HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16875, 27 October 1922, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. A HYStESIC FASHION Since women adopted the custom going with the neck and the upper part of the chest bare there are fewer throat and chest troubles among them, while the high collar aud, in winter, the muffler, and closely buttoned overcoat of men make them more susceptible to such diseases. From an hygienic. standpoint (says *' Popular Science Siftings ”) exposure of the ohest and back, especially the hack, is beneficial, the skin, toughened bv exposure, is a better protection to the* underlying tissues, and the lungs are then less liable to disease. Women, therefore, in “decollete” dresses do not notice draughts and ordinary temperature changes. But this does not mean that they are not affected by them. Until the skin of the back ha#* become touchened through frequent exposure they are more susceptible to respiratory diseases. If the skin of the back Ims become toughened the cold will not penetrate readily, and there as little danger of disease as there when the cheat, knees, bead. face, or hands are exposed. The short skirt-, the bare chest and knees are advocated as hygienic measures, and they surA MARVEL OF THE HEART. The heart of one man in a lifetime pumps as much blood through the body as the blood weight of the ten million men killed during the war, according to Dr J. Plesch, a professor in the Berlin Medical School, an authority on bicod circulation, and the first man to perfect a system for measuring the blood content of the human body. “ The heart of a man weighing 1331 b. and living 60 years.” be said, “pumps during the course of his life 161.500.000 quarts of blood. The world war cost 10.000,000 lives. Estimating the average weight of a man’s body at. 1331b5, and the weight of the blood content at 5 per cent of the total, some 21.400.000 quarts of blood were shed during the war.” Professor Plesch used this illustration to show how much more powerful is that mar- ! v-el of nature than the destruction ! which mankind with the most ingenious instruments of warfare was able to inflict upon itself in Are years of desperate effort. RATS HOLD UP BUSINESS For some months a London manufacturing company bad trouble with other firms through the non-receipt of valuable orders. The cause has now been explained. Alterations in the premises necessitated the removal of a disused cupboard, and inside the cuphoard waa found a rats’ nest made of some 42 orders and 31 invoices. The rats bad shown a preference for letters with the celluloid inset, in the front, and some ot the orders that remained intact showed the rodents had been busy since May. Letters arrived by an early post, and were taken by the rats before the staff arrived. SLEEP. Do we sleep too long? Habit plays an extremely important part in the sleep problem. A man who has been accustomed to sleep for ten hours every night will feel desperately fatigued if he is unable to obtain more than eight, while this same period of eight hours is quite sufficient for a man who is not accustomed to sleep longer. Hershel, the astronomer, for instance, used to work sometimes all night long at Ins

‘ work sometimes all night long at nis task of reviewing the stars. Dr Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, was an ardent champion of wakefulness, and seldom slept more than four hours at night. Napoleon could do with practically no sleep, and there are countless other instances of great men who used the night for work and scorned to waste so many hours in unconsciousness. The old saying that seven hours’ sleep is enough for a man is a very sound one. Women need eight hours* sleep at least. Their nervous system is on the average more .sensitive than a man’s, and so needs more rest. Chilg dren should sleep as long as possible, h * A RECORD TASK. 9 An extraordinary legal process was l concluded recently at Bari (South Italy), in which the jury hod to accom- ? plish what must surely he a record task, t This process arose from the pitched battles in July 1920, between the landf owners and peasants in a southern dis--1 trict, caused by labour disputes. The 5 accused were 17 proprietors and 40 peasants. After a trial lasting three months • in which 42 counsel were engaged, and an innumerable host of witnesses ex- ' amined, the jury retired to consider their verdict one morning at nine o’clock. They had to answer no fewer than 12.000 questions, and 73,800 documents were issued to them, to help in coming to a decision, and review the evidence. Bleeping accommodation in the court precincts was arranged for them beforehand. No paper reported the answers in full, but all the accused were acquitted except two peasants, who were sentenced to penal servitude for culpable homicide. .500 YEAR OT.T> LAE. I Four ex-Serviee men were summoned at a London Police Court recently under statutes of Richard IX.. dated 1381 and 1391 : and of Henry VI.. bearing the date 1429. The cn-so was a. sequel to the seizure of an empty house last February, since which time it has been occupied by the men and their families. The charge against, the men (Arthur Somerfield. Robert Nay, Arthur Nunn and Robert Keeling) was of “ forcibly entering an unoccupied bouse.” Counsel said the magistrate had power to commit the men to prison. Mr Rooth (the magistrate) said he was the last person who would wish to treat ex-Service men in a harsh way. Hard as these men’s case was they were trespassers. He would rather they gave an undertaking to leave the place. Everybody was sorry for such men. One of the men told the magistrate that they bad searched months for rooms, but could not find them. They could not live in the gutter They bad offered rent, but it bad been refused. In the end tb,e men agreed to vacate the house in six weeks. FIDO OUT OF FAS HI W, The place long held by the dog ns * family pet and sta;et- companion threatens to be usurped by the monkev and other exotic creatures. Women »n London are seen carrying marmosets, mongooses, foxes, parrots and snakes People also are getting accustomed to the woman with a young white fox on r. string, another with three cats, and to the chimpanzee who rides in motor -qrtr. But the most startling innovat: gf ir. family pets was observed at a £& den party where a guest carried what "appeared to be a sunshade, with a highly decorated handle. Closer inUspecton revealed the “ handle ” to be a beautifully marked snake, perfectly motionless, and entwined over its fair owner’s arm and around hev sunshade^