CHERISHED ILLUSIONS. DESTROYED.

Shannon News, 11 April 1924, Page 1

CHERISHED ILLUSIONS. DESTROYED.

The new enlarged edition o£“Popular Fallacies Explained and Corrected,” by A, S. E. Ackerman (Old Westminster Press; 12/6), is a destroyer of cherished illusions. For example, Nero did not fiddle while Home was burning, for the reason that he was in his villa at Antiuni, fifty miles away, a ( t the time. Moreover, the violin only only dates from the middle of the 16th century. Diogenes did not live in a tub. The Curfew Bell was not instituted by William, tihe Conqueror, he simply enforced an existing regulation. King John did not sign the Magna Charta, “the seal was probably put on in the Chancery.” It is even doubtful whether King John could write. The first Englisn Prince of. Wales was not born at Carnarvon Castle, for the simple reason that the castle was barely commenced by Edward 1., and not finished until 33 years after the babyhood of his fourth son.” Blondel, the minstrel, did not discover the place of confinement in Austria of Kichard 1., though the story of liis singing outside the castle to let his Boyal master know his proximity, is charming. TRUTH ABOUT RAIEGH AND COLUMBUS.

Sir Walter Ttaleigh did not introduce cither tobacco or the potato into England. Tobacco was introduced by Sir John Hawkins, or Sir Francis Drake, and the potato first reached this country as a result of one of Drake’s expeditions to the New World. Christopher Columbus did not discover America, at least, not North America, which was discovered by John Cabot, a Venetian, in 1497. In 1492 Columbus sighted Sam Salvador, and ‘‘on August Ist, 1498, he, beheld for the first time the mainland of South America, but does not appear to have landed.” WHAT WATT DID. • . Watt did not invent the steamengine., but only improved it. The steam-engine was invented by Edward Somerset, Marquess and Earl of Worcester, in 1655. Marconi did not invent the wireless telegraph, but developed and applied it. . It was . ths mathematical work of Clark Maxwell and the scientific experiments of Hertz which produced wireless telegraphy. Neither did Edison invent- the' telephone, which was the discqifery of /Alexander Graham Bell. It is also a fallacy to believe that gravel soil is healthier to live on than a day soil. As a matter of fact, when gravel has been rendered foul by. infiltration with organic matters, it becomes a very “hotbed of disease.”

Turning to the animal kingdom, it appears that! owls do not avoid daylight, that no better at night than other animals, that ■ tortoises placed in gardens in the fond belief that they will eat up slugs and other garden pests do nothing of the kind, but feast themselves on the good garden stuff. Ostriches do not bury then heads in the sand whon pursued. A black roof to a dog’s mouth does not denote purity of and a beaver does not use his broad, flat tail as a tirowel. Moles are not blind, although their sight is not brilliant, and monkeys rarely, if ever, have fleas. Turning to ourselves, there is no such thing as growing pains, and that “what) are called, growing pains in children are rheumatism,” which is unwise and even dangerous to neglect. Ozdne, which we are led to believe is so healthful and invigorating, breathed in even minute quantities, “acts as an irritant, to air passages, and is highly injurious.” The existence of ozone in the air has always been doubtful, and “recent research shows that it is' never present below altitudes of 8000 feetv The smell attributed to it at the.seaside really arises from decaying seaweed.” Cancer is not hereditary; brimstone and treacle is not good for children in the spring or at any time, and -ue good , old linseed poultice beloved of our grandmothers is no good so far as the linseed is concerned (a sponge would do as well), the only virtue in it being the hot water with which'it is mixed. THAT GREEN WINTER.

A mild winter is healthier than a cold one, and therefore a green winter does not necessarily fill the churchyard. It is a popular belief that it is bad to bathe in cold water when you are hot, but this it would appear is not so. “On the contrary, it is better to bathe in cold water when the body is warm provided no time is lost in getting into the water.” Rooms warmed by gas stoves are not unhealthy, neither do they dry the atmosphere unduly, but care shouui .> taken that the stove is not too powerful for the size of the room.

; Moths do not eat clothes. This is danse by the grubs .that develop from the eggs the moths have laid. The bagpipe did not originate in Scotland, but can be traced in ancient Persia and by inference in Egypt, Chaldaea, and ancient Greece. Alas for our illusions!