OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 867, 12 October 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

MICROBES IN BOILS.

The omnipresent microbe has been detected in boils. This discovery shows that the method of poulticing is wrong, as the heat and moisture aid the development of the microbe. An antiseptic treatment is best.

RELATIVE POWER OF IMAGINATION IN THE TWO SEXES. An interesting experiment was recently made by a Dr. Durand in reference to the relative power of imagination in the two sexes. He gave to 100 of his hospital patients a dose of sweetened water, and shortly afterwards entered the room, apparently greatly agitated, saying he had by mistake administered a powerful emetic. In a few minutes four-fifths of the subjects were affected by the supposed emetic, and were mainly men, while everyone of those not affected were women.

WHAT IS ORTHODOXY? About a century ago the above query was defined thus at Gilmerton college by a Loanhead weaver, who completely and briefly gave his definition of it to his friend the Gilmerton carter, wheu he asked him, , I say, Davie, man—you that kens a’ thing—the minister was telling us at the kirk yesterday about orthodoxy and heterodoxy ; what dae ye ca’ thae doxies, man ?’ * Weel, I’ll soon tell ye that, Jock, my man. When your doxy and my doxy ’gree’ ye observe, weel, that's orthodoxy ; but, when your doxy and my doxy differ, that’s hoterodoxy.’

A NOBLE REVENGE. During the Crimean War a small band of British sailors attacked the town' of Gamla Karleby, in Finland, on June 8, 1854, but they were forced to retire after a sharp fight with the loss of one officer, eight men, and a boat. Though the British fleet (to which they belonged) had been sent to the Baltic to destroy shipping, coast towns, nets, and other things—the property in most eases of poor fishermen and farmers—the Finnish folk forgot all hostile acts and raised a monument on the spot where they buried their dead foes. After mentioning the date of the fight and the names of the slain, the inscription on the monument goes on to say, ‘ They were men, no matter whether friends or foes. They fell in battle, and a foreign country hasgiven them a record.’ Every Juno 8 the tomb is covered with flowers. Such a graceful and touching tribute to the memory of invaders stands almost alone in the whole annals of war. It ought to be added that there were many in England who deplored the cruelties inflicted on the innocent sufferers by these attacks, and Mr Joseph Sturge helped to raise a fand of £9OOO to relieve the distress in Finland. This kindly deed may have prompted the erection of the monument.—Little Folks.

CHILDREN’S TEETH. At a reoent meeting of the Islington Board of Guardians a discussion took place as to the appointment of a surgeon-dentist for the workhouse schools, as recommended by the School Committee. There was considerable opposition, and the matter was referred back to the School Committee for further report. Our contemporary, the St. Jameß Gazette, very justly says : * Whatever the result, there cannot be a doubt that the preservation of their teeth is a matter of no slight importance to pauper children. The rate of mortality among the poorer classes would perhaps be much reduced if more attention were paid to the condition of their teeth When young. ’ On the ground of expenditure alone it would iu all probability be found a saving. Wherever it has been tried it has been found to bring about the most beneficial results. In his last report the resident medical officer at the Anerley schools (which was, we believe, the first charitable mstitution to appoint a dental surgeon) draws especial attention to this subject, as it came under his personal examination.—Lancet.

POISONOUS NATURE OF ANIMAL EXHALATIONS. The exhalations from living and dead animal tissues are known to be deleterious to the health ; the evils of over crowding and bad ventillation being chiefly attributable to the devitalising influence of a contaminated atmosphere. Dr. Brown-Sequard has been studying very carefully the material substances on whioh depends the poisonous nature of prebreathed air. It has been known for a long time that, be-ides carbonic acid gas, the expired air contains small quantities of very powerful poisons, to which chiefly the unpleasantness of a stuffy atmosphere is due ; the effect of the poison on the brain whioh is supplied with contaminated blood is to depress and even to pervert its activity. Dr. Brown-Sequard has devised an apparatus for condensing the vaporous part of the breath of animals, and he finds the liquid so obtained to be powerfully poisonous even when obtained from animals in a state of health. The liquid injected in the veins of Bound animals produces much

