MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2069, 19 October 1893, Page 38

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Virchow declares that the Jewish race has at all times been distinguished by great tenacity of life.

— Seven per 1000 of the population of England are fined for drunkenness in the course of a year. — In Windhatn County, Conn., Hulitt Hpzswell, has for 25 years made his home among the branches of on ancient chestnut tree on a farm owned by him. He has the reputation of bt ing well off, and his residence in the tree-top is the result of a bet made in 1868 that Horatio Seymour would be elected president. — The force of waves breaking on the bhores is said to be 17 tons to the square yard. — Farthings are not legal tender for any sum above 6d.

— It ha 3 been computed that about 36,000,000 babies are born into the world each year. The rate of production is, therefore, about 70 per minute, or more than one for every tick of the clock.

— Names were taken from badges, cognisances, and nicknames applied to individuals. — African travellers tell us the white rhinoceros frequently dies from eating poisonous plants, which are never oaten by the black one, probably because the fine scent of the latter tells him they are dauge-rous. — Twe-nty-cight varieties of the lemon grow in Italy ; in Franco, 11. — Ti.e length of n. mile is not the same in every country. The French kilometre is about equal (o fire-eighths of our English mile. A Spanish and Polish mile is about three and a-haif English milts. A Swedish, Dani.-h, and Hungarian n;i!e is from five to six English. A Russian mile c r '.en t is about three quarters of ao Englifrh mile. The Frc'mh metre is equal to 109 sards. — Emperor William is one of the very few sovereigns now reigting upon whose life no attempt has yet bmi mace. At Last seven or eight attempts of this kiLd have been made agaibst the life oi' hia grandmother, Queen Victoria.

— The Empiess of Austria, who lately built at an enormous cost a magnificent villa at Corfu, which is called "The AchilleioD," hag lately made a codicil to her will as to the disposition of her remains in the following terms:— "l •wieh to be buried at Corfu, clos3 to the seashore, so that the waves may break continually upon my grave." —In Oreat Britain and Ireknd 145,000 persons are committed to prison every year fir drunkenness.

— The currency of England was silver monometallic uutil the reign of Edward 111, when gold was made a legal t< nder at a ratio fixed from time to time by the State. — The art of the ragpicker is understood in other placrs besides P<tris. The revenue from the rubbish from tho streets of the city cf Louden last jear was £1133— bottles, boots, knives, inn, cork 3 , string, paper, rege, tins, and other odds ar.d ends each contributing their quota. An uno[ eaed letter containing a cheque of great v^lue was found among the refusp, and was f oi warded to the address on the envelope.

— The skins cf 1000 Russian mice formed the coafc worn by a Russian emigrant who lately landed iv New York

— None but girls educated at the National schools are now being engaged by tho Swedish State Telephone department. The candidates for employment have to pass through a short course of instruction prior to their final appointment.

— By order of the German Emperor there has just been placed in one of the cabins of his yacht a plate recording the facb that " Marshal yon Molfcke lived here from the 3rd to the 10th of September 1890." — Io has been calculated that the annual income of tho London Hebrews is nearly £5,000,000, which means that tiny are two and a-quaiter times richer than the Gentiles — Parliaments, like kings, have their nicknames. The Addle Parliament, tho Mad Parliament, the Devil's Parliament, and the Dunces' Parliament are some of the names with which the affectionate reverence of history has noted its sense of the collective wisdom of the nation. The present House of Commons may, perhaps at some futurs time, be known as the Pugilists' or Prizefighters' Parliament. — World.

— The Italians derived " starboard " from questa horda, "this side"; and "larboard" from quella horda, which means " that side." In givirjg orders these two phrases were shortened into eta borda and la borda, and their soundiDg so much alike caused so many nrstakes that the Admiralty at last ordered the "larboard" to be discontinued and "port" substituted.

— The grand total number of coins— gold, silver, copper, and bronze — now in circulation throughout the United Kingdom is more than 900,000,000, which would mean three for every inhabitant of Europe.

~ Nearly a quarter of all cases of insanity are hereditary. — A lens exposed to the sun's rays in an optician's window frequently acts as a burning glaes before being noticed. — " If uyouDgchimpaDzeebetickled — and the armpits are particularly sensitive to tickling, as in the case of our children — a decided chuckling or laughing sound is uttered, though the laughter is sometimes noiselefia " So wrote Charles Darwin after a characteristically paiustaking observation spent among the monkt ys of the Zoological Gardens. — The office of parish clerk of Chapol-en leFrith Churcli has been held by one family 3um"d Frcinwdl for nca-ly three cen'u-i-s

The pace is a measure tiketi from Ihe space betweeu the two f«ei; of a man in walking, usually reckoned at 2-^ft, but the geometrical jpace is sft. — There are at present something like 70,000 public gas jets in London ; their average power is that of 16 candles— ttut is to say, th* 1 total 13 equal to 11 400,000. Were these all clustered together and placed at a height of 2000 ft, the resulting ligUfc could be seen for a distance of more than 100 miles. The weight of the human brain is usually about l-35th of that of the whole body. — The Moors of Arabia and Spain were the first to display coloured globes in chemists' windows. The London Bookman affirm? that it has good authority for saying that four-fifths of the jokes accepted by Punch fiom outside contributors are scut by Seotchmr-n. The first recorded run on banking institutions wa-H in London iv 1667. Many Lombard street gcldetnilbs and bankers had lent out the money nitrusted to them and could not at once repay. A mob of creditors got the idea that they had been swindled, a riot ensued, and four bankers were hanged al their own doors LeiWe the svnival of the soldiers Bout to restore order.

— The Duke of Wellington, the "Iron Duke," once objected to a proposal to r-Jt'ord increased facilities for third-cla^s railway travelling on the ground that it would give a " premium to the lower orders to go uselessly wandering about the country."

—In marching soldiers take 75 steps per minute ; quick marching, 109; and in charging, 150 steps,

— It is a curious coincidence that in the same week in which the ironclad Victoria was lost, her namesake, the three-decker, was sold out of the service to a German firm for firewood. The latter ship, launched in 1860, was the last three-decker ever huilfc for the British Navy, and, to make the coincidence even more remarkable, the vessel served orly one commission, as flagship also of the commander-in-chief of the Mediterranean. Liko her unfortunate successor, sho was in her time considered a magnificent specimen of shipbuilding, but she was the last of her race, as it was recognised that under modern conditions of warfare she would be perfectly use^ss. — Our linglish race associates grey with sombreness, infestivity, and advanced years. We have lost its gay signification and the French have kept it. With them old age does not make itself felb as forlorn or sad. On the contrary, it assumes a wonderful liveliness. The aged grandparents are apt to be the most vivacious members in Parisian families. This is the French interpretation of second childhood. They believe that gaiety is the natural happy lot of all old people who have lived temperately and well. They are far from sharing those Puritan penances which resign the last years of life io the mournful shadows of the tomb. — Contemporary.

SOMJS FACTS ABOUT PUESIDKNTri,

The President of the United States holds office for four years, and receives an annual salary of £10,000.

The President of the Argentine Republic 13 chosen for six years, and receives an annual salary of £7800. Tho French President receives a salary of £25 000, a house to live in, and allowances amounting to £25,000 more ; bis term of office is seven years, and he may be re-elected

The President of the Swiss Republic is elected from the seven Ft deral Councillors (who serve three years), and serves as President for one jear, receiving a salary of £600. He may be re-elected after an interval of one year. The President of Mexico is paid £10,000 each year, and servos four yeara ; he may be re-elected now, General Diaz, the present President, hr-vipg had the Constitution altered to permit him to serve. He is now serving his fourth ttra>.