ECHOES FROM EVERYWHERE.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9300, 30 December 1895, Page 5

ECHOES FROM EVERYWHERE.

TWENTY MILLIONS OF METEORS * DAILY. Twenty millions of meteors, according to Dr. Murray, fall upon tho earth every day, their aggregate weight amounting to sometbiog like two toua, In a hundred years *c should ect at least lib, at most 20lb, of cosmic dimt distributed over each tquare m ilo of the drill's surface, and yet the organised search which has beou itu-de for cosmic dust »" rv ery quarter of the globe ins yielded meajiro teeuks. The best luntiug-sroinul hus proved lo be the bottom 0 [ the Pacific Oceon, where, lOOO.milea Irom »ny land, a red clay ia brought up, which, on examinitli"n. is ahown to consist of throe kjmls of particle'?. A magnet will pick out ceruin microscopic crystal fragments of titanic or miirnetic iron, leaving behind a mixture oi blackish and brownish spherules, the former of which contain copper, and , re seemingly of volcanio origin, while the Jailer (called "choiidres") ure of radial ..ccentric structure, cud are judged to be coimic dust, fho slopes of lieu Nevis also yield traces i>f this extraneous matter, whitlif considering the millions of years during which it lias been steadily raining on the earth, is straDgcly little in evidence Speaking of meteorites, M. Henri Moissan, ct tlecttic furnace fame, has tor a long timo pgit been examining meteoric atones for traces of the diamond, and in one, the notable atone of Caisou Diablo, has found true transparent crystals. In others the black diamond is found, m some graphite, or caiUJniu an amorphous form, air] some ijoutaiu no carbon.— Pa/i Mull Gazette.

A KINDIIEAHTED MUSICIAN. Xwn charming anecdotes of tho late Sir Chwles Halle- appear iv the funeral sermon preached Ly the Bishop of Salford. Oue dates back to the earliest years cf Sir Charles's icsidence in Manchester. A3 the postman cams to hia door oue morning, ••)lr Halle saw that, the imprudent kindness of neighbours had reduced the postman to such a condition that ho was no longer 4 ble to dischurgo his dui.ies. Mr Halle, thereupon, begged the man to come into his Jiouse and rest, and he himself delivered ivery oue of tho letters in the bag at its deetinsition, afterwards seeing the poor man iafe home. Ho did that, noo so much for tho man as out of pity for the mans wife tod family. 1. Bub the other anecdote was even more striking. It seems that at the outbreak of tho Franco-Prussian war, a report was spread—a false roporb as it turned out—that Mr Halle's services were claimed by his country for the war. A poor cabman, who, in hia distress and weary trial, had experienced Mr Halle's kindness, Mso many hud experienced it in their hour 0/ need, had heard the report, aud, believing it to ha true, he went, to Mr Hallo and begged that ho might tako his place in the »rmy—that he might endure the fatigues of the campaign, and even offer his life tor his former bouefactor.

A DEEP-SEA ZOOLOGICAL TRAP. Tho Priuce of Monaco, who is away cruising in his yacht, scut a paper to the Geographical Congress containing ad interesting account of iua deep-sea zoological traps. Tho apparatus, aaya the Princu, is composed ot wood aud network, lunk and anchored, by means of four sacks it etoues a huudredweight ißch, and eetnued to the four lower corners. It ia suspended by thirty fathoms of rope connected by a swivel with a steel wire cable of 4000 fathoms, made up of longths of about 250 fathoms, and capable of being easily separated at any joining. The apparatus is lowered very gently till it reaches the bottom, tho cable disconnected ai, ono of the breaks, and the free end made fast to a buoy, which serves to mark the place. In 1894 this apparatus showed that the deepest wuters of the Western Mediterranean ewaimed with highly organised life, »nd moat interesting biological results followed an experiment at 2700 fathoms in toe B»y of Biscay.

INTERESTING TO CYCLISTS. Borne of the following points for wheeling' liven by a Burgeon, are familiar, others are new, and are good for pedestrians also :— Never ride within half an hour of a meal, which means either before or after. Wheel the machine up any hill the mounting of which on the wheel causes any real effort. Bee that the clothing round the stomach, Deck, and chest is loose. Have tho handle btr sufficiently raised to prevent stooping. Be as sparing as possible of taking fluids during a long tide. Except the witni, road, &(]., be favourable, never ride more tiian ten miles an hour, except for very short disUucee. Never smoke while ridiug.

A LITTLE "MEIiSTAKE." Senor Zeballoa, formerly Minister to the Jnited States from Argentina, did not jpeak English very fluently. " I make often many meestake when 1 speak Ameri»n6," eaid ho. "I make a bad blunder the last time I am received at the White House. A beautiful larice tell mc someIhinf? which happen in your civil war. She •ays she see it. Now, I think to myself I will be polite and make the senora a grand compliment. 'It is impossible that you see it, inad&m,' I say. • You must have been born many, many years before the war.' AH the time," concluded Zoballos, " I mean after the war. But I make n meestake. I say ' before.' No, the ludee was not pleuaed. She felt much contempt."

