OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 930, 27 December 1889, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

MEASURING- THE OCEAN WAVES. An interesting feat has just been accomplished by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, who has succeeded in measuring the height of ocean waves by floating a sensitive aneroid barometer on the suiface, and in gauging their width and velocity by timing their passages with a chronograph. As a result of-these experiments he supports Admiral Fitzroy in the conclusion that waves occasionally reach an altitude of sixty feet. The highest wave measured by Mr Abercromby was 46 feet high. 765 feet from crest to crest, and had a velocity of forty-seven miles per hour.—St. Stephen’s Review. OXYGEN RAYS IN THE SOLAR SPECTRUM. At a recent meeting of the Academy of Sciencee, Paris, M. Janssen, director of the physical observatory at Meudon, read a paper on some observations he had made to test the troth of the statement that oxygen rays in the solar spectrum are due to the presence of that substance in the sun. It was known that some of these rays are due to the earth’s atmosphere ; but it was uncertain whether others of them might not be due to the solar atmosphere. The Eiffel Tower, with its powerful electric lamp, offered to Mr Janssen the required conditions. It is situated about 7,700 metres from his observatory, and the intervening air is practically equivalent to the thickness of the atmosphere towards the zenith. A collecting lens was employed to give the spectrum of the Eiffel light an intensity equivalent to that of the solar spectrum in the same analyser. The effect was vivid, and the spectral field extended beyond A, ~ while the group B was as bright as that from the meridian sun in summer. No oxygen band Was visible, and M. Janssen concludes that the bands obey other laws than the rays. In fact, while for the rays it appears not to matter whether one employs a thickness of gas at constant density or a thickness equivalent in weight but of variable density ; for the bands, on the contrary, the absorption taking place according to the square of the i density, calculation shows that at the surface of the ground an atmospheric thickness of more than 50 kilometres is necessary to produce them. M. Janssen considers hi 3 experiment an approximation; but as far a 3 it goes it tends to prove that the oxygen rays of the solar spectrum are purely terrestrial. —English Mechanic. QUARTZ FIBRES. Recently at the Royal Institution, Mr C. V. Boys, F.E.S., discoursed on ‘Quartz Fibreß,’ a subject he has made all his own. For the purposes of scientific instruments there had been wanted, he said, finer threads than we had at command, finer than spiders’ webs or spun silk. Turning to find some totally new material he had succeeded, and be would first show his simple method. The lecturer sac at a table supporting an oxyhydrogen plowbipe and a stand for a croHS-bow, the trigger of which could be released by a trerdle. At the end of a small arrow was a little quartz. This was heated in the flame, and when fused the arrow was shot into a target, leaving a thread of quartz in its track. When placed in a microscope lantern with a scale ruled to the thousandth of an inch the thread was found not to exceed the five-thousandth of an inch. It was shown to be so much finer than a spicjer’s thread that spiders put on a set of previously made threads could not climb them, though a ‘ baby spider ’ with small feet did succeed. Mr Boys showed some of the practical uses to which jsuoh threads could be put to, as for torsion balances and electroscopes, giving a delicacy hitherto unattained. Newton’s large apparatus for showing the relative attraction of large and small globes of lead could now be imitated with globes of 15 grammes only, and so delicate wa3 the arrangement that the difference in mass between two ordinary number five shot could be detected. The threads were strong, elastic, and of size, except at their tapering ends. THE MAGAZINE RIFLE. Nearly all the Continental Powers have now chosen their magazine rifle. Germany has adopted » modification ot the Mauser and Lee systems, with a fixed magazine, and calibre 7-5 mm., with a charge of Dutten-

