NEWS AND NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, 3 September 1902, Page 18

NEWS AND NOTES.

The Royal Humane Society has awarded its silver medal to C. etersen, A.B. on tho Glasgow barque Dalblair, which was driven ashore by a cyclone at Mahebourne, Mauritius, on February 5. On striking three of tho boats wore smashed by tho tremendous seas breaking on the reefs. Tho fourth and last boat with ten men got away, but was soon capsized, and three of her ffccupants were drowned. After spending a fearful night with tho sea continually sweeping the ship, Petersen volunteered to swim ashore with a line, and, being successful in his endeavour, the remainder of the crew were enabled to safely reach tho reef, where they were taken to tho beach in canoes by fishermen.

Dr Chase, the Principal of St. Mary’s Hall, Oxford, died last month. The hall buildings will now bo merged in Oriel College, its existence as a separate body only depending on Dr Chase’s life. The deceased was ono of the oldest heads of houses in Oxford, being in his eightyse,cond year, and during his long tenure of office he had taken prominent partin the business of the University.

According to the Odessa correspondent of “The Morning Leader,” Count Tolstoy lias now wcllnigh recovered his normal health. The chief cause of concern to his medical attendants was the weakness of the heart’s action, but that no longer exists. The pulse is again normal, as are also temperature, appetite and sleep. The distinguished patient spends the greater part of the day on the open verandah, and writes a couple of hours daily. It is understood that the Count is engaged upon his autobiography, which his friends have for some time past been persuading him to write. •.o * # *

There is nothing new, even in Punch’s discovery, of prehistoric man. An Australian weekly (writes ‘'Tho Daily Chronicle”) has reproduced a curious old engraving entitled ‘‘The First Parliament of Botany Bay,” which appeared in the “Humorists’ Magazine” of January, 1787, shortly before the founders of Sydney set sail from England. It is curiously like some of the pictures of primitive man that Mr E. T. Reed has been contributing to “Punch” for some time past. Tho Speaker is seen seated in the fork of a tree, at the base of which is a huge boulder on which the clerk is taking notes. Round about debating in savage style- are Edmund Burke. Fox, Windham, Sheridan, Lord North and other Parliamentary celebrities of the period.

At Hinzenberg, in Finland (says a Vienna telegram of Juno 28), a barndoor fowl belonging to an inn goes regularly to a corner where the dregs of the feeer glasses are emptied, and drinks the liquor with great gusto. When lie lias drunk a fair quantity ho becomes intoxicated. and rushes round the yard crowing loudly. Later, when ho lias drunk too much he lies down on his side, fit-retches his legs out and goes to sleep. When lie wakes up his first thought is to get a drink of fresh water to remove the ta-sto of the strong drink in his mouth.

Sir Henry Norman, the most recently created field-marshal, is an example of what merit can achieve in the army without influence. In 1844 he was a youth in a mercantile house in Calcutta, but obtained in that year a cadetship in a native regiment. He had no friends in tho army. He was mentioned 25 times in despatches, and rose from rank to- ran ktill his last appointment.

Prince Waldemar, of Denmark, brother of the Queen, and Prince George of Greece, his Majesty’s nephew, made a tour through London last month on an omnibus, for the purpose of seeing the decorations. The two Princes joui--neyed through Fleet street to the bank, returned westward via Oxford street to tho Marble Arch, and thence down Park lane to Hyde Park corner, ■where they alighted and walked down Constitution Hill to- the Palace. Not one of the many persons who crowded tho several omnibuses on which the Princes rode had any idea of the rank of their fellow-passengers. * * * e *

The Empress of Russia is an excellent caricaturist, and makes collecting caricatures her hobby. The Queen of Saxony finds her hobby in works of charity, and has founded numerous schools, orphanages, homes and sanatoriums. Queen Wilhelmina of th'e Netherlands rides and skates, and is very fond of animals, so fond, indeed, that she declines to patronise any sport which involves the slaughter of those in the royal preserves. The Queen of Norway and Sweden engages extensively in religious work. She is a strong Evangelical and a great supporter of tho Salvation Army.“ Carmen Svlva,” Queen of Roumania, is a poet and story writer; she works diligently with her own type yriter. The favourite recreation of the Queen of Greece is yachting. Queen Hel en of Italy shoots, and drives a motor car. She is also a poet. Queen Charlotte of Wurtemhurg is fond of all outdoor sports, and she has identified herself with the woman’s movement. Queen Amalie of Portugal is said to be the most energetic Queen in Europe. Her hobby is the study of inediciifc.

