HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2914, 19 January 1910, Page 89

HERE AND THERE.

■—Craters in Eruption.—< The Pico di Teyde, the centre of the volcanic disturbance in Teneriffe, has awakened alter a slumber of more than 100 years. The last serious eruptions were in 1798. In was on May 5, 1706, that the town of Ga.rachico was overwhelmed by a flow of lava. In the •eruption of June 17, 1908, four new craters were formed at the foot of Mount Chahorra, which practically forms part of the Pico di Teyde, but the neighbourhood suffered but very little. Lava flows abundantly from five craters, a fresh one having opened. Some engineers. have left to observe the eruption. The outside craters measure about a dozen yards in diameter, and are throwing up a column of smoke 150 ft in height. Two inside craters are active alternatively, and emit molten lava, but no smoke, stones, or ashes. The streams of lava issuing from the various craters are flowing towards the .valleys of Santiago and Tamaimuo, split up into several arms. Owing to the configuration of the ground it is not possible to dam them or divert them into directions where they would do less damage. The chief crater threw out large quantities of incandescent matter to a height of over 2000 ft, the eruption thus affording a; magnificent spectacle. The stream running down the Santiago Valley has divided into two, each 12ft deep and of constantly increasing breadth. Although the progress of the lava is slow, it has already reached a point within about two miles of the town of Santiago. The stream flowing in the direction of the Tauranno is advancing more rapidly, and will shortly be SAVollen by its junction with another stream which has branched from the main flow. —Unexpected Fortune for Page Boy.— The happiest page boy in all America is Michael Dumphy, who has inherited £BOOO, thereby proving that Dame Fortune has not yet ceased to bestow her gifts unexpectedly on the deserving. A few months ago Michael joined the ranks of the so-cajled “bell boys” at the Hotel Argonaut, San Francisco. He was a novice lad, and because of this the other lads on the bench transferred to him all i ho distasteful jobs. At the hotel there was an .aged visitor, Mrs M. M. Potter, cf Salem, Massachusetts, who, ill and querulous, was the bane of the bell boys’ > existence. They accordingly deputed Dumphy to wait upon her. Though fhe was known as a “non-tipper,” Michael, despite the jibes of his companions, attended the old lady with uniform cheer-fulness-and devotion. When Mrs Potter left tire hotel in June without “tipping” 3 Jumphy, the gibes were redoubled, but they ceased a month later when ihe good page hoy was the recipient of a cheque for £2O from the aged invalid. A few weeks ago the manager of the hotel received- a letter from Messrs Brown and Carlisle, lawyers, of Boston, informing him that Mrs Potter had died, leaving a bequest of £SOO to Dumphy. The manager handed this sum to the page boy, who immediately purchased a piece of land and arranged to have a house built for his parents. Then with the remainder he took his old father and mother on a pleasure trip to Denver. The manager informed the lawyers how the money had been expended, and the lawyers replied stating' that under a provision of Mrs 3’otter’s will the boy, if he invested the £SOO wisely, was to be given £7500 more. Dumphy, the lawyers announced, had nassed the test triumphantly, and the page boy has now come into possession of the fortune. —Germany's Thirty Thousand Doctors.— Germany is literally overrun with doctors (says the Stuttgart correspondent of the New York World). Drs Eeuss and Ressner, of this city, have compiled some interesting statistics on the number of physicians in the Empire. The population in 1885 was, in round numbers, 46 million. In 1907 it was 61 million—an increase of 30 per cent. In 1885 the number of physicians was about 15,000, or one to every 3000 persons. In 1907 the number of physicians had increased to 50,000, or one to every 2000 persons. The increase in physicians in this period was therefore proportionately more than three times greater than the increase in population. In 1885 about four million persons in Germany Aver© insured against sickness, and paid 9,000,000 marks for medical attendance. In 1907 more than 11 million persons Avere insured against sickness, and they paid 63,000,000 marks for medical attention. Thus the average income of the German physicians decreased from 3056 marks a year in 1885 to 2100 marks a year in 1907. Since 1885 the relatives of the insured haA r e been' supplied with medical treatment in ever-increasing numbers. The insured themselves are clamouring for more treatment. The figures are taken to indicate that, not only are the Germans jgrOAving . more sickly with the advance of their civilisation