GENERAL INFORMATION.

Bruce Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 2955, 26 April 1898, Page 3

GENERAL INFORMATION.

Over a million pairs of boots and shoes are made in England each week. UOn.B English railway company alone issues oyer a tonjbf tailwav tidketyweeifry.- - According io French law a doctor has the first claim on the estate of a deceased patient. - laf.the circuaea- oLancient Rome elephant? walk the tightrope. It « saidTthat of all instruments v the. violin requires tM"in<fflt -eMcate earFo 7 p^)_y. - ' -> • Jt. is . always a sure sign of rain when horaesLand cattle stretch „sheir .necks and snuff the air fora long time. • -^ r Tbedilood of dog* fatigued by long racing, "when fnjecte_ into other dogs, makes them exhibit all the symptoms of fatigue. Incandescent lamps increase in effective* ness during the -first "'■eighty or hundred hours of use, after which they slowly fade. Deafness is more prevalent ib cold than in warm countries, the ears being sensitive to changes of temperature. - It is computed that in marching soldiers take 75 steps per minute, in quick marching , t 108, and in charging- _6 4 >steps. A curious industry in Paris is tbat b_ oelling toads to gardeners, to be used M ibsect destroyers. * '-■•• The Parisian whistles at, ihe theatre in ' order to show his disgust; the Londoner to lihow bis delight and approval. In Europe at this time some 27,000,000 men are ready take -the field at any moment, *- : There is a shellfish in the Mediterranean which produces a good quality of silk. Fabrics have been manufactured from it, but only as curiosities. ; <; The Chinese divide the day. into twelve parts of two hours eaoh. The Italians reckon twenty-four hours -round,; instead of two divisions of twelve hours each, as we do. In Uganda you can get a wife! for two or three bullocks, or even for six good sewing needles, or a box _f percussion caps. -In Australia you can get a wife for nothing, and 1 dear at that (sometimes). .'?-.'.. ' The pipe smoked by the new Shah of Persia on State occasions is set with a number of diamonds, rubies, and emerals of thecostliest kind, and iB stated to be worth as much as £bO,OOO sterling. It is probably not a very well known fact -that the _hedding of. .tears keeps the eyes cool. Such is the case, however, and no matter bow hot the eye may be, so long as there are.tears r the eyes will be cool. A gold coin, passes from one to another 2,000,000.000 times before the stamp or impression upon, it becomes obliterated by friction, while a silver coin changes between 3,250 000,000 times before it becomn* entirely defaced. Princess Beatrice is the greatest photograph collector in England. She has 800 photographs placed about her various rooms, while she has thousands safely stored away. She has been an assiduous collector of photographs ever since she was a child. Domestic pets which have endeared themsatves by long years of association to the Prince or Princess of Wales are always stuffed immediately after death, aud rind a permanent resting-place in a corridor at Sandringham or in Marlborough House. The bridal wreath is usually formed in Germany of myrtle branches ; in France and England, of orange-blossoms ; in Italy -and French Switzerland, of white roses J in Spain; of red roses and pink*; in the islands; of Greece, of vine leaves ; in Bohemia, of rosemary ; in German Switzerland, of a crown of artificial flowers. A Belgian inventor has devised an immense lamp, Buch as has probably never been seen before; The ; lamp is composed of three thousands pieces. It is six feetr high, and :; measures three feet ten inches In diameter.' ~ It is fed with laid oil, and. the consumption is very small, its light being so powerful that one may read by it at a distance^M Bix hundred feet. The invention of the organ is very ancient, though it is agreed it was little used till tbe eighth century. It seems to have been borrowed from the Greeks. Vitrnvioua describes one in his tenth book. The Emperor Julian has an epigran in its praise. St. Jerome, mentions one with twelve pairs of bellows, which might be heard a thousand paoesor a mile ; and another at Jerusalem, wnich might have been heard as far as the Mount of Olives.