THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Southland Times, Issue 19499, 31 December 1904, Page 6 (Supplement)

THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Interesting Gleanings from Various Sources.

Not until 'tlie. reign of , Louis, XI, was the title, " his majesty '.'!. jjommori; Jn , Eurppe. Previously to that Sovereigns, wero addressed as " highness "pr ," grace.'? Henry, VIII. was not only the firsfc English rulei: addressed as "your majesty," but also the first and last in that country kuown as *' dread Sovereign."

j The well.lyiovvn., call of "boot and ; .-sa4-' ; ■ die " is really'^corruptionpf the'ol > d,Preiich signal " Bojite T selle "— " ; put on your .gaddies "—from boater, "to put or ..place,:; and " selle," saddle. ; Tbe, .medioyol-- saddles i were of such a cumbrous and heavy make | that they were tafcp.n oft the. horses whenever 'I possible. In Mathew's ("Powerful Fayo- ; rite," of 1628 occurs the phrase- ».' the triuri-i | pets sounded " Bouto-selle." In 1709 Steele ! wrote in the Tailor, " the sound was changed to * Boots and saddle,' " but it seems probable that the phrase ran in its present form before that date, possibly coming into use during.the Civil War among the Roundheads to whom the old French "Boute-solle " would seem pandering to the Cavalier and French tendencies of the Court.

A beginning in the dosing of plants as a means of treating weakness and disease of the human body has been made at the agricultural bacteriological station of Vienna. Artificially prepared foods, containing iron salts, often fail to have their intended effects because the iron isnotcomplelelyassimilated. The purpose of ithe experiments has been to increase the proportion of iron in ouv natural vegetable foods. In tbe first trial spinach was grown in soil to which hydrate of iron had been added, and the plants were found to have taken up seven times the ordinary percentage of iron, and tins without injury. This iron, in a form free from the defects of the artificial preparations, is suflicient for medicinal purposes. Other plants should give as good results, and great possibilities in the hygienic and medicinal culture of common vegetables are suggested.

According to Denon, locks and keys can be traced back to the ancient Egyptains, more tban 4000 years ago. Tbis is inferred from the sculptures on tbe great temple of Karnac, which closely resembles locks still in use there — clumsy, massive, wooden locks, in which three pins drop into three holes. in the bolt, when it is pushed in, and are raided by corresponding fixed pins on tho bi^ r key. Similar locks and keys are found at Mosul, near Nineveh, the key being more than a foot long, quite club-like, and of ten carried on lhe Bhoulder. Keys are also mentioned at the seige of Troy, 1103 n.c. The Phcenici-itis are said to have exchanged looks foL' tin from Cornwall j occasional notices of thum occur in many Greek and Roman wi'itsr.-j, ; Pliny ascribing their invention to Theodorus, of Samos. Bronze nnd irom keys have been found in tbe ruins of Pompeii. Possibly far more ancient than these are Chinese locks, with 'springs- unci tumblers, some of them musical, almost exact counterparts of the famous Bramah locks of lingland in tbe eighteenth century.

Colonel Foi, in bis lecture ou " Primitive Warfare " to the Royal United Service Institution, shows by diagrams that, the boomerang was constructed iii every possible curve from a straight line. to a iij;ul angle, the curve invariably ioJlo.vvinjj tiie. natural grain of the wood. The upper side:is often convex and. tbe upper sidull.u, both of which, with a slight movement of rotation — a kind of " screw back " billiard. .stroke, help to preserve the axis and plains of ro'sition parallel with itself, on the piincipb ol the gyroscope. Thrown forward lo hit .an j object some forty yards away, tho bnpinurang • slowly ascends, rotating wiili the impai.iudl motion (jnst as a kite r.ises .whilst a boy rum : to start it), then .it moves hack, talcing the; line of least ..resistance, and talls;down tins; inclined plane it ascends, till it drops <;I<m<- i to or behind the thrower. Hncii were tin: \ best weapons, as all kinds* were used, in j India, Africa, and Australia. Nothing but; experience of \U shapes and curves, and limy! practice can master the trick and poise of j this weird weapon. ' **. . * i

The Duke ofWellington played a violin as a' subaltern, but gave it up when he bminu' ni field officer. The reason for tins -rciiniir.ia-; tion is supplied by the following-extract from! a letter written by Mrs. T Stewart M:i«koiiz:e'l to theDukoof Sutherland in 1852 :■'.'. Evr-ry-j one knows that to the last the Duke was] fond, and a fine judge, of music ; in youth he': was a performer on the violin, that, giving! up a great deal of time to ifc, he bfsg".n i;oj fear lest the hereditary taste should not- the! better of him, and in one day he broke the' spell, laid aside bis violin, and never after-; wards touched it. This circumstance w tin ■-; red during the time of his early ntinchni.-'iitj to niy dear friend tho Duchess, who hi'ulj often repeated it to me with pride as au ome'ii'f of what was to be expected from his gtViii self-command and firmness of decision." , It may be added that the Duke bf Welling-', ton inherited his love of- 'music "from Id's; father, Lord Mornington, who was aDoetoiv pf Music, and a composer of no siAall; merit. '

The crown of a human tooth is covered by a brilliant white cap of extreme density,., the enamel, which is not only the hardest tissue of the human body, consisting as it does, of 96.5 per cent, of mineral, and ofi 3.5 pev cent, of animal matter, bat also thehardest known organic substance. The, whSle of the friction entailed by the hinstiea-' tion of food falls upon the cutting edges of; our teeth, and these are protected by an; extra thickness of enamel. So -hard is this that only in extreme cases, iri persons who! live oil very hard food, reqniring mucli! mastication, has it being known to wear off.; This enamel cap is composed of a vast riuin- <; ber of microscopic rods, one end of ''each' bfj which rests upon the dentine, and the othevj reaches the free cutting surface. . . These focls; vary in shape and position, sonie'being five j and others six sided, some straight' and! others sinuous, but they are all' arranged sothat the maximum (Tegrae of compactness and strength is secured. ' .... :