MULTUM IN PARVO.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 13 February 1926, Page 11

MULTUM IN PARVO.

A machine for making tacks was ’ patented in 1800, but not put into practical use until near th e middle of last, century. Now the world consumes 50,000,000 tacks a day. A frog cannot breathe with its 1 mouth open. Its breathing apparatus is so arranged that when its mouth is open its nostrils are closed. To suffocate a frog it is necessary to prop its jaws so 4>hat they cannot shut. Scientists say that the orange wa.s originally a berry, and that its evolution has been going on for more than a thousand years. - In the fourteenth century armour became so heavy that many soldiers over thirty years old were deformed or permanently disabled by its weight. Experiments have demonstrated that defences of pasteboard have much greater powers of resistance against bullets than have those of wooden planking. In Iceland 1 men and women are in every respect political equals. The nation, which numbers about 70,000 people, is governed by representatives elected by men and women.

The standard gauge of British railways is 4ft S^in; of Irish, sft 3in. There are, however, lines of nine other guages at present existing in Great Britain. These vary from lft 11-Ain up to 4ft. The turquoise is the most treacherous of all gems, often losing its colour or developing white spots which, though at first only to be seen witli the aid of a microscope, soon affect the whole stone. Dampness will re- * vivo temporarily a faded turquoise. There is no difference so far as the food value is concerned between the white-shelled and the brown-she Ted egg. Canada enjoys the lowest freight rate of any country in the world. A. potato with a waist of !7in and yeighing over two pounds has been dug up in. a Yorkshire garden. The Italian railwaymen have elected a memorial to George Stephenson nt the station at Siera. Short-sighted people are said to he the most intelligent section of the population.

The British and Australians are the ton-drinking people of the nations, and the other great branch of the AngloSaxon race, the whites of the United States, are at the head of the world’s coffee drinkers. Boots and shoes to the number of 100,000,00 P pairs were turned out in British workshops during 1923. A wireless receiving, set, which, it is claimed, operates without either aerial or earth, has made its appearance. A homing pigeon has had a broken leg set at West London Hospital —the first time that a bird has been sent to the hospital for treatment. The special wireless station, to bo used for “ beam ’’ telegraphy, which is under construction at Bridgewater in Somerset, will be notable for its great masts, of which there will be ten. Each is 387 ft, high, and 12ft square, the weight being close upon 50 tons. A crane is ca’led a derrick from the name of Derrick, tlie Tyburn hangman, who made gibbets in the 17th century. Nearlv a million and a half people visited the Canadian National Exhibition at Toronto in two weeks. The Hul' Licensing Committee decided not to grant licenses in future to women as managers of kinematograph theatres. To counteract the injurious effects of paint, the British Minister of Health has ordered paint-spravers to be supplied with a quart of milk per day.