OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 907, 19 July 1889, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

A TIGER STORY. * THE MISFORTUNES OF A FELINE FAMILY. The Calcutta Englishman reports that Mr Gabbett, district engineer at Aba Road, had a remarkable adventure with tigers lately. Mr Gabbett was travelling by trolly between Abu Road and Roh, when one of the gatekeepers gave him khabar of A FAMILY OF TIGERS In an adjoining jungle, and Mr Gabbett, accompanied by his trollyman and the old gatekeeper, started at once for the scene of operations. He had not long to wait before three fine tigers broke cover, and he dropped the foremost dead with a well-directed shot. ' He then fired at the next one, but though the brute was hard hit, he managed to make off towards a river bed in the vicinity. Mr Gabbett then had a shot at the third, and succeeded in wounding him badly ; but the animal beat a RETREAT INTO A CAVE hard by. In the meantime the tiger, which had gone toward the river-bed, fell in with a shepherd, whom he mauled rather badly. Mr Gabbett opened fire on Stripes, who was hit and rolled over, bat charged, and was hit twice again. Mr Gabbett was aiming another shot when his foot slipped, and he fell, and the infuriated beast dealt him a i blow on the head which rendered him insensible. The old gate-keeper very pluckily attacked the tiger with his sword, but only DIVERTED THE FURY OF THE ANIMAL TO HIMSELF. The brute felled him to the ground with a stroke of bis paw, and then returned to Mr Gabbett. This diversion saved that gentleman’s life, for the tiger only succeeded in clawing him slightly, and then fell dead. A fourth tiger also appeared on the scene, but did not molest any one. Mr Gabbett was brought to Abu Road. He is progressing favourably, and purposes going home shortly on leave. The shepheid is also in a fair way to recovery, but the poor old gate-keeper has succumbed. A CONVICT’S CALLOUSNESS. A curious familiarity with the niceties of criminal procedure is attributed to Parton. On the jury retiring to consider their verdict the prisoner leaned over the dock aud preferred a request that he might be allowed to go down. The appeal, it transpired, was prompted by the knowledge that a good dinner had been prepared for him at his friends’ expense, but of which, according to prison rules, he would not have been allowed to partake after sentence had been pronounced. So having spoken >n good time, Parton ;\ went down and * ate his eat,’ while the jury were deliberating on his fate. His apparent callousness is not by any means unprecedented. Did not the murderer James Blomfield Rush, while awaiting trial in Norwich Castle revel in roast pig, and send a peremptory mandate to the' hotelkeeper who supplied the gaol for ‘plenty of plum sauce?’ The bloodthirsty Italian whitesmith, who, some

