MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 352, 15 August 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

/ One of tho most comical of printers' errors is one of the latest, and ia in t big wise .— '• Mr Saville Kent, late of Brighton Aquarium, ii announced us about to take charge of a Marine and Fresh-Tater Aquarium in New York." Of course, some one euggests, the fresh " tater" will be kept in hot water. The Irish Farmers' Gazette eajs :— '• Bj the usual mode of ploughing, the soil is cut into soled slices anu partially turned over. Tim slicing and partiallj upsetting of the soil varies in depth, and when the operation ia repealed next j ear it consists in merely reversing what was preiiously done. The furrows cut in ploughing lea. by most ploughs, pre-eut a finn, unbioken, nicely cut surface, very good to look .it, but it is not (.ilic-ient cuknution, and the less efl'ecti\eit«, as is the case of 'high-crested' ploughing, the beltei fit looks to the eye which is satisfied with ineie straight lines. Such Hues are, no doubt \ery good as showing the tho skill of the ploughman, and the excellent construction of the implement for the purpose for which it was conutiueted, namely, cutting the land into nice looting dices ; but, as has been obsened, it is not cultivation. It does not fieo the earth ; it does not let light into it, nor heat, nor cold, nor air, nor moisture. Slices of land are aeiated on the outside, but it only get sskin deep, and the lumps icmainsa solid, and it is neither heated, lighted, or wuteied by atmospheric showers, bringing ammonia with them. Nor does the frost act on a compact mass of solid, though finecut slices, as it would do were these slices knocked about, b.-oken and smashed to the extent of letting the atmosphere ia and around it. The finest plough, then, it not the implement to molehills our soil, and hence it is not tho implement to cultivate fiem, in any true sense of the word. Fashionable milliner: "You'll have the flower on the Irft sido of the bonnet, of course, madam ?" Fashionable lady r •'Well— er— No ! The fact, there's a pillar on the left side of inj pew in church, so that only the right side of my head is seen by tin congregation. Of course I couid change my pew." Fashionable lady's husband. " Ya— as. Or even, the church, 3011 know, if necessary." (Fashionable milliner considers tho poiut.) — Punch. Young lawyers sometimes have an absurd way of identify* ing themselves with their clients. The other day one of these gentlemen ran that st.\lc of speech to its utmost limit by saung — " Gentlemen of the jury, we shall prove that, at the moment the policemen says he saw us pick the complainant's pocket, we were actually locked up in the stationhouse, in a stute of intoxication." A distinguished professor was in Edinburgh one wet Sunday, and, desiring to go to church, he hired a cab. On reaching the church door he tendered a shilling — the legal fare — to cubby, and was somewhat surprised to hear the cabmuu sa^, "Twa ahullin', sir." The professor, fixing Ins eaglo eyes upon the extortioner, demanded why he charged two shillings! upon which the cubm,ni dryly answered ""Wa wish to dibcouiago travelling ou the San bath as much ai poseiblt'j. sir." *

Tho Lancet has the following on tho very important question of medical aid at sea :—": — " Most of our readers hare at some time or other glanced over tho advertisement columns of tho daily journals, and have scon among the many comfofts and attractions offered to tlioso going to India, Australia, and the Cape> a lon^ list of 'e:»|)encnced surgeons ' ready at a moment' 3 notice during the voja<*e. We do not care to canvass the speciul merits or shortcomings ot those of our cloth who elect to go down to tho sea 111 ships and occupy themselves on the great waters ; but wv know as a fact that iince tho iirst ship advertisement appeared the travelling and the initiated public h*\o chosen to regard this 1 experience ' as a misnomer, a delusion, and a snare. The ship doctor has commonly been considered as the ruck of the profession, whoso capacities lay much more in the direction of brandy-and- water than the healing of the sick. But ocean travelling and the number of mercantile medical officers have increased during the past 10 years rery considerably, and, as ne know, emigration from this country now nssumes gigantic proportions. Hence, whether popular opinion, as indicated above, bo just or unjust, it is proper that the public should know whether any official standard has been established such as will ensure to oceanic travellers of all classes, as well as to emigrants, that medical wants afloat will be properly and efficiently supplied. It may or may not be generally known that at the beginning of last yoar the Board of