hofer powder of 2 - 6 gr., almost without pmoke. Franco has discarded the Krop-b----s hek and Gras in favonr of the Gras-Leibol, weighing 3‘?50 k., of which 1,400,000 nave a!r, ady been delivered*, The lhagazine is below, and contains nh'e 'charges. The calibre is 8 mat , the bulltet ilveigha 15 £r., and is of lead 'coated with Dickel, attaining a, velocity of 670 metres. Austria has now an improved Manr/lichet with a calibre of 8 mm., and three grooves', ft. fixed magazine c mtaining five chft*ges. Italy still holds to the Veltetli system of rifle, of 10'4 mm., with liked magazine bolding twelve cartridges, its weight being 3‘850 kilog., but constant experiments'are being carried out to modify this weapon. Belgium, since 1887, has employed a magazine rifle o’ 8 mm. ftUd three grooves, the bullet weighing 16 gr., cased in steel, with Eottwell powder. Denmark, we believe, has finally decided upon the American m igazine Leo rifle. Portugal has adopted the Guides magazine rifle of 8 mm., with a hardened bullet, copper cared, of 16 gr., and Eottwell powder. Russia, Spain, Norway aud Sweden, and Turkey are still experimentalising, and have not finally chosen their weapon. In reeeivir g these details concerning the arinaments of the greater Continental Powers, we should always b ar in mind the axiom cum grano salis, more especially in regard to France and Russia, whose military authorities are only too ready to satisfy or amuse the gobesmouches inquirer by fictitious information regarding the national armament. —Broad Arrow,

THE ENGLISH AND SCOTCH LEGAL SYSTEMS.

The Maybrick case has drawn attention to some of the important differences which still exist between the legal systems of England and Scotland. It is somewhat extraordinary, in view of the prolonged and close intimacy which has existed between the two countries for so many years, that each has been so slow to correct the deflects of its own system by copying the excellencies of the other. As regards the general legal systems this is, perhaps, not. so unintelligible ; for it must not be forgotten that the whole system of law in Scotland is founded upon the principles of Roman jurisprudence, whereas the greater part of the early history of English law is noteworthy for the prolonged opposition offered bvjj our legislators and lawyers to any adoption of the ideas first of Roman, and afterwards of the Canon law. Owing to these facts, Scotch law has gained in clearness of principle what it has lost in elasticity, whilst English law is flexible, but lacking in system. A familiar instance of this result is the fact that the commercial law of Scotland is in many respects an. tiquated and anauitea to the conditions of modern trade, whilst the commercial law of England is well abreast of the times. But undoubtedly in the region of criudnal law England might well take a leaf or two out of Scotland’s book. A universal lament has been made that, in the reeeufc Maybrick ease, it was not possible for the jury to return the Scottish verdict of ‘Not proven,’ the effect of which would have been to free the prisoner from punishment, but not from the life long stigma of the charge brought against her. The Scottish practice certainly leans more towards mercy. In the case of Madeleiue Smith, where the evidence against the prisoner was much stronger than that against Mrs Maybrick, although a doubt of a similar kind existed, the jury found the verdict of * Not proven.’ As regards that verdict itself, it is a point worthy of note that, according to a passage in Alison’s Practice of the Criminal Law in Scotland (p. 639), it seems possible that it arose accidentally, and was at first- equivalent to an ordinary verdict of ‘Not guilty.’ However that may be, its value to a conscientious jury is undoubted.

THE LIME KILN CLUB. ELEVENTH ANNUAL ELECTION AND PICNIC’ OF THE ORGANISATION. The eleventh annual election and picnic of the Lime-Kiln Club occurred last week according to programme, and the affair was successful in every particular. HONORARY MEMBIER3. Among the distinguished honorary members present were Hon. Snowball Jackson, of South Carolina : the Hon. Gigback Higginbottom, of Alabama; Judge Jordon Stephens, of Virginia ; Prof. Hamburg Smith, of Florida; Hon. Comedown Davis, of Indiana ; Col. Threeply Jones, of Halifax ; Maj. Absolute White, of North Carolina ; Rev. Ging3ensr Dayton, of Georgia, and Gen. Furlong, of Tennessee. As fast as these gentlemen reached Detroit they reported at Paradise Hall and were assigned quarters. Only 40 per cent of them came in on freight trains, thus making a gain of at least 23 per cent over last year. BRANCH LODGES. Delegates were present from branch lodges in Alabama, Georgia, the two Carolinas, Virginia, Maryland, Tennessee, Iventacky, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Quebec, Ontario, Nova Scotia, Wisconsin, New York, Massachusetts, and the District of Columbia. Some branches sent two delegates and some only one. Whils a considerable number came in on foot, most of them were fortunate enough to have got a lift on the hampers. The two delegates from Washington were the only ones who came along on a passenger train, but they had recently drawn S2OO apiece in a lottery. MOTTOES. Every delegation was furnished with a banner, on which was inscribed its motto. Among *jhe most striking ones may be mentioned : Alabama—‘Gin us Time an’ We will Git Dar’.’ Virginia— * De Black i 3 Gradually Wearin’ Off.’ Wisconsin— * De White Man Should be Incouraged to Raise Mo’ Poultry.’ South Carolina * We’a Feelin’ Purty Well, Thank Ye.’ Georgia - ‘ De Watermellyon Am de Great Civiliser of De Nineteenth Century.’ Indiana— * We Believe in Givin’ de White Man a Show.’ Mississippi—*De Fish Bite All de Ya’r Round.’ Ho THE GROUNDS. At an early hour Thursday morning

