THE SKETCHER.

Otago Witness, Issue 3556, 9 May 1922, Page 59

THE SKETCHER.

“DO IT NOW.” I know a man. He is a worthy man, of little imagination, and less human sympathy. But he is all I should like to be, yet I am much happier by being different. His life is clockwork in its regularity. In his bedroom, immediately facing him, so that the. first thing his opening eyes rest upon may inspire the mind which lies behind them, he has hung the adage, “Do it now.” It is printed in big scarlet letters on a white ground, and, as if that were not decorative enough, the artist has painted tiny bunches of primroses in each corner—.most inappropriate, it seems to me, since the “Primrose Path” generally runs in the opposite direction to practical advice. But he really and truly does try to live up to it, which is more than the usual moral adage can hope for. For example, it makes him spring out of bed the moment his alarm clock goes off. It follows him to the breakfast table, where it makes him eat his meal without first glancing through the morning newspaper to see if yet another husband has been accused of poisoning his wife. (Wives do not seem to be very popular at the moment, do they?) It prevents him from having a “first pipe” after his breakfast is ended. It makes him catch his train every morning' without having to run for it. It keeps him at business long after his fellow-workers have seized their hats and departed homeward, or so we hope ! It sends him to bed every night at halfpast ten, except on Saturday, when he “frisks” until eleven. In fact, it is worth about a thousand a year to him. But what - a life! I too have my own pet adage, though I do not hang it opposite my bed, for the simple reason that I find a greater spiritual comfort in a cup of tea. I too follow it implicitly, except when a qualm of conscience sends me fleeing along the Bight Road for just about ten minutes. It is this—“lf it’s nice, do it now'. If it’s not, do it tomorrow : who knows but you may die today!” It costs me, roughly speaking, five hundred a year. But Ido enjoy myself, thank you very much ! And yet how many people there are who plan out their lives as if life were a jigsaw puzzle, each daily duty forced to dovetail into the next day’s efforts. Like a jig-saw puzzle too, their lives make a very well-coloured picture. But then, the most uninteresting moment of a jig-saw puzzle comes immediately you have discovered the proper resting place of the very last piece. True, you are faced by a complete design, but the result doesn’t seem at all commensurate with the labour you went through in making it,. - The “fun” of a jig-saw puzzle lies in trying to do it, the hits which we think are going to fit into other bits and don.’t; the joyed at last finding two pieces which really belong to one another, over which theie is more rejoicing far than when the whole thing is completed. And it seems to me, that this too is half the thrill of life. To do what you shouldn’t do occasionally makes the moment when you have done what you ought to do seem so wonderful. But “Do it now-” always refers to the things you should do but don’t want to, and in those who follow the adage relentlessly—well, haven’t you noticed that their hearts hold no particle of joy, either for themselves or for others? It" is their “reward” ; it is also their punishment.— Richabd Kixg in Eve. 1 INSECTS AS GHEMISTS. STRANGE DEVICES FOR SPECIALISED EXISTENCE. Bv Herbert Mace, in the World’s Work. The proper functioning of a living organism is dependent to a very large extent on the working of certain glands which separate from the vital fluid some special and often highly complex substance, without which other necessary functions cannot be performed. One of the most outstanding marvels of the human body is that a most astonishing number of these “secretions,” each of different nature, occur in various organs. In the. mere process of reducing the food into blood a constant succession of secretive glands must work efficiently. In the mouth, saliva, which softens the material and converts starch into sugar, commences the process. In the. stomach, acids and the complex gastric juice deal with proteid matter, while at a later stage the whole mass is converted from the state known as “chyme” to that called “chyle” by the action of the bile secreted in the liver. Besides th _se primary secretions, there are many others for lubricant and protective purposes not including those which are more properly' called “excretions,” whereby poisonous and waste matter is removed from the system. As with every other character of organic bodies, many of these secretions are. in certain species, specially' developed to an extent which fundamentally' determines the animal’s mode of life, and often enables it to thrive under conditions otherwise unfit for existence. Some of these specialised secretions are of paramount importance to man, who is constantly' making use of them. Among insects, perhaps the most universal of these specialised secretions is the material known as silk, a substance of such importance that an enormous industry is devoted to the special rearing of the insects which produce it and the subsequent utilisation of the product. There are comparatively' few insects which do not produce silk, either throughout their lives, or, more generally, during the larval period. Its primary' function is undoubtedly protective, and it is most generally produced at the time when the creature is just entering me stage W'hen it undergoes the tremendous metamorphosis from a crawling grub to a winged Bpii'o of air. Such a melting down of parts and remoulding into new takes place

