MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2237, 14 January 1897, Page 46

MULTUM IN PARVO.

•— Austria is the only country in the world whioh never places a woman in a State prison. do matter what crime she may commit. Instead of being locked up the female malefactor is sent to one of a number of convents devoted to the purpose, and is kept there during the time for which she is sentenced. These convents are unjthicg bat prisons. Tha courtyard shands •open all day long, the only bar to egress being ft nun, who acts as doorkeeper. — Earthworms are said not to possess ears or I ivy organs which can be called auch, and yet tjm peculiarly sensitive to vibrations both of the i fit and of any Bolid substance on whioh they nay be placed! — " Corporations have no souls," is a much older expression than most people imagine. It originated with Sir Edward Coke, the great sixteenth-century lawyer, who in one of his treatise* says : " Corporations cannot commit trespsßi, nor be outlawed, nor excommunicated, for they have no souls." — Among the numerous superstitions of tha Cossack? there is none stronger than the belief that they will enter heaven in a better state if they are personally elenri at the time they are killed. Consequently before an expected battle they perform their toilets with scrupulous sure, dress themselves in clean garments, and put on the best they have. — Owing to tha demand for "pairs" of horses that are well m&tched, the bleaching and dyeing of horses^have become quite an art in England. This ariißcial colouring, however, loon shows itself, and frequently thereafter the horses have to bo " touohed up." Fortunately fihe process in not in any way injurious to the r*nimsl. — A scniaty for the suppression of scandal has jest been started at lusterburg, in Eaut Pruesia. Every scandalous story spread In the town will he traced, and the originator prcsecuted by the society. — At least £150,000.000 worth of British propetty is always on the stia. — The nominal head of tbe Swisa Govsrnment is somewhat of an anomaly. Ai an official he has no ex-officio rank in ths army, cannot exercise a veto, or pardon a criminal. Hs has no offices in bis gift, and never chooses his • associates in the Federal Council. As an individual ha cannofc declare war or determine the financial policy of his country. —An ordinary railway engine ia equal in Strength to 900 horses. — People who sell newspapers in the streets Of Moscow are compelled bo appear, in uniform. — The wearing qualities of Parisian drapery are tested with mud. Any new tint that cannot stand the influence of mud being thrown tiponit is immediately put aside as useless. — Theodor Hommsen, the famous German historian, who will be 80 next year, believes that the pursuit of literature, particularly the study of history, contributes to longevity. He thinks that Leopold yon Ranke, who died in his ninetyfirst year, attained the average age of tho his- . torian. ~ - — Oommauder Bcolh-Tuckec has originated ft fresh plan for Salvation Army work. He will tfut a floating Army barracks, which will cruise from port to port in America, doing the resoue tank by tha way, rescuing "Jack" from the dutches of the harpies. The boat will be commanded and manned by seamen selected from the ranks of the Army, will carry the Army Bag, and be painted in the Army colours. ««-A British commander-in-ohief, when on fcsKve service receives £75 a wetk,

— Itu- sokih parts of Spain workmen are j allowed lo rainutt:6' leisure every hour for I c ; garette smoking. Iv tUc courts ot Mexico and | Siam, judge, jury, fowyors, witnesses, and j prisoner mfcy be all seen smoking at tha same time. . { — The Russian Government, since it has had j the liquor monopoly in its own hands, has realised about 40 per cent, on its invested j capital. 1 —Ib has been estimated that it the heat } whioh is incessantly flowing through any single j square foot of the eun's exterior could be col- ] lected and applied to the boilers of an Atlantic liner, ib would produce steam enough, to sustain in continuous movement engines ot 20,000-h.p, thus enabling a large ship to break the record between England and America. — Most of the large towns in Fr&cae contain workmen's model dwellings or taaerusnt kuusoo, i which have been dignified with the picturesque ! appellation of barracks, but none o£ these have > attained to the colossal proportions of the J " Freibaus," situate at Wieldcn, a suburb of Vienna. This buildiug has 13 courtyards, and accommodates 2112 persons belonging to ail classes of society. { -—On the body of a notorious brigand re- ' csntly killed in Turkey were found £4000 axid f a notebook which showed he had murdered 192 men. — Richard Harding X>a.via, the American novelist, travelled over to' America in the same ship with Li Hung Chang, and told Li that he was j writing a novel. This disgusted the Viceroy. 