, I’s ffeqpatch boats,' 31 despatch boats, alsq qvaffwe for transport i' 8 despatch boats, also available as torpedo boats • 16 unarinOuml 12 phaloupes, each carrying a gun , 11 steam chaloqpea. IQ torpedo boats for the opeq sgs, 62 fipst-ejaqs toppqdo toppedp boat's, 7 yeuptte tqrppffo boafs, }Q fiyst-class transports, IQ second-class transports, 4 third-class transports, j 3 sailing ships, 2P ships qseff for fishing protegtign purposes, and 3 training ships, ‘The tiggrgs gate value .of this fleet is estimated at £12,741,216. The French Marine has been engaged during 1887 upon the construction of no fewer than 92 vessels—viz., 8 firstclass ironclads, 4 irpn-clad gunboats 1 irfini clad 1 c/hiser, 2 haltery crui-er?,\ 3 braiders, 2'second-olass cruiser?, third-class Crfifscps,' I torpedq gqnhqat, 3'despatch'boats, 2 tbrppdo - despatch boats, 54 hoats,3 ffespatgh boats also ayadable-as,trans-ports, I'transport, properly so-called, and 2 gaiimg frigates, In the course of 188fl,further PUW Vesaela will be undertaken tp. an estimated cost of £1,840,000. —Engineering

THE EXPENSE OF MODERN ARMAMENTS-

The Paris Gaulois states that this year, even should peace be preserved, the armies ana nftvies of the principal States of the world will cost about £7,000,000,000 francs, or £280,000,000 sterling. It makes up its figures in the following way Gerniany : army and navy, 914,000,000 francs, and pensions; fortress funds, and Spaildau treasure, 530,000,000 francs, France, in all, 1,037,000,000 francs ; Russia. 1,014,739,95 G francs \ Great Britain (England and India), 1,247,000,000 francs; Austria, 326,361,626 francs ; Italy. 352,924,000 francs; ' Spain, 202,915,000 francs ; Turkey, 128,851,700 francs ; Holland 69,952, francs ; and other countries the balance between them.

A WISE KADI.

On board a ship which sailed in the Eastern seas there was a passenger whq, as a milkman at Constantinople, had made money which he kept in a bag in hjs cabin, and wa? very fond of retiring there and counting it over. Now, the captain had a pet monkey that used to watch this man, nqd seeing him so often going to this bag he thought there must be something in it w ol- th examining ; so one day he watched hi? opportunity, ran into the man's cabin, seized the bag, and climbed with it up the mainsail yarfl. Tfie man soon missed his bag, and soo.n foqnd out where it had gone, fo.r the monkey began taking out the gold coins ancl throwing them alternately on the. deqlc apd into *he sea. Thqse thgt fell on the deck the po.qr man greedily pieffed up, bqt as half of the money went overboard, that, of course, wag lost. He did’ not intend putting up with his loss so quietly, for he held tfle captain responsible, as it was his monkey that had robbed him. Nothing could he done until the vessel gut into port, when the naan bad the captain brought before the kadi, of magistrate, to recover the value of the coins lost. * You were a milkman ’’ said the kadi «I was, sir,’ replied the man. ‘And prey will you tell me how much water you used to put into your milk ?’ The man was much confused, and replied that he would rather not tell : but as he saw the magistrate was determined to know, he at last confessed that he used to mix one-half. ‘Very well, then,’ said the kadi, ‘ it appears to me that only one-half of what you earned was honestly yours. You have got, therefore, all that was due, and this monkey has only thrown into the water the amount of profit you dishonestly got out of the water.’ Thus judgment was given against the milkman, and everyone but he felt how just it was.

PLATONIC LOVE-

There is one curious group of cases in which friendship is almost the sole element between men and vvomon—where the usual forms of love are kept, as it were. down. This is what is technically called Platonic love—a subject which many people are incapable of understanding, but w’hich risesabove the sneers of the sensual and -thefoolish jests of those'who betray their* eartlrliness and their animalism *by making a jest of what Dante believed ja, Retrai-ch wrbte about, qnd' Miohhfi Arigelo devoted himself t’o) ' When those great Italians saw a beautiful body, they were led by it to contemplate the grace of the soul. This year'(lß6s) will see she six hundredth'anniversary of the greatest of the Italians, and I may pay my little tribute to that great man ; iu'pqrffa,ps u 6 better way thafn by’'trying to, make, clear what'* wasHfle'' relationship between those great souls URcl tfiose t.o whom their verses Wpre addressed ; what wqs that kind of love in which sublime friendship was almost the only ingredient, where all the lesser uHH* butqs were used simply as Btepsof the ladder which led to the greater. Perhaps the best example of this olass was Miohel Angelo, a man with a. character as severe and noble as his works, and who makes one feel an interest in a work in exact proportion to its qxcsllence. He was greater than any of his works, and perhaps the purest and noblest artist the world has seen—a great artist yet no worshipper of piotures. He knew that where God gave external beauty, He intended it as a finger to direct attention to the inner and higher beauties. By studying truth lie sought the beautiful, but by studying the beautifnl he sought for the good ; for the beauty was simply good in.externalsi This was the doctrine which Michel Augelo laid down,, and it was upon this he, and the great Italians jfihsvQ' already named, qcted,** There) are I ' many who say there can be mo love between man and woman that does not look to marriage, thatrit is impossible, and-they go>for their authority to the Romans, ? - ■' Among the Romans the word amicus meant a friend, but the femiMqqqf the word meant a mistress, because that 'people did' not believe there could'be friendship between‘man and woman stopping at friendship. But the people Who loved and admired - Ovid were not likely to 'understand Dante, and vr.lulst the early Rqmims may be preferred m matteVa of conquest, w’6 must,' in matters relating 'to'the spiritual, coifie flown I to the later Italians, who 1 believed in the feminine of amicus, and thought itj majje W purgly'feminine find ys, keep Ip purely spiritual. The Tplatoni? adoratjqn Qf 4,ugelo for 'Yittoria Oolonna—whose beauty, talents, and virtues were celebrated by many-distinguished contemporary Italians, and* who was described as the model of Ital^a - q matrons— vygs gaffefl .Wg Qheiiishpd by tfiq y.ery principle' wfyeh I have already laid down as bejng the guiding rule, of the “school to which the great artist be-, longefl. From Gqorgg p,aw'Bop s . Sflakes/, peare

According to the Eleveur, many birds, euoh as the eagle, the swan, and the raven, live more than a hundred years, The JMT.t rot, the heron, the. goose, and the pelipfifi have been known to five fo,r sixty yearaj the peacock for twenty-five years,,the,pigeon; twenty, the prune twquty, Ihelifineti'itweotyfive, th'a gqkyinph liftQsii, tfiefiark thirtoen,thq blackhif fit wel ve, tfie. canary twenty-four, the pheasant fifteen, the thrush ten, tho coqk. ten, the robin redbreast twelve, and, the<wreu only three years, , . / ' 1 ", Fifty million dollars is napaod as the value, of the”property’:destlojed in Germany by the flood, .<■ •.■ ‘ .. ‘ ' ■'** •