GENERAL NEWS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 23 May 1913, Page 7

GENERAL NEWS.

NEOLITHIC SURGERY

The appearance of the first chapter of a history of cerebral surgery by the eminent French surgeon, M. Lu-cas-Champoiiniere, recalls the ever famous discovery of a prehistoric skull in 13 dolmen of Lozeres in 1668 —a skull' that showed traces of having been opened by mechajiical means and trepanned (says a London paper). Various methods have been suggested as those of the neolithic surgeon. Each of them naturally depended upon the <use of a sharpened flint, which does not naturally suggest itself as the best instrument for such an operation. M. Broca held that it was performed by persistently outting round the skull in a circle with a flint. M. Ohamponniere has shown ' lately by experiment that by boring holes at regular intervals the seltion could be made in thirty-five minutes. Equally various have been the purposes suggested. Some have supposed that it was a part of some religious rite and performed after death. M. Champonniero is, however, convinced that- the op*?rajfcioa was performed for medical purposes. SIXTEEN MILLION BABBITS. In 1911 the United Kingdom importedl rabbits and hares from Australia, (says tho London correspondent of the Sydnev Daily Telegraph). The great bulk of these would be rabbits, and yet you rarely or never, in this country find rabbits being sold as Australian. The Britisher is very patriotic about the meat he eats. Of all the "roast beef of Old England" consumed last vear only 27 per cent, was home-killed; the balance'came from the Argentine, Australia, and other places oversea. Much of it, of. course, was sold as imported but a huge quantity was ea+An under th<>, belief that it was the product of England's rich pastures. of Australian rabbits are eaten as English and Ostend, and not a few are served un unrW various 4ip£ui ,se ' s - such a<? English chicken. You vet Australian rabbit even at good tables in "chicken" pie, natties and fricassee. And vet the Englishman has strong prejudices about rabbit. For instance, he is averse to the tame or hutch-bred article, apparently ouite ignorant of the fact that the millions of rabbits imported from Belgium are nearly "all hand-fed. Breeding and hand-feed-ing rabbits is one of Belgium's national industries. The occupation is carried on chiefly by the women, and children on the little farms, and is found to be more porfi table than the raising of poultry. The occasional Australian, who has insristed that rab-bit-breeding on ( a big scale might give higher returns than the breed-. ing - of merinos may not be such a crank as is generally supposed.. A NEGRO BUTLER'S ASPIRATIONS. ;Mr Josephus Daniels, the new Secretary of the United. States Navy, was astonished to receive among the many applications for posts made by office-seekers in his own State of North Carolina, a letter from his negro butler Davis, who aspired to the Secretaryship of tho Liberian Legation'. Unknown to his employer, it appeal's, the Chronicle says, that Davis studied at Howard University, Washington, and acquired a good speaking and writing knowledge of French, German and Spanish. He is also an expert stenographer, and his letter of application, which naturally amazed Mr Daniels, was a faultless piece of English composition. The Navy Secretary declares that he does not know what to do about the mattea* yet, though he will certainly look into Davis's credentials.