at this time, that the creature is utterly' helpless, and may readily fall a pray to its natural enemies. Obviously, the complete envelopment of the creature in a close network of such a tough material as silk, is an excellent device for the purpose, even when it is not combined with any other special measures, as it generally is. In the hymenoptera, where, the larva is already sheltered by its residence in a specially prepared cell, a silken cocoon is, nevertheless, still spun, though it is generally of very light, thin texture. In the case of wasps it is so made and attached that it forms a strong covering to the cell, equally as effective as the cap placed over the cell by the adults among bees. Many of the smaller hymenoptera, which are not placed in cells, such as the parasitic ichneumons, form a very much densea’ cocoon. In the moths and butterflies silk-spin-ning is very' highly developed. In other orders it is seldom produced at any other time than the metamorphosis, but many moths produce it throughout their larval existence and make use of it, still as a protective measure, in other ways. Butterflies produce very little, and do not form an actual cocoon, many of them making only just enough to iorm a strong pad of silk, by means of which they can affix themselves by the tail to some secure support, while others cast a single strand round their bodies and secure this to a stem. Many moth larvas not only spin a cocoon for the final change, but each time they cast their skins do so under a light cocoon. Others, which pass the whole winter in a young and tender stage, spin a strong cocoon for protection. The Lackey moth and the Little Ermine, among others, go a step further, and co-operate to form one large silken web round the leaves, in which they reside in perfect security. The value of such a defence as this against birds is made evident when one remembers how greatly they object to webbing of any kind, a network of fine threads being a common and most effective means of protecting fruit against their attacks. —The Silk Secretion Insoluble.— The organ in which caterpillars secrete silk is situated just under the lower lip, and externally' consists of a horney projection having two fine apertures. Inside, the secretion appears like gum, but on passing out of the openings and being twisted together it instantly hardens and dries, and thenceforth becomes insoluble, not only in water and heat, but the most active of known solvents. Specialised use of the material varies in different families of moths. In the Leaf Rollers, for example, it is used to draw the • leaves together-. In some cases threads are fastened to opposite sides and continually shortened until the two sides come together. In others, threads are first attached to the tip of the leaf, the other ends being placed a little lower down, so that as these threads are shortened the tip curls inwards. Fresh threads are then attached to the outside of the roll and to the standing part of the leaf, these also being shortened. By a successsion of these operations, the leaf is finally rolled up precisely like a carpet, and several layers of material are compactly arranged for the insect to feed upon in seclusion. Among the Geometer or Looper caterpillars the thread is used as a safety line. On being alarmed the insect attaches a thread to the leaf and drops, pay'ing out the line as it goes and swinging in mid-air until the danger has passed, v, hen it climbs back again, gathering up the line as it goes. . Among those which use silk lor a cocoon there is endless diversity of method. Many mingle grains of earth with the silk, economising the latter and forming a very stout covering. The “Puss Moth” and its relatives utilise particles of bark from the tree to which they are attached, thereby securing not .only a protective, but almost an invisible covering. Many' of the Bom bycss are hairy cat erpillars, and when spinning their cocoon, which is usually very lavish and contains an enormus length of thread, detach their hairs and mix them with the silk. It is largely owing to this habit of mixing other material with silk that the number of moths from which it can be profitably secured is strictly limited. The Spider’s Web.— Mention of silk must not overlook the spiders, which, adthougli not insects, strictly speaking, are large producers of this material. In their case the manner of production, the nature of the material, and the use to which it is put, are considerably different from those of moths. The line-of a spider is much more flexible and soft, mainly because it is made up of more numerous threads. Whereas caterpillars have only two spinning orifices, spiders, have, in many cases, ° over a thousand, so that it is almost impossible to comprehend the tenuity of a single strand composing one of the sufficiently microscopic completed lines. The spider’s plan is, of course, offensive rather than protective, and the familiar web of the garden spider, so appealing in its mathematical precision, is only one of numerous ingenious devices formed of this remarkable material. Another substance secreted very largely