41 Writing a novel ! "he exclaimed. •• You ought to be ashamed of yourself.! Writing a novel, iudeed ! A big, strapping, able-bodied fellow like you ought to be at work. Why don't you go to work P " «,,.. — A learned scientist has recently been investigating the effect of food, particularly vegetables, on the human character. He finds that 3 a diet of carrots ameliorates harshness of j character and reduces nervous irritability ; peas i create fatty tiasue and encourage joyouautss ; • while turnips have a depressing influence. Oab-'| bage is good for pulmonary complaints; whilelet- I tuce acts as a sedative upon the human frame, j ovriag to the opium a^ntained in its milky juioe. j Red beets will add plumpness fo thu thinnest i form, while potatoes are alao fattening. — Judge Rsmy once Doasted that he bicnself had been the meanc of putting to death in 16 years 800 witches. Luther stages th&t 7000 witches were burned at Treves ; 600 by a single bishop of Bamburg ; 800 in a siuglo year in the bishopric of Waitzburg ; 1000 in tho province of tjomo ; 400 at Toulouse at a single execution ; 500 at Geneva in three months ; and 48 in Sweden. I — It is said that tb.e people of Camwood ; Forest, Leicestershire,- when they desire ta hail a person »t a distance, still call out, not " hullo ! " bub "halloup!" a survival of the times when one cried to another, "A loup ! a loup ! " or, as we should now say, • • Wolf ! wolf ! " • ' Hurrah ! " again, according to one authority, is derived from the Slavonic huraj, " to Paradise," which signifies that all soldiers who fell fighting valiantly went straight to heaven. ■ ~ The troops with which the King ef Abjs- j Bicia gamed his victory arc accustomed to live ( for months together on handfuls o£ flour and j dried peas. Tney are possessed of great powers of endurance, and are said to be unequalled at close quarters and in charges. They are voluntters mainly recruited from the tillers of the soil. They receive a small pay in additionto their clothing, food, and travelling expenses. They have no barracks. A certain number are billeted on each village, and tbe oosb of their keep it deducted from the t*xew

— Ex-Khedive IswiH mcd to fine*, hie vißits to Constantinople is tbe days o? bin spkudoujr fearfully expenaivo. Once he entcrrained the late Sulfcnn at dinner off a magnificent service of gold plate, which he had ordered expressly from r&ris. After dinner the Sultan intimated to his hoot, his subordinate, that no one could eat off it afL&r himself, and rrquested if, to be sent to his p*l*C6 immcdi&tely. — The pike aw&Hows aranli fi.'h voraciously, and in default cf tbai'e such bird* as naoorheus and animals of small size, whethev alive or dead. A curious instance of a jriWs gluttony took place in an English canal. While a swan was feeding under water a pike seized its head and gorged so mucn ot is as to result in the destlrof both bird and fi«h. — The hoail maitor at Etor. g*.lo about £4500 a j ear. Tin* head master &t Harrow geU a salary of £1500, plus the profit* of a boardinghouse of 64 boys at £90 : gross, £7260. The total gross income of the head master of Charterhouse is about £6042 10s. A house-master at Eton h»B 40 boys paying £111 for board and £21 each as pupil if the matter is a classic*! man and not only a ""dame"; grots, £4440. Assistant masters a*f Eton get £300 for the first two year* ; afterwards the feefl bring the amount up to au average of aboat £800. \ — Incandescent electric lights ar» being used by a well-known London anitnM-stuffer to illuminate the eyes of mounted animals — bears, tigers, and lions. Here obviously a. light with a flame would not do, while ths inp*udescent light answers the purpose well aad conveniently. The wire is run from the he&d down through th.B animal's body aud out through one of it« feet to a connection with tho service-wire of tLo . I shop. S — For many years it has puzzled the manu- : facturers of raw cotton