MULTUM IN PARVO

— One of the original chairs of Burns's home has just been restored to the cottage by a granddaughter of the poet. It is suggested that others who have authentic relics - might find this course an efficient safeguard against the enterprise of the American collectors. — During 1905 seven vessels fitted with Bteam turbines were launched in the TTnitfed. Kingdom. There -a.T--e at present ■under construction in the Unked-^Kingdom. 10 vessels of about 21,400 tons which are to be fitted with steam turbines.

— For overcrowding over 50 pigs in a coal truck and keening them penned up for aiearly 20 hours, tlie Isle of Wight Central Bail way Company was fined £20 and costs at Ryde, and a .further £5 for using the truck contrary to * regulations. —Mr William Regan, of Ballinrobe, has received from the private secretary to King Alfonso an order for the supply of Irish ' tweedVto his Majesty: The communication stated that the King desired to purchase 28 yards' each of four patterns- of Mayo homespuns sent "him by Mt Regan." -""■, — By coating . bullets with vaseline they may be easily - saen in their course • from Tifte to targets Their course is marked by * .beautiful- rin«r- of.- smoke caused -by the vaseline^ becoming, ignited on leaving the muzzle' of the gun. the smoke^being suspended • for; «ome time in the air if it is not too- windy. .—. — The Birmingham police have recovered - a. Tieavy.bar of silver which fell from a railway Ujrry while being- conveyed through the streets of the city. The matt who picked it up thought it was tin, and sold ft for Bd.

— The highest rank ever attained in the British army by an officer raised from the .ranks is that of general, reached by Sir John -EJley, X.C.8.. who enlisted as a trooper in the Horse Guards. After him comes Lieutenant-general Joseph Brome, who begs.n his military career as a drummer boy. — Earl Ducie, Lord-lieut-anant of Gloucestershire, recently unveiled in. the .Gloucester a window erected to the memory of the 500 Gloucestershire -.offioers and men who fell in' South Afric*^'.;^^* — Twenty-four yearsvago the -ifr^wecfcEic tramcar in England 'began to Ta»££jJ|^pfied •t Leytonshire, in E§sex. and a lyeSr- later^ was followed by others that ran from Ke\v> jo Hammersmith.

— During the heavy scout of the beach at- Aldoburgh (Suffolk) -during the recent gale many coins were washed up,-uncluding 'an Edward VI sixpence; in good preeervation.

—The little viHage. of Aldwortii, which is olos? to Streatley-on-T-hames, possessed one of -the largest, yew trees in Eogl&ndf and one which - jha6 *• gruesome fcistory.' This yew tree is nine yards in circumference, and hanging from one; .of the lower branches id an ancient' rusty -chain; in which the lifeless bc-dies of the daring highwayman of the ■ Berkshire- downs have- swung' to and' fro- as a warning to their .iejlows;- : — Otters are reported frume!?ous"-~J»ptj?the' Thames,- 'some" of— ths animals iia^t/ it i 8 supposed, Been driven by .the "floods from their haunts on the tributaries of the main river. -Partially devoured fish have been' discovered on the banks in several districts," and two otters have been trapped in the' Abingdon district

Amngdon district. — Among, the earlier Ohin<ee coin* .was one of porcelain, about three-quarters, of an inch in diameter and a quarter*.of an inch thick, bearing the legend "Eternal Prosperity." A very curious knife money was at one time used ii>- the State of Tti. It was of copper, shaped, like a billhook, about 7 in long, and fitted at the end v^itb «. ring. I)uring periods'- of metal scarcity iv China, iron, lead ; tin, baked ea^th, grain, silk, and shells -have been used as & circulating medium. — The moving-mountain in the Rhymney Valley, Glamorgan, is slowly advancing toward the tillage- of Troedyrhiew, and • tbe garden of the local inn has been swept iff ay. Several other villages are threatened, and one pf these is now without gas, the supply pipes from Trodegar having been broken by the underground disturbance. £n Sebastopol village every hou=e is damiged. A mining expert says- the landilide majr be caused by collier j workings; other* think a quicksand is responsible. — The .coldest town in the world is Vervho-Siberia. It is above the Arctic Circle, and the thermometer always drops tf> 90deg below zero in January, while iv July it registers 86deg above zero in the middle of the day, but drops to freezing oe the warmest night. Both animals- and vegetables are- of stunted growth, and the district is subject to. frequent floods. The hottest spot on the globe -is found in the Great. Sahara interior? where 122de$j of ,hett' «i« often, reached. Greytown, Nicaragua.' is the wettest place, the average rainfall being 260 in annually. - Port Nolloth, South Africa, ia the driest, where often less than an inch falls in the' year.

