WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XI, Issue 51, 23 December 1893, Page 536

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

It must be a weary day to a youth when he di'.overs that after all he will only become a man. " E must often consider not what the wise will think, but what the foolish will be sure to say. How little do tney know of human nature who imagine that pride is likely to be subdued by adversity. If you would understand your own age read rhe works of tirtion produced in it. People in disguise speak freely. The warmtb of a friend's heart is the last thing of which a wise man is certain but the first thing that a fool will dis cover and boast of.

Foreheads of Men and Women.—The difference between a man's forehead and a woman's is very striking; and the more feminine the woman and the more masculine the man, the greater is the difference. Boys’ foreheads, however, differ in no way from girls’. The difference is due to the greater projection in men of that part of the forehead in the neighbourhood of the eyebrows. These projections are nor, as phrenologists supposed, due to brain matter, but are hollow chambers in the bone, and are full of nothing but air. The chambers are very small before the age of fr nrteen or fifteen; but then they increase rapidly and help to make the voice resonant. In certain races these hollows or ‘sinuses' (as they are scientifically called) are hardly at all developed, and the tesult is a remarkable absence of resonance in the voice—as in the native Australians.

Insect Chemistry. — A singular discovery was announced by Mr Oswald Latter at the November mee irg of the Entomological Society in L >ndon. It was that the imago of the moth known a« Dieranura vinula secretes caustic potash, which it uses for penetrating the cocoon in which it is inclosed. Caustic po’a-h. as every one knows, is a powerful cautery which destroys the skin when brought in contact with it. That it shou’d be secreted, or formed, in the mouth of an insect, as Mr Latter say, is very curious, and Professor Meldola, in discussing the discovery, remarked that the fact that any animal secreted a strong caustic alkali was a new one. The Dlcranura moths—the name means ‘ forked tail ’ —not only appear to be insect chemists of no small skill, for their far' re secrete formic acid, but they are vet y interesting on other accounts. In the larval or caterpillar form they inhabit poplars, willows and similar trees in midsummer, and possess an odd means of defence against the annoyance of small flies. Their forked tails consist of two tubes, each of which contains a long threadlike organ, and when the caterpillar is irritated it runs out these threads, and lashes the side of its body with them. It has long been known that the forked-tail moth nsed some liquid to soften the cocoon when it was ready to emerge, but Mr Latter’s experiments have for the first time disclosed the nature of that liquid. He enclosed the moths in artificial cocoons, and collecting the liquid which they ejected in breaking their way out, subjected it to chemical ana'ysis.

Singular Families.—ln the reign of William 111. there lived at Ipswich, in Suffolk, a family which, from the number of peculiarities belonging to, was distinguished by the name of the Odd Family. Every event, remarkably good or bad, happened to this family on an odd day of the month, and everyone of them had something odd in his or her person, manner, and behaviour, the very letters in their Christian names always happened to be an odd number. The husband’s name was Peter, and the wife's Rabah, they bad children, all boys—viz , Solomon, Roger, James, Matthew, Jonas, Dsvid, and Ezekiel. The husband had but one leg, his wife but one arm. Solomon was born blind of the eye, and Roger lost his right eye by accident ; Janies had his left ear pulled off by a boy in a quarrel, and Matthew was born with only three fingers on his right hand : Jonas bad a stump foot, and David was bump backed ; all these, except David, were remarkably snort, while Ezekiel was 6ft 2in high at the age of nineteen ; the stump footed Jonas and the hump backed David got wives of fortune, but no girl would listen to the addresses of the rest. The husband’s hair was as black as jet, and the wife s rema-k ably white, yet every one of the childrm's was red. The husband had the peculiar misfortune of falling into a deep saw pit, where he was starved to death in the year 1701, and hi« wife, refusing all kinds of sustenance, died in five days after him. In the year 1703 Ezekiel enlisted as a grenadier, and although he was afterwards wounded in twenty three places he recovered. Roger, James, Matthew, Jonas, and David died at different places on the same day in 1713. and Solomon and Ez-kiel were drowned together in crossing the Thames in the year 1723.

How Burglars Work —To illustrate the wonderful lesource and leisurely way of proceeding adopted by burglars, take a case related by a prominent detective. The principal <>f the burglars in this instance, having fixed on a certain house, was unable to acquire sufficient information concerning it and the owners. This man then went to the local butcher supplying the house, and applied for a situation as driver of one of his carte which delivered meat at customers' residences. After producing unquestionable references (how obtained no one ever knew) the man was engaged on the round, which included the house fixed upon. Incredible as it may app-ar, he stayed with his employer for over seven m mths, and gave the utmost satisfaction, his only failure being a weakness for chatting with the servants. F.ve days after his resignation a gigantic bu-glary was effected at the house selected, and property valued at over 20 000 d-ds. was stolen. The thieves had smoked several cigars and drunk a bottle ■ f port, so that they were in no hurry, and, to crown a’l, the booty was conveyed to its destination in the owner’s pony phaeton, which was duly returned the same night, but no clue was afforded, and the burglars were never captured. As regards tools, very few are necessary, owing to the skill and ingenuity of the operator. With a jimmy, spreader, drill, a few pieces of strong bent »ite, and a little gunpowder, the expert burglar can make his way any*here. To these are sometimes added a set of ‘ stnmPiers.’ These are lengths of fine steel wire, with pointed stakes about a foot long attached to each end, and a half a dozen < f these make but little bulk. These stumb'ets are fixed on the lawn or paths about the hn*e in such a wav that the wires are raised about six inches from the ground, and prove such a success in case of pursuit that rhe burglars are compelled to hang pieces of white paper from the wires in order that they may escape their own traps, as they always run over them.