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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 930, 30 January 1871, Page 3

To prevent sunstroke, Dv Van der Warkev recommends " the wearing of a white shirt over the flannel, if that is dark-colored, covering the neck and chest, and wearing a light straw or palm-leaf hat, with fresh leaves or a wet handkerchief in the crown, or, what is better, a cork hat covered with white linen. The working man should always attend carefully to his diet, and never work exposed to a high temperature while suffering from hunger. Ardent spirits should be avoided. The violent reaction following over-stimulation is attended with most serious effects when the subject is exposed to a high temperature. When men ex* perieiice a sense of fulness in the head, and of tightness across the chest, with a total or partial suppression of the perspiration, they ought immediately to stop work and protect themselves from the sun's rays until the functions of the body are restored. Persons in infirm health, or convalescent, ought to take extra precautions when exposed to severe heat." We strongly commend this excellent advice to all who, from their position, are able to profit by it.

An Irishman, officiating as chairman of a club, was annoyed at the tumult created by a set of unruly members, and astonished them by vociferating, " Jiatlemen, will yez come to order ? If you only kape silent, ye may make as much noise as you plaze!"

On the 16th October a powder magazine in the neighborhood of Alexandria (Egypt) exploded, destroying several houses and killing fifty persons. An Italian paper mentions that a recent lecture on the microscope, in one of the towns in Piedmont, among " the creeping and crawling things innumerable," magnified to a thousand dimensions on the white sheet, were some of these peculiar insects which are said to haunt chignons and dead hair generally. One of these interesting creatures was presented to the gaze of horror-stricken ladies as large as a bug; and in two hairs from a chignon exhibited it was computed that at least one million were nidificating thereon. Two ladies screamed, and a good many turned qualmish, at the idea of their back hair being so lively ; and more than one chignon-wearer seemed mechanically inclined to feel if anything was wrong, or, in plain English, to scratch her head.

A Frenchman once hired a room in Paris on condition that the servant would wake him up every moruing at daybreak, and tell him the day of the week, the state of the weather, and the form of government under which ho was living.

The Advertiser of the 24th instant says:—A man named Harrison was drowned in the Manawatu River on Sunday morning, the 220 d, while bathing. Up to the time of our going to press we regret to say no news of the recovery of the body had arrived in town. The deceased was well known in Wellington, and at the time of the occurrence had taken the contracts for erecting a postoffice and telegraph shed in the district of Manawatu.

The following account of a dreadful accident is given by the Queenstown correspondent of the Cromwell Argus, under date 9th January : —A sad accident happened on Thursday evening at the new saw mills, Head of the Lake, by which one of the partners, named Aldridge (brother of Mr Aldridge, the contractor for the Shotover bridge), lost his life. They had just knocked off work, and he was standing on the bench when the saw caught his heel, and he fell on it backwards, receiving two fearful cuts—from the hips to the shoulders—tearing all the flesh off the ribs. He was brought down to Frankton at once by the Victoria steamer, and lingered until six o'clock the following morning. The Kaufman Star, a Texan journal, gives an account of a remarkable tree, which it is pleased to term the Bois d'Arc tree, and which produces a very remarkable and useful.kind of timber that ought to be more widely known. Our contemporary says that no living man ever saw the symptoms of decay in this remarkable timber. The running gear of a wagon made of it, which had been in use for twenty years, seemed to all appearance as sound as when turned out of the shop. He tell us further that there is an oil in the wood which fills up the pores, and prevents either air or water from affecting it. No one can tell how long it will last even when exposed to the weather. A reward might be offered in vain for a decayed particle of this timber. It is not affected by the rays of the sun, and hence it never shrinks. A carriage wheel made of Bois d'Arc will run until the wood is run out without having to re-set it. Bois d'Arc is the local name of this useful tree because it grows in the fork of the Bois d'Arc river, in Texas. It may be that the wood will be valuable to coach-builders, albeit our contemporary may possibly have exaggerated its value and properties.