NEWS AND NOTES.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1726, 29 March 1905, Page 16

NEWS AND NOTES.

A new glass, described by M. Emile Touche t, 'is very transparent to invisible chemical rays. In simultaneous photographs of part of the constellation Lyra, a lens of this glass showed 619 tftars, while one of ordinary Jena glas9 shoAved but 351.

In order to prevent the spread of disease from germ-affected walls the London County Council has ordered that- the work of breaking up old buildings shall be done between 6 p.m. and 10 a.in., and that the walls shall be •thoroughly watered during the process.

For protecting the steel used in the construction of the new coal storage and handling plant at the New York navy yard. +he Government engineers Henu'red that all the structural steel work: be given a coat of + he best red lead before leaving the shop, all contact surfaces an extra coat before assembling and after erection two coats of dark green graphite paint.

The chief of the Paris Laboratory has been lecturing Parisians, and put it this Way. “When a man takes milk for breakfast preserved with formic- aldehyde, when he eats at luncheon a slice of ham kept good by borax, with spinach or French beans made green wi+h sulphite of copper, and when he washes all that down with half a bottle of wine cleared with an excess of plaster of parts, and that for twenty years, how is it to he expected that such a man can have a stomach ?”

Gormandising as a cure for consumption has at least the merit of novelty It has been tried, our American correspondent writes, by the pi'esident of one of the hospitals in a crowded tenement district of* New York, 'and he claims that he has had remarkable success. The patients who have been recorded as cured were taken in hand in the primal stages of the disease. “Out of an proximately 250 patients,” said Dr Roosa, president of the hospital at Twentieth Street and Second Avenue “about fifty have been thoroughly cured of consumption. The treatment is an exploitation of the theory of over-feed-ing. Bv over-feeding patients in the first stages of the disease and watching their surroundings at their homes, we believe consumption can be conquered Milk eggs and easily digested fats are given to the patients. There is no restriction as to other foods, however These consumption patients have not been inmates of the hospital, it is in teresting to note; but were allowed to live at their homes.

Sir Richard Tangye, who- mu it surely "be both blind and deaf, has informed the London “Daily Chronicle” that “it is a significant fa.ct that during a six weeks’ voyage' to the Australasian colonies I only. heard Mr Chamberlain’s name mentioned three times, althoim’ there were many business men returning to their homes, and in looking through the Australian papers from Fremantle to Adelaide. Melbourne and Sydney, I have not found a single' reference to the fiscal question.”

In connection with the recent disaster to the Scots express tlie> most pathetic incident of a scene full of pathos was the fate, which befell two schoolboys, Adrian and Arthur J. Kmloch, brothers, of Clydebank, Perth, who were on their way to resume their studies at. Bradfield College after the Christmas holidays. The elder hoy, aged about fifteen, was evidently killed instantaneously, for his body was nearly cut in two, while his little brother, although still breathing when extricated from a wrecked third-class carriage, was terribly mangled, and died within a few minutes.

The American horn man does not “talk through his nose.” The real difference that we all notice is a difference in the general pitch of voice. The American voice it pitched in a slightly higher key than the English.; and here you may find the reason why the American assimilates French so easily. Put roughly, the case is this: the Frenchman talks from his palate, the American from the top of his throat, the Englishman from his chest, and the German from his diaphragm.

It is not difficult to smuggle jewels into the United States. So writes a correspondent of the “Daily Chronicle,” who declares that he walked out of the !New York Customs House, after four long hours’ examination ef baggage, behind a man whose hat and pockets were packed with jewels from Vienna. Uio fact is that the American, revenue officer takes no authority to search the person. Boxes are rifled, the ages and value of women’s dresses minutely apprised, no' detail oi things packed up escapes attention. But—the statue of Liberty stands just outside—the man and woman are inviolate. The Republic has not the courage of its laws.