distress from the action of the poison on the nerves and brain. Moreover, the nervous apparatus of.. breathing is disturbed in its rhythm, the animal generally taking many fewer respirations than usual ; the surface of its body grows cold, and the pulse-rate is quickened. Micro-organisms do not exist in expired breath, and, besides, the liquid remains after boiling' as poisonous as before. It is auite probable that a man excretes from his lungs and skin in twenty-four hours more poison, though in a more diluted form, than a snake manufactures in the same time. Dr. Brown-Sequard also proves that this vitiated air is specially harmful to consumpj tive patients. Rabbits, which are notori ously known to become consumptive, can throw off consumption or tuberculosis if the general health is maintained by proper food and fresh air, whilst their fellows succumb if placed in unhealthy surroundings.

CANINE SMUGGLERS. The shooting of a big dog by a French custom-house officer in the north of France the other day has given rise to some queer dog .Btories in the French papers. The officer shot the dog because he was suspiciously fat. The post-mortem examination revealed the fact that the animal wore a leather coat made to look like his own skin, and skillfully fastened at the shoulders and haunches in such a way as to completely conceal the ends in the hair. In this coat the dog carried several hundred cigars. On the Belgian frontier smuggling with the aid of trained dogs is said to be a flourishing business. Cigara. jewellery, and laces constitute the trade. The animals receive a special training for their profession. The practice consists in travelling from one place in Belgium to another in Franoe and vice versa, avoiding the highroads and revenue men. The latter they are taught by bitter experience to avoid, for the smugglers who train them keep a geod supply of uniforms of revenue officers on hand. These uniforms are donned by confederates whom the do&a have never seen, and these fellows beat and stone the dogs unmercifully. The result is the dogs run whenever they see a genuine officer. When the dog is started off on his journey with his load the smuggler sets out for the same place, but he takes the direct rout or travels boldly by rail, caring, of oourse, nothing for any inspection of his baggage. There was a famous dog of this kind in Maubeuge. He made the fortune of his mastor by carrying laces across the French frontier. His natural colour was white, but he wore all sorts of disguises. Sometimes he '®as black, sometimes ho.was brown, and sometimes he was a mighty , thick shaggy fellow. He was called Cute (Malin), and he Was well worthy of.the name. A price was put npon his head, and all sorts of traps and ambuscades were prepared for him. It is said that once he crossed the frontier disguised as an innocent sheep dog, travelling with a flock of sheep. His death was quite tragic. Cute died in harness like a hero. He was chased by the revenue officers and repeatedly fired upoD, In swimming aoross the Escant he was mortally wouiided, but he managed to reach the shore, where he died. Laces valued at £15,000 were found in his reversible overcoat.

THE ORIGIN OF CHINESE CHARACTERS. Professor Terrien de Lacouperie contributes to the coming number of the Baby. lonian and Oriental Record an important contribution to our knowledge of the origin of the Chinese ideographic signs. From the evidence which he hss collected It appears that the oldest characters employed by the Chinese, and known as Ku-wen, are not primitive, nor are they derived from earlier hieroglyphs, but are traceable to a more ancient form of writing, whioh had already grown old and corrupted when the ancestors of the Chinese were taught to engrave them on bamboo bark and other vegetable substances. Out of a total of 500 of these ancient ideographs, only about fifteen are genuine skeletons of hieroglyphs, and even this small number includes the addition of new pictorial signs invented in the period of the Ku-wen, in the same manner as additions are inade in all systems of writing which are ideographic. The traditions preserved by the Chinese oonoerning the origin of their written signs show some acquaintance with the cuneiform characters, whioh are made by atrokes thick at one end and thin at the other. In corroboration of the conclusion at which he has arrived—that early Chinese civilisation was derived from Babylonia through. Elam Professor de Lacouperie shows that Teanghieh, to whom Chinese tradition attributes the invention of writing, and 1 whose name in ancient Chinese was Dung-Kih or Dnn-kih, was in all probability the celebrated Chaldean King Dungi, known for his numerous inscriptions. A minute examination of mauy early Chinese chat actors in the paper shows that they were not derived from the most ancient characters of Babylonia, but in a cursive-and rounded form from the later cuneiform characters. Circumstantial evidence points to B. C. 2500 as the date of this event, that is, about two thousand years after the earliest known period of Chaldean history. The comparison of the Chinese derivatives with their antecedent Babylonian characters throws much light on the meanings and shapes of the latter, and leads the writer to the conclusion that the writing was introduced into Chaldea, not from the mountainous country of Elam, but from the Persian Gulf, as was surmised by Berosus.

