MISCELLANEOUS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume V, Issue 249, 7 November 1872, Page 9

MISCELLANEOUS.

In a letter on the tobacco question, the " Lancet " says :—": — " To the poor man, working hard and living bard at the same time — to the soldier, fatigued, cold, and ill-fed duringa campaign — to* bacco is, we believe, both useful and comforting. It soothes some excitable men, and enables many another to concentrate his atteution on subjects requiring thought. If tobacco be the poison that its enemies declare it to be, it is eminently slow in its action, for every workhouse, lunatic asylum, and charitable institution has its greyhaired votaries to the pipe." Is this sarcasm, or otherwise ?

Two years ago, says P. Barllett, oue of my friends, who was suffering from toothache, thought he would try the effect of cutting a piece of the stem of the Aruacaria imbracata ; and taking some of the sap (resin), which has the appearance of a white paste, and which is compact, he made a little ball of it, .which he placed in the hollow of the tooth. Some hours afterwards the pain ceased, and the substance which still remained in the tooth answered all the purposes of the best stopping. Since that time the sap (resin) has become very hard; not only has it never moved, but my friend has not since experienced the least pain.

A rather alarming communication with regard to the dangers from lightning incurred by having dirty chimneys has recently been made by a Mr Preeee, of Southampton. Carbon, next to metals is the best conductor of electricity. Soot is carbon. Hence, in a foul chimney we have what he calls "an admirable conductor to lead the lightning into our very rooms." The remedy suggested seems simple enough. Keep your chimneys clean, and, "in the language of the telegraphist, " put your grates to earth," that is, connect each grate of your house with a solid and continuous piece of wire, like that used for telegrephic purposes', with a piece of metal buried in the oarth, of with thfi system oFiron pipes conveying gas and water through our towns." As the plan suggested is cheap .and easy, his ideas on the. subject cannot be too widely known- in a climate such such as ours, where " three fine «days aud a thunderstorm" is not a veijy unfair description of an .English summer. " Sportsman "

Among the many odd names for ailments daily cropping up in our midst; the latest is the disease called by. the "Lancet" "perambulator spine" which our contemporary says is caused by the carelessness of nurse-maids in jolting their charges over rough pavement and in crossing roads. The evil brought on thereby is thoughb'to he caries of Ibhe spiue. - There- js. notliuig- more

cruel than stupidity, and the stupidity of «ome nursemaids is enough to set any parents fingers tingling to the tips. The dire effects of what is called "railway spine" are too well known. It is shocking to think that results almost as bad may be brought about in the case of helpless little ones by a thicksculled, heavy-handed girl wheeling an unhappy child into possible decrepitude in a bungling perambulator. To Buch children under Such care — or rather under no care — these locomotive nuisances are veritable engines of torture. — "Sportsman."

Cincinnatus has been outdone by King Cakobau, of Fiji, as witness the following paragraph from a recent letter of the Levuka correspondent of the "Southern Cross": — "The yarnplanting season has been upon us for some time. In this healthful pursuit — the- tillage of the soil — bis Majesty the King takes the most profound interest. The pleasure which he derives in leading on a band of aboriginal agjiculturiots is unbounded. The King arms himself with a light pole about five feet in length, pointed- at the lower end, and with this rude instrument overturns the soil."

There is a good story afloat about Mr Bancroft. The old fellow is qnite a dandy, and very fond of flirting with the girls. Passing out upon a balcony one evening with a gay New York lassie, he began making love to her. She called him "Mr Bancroft." " Now, really, my dear Miss C ," said the ancient beau, "yon must not call me that — call me George." A few moments afterwards they returned to the drawing room, and mingled with the throng, when, to the amazement and horror of our ambassodor, ■the . mischievous girl exclaimed, loud enough for the whole company to hear, " Ge< rje, I have dropped my glove; please go back and look for it." George went, but has not returned witli that glove yet.

When Jekyll, the witty lawyer, was asked what was the difference between an attorney and a solicitor, he replied, •'About the same that exists between an alligator And a crocodile."