MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume VII, Issue 379, 17 October 1874, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

The transfusion of blood is a medical experiment which should only be tried under the best advice, and even then sometimes produces distressing results. A man named Simpson was, according to one of the American papers, the other day nearly dead from consumption, when Dr Hopkins, who was attending him, decided to try the effect of a tiansfusion of blood. As none of Simpson's friends or neighbours were willing to shed their blood for Simpson's sake, Dr Hopkins had no alternative but to use Simpson's goat for the purpose, and accordingly, opening his patient's arm, injected about two quarts of the goat's blood into the sufferer's system. Simpson began immediately to revive, but his revival was marked by the most disagreeable symptoms. No sooner had his strength returned than he jumped out of bed, and, twitching his head about after the fashion of a goat, made a savage attempt to butt the doctor. Dr Hopkins, after Simpson's head had been plunged against his stomach three or four times with the force of a battering-ram, took refuge in an adjoining room, whereupon Simpson banged his head against the door with such violence that he would have soon smashed the panels but that his attention was diverted from the doctor by his mother-in-law, whoat this moment entered the room. One well-directed blow from Simpson's head floored the unfortunate old lady, and then, as she lay screaming for help,. Simpson frolicked round her, making efforts to nibble the green flowers which formed the pattern of the carpet. At last he was securely tied down, but alarmed the whole neighbourhood by his frightful " baas." Distressed by Simpson's condition and the reproaches of Mrs Simpson, Dr Hopkins determined to undo the evil if possible, and, by heavily bribing an Irishman who was Simpson's servant, procured fresh blood from the faithful domestic and injected Simpson a second time. Simpson is now quite well, but shocks his old Republican friends, by displaying an irresistible tendency to vote the Democratic ticket, and speaks a strong brogue. He has only once butted since the last " transfusion." On going into church a few Sundays ago, one of the remaining corpuscles of the goat's blood got into his brain, and he butted the sexton half-way up the aisle ; recovering himself, however, in time to apologise just as the- indignant sexton was aboxit to floor him with a hymn-book. With the mass there is a positive devotion to the art and labour of money-making ; the unrest of accumulation seizes on them like a fever; unless, they are continually " getting," adding to their store, investing at a good profit, reinvesting, and so crowding into a few years the natuial work of a lifetime, they are wretched ; filled with a sense of envy of more fortunate people, sullen, discontented, angry at not beng able to reach or to surpass the level of their neighbours or competitors. Even really good men are thus infected. I remember one, of great intellectual power, and by no means poor, who had heard of an essay " On the Art of Getting On," and i was eager to get it, read it, and digest and apply its lessons. Anothei, a good and deeply pious man, confessed to me that "he felt a real pleasure in getting money." When such as these give themselves up to the pursuit of wealth, as of something good in itself, what can we look for in the case of others who have no ideas beyond those of material pleasure or profit, or whose hearts have never been touched by the fire of Divine love? The worse feature of devotion to money-getting is, that it necessarily destroys leisure, and excludes alike the possibility and the idea of rest. A man cannot serve two masters. If material things engross him,, the cultivation of the intellect, in its broader and higher sense, must be put aside, and the education of the heart must cease. These require time, and repose, and meditation ; men must be content to lie fallow, for the highest qualities are developed and' strengthened not of set purpose, but insensibly, and unconsciously, just as the thirsty earth drinks in the rain, or rejoices in the sunlight. To business men, therefore, rest is essential if they are to be anything higher, or better, or nobler than mere men of business, money - making machines, accumulators. Those who are most successful are most in danger. Nothing deadens the heart or dims the soul so much as uniform prosperity, that brings with it increasing desire, and incessant care for the growth, and disposal, and safe custody, and cultivation of wealth. A reverse in business is often a real blessing, however much it may seem to be disguised, or however painful it may be at the moment. It forces a man,, so to speak, back upon himself; makes him think and reflect ; leads him to look beyond the windows of the golden prison-house ; sets him yearning for the peace that is bom only of rest well used. In such