Herr Doctor Ileck, a medical man of Rhevdt—which snclls like a Welsh name—in the Rhineland, will be en-

vied by many a German Herr Graf and princelet for his luck in achieving the heart and hand of Fraulein Bertha Krupp, only daughter and heiress of the late “Cannon King,” of Essen, who died on the Italian island of Capri a year or two ago in circumstances which caused a great sensation. Undoubtedly Krupp was the wealthiest man m Germany. His most formidable rivals have been Prince Pless, a mine-owning Silesian magnate, and Herr von Bleichroder, the Hebrew banker, of Berlin, who Bismarch summoned to Versailles to help him calculate the French war indemnity.

When Sir Alfred Harmsworth, at the dinner given him to celebrate his acquisitiotn of the “Manchester Courier,” said that “if ever he had to leave the city owing to the failure of his enterprise he would walk because lie had not enough left to buy a railway ticket,” he meant business. He said very much the same thing when the “Daily Mail” was started. On the first night of publication he came bounding upstairs from the machine room, his face radiant, and with the- first actual copy of the paper in his hand. “Gentlemen,” he exclaimed to the very small staff of the initial number, “this means Berkeley Square or the workhouse.” It meant, as we all know now, Berkeley Square.

Ain extraordinary story of a piano bringing ill luck to- aIL its owners appears in the Polish newspapers. Some weeks ago M. Konkicviteh, a well known Warsaw resident, purchased in Moscow, at a high price, an old-fash-ioned piano, which was stated to 1 have been for a year in the possession of the famous musician, .Rubinstein. M. Konkievitch failed in business shortly afterwards, and the piano was sold to a Russian official named Karpoff. Two days after delivery the official's only daughter fell down stairs and injured her spine incurably. When running for a doctor M. Karpoff himself slipped on the ice- and broke his leg. Associating the possession of Rubinstein’s piano with his misfortunes, M. Karpoff promptly got rid of it. The next purchaser was a Polish doctor, whose house was the same night entered by burglars and plundered of everything valuable. Hearing of the piano’s past misdeeds the doctor had it removed next day by a dealer, who caught influenza and died. The dealer’s terrified widow summoned the doctor to- remove' the accursed instrument, and on his refusing to do so sold it for a trifle to a collector, M. Behrend. Two days later Behr-end’s house caught fire, and together with the ill-omened relic of Rubinstein was totally destroyed.

Has Port Arthur any finer story of reckless courage than this story of British heroism? A gunner of H.M.S. Resolution. was standing by his gun at the Battle of the Saints as the ship came abreast of the Fi-ench flagship. The gun was loaded and ready to. fire, when a shot entered the nort, and took the gunner’s left leg off at the knee. Like lightning the man plucked his neckcloth from his neck and made a quick ligature above the stump. The next instant he seized his leg that, was lying on the deck and thrust it into the muzzle of the gun, which went off two seconds later. “My foot,” shouted the gunner, drunk with patriotism, “is the first to board the Ville de Paris.”

Nikola Tesla, who hails from Servia, is an extremely tantalising gentleman. Mr Tesla has been going to do lots of things, but few of them have reached the practical stage. He was intended for the Church. That career woidd have made it necessary for him to fraternise with regicides, SO' perhaps he has chosen the better part in endeavouring instead to l establish communication with Mars. The Martians, however, are no nearer to. us because of Mr Tesla’s efforts, and in these days ef opposition to alien immigration it is as well, perhaps, that, balloon-loads of strange people from the skies should not alight on this fair land of ours. Mr Tesla’s latest invention, is said to he a torpedo which will carry further than any gun.

The Russian Imperial family number at the present time something like sixty Grand Dukes and Grand Duchesses. It is a fact that they would one and all he wholly dependent upon the reigning Emperor, whose wealth is practically boundless—his minimum income is estimated as being £1,500.000 • —were it not that a former Czar, Paul 1., set aside a certain number of estates to' which he gave the curious name of “the Imperial Appanages.” The income of these vast stretches, of fertile land is devoted to the maintenance of all those members of the Imperial family who are not in the direct line of succession. At the present time this source of income produces £2,000,000 a year, and the Imperial Appanages stand in the proud position of being the largest land owner, the most important and prosperous farmer, and the wealthiest wine producer in the Russan empire! This is the reason why Russian Grand Dukes are so amazingly wealthy.