and the pressure of their industrial deA'elopment, but also that they are becoming more fearsome on the subject of their health. The number of imaginary complaints has increased tenfold. Fortunately the birth rate does not decrease, else Germany would noAV be in a period of incipientphysical decadence. —A Trout with a History.The death of a trout with a history is recorded by a correspondent of the Field as having taken place at Inverness. The fish had been landed at Milburn by the son of a Mr M‘Donald. engine-diWer, Avas kept alive, and soon became a great pet. Upwards of ten years aigo the enginedriver had it transferred to the tank of his engine, and it had .since passed a somewhat curious existence in the tanks of three separate raihvay engines. The trout was so tame that it would feed from the engine-driver’s hand, and Avhen a pail Avas dropped into the tank to take it out

would flop into it at once. Occasionally the driver took his pet home with him, and on the last occasion that be did so an accident happened—a box of matches had fallen into the tank, with the result that the trout was poisoned. The trout is lamented by all the railwaymen. _ It travelled during its stay in the engine tank thousands of miles. Forgery for Research. —< A trial which took place on November 20 (says the Vienna correspondent of the Daily Telegraph) before a Vienna juryhad a . curious and quite unprecedented result. A young man and a lady belonging to a good Viennese family were accused, the one with forging and the other with assisting in the utterance of 50-kronen, bank notes. Both admitted their guilt, but both were acquitted, amidst the applause of a large crowd n the court. The principal defendant was a medical student named Ladislaus Hosek, and his accomplice Fraulein von Kurtz. The trial showed that Hosek, who has devoted himself to the study of _ bacteriology, has made some interesting discoveries with regard to the sanitary conditions prevailing in Vienna. He traced the malaria bacillus, and proved that some hundreds of cases of tropical malaria existed in the Vienna district bordering on the Danube. Hosek’s discoveries were confirmed 1 in court by the leading scientific authorities, and the importance of his bacteriological studies was admitted. Many witnesses who had been cured of malaria by Hosek gave evidence, and the disgraceful fact was brought to light that the defendant, when in the direst poverty, was refused aid by the sanitary authorities, by scientific circles, and official surgeons, who refused to believe that cases of tropical malaria could he found in Vienna. In every quarter Hosek, who needed assistance to his studies in the tropical districts, met with rebuffs, refusals, or indifference. When in the deepest indigence, and fearing death from starvation, he photographed in a remarkably clever manner some 50-kronen notes, which were distributed by his friend, Fraulein von Kurtz. Considering that lie had committed the forgery when under the irresistible pressure, of his passion for further discoveries, the jury acquitted him. To-day (November 21) the whole of the press demands that public assistance shall be granted to Hosek to enable him to complete his investigations without the fear of starvation. —Un gallant' Frenchmen. —• The gallantry of Frenchmen is proverbial ; but it will come as a shock to most of us to hear that as soon as the result of an examination held last month in Paris for visiting doctors to the Paris hospitals was announced, and Mdlle. R'Oinme headed all her male competitors, her ungallant rivals commenced shouting, “Down with the examiners!” “Down with all women!” and raised what is known as a “chahut” against their woman conqueror. If this manifestation, was against woman’s progress it was certainly most unjustified. In France a woman is treated with very scant favour by the law. She is, in fact, little better than a slave according to the Code Napoleon. When she is .married she cannot spend a penny of her own money without her husband’s signature, which is also necessary for every act in everyday life. She cannot even deposit money in a bank alone, and a Turkish princess who tried to do this lately was constrained to remark, “Is this what you call liberty in France? We are better off in Turkey.” Until quite recently a. woman had not even the right to spend her own earnings, and her drunken husband could take them away from her and her children without her having any redress. Nevertheless, the Frenchwoman ■ has been steadily fighting her uphill battle, never claiming a privilege till she has proved her capacity for not abusing it. In this way women are admitted as witnesses to all notarial ■acts; they have votes for electing Consular Judges and scats at the Councils of the Pi'iid’homines, and they are already becoming numerous as advocates at the bar and practising as physicians. This is the first time that a woman has headed the list in the examination for visiting hospital doctors, but not long ago a Mdlle. Monod passed first as house physician at Lyons, and there are many women now installed in the hospitals, both as “internes” and “externes.” The Tragedy of Corners.