WAIFS AND STRAYS.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume II, Issue 86, 19 December 1874, Page 12

WAIFS AND STRAYS.

How to Stop Coughing. — Dr Brown-Sequard, in a late lecture delivered by him in Boston, United States, states that there are many facts which show that phenomena of respiration can always be stopped by the influence of arrest. Coughing, for instance can be stopped by pressing on the nerves of the lip in the neighborhood of the nose. Pressure there may prevent a cough when it is beginning. It is generally known that sneezing may be stopped by this plan, but it is new to many that it can check coughing. Dr Brown-Sequard, however, is a great authority, says the Medical Press and Circular, and asserts it. He adds that pressing in the neighborhood of the ear, right in front of the ear, may stop coughing. It is also preventive of hiccough, but much less so than of sneezing or coughing. Pressing very hard on the top of the mouth inside is also a means of stopping coughing and to shew that the will has immense power, he mentioned that there was a French nurse who used to say, " The first patient who coughs here to-day will be deprived of his food." It was exceedingly rare for a patient to cough.

Fiji. — The capital already invested in Fiji is reckoned, says a Melbourne contemporary, at about .£650,000, of which New South Wales has contributed .£290,000, Victoria .£160,000, New Zealand £150,000, Germany £30,000, America and England .£20,000. £50,000 worth of Fijian debentures are held in New Zealand. Of the above capital some .£30,000 are invested in small sailing crafts and boats, £50,000 in house property in Levuka, £70,000 in stocks and stores, and the balance — viz., £50,000 — in plantations.

Medicinal Properties op the Pine. — The 'Laicet' points out that the pine has great medicinal properties. Pliny, it says, considered that, in case of consumption, the air of pine forests was more useful than a voyage to Egypt, which was the supreme prescription of Roman days. Bournemouth owes a good deal of its reputation to its pine woods, and those of the Black Forest add to the curative reputation of its baths. We also find that the ancients recommended the internal use of decoctions made from pine tops. In all countries has lingered a reliance upon the medicinal virtues of the pine.

Novel Application op Telegraphy. — A novel application of the telegraph has been devised in France : the transmitting copies of maps and diagrams. A numerically-graduated, semi-circular plate of glass is laid by the telegrapher over the map to be transmitted, and a pencil of mica attached to a pivoted slip of metal, also divided into numbers, is allowed to move over the plate. Looking through a fixed eye-piece the operator traces out his map on the glass with the adjustable mica pencil, and, noting the numbers successfully touched on the plate and on the moving metal -arm, telegraphs to his correspondent, who, by means of an exactly similar apparatus, is enabled to trace out an exactly similar map.

A Fortified House. — The Paris house of the mad Duke of Brunswick, is now in course of demolition. It was a most extraordinary residence, as anyone found who endeavoured to enter. At the front gate was a metal button, and a visitor would have to press this. It instantly set a number of bells ringing in violent commotion. Admitted into the garden you still found yourself excluded from the house. Another button had to be touched, and, that done, you find yourself in an unfurnished hall. There was no staircase communicating with the upper rooms where the duke slept. More buttons had to be pressed, and at last you found yourself sitting in an arm-chair, and raised by a hydraulic lift apparently to the living rooms which the duke used to occupy. The walls of the bedroom were armour-clad. By an ingenious mechanism a panel in the wall was removed and entrance gained. The strong-box nearly killed the workmen who endeavored to open it, for it sent off a sudden and mitrailleuse-like discharge. The Due de Treviso bought the house, and stipulated that all treasure found in it shall belong to him. Nothing has been found thus far, but the purchaser has not given up hope, for, after the mad duke had some of his diamonds stolen, he stowed away his valuables in all kinds of strange places.

Velocipedes v. Railways. — "Velocipedes are becoming an institution in Paris for forwarding messages from the Exchange (Bourse) to the central telegraph office, Eve de Grenelle. The rates charged by " velocenien " are two shillings. The run there and back, including delivery of messages, takes about twenty-five minutes for a distance of about three miles 1320 yards. It is contemplated by some speculators to establish a piiblic company. When Marshal Bazaine's trial was going on, velocipedes were used for conveying messages from Versailles for the ' Moniteur/ one of the Parisian papers. The single run was charged <£1, and was accomplished in forty-five minutes for a distance of 12J- miles, at a quicker rate than the railway trains. But the road descends all the way, Versailles being on a higher level than Paris, and the railway is circuitous ; stoppages are also frequent on the line.

A Chinese Encyclopedia. — The ' Athenoeuni ' states that a great literary curiosity is now for sale at Pekin. It consists of a copy of a gigantic work, composed of 6109 volumes, entitled 'An Imperial collection of Ancient and Modem Literature." This huge encyclopaedia was commenced during the reign of Kang-ho 16621722), and was printed at the Imperial Printing Office, where a complete fount of copper type was cast for the purpose. Its contents are arranged under 32 divisions, and embrace every subject dealt with within the range of Chinese literature. Unfortunately, the greater part of the type employed in printing this work was, after the publication of the first edition, purloined by dishonest officials, and the remaining portion was melted down to be coined into cash. The result is that very few copies are now in existence, and still fewer ever come into the market. The price asked by the Chinese owner is, we believe, about £4000. Hair as an Index of Character.— Coarse black hair and