by insects, as well as higher animals, is saliva. Numerous fluids are secreted in, or excreted from, the mouth in various insects. They ai - e not in all cases produced by the true salivary glands, and in the sense of being digestive, or for the purpose of softening their food, are not, properly speaking, saliva, but as a general term this comprises any fluid habitually secreted from the mouth. In many caterpillars and beetles such excretion takes place when they are disturbed, and the fluid is frequently very' acrid and nauseous, so that it may almost certainly be regarded as a protective device, causing repugnance to the natural enemies of the creatures. Much more important are the salivary secretions of many hymenoptera. Most of the solitary bees and wasps use it to fasten together the grains of earth or

stones which they employ in the construction of their cells. The large and handsome carpenter bees cement together the wood fibres which they' evacuate in boring, for making partitions between the cells. Most highly specialised is the saliva of the common and other social \VjSsps, for, when mixed with wood-fibre scraped from posts, it hardens into a papier maehe of great toughness and durability. Next to silk, wax is the most important ingect secretion from mankind’s point of view. It is undoubtedly' analogous to fats, which are produced in all animals when they have abundance of food, but in inseefs it appears to find no suitable accommodation beneath the skin, and therefore exudes in various ways. Its most general form is that of a flocculent material completely surrounding the insect, as in the case of the woolly aphis or American blight, which is entirely buried in this exudation. The Bee’s Wax.— Its highest development is found in bees, and particularly in the honey-bee, which has a definite and efficient apparatus, not only for secreting, but for moulding and manipulating it. On the under side of the bee’s abdomen there are eight small, clear surfaces, partly' concealed beneath the ventral plates, and upon these Surfaces the wax settles in the form of a thin pentagonal flake. From there the insect removes it by' means of a pincer-like arrangement in the leg, and utilises it in the construction of the comb. Beeswax has the' highest melting-point of any known substance of similar nature, and is therefore of special value in many arts and sciences. Its high melting-point is rendered necessary by the fact that it is used for the construction of, very large and otherwise unsupported areas of fabric, and as the heat generated in a busy hive is very great, the fabric would certainly collapse if the melting-point were lower. A temperature of 85 degrees Fahrenheit is necessary to render the wax sufficiently plastic for manipulation, and it does not melt below 145 degrees Fahrenheit. It is generally held that wax secretion is voluntary, but it can only' take place when the insects have abundance of food over and above what is necesary to repair the waste of tissue. Many' attempts have been made to try and determine the amount of food necessary' for the production of wax, but no verv reliable data have been obtained. Berlepsch estimated that when ample pollen was available, as well as honey, ten pounds of the latter would produce one pound of wax, but when pollen was deficient, as much as twenty pounds or more of honey would be needed. In anv case, considerable economy is necessary in order to provide enough wax to build pell accommodation for all the honey', and probably' this fine adjustment is the reason why the honey'-bee has developed such economical perfection of construction in comb-building. By clustering closely, bees produce more wax than when they are scattered. Moreover, to make the wax sufficiently pliable, it is kneaded in the mouth and mixed with saliva, a further economy being effected in this way. Poison Acids and Vapours.— Mere mention of bees directs attention at once to a secretion common to many insects, which is of exceedingly war-like nature, and is developed in various ways in different groups. This is poison of very potent kind. In its simplest form it is an acid which, from having been first derived from ants, is called “formic” acid. It is not confined to the animal kingdom, for several plants, notably the stinging nettles, secrete it in considerable quantity. In ants the whole body seems to be pervaded with the poison, “for the mere fact of an ant walking over blue litmus will turn it red. In some hairy caterpillars it is located in the hairs, •while in spiders it is specialised for injection purposes in certain glands which have ducts communicating with the pincers or falces. In the bee and wasp the appartus employed to inject the poison is extremely elaborate and efficient. Apart from the special structure by' which the poison is transferred from its natural reservoirs to the point of a sharp-piercing instrument, there can be no doubt that the poison of a bee-sting is something more than simple formic acid. No certain conclusions have been arrived at concerning it, the difficulty of obtaining sufficient for satisfactoryanalysis being the chief reason. One scientist, Carlet, states that two distinct systems of glands are concerned, one being - strongly acid, the other slightly alkaline, and he further says that an animal may be inoculated with the product of either without fatal effects, when an