A Scots scientist attempts to prove from geological phenomena that gravitation is electrical, and that it is identical with terrestrial and solar magnetism.

Those whose skin is inclined to he yellow should never apply to‘ it any lotion that contains glycerine. Elder flower wafer instead will best- suit such complexions. * * ■»

Aluminium horseshoes have been given a thorough test by the Russians during the present war, and have proved quite satisfactory, saving the horses’ feet more than iron shoes do.

The carrying capacity of aqueducts through which fresh water runs in large volume is often reduced from 10 to 1? per cent, by slime and growths < £ various kinds on the surface of the masonry or metal.

There is a, record that Roger Bacon, the friar who devoted more of his time to science than to religion, was the first man to make spectacles in the year 1280. Yet on a tomb in Florence, dated 1290, there is an inscription which awards the- honour to another in these- words: “Here- lies Salvino- degli Armati, inventor of spectacles. May Gocl pardon his sins.” By 1500 spectacles were not at all uncommon in Holland and Germany.

The dog Fritz, belonging to the St. Bernard Hospice, lias effected his first rescues from death this winter. The wife of ail Italian workman, who was passing over the St. Bernard in order, to return to Milan, fell in the snow and could not. rise again. Her husband, who was also exhausted, shouted for help. The cries were heard by Fritz, who hastened to- the spot where the unfortunate travellers lay. He then returned to- the monastery, roused the monks by liis barking, and led them to the Italian workman and his wife. The husband was able to walk to the monastery on foot. But is wife, whose hands and feet were frozen, was borne : to- the hospice. on a hand harrow. Fritz lias already made numerous rescues under similar conditions.

The tenth bar of Ohopin’si Funeral March had been reached at a concert in Strasburg when the pianist found himself playing alone. The other' members of the orchestra, overcome by emotion, had ceased playing. The pianist rose, in tears, and left the room ; and the programme abruptly closed.

A student of psychology asked a converted savage what had made him embrace Christianity. “The storv of Jezebel/’ was the prompt reply. Asked for the reason of this unexpected reply, he added confidentially, ‘“Well, you see, they devoured her all except the palms of the hands and the soles of the feet—and we never eat those!”

Many remarkable incidents have occurred in the German Army since Lieutenant Bilse’s book on the scandalous garrison life in the Fatherland was published. None, however, is more strange that an instance which recently occurred at Hamburg, where an officer not only made the recruits kneel down before him, but insisted that they should “worship him as they did God.” For this blasphemous command, and also for ill-treating the men, a court martial has sentenced him to five years’ imprisonment with loss of rank.

The timid character of the Czar is well illustrated by a story recently toh' a visitor who had occasion to go to St. Petersburg several months ago. Through the influence of an Englishman occupying a trusted position m the Imperial household, he was shown over the Winter Palace- He inquired of his guide whether, among other things, he might be favoured with a look at- the Czar’s bedroom, but was told that he had none in particular, as he slept in a different one every night! No wonder that his Majesty lias now fled in terror from his capital. * +

There are many grades of apology, from the public one at the bar of the House to the sullen “"Sorry,” extracted after much argument from the naughty little hoy or girl. The Scots porter’s rivalled the latter in brevity. A lady rtassenger had complained of being told by him, in a fit of irritation, to go to —a place not mentioned- in the timetables: and the station master told him to apologise for his strong language. The porter accordingly ivent to l the Avaiting room, found several ladies there, and had to ask them all in turn Avhether it Avas she whom lie had told to go- there. HaAnng found her. he delivered his apology. “You needna’.” re remarked.

Some feAV years ago Sir Henry Irving Avas performing at the' Theatre Royal, Manchester. One of the best knoAvn literary men of the city held a kind of afternoon reception at his house in the suburbs, and Sir Henry and Miss Terry Averc the guests of honour. Amongst the- persons invited to meet them Avas a person Avho Avas very fond of attending the Friends’ Meeting house. The host’s family Avere members of the Society of Friends. His mother, a dear old lady, Avas asked bad she .seen Mr Irving. Her reply Avas: “Yes. and he seems to- be

such a dear man. Is it not a pity he should be a mountebank?”

