GENERAL NEWS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 11205, 27 February 1891, Page 3

GENERAL NEWS.

BEFECtS OP, FOO AND SMOKE. 'f\ labile the savants are making inquiry into the action ef fog and smoke in choking and suffocating plants, it is quite unnecessary to consider the deleterious %\ 'effects of tihe'se agents on human lungs. Sir Spencer Wells, in delivering tbe Bradshaw]L6ctnre at. the Royal College of Burgeons lately, literally threw light on this .subject. The eminent specialist '"ieveale^" a magnified picture of the damage wrought to the tonsils of a dog by breathing such an atmosphere as ,that ' ! -'in -which" Londoners have compelled ;to "exist of late'. 'T#e. particles of noxious matter inhaled' w ( ith the mist and smokeladen air were depicted a's havingformed into clots of something like veritable :-.< charcoal; and thus there was given quite ■a 'new reading' to the old phrase that' such weather is not fit to turn a'dog into. For dog read man, woman, and child, and . the m'oral will" . ■ . mb 'iA.yrrT'B pbowbss. ; j Mr Davitt's prdwess^with the blackthorn, will endear' him to the heart of every 'son of Erinf {The imost! peaceable of iMshmeh always,' is expected to 'be ready .with his blackthorn at ,a pinchi jiißt as the soberest of Englishmen would ' scpjrn^undetUihe. same circumstances, to ■ found wanting with his fists. It must have been, a striking scene which followed that Bpeech^fcßlr^arneirß— the speeoh which began'.nwth .ilie, assurance that "he," Mr^Patnell/.".waß , there to insult no man/' : afid ionsiste'd; throughout of one long bespitterinerit of the candidate ■who waßfirst'<jioniinated'by Mr Parnellhimself??/ tJjjlitect. -toy. "tJiJB display, $&x ' Parnell's posse of Tiu^tings lambs charged on the adjoining audience of Mr Davitt ; whereupon We thin 'wiry form and beetling browsi{of the Father of the Land . Leaguftwereßeenhewmgalane — by the might of. his rone :arin, remember— right through ,tho opposing forces across the - square to thevery wheels of Mr Parnell's brake. "There; he flung a defiance in Mr Parnell's, Wth, then, rejieved the rin- ' easiness of that doughty champion and hiß friends by/turning 'on his heel, and passing' fik'e » wedge back to his own platform to conclude his. speech. . . _r~*-» The engagement of Princess Louise of n -'j SchleswigrHplestein with Prince Albert " ' of injialt has given her family' great pleasure. Jhe marriage, I hear, is one of affection, and the only other drawback .-. is that' the young .couple will not be very endowed with riches. But three tbo'usand.a year goes a good deal further in Germany than in England. :■, ,The .Qubfln is much pleased to give her ','.. granddaughter an. allowance, and the / Emperor.of Germany, has shown his ap- , proval in a substantial manner. The '. .. marriage takes plac,e in the spring, prp- ' bably' ; Ut Windsor in the private chapel, , ' and the young people' will live in»Ger- .'. many. ; The . bridegroom's father and ■ • his family are very old • friends of the \- . bride's peoble, and ,in Germany much ','. importance is attached to these traditions. • princess Jjouise is evidently an attractive person, for thonoth.only nineteen she has found favour in other, royal eyes. It is said that in Berlin that the heir to the . throne of Bonmania, as well as the' Sing. and.','. Carmen Sylva," w'ere very anxious , she should have gone there, and as Prince, Charles must-marry ■a ' Pretestant '. "princess, it would,. in. a wordly point of view, have been a more brilliant marriage. • But Prince Albert was first in the field, ' and carried her off. "..•'. &BNACIXY OF LITE IN A KITTEN. A correspondent of a daily paper refers - - t6-tti£ following . remarkable instance of tenacity of life in a, kitten : — On Nov. 18 we missed our black kitten "Ola Kentucky," and having made all possible en- - quiries 'in vain we , reluctantly, grave her • ■ujj'fes'lost. About nine on Thursday evening, however, the youngest member of our household heard the mewing of a cat in the area, and he immediately gave . • v the alarm that " Old Kentucky " was buried in the coal-cellar. Investigation soon proved the correctness of his state- '■ 'ment, and after a good deal of digging we discovered the object of our search . completely'"coal-bouhd, apparently only saved from being crushed to death by the fact that a large block of coal had so fallen (fortunately for her) as to foctn a roof aiid barrier of protection . It appears that on the day we missed her a couple offons<'of '<ioal had' been put into, the cellar^ 'and no doubt her natural curiosity as to the cause of the noise occasioned by the falling of the coal prompted her " : toj?o into thecellar, with the result de".'scrib^d.'' On extricating her from her ''Very painful position we found that although she must have been struck by the' coal,- ho'ibdnes were broken, and notwithstanding her fifteen, days' entombment . -.she was able' to walk and eagerly lapped up the warm milk provided for her. She is now doing well. lOED QTJEENSBtTRY A POET. • • " ' The .present Lord Queensbury has dist|nguijbed '. himself otherwise than as ' chairman at, the meeting ot the Pelican "Club", at which his own revised rules of boxing' were passed. •'•' The Spirit of the " Mat^erhorn." apoem, "dedicated to the ■ peers of Scotland," isfromhispen. Itwas "published for tjie author" nine years 'ago. • He says in his .dedication : — " This ' poem — which was suggested to my mind whilst wandering about Switzerland some yearß agcr— is respectfully inscribed to , those peers who at the last election (1880) ' in Holyrood Palace of Scottish representative peerp.|deprived me of my seat in the House of Lords. ' Their rejection was founded on the avowed and acknowledged ground that I had previously expressed opinions against the Christian religion." THE 6PBABS OF THE SOLOMON IS&ANDEHS. The spears used by the Solomon Islanders are said to be the finest weapons ' in the South Seas. "A typical one was sixteen ' feet' long, a single black shaft, polished and ornamented at the offensive • 'end with an elaboration of human bone and colouring. The common spear is only ten feet long, also of black polished •wood, and also* tipped with human bone. Near the extremity is a collection of ten . or twelve barbs, fastened to the shaft by a binding of coloured cane-work. The f ' whole construction is hound and stren gthened by the vegetable pntty used in canoes. . The price of a common spear we ' are told, is a stick and a-half of tobacco, equal to about' three-halfpence. .