NEWS AND NOTES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 2393, 16 February 1922, Page 4

NEWS AND NOTES.

A Victoria Cross, gained by Sergeant John Murray, of the 68th Durnam Light Infantry, for charging into a rifle pit and killing or wounding single-handed its ten occupants during the Maori War of 1864, was sold, with his other medals, at Sotheby’s, for £lO6, says the Daily Mail.

A lady while walking through a village heard the village choir singing, and stopped to listen. At the same time a naturalist was standing by listening to the chirp of a cricket. “What beautiful singing,” said the lady. “Yes,” replied the naturalist, “they do it by rubbing their hind legs together.” Writing from the North of Scotland to a relative in Wanganui, a correspondent says that the religious revival, which has been previously referred to in the cablegrams, has affected all classes of the community—from the humblest peasant to the most influential in the land. Some remarkable scenes have been witnessed, and the movement is still in progress.

An amusing contretemps occurred to a friend the other day. On a cold morning Jie lifted' the receiver from the telephone just as his small daughter came into, the hall. Before giving the number he said to her, “Good morning, dear; I hope you have nice warm undies on.” Ihe following clay a letter arrived from the telephone authorities protesting against his mode of addressing the telephone girls. The recent' drop in the price of crockery ware at Home brings the actual reduction in price to 25 per cent, in twelve months (states a Wanganui paper). It will be some time yet before the local public get the benefit of the full 25 per cent, reduction, as orders placed some time ago at high prices are only just coming to hand. A few lines in groceries that have recently receded in price locally are wax candles, both imported and New Zealand manufacture, Id per lb.; pepper, 3d per lb.; and cream of tartar, 6d. A local grocer stated that there are various other lines on the verge of a decline, and within another six months would be as cheap as they were in pre-war times. " . Dr. Benjamin Rush, Philadelphia, more than 100 years ago noted the close connection between the diseased condition of the teeth and rheumatism, and mentions in his lectures cases in which chronic rheumatism was cured by the removal of diseased teeth. In recent years this observation by Dr. Rush —long forgotten —has been confirmed. A highly virulent germ known as streptococcus viridian has been discovered in the mouths of persons suffering from diseased teeth or diseased gums. It has also been found in connection with diseased tonsils and infected sinuses. Other dangerous organisms have also been found in the mouth. It should be the aim of dentist and patient alike to save teeth and avoid extraction wherever possible, but when a tooth is actually proved to be a source of serious danger to the patient, it should be taken out without delay. Dr. Ixbal Ali Shah, a pundit of India, states that in his country aeroplanes were familiarly known 24 centuries ago. Representations of them, he says, are found in rock sculptures dating back to 500 B.C. in Southern India. Indeed, so he declares, , “flying, carriages” are spoken of in Brahmin books written even earlier than that. A stirring piece of literature, written about 500 8.C., tells how Rawun, King of Ceylon, flew over an enemy army and dropped bombs, causing many casualties. Eventually he was slain, and his “flying carriage” fell into the hands of the Hindu chieftain, Ramehander, who flew in it all the way from Ceylon to his capital at Ajudhia, in Northern India. In the Mahabliaratta, one of the oldest of Brahmin classics, mention is made of the gift of a flying-machine by a king to a brother monarch as a' token of friendship. The bombs spoken of’in the story of Rawun are called “explosive torches” which, the tale explains, were thrown down upon the heads of the enemy. Ihe method of making these primitive bombs is described in other ancient books.

Quite one of! the most interesting useful novelties -that is being marketed in England is wlmt might be termed the “Motorist s Cigaiettc. This is the invention of an English professor, who has .patented a method of so treating tobaeeo that the ash will not drop off, or even blow off, and requires a very decided knock to remove it. The patent can be applied to tobacco in any form in which it is smoked, and is of particular interest to motorists. Either in an open or enclosed car tobacco ash is a nuisance. In an open car, ash and sparks fly back into the passengers’ eyes from a pipe 01 cigarette, which would he impossible with this invention. The origin of the patent is a very simple idea, and it is said that the cost of treating the tobacco of 500 cigarettes involves only about 9d worth of material. The flavour of the tobacco is in no way changed, nor is any injurious ingredient added. One would not notice the slightest difference in the most delicately flavoured cigarette, except that the ash is curiously tenacious, and, even when it has jjeen knocked off. can be picked up whole: “I would do away with every sweet-shop in the kingdom, and so stop this pernicious habit of sweeteating.” Dr. Harry Campbell made this —for the yaung folk and for the ladies —alarming statement at a lecture at the Institute of Hygiene in London. The reason of his antipathy to the sweet-shop, he expla-

ined, was that so many diseases follow teeth trouble, which was considerably, induced by eating sweets. “We have the worst teeth and jaws in the world,” he said, “due in great measure to our insistence on taking the whole of our farinaceous food in a spongy or pappy form.” “Stop this eternal British pudding,” said Dr. Campbell, “and give children crusty bread, with plenty of butter on it. It has the same nutritive value as suet pudding, and exercises the jaws as they should be exercised.”

Very few people can claim to have travelled from Wellington to Lyttelton direct in a motor car, but this is the record put up by an old man recently, states a Wanganui resident who travelled by the ferry steamer recently. On the boat was a young man who was also taking his motor ear south. The car was lowered on the wharf at Lyttelton, and the owner commenced to take off the covering prior to starting out on the run over the hill to Christchurch. Greatly to the surprise of those in the vicinity, an old man ponned his head up inside the car, and commenced to blink in the sunlight. It was soon disclosed to the interested spectators that he had entered the car before it was placed on the boat a and had made a cheap trip to Lyttelton.