CURRENT TOPICS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2303, 21 April 1898, Page 3

CURRENT TOPICS.

At the recent Medical Congress at Wellington there was an interesting discusthe sion on papers on influenza influenza, read by Dr Pol'en and Dr Fyft'e scoujrge. respectively. Dr Pollen remarked that the description written and published of the European outbreak of 1889-90 faithfully represented the Wellington experience. Brain-workers felt the attacks most severely, and -it waa found that the worries of our energetic and nervoua age lent themselves especially to the ravages of the microbe. The disease had the peculiarity that high temperature in fever and severe illness did not go together. Dr Pollen had met with cases where a patient with a very high temperature ■ had only a slight attack of influenza. On the other hand, in some very severe cases the temperature had not risen above tha normal degree. In the recent epidemic in Wellington pneumonia was prevalent. Dr Pollen said that although there were scores of remedies there was no known specific for influenza. Early to bed and early to rise was a good maxim for its treatment. Whisky and quinine was a popular summer antidote in Wellington, and as it was generally served in the hotels, the dangers -of an overdose could well bo understood. Dr Fyile'a paper was on the pathology of the influenza disease. In ths discussion which followed Dr Martin related his experience with whafe ha considered the first influenza case in the colony, and thought the microbe had been imported in a bale of soft goods. Dr James, speaking from a recollection of these epidemics, said that in the recent Wellington epidemic the nervous feature predominated, and he had observed an unusual tolerance by patients for quinine. After sevortl other medio&l gentlemen had spoken, Dr Pclleu replied, auri eaid he considered that malaria in New Zealand was due to the importation of moaauitoes. For his own

patt he believed in the use of quinine as a pre lventive, having used it himsoli' and never had an attack. The Daily News has made an exhaustive calculation of ths cosb of the the cost engineers' strike, »nd the sum of iNDOSTHiAt total arrived at is one of such war. magnitude as to provoke the question whether the gain would have been worth the co3fc even if victory had rested with ths strikers. There were 110,400 members of the union involved ia the strike, and it is estimated that there was an average of 34-.000 out. There were besides 6000 uon-unionists who went out in sympathy. Besides these there were 22,000 unskilled labourers directly thrown out of employment, and probably about 8000 mechanics and labourers in cognate industries were also compelled to go idle. These make a total of 70,000 men, and averaging their wages at 30s per week for the 3L weeks of the strike the loss in wages was £3,255,000. In addition to this sum there was expended as dispute pay— per allied trades £775,000, per kindred skilled unions £100,000, and per unskilled unions £50,000; or altogether £925,000. Private savings to the estimated extent of £500,000 were also lost, so that the total of direct loss was ,£4,680,000. Bub this wu not all. The accumulated funds (£285,000), the levies (£300,000), the public subscriptions (£170,000), and loans (£30,000) were also swept into fcfae industrial maelstrom. Nor did the (strikers injure themselves alone. The loss of trade to employers during the dispute is estimated at £5.696,000, thus bringing up the total loss to £10,376,000. Ib is impossible to say how much remote industries, such as mining, and railway, and manufactures, &c, were affected. The bill against the fomenters of this strike is indeed a heavy one, and should be remembered when next an attempt is made to provoke industrial war without adequate cause.

The much-talked-of motor car has at length made its appearance in the motor cabs colony, and the Evening Post; in has a description of two which Wellington, have arrived at Wellington. Ab first glance they look like ordinary hooded buggies mounted on rubber-tyred wheels lookiDg like strongly-made bicycle wheels, with the difference, however, that the tyres are solid instead of pneumatic. They have been made in Paris, and are the invention of Bsnz f—

One of the car 3 will effrry three persons and the other is seated for two. Each weighs about 14cwt, and they are capable of attaining a speed of over 20 miles an hour. The motive power is gas generated from benzoline (purified petroleum), and the cost of running each vehicle is stated to be much less than that of horse-power. The machinery is placed in the back part of the vehicle, and weighs about 3cwt. Along each side of the car runs a copper reservoir of a capacity of some four gallons. One of these is filled with benzoline and the other with water— the latter used, however, merely to keep the working parts cool. The oil flows along a pipe to a vertical brass vessel, where it becomes vapourised. The gas thus generated is conducted to a small engine working on a like principle to that of the ordinary coal gas engine— i.e., by alternate compression^ and explosion, the explosion being brought about by means of an electric spark induced from a storage battery placed under the seat of the vehicle. Th« engine actuates a shaft which is connected with the axle of the driving wheel of the car by a chain like an exaggerated bicycle chain. _ The forecarriage, by means of which the steering is done, is left as free as the front wheel of a bicycle, and is controlled from a rod which rises in front of the driver's soat. Of course these vehicles are principally adapted for private use, but the same account says that the syndicate has purchased the patent rights for the aolony, and will shortly introduce passenger motor cars. What with the bicycle and the mofeor car the death knell of the horss would seem to be sounded, but the friends of the equine quadruped have the satisfaction of knowing that from hilly New Zealand the process of extermination snusfc be very slow.

Mr Joyce, gardener at Elmwood (Canfcorburv), states that the macrocarpa is nob at al! suitable for gardens, as it is short-lived, having an existence of only from 15 to 20 years. As a permanent hedge, he said, the macrocarpa aid not answer, and he would like it condemned.

On Thursday afternoon a totara pile 12ft 6iu long and llin thick was washed ashore ab New Brighton Beach, Christchurch. Carved near the point were "G. Marriner, 1 N.Z., 18*7." The part which has been under water is perfectly sound, but the top is quite rotten. It is thought that it has besn washed from Nelson.

Advice to Mothers I— Are you broken in your rest by a sick child suffering with the pain of cutting teeth ? Go at once to a chemist and get- a bottle of Mrs Winslow's Soothing Syrup. It will relieve the poor sufferer immediately. It is perfectly harmless, and pleasant to the taste ;_ it produces natural quiet sleep by relieving the child from pain, and the little cherub awakes as bright as a button." It soothes the child, it softens the gums, allays all pain, relieves wind, regulates the bowels", and is the best known remedy for dysentery and diarrhesa whether arising from teething or other causes. Mrs Winslow^ Bootbing Syrup is sold by medicine dealers ©YSJJi where at Is lid per bottle.— [AdviA