PASSING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13894, 4 May 1907, Page 6

PASSING NOTES.

It' is ike imlabclled duty o! Civis to choofc folly as it flies, thus literally realising the business of pleasure. My personal bias lies, however, in quite a different direction: to salute wisdom and achievement all the time. .Material for such a primrose path, at least for the weekly scribe, would certainly bo lacking, the opportunity being as precious as rare. So I am glad to offer my respectful congratulations to Dr Bcnliam, F.R.S. It is a long time since such a distinction came I our way. To bo a Fellow of tho Royal Society is perhaps the bast thing science has to offer. If you have plenty of money and spend it in the right way you can easily become a Knight, allaronet, or ] even a Peer; and if you have been born in the right place you can reckon on all sorts of honours coining to you without ! very much exertion. But no one ever suggests that you can bccome a Fellow of the lioyal Society without doing a great deal of hard work, and in some way or other overtopping your scientific contemporaries, l'oesiblv hacause it is so democratic an honour the democracy does not caro for it ; or perhaps the popular estimate of scicnce is not very high, or the numi- | cipal elections have been too enthralling ill their interest: at anyrate no public recognition of the honour won by Dr Benham seems to have been made. In a j community appreciative to the extent of 1 silver-mounted walking sticks to popular policemen such ncgligcnce strikes one as somewhat curious. There is, however, a certain virtue in candour—at least so We are always told, — therefore I may as well confess that had it not been for Cms, jun., the above tardy tribute might have been tardier still, This year he takes his first ecssion at the University, To quote Horace: "The years flit past, and arc lost to me, lost to me." Only the other day he was breeched; but yesterday, it seems to me, Mrs Cms recalled to my memory certain explicit Biblical directions anent "sparing the rod" or taking the dreadful conecqucnces,—and now lie is a University man, and an oracle! I can see it—there is liko to bo a new theology in the house well as in tho world. No doubt there is something in heredity: certainly Civis, Jti.v., has developed an omniscience which is marvellous, and, like all those who believe in themselves, is like to have his circle of true believers. Jjidging from his conversation, ho is. on terms of delightful intimacy with all his professors. Even the _ great F.R.S. lio speaks of by bis Christian name—nay, by a familiar abbreviation of that name' He doas not know his father is Cms; that guilty iiecret is known only to one person. But this morning lie made such slighting reference to the prees generally, aiul their idiotic ignorance and "Glackness" concerning University affairs, that my conscience pricked me sharply enough in tho matter of my delay in giving honour where honour is duo. To compare great things with small, I have been consoling myself with tho thought that not for me only do the years flit by and other Oracles speak. Must not tho Colonial O.'lice, and the British Ministers, from the Premier downwards, foe realising some such chnngc in the point of view as diuvns upon the possessor of a grown-up son? It was but yesterday —in tho historical-sense—that three colonies—" wretched colonies," I think Disraeli called them—wore " breeched "—i.e., endued with their own little Legislature, all spick and span, as like their father John's as possible? Yet now tho youngsters are holding up their heads, and, with all the assurance of youth, thoy are prepared to teach the old gentleman a thing or two. Jlr Deakin is amazed at the idea of anyone tackling him on the subject of finance; Sir \V. .7. Lytic is smashing the china, so Mr Reid says; our own Sir Joseph if. laying down the law on the defence of the Empire. Heaven forbid that I should attempt to even roughlv catalogue their savings and doings. All the Ham? I hope John Bull may bethink himself that there is something in heredity. If the youngsters crow a little loudly it may be because he has not always been the most modest of men, and f am pretty sure he will take t-hein to his warn old heart and be as proud of them as they are of him, faults of manner or of matter notwithstanding. Xot ill vain has the analogy between the life national awl the life domestic been latterly exploited: there are points of resemblance which strike even the laziest inimls. For-instance, the Swettenham incident finds its counterpart in the little world of commonplace, as expressed bv a. Punch picture low; ago. ' Down "a, narrow street a heavy drav, with its team of great horses and burly driver, is blocked by the little cart ill which air old coster is driving 'his diminutive and shrewish "Old Dutch." In reply to the storm of shrill inventive with which the old woman contests tho right-of-way. tho drayman, with a broad grin of understanding, savs-: "It's all right, gov'ner, don't you mind: I've got one er the same at 'ome myself," We all have our failures on hand. _The Scientist, especially lie of the genus Naturalist, in his capacity of searcher into, and expounder of, the marvels of Nature generally, is a delightful rcvealcr of mysteries. In his hands the microscopic microbe takes shape as the intelligent citizen of a mighty and ceaselessly active commonwealth, upon the conscientious discharge of whose duties we hulking mortals depend for our health, and therefore happiness, lie has relegated the frivolous nio-jquilo of nnr youth to its new position of the winged criminal, vicious and degraded. given over to the spread of disease and death. Vie follow our scientist's researches into the causes of "the sleeping sickness" with interest only equalled by his proposal to finally determine the special convolution of brain which tends to produce genius in music or mathematics. It is only when the rcicntist becomes personal—really meddlesome, in fact—trying to regulate us, you and me, tint he becomcs a nuisance. He cannot leave well alone • he is for over lifting tho decent curtain of appearanco' to show us tho quite unappreciated dancers of reality. The simple club blotting