times, men do feel a great desire for repose, for some respite from the endless struggle to amass riches ; and whenever this feeling is aroused, it is a benefit incalculable, a healthful medicine, a breath of pure fresh air sweeping in as from the mountain side or the heather-clad moor, and purifying the close and sickly atmosphere of business life. If amongst those who read these pages there is one secretly conscious that he belongs to the class above described, let him look into his heart, and say if he has not sometimes felt a longing for rest, even in his highest and fullest tide of success. At some moment, surely, his wealth has seemed as if it were mere dust and ashes, or the dried leaves of fairyland, worthless in comparison with the fresh dream of youth — strong, resolute, unfaltering in aspiration ; pure in motive ; clear in purpose ; unselfish in design ; looking forward to the full fruition of manhood, born of honest but not excessive labour ; and to the calm repose of age. I can fancy such a man feeling how empty and joyless is all that he has accomplished, turning with ti sigh from the well-filled coffer, the thick bank-book, the piles of scrip and shares, and looking with longing eyes to the blessedness of impose, with its vision of the summer glory of the isles of the sea, purple, azure, golden, crimson, suffused with long calm lines of light — the glow of heaven irradiating the sweet green earth, and kindling the waters into a many-coloured flame of celestial brightness.- — Congregationalist. A Scotchman, having hired himself to a farmer, had a cheese set down before him that he might help him&elf. The master said to him, " Sandy, you take a long time to breakfast." "In troth, master," answered he, " a cheese o' this feize is nae £>ac soon eaten as ye may think." As Foote, in the inrly part of bis life, was oue night walking down a street m the neighbourhood of Oxford road, he was accosted, with great ciuhty, by n shabby iellow.who asked the way lo Tjbuin. To which Foote replied, "My good fellow, jou have only to rob the fust person jou meet, md you'll find your way ensily." Uhe iellow very heartily thanked him for his adrice, and presei.ting a pistol ordered him to dchvtr his money on pain of having his brtins blown out. AVilh this injunction be was obliged to con>plj, tlioupb to his great moitification, ns he lost bis money and Ins jest, and »a 6 punished for big unkind reply when itked the wtj.j

A wedding took place on the 25th of March, in Syracuse, California, under unusually interesting and romantic circumstances, which are related in the Syracuse Courier. In Adam street in that town, lived a young lady as attractive as any damsel of Syi'acuse. She was accomplished, Avell educated, refined, and came from a respectable family. She ■was not, however, rich in this world's wealth, nor ' sufficiently well bom to satisfy the relations of a young bank cashier, who had been for some time engaged to her. The marriage of the young couple was to have taken place on the 25th ult, but when the guests were all assembled and the minister waiting, the bridegroom was only conspicuous by his absence. The bride alone showed no signs of discomposure — nor, indeed, had she any cause for anxiety, for, after a brief interval, a young gentleman hurried into the church, took the [place of the absent bridegroom, and was duly married to the fair bride, who at the conclusion of the ceremony with much emotion explained the mystery to those present. It seems that she had long mistrusted the sincerity of the bank cashier's affection, and her suspicions were strengthened by an intimation she received from him a few day's before the wedding that he was compelled to proceed to Pennsylvania on business. Determining not to be made a fool of on the occasion of her wedding, she telegraphed to another admirer who lived at Hamilton, telling him t j be in readiness on the morning of the 25th, as his services might be required as bridegroom in the event of the bank cashier not making his appearance. A telegram received from the bank cashier suggesting a postponement of the wedding was treated with the scorn it deserved; the lover from Hamilton proved ready at a moment's notice to take his place, and thus occurred the change of bridegrooms at the last minute. The happy couple were warmly congratulated on this happy termination of the affair, *nd departed on their wedding tour amid a shower of old shoes and blessings. The scissors editor of a newspaper is commonly the butt for many jokes, but a contemporary comes boldly to the rescue of these undervalued students of literature. It says : — Some people estimate the ability of the newspaper and the talent of the editor by the quantity of the original matter. It is comparatively an easy matter for a frothy writer to pour out daily a column of words — words upon any and all subjects. His ideas may flow in one weak, washy, everlasting flood, and the command of his language may enable him to string them