MISCELLANEOUS.
Marguerite Jaune and Evelyn.—It is quite easy to paint on satin with water-colours if a certain amount of body-colour be employed as a foundation, and one drop of Miss Turck’s water-colour fixative or medium be added to each colour. We could not pronounce an opinion on the superiority of one hospital over another in the matter of training nurses. The following are the general rules that obtain in all our hospitals. The age, from 25 to 40, good references as to character, and condition of health. After a test of a few weeks, they enter on a year of probation, during which time their wages are on an average £12, with (or without) partial uniform. They are usually expected to remain in the service of the hospital where they have been trained for a further period of three years, in the course of which their wages rise to £22 or £25.
Speedwell.—The specimen is Claytonia perfoliata. It is a native of N.-W. America, Mexico and Cuba, but has now become naturalised in England. Plants should be laid flat between sheets of blotting-paper and a weight placed upon them; some flat irons or large stones will do; or better still, if they can be put in a press they will readily dry and retain their colour to some extent. Every day the sheets of blotting-paper should be thoroughly dried and the plants replaced until they are perfectly dried.
M. A. T.—The French phrase, “Je vous en fais mes compliments empressés,” means, “I present my hearty compliments on” so-and-so, or such an event. Literally rendered (according to French idiom), “I you on it make my compliments earnestly” (or more literally “emphasised”).
Raby.—A Conservative is a medium Tory, one who wishes to preserve the union of Church and State, and not radically to alter the Constitution. The term was first used in 1830, in the January number of the Quarterly Review. Liberal was a term first employed in 1815, when Lord Byron and his friends started the periodical called The Liberal, to represent their views. A Radical is an ultra-Liberal, verging on republican opinions. The term was first applied in 1818 to those who wished to introduce radical reform into the representative system. The Liberal-Unionists are those Whigs and Radicals who united in 1886 with Lord Salisbury and the Conservative party to oppose Home Rule for Ireland. The present Duke of Devonshire was head of the Whigs, and Mr. Chamberlain head of the Radicals, who seceded. The term Whig appears to be extinct at present. There is a very great change in all opinions, and to quote a recent speech, “the Conservatives have become more liberal, and the Liberals more conservative” than of yore.
Lusitania.—The term “stock,” as employed in English cookery books, signifies the foundation of soup, and is made from meat and bones. To make good soup from it, the stock should be in jelly when cold. Pea-flour, vegetables, lentils, and so forth, and whatever flavouring may be desired, should be added to it. The cold which some people suffer in the feet and hands arises from mal-nutrition, an insufficiency of warmth-giving food, as also of suitable clothing; and thirdly, from an insufficient amount of exercise. Tight stays also greatly impede the due circulation of the blood. When you finish taking exercise and sit down to your avocations or recreations, put your feet into a fur slipper or foot-warmer, such as employed in a carriage. The heat-producing foods are those containing starch, sugar, gum, and fat.
Irene.—“Sir R. Loder,” with no initial letters after his name, is simply a knight, a dignity which is not hereditary, and cannot descend to his son. “Sir Thomas Hesketh, Bart.,” is a baronet, which is a dignity inherited by his eldest son. “Bart.” is an abbreviation—solely restricted to writing—of “baronet.”
Four Years’ Reader.—You had better go to a musical instrument shop, or communicate with the manager by letter, respecting the instrument you name. Without reasonable doubt he will give some addresses of masters for it. You should not spell “entitled” “entiteled,” “whom” “whome,” nor “oblige” “oblidge.”
H. Gamble.—There is a hospital for epilepsy at Portland Terrace, Regent’s Park, near St. John’s Wood Road Station, where patients may be received free, or according to the means of the family. There is another, the West End Hospital, 73, Welbeck Street, W.: but whether patients may be received there free you must inquire.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Through the kindness of Mr. Alfred Stutfield, who has taken infinite trouble to search the old rentals of the Bedford estate, I have been able to identify the site of the house in which Thomas Augustine Arne was born, and in which he spent the first twenty-three years of his life. The house itself was rebuilt in 1871, and is now occupied by the publishers, Messrs. Rivington.
[Transcriber’s Note—The following changes have been made to this text:
Page 562: grevious to grievous—“grievous lies”.
Page 566: rght to rght—“to the right”.
Fennimore to Fenimore—“Fenimore Cooper’s”.
Page 569: removed dittograph “he”—“he would work so hard”.
Page 573: amuteur to amateur—“nurse is an amateur”.
atten- to attention—“her whole attention”.
Page 576: fixitive to fixative—“fixative or medium”.]