“The Wild Man of Borneo” (remarks a writer in an American weekly) was a poor old drunken sailor whom Barnum was trying to reform; for Barnuin, as in many little things, was first of all among tho great temperance men. This old Yankee sailor, whom Barnum had known from the first, was an expert with his pocket-knife, and during long voyages across the Pacific ho would whittle out skulls, skeletons and so forth. Finally ho found himself at New Bridgeport, Conn., and destitute. He had nothing at all but a few wooden skulls and skeletons fastened together with wires, so that tho bones would rattle fearfully. Ho went to Barnum to try to sell these. He was ragged, hairy, hungry. “Why, where have you been ?” “Been to Borneo.” “Well, you look it! Come in and sit down. Wo are just go. mg to have supper.” The poor tramp begged Barnum to put him in a cage to keep him from drink —begged to be putin an iron cage, like a wild beast, where lie could sit and whittle and “sober off.” And t hat is how “Tho Wild Man of Borneo” was conceived and brought forth. Little boys would literally fall over one another to get close to the iron cage where that Yankee sailor sat on a pile of wooden bones gnawing at a wooden skull. But when lie would jump up and shake that rattling skeleton in one hand and nearly tear down the cage with the other they would fall in heaps in their haste to get away. I hear that he would not play tlnno wild man after Barnuin died. I alhear that Barnum left him quite a pot of money.

The Shah of Persia is a potentate whom traders should only deal with on tho cash basis. During his stay in France two years ago a press-cutting agency made at his order 43,000 extracts from European journals referring to him, and sent in its bill for £512. This the Shall lias ever since refused to pay, and the small sum offered on his behalf lias been rejected by the agency. Lately His Majesty was cited before the tribunal of the Ninth Arrondissement, but emerged victorious, tho court deciding that the order was an act of a sovereignty over which French law has no jurisdiction.

How many people know that Lord Rosebery was married to the wealthiest heiress in tho kingdom in a London workhouse? The registrar’s office where tho first ceremony was performed was in St. George’s, Hanover Square, Workhouse, in- Mount street, the registrar’s office and the workhouse being then under one roof; and though the usual rites of the Church were subsequently observed in Christ Church, Down street, tho fact remains that his lord-ship was married within workhouse walls. Few men indeed have ever wed tuo awl.a half millions in suck a place.

• « « C. ■» The Dutch have many strange habits, bat ono of the strangest is there habit of smoking in church. A similar practice exists in several churches in South America. Smoking in churches in Great Britain, according to the “Sunday Strand,” is said to have been prevalent at the end of the sixteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century. In Wales smoking in church was indulged in as late as 1850. In one church the communion table stood in the aisle, and the farmers were in the habit of putting their hats upon it, and when tho service began they lit their pipes and smoked, without any thought of irreverence in the act.

Mr Edward Blake, tho once noted Canadian lawyer, who has been member for South Longford since 1892, is (writes the London correspondent of “The Melbourne Age”) the subject of much sympathy just now, having been run over and badly injured by a hansom cab. Great- things were expected from Mr Blake- when he joined the Irish Nationalists. Lord Rosebery had described him as “the most brilliant orator and one of the most capable statesmen of Canada.” But ho has been quite a minor light at Westminster, and as ho is now in his seventieth year his career in polities may ho regarded as practically at an end. As one of the leaders of the Liberal Party in Canada in his younger days, ho was noted for pessimism. He was always prophesying woe, and declaring that tho country was going to the dogs. His old opponent, Sir John McDonald, once caused great laughter in the Canadian House by comparing him to the British sailor in the Mediterranean, who, getting tired of a long spell of fine weather, exclaimed one morning, “D those blue skies.”