together like bunches of onions, and yet his paper may be a meagre and poor concern. Indeed, the mere writing part of editing a paper is but a small portion of the work. The care, the time employed in selecting, is far more important, and the tact of a good editor is better shown by his selections than anything else ; and that, we know, is half the battle. But, as we have said, an editor ought to be estimated, and his labour understood and appreciated, by the general conduct of his paper, its tone, its uniform, consistent course, its aims, its management, its dignity, and propriety. To preserve these as they should be preserved is enough to occupy fully the time and attention of any man. If to this be added the general supervision of the newspaper establishment, which most editors have to encounter, the wonder is how they find time to write at all. — Exchange. Don Francisco Valasques informed me in 1870, a writer in the Naturalist says, that he had a powder which made the ants mad, so that they bit and destroyed each other. He give me a little bit of it, and it proved to be corrosive sublimate. I made several trials of it, and found it most efficacious in turning a large column of ants. A little of it sprinkled across their path in dry weather has a most surprising effect. As soon as one of the ants touches the white powder, it commences to ran about wildly, and to attack any other ant it comes Hcross. In a couple of hours round balls of ants Avill be found biting each other, and numerous individuals will be found bitten completely in two, while others have lost some of their legs or antenuse. News of the commotion is carried to the formicaiium, and large fellows, measuring three-quarters of an inch in length, that only came out of the nest during a migration or an attack on the nest of one of the working columns, are seen sailing down with a determined air, as if they would soon right matters. As soon, however, as they have touched the sublimate, all their stateliness leaves them ; they rush about ; their legs are seized hold of by some of the smaller a,nts already affected by the poison ; and they themselves begin to bite, and soon become the centre of fresh balls of rabid ants. The sublimate can only be used effectually in warm weather. In charging the grand jury at Exeter recently, Mr Justice Brett alluded to the plea of insanity as occasionally advanced in cases of murder. For a person to be freed from the consequences of crime it is not, he contended^ sufficient to show that he acted differently from other persons in the ordinary affairs of iife, but it must be made clear that he was ignorant of the nature of the act he was committing, and did not know right from wrong. Mr Justice Brett, says the Lancet, is a whole generation behind the time. Capacity of distinguishing right from wrong is not quite compatible with insanity, but it is actually made an element in the treatment of the insane. The dipsomaniac knows the inevitable consequences of his fatal indulgence; but place him within the means of gratifying it, and no consideration on earth will restrain him. " The duty," continued Mr Justice Brett, of those who have to administer the law is, not to act upon their view of what the law should be, but to administer it as they find it." Precisely. Mr Justice Brett, would, we imagine, subscribe to Justice Maule's parody of the old aphorism, Fiat jus ruat justilia. The law must be brought into harmony with the age, in its scientific and social aspects, and this is all that the medico-psychologist pleads for. A laughable incident occurred in the House of Commons on July 28, when Mr Brand, on advancing to take the oath and his seat for Stroud, in the place of Mr Dorington, was loudly cheered from the Liberal Benches. The formal introduction of the new member to his father, the Speaker, was performed with due gravity by Sir Erskine May, and was watched with amused interest by the House, the cheering being renewed as the Speaker expressed, in the usual manner, by a shake of the hand, his gratification at making the new member's acquaintance. An extraordinary marriage is reported to have taken place at Jevington, Sussex, the ceremony being performed by the Very Rev Archdeacon Phillpotts in the presence of a large congregation. The nuptial pair both belonged to the pai-ish of Jevington, but the singular part is the fact that the bride has no arms, and the ring had to be placed on the third toe of her left foot. At the conclusion of the marriage ceremony she signed the register, holding the pen with her toes and writing in a veiy fair " hand." The bride has accustomed herself to use her needle and do many other useful things with her toes. The most diabolical pun ever invented was perpetrated by a very harmless sort of person the other evening. When Mr Soberleigh read that a father in the West had chopped his only son in two, he innocently remarked that he didn't think they ought to arrest a man for simply "parting his heir in the middle."