everybody met at Paradise Halli, and after the badges had been giVen o'Ut the line of march tya3 taken lip for the river, preceded bv a band, and the people embarked aboard & barque chartered fo)r the purpose, and proceeded to Fighting Island. As they filed aboard the number was counted and found to be exactly 376. On the way down the river the Hon. Ginback Higginbottom, of Alabama, got into a discussion with Col. Threeply Jones, of Halifax, regarding the Behring Sea trouble, and they clinched and rolled to the deck, but they were speedily separated and soon shook hands and begged each other’s pardon. About half way down to the Island the Hon. iobo Cantelope, delegate at large from Texas, fell overboard while looking for catfish, but was rescued with so much promptness that the gingerbread in his hind pocket was hardly web through. THE GAMES. The games which took pliice before and after dinner Were ehtered into with great enthihr/wm and were therefore made very successful. The following is a record of winners and prizes : High jump—prize, a coffee pot, with copper ears—won by Moses Stockton, D.D., of Canada. There was a dispute as to whether he jumped six or eleveu feet high, but as he beat .all others, he secured the pri2e. Long jump—prize, throe yards of hickory shirting - won by Pickles Smith, Of the home club, Who jumped seven buttons off his clothing and loosened three or four teeth. Running race—There were sixteen entries in this race, which was won by Gen. Furlong Canterbury, of Tennessee. The distance was eighty rods, and the timekeeper said he made it in seven seconds. This was prob. ably a mistake, bnt he got the prize, consisting of a lot of 100 paper collate, just the same. Wrestling prize, diamond-studded inn tobacco-box holding eight ounces—won by Judge Hiplock Green, who flung two of the contestants with such force as to stun them. Boxing—Prize, three summer neckties of subdued shades —wou by Giveadam Jone-, of the home club. Brother Jones finished off the four contestants in an average of thirty seconds each, and the last one was put to sleep so vigorously that it took fifteen minutes to arouse him. Swimming—There were only two entries for this race, and Samuel Shia wou it very easily, his opponent sinking to the bottom after a few strokes, and remaining there until pulled ashore with a piko pole. The prize was a box of cigars made in Norfolk, Va., and warranted to last a smoker fifteen years, THE DINNER, The dinner was a grand success, and much credit is due to Way down Bebee and Sir Isaac Walpole for their management. The menu included water, coffee, lemonade, ginger ale, root beer, buttermilk and pop, as liquid refreshments. The solids included mustard, horse radish, cucumbers, celery, sandwiches, crackers, and boiled eggs. IN THE EVENING. The crowd returned to the city late in the afternoon after an enjoyable occasion, and at B’oclock in the evening gathered at Paradise Hall to hold the annual election. It was whispered about that there'would be several candidates for Brother Gardner's shoes, among them Elder Penstock, of the Home Club, and the balloting was looked forward to with lively interest. Speeches W6re made by the Hon. Snowball Jackson, Brother Gardner, Prof. Smith and others ; and then tellers were appointed and the election proceeded with. It was soon discovered that any element opposing ' the grand old man ’ had no backing. On an informal ballot he received all but one vote, which Penstock cast for himself, and on motion be was declared the unanimous choice of the con vantion. The election resulted as follows : President, Brother Gardner ; first vice president, Hon. Snowball Jackson ; second vice-president, Hon. Comedown Davis ; grand treasurer, Sir Isaac Walpole ; grand secretary, Waydown Bebee. The local offices will be filled by brother Gardner at the next regular meeting.—Detroit Free Press.

