TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11093, 2 June 1914, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

POISON BOTTLE ALARMS. Numberless lives have been lost or endangered by the careless one who picks up a bottle from his medicino chest in" tho dark. This is Iwing constantly, done, and mea/sures should be taken to prevent it. It has been suggested that poisonous tablets b© given a peculiar shape, different from ordinary tablets. Another suggestion is that the bottle be provided with a stopper from which a number of needle points project so that the stopper cannot be removed in the dark without pricking the fiugors. Still another suggestion is to provide the bottle with bells that will sound a warning when it is picked up. If some or all of these methods were adopted, no doubt they would prevent many deaths and much suffering, for the uso of poisons seems to bo daily increasing, aud thus also the liability to accidents/ THE AGE OF OTJR PLANET. The age of the earth is a. favourite prob.em among scientists, possibly beoauso anyono can calculate it as he pleases, and no one can prove him wrong. M. I>udki uses as his basis the thickness of the sedimentary rocks compared to the rate of deposit of modern streams. His calculations show a xuinimum ago of ■ 200.000,000 years. This is,'of course, subject to.the doubt as to whether the rate of denudation of the earth's surface remains constant. Professor Joly takes as the ba«e of his calculation the saltncss of the oo6an. He assumes that the ocean was entirely fresh at first, and that all the salt has been 'brought to it by streams, washed out of the earth by'rain. All One has to know is the amount of salt in tho ocean and the rate at which the rivers supply it. If this rate has remained , the same through all the earth's history, Professor Joly says the age would be. 95,000,000 years. But Roraer, with ih*S same material to guss-j by, says it is 100.000,000. Still another way to calculate it is new. It is based on the disintegration of radio-aotive minerals; the bo3t, guess by . This system is nnvwhere from 710,000,000 to 1,025,000,000 vears.

. HER'OJSM. The "New Zealand Times" expresses its appreciation of an ;heroic deed which brightly illuminates the gloom of the Main Trunk railway disaster. The railway porter, Peter 'Donaldson, was shunting the goods train when the express rushed into it at top speed. He was in imminent peril of immediate death, but he stuck to his post, regardless of all but his duty. The thunder of the awful crash failed to move his resolute spirit. Firmly, doggedly, fearlessly he "held his grasp on the lever, keeping open the way for the stricken train, iu the hope of keeping down the losses, of saving some poor souls, perhaps. It was a faint " perhaps," hut it was enough to maintain that iron grasp of dutv~ till the shock of the wreck shattered it. Then the herb fell out of the fight with au arm that, had broken, hut a heart that had not quailed. It was a great deed, which will shine in our armnls for ever. For generations men w'U be proud to be known as New Zealand*rs." countrymen of Peter Donaldson, who did ft's duty with heroic bravery, facing death unflinchingly, readily, gloriously. Th<To are other lights out of the of ihk story. They are minor lidifs, but thev nlso serve t6 make us pv6nd of onr The alert nromptiWe with wh-ch nil -<vho e'Caried sH about the woTk ef rescue in -thn darkness and the confusion of the disaster, deserves great praise: and 'th» sa.vine (track of that rn-udence which k*>r>t lights awav from tlto psc?>t>intr gas h simnlv incnJculab'". But for thai prudence tb« utmost efforts of the alert rescuers could 1W hare. p»-pTci>ted a hojocnnsfc. fro'" wh.Vh the'imagination shrinks. Thank Cod there are men in the railway service, and among t.bese- ■n-W travel in trains, who are men indeed. AN OUTSPOKEN MEDICO.

Masculine conceit received a severe blow at the Institute of Hygiene. London, not long ago, when Dr A. T. Schofield, in a lecture ou '•'The National Importance of Woman's Health." voiced some home truths concerning the characteristics of the two sexes. He frnid: —"The better developed the woman, both physically find morally, the'nioro'marked the improvement or" the race. Whereas man's physique is no longer as important as it was—for modern inventions bav© replaced mere woman's body is always important, since she is the bearer of the coming race. That nature herself recognises th<i greater value of women is; proved by the fact that during the siege of Paris, when the pop4ilatio4 was badly fed or starring, nearly all the children born were boys. So you see nature only makes girls of good material, whereas she will make boys of nnvthing. Again," continued Dr ■Schofield bravely, while affecting to ianore the scowls. of the male section of his audience, " if you come to con-

sider the' points which distinguish tho human speoies from the boasts, you will find that women possess these to an extent ruoro marked than men. For instance-, a woman's oar is more human than a man's, and so is her lower jaw, as well as her skin. Nor is there any animals whoso first ' finger' is longer than his third. Now you will find that this is the case with most women—unci certainly with all good-looking Women." Dr S'/unfield won farther laurels from the fair 6ex by declaring that although women acted more by instinct than by reason they were generally right. " Meii trust moro to their reason,'' ho said, " and they are often wrong. As for lunatics,, thoy are guided entirely by pure reason. Other superior attributes of woman enumerated by I>r Schotield were that she had bettor colour vision than man, and that she was more tenacious of life. " The average woman," ho said, " lives two years longer than tho average man." THE AUSTRALIAN TYPE. "My earlier impression of the new typo of British life which is being evolved under tho Southern Cross bus been abundantly confirmed during the past five years, writes tho Rev J). C. Spurr, a Melbourne clergyman who is now in England. "There can be no question that tho Australian typo of Briton is wholly different from tho English type. For this difference tho climate- is chiefly responsible. Close observation has rovoaled tho fact that the third generation of Australians—that is, tho generation which owns for its parents an Australian-born father and mother — tends towards tho Italian or Spanish typo rather than the English. This third generation is one of jet black hair and dark eyes: it is tho Italian or Sicilian type. This is particularly noticeable in Sydney and in Queensland. Life there is largely - Neapolitan. A Neapolitan climate is producing a Neapolitan typo of men and women. The atmosphere of Puritanism, which has lingered over England even until this day, is wholly absent from The brenk between the two types of lifo is complete, and the distance between them seems destined to become wider. The British prejudice against the theatre, for example, does not exist out here. Great numbers of church members openly patronise the playhouse. Some of the devoutest and most earnest Christian men I know find a place in their prograrnnio for the theatre, when good plays aro stsiged. Australians, as a whole, aro a sport-loviug people. They aro a happy people fbey take nil lifo in the sunshine, even their religious life. The miuor chords are entirely absent from their music. All is gay and lively. This spirit has invaded the Sabbath. The old-fashion-ed Sunday exists only for a small minority of persons. During the summer months tens of thousands of people spend tho week-end amongst tho hills or by the, seaside, and the vast majority of these never trouble tho churches. Yet. if they were challenged, they would disdain! hostility to tho church —they might even contribute to its funds; nevertheless, Sunday is for them a day of pleasure."