Science, Art, And The Drama.

Science , Art , and the Drama .

SOME POPULAR REMEDIES . { Continued ) . Geselmium , the root of the yellow jasmine , is the principal ingredient of many American painkillers . If not taken with extreme caution , this drug soon manifests its poisonous properties . When as a popular remedy for toothache , it was being imported from the United States in large quantities , in the form of a tincture , some sailors on board a vessel in which it was

being conveyed , supposed it was sherry . Their crime was quickly brought home to them , after they had surreptitiously partaken of it ; for they very soon displayed all the alarming symptoms produced by the overdoses of the drug . 'Yet it is one of the most valuable drugs we possess for painful afflictions of the dental nerves . Tonga is a harmless remedy not unknown in England , and has long been used for neuralgia by the natives of the Fiji

Islands , who prepare it from the bark , leaves , and roots of several indigenous plants . Cocaine has a curious history . It is prepared from the leaves of the coca shrub , cultivated on the slopes of the Cordilleras of Bolivia , Peru , and Colombia . Before the Spaniards had conquered Peru , the coca leaf was used by the aborigines in their religious rites ; it was placed in the mouths of the dead , to secure their favourable reception in another world .

The Indians chewed the leaf , not only for the pleasurable intoxication it produced , but because it gave them strength to endure fatigue and hunger . The following lines were written by Cowley : Our Varicocha first his Coca sent Endowed with leaves of wondrous nourishment , Whose juice sucked in , and to the stomach ta'en ,

Long hunger and long labour can sustain ; From which our faint and weary bodies find More succour , more they cheer the drooping mind , Than can your Bacchus and your Ceres joined . Three leaves supply for six days' march afford , The Quitrita with this provision s ' . ored , Can pass the vast and cloudy Andes o ' er .

In 1569 the Spaniards had become so alarmed by the prevalence of the habit of chewing coca that a decree was passed , by a Council of Bishops , prohibiting its use . In South America the Indians who work as miners , and at other laborious occupations , continue the habit of chewing coca . Athletes , pedestrians , and mountain-climbers accomplish their feats with greater ease under the influence of the drug . There is some diversity of

opinion as to whether it really gives strength ; one view is that it simply lulls for a time the sense of hunger or fatigue . Nevertheless , coca has come to be very generally regarded as a good nerve stimulant and tonic . Pharmaceutists prepare it as a wine , which vocalists take . Since i 860 it had been knovn that cocaine , the active principle of the leaf , had a benumbing effect when applied to the tongue . Yet it was not till 1884 that

a knowledge of this well-known fact led to the discovery of its marvellous anaesthetic value in surgical operations . By the instillation of a few drops of a solution ot cocaine into the eye the surgeon is able to remove particles of grit , or metal , that have become embedded in the superficial structures of that very sensitive organ with little or no pain to the patient , and without his losing consciousness , as with chloroform or ether . Cocaine is now

extensively used , both at home and abroad , in ophthalmic surgery . It is a brilliant example of a remedy for the relief of pain that has become widely popular in a very short time , not from much advertising , but mainly by its own intrinsic worth . It also proves of service in many minor operations , on other structures than the eye , and in alleviating the pain of various disorders . Like most powerful drugs , it requires special knowledge and

care for its safe administration . Menthol is one of the commonest remedies , and is put up in the form of psncils or cones , which have to be iimply rubbed on the affected parts to diminish sensibility . This substance is obtained , as a crystalline body , from Chinese or Japanese oil of peppermint after exposure to cold . It has been used in China and Japan as a specific for headache , for at least 2000 years , according to Mr ,

Takahanashi , the Japanese Consul at New York . It was not until about 1879 that it began to attract much attention elsewhere . In Paris and Vienna the liquid oil has been sold , at a very high price , under the name of " Po-ho-yo , " or Gouttes Japonaises . The cones are easy of application , and can be carried about in the pocket . They are enclosed in little wooden boxes , because menthol camphor evaporates if left exposed for any length

of time at the temperature of most living rooms . Menthol , when applied to the unbroken fkin , leaves a feeling of coldness , which lasts about 10 or 15 minutes , and is followed by a slight burning sensation , and then numbness . For deep-seated neuralgia , menthol is absolutely useless , though often absurdly advertised as curing all kinds of nerve pain . Menthol has also been proved to have antiseptic properties . Of many of these much-vaunted

anti-neuralgic and pain-killing remedies it can only be said that they relieve us of pain for a time by deadening our sensibilities , but do not effect a permanent cure by removing the cause . The curative remedies are frequently those which are not easy of application or rapid in their action , but require a great deal of care , self-command , and time . " Our remedies , " as Shakespeare says , " oft in ourselves do lie . " We are apt to

set them aside for the latest novelty in pharmacy because they would necessitate changes in our mode of living not agreeable to us , such as retiring earlier to rest , restricting our diet , wearing extra clothes to meet the changes in temperature ol our variable climate , or , perhaps , ridding ourselves altogether of some habits of self-indulgence . These remedies , it is to be feared , cannot be described as popular .

Master-Masons And Architecture In The Reign Of Elizabeth.

MASTER-MASONS AND ARCHITECTURE IN THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH .

( Continued ) . The architect of Burleigh was John Thorpe—that of all the others was Shillinglon . The list below , is their present condition : Burleigh ... ... ... ... Perfect . Kenilworth ... ,,. ... Ruins .

Hunsdon ... ... ... Rebuilt . Stoke Pogis ... ... ... Rebuilt . Gorhambury ... ... ... Ruins . Buckhurst ... ... ... Destroyed . Know ' e ,,, ... ... .,, Perfect .