years afterwards was convicted for the murder of a woman in Arundel Court, Haymarket, was less specific in his avowal of Epi- * buteanisui. When daked if he bad anything to say why sentence of death should n’dt be pa3sed upon him, he only replied that he should like to have ‘plenty of meat * before he ) was hanged. WAXED PAPER BAGS; A new article called * The Sparks’ Waxed Paper Bag ’ is now being extensively iutro. duced, and is noticeable for its novel qualities. The exterior is like any paper bag, but the interior surface is lined with a thin film of fine paraffin wax, which renders the bag substantially air-tight and waterproof. The cost is but a trifle more than the common paper bag. Tobacco, snuff, cigars, &0., put up in these bags are preserved in perfect condition, drying and loss of aroma being prevented. In like manner, confectionery, fruit, and other eatables are kept intact, wholesome and fresh. As these bags may be made translucent, they render the paokage attractive, and this add 3 a desirable selling quality, independent of other merits. Druggists use them for enveloping all kinds of prepaiations ; grocers find them very desirable in preserving, in fresh condition, coffee, tea, dried beef, hams, cheese, sugar, and other' foods. The difference between two packages of coffee, one put up in the ordinary paper bag and the other in a Spark’s waxed paper bag, is very striking. A pound of (coffee in ordinary paper, when brought into a room or car, is scented by everybody at once ; but, if a waxed bag is used, the contents cannot be detected ; there is no escape of aroma, the preservation is complete. These waxed paper bags are also found to be of superior value for wheat, flour, buckwheat, oatmeal, Indian meal, &c. The contents are kep« fresh, and access of moisture or other contamination is prevented, For packing cement, fertilisers, &c., the bags are also useful.—Scientific American. INCREASE OF DEFECTIVE VISION. In the House of Commons Dr Farquharson drew attention to the statements recently made by responsible authorities as to the rapid increase in England of short sight and other forms of defective vision, and suggested that a competent ophthalmic surgeon should, by way of test, examine the children of some one Board Sohool. Sir W. Hart Dyke, in reply, stated that the Department was quite alive to the importance of the question, and that the attention of the inspectors would be specially directed to testing the accuracy of the alleged facts. He added that in criticising the plans of i schools special care was taken by the Department that enough light was seoured, and that it fell in the right direction. It is to be hoped that this subject will not be allowed to drop. It is extremely difficult, * perhaps impossible, for anyone to say that < myopia or astigmatism is on the increase. < Soarcely thirty years have passed away since i the scientific investigation of errors of refrac- l tion was commenced in England. This oc- 1 curred after the appearance of Donders’ well- - known treatise, and, it must be acknow- t ledged, is a period too short to allow of any i positive conclusions being drawn, since it is « quite reasonable to maintain that the increase c of such affections, as indicated by the larger t number of children and adults who find it 1 requisite to wear correcting glasses, is only c apparent and not real, being due to the re. i cognition of the conditions requiring glasses i and to the better knowledge of the meehani- c cal means of correction but every ophthal- 1 mic surgeon would admit that there are at t least five circumstances that, apart from t hereditary predisposition, require attention, 8 since each constitutes a factor in the pro- x duction of myopia. These are—the amount c of work, the degree of light, the size and ‘ distinctness of the type used, the supply of t food, and, lastly, the position which the t child occupies in regard to his book, —Lan- i cet. 1 THE SCHOOL OF SUFFERING. \ An address was recently delivered to the j students in a London hospital by the Rev. ( Edward White on the Spiritual Effects of ] Pain. The lecture included mony sugges- i tions well worthy of consideration by a larger 1 circle than that to which it was originally e delivered. Starting with the -proposition 1 that the human capacity for enjoyment c necessarily involves that for specific suffer- j ing, he argues that, from, the scheme of the c Everlasting Cause, suffering cannot be ex- t eluded, but is a consistent extension of a t method of government which is uniform, c Mere Almighty benevolence he considers to 1 be the mildest of all notions of an Eternal i Power. The glory and force of ancient i Judaism consisted in its assertion of Al- 1 mighty Love, whose planof creation admitted i of educational suffering, and of a redeeming ( energy ever crushing out the moral evil i which is in the world. Educational pain— i psena, penalty, as we all understand —no 1 thinking medical man could spare this c element from any scheme of moral govern- t ment. But now comes the question, how < far are we to go in eliminating pain, as seems 1 the direction of our modern methods of i education ? Savage nations indict the most i horrible tortures on their young men to teach i them endurance, and there is no question i that most of our liberties and our highest i privileges have been won for us in the past | by fortitude learned in the school of suffer- t ing, a school which, in this age of comfort r and coddling, seems in danger of closing its t doors for want of pupils. The lecturer, in 1 conclusion, asked two questions of a simple c and practical nature about our modern ] anesthetics. Does not their use in war tend s to remove one of the restraints in the states- t men who control the policy of warlike 1 nations ? To which we unhesitatingly reply < in the negative. The other question is not i so easily answered. Mr White asks : Are i not the women who have been delivered 1 under chloroform, and have never felt the t martyrdom of prolonged parturition, to some i extent deficient in the great and lifelong love 1 which was the product of the ‘ perilous birth ?’ * He thinks they are, and. gives cases in point. Mr White finely says that ‘ Truth j is e7er bipoplar, and softens as well as ' toughens, ’ and he illustrates the maxim by j examples of the beautiful tenderness learned .. 1

in the seminary of physical and mental anguish, which can be readily confirmed by the experience of most medical practitioners. —British Medical Journal.

