The Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 1893. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6291, 23 September 1898, Page 2

The Star. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 25. 1893. NOTES AND NOTIONS.

The "Temps" has stories to illustrate the difficulties of getting married in France.. A gentleman arrived ■with his bride-eleci; to undergo tRe civil ceremeny. "Where;" atked the official, " is the certificate of your father's death":" "My dear sir, replied tho biidegrocm, '* there is my father alive «r.d veil." " But," retorted the other, " yr.v.r mnth?i is dead, and she is returned in tut lists as a widow. "The bridegroom explained delicately that his mother had run away from his father, and preferred to give herself out for a widow. "But, he said desperately, "my father is certainly alive." "He has no right to be. Officially he i; dead. I cannot marry you without \\ certificate of his demise." Hard enough, one thinks. But the* other case is still harder. It happened in Cayenne, where two convicts, employed as "servants by the Governor, got leave to marry. They went to the mairie, and the lady was asked if she was a spinster or a widow. " Widow." she said. '" Well, ' said the official, " but 1 have not the certificate of your fir*t husband's death." '"Really," said the bride, "I thought it was net needed." "Why. it is an indispensable document." The"'ladysmiled, and referred him to the record of her conviction. "You will perceive, sir, that I was sentenced for life for -having poisoned my husband."

The size of Siberia is well illustrated by a recant writer, who points out that .the whole of the United States of America might be put within its boundaries without touching the edges, and that then all the Stiitss of Europe west> of Russia could be used to fill up the odd gaps and earners. And y£t the population does not number as many as that of London. Physically, this enormous country may be said to consist ctf three zones running right across it. To the north lies the Tundra. stretching inland from the Arctic Sea, swampy and treeless, ranging from 150 to 400 miles in width. Then comes the Taiga, or forest zone. Here grow the Siberian poplars, with ashy grey stems and quivering leaves ; spruces, with their isosceles triangled contour and dark -shading; giant larches towering above their fellows; cedars whose peculiar 'branched are loaded with knoblike bunches of green needles; Scotch firs with cinnamon-coloured upper trunks toning down to sombre iron crev ; the Oriental pitch pine; and towards the

outskirts, birches with; pure white gentle stems, or moisture-kving alder. It i». a place of gloom below and silent conflict above." The third zone consists of rich agricultural land. The . closing years of the present;; century have witnessed many surprises, but not the least of them will be the of Siberia — a country which}, of old time associated with convictsi^.quicksilver Koines and death, now bids fair to take its place in the world's history as the Australia of the Northern Hemisphere.

A small slippery thing that not long ago made its appearar.ee in the tank at the Royal Botanic Society's Gardens, Regent's Park, was very, nearly responsible for the death of one of our greatest^ professors of science. Without giving any premonitions, the thing bobbed up on the water one day, and palpitated around the tank iim if it belonged there naturally. Next day several more arrived, and in a week all tho surface of the water that was^ot occupied by the giant leaves of the Victoria Regina was covered with small white wobbly things about the size and shape of a linen button. The scientist on the spot fished one out, and promptly pronounced the thing to be a fresh water jelly-fish, the first specimen of the kind ever heard of. In a few days scientific circles were convulsed by the intelligence, and eminent men sat up in their studies, looked up authorities, and said, " Great Medusa ! What's this?" A freshwater jelly-fish had hitherto been as uncommon as a three-legged whelk, and the men whose business it is to find out about these things went out to Regent's Park to investigate. 4

The temperature inside the house where the tank is situated was touching the 100 degree spot. 'It has to be that way in order that the Victoria Eegina lily may flourish. In the great cause of science, famous professors shed their outer raiment, sat down around the edge of the tank, and glared through strong glasses at the phenomenon. In three days four underdone savants came out, and said it was a syncoryne frutesceus, but how it got there, and what it was doing fooling ground in Rbgent/'s Park, when it ought to have been off the, pier end at Margate they could not imagine. So some more distinguished experts went out with a lot of instruments, and gazed for days at the freak, and frizzled patiently until nature gave out, and they went home boiled, baffled, nearly dead from the heat. All this time the syncoryne frutesceus was multiplying at an awful rate, and threatening to crowd out the big lily ; so the most eminent judge of jelly-fish in all London was sent for.

He cyame down with all the latest instruments and microscopes, and went into the house one fine, bright, sultry morning. In the evening he came out, his face like a porter-house steak, and most of Lis upper raiment on his arm. He had devoted the day to determining whether it was a trachymedusa or an aurelia aurita. Personally, he inclined to the latter theory, but he meant to know for sure. Every day for a week he sat round the pond prodding, listening, and watching, while the perspiration streamed off his back hair. Now and again he wouldj have the water heated up so that he could see what effect it would have on the hydrozoa, but beyond making them breathe a little harder, it didn't seem to make the slightest difference.. For a whole week this martyr in the interests of science stewed in a wet atmosphere of 120 degrees, and then he came out 181 b lighter, and more mystified than' ever. Before the authorities could hunt round for some foreign connoisseurs to clear the matter up/ .the jelly-fish '/disappeared- abnosfc- 'as; sud'dehly ias he came} and to-day the MEdusa of "Regent's Park- remains one of -those mysteries', that .have beaten ,th& best, efforts. of our greatest': minds. " Even the .police have no clue. , . ."■■■/'..' ■