NEWS AND NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1640, 5 August 1903, Page 16

NEWS AND NOTES.

In the latest number of : ‘ ,V *°o” r ®°st eral Viljoen describes Ihe Jp r " f Deed I Ever Saw.” It was that ot Commandant Gert Gravett u lO cued two of his comrades under a neicc fire of British shells and bullets. But the “maddeso act of courage was Unto of a British Colonel. Inns the general converses \totffi the rxi teiMewei. . _ “Wo W( * re lying behind beuitiers h.gh un on one side of a kopje, _ and the khakis were coming up on mo other. Wo saw their hats appear over the crest before they had any view even of the top of the hid, far less of us. Thon camo their faces', them tntii breasts; and we hrecl. The lirst rank went down iike a swathe of grass. But others preis.seci tlic colonel leading. Wo fired agaUi, the colonel 3*ocled and fell forward, snot tin ough the leg. But almost instantly he was up again, the wounded lcg > hanging horribly limp and trailing Upon the ground; ho leaped upon a rifle, using it as a crutch, and so forced himself forward in jerks, calling hoarsely to his men, beckoning them angrily on witn his arm, and thus limping calmly to the very muzzles of our Mausers. It •was splendid, and when ho fell for the last time—well, we were sorry. “What was his name?” I asked “Colonel Lloyd, of the West -Riding Regiment. Months after wo late a •wreath of flowers on his grave, and tho card bore the inscription: In honour of a bravo enemy.’ It was an a.ct difficult to forget.”

Dr. Robert Moffat, just appointed print/.pal medical officer of the East Africa and Uganda Tro cectorates, is a son of the late Rev. J. S. _ Moffat, 0.M.G., whose mission work in South Africa brought him into so much prominence. Dr. Moffat, who is still well on the bright side of forty, was educated at St. Andrew’s College at Grabamstown, and took his degrees in Edinburgh, and when ho got through, instead 1 of returning to the Capo he decided to try his fortune on tho Mombasa side. Ten years ago, _ when bu Gerald Portal went on the journey to Uganda that proved so unfortunate for himself, young Moffat “doctored” the expediti on, and he has been doing good work about the East Coast regions ever since. Me has all the pluck and resource of his distinguished father, and will no doubt go a long way m the African service.

Suicide is on the increase in all civilised countries. Notably un England it is increasing amongst doctors. The reason is not far to seek. It has recently been shown that a doctor who might calculate on an income of over £4OO a few years ago can count to-day, in corresponding circumstances, on only something over £2OO. The simple causes of this are two ; first, and most important, the increased health of the country at large, and tho diminishing death-rate. The medical profession, as a matter of fact, as working, in these days of preventive medicine, in' the direction of its own extinction. When tho last Anopheles mosque to, for instance, is killed, and malaria passes into history, most of the doctors of the tropica may pack up their baggage and depart. Another cause is in the multiplication of tho universities to whose interest it is to turn out as . many graduates as possible, and the* increasing competition which ensues. And, again, the hospitals are daily being used more and more by people who can afford to pay. «. a * * a «■ Mrs Philip Hamer ton, writing in “Shribner’s,” says that the. modern French girl is growing self-reliant, and less disposed to regard marriage as the ©nly profession. Her activity in many occupations, formerly restricted to men, has been carried so far that she- has attained the dignity of tlio barrister, aud won the right to plead in courts of justice. Economic causes have contributed to this development, and especially the smallness of dowries. The modern French bachelor scoffs when, he is offered a wife with a dot of thirty thousand francs. Mrs Hamerton tells an anecdote of a girl who hoped to bring an admirer to the point by letting him know, through a friend, that her dowry was as much as that. His comment was heartrending. “Why, the interest would hardly pay for her shoos!” Perhaps this prompted her to study medicine, for the dcctoressc-en-medicine already has a large and lucrative practice! in Paris, “Marriages,” says Mrs Hamerton, “are not infrequent between doctors and doctor esses.” A large and lucrative practice is a dedktedly attractive dot. Motto for tho French medical bachelor: “Marry a girl who has many patients.” « * e » ® A wealthy Australian Scotsman, named Allan, died some years ago, and bequeathed a considerable sum of money to provide perpetual prizes to the Presbyterian. children of the Commonwealth for proficiency in Scriptural knowledge. Tho latest report- of the Allan Bequest Committee, presented to the Presbyterian General Assembly m Melbourne, contains some entertaining reading. <f What is the difference between original sin and actual sin?” elicited these answers, among others:—“Original sin is Adam eating forbidden fruit: actual sin is Cain killing Abel.” “One 'ls goc-d

sin; the other bad sin.” “Original sin is sin Without murder; but actual sin is sin, meaning swearing.” “Original sin is tho things we ought to do; actual sin 'is the things wo ought not to do.” “Actual sin means a want of obedience; but original sin is a work of Providence.”