— “The Perilous Game of Cornering a Crop” is ihe subject of a very instructive article by Isaac F. Marcoson in the Mun-sey Magazine; The methods indulged in by cotton speculators are only understood by those on the market, and the following may, therefore, be acceptable to readers. The writer gays: —The future, or option, in cotton is a contract to buy or sell. It is called an option because the cotton contracted for is deliverahle, at the option of the seller, at any time during the month for which it is sold; it is called a future, because, in the great majority of cases, the contract calls for delivery at some future time. The unit of contract trading is 100 bales, aggregating 60,0001 b. The three great theatres of cotton-trading are the Nerv York Cotton Exchange, which really fixes the prices; and New Orleans Cotton Exchange, and the Liverpool Cotton Exchange. Two kinds of cotton—“spot” and “future”—are traded in. “Spot” cotton is gold by sample, and is actually delivered. This corresponds, to cash wheat, and goes to the manufacturer,, who is technically known in the trade as the spinner. “Future” cotton is the medium of all speculation, and makes corners possible. There are 52 grades of cotton, but the standard grade specified in contracts is “middling.” It is traded in terms of price per pound. During the Civil War, when the southern production was suspended, the price rose as hid], as a dollar aftd 40 cents* A sew

cotton crop commences ini September, when the harvest begins. It ripens gradually, and by December 1 the crop is in. The big trading- months are January, March, May, July, August, September, and October. Very little of the cotton speculated in ever gets to New York. Much of the trading in futures is speculation pure and simple. Not all the trading in cotsSbn fabrics, however, is wild speculation. By selling futures the planter is enabled to sell part or all of his crop when the price appears attractive—which may be long before the harvest. The spinner is able to buy futures for his needs when the price seems low enough. He can later exchange his contracts for actual cotton, and thus regard his future purchases as a sort of insurance against a big rise in the market. Tins is legitimate business. It is the abuse of the future by the speculator that causes the tragedy of the corners. —An International Social Event.— The New York correspondent of the Daily Telegraph in a telegraphic despatch informed his London readers last month that in America’s leading papers, almost without exception, special prominence is given not to the cablegrams from London describing the battle of the Lords, nor even to the news reporting the safety of tlie Astors aboard the Nourmahal, but to the marriage of Mrs Wm. Hayes Chapman, the young and charming millionaire widow, to Mr Philip Folkenburg, a New York business man. This event is, described as “a social event of international significance,” for the reason that Mrs Chapman, who landed a few weeks ago from Europe, herself candidly admitted to the reporters who board the incoming liners that she returned “fancy free,” and that though she had been besieged in Europe by offers of marriage, and even pursued across the Atlantic by titled suitors, she had “spurned the coronets and hearts,” and decided to marry a plain, simple American citizen. Mrs Chapman inherited £2,000,000 from her husband, and her announcement that she was not pining to repair some dilapidated European castle struck a sympathetic note over here, because of late years it it) complained that the marriages of American heiresses with titled impoverished Europeans have been go numerous as to reflect disparagingly upon the eligibility of the American suitor. Mrs Chapman took the reporters into her confidence, and they in gratitude not only gave great prominence to her declaration of allegiance to. American ideals as regards husbands, but published her portrait throughout the country in various artistic poses. The press of America has devoted editorials to this “social event of international significance.” The New York American declared in England the Earl of was mentioned as a suitor for her hand ; in France «he was persistently courted by Count Christian de Bonneville des Boudreaux, by General Spiridovitch, by Count Aubert de Sonies, and by Prince Mohammed Ali Hassan of Greece. “General Spiridovitch pursued her throughout Europe; Count de Sonies recently followed her to New York ; and in a few months .she feared that there would be a procession of noble immigrants crossing the Atlantic, so she decided on the only sure method of exclusion—marriage,—and she chose a man who had so much money himself that there was not a chance of suspicion that his love had been dictated by lack of funds.” —A Poet's Tree Uprooted.