OVER THE TEACUPS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2523, 23 July 1902, Page 65

OVER THE TEACUPS.

My dear Readers. — Month by month I find so much to interest me (and, I hope, you) in the magazines that it becomes very difficult to know which treasures to select for our fiiendly gossip. For instance, in one magazine a chatty and pleasant article on "The Pope at the Vatican" was full of intimate and interesting personal details. It is a strange life this prisoner in a palace leads: the lonely old man, with his miniature army of 600 men, his letimie of person il attendants, a crowd of ecclesiastics, and "quite a little army of chambermaids and seamstresses" to attend to his wardrobe, all making a little world complete in itself within the 13,000 rooms of the Vatican. "The personal habits of the Pope are mid {tic and abstemious to a degree, as all the iuii!d knows, but his great age, physical fidilty. and the delicacy of habit thus entailed — .-yen the <-oft, pure white of his How ing garment';, create an impression of more than regal reserve. '"The priceless treasures of the Vatican' is a phrase more than justified by reality — priceless they are, indeed ! .Art treasures bevnnd price, a library of absolutely incalculable value, and personal offerings which. have, during his Papacy, reached the enormous value of at least £2,000,000! At the Pope's recent jubilee he received no less than "28 tiaras, 319 crosses (set with diamonds and precious stones), 1200 chalices of gold and silver, 81 rings (of which the one given by the Sultan is worth £20,000), 16 pastoral staves of gold .set with precious stones, seven statues in gold and silver, as well as the largest diamond in the world, valued at £800,000. which was presented by President Kruger." And yet, while trying to realise in some degree the value and the beauty of tho treasures which surround Pope Leo, it ia easy enough, in studying the portraits oi the frail old man, whose consecrated countenance is alight with spirituality, to believe the expression of worldly weariness with which he is credited. "I have lived too long," he said only a short time ago. "I feel very weary, and pray to soon be called away from this world/ The greatest precautions are taken tr»

prevent any kind of physical shock i each-

ing the Pope. "No news of any kind in j permitted to reach him without the ueimifl"

•ion of his secretary of State. Cardinal •Ranipolla," and the doors aDd windows of his apartments are padded to exclude even the most distant noises. The same temperature is rigidly preserved night and day in these rooms. Preparations for the Papal jubilee of Pope Leo XIII, which takes place in 1903. are already being made — have been, indeed, in progress for months, and should no untoward event occiu\ the occasion will be one of great magnificence. It is a long time since we chatted one day over our teacups of the wonderful experiments concerning the effect of coloured light on plant growth. It was, if you remember, a French scientist who made those delightfully interesting experiments of the effect of green, blue, and red rays upon plants, in the most conclusive way possible — namely, by taking mimosa seedlings of ■uniform size and strength, and placing them in glass nouses of the various colours, and notching, timing, and comparing the jrowth of each group with that of its respective kindred in the other houses. Let me remind you that, while the most rigornis and rapid growth "as attained by the plants in the red glass house, those in the slue house sank into a dormant condition which resembled nothing so much as a «ound sleep. This blue light, then, from which all red rays were as far as possible occluded— arrested growth. Another thing about blue rays which I daresay you have read or heard spoken of is their wonderful sfficacy in arresting and presently curing lupus, one of the most terrible skin diseabes. Now. howc-vei. comes the greatest and most important claim of the blue rays, a claim that, if substantiated by further re&ultb, will surely render blue as sacred a colour to modern suffering humanity as it was to mediaeval religionists and aitists.

This time it is a German scientist. Heir G. Kaiser, who penetrates the beneficent mysteries of the blue rays ; and his discovery 1-, no less than a promised cuie for that scourge of humanity, consumption ! En hi.s paper Heir Kji»er stares that '"bacilli of pulmonary consumption are killed in 30 minute v. by the hjht of an arc tamp concentrated by a lens of blue L'lass. These blue rays pas.s thioujh the- body. a.*> proved hv phuto-jraphv aid c;u> rheioforc destroy bacilli in any part of the lunijs. Patient" rrsated .-ho'ved markul mpmvement in six days." Let us hope that timn and flutter experience may confiim rh.latest marvel of" colour magic

TKougil I have not yet seen any indication of a realisation among ourselves of the passion for brown which one aeas cub.-

slantly mentioned in English journals, there is no doubt it will come : we <*re always a season behind, whiuh explainswhy ihere i.s a fortune in "soft goods,'' and next ■winter will find us eager to be "brown and comely."" So that you have plenty of time to embroider the daintiest

"motif" on cashmere, silk, or cloth, wheiewith to brighten, relieve, or harmonise the soberness of your brown costume. Nothing is so fashionable as these hand embroideries — nothing .so expensive — the moral is obvious ! I gave you so many hints on the colours which combine most amiably with brown when we spoke some time ago of bandanna embroidery, that I need do no more than confide to you a discovery I have made since then. The 'Fiench blouse flannels of "Paisley" or bandanna designs obtainable at some of the drapers' make a beautiful groundwork for the bold and quickly-done embroidery in question.

So many of my readers live in the country and are interested in country matters, even to the most practical details of farm and station life, that I wonder if they care anything about the alleged discovery of rich pho-sphate lock "'within 30 miles of Dunedin"*? I do. With a cheap fertiliser to enrich without stint my grateful garden, what flowers I shall grow !

But see how the mere mention of gardening beguiles me from the path of duty! My intention was to tell you of a very pleasant little article on "Christmas Island,*' where there are great deposits of this same phosphate.

It appeared in Pearson's Magazine for April, and in view of the recent discovery in our own colony, it becomes most interesting reading, as showing at once the enormous value and rarity of the deposit. Christmas Island is unique in many ways. It lies about 900 miles from Australia and 220 miles from the western tip of Java, with the blue waters of the Indian Ocean breaking at the foot of its steep inhospitaDle cliffs. For long the travellers on the great water ways, attracted by the green island, whose tropically-wooded uplands were grateful enough to sea-weary eyes, were speedily repelled by the utter absence of any anchorage, and the evident danger <>f the precipitous coasts. So Christmas Island remained a lonely pariah, the very oiiym of its name forgotten, until the obc fi vatinns of the celebrated "Challenger" evptdition drew scientific attention to it. Wii.n ua- 'lie lea.win <if the vast deeps tli.it Mimiundcd the island nn every Mde. anil ftom winch its sleep cliffs rn«e sheer without luiue of jjiLb.oiv.vtie to any oiaiLl' P4-

tient investigation showed that "should the water suddenly be swept from the Indian Ocean. Christmas Island would loom up from the sea bottom round it, higher by far than any mountain known to man."

When at last the coast of Christmas Island was systematically examined by Captain Maelear, of the Flying Fish, he discovered one small bay, and here a landing was effected. No trace of human occupation was found. "Indeed, as science has concluded, this is one of the few instances, if not the only one, in which a tropical island of any large extent had never known man's hand."' The island, however, was overrun with large robber crabs and huge rats, while great finny bats flapped through the forest, and pigeons waited quietly to be seized like tame chickens. Soon the island yielded up its secrets to science, and proved to be a veritable treasure island, whose va<«t deposits of pure phosphate of lime represent practically in-t-xhaustible wealth. Of what enormous value, then, will be the deposits of exactly similar rock which lie "at our very doors,'' as people say !

So adieu, with bright anticipations of the farms and gardens of the future. — Your afrached

EMMELINE.