MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, 15 January 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Tlio boy who leaves school with a fixed habit of observa*. t.ion is really juit beginning his education Me is parsing from the tuition of imperfect teachers to that of instructors, whose store of knowledge i» boundless, and who** methods aro always best. There is really no more curious study than that of men's habit* in th:s particular. To ordinarily observant people it seems simply t marvel th.it some men, and women can see so much and learn bo little. We our•flves have known many curious cases of the kind. We. kaye known, fur instance, persons of fii c ability, octnpjirjg editorial positions, who could never jearn how to h.dicute » desired alteration on a proof-sheet, and that too, when they were called upon to so indicate their wishes e\ery day on proof Blips on which similar alterations were marked "already. Wa knew a shipping clerk once, who, after de.al.ing directly wi h steamboats lor .tears, was astonished to levin that, a part of a»ery steamboat is under water. The tendvney to this habit of observat on, together with its co> sequent habits of com-, parieon and reflection, nature implants in human mind, and it is this that gives birth t.o ths. perp exing questioning of all children When it it nllpned to qYlop itself, it bpcemes tha best and surest of all educators ; but for tjjc most part it is rudely impressed in early childhppd by reason of the indolence of parents, and so we find it exiting very feebly, ifat all, in half tl\e people we meet. Your child wants to" know the fuels about everything he sees, and the reasons lor. thetn. He naturally asks his lather or his mother, who to, him are the repositories of all wisdom. It is not always, easy to answer him ; and as the average patent cares a good. •Kal more for his or her own onifort than for the future, character of the child's mind, the matter is epmmonh disposed of by an injijiictidn a,gains.t questioning, which is ae_ g rent an qutrnge upon the child as anything can be. Ha has a right to ask questions. The Otod wlu? put it into his. mind to question you, made i,t ypur duty to answer him to. the best of your ability . And your, abilify to answer depends largely upon your in uslry in f,ryitjg to learn how If yot^ do not know the thing which he asks, and cannot find if; out, or if it be something which you cannot make him, understand, you have only to tclt him so, leaving him free' to ask about the nexi> thing that interest s^or puzzles him. If ycu repel him with a mocking saw, or fervid his further! q-iestioning, you injure him fcr life, qint-e as really and qui*e. as seriously as if jou did him physical hurt. — jjLKirfli and Home. Dr Binz read a paper before the British Association, at, lts late meeting, showing that the action of ajcohol on the heart of warm-blooded anin\als had the effect of reducing the te«i perature of the body 3 degs oij degs. Fahrenheit. The alleged heat, he said, of the organism irpm aleonol did not exist. The surjective impression was, at least piirtially, the consequeace of an irritation of the ner\es of the stomach and of the enlargement of the vessels arising in. the ekin. When given in small quantities tiic thermometer showed no extraordinary increase or decrease of the temperature of the blood ; moderate doses, however, showed a distinct decrease of about hall'-an-hours duration ; while strong iuebnating quantities evinced a still more decided lowering lasting several hours. The decrease, after moderate doses, too*_ place most succc slfully in w arm blooded animals which had" not for sonio time previously had alcohol administered. By injecting a cubic centimetre of ichor under the skin of rabbits or do.'S death was produced in a short time. This, however, was not the case, if with the ichor, diluted alcohol was. adtnsnistered either by the stomach or the skin. In the., latter case the animal was quite lively and relished its food, so lhataldohol he contended, need not b$ a narcotic. Hia* experiments, he said, showed a threefold action, viz., the diminution of the heat of tjhe body, reduction oi the putrid processes, and raising the action of the heart. Alcohol was, more than a simple stimulant : it was a ttrong anti-pjretio. and an equally powerful antiseptic. It was a^rtontobe expected that alcohol would not be without it influence on the metamorphosis of tissues. An agent that, consumed, in large doses, clearly lowered the combustion, must also b« supposed to decrease the uriti and the carbonic acid. This was in reality the case. Irritation and functional disturbance took place when, in due moderate climates, we indulged too freely in the use of alcohol, Dr Brunton, in some remarks on she paper, said that Dr Binz had shown them that alcohol lessened the power of protoplasm to undergo oxidation, and it was only by undergoing oxidation that protoplasm could fulfil tho (unctions of life. He remarked, however, tliafc a certain quflnttt.v of sherry taken along with dinner was useful in (Moisting dinestion. A man, for instance, haying hard brain work, went and partook of pinner when tired, and the result was tiiat the stomach,, as well as well as the other parts ofthe body being tired, the fpod did npt digest. But if he took a htflo