— Probably the great majority of Englishspeaking people knovv the usual misquotation, “Woodman, spare that tree,” of the poet Campbell’s celebrated line in “The Beech Tree’s Petition,” “Spare, woodman, spare the beech e.n tree.” And the news will be of general and regretful interest (says Mr J. Nisbet in a letter to the Scotsman) that the great old beech tree, thus pleaded for long ago, when it stood on undulating ground near the front of Mr MacCullocb’s mansion, Ardwall House, near Kirkcudbright, in the middle of a place where it was proposed to form tbs garden, was blown over during quite a moderate gale on the night of Friday, 12th, to Saturday, 15th November, 1909. It lay prone there, a moribund giant, past all hope of recovery. Its bole is only 14ft long, before it divides there into many large and fairly equal-sized branches bearing a crown of smaller branches and twigs. At breast height (4ft 4in up) it girths- 14ft 6in, and the bole is round and symmetrical. It looks as if the stem were probably rotten at the core, and I should say it is quite hopeless to think of being able to prop it up again and give it a new lease of life. —The Standard of Height.— . The average height of an Englishman is about sft Tin, while the Americans and Swedes are, I believe, about l|m above this standard. It used not to he so. The English in the days of Cromwell were considered to bo the finest race of men in the world. To-day our army finds the greatest difficulty in obtaining physically fit youths for its ranks. The recruitingreport for the year ending September 30, 1908, shows that out of 77,000 youths who offered themselves for enlistment, over 29.000 were rejected as physically unfit.' This is a very distressing state of affairs. During the late South African war, even though the conditions of examination were t-annewhat relaxed, in Manchester alone, out of 11,000 youths and men wno offered their services, only 1000 were accepted. This is extremely disheartening, and only emphasises the fact that something must be done for the youth after he leaves school, which is the age when be most needs physical training.— Viscount Hill, in the World. —An Id Brig o’ Ayr Legacy.— It will be recalled that the “Old brig cl Ayr” was restored to a sound condition some time ago on account of the interest taken by the public throughout Scotland,

and with some assistance from the oversea dominions. The Preservation Committee who had the matter in hand, collected £IO,OOO, but as far back as 1875 a similar amount was left for that purpose by the late Mr Robert Templeton, watchmaker, Ayr, which was to be given over to the Town Council after certain relatives had had the life-rent use of it. On account of certain public opposition as to the method of rebuilding the bridge, the town aid not touch the money, and now Mr Templeton’s heir-at-law claims that the trust for rebuilding the bridge has lapsed, and that the trust estate now falls to the legal heirs and representatives of Mr Templeton. —Killed by Wild Animals and Snakes. — It is a remarkable fact that, in spite of the opening out of the country by railways and roads and the clearing of jungle tracts, the number of persons killed by wild animals in British India- dees not show any decrease ; in fact, in 1908, we gather from the Lancet, the figures rose to 2166, an actual increase of 200 in comparison with the deaths in 1907. In Bengal tigers killed 100 more persons, while in the Central Provinces and Berar the increase was 64. In the Chanda district oiie tiger alone killed 19 people before it was shot, while panthers and bears accounted for 95—practically double the total of the preceding year. In the United Provinces the mortality was 194, against 159. As to the deaths from snake-bite, the decrease was very satisfactory, the numbers falling from ~ 21,419 to 19,738. This total was the lowest since 1897. —Sensational Leap to Fortune.— The story of a sensational leap from humble circumstances to affluence is reported in connection with a family named Hale, of County Sligo, who. It is said, ■have received an intimation to the effect that in a few weeks’ time they will receive the sum of £200,000 from the Mexican Government. The reason is given as follows : A relative of the Hales emigrated to Mexico in the early part of last century and became enormously rich. Some '65 years ago he lent the Mexican Government, which was then in financial difficulties, a sum. of over £60,000, and it is this sum, with accrued interest, that the Hales expect to become possessed of in due course.