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Star (Christchurch), Issue 19810, 29 November 1919, Page 7

Tho mystery of new stars, which flash iuto view for a few days, and may spread outward thousands of miles u second, remains one of tho greatest problems of the heavens. Dr J. Boster, of tho Meudon Observatory, finds that tho Budden appearance of the nova is opposed to any theory of radio-ac-Uvit;.\ and that tho brief duration and relative dequeue)* makes it unlikely that tho phenomenon is duo to direct collision of two dark stars. The idea of Sooligor that a dark or' faint star passes through an obscure, nebulous cloud seems to fit hotter- If'this is tho case, the heating effects must bo superficial, as in the case of a meteor in tho iwth'a atmosphere), and the oWirvod eiwotroscopic changes can be clearly explained. No ono has yet told us why handkerchiefs ( aro square, says th© "#ajly Chronicle," but a reader reminds us that thoy vvero unknown before the <mrly part oi tho sixteenth century, Venice being the place where they mftdo their first appearance. Otto Fischel, a Gorman authority, says that tho Germans were slow to adopt the new idea. They first used them in \6SO, and soon afterwards sumptuary laws were enacted in most German States forbidding any person of plebeian birth from blowing his noso with a handkerchief. Tliis restriction remained in'force for over 200 years, and was enforced even on the stage. fck> recently as 1790 an actress was officially reprimanded for disregarding it in a Berlin theatre. Sho excused herself by pleading that she had not used u handkerchief, only "a little linen, rag." "~ .. .J