Master-Masons And Architecture In The Reign Of Elizabeth.

Catledge ... ... ... ... Destroyed . Longleat ... ... ... ... Perfect . Basinghouse ... ... ... Ruins . Wanstead ... ... ... Destroyed . Wimbledon ... ... ... Rebuilt .

Westwood ... ... ... Perfect . Penhurst ... ... ... ... Perfect . Kelston ... ... ... ... Rebuilt . Toddington ... ... ... Destroyed . Hardwick-Hall ... ... ... Ruins . Theobalds ... ... ... Destroyed .

The principal deviation from the plan of the earlier houses , in the times of the Tudors , was in the bay windows , parapets , porticos ; and internally , in the halls , galleries , chambers of state , and staircases . The two last mentioned were rendered as rich in ornamental carving as the grotesque taste , then prevalent , could invent , or apply . The ceilings were fretted only with roses and armorial devices , but without pendents , as in the earlier style .

The fronts of the porticos were overlaid with carved entablatures , figures , and armorial devices , the lofty and wide galleries , generally exceeded 100 feet in length , and the staircases were so spacious as to occupy a considerable part of the centre of the house . The imperfectl y imitated Roman style introduced , as before noticed , by John of Padua , in its first dawn in this kingdom , began now to extend its influence , although partially . At

Burleigh , the parapets , which surround the whole structure , are composed of open work , describing a variety of Tuscan scrolls , and the chimneys are Tuscan columns , two , three , or four clustered together , and surmounted by a frieze and entablature . Open parapets , having letters placed within them , as a conceit indicative of the founder , were then first introduced . The large manor-houses dispersed through the several English counties ,

constructed of timber-frame work , were very general , where a supply of stone or brick failed . The carved pendents and the weather boards of the gables and roof were carved in oak or chestnut , with exuberance of fancy and good execution . The counties of Chester , Salop , and Stafford abounded more especially in curious instances , many of which are no longer seen , and their memory preserved only in old engravings . The zenith of this particular fashion of domestic architecture

was the reign of Elizabeth , and it is thus discriminated by a contemporary observer— " Of the curiousnesse of these piles , I speake , not sith our workmen are grown generallie , to such an excellence of devise , in the frames now made , that they farre pass the finest of the olde . " " It is a worlde to see , how divers men , being bent to buildinge , and haying a delectable veine , in spending of their goodes , by that trade , does dailie imagine new devises of their owne , to guide their workmen withall , and those more curious and excellent than the former . "— " Harrison ' s Description of England . " [ To be continued . )

The Duke's Of York's Theatre.

THE DUKE'S OF YORK'S THEATRE .

"The Swashbuckler , " which is at present having such a successful run at the above theatre , is a romantic play by Mr . L . N . Parker . It . possesses a great deal of interest , is well played by the principal actors , and certainly seems to be appreciated by the audience . It is a very pteasant change from the so-called " problem " plays , which have of late been so

much in vogue . The play is well constructed , has a story which is consistently worked out , and just enough of the comic element to give a piquancy and zest to the more serious parts of the piece . In the disguise which the heroine assumes we are reminded of Rosalind in Shakespeare's delightful comedy of " As You Like It . " We heartily commend " The Swashbuckler , " it will well repay a visit .

Links With The Past.

LINKS WITH THE PAST .

ST . CLEMENT DANES CHURCH YARD . So much public interest has been evinced relative to St . Clement Danes Church in the Strand that we think it may prove of interest to give some further details respecting it . From inquiries that have recently been made we are able to confirm the authenticity of this church being the site of the burial place of Harold Harefoot , eldest son of King Canute . Traditional

history asserts that the body of Harold Harefoot , who died at Oxford , was first buried in Westminster Abbey , but was , after some months , disinterred , beheaded , and thrown into the Thames , by order of Hardicanute , his halfbrother and successor . The body was subsequently recovered by some fishermen , and was then re-interred in St . Clement Danes Church in 1040 . It may be stated that the present removal of the dead is not the first which

has taken place in this historic parish . As a matter of fact the ground on which King ' s College Hospital now stands was formerly a detached portion of St . Clement ' s Churchyard , and here was buried Joe Miller , the actor and father of jokes . He died of pleurisy in 1738 , and his tombstone having been rendered illegible by age , was re-inscribed , for preservation in the

hospital . We have called this an historic parish , and when we remember that among its inhabitants , at various times , have been Cromwell , Nell Gwynne , Nan Clarges , the blacksmith's daughter and first Duchess of Albemarle , the Queen of Bohemia , William Penn , the Quaker and founder of Pennsylvania , and numerous other names which are emblazoned on the pages of English history , the term is more than justified .

General Notes.

GENERAL NOTES .

It is at last finally settled by Mr . Lowenfeld that his new Apollo Theatre , next door to the Lyric , is to be opened on or about St . Valentine ' s Eve , 14 th February , with the new American musical piece " The Belle of Bohemia . "

The strict Governmental officials charged with the regulation of the Berlin theatres have mercifully and wisely ordained that there shall be no more managerial or" star " speeches delivered in the play-houses controlled by them .

Two works by Mr . Rudyard Kipling are in preparation for stage presentation . At the same time that " George Fleming" is dramatising " The Light that Failed , " its author is preparing an acting version of his own " Jungle Book , " to be called " The Jungle Play , " which , however , is not likely to visit the glimpses of the footlights until next Christmas .