for the market to find a ! means' of extracting the, ceeda from the cotton successfully, a^d tdnhough many expensive ; machioea have bseu made artel us?d, it has bse.n found the fibre of the cnlitcn »3« too erVen injared iv thß procesH. R^ctittly a genius discovered that rats like the saeds, aJid will pull the largest bundle of cotton to pieces to get them. They do better work than any machine known, and do not injure tb# fibre iv the least. — When the House of Commons votes, it ' marches out into the lobbies, where che members are counted by ths tellers. The average distance traversed by each member from his seat to the lobby ia 240 ft, so that at one allnight sitting recently on an important bill when 33"divi8ions were made, each member tramped exactly a mile and a-half, without counting unofficial excursions to the smoking and refreshment room*. As a aivisiou unnuHy takes 12 miuuees, th>i honae was dx hours and a-half on its feet that night. — In connection with a recent exhibition in London there was a Rontgen ray demonstration, and some curious experiments were made. One man brought a jewel box left to him by will, according to the terjis of which he was not to open it till 1900. He wanted to see what was inside. In the cathode light the contents were plainly discernible. Another man brr-ught a colleistiou box wrenohed from The wall of a church. Tbe bey had been lost, and it waa necessary to find how muoh money it contained. It was found possible to count tha coins. — The Russian /empire, which from various considerations, such as its vast area, the homogeneity of its population, and their stolid patriotism, is impregnable as a defensive power, is singularly weak for offence. The Tery qualities which make the Russian soldiery F.o formidable at homo render them inefficient aboad ; the inferior quality of the ofaasrs and

| geDsrala, tho isiteiuuibuble ct.-riapi.ico which i ! mabti in© trvasporfc surt commissari'afi depart- s { manU iuvaiiably bwak down, the w*nu ot com- j j munic&tions, and the g^uftral aOsenoe in staff or j 1 men of any intelligent; spirit— these and other j i causes render the Russian armiee, so ovar- { whelming on paper, altogether unreliable for J offensive warfare. Even Turkey, bankrupt and j enief-.bled, would have baaiftn Russia ia the lake ; i war bad uot the despised IlQura«inianli come fc» i j uetras*ißM.nce.— Sir Lepel GrtffiiT, in the Nioc- ! ' teenth Century. } I — According to report an interesting experi- j ment is soon to be made in the Joiiet, 111., j I penitentiary. It is proposed to have three j I kinds of euit3 for pvisomsrs, indic&tive of their j ' dspctimerst : <gre«sr, suits will h« worti by; . tuiflonera of good bohavioui*, cav.f-grey by ; those who aw leas ord«tly, ar.^ red by those i vvhc are extvemelj uurtvly. It is claimed, and j ! juatiy so, that tbis iunov&tion will give the j 1 convict the idea that hs can makq an advance > i in his fellow-man's opinion even white confined j | behind prison bats. i , —Th 9 American papers describa the advent t ' of a negto buy, aaid to be only eight years otd, \ . who hs* a marveilouft mtmorj arjd. poaseseea I , alao * gift for pitscehinf, Jam«& Lot.™ Wash- ; ! iugton i» ft r,ativ« oi" Big Ri3c'k r io tho Stats of J Arkansas, and losft his. mother wheu he was a j I year old. His father ia blind, and how the i | child learned to rsad is not known ; but it ia j claimed that ho has practically the whole of the ? Bible by heart, and tbere ia no re&aou to doubt j ' that his memory is abnuvroal and' marvellous, ; Ha v vow on a preaching tour. ' — Thef Arctic explorers complain of dJffarsul j - . causes of misnry which they encounter in tha J far north. ,Dr Nansen sajs that the thirst j induced by the* terribly irksome labour of sledge- j banting g&ve him most trouble. Though the j Polar world is covered with frozen water, there 1 is none for drinking purpose* save that which is ' ! th&wed, ana or. th« march it is a'iaio^U irupoa- . I sible to get thi« witboat; baiting to thew it. Other esplurcts complaiu of the eifects of the wind and aun. It is well known that a very low degree of cold can be borne without discomfort so long as the air is still ; but the moment it gets .in motion ib strikes the skin like the blast of ft furnace. Ils effects have often beou described as preciatFy similar to those of a burn. j — The Hon. Evolyn EHio baa made a journey from Marseilles to Havre