VARIA.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXIV, Issue 23, 2 October 1896, Page 8

V A R I A.

CUEING DRUNKENNESS. The Burgeon in charge of the troops at Vancouver barracks has adopted a novel means of curing drunkenness. No man is taken on the sick list unless his condition is such that he is unable to work, and all cases of drunkenness are treated as acute alcoholic poisoning. The drunken man is taken to the operating room, and his stomach emptied by means of the stomach-pump, and thoroughly washed out with a two per cent, solution of soda. Then he is given a bowl of hot beef extract with cayenne pepper, and is allowed an hour's rest, at the end of which time he is packei oft" to duty again. Medically this is found an excellent plan, allaying the nervous symptoms and giving tone to the digestive organs. M orally it is eqtially good. for drunkenness has been reduced to a minimum dnce it wa*-- b-gun. READY WIT. Sarasate once found his memory deserting him at a recital : he discovered the reason, however, in time to prevent a failure. A lady was fanning herself in the front row of stalls. The violmi>t stopped playing and said : '• Madame, how can I playtwo-four time when you are beating six-eight ?" The lady stopped fanning and the recital continued successfully. OATMEAL WATER. Oatmeal water is declared by many people to be the best possible drink for hot weather, and if flavoured with a lemon is very pleasant. Boil a quarter of a pound of oatmeal with the thin rind oJi a lemon. in three quarts of water for twenty minutes ; when coul add the juice of a lemon ; sweeten with brown sugar and strain. The Irish method |of making oatmeal water is far preferable. In a quart of water steep a handful- of oatmeal ; cover and let it stand for two hours ; add lemon to taste. This is a most refreshing and nourishing summer drink. PENSIONS FOR EVERYBODY. There is in operation in Denmark a law giving every Danish subject, man and woman, the right to a pension at 60 years of age. Exception is made of persons convicted of crime : who have f raudently made over their property to relatives or others : who have brought themselves to distress by extravagance or evil-living ; who have during the preceding ten years received relief from the poorlaw ; or who have been convicted of mendacity. Applications are addressed to the parish, who make all inquiries, and fix the amount of the relief to be granted. THE QUICKEST TRAIN IN EUROPE. The quickest train in Europs runs from Carlisle to Aberdeen. The distance is 240 £ miles. The actual run is done in 24(5 minutes, but the direct run from start to finish would take only 234 minutes. The "flying average" pace when fairly underway, is about GI.J miles an hour. This is done without •' racing," no urging on of poor, anxious overpressed drivers and firemen, and all done with a smoothly -running train, with the utmost care at; all awkward curves or junctions. Twelve miles an hour is about the " flying average " here. WHALES ATTACK A SHIP. The B.s. Seminole, on its way from New York to Jacksonville (Fla.) met with a singular accident. In running into a school of whales, one of the big fish was struck by the ship, when five of the other whales, some of which appeared to be from 75ft. to 100 ft. in

length, seemed enraged, and, withdrawing to a short distance from the steamer, bore down on her with headlong speed. Four times they attacked the ship, but suffering severely and spouting .great quantities of blood, they gave up the unequal contest. The ship arrived in port on August 5, a good deal shaken, and many of her plates deeply indented. THE LONGEST BRIDGE. The longest bridge in the world is the Lion bridge near Sangang, in China. It extends five-and-a-quarter miles over an area of the Yellow Sea, and is supported by 300 huge stone arches. The roadway is 70ft. above the water, and is enclosed in an iron network. A marble lion 21ft. long rests on the crown of each pillar. The bridge was built at the command of the Emperor Keing Long. * DEATH OP THE INVENTOR OP A "PLYING " MACHINE. Herr Lilienthal, the inventor of a navigable flying machine, recently made an experimental journey, starting from Goemberg, in the province of Brandenburg. He had flown along safely for over 200 yds. when a gush of wind suddenly caught and carried him upwards, caxising him to lose control over his wings. The unfortunate man fell perpendicularly to the ground, broke his epine, and died soon afterwards. SOME PECULIARITIES OP ENGLISH. A writer in the Commonwealth mentions some peculiarities of the' English language which ernbarass foreigners :—: — i " We'll begin with a box, and the plural is boxes ; But the plural of ox should be oxen, not oxes. The one fowl is a goose, but two are called geese ; Yet the plural of mouse should never be meese. You may find a lone mouse or a whole nest of mice, But the plural of house is houses, not hice. If the plural of man is always called men, Why shouldn't the plural of pan be called pen 1 The cow in the plural may be cows or kine, But a cow if repeated is never called kine ; And the plural of vow is vows, never vine. If I speak of a foot and you show me your feet. - And 1 give you a boot, would a pair be called beet ? If one is a tooth a whole set are teeth, Why shouldn't the plural of booth be called beeth ? If the singular's this and the plural is these, Should the plural of kiss^ ever be nicknamed keese ? Then one may be that and three would be those, Yet hat in the plural would never be hose ; And the plural of cat is cats, not cose. We speak of a brother and also of brethren, But though we say mother we never say methren. Then the masculine pronouns are he, his and him : But imagine the feminine she, shis and shim •! So the English, 1 think, you all will agree, Is the greatest language you ever did see. MONKEYS AS MINERS. According to the Revue Seientijique, a French mine-owner in the Transvaal has some monkeys infected with the auri *a era fames. It has happened in this way : The mine owner had originally two little monkeys, which were in the habit of accompanying their master in his visit to the minas. They saw the workmen gathering the ore, and soon learned to imitate them and to distinguish traces of the precious metal. They thus became of use to their employer, who procured twenty-four others, which, having been initiated into the mysteries of mining by the two first pioneers, soon became so expert as to fill the places of five or six men. The monkeys are extremely honest, says the veracious correspondent of the lit ru,i; for they have not yet been perverted by their human fellow-workers, and never try to appropriate nuggets ! A HISTORICAL HOTEL. The oldest hotel iv Europe, and certainly that which boasts of the longest and most august record of visitors, is the Golden Cross at the old Imperial, town of Regen»burg, or Ratisbon. as we insist upon spelling it. A recent visitor gives an iuteresting account of the meditcval character that the famous inn sti.l retains and of its throng of historical associations. The Emperor Charles the Fifth stayed at this G-asthof in 1546, and it was there that in the following year was born his natural son, Dun John of Austria, the vie; or of Lepantn, whose mother, Barbara Blomberg, was a lovely maid of the Golden Cross when the great Kaiser looked with eyes of favour on her. Th« walls of the hostelry now bear an inscription to the euphemistic effect that Kaiser Karl '•kissed a maiden's lips" who had is>sne the Conqueror of the Turk and the saviour of Christendom. The Golden Cross has never known any dimness in the splendour of its reputation among European hotels. Its existing visitors" books date from 1819. and contain, we are told, the names of more than 500 imperial, royal and princely personages. The ill-fated Maximilian, Emperor of Mexico, S| ent his honeymoon at the o.d place, and, by a pathetic coincidence, his brother, the present Emperor of Austria, was staying there when the news arrived that Maximilian had been shot. At the Golden Cros*, however, they are loss proud of regal favour than of having en ertained Bismarck, whose bedroom is still preserved as it was when ho slept in it. A NOVEL INDUSTRY. A novel industry has been introduced in the United States, in the mamifacture of sacks for paper. The latter is a special product, made from the refuse of hempen ropas. which, by treatment wdth lime, furnishes a very strong material, intermediate between ordinary paper and sacking. The .American millers are said to find the paper sacks quite satisfactory as receptacles for flour, and the sole factory for them in the State of New York supplies 140,000 a day, with a capacity of over 100 pounds at the wholesale price of lid each.