There is no accounting for tastes, but it would be interesting to know the motive that inspired the following advertisement in a recent issue of a leading colonial daily:—“Wanted an officeboy. One with red head preferred.” Possibly tho advertiser himself is blessed or otherwise with hair of a fiery hue, and is desirous of having a constant companion in joy or affliction. In the rural parts of Ireland it is considered unlucky to meet a red-haired woman on going out in the morning, especially a Monday morning, for then the whole of tho coming week is involved in the ill-luck. There is an Irish story of a newly-appointed young village postman who, on starting forth to deliver his first batch of letters, had the misfortune to encounter a lady with red hair. Ho promptly went home with his bag of correspondence, and there was no postal delivery in tho town ship that day.

Most men would ho glad to arrest the rush of feminine fashions if o 11 1 y for the sake of getting time to appreciate and enjoy them. But we have scarcely time to get used to one absurdity before another surprises us. Five years or so ago the feminine sleeve bulged at the shoulder; five months ago it bulged at the wrist. .Now there are signs of a turn of the tide. The “fulness” is creeping up again, and appears half-way up the forearm. The effect produced upon the casual observer is that of a pair of short flappers. “Forsan et ha-eo olim momimsso juvabit”; But wo wish women were a little less impetuous in their struggle towards outward perfection.

In an article in the “Emu,” publisned in Melbourne, Captain Hutton gives some interesting information about tins colony’s sliags. Mo states that Now Zealand seas contain more different kinds than are found in anv other part of tho world. There are 15 species here, and only 12 in North and ‘South America, seven in Asia, sue in Africa, five in Australia, and three in Europe. The causes of the largeVumber cf shags in New Zealand are, firstly, the face that this was oho meeting-place of two migratory streams, one from the Malay Archipelago and New Caledonia, and tho other from Patagonia: and, secondly, the fact that New Zealand is broken up into a number of islands, which are lying at considerable distances apart, and which have been isolated for a very long time. In tracing tho migrations of the shags, the article states that one group, with pink or reddish legs and feet, and with the crest either single or absent, came into the Southern Ocean by South America, whence they spread to New Zea.and. Here they underwent considerable alteration, and the altered forms re-mi-grated to South America, some- at last finding their way to Kerguelen Island. At that early time, it is thought, there must have been more Antarctic lane than there in now.

“Tho Glebe” enters a timely _ and sensible protest- against- the indiscriminate condemnation of 111 or tor-ears which some recent lamentable disasters have provoked. Curiously enough, it is the so-called “Progressive” party in the Press who are most furious.y prejudiced against the motor, and who write as if tho job of putting the. clock back, and putting down what is obviously going to be the locomotion of the future, were a feasible, _ if not an easy one. So far as one can judge from the journals of that day, the- outcry aganst trains was just as loud and .iuso as unreasonable. It is absurd to let the dangers which arise from inconsiderate and ignorant drivers, fro-m imperfect mechanism, and from want of organisation in the direction of confining the motor to certain highways where the pedestrian would have ample warning of their approach, blind us 10 the advantages of the meciianically-pro-peilled vehicle.. But suggestions for lessening the risks which must always attend a mode of locomotion in its infancy are another matter. Mr John Seett-Montiagu has in “The Caff’ laid down a practical scheme for the prevention of accidents in the Irish race, and it is said that the scheme will be adopted by the commit ted. Seven minutes will be allowed between the oars, and this distance will be maintained when the cars leave tlio end of every control. Another regulation is aimed against cars passing each other at racing speed. If the Gordon Bennett race should pass off without disaster, the future of the automobile will be much brighter. *■ * - * e The Carlyle controversy continues to rage fiercely. Wliat miserable reading it all is! How stunid. after all. are even the cleverest observers, who imagine they can with “coarse thumb. . . and finger raised to plumb” settle precisely and indubitably how two people got on together in their married life! Mr Fronde has recorded that Thomas Carlyle once left “blue marks” on Mrs Carlyle’s arm. Oh, crowning evidence that t-h-e famous pair led a miserable

