BOOKS and BOOKMEN

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LV, Issue 17185, 15 February 1930, Page 10

BOOKS and BOOKMEN

A GREAT BURGEON.

-SIR FREDERICK TREVES’ MEMOIRS.

-Sir Frederick Treves, the famous surgeon and author of a number of fascinating literary productions, wrote a volume of autobiographical sketches which he later destroyed. So Mr. Newman Flower informs us in “The Dorset Year Book" for I 921), just published by the Society of Dorset Men in London. They were, says Mr Flowers, to whom they were sent for perusal, “the lines! book of reminiscences I had read for many years.”

He recalls some of the contents, relating to the circumstances under which King Edward A'll.’s Coronation ceremony was carried through (says the London Daily Telegraph.) , “The material about King Edward’s operation showed him as a great figure of courage, a man who fought his doctors to go to his Coronation, and so keep faith with the British people. King Edward had hidden his malady in order that the ..public should not lie alarmed. The doctors, the nurses, went, to Windsor numbered and not by name, so that, the arrival of these medical people should not be known. Treves was ‘Number -Six,’ and he used to go to Windsor in'a tweed cap and a tweed suit, and get off at the station before Windsor and walk Hie rest of the way. These were file instructions of the King to spare his people an iota of anxiety regarding the Coronation. “When 1 read this manuscript .1 realised. the pluck of the King, who, against the advice of his doctors, came to London, bowing in agony to the crowds that applauded, him,”

.An other incident recalled by Mr. Flower from Treves’s conversation bears, on the South African War and the death of “a very gallant gentleman.”

When young Roberts (son of Lord Roberts) was mortally wounded at the battle of Colenso,” Treves said, “and lay dying inside his tent, I sat at the tiap of the tent door all through the night. We talked to each other through that tent door for hours on end. He asked me what I thought of life after death, and I told him that I was certain of life after death. We talked like that for hours. .He was convinced that he was going to live, again, and liis voice grew lower and lower, till his words became just whispers cut of the darkness of the tent. We seemed to have linked hands as we talked, and I always feel that he just slid out in my hands.” Treves was a most patriotic son of Dorset, as witness this record of Air. Flower:—

“I remember, walking along the shores of Lake Geneva in 1921 with Sir Frederick Treves. He stopped suddenly and said, apropos of nothing in particular. ‘ You and I are two of the luckiest men in the world. I have travelled to many corners of the globe, and I have seen some wonderful things, but I have never yet seen anything more wonderful than Dorset in June. We are a pair of lucky devils to have been born there.’ ”

ENGLISH

“There are 400,000 words in the English language. No other language has as many. An educated man knows about 15,000 words. Many illiterate people use 1000 and no more. Even Shakespeare used only 20,000, and the Bible contains only 10,000. ‘‘Monkeys,” it is said, have a vocabulary of forty words. Thrushes, 1 have noticed, have at least thirty different notes. Dogs have a crude language of barks and growls. And a number of animals are quite dumb.

“The language of any nation is one of the best tests of its ‘ intolli; genee. Words express thoughts. The nation that has the most words can best express its thoughts. Many a nation is being held back to-day— China, for instance, because it? words are so few and so ill adapted to express scientific and industrial ideas I have been struck with the tact that most European nations have no word for ‘ Efficiency. ’

“As for English, it is a composite language. We have robbed the whole world to enrich our language. English has become a world language and will eventually be spoken almost everywhere.

“About 50 per cent, of it is Saxon, 30 per cent, is Latin and 5 per cent, is Greek. Many words have come in from the French. And in the last 20 years manv new words have come from America. We take new words wherever we find them. We popularise them in books, magazines, and the daily press. That is why we now have tin 1 most complete language in the world.

“From the Arabs we have taken ‘algebra’ and ‘zero.’ From the Hindoos we have taken ‘bungalow’ and ‘calico.’ From the Persians we have taken ‘chess’ and ‘caravan.’ From the Turks we have taken ‘tulip’ and ‘sash.’ From the Chinese we have taken ‘junk’ and ‘satin.’ From the Red Indians we have taken ‘tobacco’ and ‘wigwam.’ From the Malays we have taken ‘sago’ and ‘bamboo.’ Ami so on. “The time has come when we should appreciate the language—studv it—master it as far as we can. Not one of ns knows 10 per cent, of it.” 1-From “How to Write Well,” the 56th book by Herbert N. Casson.

“Isle .of Illusion.” By George Gibbs. (Hodder and Stoughton.) “The Isle of Illusion” has humor and some attempt at reasonable eharaeter drawing, and is well above the average of stories dealing with hidden treasure, rival claimants to an estate, missing documents, and all the other pleasant excitements of a romantic thriller. It opens with the overflowing of the Mississippi, causing floods which compel two stray motorists to take refuge for several days in an ndandoncd house, a scene to'be read with quickened interest and appreciation just now. The marooned couple quickly fall in love only to discover that they arc on opposite sides in an impending law suit:, which involves not merely the question of an estate, but the honor of the girl’s father. There follows the struggle of each side to find certain essential missing documents, and the clash of discordant emotions in the girl’s mind loyalty to her father’s memory warring with love for her rescuer. These provide plenty of incident in a pleasantly written, unpretentious story.