equal quantity of the combined product produces death very quickly. Mixed with the poison is a certain amount of oil, which is secreted separately', and is assumed to be a lubricant, adding much to the efficacy of the apparatus. The powerful nature of the poison is sufficiently evident from the fact that, although the barb is only' one-five-hundredth of an inch in diameter, and does not penetrate more than one-fiftieth of an inch, great pain and swelling, lasting 48 hours, almost invariablv follow a sting. A very interesting offensive development in* insects is the gaseous vapour which many' are capable of emitting. The abominable'odour of the skunk and of the common grass snake, w'hich emit it when attacked, are paralleled and even exceeded in the insect world. Sometimes the odour is pleasant to our nostrils, but it does not necessarily follow that it is not objected to by the normal enemies of the creature. The delicious odour of the musk beetle is familiar to most collectors, and so characteristic is the smell of many otherspecies that by systematic practice one could certainly detect many by this means alone. The more agreeable odours appear to pervade the whole body', but some of them, and most of the noxious ones, are localised in special organs. ’The most remarkable is that of the bombardier beetle. On being pursued by an enemy, this beetle suddenly discharges,

with a distinct report, a puff of quite perceptible vapour, which is extremely' pungent, and so caustic that it burns the skin, causing red spots, which afterwards turn brown and persist some days. Against enemies of approximately its own size this beetle is therefore provided with a very efficient weapon. —Bee Milk.— Of a specially' interesting nature is the secretion known to beekeepers as royal jelly' or bee milk. Much controversy raged for some time concerning this substance, but an accumulated weight of evidence has finally proved that it is, in a very real sense, analogous to milk. It is used in the first case to feed vary' young bee larvae, and also forms the entire food of queen bees. This substance consists of ordinary pollen and honey, which is converted into chyle in the stomach of the bees and disgorged when required. The value of this almost digested food may be gathered from the fact that a queen bee produces in the course, of the season more than one hundred times her own weight of eggs. Such immense production is almost incredible, and would be impossible if the queen performed the entire work of digestion in her own body, especially as she is not, like the female termite, a sedentary creature, but actively moves about, depositing her eggs in separate cells. There are countless other chemical processes performed by insects, which are often of a very special nature and serve particular functions. Several species of beetle, such as glow-worm, have localised areas of phosphorescence, which they can control, thus being able to light a beacon lamp for the benefit of their race. There are insects, such as the oil beetle, which exude oil in astonishing quantities, and others which produce a kind of varnish or gum by means of which they stick their eggs to the substance on which their young are to feed. Among numerous devices for securing food is that of the gnat, which has a sucking tube too small to allow blood of animals upon which it feeds to pass up it, but is able to inject a substance which thins it down sufficiently. The gallflies, by the injection of a fluid into the. leaf or stem on which their eggs are laid, causes a monstrous and characteristic swelling, inside which the young feed ill security. The cuckoo-fly or froghopper, produces from its own body a great mass of froth many times larger than itself, in which it is completely' disguised, and in numerous other cases some such production affords defence or concealment. A ROMANCE OF INDUSTRY. Mr Roy Bridges’s book, “From Silver to Steel,” comes to hand at a moment when Australian labour demands and the general economic situation have made it necessary for the directors, of the Broken Hill Proprietary Company' partially to close down their famous works at Newcastle. Probably' in the whole course of mining enterprise there has been nothing more romantic than the development of the Broken Hill mines. Not only have they proved the richest silver-mining properties in the world, but in conjunction with the subsidiary industries that have been founded as the outcome of the original enterprise, they have played an important, and indeed predominating, part- in the establishment of an iron and eteel industry' in a portion of the world that hitherto had been dependent upon outside sources of supply. The extension of manufacturing industry in Australia, as in other parts of the British Empire, iia-s been one of the outstanding features of the economic development of the last ten years. It is not as yet fully realised in the United Kingdom what this extraordinary burst of industrial energy really' means to the United Kingdom, to the British Empire, and to the several portions thereof. The rapid establishment of manufacturing industries in the dominions is having, and must necessarily have, profound and disturbing effect upon the industrial life of Great Britain. Whether this effect shall be for the good of the United Kingdom depends very largely upon the part that British manufacturers are prepared to