dark skin signify great power of character, with a tendency to sensuality. Fine black hair and dark skin indicate strength of character along with purity and goodness. Stiff, straight black hair and beard indicate a coarse, strong, rigid, straightf orwardness of character, Fine dark-brown hair signifies the combination of exquisite sensibilities with great strength of character. Flat, clinging straight hair, a melancholy but extremely constant character. Harsh, upright hair is the sign of a reticent and sour spirit — a stubborn and harsh character. Coarse red hair indicates powerful animal passions, together with a corresponding strength of character. Auburn hair, with florid countenance, denotes the highest order of sentiment and intensity of feeling, purity of character, with the highest capacity for enjoyment or for sufferino 1 . Straight, even smooth and glossy hair, denotes strength,- harmony and evenness of character, hearty affections, a clear head and superior talents. Fine, silky, supple hair is the mark of a delicate and sensitive temperament, and speaks in favor of the mind and character of the owner. Crispy, curly hair indicates a hasty, impetuous and rash character. White hair denotes a lymphatic and indolent constitution; and we may add that besides all these qualities, there are chemical properties residing in the coloring matter of the hair tube which undoubtedly have some effect upon the disposition. Thus red-haired people are notoriously passionate. Now, red hair is proved by analysis to contain a ■ large amount of sulphur, while very black hair is colored with almost pure carbon. The presence of these matters in the blood points to peculiarities of temperament and f eeling which are almost universally associated with them. The very way in which the hair flows is strongly indicative of the ruling passions and inclinations, and perhaps a, very clever person could give a shrewd guess at the manner of a. man or woman's disposition by only seeing the backs of their heads. Fighting Poison with Poison. — As an illustration of the power of one poison to counteract another in the human system, arecent case in Indiana furnishes a highly important and interesting instance. We give the statement as related to us by Dr Harris,who was called to the relief of a would-be suicide, and who administered the successful antidote. The person had taken between forty and fifty grains of opium and was fast dying. He could no longer swallow, his extremities were cold and had turned black, while his respirations only numbered between, six and seven to the minute. This last of itself seemed to indicate that all hope was gone, as anything less than eight respirations a minute had hitherto been known as the sure precursor of death. As a last resort, the doctor determined to try heroic treatment, and he accordingly, with a hypodermic syringe, injected two-thirds of a, drachm of nux-vomica dissolved in a teaspoonful of water beneath, the skin over the heart, stomach, spine, and on each arm above the elbow, and on the calf of each leg. The quantity of nux-vomica, would have been the death of any well man in existence, but in. antagonism to the opium it was in this seemingly hopeless case an agent af life, and in fifteen, minutes the man was sitting up in bed, conscious,and rapidly recovering.

Gas on Railways.- The difficulty of lighting railway carriages with gas has hitherto been found insurmountable — at least for journeys of great length. In the first place the ordinary gas reservoir was too cumberous, and even if this defect had been met by pumping the gas into strong retorts under pressure, so as to cany it in a smaller space, the lighting power would have been considerably impaired. Herr Julius Pintsch, of Berlin, has now mastered the difficulty* He abandons coal gas altogether and makes his gas from oil. He packs it in iron retorts at a pressure of ninety pounds to the square inch, and supplies it to the lamps through an ingenious regulator. Some few of the continental railways have already adopted this system of lighting. In England an experimental carriage has been fitted with it on the London. North-western Railway, and has been running some weeks. Ice Signals in the North Atlantic. — A very beautiful and useful system of ice signalling has been recently adopted byone of the Canadian steamship lines, which promises to give great safety and security to passengers crossing the Atlantic. The company has issued to all its commanders an ice chart and tallying ice signals, by tho use of -which, steamers passing- each other can learn when and where dangeimis bergs and ice-fields have been encountered. The ice chart is divided into degrees of longitude and halfdegrees of latitude, nearly making squares, each of which has a. separate literal designation. This, in each section of the chart, consists of two letters representing two flags of the commercial code, and when, the corresponding- flags are hoisted by a passing steamer, they indicated to the passing ship the exact position of the ice met. The ensign hoisted above these means berg ice, and the Union Jack, field-ice likely to impede navigation. The flags are, of course, only serviceable in the daytime ; but at night the ice signals are made by means of Colomb's Chatham lamp. The whole system is one of extreme simplicity, both in the chart and code, and easily enables any steamer, after passing tnrough the icetrack near Newfoundland, to communicate to the steamer approaching it the precise place of the peril, and, therefore, the imminent necessity of extreme caution in nearing that point. Who was Oliver Cromwell? — Cromwell was an English soldier who signed the death .warrant of Charles L, and seized the Government by force. He caused the murder of 1000 persons in the Catholic Church of Drogheda, and 300 in the Bull Ring in Wexford, with numerous other slaughters elsewhere. He transported nuinbei-s of Irish women and children to the West Indies. He confiscated numerous Irish estates and gave them to his soldiers. He left 3000 persons dead in one battle in Scotland, and theu road the 117 th psalm over their dead bodies. He died 214 years ago in London, and was buried in Westminster Abbey. In three years after his body, with those of two of his brutal companions, were removed and dragged about the streets of London, after which their heads were taken off and placed upon spikes in front of one of the London bridges, TJiis I was the end of Qijxev (Jfroxwroll, wording to Dr, Ljpgard,