in a motor carriage of 3£-horae power weighing lGcwfc. The distance is about 660 miles. The first 300 were made agaiust strong galea, and iv the teeth of northerly winds every day except two. The ! spet'd during ths journey averaged nine \ mites an hour, and the running time j was nine days. The cost of the fuel was i 28 j 6i?, and (ho driver was a coachman who had spent six weeks at the motor works in familiarising himself with the working of the machinery. Everything went without a hitch. — There is no monarch in Europe who has met with so many carriage accidents as Emperor William, due in a great measure to his craza for fast driving, and under* the circumi stances it is not astonishing that a very wide- ;' spread impression should prevail that he will ■ fiooner or later mest with his death through a j Q&rri&go accident, in the same way as the late Dake of Orleans, who had his neck broken while jumping out of a runaway carriage. — Probably the oldest timber in the world whiohhas been subjected to the use of man is found in the ancient temples of Egypt, in connection with stonework whioh is known to be at leash 4000 years old. This, the only wood used ( in the construction of tbe temples, is in the form o£ ties, holding the end of outi stons to "

aK'/ther. WiipL' i^c cl"tiL3 were laid in place a.j exi^vraUori, abov/i, nr\ iuo.i deap, was tuadein ecc'c block, into whiah a tia- ebaps^d like an )iour-tf)ar,ff wav dcivtm. It i« thereforn ah ezf,re;r«\y difiiauU matter to force any stone from its poH'tioa. -- It is % singular fact that locomotives, dastmed for cxceediiigly fast ru«s require* fti'Siini.Hg, as tfo rarehorso^. Tbfc locomotive built for Bt)e6rf is first t>ntr tc work on- some Braull -brunch liao, with light' tracks, until it bicom^s accDstomoi to rnnuin^, tnd all the pavla are brought doan to thou* proper bearings. Having undorgooe this period of probation, it is tskert on to taota impovtunt portions of - the lines, a'pd gr&nu&lly. worked up by increasing $vtsif ucUi it is given it* plncn on tho line of t^e s^eurt flytro. To train a. locomctivt takes about) two »j}:icth». — Three etoams'sias whiofc sailed from New York ou the. name day reo&atly carried 1500 fitsfc-oias* pausen^Hfs. Eaoh paagenjjer, it is estimated; bad aliotied ad leant £200 to cover expensiw, and ali but a hundred of the number were bent on pteaiuie only. At) fcho k-west estimate these 1500 jisople will apand £300,000. Every wok ab tSjift bjrao cf tb« yexc *i\ equal uumbej deparfc iov Hurox>e, so tiiftt before tb« riftason enan will have taken over £20,000.000 to England and the Coniiitisnt. — The plan of lighting by hidden aro Umpß, : eopccialiy in ftctories, wa* strongly reepm- ; zuended soruo years ago. The light from th« lamps- ?a fhrawtr against wQitewasbed ceilings and wjiti«, whica reflect it back into the room. No gl3.se. y»*ub.«ff-fbe «yo3. A Loadoa bank is uitw simiiftriy iighfcec by iacumJesceut lamps, which am suepeoutad ovec refltctors opeiiing upwaid, and are infisible from the floor. The light is diffused throughontd the rcoma," and »har^ shadows are avoided. — Spain is waking tip to the necessity of reafforenting her mountains. The littlo King recently went; tv> a vitla>;o a few miles east of Madrut fartd piftntad a pine SiVpHtiß, uftfaf which fiOOO cbtldren, srlacted f icra th-j Madrid scliools, eauh plauted a tree. Medals were distributed among them, with the inscription : " Firsfc Acbov Diy, instituted in the reign of Alfonso XIII, 1896." Similar festivals are to beheld yearly in diffbtuui; plaof.s, and the chiWrea are to be t*con cat to ssft hsw thsir toes grow, in (he hope that; they will fo&tec trci?-planting in their cUsriiets. — There are people with peculiar names all over the world ; but the United States, says an American contemporary, can give them a good start and a good beating. Without diving any deeper than the records of the Patent office, where the names are sure to be registered correctly, we can find as an attorney aW. B. Argue, while a Mr Meatyard applied for a patent on a meat saw. The name of Car Carpenter appears as an applicant for a patent on a car-heater, and Mr Lightsinger has invented a harmonium. Mr Preserved Fish is also an applicant, and Mr Lazarus Fried is an inventor of toy watches. Messrs Mustard, Morningstar, Only, Turnipseed, Rainwater, Walkup, Shirtsleeve, Earlywine, • Shortneck, Earwig, and Sloppy are also applicants.