HERE AND THERE

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 81

HERE AND THERE

— The Sleeping Sickness Commission. — Th© Sleeping Sickness Commission, in Uganda has lately been extending its in- > vestiraUons into the a uses of mortality j among cattle in the Protectorate (writes a cwrTespondant to the Daily Xews). It may- be asked what has the Sleeping Sick- J ness Commission to do with cattle diseases. : The answer is supplied by Colonel Sir David Bruce, director of the commission, who says that the cattle diseases of ' Uganda are so closely related to sleeping i sickness in man that the study of any j one of them may throw »ew light on the ' others. Thousands of cattle die annually in Uganda from diseases caused by very minute parasites, and it is felt that unless these axe discovered and measures taken to avoid the areas infestett by them, the existing d-is'eases will continue to ' spread and fresh ones may be allowed to slip into tiie country which will sweep the pa-stures clean. For instance, the Uganda Commission has already succeeded in making a 'arge collection of biting flies and ticks, and looking ovei the list of . these it appears that the brown tick, j which is the carrier of the deadly East ( Coast fever, is exceedingly common, and" ' is distributed over the whole of Uganda, j If this disease ehouild unfortunately be introduced into Uganda, it would probably ' sweep the whole country of its cattle. ; The ticks are also important in other ways than in transferring disease. The Boot tick, whioh is exceedingly prolific, exists in vast numbers in Uganda. One of these ticks is capable of sucking two cubic centi- ! metres of blood from an animal. As there are 550 cubic centimetres in a pint , of fluid, it means that 275 of thefe ticks ! woiild rob an ox of a pint, or 20oz, of blood. From this it will be seen that where these ticks a!re numerous the cattle must be in a poor condition. This is the tick which is 80 frequently found on the wild animals — antelope, buffaloes, rhinoceros, and 1 others. — Sleeping Sickness and Cattle Diseases. — Sleeping sickness and many of these cattle diseases are caused by one genus ', or kind of animal parasite, the Trypanosomie, as exceedingly minute creature, about l-2000in m length and l-10,000in in breadth. It lives and multiplies in the blood, and it is only by means of some biting insect that it can be conveyed from one animal to another. Sleeping sickness, tor example, is caused by the Trypano- . sonxa gambiense, ?n<j is carried from the 1 vsick to the healthy by the Glos?dna pal- , palis, one of the tsetsae flies. Wherever the fly is there you may have sleeping sickness ; wherever there is no GloeeLna. j palpal is there can be no sleeping sickness. The distribution of t/he fly is peculiar, as it is only found al the edge of clear water, such aa the lakes and the Nile. It is also ' only found where there is a forest growing up to the edge of the water, which affords it shade. So that in the whole of Uganda this fly is only seen along the shore of the Lake, the Nile, amd Lake Albert, and only where forest fringes the banks. It therefore results that with this knowledge it is perfectly simple to avoid the disease. If a man does not expose himself to the bite of this particular fly he cannot get sleeping sickness. And in the same way, with this knowledge, it is a simple matter to stamp out the disease, all that is required being to clear the places where the fly is foumd of their human inhabitants, and the epidemic at cnoe ceases. No fresh cases can arise. Now, in the same way, if the cawes of , the cattle diseases are known, and the j