THE FLAPPING OF A FLY’S WING. The alow flapping of a butterfly’s wing produces no sound, but when the movements are rapid a noise is produced, which increases in shrillness with the number of vibrations. Thus the house-fly, which produces the sound F, vibrates' its wings 21,120 times a minute, or 335 times in a second; and the bee, which makes a sound of A, as many as 26,400 times, or 440 times in a second. On the contrary, a tired bee hums on E, and therefore, according to theory, vibrates its wings only 330 time 3 in a second. Marcy, the naturalist, after many attempts has succeeded, by a delicate mechanism, in confirming these numbers graphically. He fixed a fly so that the tip of the wing just touched a cylinder, which was moved by clock work. Each stroke of the wing caused a mark, of course very slight, but still quite perceptible, and thus showed that there were actually 330 strokes in a second, agreeing almost exactly with the number of vibrations inferred from the note produced.—Sir John Lubbock.

A COFFIN FULL OF OPIUM. Recent Singapore papers report an extraordinary case of smuggling at Sourabaya, iu Java. A Chinese passenger having died on board a junk which was anchored in the roadstead, the health officer of the port went off, and, after viewing the body, gave the necessary permit for a burial. The master of the junk then came ashore and ordered a large coffin of the usual Chinese kind. Daring the early hours of the morning the crew with the coffin landed, and the funeral procession passed along the streets amid the burning of sacrificial papers, heating of gongs, and the other customary demonstrations of sorrow. One of the crew walked in front carrying the burial permit. After the funeral the party went back to the junk, which immediately put out to sea. In the middle of the day some natives found an empty coffin in the road close by the Chinese cemetery, which not only smelt strongly of opium but also had small particles of the drug fadhering to its sides. The Custom

House authorities found tile maker oE the coffin, who identified it, as the one supplied to the master of the junk, and the dead body of the Ciiinaman was washed ashore soon afterwards, so that it was clear he had been thrown overboard, and the burial permit Used to smuggle on shore a large coffin full of opium. MODERN WARSHIPS AND LIGHT' NINGh A man-of-war of the present c’ay may be 'anything but a thing of beauty, but it baa its countervailing advantage in being naturally protected from lightning stroke.-. Far different was it in olden days. In fifty years over 200 ships of the British navy were struck by lightning, while from 1810 to 1815 Borne forty-eight vessels were more or less damaged- In one squadron of thirteen ships, blockading, or cruising off the French Mediterranean coast, five were struck during one night with a heavy loss to their crews. Many casualties occurred in the navy through the explosion of powder magazines. Apart from the modern vessels being protectad by their construction or by special provisions for the purpose, it would seem that lightning does not {.day as destructive a part as it did forty or fifty years ago, as even those ships unprovided ivith conductors have suffered less damage than a smaller number of ships experienced formerly. Not that modern vessels are exempt, but thoy seem to be struck in a manner which causes fewer fatal accidents, and in seme cases, even, the effects of a lightning flash have born so little trace of their origin that thoy have been credited to the wilful act of some, one on board. —Electrical Review. WARSHIPS DELAYED FOR THEIR GUNS. The Exchange Telegraph Company states that the following is a complete list of the ships of the Royal Navy whose completion for actual service abroad is delayed by the non-delivery of their heavy guns t—The Sanspareil, heaviiy-armoured barbette battleship, waits for one 110 ton gun, of 16iin calibre, not yetdelivered by the contractors, more than two years overdue. The Howe, a battleship of the Admiral class, and the Trafalgar and Nile turretships, the latest patterns in the navy, are waiting the delivery or proof of the 67-ton 13Jin guns—four for each ship. The Narcissus, Galatea, and Aurora, three of the belted cruisers built under Lord Northbrook’s programme, and otherwise completed two years ago, are still waiting for their 22 ton 9in guns. The last ship on the actual waiting list is the Mehta, a small sloop which has for over nine years been building at Malta dockyard, and is still uncompleted owing to the nonarrival of her guns.

