HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17348, 13 May 1924, Page 6

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. WHICH IS THE HAPPIEST TIME? When we were schoolboys the custom was to assure us that it was the happiest stage of our earthly existence. What (asks Sir R. H. Firth, in “ Musings of an Idle Man ”) do some of us think now? I am not so sure but that some of us in our hearts do not think that, after all, boyhood was our best time. We really had no worries then and had given no hostages to fortune. The verdict in this case will depend largely <fn individual experiences ; probably the greater number will be found to admit that middle age is the best time of life; certainly in calm weather. Some old men assure us that old age is the happiest time of life ; perhaps so. and we can but hope that our own old age may be in accord with that assurance. As to these uncertainties, it is no use worrying ; the only thing to do is to do one’s best, confident in the belie t that the knowledge that one has played the game throughout will bring its own reward. WOMAN EARTHQUAKE DIVINER “An Englishwoman of peculiar sensitiveness has for many years past been able to report almost every earthquake in all parts of the world before any news comes in,” writes Professor H. H\ Turner in the “Quarterly Review.” “She suffers from a curious nervous tension as though under the influence of electricity, which almost incapacitates her while it lasts, but goes off suddenly. She has consulted several doctors, but none of them has Jt>een able to relieve her. "The woman had a "bad ■attack” on September 9 last year. On September 11 came news of a considerable shock in India two days previously. “The testimony is unexceptionable and indicates a line of inquiry which has hitherto not been explored. It may supply unsuspected information both to seismology anti to physiology." «

WHEN WORDS FAIL US. There are many things in everyday life which we find difficult to describe. For instance, how many people can describe the difference in flavour between tea and coffee ? It sounds simple, but it requires the services of an expert in beverages to do so. Dictionary descriptions are considered to define an object so accurately that no other description is admissible, and in most cases the information is ton elusive. But take the word which the dictionary describes as a “fourstringed musical instrument played with a bow.” If this information were supplied to a Pitcairn Islander and he were asked to draw the instrument—assuming, of course, that he had never seen a violin—the result would be alarming. Only a mathematician can describe a spiral staircase ; most people attempt to do so by a circular movement made with the finger. Everyone who has seen a concertina “knows" it, but the chances are that an attempt to describe the instrument would hopelessly confuse ninety-nina out of every hundred people. In most descriptions one has to call in the assistance of comparison. The description of flowers is impossible -without a- standard —which must be well known —as a basis of visual comparison. V THE STORY OF SPICES.

In olden times spices were worth almost their weight in gold to Europeans, owing to the immense difficulty in obtaining them. In the fifth century A.D., when Rome was conquered by Alaric the Goth, he asked as a ransom 3000 pounds of pepper, then worth a fabulous price. The “ fraternity of peppers " was said to be the fiist organisation of dealers, and in the fourteenth century this becanie the ‘ guild of grocers.” Venice traded in spices to the extent of many thousands of pounds annually, and there was considerable rivalry with Portugal as to who should secure the best cargoes from the Far Eastern ports. It is said that Christopher Columbus was searching for the profitable spice when he reached America; and Vasco da Gama, the famous explorer, made bne of his most important voyages to get a cargo of pepper, cinnamon, and ginger from India. The Portuguese were ousted by the Dutch in the supremacy of trade in spices, until it was in turn snatched from them in the sixteenth century by the British and the Germans.

GIANTS OF THE IRON ROAD Ten new four-cylinder six-wheeled express locomotives will soon be running on the Great Western Railway. These locomotives, which are claimed to be the most powerful passenger engines in the British Isles. will be known as the “Castle" class. While retaining many of the special characteristics of previous Great Western engines. tho dimensions have been increased, the boiler barrel being oft 2in at the front and oft 9in at the throatplate, the length being J.4ft lOin. By the provision of larger cylinders the tractive effort of each of these ten new locomotives will amount to 31,6251 b at 85 per cent boiler pressure, compared with 27,8001 b in the case of previous four-cylinder type engines of the Great Western Railway. Each locomotive has a total weight in working order of 119 tons 17 cwt, and its total length over buffers is 65ft l|in. The tender, carried on six wheels, has a carrying capacity of 3600 gallons of water. The engine cab provides larger space for the driver and fireman, and a further innovation lies in thb provision of tipup seats for the use of the enginemem

WHO INVENTED THE MOTOR CAR? The history of the inotor-oar begin* exactly 230 years ago, when Street, an English inventor, made the first use of oil as a motive power. But it was not until 1870 that a really practical petrol engine appeared. This was the work of Julius Hock, of Vienna. The next name connected with the progress of the motor-car is the most important of all—that of Gottlieb In 1883 Daimler made the first smal’. high-speed petrol engine, for all those which had gone before had been huge, clumsy, and slow-moving machines. Two years later he installed his engine in a motor-bicycle and at the same time fitted boats with motors and ran them at Paris during an exhibition there. The boats attracted the attention of Le-vassor* another famous pioneer, who at once saw the immense possibilities m Daimler’s invention Ho bought the French patents from the inventor. Levassor invented a system of transmission—that is, a. method of bringing the power from the engine to the wheels—and with a few small improvements this system is in use today. Great Britain was at first far behind the French in motor engineering. Gradually, however, she caught up in the race and is to-day second to none.