A aUEER SOCIETY FOUND IN IOWA. ‘ I found a curious society up there in lowa county. They call themselves ‘ the True Inspirationalists,’ aud all their property is held in common. No one has individual possessions, and but 40dol. to lOOdol. is allowed to a man and 25d01. to 40doL to a woman for spending money or personal emolument. Marriage lowers the spiritual standing of a member, though it is allowed. Rule IS of their by-laws reads like this : * Fly from the society of womankind as much as possible, as a highly dangerous magnet and magical fire.’ Reasonably enough, the community has grown but little during a hundred years; they are now about fifteen hundred or sixteen hundred strong. Their woollen goods, and, indeed everything they make, are quoted away above the usual mar*

kat price for that class of goods. They are eminently moral and upright, not one single case of complaint against them being found on the records of the county. A rule for children is s ‘ Do not play with children of the other sex.' They indulge in no amusements. One of the head men said to me : ‘ A picnic is mighty poor business.’ Their houses are German- in appearance, warm, comfortable, and filled with everything in the way of eating and drinking. The dress is of the simplest sort, and no ornamentation is allowed. The women all wear blue calico with a black wrap or cap over the head. The horses and oxen are too fat for severe service. Everybody takes it easy ; an outsider will do as much as four of the community in a day. They are wine-makers, but being, first of all, law-abiding citizens, they have dropped that branch of their industry. They read few papers and take little interest in politics, but at the test election the whole colony in a body voted against Prohibition. The chances that woman suffrage will nlti. mately prevail has a tendency to further disturb them. The sexes are required always to sit apart, to 4 prevent silly talk,' and because ‘the female is dangerous to the peace of mind.’—St. Louis Republican. IT IS WELL TO REMEMBER That he who gathers roses must not fear thorns. That to wait and be patient soothes many » pang. That all are not princes who ride with the emperor. That correction is good when administered in season. That it takes a great deal of grace to be able to bear praise. Thai you will never have a friend if you must have one without failings. That to have what we want is riches, but to be able to do without is power. That there is no limit to the age at-which • man may make a fool of himself. That the roses of pleasure seldom last long enough to adorn the brow of those who pluck them. That a man who cannot mind his own bnsiness is not to be trusted with the business of others. THE LEGEND OP THE MOSS ROSE. Various legends are associated with the beautiful moss rose. One of these, taken from the German, is very touching. In the depths of the greenwood one sultry day the moss complained that the rich red roses that ■pread beauty and fragrance all around were more beloved and sought after than it. But in the cool of the evening Christ passed along the mossy glade, wearied with the noontide heat, and as He gratefully acknowledged the loving care of His Heavenly Father in forming the tender plant to be a refreshing carpet for weary feet, a blossom burst forth from the humble moss, and lo ! on earth was born the first 4 moss rose.’ The rich perfume of the rose is believed to cling to whatever the leaves have touched.— Glasgow Herald. THE VEGETABLE STRUCTURE OP COAL. If a thin section of an ordinary piece of coal is put under the microscope its vegetable structure may frequently be at once detected. What is more, many specimens exbibit the

