GENERAL NEWS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8060, 14 March 1906, Page 4

GENERAL NEWS.

It is being seriously proposed to the municipitlilv of Paris by n cintvactor of siandiug, to" pave the streets Willi mill;. Ho claims for ii puM-Miuiil of inib.vraied mill; tho advantages of durability and iioiodcs,nc.-s, lYrlmps, ul»i>, in limes'of dl.tn-s ami turbulence it might provide a resource atlraclive enough to divert the populace from li.UTiea.des und b.onbardment oi tlie pnl.lio ' forces.' It is seber truth thai at tlio ' approaching dollinakcrs' exhibition tlitro ; will bo ii tji-i-iit \iii-ic-!v of objects made from indurated milk. These, include domimxs, I dico, cigar-holders, canes, umbrella handles! I forks mid spoons. [ Recent statistics show that serponls kill more persons in India than ir. imv other country. During l'.lOl the liuiiilier' of victims was '22.Slo,'and it is csiiwiitcd lli.it ah most, if not quite, as nianv v,,, : killed in 1002. Physicians, h.v 1b;.,,.;. ~f proper anii- i dotes, do what ibev can to ciT-ci cures, li.it 1 there nre iiiuny legions where physicians are I very rarely seen, and there the 'natives n.ly ' solely on vinegar, which they apply to the I wound caused by the serpent. This simple I remedy is said to prove very effective if ml- I ministered in time, and it is also useful in the case of wounds caused by other animals I besides serpents.

One half of the genial humorist's quaini sa;l tgs are never recorded most likely I.e. even forgets them himself. An acquaintance) of his says some of his most quaint savings are uttered within the privacy of his own home, and fail to find their way into print. Two new maxims are quoted as having hi-i-n recently added to the world's stock. They arc: " "We ought never to do wrong when people are looking," nnd''Xo real -'fiit 1.--iiian would ever tell the naked truth'in th„ pretence of a lady." To t,hc.:> ■ ir.cv he ~-1,1, 1 hisliibutetoa dcce;W friend, '■ llcdid not possess one interesting vice to brigliitn his sombre virtues." t * * »

lord Brampton tells the following slorv of the davs before he became. Mr. .In 4kv Hawkins. His first brief was to defend one of tvo men charged with coining, and wlicn Ihc y were placed in the dock he overheard a brief colloquy between them, fuincr .\o. I mid Ids comrade that ho was to be deieodcil bv a vcrv good man. (Vini.r No. 2 said he »'l.-o was defended. He did not know the gentleman's name, " but."-indicating Mr, Hawkins— he added, admiringly, •■ he's a smart 'un. When I handed uvcr"the fee he put the thick 'un"—i.e., £o\crcign—" between his teeth and bit it. He's the chap for my moneyt"

Ficeent statistics have shown that Germany heads the list its a reading nation, and Russia, is falling to zero. In lsii:j, 2.'!,007 books were published ill Germany, as compared with 8,082 in Russia. In re»ard to newspapers, the inhabitants of the British Isles are catered for by somewhere like 5000 journals, while ltussia with a population of 1:10,000,001) has only 800. The figures are easily accounted for by the censorship. In Germany the actual number of professional writers ii estimated at 12,000, of which uuuilier 40.) are poets. In behalf of France the assertion is made that she provides tile international literature, inasmuch as half the copies of French novels printed arc exported, while two-thirds of her historic and scientific works also cross the frontier. « * • • 0

" Bacillus tragi " is the name given lon new microbe discovered by a Talis cbemisi. This microbe is said to possess a very peculiar piopertp, that of imparting Jo the medium in which it thrives and multiplies a strong flavour of strawberries. The chemist lirstYsolated and developed his bacillus in milk. The microbe was found to " pc-ptonise " and render soluble the albuminoids contained in tho milk. At the same lime the liquid, which the chemist was courageous enough to taste, had acquired a dceided strawberry flavour. Dm bacillus fragi conveys, it was ascorla iiiecl, its peculiar properly to several other liquids md soaie solids, beef tea being among the former. _Hut it is a little disconcerting i„ -hink that a lair imitation of strawberries vnd cream can now be manufactured by drop, oing into a bowl of cream some colouring .natter and a spoonful of bacilli tragi.

All leaf buds, whether underground or on the bare branches of winter, are plant savings, put aside from the superfluity of summer against the proverbial rainy day. The starch of which such organisms consist is to the plant what his savings are to the prudent man, and the common potato is one of the greatest misers of the vegetable world in this respect; for almost the whole of the tuber is made up of starch food, left as a legacy to :he young plants represented by the " eyes." Tliis is true of all plants that grow 'from bulbs. Some go further, for they run a savings bank in the shape of a tap-root, which, if left undisturbed, grows larger year by year, to bo drawn upon in sensons of drought when other means of subsistence arc exhausted. Amongst these are primroses, carrots, beetroot, and turnips, and with Ibese three last this faculty of saving has been developed by man to make the plants a source of profit to himself, e * * *

At the time of the South Sea Company's scheme, in the whole of the country appeared to go mad on stock-jobbing anil speculation. und innumerable companies were started which never lmd the slightest chance of paying, The Government, became alarmed, and on the i'iih of i;!v an tinier of the Lords Justices assembled j n piiyy Council was published, dismissing all the petitions that hart been presented for patents and elmvlers, ami di-.solving all the bubble companies. of these seh.-mcs v.'"]-; plausible enough, and had lliey Im u taken when the puhlie mind was uiiexeite.l, might, have been launched with some pr.-jKvt of success. But they were established merely with the view of niUng the skin s in Um market. The projirees took the tir-t opportunity of a rise to sell mil, and ne:*! morning the scheme was at ar. end. One of the companies,-tailed was for a wli'd for porpetual motion— capital, one million ; another was for " e!TO!ii;';;iie;h;eid <>f in England, and improving of globe and church lands, and impi':\ : ,iig and rebuilding parsonages and vicars;;" houses." "Why the elegy/' .-ay- an :.M wiiier. " who were bo mainly iii!er''st''d iu ibe latter e.hmse, should have taken ■> much interest in the first is only I - 1... t '.plained f-n the supposition that the s-.'i-'-i. e was ,:.,1 In- a. knol'of the fovbiMtieg ].s;-,in-,Bonce so common iu KngUnd.'' T>:o rb.-uvi of thu company were, rapidly subscribed for. MERIT KEWAKDJSU lit uUUKT OF JUSTICE. The acknowledged good ous.lil ies and success of Sanded and Sons' Eucai.yfti xthact have brought out many imitations, and one case was just tried'in (he Supreme Court of Victoria, before his Honor Chief Justice Sir J. Madden, K C M.G., etc. His lienor, in giving judgment, said that whenever an article is commended ti the public by reason of it; good quality, etc., it is not permissive to imitate any of its features. Kestraining the imitators perpetually from tioing so, he ordered them to pay all osts. We publi h this to alford the people an opportunity of protecting themselves, and f securing what is proved beyond all doubt by skiiled witnesses at (lie Supreme Court of Victoria, and by many authorities during the last 31 years to be a preparation of genuine merit, viz.:— Tiif, Gksi'ine Pander & Sons Pcee Volatile Eucalypti ExTKACr.