OBSERVATORY.

Putaruru Press, Volume VI, Issue 221, 26 January 1928, Page 5

OBSERVATORY.

Synthetic Beauty. The flapper has been described by ■ Dr. E. F. Armstrong, managing-di-rector of the British Dyestuffs Corporation, as the patron saint of chemistry. Quaintly, he says: “ She has rings on her fingers with synthetic stones, and footwear made of artificial skins all wrought by chemists, while the materials of her underwear are one of the greatest achievements of chemistry. “ The very sheen on her hair is perhaps synthetic, and on her face are the fingerings of products of the British Dyestuffs Corporation.” Explaining the above a distinguished chemist said, almost every thing she wears, even to bracelets and bangles is the work of the chemist. “ The forests of Sweden and Canada provide the material which goes to make her artificial silk stockings and evening frocks, while chic colours are manufactured with benzine from British coal. The bangles on her arms are but a cunning mixture of resins and milk products, while the perfumes of lavender, hyacinth and attar of roses with which she scents herself are often merely mixtures of turpine. “ Even her small perfecting touches of rouge and lip-stick are made from lard and iron-ore, while the golden hair which now does not fall down her back, but yet transforms her into a Norse goddess, is attained by the addition of hydrogen peroxide.” Fishermen Ahoy! In Karachi to-day they tell a fishing story. It sounds like a legend hoary, and it concerns some men in a dory. They saw a mammoth tali, which appeared to belong to a whale, and to it at once gave hail. Dragging out their net, they entrapped this monstrous pet (how is not told yet). Then, all day and night, although in a terrible fright, they battled with all their might. Its flappers were tight and fast, but four days later —at last, they made one mighty cast. Lo! says the Central News, before their astonished views, the whale spouted out in queues—fish, biscuit tins, coconut matting. It gave up the ghost to the men in the dory, and that’s the end of their wonderful story.

The Beauty of Trees. Some people are never so happy as when destroying something. A majority of the Chelsea Borough Council seems to be afflicted this way for they propose to chop down the beautiful trees in the famous Cheyne Row. These trees are known throughout the world, and such famous personages as Turner, Whistler, Swinburne, George Eliot and Thomas Carlyle and his wife, who lived in Cheyne Row, have enjoyed their shade and verdure. When they were in danger long ago it was Mrs. Carlyle who threatened to shoot the vandal whose axe was ready for the first chop at them. She saved the trees. Now, more than 100 stalwart residents have banded together and sworn to protect the trees at all .costs. Some of the trees have girths three feet in diameter and are fine specimens of the “ Tree of Heaven,” so familiar on the. boulevards of Paris. They are of Asiatic origin.