Review of Kevieics, 1/7/06. 



Leading Articles. 



65 



CRIMINALS IN THE LONDON STREETS. 



From an interesting papt-r in Blackwood's Maga- 

 zine, by Sir Henry Smith, ex-Commissioner of the 

 City of London police, entitled " More About the 

 Streets of London," I make the following extract : — 



Criminals, if tbey will pardon me for saying so, show 

 a strange want of originality. The " streets of London " 

 have thousands of pickpockets: they began to pick pockets, 

 and they continue to pick pockets. The omnibus thief 

 remains the omnibus thief; and the stealer of milk-cans 

 steals milk-cans and nothing else. The stealer of dogs 

 might surely diversify his programme by occasionally 

 stealing a cat; but no. the feline race concerns him not; 

 with a pocketful of liver, rendered additionally attractive 

 by an admixture of aniseed, he prowls about annexing 

 everything canine, from the lordly St. Bernard to the piti- 

 ful pug- With strange stupidity they frequent the same 

 line of omnibuses: return to the same streets, and, till 

 Nemesis overtakes them, steal the same articles. In the 

 higher walks of the profession these peculiarities are still 

 more striking. The bank robl>er and the forger are fas- 

 cinated by their own style of business. They never have 

 an idea, in their heads beyond bank robbery and forgery. 

 The coiner is always severely dealt with; but who ever 

 saw him take to a less dangerous pursuit? 



The murderer, should he escape capital punishment, im- 

 mediately oii the expiry of his sentence, commits another 

 desperate crime, and again puts his neck in jeopardy. 

 Women have less scope for the exercise of their talents, 

 and have fewer openings to choose from — baby-farming 

 and decoying their younger sisters to ruin being the most 

 common, and with a good clieitti^le far the most lucrative. 



Sir Henry Smith says that he has never shed tears 

 over a banker's loss. Warning after warning is 

 thrown away on them, " and contributory negli- 

 gence " generally leads to their misfortunes. He 

 has known men hang about outside a bank for a 

 fortnight in the most suspicious way, noting every- 

 thing, and not a step taken to ascertain who they 

 were or what they were hanging about for. 



The Improvement in British Painting. 



In the jNLiy Conilidl Mr. Walter Frith publishes 

 " A Talk with My Father," in which, in the midst 

 of a good deal of personal gossip, we come upon the 

 following optimistic estimate of the progress of Bri- 

 tish painting in the last century. Speaking of the 

 general average of the Acidemy Exhibitions, the 

 painter of " Derby Day " said it had enormously im- 

 proved since the annual show was held at Somerset 

 House. There were — 



few fine things— Wilkie, Turner. Constable. Landseer. Mul- 

 ready. and so on — but the rest was comparative rubb'sh. 

 Now." I am astonished, amazed, at the general high level 

 of excellence of the work done by outsiders. I have no 

 liesitation in saying tliat the large majority of pictures 

 hung in the Exhibition of my e;irly time would be turned 

 out nowadays. The amazing thing is the increase of aver- 

 age excellence. Why. look what a wonderful drawing a 

 student has to do now to get into the Academv schools 

 at all. I saw some the other day, and I'm sure I couldn't 

 haTe done them. Never, at any time. 



A quarterly of local and historical interest is the 

 HoiiK Counties A/af;azine, edited bv Mr. W. Palev 

 Baildon. The April number contains an article, by 

 Mr. A. L. Summers, on Petersham. Bute House 

 and Petersham Lodge have both disappeared, but 

 the church still remains. It presents an unusual 

 appearance, consisting of a chancel, north and 

 south transepts, no nave, and a low western tower 

 which forms the entrance. 



THE GREEK BUILDING AND THE ROMAN ROAD. 



The April issue of the C/tautanqiiaii is devoted 

 to the Ancient Greek and Roman Classics and their 

 influences in modern life. 



SIMPLICITY OF GREEK ARCHITECTURE. 



Mr. A. D. F. Hamlin takes for his subject Greek 

 Architecture and Its Message. He notes the essen- 

 tial characteristics of all Greek art, and says these 

 characteristics spring from the character of the 

 Greeks themselves. He writes: — 



The most obvious of these characteristics are simplicity 

 of conception, straightforward directness in the carrying 

 out of tins conception, and a remarkable refinement, 

 delicacy and precision in the mechanical and artis.ic exe- 

 cution. Less obvious at a superficial glance, but even more 

 impressive after a more critical study, are the qualities of 

 proportion and restraint. 



The Greeks attained architectural perfection, he 

 adds, because the builders were content to use the 

 Doric style for five hundred years on account of its 

 severe beauty and perfect suitability. In the sixth 

 century B.C. they began to use the Ionic style, and 

 continued to use it for four hundred years, because of 

 its inherent elegance. In this way the features of 

 each style were improved very nearly to absolute 

 perfection 



ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME. 



A railway track three thousand miles in length is 

 considered a marvellous achievement of modern 

 enterprise, but imagine a highway over four thou- 

 sand miles in length like the great Roman roadway 

 from the wall of Antoninus to Jerusalem. 



In the same issue of the Chautuuqttan, Mr. A. B. 

 Hulbert, writing on this great road, says: — 



The itinerary of the great road referred to from the wall 

 of Antoninus in Scotland to Jerusalem shows the route 

 and impoi^ant towns on it. From the wall of Antoninus 

 to York. 222 Roman miles; London, 227 miles; Rhulupiae 

 (Eichborough), 67; Boulogne (by water), 45; Rheims, 174; 

 Lyons. 330; Milan, 324; Rome. 426; Brundisium. 360; Dvr- 

 rachium (by water), 40; Byzantium, 711; Ancyra, 283; 

 Tarsus. 301; Antiooh, 141; Tyre, 252; Jerusalem, 168. Total, 

 4071, 



MILLIONS AND MOSQUITOES. 



The island of Barbadcues, says Chambers s Journal 

 (May), enjoys immunity from the visitations of the 

 malarial mosquito, and the cause of this immunity 

 is said to be a verv small fish. The writer says: — 



In mariv of the waters of this island there flourish in 

 great quantities a tiny fish known locally hy the name of 

 '* millions." and there is believed to !« a connection be- 

 t-ween the existence of this fish and the comparative non- 

 existence of the mahirial mosquito. Some interesting ex- 

 periments are now lieine tried in tlie West Indies with a 

 view to determine to what extent one fact bears upon the 

 other, and to see whethe" the beneficent little fish can b« 

 induced to flourish in the waters of places where the mos- 

 quito ravages are more severely felt. 



It is said that tlie tinv fi^h has an appetite quite out of 

 proportion to its diminutive size, and that it feeds to a 

 lar^'e extent on the larvse of tlie mosquito. The trouble- 

 s >me insert is in consequence practicallv exterminated in 

 t' e area ^n wliich "millions" flourish, and here also, for 

 the well-known reason, malarial fever is practically non- 

 existent. 



