Foreign News: Perfumed Genoese

Hottest news in sizzling Genoa last week was the final report of that thoroughgoing savant. Dr. Jean Charcot of L’Institut de France, upon Christopher Columbus, famed No. 1 Genoese.

“After four and a half centuries,” said Dr. Charcot to eager Italian correspondents at Paris, “we are just beginning to be able to draw a picture of what Columbus looked like. He was taller than average. He had a long face and a long aquiline nose. His dimpled chin showed strength of character. His cheeks were like red apples, but his grey eyes were wells of emotion. His whole face was freckled, and by 30 he was totally grey.

“Even if Columbus had not discovered America,” continued Dr. Charcot, “he would have gone down in history as the Admiral who first provided seamen with hammocks in which to sleep aboard ship. . . . Columbus was also one of the first great vegetarians. . . . He lived on fruits and vegetables almost exclusively and never drank alcoholic drinks, preferring water with a little sugar in it. . . . His use of perfumes was his only bad habit. All in all he was a clean, religious man. But he used to spray himself profusely with attar of roses and essence of black currants.”