HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16510, 22 August 1921, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

NEW USE FOR KAISER’S CASTLE. One of the ex-Kaiser’s castles has been put to good use for the tizno being, writes a correspondent in tho -• Manchester Guardian.” This is tho Schloss Brubl, in a fair-sized town of that name, near Cologne. The castle has been converted into a club for tho use of tho British army of occupation, one wing for officers, in which tho original furniture had been retained, and another for men. The fine suite of rooms upstairs i 9 used for dance*, but in the daytime one has to don felt overshoes before looking through them. They contained some beautiful!-*- Tplaid wooden cabinets and dull convent’onal portraits of margraves and cardinals. What astonished the sight-seer most was that in such a magnificent building the cultured German had been content with the crudest of poor imitation marble pillars and steps. The old gardener to!d me that tlie Kaiser had not visited this palace since his childhood, but that the Kaiser in had been thers several times during the war. SEX DETERMINATION. A paper on sex determination w p% road at the Royal Institute bv Professor W. Bateson, who said that one of the chief advances of recent genetical research related to the- determination of sex. tlie nature of which was now iairly clear. IK* breeding experiments, conducted on Mendelian lines, it had now been proved that sex was determined by one or other of the two cells which united in fertilisation. The horeditv of sex was not essentially distinct from that of colour or anv attribute. In the case of birds and moths, the eggs were of two kinds, destined to produce either females or males. Jn “ man. flies and certain worms.’’ sex depended on the differentiation of the male cell. Sometimes it was nossiblo to distinguish the cells with these different potentialities microscopically, but commonly the proof was obtained by tracing the descent of some characteristic linked up with sex. After fert'lisation, the actual sex could net usually he controlled. Twins, arising b*rthe division of one fertilised egg. were of the same sex. Recent work, however, had shewn that in some animal* secondary sexual course could be modified in various ways. In cattle the presence of a male twin together with a female could so alter the female that it became sterile, being known to farmers as a “ freemartin.” Bv various methods of interference, such as hybridisation, changes of temperature, etc, striking alteration in the proportions of sexes could be brought about in special cases: but there was no reason as yet to siippo.*»e that anv interference of this sßrt was practicable in regard to man or the domesticated animals. ATHLETIC CHINESE GIRLS. One of the features of the Far Eastern Olympic games, in which some 400 Chinese, Japanese and Filipino athletes are competing at Shanghai, savg the “ Times *’ correspondent, was the display of massed drill and athletic exercises by 1000 Chinese school girls, trained bv physical culture directors of the A.W .C.A. The perfect harmony and grace of the evolutions of so largo a number of girls were beyond praise. Physical culture is taking a strong hold on the imagination of the daughters of those who for generations have stiffly hobbled on painfully bound feet, and the modern Chinese school girl delights in tennis, swimming, gymnastics, wrestling, and even boxing, and does them uncommonly well. This development is bv no means confined to the treaty ports, but may be found in schools all over China. , GRETNA SCRAPPED. The War Office has decided to wash their hands of Gretna, on the Scottish morder, and in all probability it will be handed over to the Disposals Board. The construction of the town of Gretna was one of the greatest enterprises of the Alinistry of Alunitions. A lonely peat bog fringing the sea was turned into a veritable city, with cordite factories employing about 12.000 persons, miles and miles of railways, churches of brick and stone, kinemas. plavarounds and whole districts of hutments. The building and equipment cost £9.184.000. and the cost of working* the factory for two vears was £12,769,000. LONDON DOAIESTICS’ CLUB. Threepence a week Is the dues of the latest club to open in St James's. London’s most exclusive clubland, and stronghold of aristocracy. In England the servant problem is an imports ..j one. and the new club will be the property of the domestic servants of the fashionable West End. It has been opened bv their mistresses to provide a meeting* place and pleasant surroundings where their cooks and maids can rest during their leisure hours. There are books and flowers, comfortable chairs and lounges, and a piano for the use of members. Refreshments are served at moderate prices, and the house rules of the club are reduced to a minimum. Alembershin is rapidly increasing, and the official open’"*which was presided over bv a titled ladv. was marked bv a dance during which several of the members participated in a specially arranged musical programme. USE THE TOOTH BRUSH. Sir F. Colyer, a famous European dentist, says that millions of pounds could be saved to the nation alone bv the tooth brush. “No elaborate dental service will ever teach people to look after their teeth or mothers and parents to look after their children’s teeth. It is a hard lesson to teach, because dental disease is an insidious sort of business. There may be no pain at all in the beginning, and where there is. no pain or outward show of diseasethere is apathy. Pyorrhoea, which starts with poison, collecting in layers around the gums, and later spreads through the system, slowly hut surwlv gains a hold in youth, and in middle age or when other illness occurs it takes its toll, it i*? also a contributory cause of many diseases. If every person could be educated up to the vital necessity of dental hygiene the nation would be saved millions of pounds and countless lives. And thq tooth brush can assist to a very large degree if it is used thoroughly, not only night and morning, but also after meals.”