"New Guinea 'Cherries'

Caused Blindness"

riTWENTY-SEVEN soldiers now back in X England from the fighting in New Guinea are totally blind through eating what looked like ordinary English cherries, Mr. C. D. Torvell, Scientific Ad viser to the British Forces in the Far East, has stated. The fruit was discovered at the end of 1942. The lay name for it was “finger cherry,” and it looked and tasted like an English cherry. One or two of these “finger cherries” were eaten without anything happening, but soldiers who ate nine or ten were totally blind within a few hours. So far science has found no means of restoring sight in these cases. As soon as the properties in the fruit were discovered the authorities destroyed as many of the trees as pos sible.—“ Crown Colonist.”