NEWSY NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3439, 21 May 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWSY NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE.

TIT-BITS OF INTERESTING AND USEFUL INFORMATION.

Did you ever hear of a mouse jumping down a l*tten’a throat ? Mrs Lynn Linton, writing from Malvern to Nature Notest says;—“ls the following experience more general than I know of ? To me it was unique, I have a kitten not yet fully grown. Last week she caught her first mouse, with which she played in orthodox feline fashion. Suddenly the mouse disappeared down her throat — alive, unbroken, unmasticated, fur, tail, bones, flesh, and palpitating heart, all undisturbed. The kitten was in great distress, and cried more like a cnild than an animal. I took her up, and she looked at me and left off crying, but when I put her down she stretched herself under the kitchen table, her body pressed close to the ground, and all four paws wide out. She shivered strongly, but was silent. We put her on the table, but she could not stand, though she lapped a little milk, then went back to her lethargy. the next morning she had digested her furry elephant and was all right. I

The late Sir Richard Qaain, in' an address delivered at a meeting of one of the minor medical societies in London in 1885, told a curious story of his early student days. His master left him one morning in charge of the surgery. Shortly afterwards an old gentlemen called, who was between seventy and eighty years of age. He said : Mr Quain, I think lam very bad-b Can you not give me something? u Quain said : “I am afraid that .you have got the cholera." I gave him the routine remedy ot that day—lß3l year of the cholera invasion. This remedy varied, but probably it was what was called “ Ponsonby's drops," a solution ot camphor in spirits of wine, introduced by Lord Ponsonby, then Ambassador at Vienna. As my master could not go to see the old gentleman, I thought that I would call and inquire how he was a few hours later. I knocked at the door of the house, and in answer to my inquiry the servant said, “ Sir, he died an hour ago.’ That was a shock for a pupil fresh from school I X had been talking to the old gentleman at noon, and at six in the evening I found that he had been dead an hour. Carlyle, it appears, was one of the great doctor’s patients—and a difficult one he proved to be. There was, Sir Richard has related, only one medicine which he ever would take for hia dyspepsia. But, says the docker, “ the disease was easily accounted for by the fact that Carlyle was particularly fond of very nasty gingerbread. Many times have I seen him sitting in the chimney corner and eating the gingerbread."

Chambers's Jour rial recalls an historic case of swindling, namely, the great tin mine salting case in Canada, which was probably the most cleverly-contrived fraud of its kind on record. The operators, two in number, purchased from time to time some small parcels’of tin-ore in Cornwall, and shipped it to Toronto, taking care never to send more than a few bags in any one vessel. From Toronto the ore was taken out West some hundreds of miles, and carefully planted along a granite ridge, the work of shipping and planting taking about twelve months to accomplish. The salters then left, the scene, and remained away for some three years. At the end of that time it was suddenly announced at Quebec that what appeared to be a large and rich tin-field had been discovered in the West, and a claim had been put in for the Government reward of (I think) sixty thousand dollars! which had been several years an offer for such a discovery. As might be expected, considerable excitement was manifested over the reported find, and when the Government expert, who was sent to inspect the property, pronounced the discovery to be genuine, there was quite a rush of prospectors and speculators to the West, anxious to peg out or to purchase tin claims. Meanwhile a company was formed to work the reward claims; and just when it was ready to commence work, the Government, acting on the reports of its skilled advisers, paid over the reward to the claimants, who with this sum and a further large amount obtained by the sale of their claims, suddenly disappeared, and were never afterwards heard of. It is scarcely surprising that the Canadian experts were deceived, as grass and moss and other vegetation had grown over the packed ore, while the denudation of the hillsides had resulted in some of the tin being washed into neighbouring creeks, where it was covered over with sand and debris. The swindle was exploded by ,a Cornish expert who had been sent for. He recognised the ore as having come from certain Cornish mines, and its sale and shipment were thereupon quickly traced.

The Gape Argus prints the following good shark story from Durban, where one of the local divers named Batten experienced a shook and a narrow escape. He had been engaged to recover a few heavy rails which had fallen overboard between a steamer and the main wharf. The rails were found, and one had been hauled to the surface, when Batten perceived a young shark swimming" around him. Having omitted to arm himself . with the usual diver's knife, Batten moved to the boat and secured a weapon, intending to stab the shark if opportunity presented itself. On descending to the bottom again, however, Batten did not see the prowling “ monster," and proceeded to the rails which remained to be hoisted. He was about to attach the next when to his surprise and alarm he noticed a huge shark, approximately sixteen feet long, lying right across the rails. The diver was in a quandary, because retreat from such a monster was exceedingly dangerous, ■ whilst open hostilities with the knife would have been almost suicidal, not only on account of the size of the shark, but on account of its being literally sheathed with barnacles. Further, although the shark lay almost motionless, not a single rail could be touched without disturbing it. With a view to frightening the shark, Batten suddenly released all the air contained in his suit,'which act caused a crowd of bubbles to rise from the escape valve. The shark did no,t budge, and when the suit was refilled Batten made several feints as if to stab his enemy, but again without the desired effect. Then the monster made the first move. Steadily he rolled over on bis back, showing a long white belly, and opened and shut an enormous mouth framed with rows of ivory white saw-like teeth. Batten wisely waited for no more, hut dipped the escape valve, causing him to rise rapidly to the surface. He lost no time in scrambling up the ladder into the boat out of harm’s way. A number of i people spent great part of an afternoon in , endeavouring to hook the shark ; various i kinds of bait were tried, but without sucr cess.

The Birmingham Mail tells a good story of a certain Scotchman, who recently had io travel from the Midlands capital to London. Meeting an acquaintance on the station, also bound for the Metropolis, they agreed to while away the time in the train by playing cards. Two handed solo wps scooted, and the points were sixpence, ainepenoe, and a shilling. Money was not paid over, but a reckoning wa? kept, and the game was fairly even till Bugby. Then the Scotchman had a run of luck, and an 11 abondance " just before, Boston made exactly ten shillings to the good. His friend pulled out a lot of loose change. “ I've scarcely enough without changing a five pound note,” he said, and then remembering some coppers in his overcoat, fetched them out, and said with a laugh, “ I’ve 9s lid; I suppose you will lot me off with that ? ” Weel, weel, lad, I’ll no be hard on you. I’ll take the money, and I’ll have your Daily Mail to moke out for the halfpenny I"