THE ORIGIN OF THE THIMELE. A thimble was originally a thumb-bell, because it was woru on the thumb, as sailors .till wear their thimbles. It is a Dutch indention, and in 1884, in Amsterdam, the bi-centennial of the thimble was celebrated with a great deal of formality. Thi* very valuable addition to my lady's work-basket vaa Hrat made by a goldsmith named Nicholas van Benschoten, the ancestor of tbe American family of Van Bensehotens. The Bret thimble made was presented in 1684 to Anna vau Wedy, the second wife of Kitiaen van Reuaselaer, the purchaser of Kenslelucrwyck. In presenting his useful gift, Van lienschoten brtgged Mdme Reusselaer *• to accept this new covering for the protection of her diligent fingers, as a token of his uteem."

CHILD SLAVRRY IN NEW YORK. Thero arc 50,000 womeu and children in X<!\y York City working from ten tosixieen boms a day. Thero are 20,000 children ander rixteen years of age working frequently sixteen hours a day. There are women autl children working in stores from nine in the morning until teu at night. The majority of the children are cash girls, and they receive Idol 50 cent, a week, and are fined when absent or tardy and when they make mistakes. New York City ia a large city, and distances are great between home and place of cmploymcur, so if tho children do not walls to and from work there is very little left out of tho Idol 50 cent. Inepector Farney states that "all but fifteen of tha 385 wholesale clothing manufacturers in New "York have their goods made in •sweat shops. . Since the passage of the Factory Law about 15,000 sweaters have emigrated to New Jersey, where the laws ire not adequate to cope with them."— Humanitarian.

TRANSFORMATION OF HELIGOLAND. Heligoland has lost almost ail its natural Jeauty and characteristics since it became the property of the German Emperor. (Jovernment House is no longer as it was. Once the scene of pleasant hospitality and entertainments, it has now degenerated into a mere oifice for the transaction of the Governor's busiueas. Every inch of ground has 10 be utilised, so that the gardens and tennis courts fire now entirely built over, and made into a large fort. Water, which lias always been scarce iv Heligoland, has fortunately been found, to a certain extent, on the Oberliind, and wells sunk there. Thie recent discovery of water is a great boon to the place, and would, of course, be especially bo in the case of a eiege. Fresh water has dways been bought by the inhabitants of the island in the dry season. A correspond dent of the Daily Graphic says that a fine, convcrguzione and bathing establishment has been built close to the sea, and the old Conversation House has been turned into a Pos , . Oifice. Little Heligoland now bristles wiili importance, red tape and official

umforma.

vIX d f';'?!,' th b ° b '"""- -»»— wmsm mmm Eavnt 1. he aaCred litQ '-ature of Sv P \w Where Were wriLtcu on papyru. cufliu.and portions of which are fouud insenbea on every mummy case and on the walls of every tomb. In front of one of the pnncpal temples of the sun, m this magniiceut city, stood, along with a companion, long since destroyed, the solitary obeliak which we now behold on the spot. It alone has survived the wreck of all tho glory of the place. It was constructed by Uaertesen 1., who is cuppoeed to have reieued 2800 yeais before Christ, aud has outlasted ».l the dynastic changes of the land, aud still stands where it originally stood uearly fortyseven centuriea a a o. What appears of its shaft above tho around is 68ft in height but its baee is buried in the mud of the .Nile, and year after year the inundation of the river deposits it 3 film of soil around its foot, and buries it still deeper iv its sacred grave.

THE FIRST A3T-DROP IN LONDON. Paradoxically enough, while tempted by his ijuick and easy execution, and his knack of artificial composition, to rely too much on hia memory in painting landscape pictures—thus evoking tho jibea of Peter Pindar, who sneers at his " brass skies " and "marble bullocks"---Dβ Loutherbourg occasionally sought nature on bahalf of. his Btage labours. An excursion to the Peaks at this period resulted in somo capital Derbyshire scenery, around which a clumsy pantomiino was written, and brought out at Drury Lane in January, 1775. Most of the periodicals of the time devoted considerable space to this production purely on account of the high merits of the painter's work. It is noteworthy that the London Magazine, in comrneutiug on the fact that the unknown author had made the wonderful cavern knosvn as Poole'e Hole the home of Harlequin's tutelary genius, saya—" The only advantage arising irom this to a man of taste is the pretence, by his ascending, of introducing such a quantity of light as to show tho manner in which Mr Loutherbourg has imitated nature in the very process of petrification." Previous to the commencement of the piece the painter strove to adjust the spectator's frame of mind by the exhibition of a romantic Derbyshire landscape used as an act-drop. So much admired was this view that it was permanently adopted, and remained in its place until the destruction of the theatre by lire some years later. It would appear now that this was not only the earliest example of the employment of an act-drop, or curtain of a scenic nature, in England, hut in Western Europe to boot. So fur as France was concerned, the fir3t departure from the conventional green baize curtain took place on the opening of the Theatre de la Porte S*iut-Mar!in, Paris, on tliu 27th October, 1781, when au act-drop was shown treating of a mythological subject.—\V. J. Lawrence, in The Magazine of Ait.