insects which camry the infection axe discovered, then probably it will also be simple to prevent or stamp them out. — The jMbmey Twisl.— Increasing cases of insanity and suicidal ' mania among the children of American multi-miliionaires have lied (sa^s an Ame- I rican wiiter) modern medical science to | make an investigation into the causes. ■ From, there researches certain conclusions ; have been draws. These axe broefly the I following: — That the pursuit of great ; wealth is in itself a symptom of an sib- j . normal brain, the taint of which is trans- ■ mittetr to offspring ia the form of; lack of mental stability. That in the concentration of mouey-gettiag every vital farce j of the pantent is absorbed by the dominant j purpose, leaving none for the children. Th«t in consequence of such efforts, a proportion of their offspring have no mental balance transmitted to them, and these, having wealth without equilibrium, must break in their weakest place. And just, j runs the theory, as the combined! influence : of sun and moon exerted oppositely upon, earth's surface . cawea. it -to break along the line of its paramount fault, so does heredity on the one side and 1 environment on the other poll upon the bra-ins of some dhi.ldir.en, .of mmlti-miliioDsires, breaking, them along the line of the "money twist" ; causing moral earthquake and j mental tidal wave ; casting them into the madhouse or- the suicide's grave. — Automatic Letter Registration. — An interesting account of an automatic apparatus for the registration of letters has just been given to tihe Academy of [ Science. The machine, which has been ' invented by a Hungarian engiiiieea, is ex- ' tremely ingenious. The letter to be Tegis- ' teamed, after having had 4 the ordinary postage stamp affixed, is thrown into a special ■box, into a side clot of which a nickel 25-centime piece is introduced. A little handle is turned; and presently up Jomes a receipt. Bub it must be a genuine ; nicked coin, as a magnet is employed to : divert it into a paTtiouJaT compartment, | so if any trick is attempted with copper I or lead, or with coins of less diameter than. ! the 25-centime piece, the entire opetraj tion is spoilt. When everything works j properly, the nickel coin gets to the bottom of its compartment, while the .letter, now stamped with an "R" ("recom*mendation," the word used for register* ing), remains in the box all ready to bs forwarded when the hour arrives. •If : this '"nventior is vex adopted' by the French Post Office (writes the Paris corte- | spondent of the Daily Telegraph) the pub- j i lie will certainly not be inclined to oriti- | cisc it, as anyone- who has s>one through 1 the trying drdeal.of hiving ~& tetter registered here will understand, the usual experience, being a wef 'oitial (jflit© six petrsons who have come in before' one, and who aa*' ranged in mel«ncholy. i qw»ue, are having thenr, succ^g*ive turns, >: tewf the I wickets in the office be&g' consoieMfciously \ closed. -♦■*• •• >.'-«<*• — Suggested New Calendar. — A nisw calendar has beeJ» devised, with the object of harmonising the civil year with the astronomical year. The Gregorian calendar, which at present governs civil operations, was established in 1562, o.vA it is contended tJiat the time has come to make another advance. The principal features of the proposed new calendar are : There will he 364, calendar days mi each year and one "Aniio day." The "Anno day" will come between Saturday/ th-s last day of December, and 1 Sunday, . the first day of January. This day, will [ bear no other name or date thar "Anno ! day," 1911, "Anne day." 1912, and so ' on. There will be exactly four weeks in, j every month, and every year, month, and! week will commence on a Sunday and end with a Siuidav. Every fourth yeair ; (commencing with 1912) shall havf r "mid ! anno" (or mid veai day). This daj shall j come between Saturday Vincent l?Lh. and ( Sunday Vincent 15th." It is the exact midd&e of the year. This day to be | treated in every respect the same as "Anno day." The nsw, calendar could, , by general consent, be adopted on Janu- ; ! ary 1. 191*, without disturbing the present calendar. — The Gentleman Farmer. — Writing on "The Hunga-rian Gentleman Farmer"' in the Septemßer Windsor, Baroness Grczy ca ys : — "He is the most contented individual in the world, in spite of the fact, or because, he knows absolutely nothing of what is going on around him. He does just read his newspaper which arrives daily from ; Budapest, and has vagus ideas that all Austrians are thieves and scoundrels, and that therefore a union "with Austria is necessarily fatal to Hungaivi but, as a matter of fact, the political situation of his country does not interest him in the least ; it does not affect the richness of his wheat o. the weight of his maizeheads. "A keen sportsman, he is unhampered by any game laws. In Hungary no one is allowed to carry a gun unless he owns so much land, and the owner of land — and therefore of game — naturally makes his own laws for its preservation. "His chief characteristic is hospitality, almost barbaric in it* l avishness — his guests, his friends, his relations, all are w-elcome, as long as there is room in the house. What matter to him if ox, sheep, or calf has to be specially slaughtered to feed the gay multitude who come 40 viait him? He has plenty and to spam. "Of town and town life he knows nothing. Budapest is noisy, and the automobries are smelly. He prefers driving his- magnificent hones in teams of fours or fives along the road« v where right and left j the rich fields belong to him. There are 1 at the present moment any number . of ' high-born Hungarian noblemen of ancient ! lineage and large estates who never from year's end to year's end go beyond the boundaries of theii own estates. Since the days of their youth and compulsory military service they have never been to the capital ; they never go to theatres nor [

read ctment fiction. Nature is the only hook they know; the varying seasons, us, coming Tftin, the growing calves and foals. There is no socal intercourse for them, save among tbemstilvea." — Superstition in China. — Papew to hand from China state that the Government has been surveying this country and mapping it. An unusually strict census has also been taken. And two measures hays been taken to suppress robbery by driving out or enlisting the bad characters. These new movements have given rise to a crop of the most persistent and foolish rumours. For example :— "They are scattering goate' hair in the wind. It will fall at people's ovens, and in 100 days become moths that will poison the family." Many people sifted the ashes to get the liair out. "Children are want©-" somewhere." So everywhere one sees children with a new cloth fish hanging to their buttons. This I is to show that they have gone fishing, and when the spiritual transporting agent comes along he will not get them ! [ Families are found weeping, and one young woman' fe said to- have committed suicide because "whole families are to bo transported somewhere." and they were already- enrolled ! Bottles that must have had poison in team were fotmd in wells! Graves openeSJ and put forth bricks -with myste-ious characters. These characters were copied and pasted in towns and markets by some unseen, hand. The unusual tiling about this, crop of rumours is their wide currency, and the 'persistency with which they live. At one pla>« the sur5 veyors had to get a proclamation put out before they could take their tripod out 1 again. Unfortunately this census.- -and the surveying, smacks of the West, and all Westerners come in for a share of th* populai suspicion. — Italian State Lotteries. — For the year 1907-8 the gross receipts from State lotteries in Italy were ove* £3,300,000, an increase of £120,000, and" of this sum £1,700,000 was clear profit to th<9 State. It appears also that the lot* tery is most popular amongst the poores* and most illiterate classes. Thus in Como, where 17 per cent, of the inhabitants are illiterates, each inhabitant contributes on the average 1 lira to the lottery. In Naples, whore the illiterates are 54 Tier cent., each inhabitant contributes 14 lire;and generally more than ha.lf the tickets -.sold ,are for snms below 6d. It may be that those who cannot read ar<» usualV ienorant of tlie profit which the State takes fov itself. A game m which more than half ihe money staked pee,* to the bank is not likely to attract gamblers "who hare"' the chance of gambling in any otli<* way. ftf t