MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 373, 3 October 1874, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

What I have called the four points of importance, and particularly tlio three first, shot* tliaf there is a connection between the development of the brain as regards mental faculties and the development of the brain a* regards leading movements m one side of the body. There is a great chance, therefore, that if wo giro a good deal of attention, or, better, as much attention to the left side of our body as we give to tho right, there is a great chance that wo would have two brains as regards mental functions, instead of one as we have now- There it no doubt that we can improve the two sides of the body constantly. The facts I have mentioned, as regards those children having atrophy on tho left side of tho body, do not leavo room to doubt. It is clenr we con develop the left side so as to make it exercise all tho functions w hich exist m most of ua in the right side of the brain, and if so m cases of atrophy on one side of the brain, why not so in cases iv which we havo two brains ? I think, therefore, tho important point should be to try tj make every child, as nearlj as possible, exercise the two s.des of the body equally — to make use ot them alternately. One day or on« week, it would be one arm winch wouid be employpd for certain things, such as writing, cutting meat, or putting a fork or spoon in the mouth, or in any of the various organs in which both the hands and the feet are employed. In this way it would be very easy indeed to obtain a great deal, if not all. We know that even adults can come to make use of their left arm. A person who has lost his right arm can learn to write (difficult, it is true, because in adult life it is much more difficult to produce these effects than in children), and the left arm can be used in a great variety of wa\ s by persons who wish to make uso ' of it. It is perfectly well known that the left arm is employed in playing on tho piano or on certain other instruments almost as well as the right arm. Tiierefoie, there is 110 difficulty in training children to make use of both sides of the body equally. There is also another fact as regards the power of training. Even in adults who have lost the power of speech fiom disease of the right side of the brain, the left side of those patients, with great difficulty, will come to learn. They always have more difficulty thau children do, but they learn if they are taught m the samo way. It is the same kind of teaching that we employ for a child when we try to make it spenk ; it is the same nay that should be employed to teach an adult who has lost the power of speech. It is so also as regards gesture und tho j rest. I hure trained some patients to make gesture j with the left arm, who had loat the power of gesture with the right, and who were quite uncomfortable because their left arm, when they tried lo move it, at times moved m quite an irregular way, and without any harmony. There is a power of training, therefore, even in adults, and if so, that power exists m children, and as we well know that we tan milp » child naturally left-handed come to be right-handed, m the same way wo can make a child who is naturally righthflnded come to be left-handed, also. But the great point should bo to equally develop the two sides. — I)r BrownSequard. The Moorish manner of eating is not elegant. They squat on the ground round a dish, and scoop out morsels with thenhands. In the morning, at sunrise, they take sour milk with bread, or a kind of soup. The second meal is at noon. They 6crve up flour cakes, baked on iron plates or hot stonet. These cakes they dip in molted butter. In tho summer they add a dessei tof dates and other kinds of fruit. The last meal is at sunset, and consists of the famous kuskus^u. Knives|and forks aro.unknown, and spoons are not m general use; but, along tho Atlantic seaboard, from Capo E^parel to tho mouth of the Sus, the natives make use ot un oysterlike shell which the sea casts upon the sand The women and children eat apart from the men. Meat is only eaten on feast days, and theu only in small quantities. Many poor people never ta3te meat from year's end to year's end, except perhaps a little boar's flesh or venison ; but, as they have milk, butter, and eggs, it cannot be said that the Moors arc vegetarians. In the tovrus tea ia the favourite drink, but in the country, it it found only in tho houses ol the wealthy and almost everyone drinks water. Busa and lakby, fermented drinks from corn and the sap of the date palm, are not known in Morocco, ad it would be a crime to kill or injura a date tree in that country. The practice of tapping the palm is first to be met with in tho cases situatecUo the bouth of Tunis. It was at the Warn ick steeplechases that old Chandler made that wonderful jump— the biggest ever known ; and a little story was told about the event. The horse belonged to the father-in-law of W , my informant, and he used to ride it sometimes with tho North Warwickshire hounds. One day Lord S called at the farm, where he occasionally bought a horse, and asked if there was anything good for sale. W brought ont the Chandler, und the poor animal was made the butt of a choico collection of jok« s by Lnr.l 8 and his friends. W assured them tli it the horse could jump; but Lord S replied: "That Least jump 9 Absuid! I wouldn't hnve such an ugly fiddleheaded brute in my stable." So ho was led back to his n.itive stall. Lord S , who was very anxious to win the big ovent at Warwick, Jiad baeled his horse heavily, and was confident of success ; nrd for some time after the 6tart his hopes ecemed likely to be realised. Rain had swollen the brook very considerably, however; and as the going was propottionately bcuvy, a good deal of trouble was experienced at the water. Lord S 's horse would not have it, others refused, when old Chandler, splendidly handled by Captain L , come down to tlie stream, and, with a superb rush and a magnificent effort, cleared fairly 39 foot. " Impossible ! " you exclaim, of course — every one does who was not there, but it seems to be well authenticated by many witnesses. Lord S • was wonder-struck. "In the name of all that's miraculous, what horse is that?" he asked. '■ It'« the ugly fiddle-headed brute that you wouldn't have in your 6table, my lord," replied WW — — , who was standing near. Old Chandler won easily. Women have the power, if they will only exercise it, to make e\ cry being who wears a pair of truncated garments an Odd-fellow in the most melanpholly sense of the term, by coii-ii-niu^ him oyer to the buchelor's list whore he would drag out a miserable existence beyond the influence of human sympathy. In every case in which a youug woman is about to put her lovely bead into Hymen's noose, let her make it an indispensible conditiou that her intended shall be a certified member of some provident society before she leaves her maiden name behind her at tho altar. No woman of sense belonging to the working classes need be told that both her health and happiness during her married life must greatly depend upon her husband being able to attend to his employment, or that in case of sickness they shall be provided for bv his provident foresight. If the ladies attend to this they may save both themselves and their iamihes from much misery, at all events thoy will be doing a duty both to themselves and to society. The Pastoral Times, 15th August, writes : — " It is many years since so many tramps visited us during the current beason. They come begging of butchers, bakers, and innkeepers at Denihquin, until the tax is heavily felt. As a 6ample of them, the following may be relied upon :— A strapping fellow called, a few days since at the mayor's house in our town. Tho gentleman was not in, so the lady gave tho wanderer a hearty meal. Just as he was concluding, the good man of the bouse entered, and offered the wayfarer work for a time as an out-door gardener, at 30s per week. The ex-hungry man demurred ; walking away, spying, 1 Day- wages don't suit me ; I want job work.' "