life! But what is happiness and wliab is misery? Those human beings who give us most pain can on.y give us most supremo joy. None doubts for a minute that tho Carlyles had their had times, but they had their good times —times which made separation seem far worse to them than facing the possibility of going through tho bad again! If people must pry into the secrets of a great man’s private life, they might at least bo sensible in their search. The subtle relation between two human beings of uncommon temperament is not t-o bo determined by evidence, nor calculated by .ogic. “Ncc sine to, nec tecum, vivero possum” (“Neither with tiieo nor without thee can I live”), said an ancient poet, and his truth is worth remembering in tho Carlyle case. Instead, one side wants to prove that the charges made against Thomas Carlyle arc not true, another that Fronde’s dark description represents the facts. To what end? Oh, fools and-blind! Tho outsider never can prove anything m such a matter. If we say quite simply that they were unhappy, aud again they were happy, and more so both ways than more ordinary people, we are nearer the truth than th-o philosophers.

A long and burning correspondence has been going on in the “Daily Mail” on tho art of acting. The controversy, conducted with more bitterness than insight, more prejudice than accuracy, originated in an article by Mr Bart Kennedy, in which he thought fit to- deprecate the actor, the art of acting, and to attack tho vices of tho actormanager. Incidentally he mentioned that in law the actor was still a rogun and a vagabond. This drew Sir Char.es Wyndiliam into the fray. With a chapter and verso he confuted the calumny, if calumny it is. What, after all, has art t-o do with law? The position of acting as an art is not affected by the legislation which lias been directed against the dregs of the profession.. Nor is it appreciably lowered by the opinions of Mr Bart Kennedy and his supporters. One of the latter quotes Mr George Moore: —“Acting, if it is an art at ah, is the lowest of the arts and makes slender demands on the intelligence of the individual exercising it,” and adds on h'is own account, “Actors of the present day should remember this, and not seek to obiain equal praise with tho dramatist, whose story they oniy repeat.” It is difficult to deal with t]n» sort of thing. Inept criticism is not easily met- Tho man who talks aboutthe ao.or merely repeating tli-e story of tho dramatist stamps hi ms-elr as ignorant of the relation between acting and a play. A play, if it be a good play, is an unfinished thing, waiting for its completion at tho hands of the actor, if this were noo so, all dramas should bo read, not acted at aL. The * art of tire actor has sometimes done so rnucii for a dramatist’s work that the dramatist has been surprised into acknowledging lii-s debt. This was the ease with Alfred do Musset and Got. Shakespeare is often quoted as one who thought ill of actors, and do seised himself for belonging to their ranks. Ho probably d'espiseu himself for being but an indifferent actor, and wished .bo were Burbage!

It was characteristi a of M. Rostand tliat in his speech on election to the French Academy lie should devote some space to consideration of the meaning of tho word “panache.” For “Cyrano do Bergerac,” the play by which he won bis reputation, is in one word a “panache?’ t '‘The panache,” explained Rostand, in his speech, “is not greatness, but something which waves above it- —• something fluttering, unreasonable, and —a trifle dandified. . It personifies the wit of bravery. • ■ It is courage commanding the siuation so absolutely that it expresses it in an epigram. . . The feather (panache is literally a plume) was wafter to us by a wind from Spain, but it has gathered a lightness m the air of France which is in better taste. To jest in the face of danger is tho height of good manners; it denotes a nice refusal to take oneself tragically. Than tho panache becomes the modesty of heroism.” Men and monkeys alone, of all tho animal world, possess parallel and convergent vision of the two eyes. The lower mammals possess divergent and, consequently, very widely extended vision. Squirrels, for instance, and probably hares and’ rabbits as well, are able to see an enemy approaching directly from behind without turning the head. ® *» « * * «* Marguerite Boyenval, “the sleeping woman of Tlienolles,” died on May 28, after remaining in a trance for 20 years. On May 21, 1883, sho was thrown into a cataleptic sleep through fear of a visit from tlio police, and it was found impoelblo to arouse her. Dr. Charlicr, who attended the case during the whole period, succeeded in causing sensibility in Ids patient by giving subcutaneous injections of sulphate of atropine. The feet were first affected, and gradually the whole body, as far as the neck, after which lie could make no further progress, and ceased his treatment. The corpse-like rigidity immediately returned. The arms remained stretched out in any position in which they were placed. The doctor is of opinion that the woman was never conscious of what was going on around her, but Professor Voit-in, of the Salpetriere, thought that

at tkn-es she heard vaguely what was being said t-o her. Through the whole 20 years’ s.oep her respiration remained perfectly normal, though her temperature was a little above the ordinary. About five months ago the doctors saw signs of returning consciousness, and renewed their efforts to revive her. Toi* tho first time on May 26 she opened her eyes, and remarked, “You are pinching me.” \Y hen she fell asleep she was 22 years of age. During the whole of tiie time since then she lias been artificially fed. She began, however, to sh-ow signs of consumption, and wasted away to a skeleton. The progress of the disease accounted for her death. Doctors from ad parts cf tho world visited Tbenoli-es to see the sleeper and the case is declared to be .absolutely 'within precedent in medical science.