The shipments of horses and mules to South Africa by the British passed the 100.000 mark. This exportation of those animals is the largest the world has ever known, and as a military purchase by ono country from another it ranks .with the greatest of any kind. Texas has been practically drained, and Kansas, Missouri, Wyoming and other stock-raising states of the South and West have been so nearly depleted that tho 40do] animals of 1899 bring 90dol to-day.—“Pittsburg Dispatch.” « * • a •

Andre’s will contains a curious foreboding of his death. “This testament,” lie says, “is probably my last, and, therefore, valuable. I write it on tho evening before the clay of my depart-

uro on a journey environed with dangers which the actual state of science cannot measure. I have the presentiment that this terrible voyage is tor me the way of death.” Those who witnessed his confidence and high hopes when in London will bo surprised at this confession. Ho was, perhaps, a little of what the Scotch call a toy man, that is, one who is predestined, and rushes on his doom with reckless bravery.—“ Manchester Times.” *"• * * •

In January, 1840, tho “Daily News, with Charles Dickens as editor, made its appearance on an unprecedented scalo of munificence. Tho editorial room was luxuriously furnished. The desks were of rosewood and tho inkstands of silver. Tho books of reference were bound in Russian leather, with gilt letters. Letters addressed to the editor were presented to tho great man upon silver salvers by attendants in gorgeous liveries.

Tho distribution of Waterloo prize money, comprising £1,000,000 granted or given bv Parliament is stated to be ‘in this manner, divided: —To tho Commander-in Chief, Duke of Wellington, £60,000 ; each general officer, £1,250; field officer, £420; captain, £9O; subaltern, £33; sergeant, £l9; rank and file, £2 10s. By tho above scale, His Grace tho Duke of Wellington gams a share nearly equal to fifty general officers, 143 field officers, 066 captains, 1,818 subalterns, 3,158 sergeants. 24,000 rank and file. In another newspaper it is estimated that in 1817 out of a total revenue of £50,-120,0ut), £8,355,000 arc special war taxes, while in 1819, out of a total of £49,361.000, the war taxes had fallen to £3,509,000. « * « « e

From tho questions asked in Parliament it appears that “Colonel” Lynch will claim to be a burgher, and if that were to be established the Galway election would ho void. An Irish member stated that the mere fact that the man was an alien would not influence the electors of Galway to any great extent. Ho said that recently a respected local man was nominated as a county councillor in Galway. He died suddenly after being nominated, and his funeral took place on the day of the poll. Most of the population attended the funeral, and then the electors proceeded to vote for the deceased “as a mark of respect," and returned him by a handsome majority.—“ Morning Leader.”

Mr Thomas A. Edison is a man of phenomenal industry. He is never willing to leave his laboratory. The only way Mrs Edison ever manages to get Tmh"te-g&jto his home, when he is engaged on a "pfo'Meihjk to come after him. Ho has a in a room specially set apart for his ovMLjU 0 ’ auci here lie stays sometimes for a time. He hardly stops even to cat}, and his meals arc sent to him at the laboratory. A good story is told winch illustrates his devotion to work. A man who desired an interview on an important matter went to see Mr Edison ono day. He found the inventor in a dentist’s chair, undergoing a painful operation on his teetlu “I should like to speak to you a few moments on a very important subject, Mr Kuison,” the visitor said. “All right. Go ahead and talk. But I cannot afford to give both you and the dentist a - separate engagement,” replied Mr Edison at intervals while the dentist was working. A year or two ago an old friend, whose son ivas just starting out in life, called upon Mr Edison, and presented his son, and asked him for a few words of advice “Young man, the best advice I can give you- is, “Never look at the clock.’" • * » « ©

It is quite common knowledge that many of the market carts which bring vegetables to London do not leave London again empty. That fact alone is not disturbing, but when, as may be easily observed, tho cargo of the returning carts is dung, and sometimes offal and other filth, only to be discharged once more in. favour of vegetables without any attempt at cleansing, not to say disinfecting, it is time to protest and to stir up our sanitary authorities to insist upon strictly clean measures in this regard being observed. The same thing is true of railway trucks. Railway waggons employed for conveying filthy garbage into the country are sent back to London uncleansed, and yet loaded with a consignment of all sorts and conditions of loose vegetables. No scientific investigation is needed, says “Lancet,” to reveal the grave possibilities to health which such a slovenly and slipshod proceeding is likely to incur. * * * *

The air on the summit of Mont Blanc contains a very small number of germs. Dr. Binot lias analysed 100 litres of air without finding a single microbe, and the number has varied from 4 to 11 per cubic metre. The sun is one of the most powerful natural agents in the destruction of germs. These analyses give a new proof of this fact by showing that in any given place a vertical wall sheltered from tho sun generally contains more microbes than one that is in full sunlight. * • • • «