GOOD FEELING BETWEEN ENGLISH AND AMERICAN NAVIES. Relations between the American navy and the British are pleasanter than would be imagined from the desperate efforts of one party in the States to set the two countries at variance. When Americans were in dire peril from the rising of negroes on the Island of Nevassa, a British gun-boat, the Forward, Lieut.-Commander Gray, steamed to the rescue and carried off the American survivors. And the other day when there was fierce fighting at Honolulu it was the American warship Adams that landed a sduad of marines for the protection of British interests. British luterests could not have been in better hands, for the American marines are a crack corps, as st ady as rook and as brave as lions. This is what ought to be. —United Service Gazette. THE FAILURE OF BIG GUNSThe bursting of a 3S ton gun on board the Ajax, following a similar accident on board the Thunderer, should direct attention to a pamphlet, published by Admiral Scott, on ‘Causes of Failure of our Muzzle and New Breech-loading Guns,’ in which the reasons of the numerous failures of both descriptions of guns are clearly set forth. For the national prestige and possible safety of the Empire steps should certainly be taken to improve both our ships and their armaments, of which it has been said that they are how * too often arranged by overweening conceit, backed by incompetence and no little jealousy.’ That such an idea should prevail is a serious matter.—Admiralty and Horae Guards Gazette. A RACE WITHOUT LOVEIf you visit a Japanese of the old order, or a Chinaman, you see his wife only as a servitor. Socially, it is a masculine world. In the domestic circle there is no companionship. The woman does not eat with the man, nor walk with the man, nor hold free conversation with the man. The great contrast with the Western World is in the predominant uniformity. All men seem alike ; to a very great extent they aro alike ; and so are, to a greater extent, all women. They are two persons in all households ; the twain have never become one. Society, in turn, is made up of two distinct, uufused elements, the male and the female. What, for five centuries, we have been emphasizing and since the birth of Christianity have tried to solve, the problem of the marriago of souls as well as bodies, they have not caught a glimpse of. Can such a race be revived and started on a new career or development? Can the Turanian break loose from his ‘arrested development,’ and overtake, at last, love; and loving be started into all those novel and heroic and inspiring emotions that constitute the soul of our Western civilisation ? Search as you will here is the difference of the two races. For thirty centuries, or forty, the Orientals have lived without love, and their literature and their lives are barren. They have art, and manners, and science ; but they have no romance or plasticity. On the contrary, the Aryan race dreamed of love as far as Homer : felt for it in Socrates and Aspasia ; realised a degree it in higher Roman families ; caught a vision of it in early Christianity ; saw the bud expand in the days of Crusades and chivalry ; beheld the bursting blossom in the protest of the Sixteenth century against celibacy ; aud

now, our very cotmrierca and art, as weli ad our homos, dur politics and literature, respond to the omnipotent idea of love.—E. P. P., in St. Louis Globe-Democrat. THE SHARK GOT THE HATWe were about a mile off the bar, fishing for drum, ard it was a dead calm. Some one accidentally knocked the Pittsburg mail’s hat.off, and it floated afiiay abtiiit tweiity feet and re* filaindd stationary. The losef said lie didn’t mind swimming out after it, as it Was a very warm day, but as he rose lip the cat=boat captain .protested : ‘ Don’t you do it; I’m suspicious of sharks T ‘ Sharks be hanged ! ,1 don’t believe there's One on the whole coast ! ‘I say you hadn’t better;’, * And I say I’m going to, just the same.’ He stood upon the seat ready for a dive, and we all looked at the hat. At that moment there was a swirl of the water, the white belly of a great shark showed clear through the limpid green, and the next instant his nose pushed above the surface as he seized and bolted the hat. He was ten feet long if an inch; and euuld have snapped a man in two at a bite. ‘ I told you !' growled the captain as be rebaited a hook.

‘ Well, by gosh !’ gasped the hatless man, and he sat down and trembled for half an hour.