PERSONAL NOTES.

Otago Witness, Issue 3005, 18 October 1911, Page 85

PERSONAL NOTES.

Lord'Walsingham has tw- special characteristics; he is a first-rate entomolog.st. and one of the finest shots in the three kingdoms. His bag of grouse (1070) to his own gun has never been surpassed; and on another occasion he accounted for 842 birds, an amazingly high, average. It is said that h© can shoot wasips on the wing, a feat which requires an accuracy of aim and a steadiness of hand that are nothing short of' miraculous.

v— At the headquarters of the Y.M.C.A., "George Williams House," London, one apartment, which was occupied for many years by itlhe founder as his bedroom, is reserved a® a memorial room. By the generous kindness of Mr Howard Willliams, this room, we learn from the Y.M.C.A. Review, is likely to become of greatly enhanced interest. Already it contains objects of considerable historic value, connected with ithe early days of the work —notably the minute of the first meeting, the membership card of one of the 12 pioneers of the movement, the first printed circular, the first printed report, the private diary of one of the 12 reoordinsr the incidents of the first year, etc. To euch objects as this has now been added, by .the kindnese of Mr "Williams, a loan collection relating to the person and work of Sir George, every article of which will be of intense interest to all association visitors.

Sir Courtenay Cecil M-ansel has twice assumed the baronetcy which he now holds. This curious- situation was the outcome of a Scottish marriage. .In 1838 the ninth baronet contracted a' Scottish marriage arid had one son, Edward.' Nine vears, later the couple were married * with religious rites, and subsequently another son, Richard, was born. . The baronet died in 1883, and Richard 'assumed the title, the charge of illegitimacy being advanced against Edward. , "Sir Richard" died in 1892, and his son, the, present baronet, succeeded; him.; but 11 yea.rs later he discovered ;*'from, documents that neither ho nor \ his father had any right to the. title, arid he resigned in favour ofj hi 3 unfile, Edward, as the. eldest son of the ninth baronet. ' The validity of the earlier marriage was establish°4 i ll Scottish courts in 1906. Sir-Edward did not live long to enjoy the title, and on his death three years ago Sir Courtenay resumed the baronetcy. The health of the King's third son, the eleven-year-old Prince Henrv, continues tc give considerable anxiety to his parents. The experiment of sending the Prince to school at 'Broadstairs has resulted in an improvement, but the gain in strength is hardly rapid enough to satisfy the Royal physicians. It is hoped,- however, that a quick change for the better will take place during his holiday sojourn in the Highlands. His continued weakness does_ not seem to affect the young Prince's lively disposition, a -characteristic which has earned, for him the family nickname of "Blue'Bottle." He is quite the humorist of the Royal children,. and his comicalitiiee of manner and speech are the delight of all who know him. Once, indeed, his ultra keen sense of fun completely upset a Court ceremony. He had been, placed out of mischief way in the pew-box above the chancel in St. George's Chapel, Windsor. But. out of sight in Prince Henry's case does mot necessarily, mean out oi mind, and on this occasion h© disturbed the gravity of the congregation by cajjinff out "I see you!" to his father. ..... ';„ The, Dowager Countess of .Carlisle, who: has sold a famous picture to the nation, for £4.0,000, has generally been associated mpre with politics than with art in the public mind, since she has long taken a very.: active interest in politics on the Liberal side. A capital speaker herself, and a familiar and influential figure oirt many a Liberal platform, Lady" Carlisle differs sharply in politics from her. -eldest son, the present Earl, a strong-. Tory, as she did also from her, late husband. Heir son, on the other band, the Hori. Geoffrey Howard, is'of her own way 'of thingihg, and sits for Westbury. in the Liberal interest. Ityriliay Be added, moreover, .that though the. family is .'at present thus divided;politically,; its traditions have always been Liberal, A former Lord Mor-grand-uncle of 1 -the '.'present peer, wasi on© of the earliest Chief ; Secretaries for Ireland to - sympathise... with Nationalistic aspirations/ arid he was only one.of several members of the family who embraced progressive views. ■'••;. Lady Carlisle's; own family, the Stanleys of-Alderley, have also had their differences of opinion, but: of a religious' rather than- a political aharacted Her i brother, the,; late .-/Laird. Stanley of Alderiey, was a Mohanimedan, and ; was buried with the/ rites of ; that faith. ..-. His brother andi successor; is a .Churchman, while his other. '■ bjother" is a bishqp iiri.the Roman Catholic phuroh., He was .formerly Gardirial Vaughari's assistant bishop at Westminster, but is now a resident in Roriie. " ■* -' >

Sir "WiUiam Ramsay is one of the_ most distinguished of all living men of science, with degrees without end and a list of professional' appointments to his credit - filling line upon line in the books of reference!. As his haime suggests, Sir William is a Scotsman by birth. His father was a skilled civil engineer, his mother was a gifted woman, . daughter of an Edinburgh surgeon, and Sir George Ramsay, the geologist, was his uncle. Sir "William followed up the finding of argon (in conjunction with Lord Rayleigh) by the detection) of. heliuim in the mineral clevite—thc» element up to that time having.been recognised! in the sun only—and then by brilliant inveesti'giations, assisted by Dr Travers, detected various ot'i er new gases in our atmosphere, upon which such names as neon,* xenon, krypton, and psamrnon have been bestowed. The experimental work which led to these results ranks with the most refined ever carried, out. Of xenon, for example, there is only about one part in 70 million parts of air. But the most remarkable of all Sir William's achievements was, of cou.rre, his truly epoch-making discovery of the fact that the ultimate residue of the break-up of radium is the element helium. The significance of this discovery, it has been remarked, could hardly be over-rated—-especially as regarded from the standpoint of evolution. Whatever else might have been evolved it was always supposed that) the atoms of the at lea>t had undergone no euc'n procnss. They were "the foundation-stones of the material universe" which had existed unchanged since the be.giri;ning of things. Sir "William RamBay VdisooTery k&«dthai doctrine.