The committee of engineers to whom was entrusted the task of* rebuilding the St. Mark s Campanile at Venice has issued a report on the progress of the work. . The ancient foundations were found in a decomposed slate, so they weie surrounded with 3076 beams, each lour metres in length, winch were driven msoas to make a compact mass. The timbers were then covered with a special cement. Ihe exterior of the ancient foundation is being renewed with blocks of marble, and it is expected that the rebuilding of the masonry will begin in the spring. So far the expense attending the- work of reconstruction amounts to £4600.

The desire, to reform the duel in France by making it less sensational is no new thing. Frederick the Great, who had the greatest contempt for duelling, ordered that no duel should take place unless in the presenoe oi a whole battalion of inlantrv, who had orders, trie moment they saw one of the combatants fall, to shoot the/ other. This effectually stopped duelling m the Prussian army. Against this may be set the story of Henry IV. of France, who, though officially opposed to duelling, is reported to have said to a knight who asked permission to fight Don Philippe de Savoire, “Go. and if I were not your King I would he your second.” It is not surprising that French duelling was not stamped out in the reign of Henry of Navarre.

Whist was played by Louis XV., and under the first Empire was a favourite game with Josephine and Marie Louise. It is oil record (“Dailies of a Lady of Quality”) that Napoleon used to play whist at Wurtemburg, but not for money, and that he played ill and inattentively. One evening when the Queen Dowager was playing against him with her husband and- his daughter (the Queen of Westphalia, the wife of Jerome), the King stopped Napoleon, who was taking up a trick that did not belong to him, saying, “Sire, we do not Ptay here in conqueror’s fashion.” After the restoration whist was taken up in France more enthusiastically. “The nobles,” says a. French writer, “had gone to England to learn to think, and they brought back the thinking game with them ” Talleyrand was a whist player, and his retort to- the juvenile who boasted ignorance of the game is well known: —“You don’t know whist, young man? What a sad old age you are building up for yourself?” Charles X. is reported to have been; playing whist at St. Cloud on July 29th, 1850, when the tricolour was waving on the Tuileries, and he had lost his throne.

A Paris paper tells that at a reoent murder trial the prisoner Avas found guilty. When he was asked if he had anything to say before sentence was passed, lie stood up and said: “I beg that immediately after the execution I may be taken to Charenton” (the lunatic asylum). “Wily?"'’ asked the judge, in a surprised voice. The man shrugged his shoulders. “Any fool should knoAv that. Because I shall have lost my head, of course.”

The Russian cartoons of the A\ _ ar are said to be changing their character, and becoming less victorious. For a long time they exhibited a situation at Port Arthur quite unknoAvn to the combatants. A huge Russian soldier AA'as represented, for instance, spraAvlmg along the peninsula, and amusing himself by upsetting Japanese Avarships w : th his little finger. In another picture Togo Avas in tears over the destruction of his fleet, Avhile Uncle Sam patted him on the back, saying “Don’t cry, my little man!” In these cartoons, by the wa\ T , there Avas very little animus against John Bull, Avho figured A T ery seldom, but Uncle Sam Avas constantly represented tas the friend auul 'backer cf Japan. »

One of the great questions which the democracy of the United States have before them, according to Mr Morley, is the relation betAveen capital and labour. An important, responsible and well-in-formed American gentleman told him that British laws in respect to trade combinations are more favourable to such combinations than the laws of the United States. Another serious, suggestive and apparently almost insoluble problem in the United States is the enormous multiplication and gradual advance liorthAvards of the freed black population of the south. If that moA’ement goes on there may at the end of this century be a population of something like 60,000,000 or CAen 80,000,000 of coloured people m the United. States. This is the retribution that folloAvs wrong.

While walking through Wiltshire, England, recently, a pedestrian asked a native how far it Avas to- the next village, and received the curious reply, “About three pipes o ; bacca.” He subsequently found that AA'atches and clocks Avere very rare in that district, and that it was usual to indicate distance by the number of pipes of tobacco one could smoke oil the journey.