Trade assumed, by a special Act of Parliment, all duties and responsibilities connected with emigration, and, in fact, now performs the work of the Emigration Office. The Passenger Acts of 1555 and 1863 (which comprise tho laws relating to emigration at present in force) contain sections reciting that every 'passenger ship must carry a 'duly qualified medical practitioner ' when there are more than 50 passengers on board, and when the voyage exceeds 80 dnys for a failing vessel and 45 for a steamship, and also in any case when the total number on board (including cabin passengers, officers, and crew) exceed 300 persons. The term ' duly qualified ' is explained clearly enough in section 36 of the Medical Act of 1858, which recites that no person can hold any appointment in the military or naval service, or in any emigrant or other vessel, or in any hospital, parish, union, &c, .... unless possessing certain qualifications expressed in schedule Aof tho Act. We need not describe the contents of this schedule, but have only to point out the responsibilities that devolve upon tbo Board of Trado in seeing that, as a minimum qualification, these provisions of the Passenger Act are carried out, not only as regards emigrant ships, but also as regards all British and colonial vessels that that bnir n surgpon on their article. Is this done, and clone systeinulually 'i The U\\ domamls that it ; should be done as' fully and faithfully as in tho case of army and navy surgeons or Poor Law medical officers, and, in fact, of all other naval, military, and civil officers in the service of the Ciown, or those who are directly or indirectly subject to Imperial legislation. It must be remembered that, according to statistics published last year, no less than 295,213 emigrants left the United Kingdom in 1872 in steam and sniling ships ; and these statistice alone show how much medical officers are responsible for afloat. Indeed, it is no insult to the sister servicos to say that, under ordinary circumstances, the duties of a surgeon in charge of an emigrant ship with 500 or 600 persons of all classes, ajjes, and nationalities on board are, for tho time being, of a far more important and responsible nature than those of a medical officer in charge of a regiment or a Queen's ship. And hence, as we infer, it is one of the chief duties of the Board of Trade to tale care those sections of the Passengers Acts nbote referred to are carried out in their integrity. Thero are other sanitary aspects of emigration to which we shall prosentlv h.ive occasion to refer ; but undoubted evidence exists thaj thci c are now many ' experienced ' surgeons afloat whose names cannot be found either in the Medical Bet/ister or in tbe books of any examining body in the United Kingdom." A writer in the Family Herald informs the readers of that journal that " there is a subscription on foot for distressed Maoris in New Zealaud ! " The circumstance is mentioned as an illustration of " the practical readiness with which Britain helps all." Whether a baker can do without sleep was a question brought before the Bench at Footscray recently, in tho hearing of 11 case of demand for wages, failing due notice by a second man against his employer. He had been dismissed at an hour's notice on his refusal to go to town to fetch yeast, which would have kept him three hours out of his bed, after having been at work from midnight to noon. As tho evidence bhowed it to be the custom of the trade to regard ■leep as an unheard-of luxury for a baker, the summons w as dismissed, the Bench considering the demand for wages to bo unreasonable, under tho circumstances. Atlenlion is directed by a correspondent of a contemporary to a simple safety lamp recently invented at Home. Ho considers it may be of servico to miners, and describes it thus :—": — " Tako a phial bottle of the whitest glass you can find. Insert a piece of phosphorus of the size of a pea. Pour upon the phosphorus as much boiling oil as will fill one-third of the phial. Cork the phial so mto exclude all air. This is the safety lamp. When it is required, open the phial to admit the atmospheric air, immediate re-corking it. The lamp is alight, and will give at least as much ligl.t *s an ordinary miner's lantern. When the lamp becomes dim, merely open the phial for an instant, carefully re-stop-piug it, and repeat the operation when required. It is said that these safety lamps last for six months without further trimming.' ' The following receipt for a coughing horse is pronounced efiacious : — " Take two oz. each of liquorice, powdered tar, and honey; make into eight pills; give one pill a day for three days ; then omit three days ; then give the other two, one at a time. Roll the pills m flour to keep them from sticking."