HERE AND THERE.

Otago Witness, Issue 3098, 30 July 1913, Page 77

HERE AND THERE.

—The Animals of Canada. — li may not bo generally known that Northern Canada is still ‘teeming with animal life. J' roni sonic notes in the United Umpire we learn that the music-ux 'till linger?; amongst tile Arctic lasln.s o! the Far North. J he I’oiar hear and the walrus are saill comparatively common on the Alaskan and Arctic shores. Uec.se, ducks, curlews, and a host of birds arc vet to be found in the comparative isolation of their hidden sanctuaries. Rnt year bv year 1 ii sc nobler forms of animal iii’e are becoming <ilid more open t ; » tlie attacks of irrespniicible individuals who have no ear,- for the future and still lorn believe that this wealth of animal life i.-: worth preservation. The depletion ol t.'ic forests D in itself of small moment compared with tile destruction o! animal life that is eon.-.tr.iitly going on. Moreover, trees may he grown again in depleted areas, lint the indigenous fauna once destroyed, and tlie balance of Nature —certainlv so far as bird life is concerned once overturned, no one can predict what the result will be. In order to prevent the ultimate extinction of many noble species it has been proposed that animal sanctuaries should. Vie established in Labrador —a countrv 11 times the si/.e ot Kingland—where, so far as supervision can be extended, certain Masses of animals and birds n av be prelected from the ruthless operations of irresponsible lioolicaiio v. ho consider that man was made for the slaughter of game. King Alfonso's Leap.— King Alfonso has (says the Madrid correspondent of the Daily Lx press) gained additional popularity in consetpmiice of his courageous attempt to succour a little girl who was the victim of a railway accident while the King was travelling from Uadi/, to Madrid. A woman who was in charge of the elation at Utrera evidently forgot that the special train conveying King Alfonso was expected, and she allowed her two small daughters to play on the railway line, as was their custom when no trains were due. One of the children eventually lav down on the ballast and went to sleep, and the driver of the Loyal train did not see her in time to pull up before the engine struck her. inflicting a serious wound on the head. King Alfonso, who was sitting at the window of his saloon carriage, saw the child thrown alongside the line, and he immediately jumped through the open window without waiting for the train to stop. When the alarmed members of his Majesty’s, suite rushed back they found King Alfoneo with the little girh in his arms trying to staunch the flow of blood. —Why Wo .Are Right-handed, - Mr Leopold Katscher discusses in Knowledge for June the interesting theories that have been advanced to explain why we are right-handed. At first, it has been contended, men used both arms indifferently, and those who when fighting pushed the right side forward had the advantage of shielding their hearts, and so

lived to produce descendants who inherited their tendencies. Be this as it may, there is no doubt but that the two sides of the brain have different functions, and right or left-handedness is by no means restricted to the arms alone. One investigator was very often able to recognise lefthandedness by the examination of the left eye. The centre of speech is on the left side of the brain of a right-banded person, and on the right side of that of a lefthanded person. Children show unmistakable evidence of two speech centres, though one atrophies owing to the preference given to one hand. Nevertheless, experiments show that it can be successfully resuscitated. —Court Stockings.— The visit of President Poincare to lingland confronted many members of ids official staff with the mysteries of the English I Court regulations as to dress. The sub- | ject is being discussed with some mystitij cation in the French press, and one funo- | tionary who travelled with the President says: —‘T am told that 1 must provide | myself with knee breeches to wear at 1 Court, and in addition black silk stockings. So far 1 understand the regulations perfectly, but then I am told I must also j provide myself with pink silk stockings to | wear underneath the black ones. I have j tried everywhere but have been unable to j obtain them. I have at last been advised to go to a theatrical costumier’s for them, j What I cannot understand is why pink silk stockings are wanted at all.” r i ho object of the Court regulations that two pairs of silk stockings must he worn with j knee breeches is to prevent the flesh being seen through the thin black material. - -Titanic Wife Came Back.— A tragedy which was an outcome of the loss of the Titanic occurred at HeuninLietard, near Lille (says the Par,U-§orre-spondent of the Daily Express). - Among the Titanic's passengers reported lost was Mine. Hrenys, whose husband, a Belgian, after some months’ mourning, married again. He and his second wife went to | live at ITeimin-Lietard. A few days ago i M. Hrenys learned that his first wife had escaped drowning, that she had just returned from America, and that she was trying to find him. He was so horrified at the prospect of a charge of bigamy and of the humiliation of ihs second “wife,” that, ho determined to kill himself and her. He shot his second wife dead, and fired two bullets at himself. As death did not ensue, he tried to hang himself, but the neighbours, who bad heard the revolver shots, cut him down. —Wood Alcohol and Blindness.— According to the report of the Now York State Committee on the Prevention of Blindness just issued, and summarised in the Lancet, 13 persons in the State were blinded and four were killed during 1912 either by drinking wood alcohol or by inhaling its vapour. Wood, or methyl, alcohol is obtained by the dry distillation of wood. It has similar properties to ordinary alcohol, and is now produced in large quantities as'a. substitute on account of its cheapness due to freedom from duty. The report points c ut that although wood alcohol in as small a quantify as a teaspoonful has caused permanent blindness, and in larger quantities has caused death, this dangerous article is easily to be obtained from shops, often without a label or warning to indicate its poisonous uat ore. —Gruesome Relies. — The lock of Napoleon’s hair which was recently advertised for sale is quite a respectable relic compared to some which | has e been bartered. Dcscarte’s skull ! changed hands for £4O. 'while a single tooth guaranteed to have been extracted from Napoleon's jaw while he was a j prisoner at St. Helena fetched the respectable price of Pfl 10s. Seventy-four years after Francis I of Austria was. buried in Vienna a dealer was arrested in that city for offering to sell the heart of that monarch, which, sealed in an urn. had been deposited in one of the Vienna ehureims. For centuries the hearts of the dead Hahshurgs have been so preserved, the first break in the custom occurring last vear hv the burial of the Prince Regent of Bavaria with his heart undisturbed in his hodv.