sherry it stimulated his stomach until lie digested his food, and tben when the stimulation oi the sherry was exhausted he had hi* newly digested food to fall bnck upon to support him. His conclusions were that a little alcohol was a good thing when property used, but a bad thing when taken in excess. D,r Edwaid Smith pointed out that the chief value of the paper was the proof which it afforded that moderate or large d,o*e? of alcohol caused an absolute diminution of the heqfc of the body. Assuming thut to be true, no further prppf was needed that alcohol was not food, because the action of food was to prodoce heat. The experiments had distinctly shown that alcohol noted &i » poison bv diminishing tKe natural vitil ncl ion 3 of the b,ody. Dr Binz in rpply, snid that nicohol, as an in* direct food must, he thought, he admitted, when )t was considered that it contributed to diminish thr combustion of the tissues. He thought that to people in a bad st; teof health alcohol might be useful ; and for labpuring men alcohol in smull does might be one oi the best and cheapest fb'tds they could (.et. Flies, motquitos, and similar insects art generally endured as unmitigated nuisnqces. whiph \>yvc no good whatever connected w}th them- Recording tp the 2?sw York Tribune^ Judge Ilu»h T., Brooks h»s get up p. fief« nee on behali o£ these household pests, in which lie vind cates their usefulness. Pc sajs, tha.^ 'tfhes. bred bj fiJt 1> and putrefaction, t^avenger beetles, lurvis of gnats, dragon flies, and ephemera, remove {lit h, cleanse pt tenant water, nnd taveniunlind from malaria and deuth. Without tl.ejr agency TA Bt districts would bo deppp plated, flies and nufquitos do nol cwi o unless they are needed, He suggests to fretting housewives that if they pan, induce their -recreant, huibunds to scrape the barnyards in early apring, and allow no subsequent aciumu-.. lntion of the stable, bury everj dead carcase of chicken or npuie, mftke freqfleM application of dried ear^h to privj. and to sink boles, thoroughly drain all marshy placef -gelj the men to do this, nnd they theimelves secure "well them indoor eatables, and send to the garden miscellaneous slopi^ an,d t,hoy will think better of JYoviden.ee and the flips/'j

Thp ikmv method for produe n ; gas for lighting purposi's fg|ui vrnter wiw dtsou^ard at, some Jer.glh during rlie EdmIWfch moftin.r of th<« British Association of G-as Managers. Mr Gore, of I. >n lon, who read the paper introducing (ho subject condemned tin* new teas cm t'le ground mmnly of its unMiiriM, from thp la t*t»e admixttin* of carbonic «cid and sidphmvttcd hydrogen Ho contended t!iat no mnteiidor process invei'tf I vi) to the time pmiM c'lnuete with i-o-il in Mthc rmnufnci iiio of illi'ininatinij cn^ t^ub-eqiicnf n>ti»ker r , ™i iwoiof, B'inki« vo i- » I iTourablj *<\{ hdinMullv o thp new ga«, n 'upli pin bo i r i so of a given iHutiiiuatinE powi»r, a^ tk cost of li 8 1 per llMX) cubio fi.»t. winlit roal rsb of alike quality cost 9 3 (5 1 U Ciuchesipr, wla-re the wutcr gnii» produced, it has bo n repeatedly used -ilone ; but, owmg to iti iiiiMtitability tq fchn common fishtail burners in goner.il me tliepp, it lias been found npcassnry to mix with it a small propoition of coal eas. In this form thoro hns bppn no failure whntevpr. The njatoriala required ia the production of t)n> i."i-> ftrp c-oJfp. iron, water, and spirits. Throe tons of cuke will pr>idnpp 132,000 rubic feet of gis. Tlie first process costs about. 7d P op 1000 cubic feet, and thp purifying ooerihoin bring u]i tho ontiro PTppnae to Is 8 1 per 1000. If nn* rrenerallv opknowlpdijed that the new method nog still m tho etpprnnental ttasjo. but for the most part, the nuthoiittes who spoko appeared to have confident hopes of its «iic< p>st The Zouave, the lord Chief Jtjstico'a yaehf;, goes to sea every Friday evening or Saturday morning with the learnod judj'o for a cruise of about forty-eight hours, this giving his lordship time to be in London on Monday morning for the TipUborne trial. Th<" Chief Justice, when on boaid, 13 engaged almost the t\holo time in writing.

bcLiiounliu liiinsflt sU^ldunh, »t tin- doubly uiijioi iuiioo unU value ol tio memorandum which Walter hid mndo in liis pocket book As &oon as it should be °afo to Tn-iuij forward the sijbjoot a;;am, the sigi'i of thn Tiieuionindutn in Ins own han.lwntmg would, no iloubt, renvvo Iho r< mpoiary oloiid wlucli liftd fnllon upon In* m<ell<-ct, «mt which hml not, so fur as Lnwrcncp, by tlio clf»«ent ii vi«ti(;ntnin, cpiil-l vliscern, invaded nny other provine-- ol v, iirni en ibli- thorn to ivcovit, without delay, tliu prc'i* uu* <?rj<^tit, toun ming which )io lmd until now been inditim-nt. ! Early on the followii'ir 1 lornm;.', r>nly m-ulo ecurc-li fortliu pori(et-bool( among ft lower burnt unt nl uiultifariiMn objpi-t* which had lain for woel>i m the lock' r undi^lurbfil. He found it, a shabby folding-case ol green le.ithor, spotted with groeso, rubbed nt t ho corners, and 6trongly BCi'ntod with stalo tobnepo. ap instant mijgiving, Lawrence Dnly oppn^tl it, and found, not tho collcntion of r otley articles f inn mr to him as the content •» of Walter 1 ? poclet book, but the small mir^ical instrument i, the roll of lint, and cab of stickinij-plnstev, win eh he remembered to ha\o seen in Deering's possession.