THE DURATION OF ENGLISH 1 COAL SUPPLY. A paper read by Mr R; Priije Williams before the Statistical Society in London, on ‘ The Coal Question,’ is calculated to arouse . considerable interest in what has been most aptly termed ‘ the burning question of the day.’ Many years have elapsed since the late John Stuart Mill startled the English public with the announcement chat we had come within a measureable distance of the exhaustion of our coal supplies. The question next received the attention of the late Stanley Jevons, the results of whose investigationß were critically examined by a Royal Commission. When, however, we consider that the period of duration as then stated, varied from four to five hundred years, it is scarcely a matter of surprise that the public mind soon began to regard the question with apathy, and to consider a danger so remote as being practically non-existent. But now we are exporting coal at the rate of 27,000,000 tons per annum, and consuming at home at least 25 per cent more than we did a score of years ago. While the consumption continues yearly to increase we have to remember that our supply is a fixed quantity, aud the period of exhaustion is necessarily being brought considerably nearer. Undoubtedly the duration of the English coal fields has an important bearing on the future industrial prosperity of this country. Of course, it is quite within the bounds of possibility that other means of generating power more economical and more universally available than coal may be shortly discovered. But in that case the exceptional advantages enjoyed by Eoglaud will be forfeited, and she may conceivably be placed at a disadvantage as compared with countries possessing larger resources in the way of natural forces, such as waterfalls and large rivers. Mr Williams fixes the period of exhaustion for the Northumberland and Durham coal-field at 94 years; for South Wales at 79 years ; the eastern part of South Wales at 46 years ; the Lancashire and Cheshire coal-fields at 74 years ; the Yorkshire, Derbyshire, and Nottinghamshire coal-fields at 90 years ; the Warwickshire coal-fields at 53 years ; the Denbighshire and Flintshire coal-fields at 250 ; the Scottish coal-fields at 92. These are portentously low figures, and if they are even approximately correct, they powerfully emphasise the exhortation* to economy which we have listened to from s> many , quarters.—Mechanical World. ,

‘THE PACE THAT KILLS.’ Very few, even of stupid men, would affirm that * full gallop ’ is the right pace for everyday work. It is all very well for ape ial occasions, but it is the very opposite of well, for general use. Most people who take the trouble to read regularly, flatter themselves that they are more or less of philosophers. Those who write as well as read, and particularly those whose daily business is writing, do not for a moment doubt that, whoever may belong to the mere uuwashed mob of nobodies, they at least are eddying round the centre where modern light is at its brightest, and know exactly what is going on. It would be an interesting experiment, if a standard of thought power could by any means be established, to test the thousands of public writers by it, and to demonstrate how many of them were capable of original thought, and of persistent independent action. The proportion would be painfully small ; and there’s the pity of it. Whether writers think or not, they influence public opinion. If they allow themselves to bo ‘ run away with ’ by the hurrying pace of the times, as they almost universally do, they merely play the part of jockeys who do not know when the ‘post’ is reached, and keep on whipping their horses until they drop. Everybody ia conscious of the rush and hurry and strain of modern life in large towns. All those who have the power of preaching, either in newspaperor pulpit, will declaim against it and sigh for better things Is it worth while either declaiming or sighing, if the declaimer does not try to moderate his own pacs ? In large towns most professional men are fifty years old in constitution before they are forty in actual age. The doctors, who ought theoretically to know all about it, are quite as foolish as the rest ; often, indeed, more foolish. If it be true that few preachers practice their own doctrines, it ia quite as certain that few physicians take their own advice. What then has modern scientific progress done for us if it has not taught us sense and the art of reasonable self-management ? Can it possibly be true that our grandfathers, nourished mainly on the catechisms and doctrines of old-fashioned religion, had more judgment, more sense of proportion, more practical wisdom, more health and more pleasure in life than we their descendants, who pride ourselves not only on being in the rays of the scientific sun, but some of us on forming even a part of that sun himself? It is a homely test that of practical results, but it is an excellently good one. There is hardly any contravening of its conclusions. There is neither sense nor worth in laziness, but it is doubtful if there is more in runaway madness. A very clever man may be a very great fool. A man gets into the full swing of a thing and he cannot get out of it. Then, whatever else he is, he does not possess the faoulty of greatness. He may earn bread and butter and a fine house, and troops of—not friends, but dinner-eaters. But if he continues to be driven by the torrent, and never re-asaerts his freedom and his independent judgment, the final verdict upon his life will be ‘ failure.’ The pace not only kills health and life, it kilis character and reputation. Right and reasonable life means steady work, sufficient recreation, time for independent thought, and the constant exercise of independent judgment and will. Less than this is not the life of a man, but of a slave and a fool.—Hospital.

A shaving match took place between two prominent English barbers for .£25 a side. The winner shaved his twelve men in 3 minutes 40 seconds and then shaved two blindfolded in 2 minutes and 10 seconds.