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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume IX, Issue 43, 19 February 1874, Page 2

Paris has lost another celobrity, one Femorus, whose skill ia the manufacture of monstrosities must have often made Barnum envious. Femorus first tried fais apprentice hand on beasts, and succeeded in concoctiDg no end of two * headed cows, five legged birds, horned rats, and such harmless wonders, which/ went the rounds of all the fairs fo/ many years. These, at length, got stole and unprofitable, Modern civilisation demanded something more attractive, so Femorus turned His cunning to the human race itself. In 1854 he was sentenced to five yearV imprisonment for trying to implant tbe\ v wings of a swan in the back of a child two years old, with the object of , making a second lupid ! On leaving/ the prison he recommenced business of manufacturing all sorts of " natural curiosities," too ugly to specify /in anatomical museums, but the demand not being equal to the supply, he was forced to brush up his ingenuity once more. This time he at once resolveov. to operate on himself, and he attempted to engraft the comb of a cock — a / Gallic one, of course — on his own/ head. It was doomed to be his las/ wonder. The engrafting resulted in abscess, from which he never recovered, Dr Scherzer, an eminent Austrian naturalist, during u recent visit <to China, learned the mode of preparing; a waterproof varnish very extensively u_od in that country for coating boxes aud other packages which it is desired to protect against moisture. For this purpose four parts of blood, fresh drawii, are mixed in four parts of powdered slaked lime and a small quantity of' alum. One, two, or three coats of this mass, which ia slightly viscid, will impart so great a degree of impermeability to wood to which it has been applied that is said to be unnecessary to use the interior tin or lead - lining to boxes for transporting delicate articles through the tropics. Owing to its cheapness it Can be used for coating boxes containing sugar, coffee, tea, and other substances . Many people seem to forget that character grows ; that it is not something to put on ready' made with womanhood or manhood ; but, day by day, here a little and. there a little, glows with the growth and strengthens with the strength, until, good or bad, it becomes almost a coat of mail. Look at a man of business — prompt, reliable, conscientious, yet clear-headed and energetic. When do you suppose he developed all these admirable qualities? When he was a boy? Let us see the way in which a boy of ten gets up in the morning, works, plays, studies, and we will tell you just what kind of man be will make. The boy that is late at breakfast and late at school stands a poor chance to be a prompt man. The boy who neglects his duties, be they ever so Bmall, and excuses himself by saying, "I forgot, I didn't know!" will never be a reliable man. And the boy who finds pleasure in the suffering of weaker things, will never be a noble, generous, kindly man- — a gentleman.