SMELL OF BURNING PERVADES ANTIQUITIES.

Western Star, 6 April 1934, Page 4

SMELL OF BURNING PERVADES ANTIQUITIES.

THE SACK OF ROME RECALLED

Much curiosity has been aroused in the antiquarian museum of Rome, where objects lately recovered from the different forums have developed an increasingly strong smell of- burning. Antiquarians and archaeologists went to study the phenomenon and it appears now that the objects came from the foundations of buildings which had been burned at the time of the sack .of Rome by the Visigoth King Alaric in the year 410. The antiquarian museum has been little known to the public and was hardly ever visited by tourists, though they are now being attracted thereto by this strange development. All the objects found in the excavations of the new forums and in the Emilian Basilica are ranged in a large hall in which the odour of burning is now strong.

The statues and statuettes are most interesting, but all the curiosity is now concentrated on the charred wood and cinders, which still preserve the smell of the burning they endured during the sack of Home 1500 years ago.

ALSATIAN ATTACKS SERVANT BITE COST DOG’S OWNER £SB. Damages amounting to £SB were awarded for a dog-bite at the Marylebone County Court recently. • The case was the outcome of an attack on an employee at a London hotel by a charn. pion Alsatian owned by a guest. Miss Jean Huddart brought the claim against Mrs Hilda White and her husband, Mr C. W. White. Counsel explained that while Miss Huddart was book-keeper and reception clerk at Coburn Court Hotel, Bayswater, Mr and Mrs White took three Alsatian dogs there. One night Miss Huddart left her bedroom at 11.15 with a towel and a small torch to go to the bathroom.

Opening the door in the corridor, she saw Mr White opposite his ~ bedroom. He had one dog on a lead and another was free. -As soon as, the dog saw' Miss Huddart in the doorway it sprang at her and bit her on the chest.

Mr White stated that the dog belonged to his wife. It was named Beric, was a champion, and had won over 300 prizes.