The art of making malleable glass, which is said to have been well under-

stood by the Egyptians, hut which fa» been for centuries lost, has been redS covered by Louis Kauffeld, of Richmond lnd. Air Kaiuffeld is a lamp chimney maker, and" has for years tried to <[,- vise a chimney that would withstand excessive heat. The new process it stated, renders possible the nmkiim of cooking vessels out of glass. ° *****

A humorous story is told of how nun tial festivities are sometimes disturbed in Benin. After the performance 0 f the civil function at tho registrar’s office, and after the pastor had adniinis" tered the blessing of the eliurch, an engraver and liis young bride were sittnm with the wedding guests in the parlour of tho bride’s father, sipping their after dinner coffee. The bride happened to be of a superstitious nature, and had procured from some old dame, cunning in the dark science, a powder which was to ensure the constant love of her- husband. The bride surreptitiously produced the packet of powder, and emptied it into her spouse’s cup, unobserved by him, as- she thought. To her unpleasant surprise, however, lie had no sooner tasted the nauseous draught than ho spat it out again, and gave his better half a loud box on the ears. Her brothers rushed at her husband and <mv 0 him a thorough good pommelling. Very soon tho fight became general, anil tables and chairs were upset in all directions. The young bride was so disgusted that she refused to accompany her husband to their new home, so ho had to proceed thither alone, all covered with wounds. *****

To tho insanitary methods of hair dressing is attributed the prevailing baldness. In San Francisco, razors combs and brushes after use on one person are carefully disinfected -and sterilised. Sponges are forbidden, being mere breeding grounds of bacilli, and floors may not lie swept dry, so that hairs and skin particles are spread abroad, but must first be watered with a disinfectant solution. » * « * *

Mr Jonathan Hutchinson, in a lecture delivered at the Bolingbroke Hospital, expressed the opinion that one cause of cancer prevalence was the increased use of arsenic prescribed as a medicine. Excess of salt has been credited with causing cancer, and possibly it will be as easy (or as difficult) to prove the correctness of tiie one opinion as of tho other. Arsenic has been employed in tho cure of cancer, and it will be news to medical men at large that this valuable drug is a factor in cancer causation. * * * « *

That nitrogen in one form or another is a necessary constituent of animal and plant, food is an elementary statement of biological science. Sir W. Crookes, in his presidential address to the British Association, lamented the disappearance of nitrogen from the air as seething more than a dream of the futures. The free nitrogen of the air, however s S. au ' )e fixed by certain plants only the leguminous tribes), that with theVj ssistauco of ccrtaill friendly microbe\°» their roots utilise it for food purposed seems that man in his turn is hnsP in S llis scientific education to bear on samc problem. At Niagara there exisßiiL the forerunner of a factory which is to the aa ' n '^ ro " gen, and make it servioUjhlo tor the purposes of the chemist-. he a PP ara t~ us consists of a chamber infllP which dry air is made to enter. ElectV act: ’ oll is exercised upon it by meiw ls °t jhscharges coming from what areVcscribed as high tension arcs of smallV ul 'rcnt. In this way compounds of ji\ trogGll » oxides to wit, are produced. ati<\ tiu -’se last are used to combine witLeoii'P 011 , substances out of which it Is to obtain the nitrates. Potash it'itrato and nitrate of soda can then b\ P ro * duced practically at will.

Mr 0. A. Hanna, in his work on <|.' lG racial origins of the intellects laid down the broad constitutional pri® ciples of the Republican Governmental points out the influence of the Scoto-J Celt on the American State. Eleven of the 50 signatories of the declaration of independence were Scots, five Welsh and two Irish; of tho 54 members of the Constitutional Convention which met in 1787 twelve were Scots and half of the educated members were either Scots or had been educated under Scottish influences. When the constitution passed from the hands of the convention into the custody of administrators, these first administrators were even more Soottish than the framers. Of tho four members of Washington’s Cabinet, Knox, of Massachusetts, the only New Englander, was a ScotchIrishman; Alexander Hamilton, of New York, was a Scotch-Frenchman; Thomas Jefferson was of Welsh descent; and the fourth, Edmund Randolph, claimed among his ancestors tho Scotch Earls of Murray. New York also furnished the first Chief Justico of the United States, John Jay, who was a descendant of French Huguenots; whilst tho second Chief Justice, John Rutledge, waa Scotch-Irish, as were also Wilson and Iredell, two of the original associate justices; a third, Blair, was of Scottish origin. John Marshall, the great Chief Justice, was, like Jefferson, of Scotch and Welsh descent-