That tho world we inhabit is very old scientific experts are pretty well agreed ; but to the question How old? they as yet give widely different replies. The physicist-, reasoning from the dissipation of the*.earth’s heat, th-o contraction cf tho sun, ancl the action of the tides, finds that the earth consolidated at; a time nearer 20,CKX),000 than 40,000,000 years ago; while th-o geolog.st, from the present rate at which ea.ud, chalk, etc., are being deposited by rivers and seas, infer iliac 40d,000,000 years must havo elapsed since life began on this globe. Tiie biologist thinks the time must bo still more vast since the beginning of life, on the assumption that species have multiplied by very s.ow variations, the estimate being 2,700,000,000 years.

No very trustworthy statistics can bo obtained on which to calculate tho death-rate of tlio 17th century, hut so far as it can be ascertained it probably amounted to 60 annually to every 1000 of popui.acion living (.nearly three ounce* tho present rate), and every evidence tends to show that during tnat- century the number of deaths exceeded the numbov of births. Our forefathers then did not escape from homb .o .visitations cf disease, but suffered m a degree to which there is no parallel in our times. * * # & * It is an established fact that a walk through tho cellars of the London docks where largo quantities of spirits a.ro stored, has at first a peculiarly stimulating effect, fo.lowed by depression and headache. In the same way tho stranger on his visit to the great sherry no degas in the south of bpain experiences at first a decided sense of exhilaration, with quickening of the pulse, followed by a narcotic effect, a feeling of languor and headache. According to an examination made of the air of a distillery, it would appear that no less than an ounce ox proof spirit, or half an ounce of absolute alcohol, may bo present iu five cubic feet of air. »**»«*«■ An interesting interim report upon Cape horse-sickness has been published by Dr. Watkins Fitohford. the.,Government bacteriologist of Natal. In so mo respects this disease resembles human malaria, for it especially attacks horses kept 011 low-tying marshy ground, and those a-nimas left to graze all night. In affected districts horses may be moved during the day without contracting tho disease. Dr. Pitchforci now suggests that a mosquito, probably of tho genus Anopheles, is responsible for tho conveyance of the infection. .He has staked horses by 'night in stables protected by wire gauze, or by a smoky atmosphere, in an infected district, with the result that they ail remained perfectly well, whereas horses kept around and similarly treated witn tho exception of the protection afforded by tiro wire gauze or ft moke,' succumbed. He therefore believes that it is established that horses protected from the attacks of winged insects enjoy immunity from horse-sickness. * -* » « »

Prof. John Milne, the well-known seismologist, has published some interesting facts concerning the crust, and interior* of the earth. How thick the earth’s crust is wo do not know, hut as it is an established fact that earthquakes and similar earth tremors pass right through the interior of the earth, in waves, it is possible to deduce the medium they have traversed by their quality and velocity. Prof. Milne coor eludes that a higher crust cf approximately 200 miles and a denser medium fairly uniform and about five and a-lialf times the density of water -would satisfy the seismologieal conditions. To such a core as this, which would be somewhat lighter than iron, he has supplied the special name of “geito,” and lie anticipates that t will be possible in time to deduce the physical and chemical composition of the white-hot matter in the interior of the earth with the same, certainly that we now know the composition of the various bodies cf the solar system. & •& ©

That remarkable object, the ring nebula in Lyra, appears in a, small telescope simply as a faint oval ring of light, greenish in hue with an apparent diameter nearly twice as great as that of Jupiter. With great telescopes many finer details are visible, and even-more is shown by photography, including a star-like condensation in the centre which is only visible with the most powerful instruments. A number of photographs of this nebula., taken at the o observatory of the University of Minnesota, have been measured and reduced

