NOTES AND COMMENTS.

Greymouth Evening Star, Volume XXXI, 22 May 1901, Page 2

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

"n this colony palmists are not held in high repute by the people nor by the law; although, all the same, a large number of folk upon the appearance in a district of a " fortune-tellerjjby the hand," seek her out and "obtain her reading of the future." These folks, though they laugh at the chart supplied them by the palmist, are nevertheless half-believers in the story. To such it will be pleasing to learn that high authorities in England are telling that " there is more in the art than the sceptical credit." At a recent lecture delivered in the South Kensington museum —the national school of science—Professor Bay Lankester in showing casts and photographs of the human hand indicating the " chief lines recognised in palmistry." These objects are carefully arranged in one of the upper galleries in the Natural History building, and their serious purpose is to illustrate the science of comparative anatomy. For side by side with them are other casts and photographs taken from, the t ands of apes, which show exactly identical lines. Thus palmistry, if we are to believe it, proves that our simian friends possess the same affections of the heart and chances of life as ourselves.

The Conference of Chambers of C i merco at Melbourne has adopt ;

resolution in favour of teaching ;he metric system of weights and mi ..aires in public schools. If " metric system " bo used in its strict sense it means the modern French system of weights and measures. The basis of this system is the metre, 'which is the one tenmillionth of a quadrant of the meridian or 89.:-)707904: English inches. The unit weight is the gramme, which is the weight of a cubic decimetre of distilled water. Measures of capacity aro also based on the metre. The metric system is itself a decimal system the standard unit being divided into tenths, hundredths, etc., for the denominations below it and multiplied by 10, 100, etc. for those above it. This forms its chief attraction in the eyes of many, since it lends itself so easily to our Arabic notation. Repeated efforts have been made to introduce it into Great Britain, and several debates have taken place on the subject in the House of Commons. Its adoption, however, would necessitate serious alterations of text-books, and the syssem for practical purposes is wofully deficient in binary factors.