play' in the industrial expansion of the dominions. That it is of enormous advantage to the overseas communities concerned goes without saving. The history of the Broken Hill mines is admirably told by Roy Bridges. “From Silver to Steel” is, in effect, as its second title indicates, the romance of the Broken Hill Proprietary. In this volume those who wish to know something about the industrial expansion of Australia will find a store of information that will demonstrate to them the enormous advance that has been made in the economic life of the Southern Continent. The history' of the activities that have been the outcome of the discovery of silver at Broken Hill and in its neighbourhood may' be divided naturally' into four distinct periods. The first embraces the era when the gloomv mass of Broken Hill stood sentinel over the surrounding dreary- and sunbaked plains and attracted little or no attention from the few wayfarers who happened to venture into the locality. Charles Sturt, who passed through the district during his expedition into Central Australia in 1844, was, apparently, the first white man to set foot upon the Barrier and to view Broken Hill itself. But he was more intent upon finding the supposed vast inland sea, which his companion John Poole declared he had seen in the distance, than in discovering the stores of silver that were hidden in the bowels of the earth. It was not until the neighbouring silver mines were opened in the middle seventies that attention began to be directed to the Broken Hill massif, and even then several years were to pass before the boundary rider Cliarls Rasp helped to form the small syndicate of seven who were the originators of the subsequent Broken Hill Proprietary'. The second period of the history' of the mines is concerned with the development of the enormously rich deposits at Broken Hill. Here, indeed, was a veritable Golconda which surpassed the wildest dreams

of the original prospectors. Within 34 years the Proprietary .Mine on Broken Hill has yielded over 173,000,000 ounces of silver, 1,279,000 tons of lead, and 102,857 ounces of gold. It has paid to its shareholders considerably over £13,000,000, and it has distributed a similar amount in wages. This, however, is only a part of the wealth that has been extracted from Broken Hill and its immediate neighbourhood, and, in addition, this treasure still appears to be inexhaustible. It requires no very great imagination to realise what effect this output of wealth from a barren and unlovely district of Australia has meant to the economic development of the Commonwealth. The third period of economic expansion which has been the outcome of the discoveries at Broken Hill centres around the establishment of the famous refinery in South Australia—the Port Pirie Smelters, which were founded in 1897 near the head of Spencer Gulf, the nearest point to the mines, although Broken Hill itself lay beyond the borders of South Australia in the neighbouring state of New South Wales. In the first years of the operations at Port Pirie the pure silver was sold in the Australian states by tender and the soft lead was shipped to England or to China. Subsequently, owing to the need of ironstone fluxing for smelting, the celebrated Iron Monarch and the Iron Knob on the western shore of Spencer Gulf were opened out, and these gave an infinite store of ironstone higher in metallic content,.than any known deposit in the world. These two enormous deposits form to-day the very heart of the Broken Hill Proprietary s iron and steel industry, and Port Pirie, with its adjacent harbours, is the centre of a hive of industry in a country which, but for these discoveries, would only have supported a s'cantv agricultural and pastoral population. Ihe fourth period of the activities of the Broken Hill Proprietary is concerned with the most remarkable advance in Australian economic development in the history of the continent. The establishment of the steel works at Newcastle in New South W ales, which are fed with the products belonging to the company, was an economic event of supreme importance. None other among Australian industries has sprung to life with the magical speed of the Newcastle Steel Works and none other is likely to have so great and abiding effect upon the destinies of Australia. Some years before the war the Broken Hill Proprietary had determined upon the foundation of these works, but the advent of war quickened the process and demonstrated the enormous importance of the establishment of an iron and steel industry upon Australian soil. Not only was the steel produced at Newcastle used in the construction of the transcontinental railway from Western Australia to Port Augusta, but it formed the plates for Australian ships built during the war, and thus played an important part in the preservation of the liberties of the world—a part rendered the more important when the scarcity of freight cheeked importations into Australia during the critical period of the war. A chapter dealing with the results of these enterprises upon the national life would not have been out of place, because so many indirect results have flowed from the discovery of silver at Broken Hill—the building of railways, the establishment of new cities, and the founding of subsidiary industries—that the reader, without this aid, can scarcely visualise the enormous advance thus made in the economic life of the community.