pad lie reveals as an insidious hotbed of infect ion, and, pursuing his somewhat pertinent investigations, bids fair to rob us of one of tho natural pleasures of tlio simple life. The old yawn, artless and unsophisticated protest against ennui—or, as the more modern phrase goes, slackness—is to be banished at the dictum of the scientist for " the new yawn." This I understand to be a strictly muscular exercise, to be undertaken so many times a day at stated intervals, for the expansion of the thorax. Tiierb was a time when even tho yawn discreet and veiled was a. discourtesy, and the yawn obvious, an insult; to yawn undisguisedly and alotid was the relief of the artless; to yawn with languid selfeffacement the weapon of the conventional. The yawn of tho 'future is to be an entirely selfish and colourless thing—a mere exercise of physical culture. Nor shall wo be slow to have recourse jto tho old yawn under pretext of "My doctor's advice for a weak thorax." There is a terrible lack of backbone about the new cults with which wo are surrounding ourselves. The new theology, the new criminology, the new philosophy are all of the mikl and pampering type which in sturdier times was characterised us "grandmotherly." The little tilings 1 of the household follow the great things of the nations, and at tho risk of breaking up every doctor's and chemist's business in Duncdin I lay before my readers a pleasant, and withal inexpensive, remedy for an everyday list of family troubles, supplied by a medical man of such truly benevolent views that lie rises above the interests of his personal practice: — Tm: HovEnwox B-KMKDY. ["I would urgently impress upon all parents who liuvo bad-tempered or vicious children, and upon nil women who have cantankerous husbands, and upon all moil wha aro cursed with shrewish wiveE," Dr Josiah Oldfield writes, ■ " that ft rightly selected fruitariau dietary will otlen produce wonderful results. Temper and vice nre often tho outcome of a fermenting stomach and a disordered liver, and if you- can reform the bodily evil?, you eradicate the moral idiosyncrasies at the same time."] When little children from tho pith - . Of virtue, stray, Disdaining tho domostio hearth, Perchance it may Be passible to mend their ways By allopathically treating The trouble, Dr Oldfield says— By duo regard for what they're eatingl For how could they, With nuts and figs for daily ration, Be led by gastric fermentation To disobey? A man who panders to a thirst Inordinate; A. olub which, nightly, dce9 its worst I To keep him late; Who knows a bookmaker or two, And seems inclined to, beat his wife, May bo reformed, v/ith smalt ado, ' By just the simple fruitful life. A toothsome date May pacify his hob-nailed liver, And save him, maybe, from the river, Degenerate I Wo hesitate -to think there can Be shrewish wife [It's Oldfield's phraso; and he's ft mtm Who's studied life!) But if such wife thcro really ho, A lemon-squash thrco times a day,. With raisins and stewed prunes for tea, Would drive 'hat shrewishness away. All evils rife \nd moral idiosyncrasies Retreat before such foods as these. Sans strife! And yet I have been considered to lay too much stress on tho importance of a ivell-considcred diet I In view of the number of putative "Old Masters'' recently sprung upon the local irt horizon, I foresee that we shall in iuturo consider this yenr of grace—and .lie Exhibition—as "tho Renaissance Period." Since more art treasures may turn up—whether from " uncle's'' back premises or the ancestral hall of the scmiletaclicd villa matters not—the following Incident may be of interest; At any rate, I is eloquent- of the absolute fallibility of :hc art expert. It also opens up cheering possibilities to that correspondent who isked my opinion of his art heirloom. A certain picture was lately sold by auction ii Geneva for a few shillings. It was rerold by a dealer for £2 10s, and finally discovered by tho person who bought it—or, atlier, by the experts lie consulted—to be i genuine Murilln. bearing the signature with he dute. Behind this ironical rcveahnent of lie fallibility of tho art expert lies, however, lie real pathos of the incident. The original nvner of the painting, wlw had evidently paid noro attention to his hobbies than his honselold, died, leaving his family of six persona n such poor caso financially that the sale of lis cherished collection was all they had to lepend upon. Previous to tho sale, tho ifurillo, with other paintings, was submittal o tho judgment of an art export, who prolounced it !o be entirely without value, ttcneeforth the poverty of these unlucky jeoplo can scarcely fail '.o have an added )ittemess in the knowledge that they sacriiced. torn few shillings, a painting worth suffi•ieul thousands to have ensured lliem ease lid comfort. A double moral attaches itself o the curious and pitiful tale. The first, is, dearly, " Put not yotir faith in one expert"; •lie second, " Belter is a little cash in the junk than a possible fortune in an art col-ec'-ion." CIVIS.