— A funeral unparalleled in the history of Aldershot garrison took place recently, when the body of Miss Fitzgerald, who died in the Cambridge Hospital, where she was discharging her duties as a military nurse, was buried in the military cemetery with full military honours. The coffin, with the Union Jack and some beautiful flowers, was conveyed on a field gun, cix members of the Royal Army Medic*! Corps walking beside as pall-bearers. The band of the corps went first, playing funeral marches. — China, of all countries, ancient and modern, exhibits the greatest variety in the matter of coins. The earliest money on' record, about 2000 8.C., consisted of shells and cowries. The cowry was used for small chanse. while tortoieeshell and purple cypraea shells, the latter ranging in •ize from a few inches to a foot and ahalf in length, represented money of a higher value. A decrease in the supply of shells and increasing prosperity called f< r a more handy medium of exchange, and cash, the coin with a square hole in the centre, came into existence, and remains in use to thia day.

—An incident occurred in London recently which would have shocked Ihe military officer of a century ago. A battalion of the Irish Guards, led by two mounted officers, was marching along Oxford 6treet to the merry accompaniment cf a fife and <Jrujn band. Suddenly, with a flourish of drumsticks, the music ceased, »nd for a little time the soldiers tramped along with a solemn and steady tread. A boy came up a side street whistling the song of the moment, "My Irish Molly, O." A 6oldier in a fit of abstraction joined in. The refrain was immediately taken up by tho others, and. it flew to the front and rear ranks, until presently the whole battalion marched to its own whistling •^CAoninajrimenU

— The fisliermen v.t the Claddagh '(Galway) have jv.st captured a fish which is the first of its kind ever seen there. It is about 18in long, round in form, with a tapering tail. The head is hidden in a mass of flesh-coloured gills, which have to be separated to get a perfect view of it, and its head resembles the head of a dog Though this fish may be known to naturalists, it is a perfect stranger to Galway fishermen. — Careful investigations have proved that the mu=cles, as well as other organs of tiie. body, have their stages of development and decline. Tests of the strength of several thousands of people have been made I by the use of a dynamometer (strength I measure), and the following are given as j tlif average figures of the white race : — [ The lifting power of a youth of 17 is 2801b; in his twentieth year this increases to 3201b, and in his thirtieth and thirtyfirst year ii reaches its height, 3561b. At the end of the thirty-first year the strength begins to decline. By the fortieth year it has decreased 81b, and this diminution continues at a slightly increasing rate until the fiftieth year is reached, when the figure is 3301b. After this * period the strength fails more and more rapidly. — Excitement was caused emong British and foreign. \eeamicn- and " firemen at the ! Penarth dock, Cardiff, a few days ago, owing to the action of the master of the steamship Speedwjefl, a regular trader, to the port, in ' discharging eight foreigners among his crew and substituting British seamen for them. It was ascertained that this action was due to {he enforcement of an Admiralty order that no foreigners ere to be permitted on board vessels entering naval depots, and that, inasmuch''-*ts*' the Speedwell is engaged on time charter by the Government in carrying coal to Chatham and other naval ports she must have a crew .-of British teamen. — During-: the pact year *<he public benefaotiontf -of United Station .millionaires amounted to nearly d 521,000,000. Of this ■3lr Carnegie -.gave -3,000,000d01, Mr John Rockefeller- '£2,300,000; end 19 oth&r; individuals :£2OOjOOC each. . --V