foy an American student in Germany. They aitord conclusive evidence that the central stair of the nebula has a eeusib-O parallax, amounting to . about l-10th of a second o-f arc. As this central star is exactly too centre of tue lung, and shows viio same gaseous speotrum as tho rest of tho nebula, there can be no doubt that it is a part of it. W o aro oonsequon ay able to calculate tire million times that cf the Sjii, so that real distance and sizo of the nebula.. Tho former appears to bo about two the light of the nebula takes over thirty years to roach us. it is. however, a near treigiibour of oum as stet.a c;i»tanca> go, being omy tnroo or four tunas as iar away as oiriuii or Procyon. autl nearer than Capona or Vega —as far as tin* best observituo'.wi snow, Too apparent diameter of mu nebma, measured a;o:ig tho longer axis of the oval, is bOseo, winch oorr-eespcuus to a real diameter 800 rimes one &*r.ns distance from the Bitn. Tins mid Clints the diameter cf tho orbit of Neptune, so tnat the whole Bo.ar system is a small ail an* alongside of tho nebula. —“C’C.outifio American. One of the results of tho German Antarctic Expedition is tne proving that T'oriiunation is.and, wirioii finds a place on the maps of Dio Sou in .iroiar region, lias no exis-once. Tiio greatest cold experienced by the members of the Expedition was 4o degrees itournur below zero. During 12 inoutlis the Gauss, the snip of the Expedition, was embedded in ice SO feofc m t lack ness. * * # * * * A cic.se inspection of an octopus reveals how wonderfully the asiniai is adapted for its mode of life. There is no doubt about those few o great eyes that it poetsotasot} being all tho better to see with in th<3 dim, aqueous world, where tiio creature makes its home. Then each of its eight .ong, snaky arms is crowded with 120 pairs of powerful suckers. So powerful are these suckers that when ce.ce they have fastened upon an object it is easier to tear away the arm of the octopus than to make the suckers release their hold. Tike the professional beauty, the octopus is said to have tire power or biusnmg to order —and how nuuiy poor innocents fall victims to the deceit. But tho octopus can put tho most skillful human b.usher in tho shade wkii ease, for it practically of tho rainbow. Thus, should tiie <A~ cf the rainbow. Thus, should bo octopus lie in wait among ruddy co oured rocks, a crimson blush will suffuse its sinister form and countenance ; or auould tho rocks bo covered with green weed, then the blush wil 1 become green; or it" may change to blue,’ grey, yellow, or brown, according to the colour cf tho surrounding obj eels.

When snow and salt are mixed in tho proportion of two parts of snow to one cf salt- the mixture liquefies, and the tamporaiure of the mixture falls to 36 degrees below tho freezing point. Tho seiecatifi o reason is that when a solid is liquefied a great amount of heat is used up, and becomes latent- —that is, becomes imperceptible to a thermometer. You may test this by placing a picco of ioo just at the freezing point (32 degrees) in its own weight of water at 174 degrees. Tho ioo will melt, and on then testing the mixture it will ho found that its temperature is 32 degrees, 142 degrees cf the heat which the water canto,in-ed haring disappeared, or become latent.

It is a far cry (remarks “Science Siftings”) from lifting a tack by means* of magnetism t-o tho lifting of massive iron and stool plates weighing four, six, and. 12 tons by this ©me force, which is now done every working day in, a number of large steel works. Electro-mag-netism, of course, is utilised, the form of tho magnet being usually rectangular for this work, and presenting a flat surface to the plates lifted. The magnets are suspended by chains from cranes, and pick up the plates by simple .contact and without tho loss of time consequent to the adjustment of chain and books in tho older method. It is also found that tho metal plates can be lifted by the magnets while still so hot that it would be impossible for the men to handle them. . The ratio of weight of these magnets to the weight Lifted varies, with the machine; in some cases this ratio is 30. Thus, a rnegnet weighing 3001 b will lift 4/ tons. The

magnet is operated by current from a dynamo, controlled by switches and rheostats, and one of the capacity mentioned requires about four amperes at 250 volts, or 1 l-3rd horse-power. * « * * •

There have been many; and various hypotheses brought forward as to the possibility of somo of the planets being habitable to human beings similar to those peopling the earth. But a still more startling and ingenious theory (says the “Illustrated Scientific Review”) has lately been published by an American astronomer, Mr Young, who asserts that the sun itself may be a land like our own. The idea is that the solid globe is surrounded by an atmosphere which "is a nonconductor of electricity and heat. The sun, according to this imaginative theorist, is a centre of electric force. Converging . streams of electricity are ever flowing in this centre, and on meeting with the nan-con-ducting atmosphere he come changed in~ to a brilliant discharge, which gives the appearance of a solid incandescent body. Away in the centre of this _ brilliant crust-, and far separated from it by the non-conducting atmosphere, lies a beau-

tiful planet having all tho most desirable cn-arac eristics of our own earth. But it is on ,y rarely that- wo can obtain a glimpse of this abode of bliss, or its strange iuh-abicants, if they ex st, set eyes on our little planet. Then it is through tho aporuuo or rift in the luminous clouds which wo call a sun-spot.