spore.casea, or bag-like representatives of what serves for seeds, in the low orders of plants which have mainly contributed to the formation of this fuel. In some of the black shales which form the ‘roof ’ of the ooal beams, such as those from Kettle Point on the shores of Lake Huron, which burn readily, these spore-cases are equally abundant, Even to the naked eye they are quite plain in the form cf little brown specks. They tell of muddy shores, along which grew dense jungles of tree ferns, gigantic club mosses, and huge horse trails, which shed their dust-like 4 seed ’ into the soft material of the future shales, under the shadow of their branches, until it got impregnated with the resinous material—a material, it may be added, which is so inflammable that the similar dust of modern club mosses is used in theatres to produce artificial lightning. We see, indeed, much the same process going on at the present day. The margins of lakes bordered by pine and fir forests are often covered with a yellow dust which on examination is found to be the pollen of various coniferous trees, and which, when wafted by the wind to a distance, constitutes a nine days’ wonder in the shape of one of those ‘sulphur showers,’ notices of which at times appear in the news, papers. On the shores of a la're in Vancouver Island, in a deep hollow shut in by forests of Abies Donglassi, the writer has seen a layer several incheß thick almost entirely composed of dead shells of the ordinary water snail (Linuasa stagnalis), and of the old seeds and fresh pollen of the neighbouring conifers. Not only are some coals (the ' white coal ’ of Australia, for example) almost composed of the ‘spores’ or seed-like bodies of club mosses and their allies—whiuh played much the same part in the forests of the Carboniferous Age which conifer® do in those of western and eastern North America—but in the lig. nites or brown coalß of comparatively recent formation which are worked for fuel in various parts of the world, in addition to the microscopic vegetable structure, the original fibres of the woody material, stems, twigs, and leaves, may frequently be seen at a glance in any lump dug out of the seam.— Our Earth and its Story.

A NEW RUDDER CONTROLLER. The bt caking down of steering gear i 3 a frequent cause of disaster with ships of all classes, and to prevent catastrophes from these causes an ingenious rudder controller has been devised by Mr Thomas G. Stevens, of 37 Walnroook, London. The contrivance, it is stated, is very simple, and can, in event of the breakage of the chains or rods, immediately regain full control of the rudder, whether worked by baud or steam. The feature of the invention is 3 strap brake, consisting of a friction band fitted round a disc, which is fixed on the wheel shaft of small vessels, and on the rudder head of those of larger tonnage. In either case the strap brake la put on and taken off by means of a small hand-wheel actuating a right and left handed screw, the wheel being placed within easy reach of the steersman. On the turning of the wheel in one direotion, the strap is caused to grip the periphery of the disc, and thus to put the break on, holding the rudder in a fixed position. This apparatus is also intended to take the place of relieving tackle, and to enable the helmsman to hold the rudder at any required point in

heavy weather and release reversing the band-wheel, fj , . . danger of the rudder being . reason of too great rigidity j•; , , the application of the brake, wli <y* . 1 very powerful one, small indiarubber buffers are introduced in the mechanism so as to allow a certain amount of play to the rudder. Steven’s controller has been fitted to the steam yacht Malikah, of 350 tons measure, ment, which has just returned from Gibraltar after a successful run. The controller is stated to have given every satisfaction, and to have acted perfectly whenever putin use, proving a great help to the helmsman.— Mechanical World.

SEVEN OP THEM. An absurd mistake led on one occasion to the temporarj confinement of the late Lord Chancellor of Ireland in a madhouse. His Lordship had received an unfavourable report of this particular asylum, and being anxious to judge for himself, he drove up in a olosed car, without having sent any intimation of his coming. When the porter refused him admission, he said at last—‘lam the Lord Chancellor.’ ‘ Oh, Lord Chancellor, eh V said the porter, with a grin, as he opened the door. ‘ Step in ; it’s all right. We have seven of you here already. One got loose last week with the Emperor of China, but I thought both of you were back.’ By this time his lordship was within the gate, and a batch of warders summoned by the porter to take him in charge. It was not until he had sent for hi 3 secretary that he obtained his release.— Inverness Courier.

Ivy was a generic name for creeping plants so that the true ivy and the ground ivy—or ‘ale-honf,’ as it was formerly called—have no affinities beyond the fact that both are more or lesß of a creeping and procumbent habit. Indeed, the common ivy belongs to an order of plants which has its headquarters in Japan, so that it is far away from its parental home here ; whereas the ground ivy belongs to the order Labiatce, one of the most abundantly represented in our British flora.

When Louis XIV. asked Colbert how it was that, ruling so great and populous a country as France, he had been unable to conquer so small a country as Holland, the Minister replied, ‘ Because, sire, the greatness of a country does not depend upon the extent of its territory, but on the character of its people. It is because of the industry, the frugality, and the energy of the Dutch that your Majesty has found them so difficult to overcome.’