SOME GIANT STARS.

SUN WASTES AWAY

Can we imagine a star so great in diameter that the orbit of the earth would go comfortably inside it Whether we can imagine it or not, it. certainly exists. Ant-ares, a red star in The Scorpion, has a diameter of 1)90,000,000 miles, or about 450 times that of the sun. Alpha Herculis measures 940,000,000 miles (400 solar diameters), Alpha Ceti 240,000,000 (300), ami Betelgeux in Orion 216,000,000 (250). Then we .find some little stars, such as Wolf 359, which is only .3 of the solar diameter, and Van Maauen’s Star, which has a diameter of .009 measured by our sun, which, therefore, is not such a bad little star after all. Sirius is about twice as hot as the sun, with a temperature of 11,000 degree, a small star called Plaskett’s Star has a temperature of 28,000 degrees, while some other stars range as low as 1(550 degrees. Our sun weighed 300,000 tons more yesterday than to-day, the difference being the weight of 24 hours’ emission by radiation, which is now travelling through space. The earth loses only 901 b. a day through this cause. The earth, therefore, should last a good while yet, and even the sun will see out our time.

How long is it since the earth was a molten mass of fluid? The latest means of estimating times so vast as this is by the deterioration of uranium. In 100,000,000 years an ounce of uranium will have become 0,9550 z. of uranium and 0.01.'10z. of lead. After 1,000,000,000 years the proportion will be .865 and .116. Judging by the uranium lead proportions in the samples of uranium rock discovered, the period since the earth solidified ks placed at 1,400,000,000 years or more. These facts and many others equally astounding represent some of the latest discoveries of the astronomer and physicist. Here is one of: the most suggestive books on astronomy ever published. (“The Universe Around Us,”, by Sir James Jeans.)

STIRRING ROMANCE,

SET IN HISTORIC DAYS OF

FRANCE,

“En Garde,” by Samuel Morse (Cassell.) Rene Saint-Hilaire, maslerswordsman, philosopher and dilettante, sets out on the deliberate purpose to avenge, by force of arms, the death of his friend Ramon de la Valvcrde —■ a purpose inspired by the Lady Teresa, sister to Ramon. His antagonist is the Comte Henride Villeron, expert swordsman and roue. Their adventures before the final meeting will secure the interest of all readers and transport them in imagination to those olden days of France when men wore arms.

AN EXCITING QUEST,

DOUBLE MASTERY STORY

“The Black Camel,” by Earl Derr Biggers (Cassell.) Who killed She lah Fane and did nhe kill Denny Mavo? This double problem is a double mvsterv which Chan, the Chinese detective', sets out to solve. After many false trails the one slender clue at last enables the sleuth to make his capture. An exciting quest and an astonishing finish..

DETECTIVE STORY.

A strong “thriller” is “The Muster of the Vultures.” The criminal gttnft in this case consists of eight persons, known by numbers only, who adopt the peculiar disguise of a head mask shaped like the head of a vulture, and they meet to plan their crimes in an underground maze in the slums of London. Each robbery and murder takes place on a Sunday night. Scotland Yard is thrown into something like a panic by the “Vultures” capturing two detectives and afterwards the Chief Commissioner, and holding them as hostages, threatening, that they will be killed if the police continue hunting for the criminals. The case is then handed over to a young amateur, who has adventures enough to convince any ordinary man that a policeman’s life is not a happy one. He persists to the point of being about to be tortured when the trap is sprung, and the gang is wiped nut. Lovers of detective literature can odd “The Muster oi' the Vultures” (by Gerard Fairlic) to their list as u book as good as many that have gone before it. (Hodder and Stoughton.)

YOUTH ERRANT,

(“Eileen of the Trees,” by 11. do Yore Stacpoolc.) H. de Vero Stacpoolc’s new story has a certain charm, even though one knows there is no relation to real life in the story or most of its people. Yet he contrives a sort of April atmosphere of youthful love with its traditional rough course. Pat, the heir to a great country estate, but still a minor, “rescues” a girl from her job in London and brings her down into the countrv. Naturally, his guardian is horrified, and the plot and counterplot of the story provide a good deal of that light humor for which the author is known. Certainly, a very pleasant book for a holiday.

Lord Glenlitten, driving bis ear somewhere in France, nearly ran ovoi and killed a fascinating little Russian refugee, the daughter oi a piinco. The prince was in a Bolshie prison, the princess had no dowry; nevertheless, Glenlitten did the right thing.. They were married and people looked a little askance. One night in the mansion of the Glonlittcns a shot rang out and the lady was found in a faint, while on her bedroom carpet lay a very dead and bloody ! rench count. Apparently he had been shot by a burglar—but appearances? often lie. A horrible’family of Russians then come on the scene, and blackmail is the next crime. Also, the lady develops a brother who poses as a dancing master and is in the power of a bad detective. Really, a sordid sort of tangle, but very well untangled by the clever story-teller. (“The Glenlitten Murder, by E. Phillips Oppcnheim. Hodder and Stoughton.) ________