— Evans Lewin. SUPER-BEASTS ON THE FARM. FOUR-FOOTED GIANTS WHICH WOULD HAVE ASTOUNDED OUR ANCESTORS. Walking about the pleasant woods and fields which comprise the largest pedigree pig-farm in the country (Mr S. F. Edge’s farm in Sussex), I was astonished at 'the size of the young pigs. They looked as if t-hev intended to grow into elephants. Hie farmer told me that his pigs at eight months are as large as the pigs of two years old a hundred years ago. “I can sell you a pig weighing 9001 b,” said Mr Edge. “And I could soon produce .one weighing half a ton if you made it worth mv while. But the aim of pigbreeders is rather to produce young pigs of good weight than old ones of giant size. The public demand is for young meat, of pigs as of other animals.’ r —Mr Edge’s Ideal.— This is one ex. - t ,._- of what stockbreeders have done <a late years to rear large young animal- on the farm. And what they have done in this matter, as in increasing the egg-laying qualities of chickens ana the flow of milk from cows, would make our grandfathers cry out, like Dominie Sampson, “Pro-di-gi-ousT’ The story is worth telling, if only to show what we might do to improve our human stock —if Cupid were not such a perverse little god ! For he delights in shooting his derisive arrows at any banner that bears the strange device “Eugenics!’’ Mr Edge, our greatest authority on pigs, and an expert on all stock, gave me these points : “My ideal as a cattle-breeder is the largest possible animal at the youngest possible age. While my pigs gain their weight in lees than half the time taken by our grandfathers’ pigs, my cattle gain about one year fn three over their ancestors. The limit of the weight of young animals is determined by the bones which have to spport their flesh. We must aim a-t fineness of hone, since bones are not worth money. We aim at cutting down the age when an animal reaches its prime. For it costs much less to fatten a young animal than to put extra fat on an old one. To grow the half-ton pig we should have to feed him for stalwart bone for some years before feeding him for flesh. The ideal pig would weigh a hundred pounds at & month old.

Food and Heredity.— “All animals that are well fed tend |o grow into giants. In fattening stock 1 reckon that 50 per cent, depends on food, the rest on heredity. It is our knowledge of scientific feeding which allows us to make bigger animals than our fathers dreamt about. I have a nineteenhundredweight cow and an ox weighing ' a ton. I could produce a two-ton beast if he were in demand. We make bigger animals than our fathers made, and we make them more perfectly. At Smithfield you can see cattle all so evenly •beautiful that they might have been cast in moulds. To be a winner in a competition nowadays an animal must be without blemish. “As with pigs, so with sheep. They are ready for market at a much earlier age tbxn in our father’s day. Lamb was rarely eaten then. Now old sheep are rarely kept for meat. The selling age is at about one year, whereas fifty years ago it would be at three years. “Then consider what has been done to improve chickens. The Indian jungle fowl, the parent stock of all the domestic races, lays about a dozen eggs in a season and is content. She has all the chicks she wishes to rear. To-day, egg-laying strains of hens do not seem to think of going ‘broody.’ It is as if they have no wish to hatch their eggs. We have White Wyandottes that lay over OUU eggs in a year. -v- The 3,G00-gallon Cow. — “The most marvellous advance has been made >n milk production. Twenty years ago not many herds would yield an average of 400 gallons of milk per cow. ilut there are numbers of what we may call 2,000-gallon cows now in the country, and several 3,000-gallon cows. Milkproducing societies have records of herds with ail average of over 800 gallons per cow. “Whether the forcing of maturity, the cutting out of old age, is a sound policy Ido not know. Nature s way of keeping up a high standard is simply to eliminate the unfit, so that those survive that are fittest for the life to which they are called. The standard is high. In no one particular is man equal to selected animals —I mean in the way of strength, health, sight, hearing, touch, scent or fleetness in air, in water, or on land. The Super-goldfinch.— “Thus, among wild birds, one goldfinch is much like another. Now and then the bird-trapper would ' catch a super-goldfinch, a giant among his fellows, with extra bright gold bars on his wings. By mating him with a sort of queen among finches, he has reared super-gold-finches, as superior to wild ones as they are to sparrows. But the wild superbird is likely to mate with an inferior hen, so bringing down the superlative to the average. And his fine feathers and form may be his undoing if a sparrowhawk singles him out as a prize tit-bit. “I have no doubt that Dy breeding and feeding we could produce a superman. The nation which first puts eugenics into practice should . become dominant. But here we are on dangerous ground—it is best not to let our thought run far in this direction.” “You have not spefcen about giant horses, Mr Edge,’’ I said, to return to our farmyard argument. “Oh. it doesn’t matter about horses,” said Mr Edge (who, of course, is a worldfamous motorist). “In ten years horses will be extinct.”—Marcus Woodward, in John o’ London’s Weekly.