It is no doubt true (says a writer in the Contemporary Review) that the working man’s kitchen is more luxurious to-day than the banquetting hall of the Middle Ages. But if we compared the noble of those ages with the noble of our own, and the peasant of jthoae days with the labourer of the present, «e should Bee that, while the one class has risen to a level of luxury undreamt of in the older world, the other is not yet assured of the necessaries'of life.

A lady from the country took her two daughters to Madame Tussaud’s the other day. They had heard a great deal of the laughable mistakes that were always being made by the folks who walked up against Madame Tussaud’s wax figure and then apologised, or asked the policeman the way, and wondered why the wuxen man spoke , never a word, and they registered a vow that they would not be caught tripping. When they got inside all went well, and they had gazed at several groups, recognising them at once for what they were. At last one girl remarked to the other, ‘How could people be so silly ! Why, I suppose some folks would fancy this fuuuy old fellow was alive.’ And she gave a poke with her umbrella at a strange old gentleman on her right. Her confidence in her own judgment was a littla shaken when the ‘funny old fellow’ turned round and courteously inquired if he could assist her in any way !

One Thing and Another. lodised starch has been recommended as a substitute for iodoform, on the ground that iodoform owes its power to the iodine given off from it. The nettle is cultivated in Germany, its fibre having proven valuable for a variety of textile fabrics. In Dresden a thread is produced from it so fine that a length of 60 miles weighs only 2slbs. ‘Pewter’ is a word of Dutch origin, and the mixture and manufacture probably commenced In Holland. The London ‘ Pewoerera' Company ’ had its charter in 1452, and has doubtless many curioua records of the history of the trade. To be in school five hours a day (says Dr Baiu), with two or three hours for home tasks, is too great a strain on youths between 10 and 16. Moreover, in the evening preparation it is found that the classical lessons absorb the greater part of the attention. Syringing of the ears is sometimes provocative of coma, probably, as Dr Middlemass Hunt explains it, owing to a nervous reflex starting either from the terminations of the auditory nerve in the semicircular canals and labyrinth or from the tympanic plexus. In the absence of plumbago, those who are annoyed by a creaking hinge on a door may be glad to know that by rubbing the end of a common lead pencil upon the offending part it will immediately be reduced to absolute silenee. Blacklcad is one of the best lubricators known.

The ‘Travelling Plant’ is said to be of the lily of the valley species, and has a root formed of knots by which it annually adVances about au inch distant from the place where it was first rooted. Every year a knot is added, so that in 20 years it has travelled about 20 inches from it original position. A writer in a medical journal says :—Beware of too much quinine. It will produce a congestion of the ear and irritation of the auditory nerve. The common habit of

akiog quinine for neuralgia and other all* r ents without consulting a doctor is altoreprehensible, and may lead to very r vious results. Many cases of deafness are p odvioecL by over-doses and long-continued use of this drug. In part of the Fiji Islands a husband and a wife, if they wish to meat, must meet in secret, a similar secrecy is or was obligatory among the Circassians, and even among the Hottentots. But the African kingdom of Futa bears off the palm in these respects, if an old traveller is to be credited, who assures ub that wives there were so bashful as never to let their husbands see them without a veil for three years after their marriage.

Worth Remembering. Sloth makes all things difficult, but industry all easy. Perfect sincerity is a result of a deep inward order.—Milton. A morning hand bath iu cold salt water is delightfully invigorating. Mild as well as stern men are prone to exaggeration of language.—Cowper. More men have the courage of their delusions than of their convictions.

Follow the sound principle of having your want within yout means.—Sir R. Peel. Our lives should be like the day—more beautiful toward the evening.—Dr Goodell. Inspiration is contagious. One man, dead in earnest, sets a hundred other men on fire. —F. A. Noble.

Fortune may render a man unhappy ; it is only himself that can make himself despicable.—Carlyle. Fortitude is the marshal of thought, the armour of the will, and the fort of reason. Lord Bacon.

Every man has three characters—that which he exhibits, that which he has, and that which he thinks he has.

The difference between love and the other kind of heart disease is that the other kind of heart disease is generally fatal. I would not laugh but to instruct; or, if my mirth ceases to be instructive, it shall never cease to be innocent.—Addison.