INTERESTING ITEMS.

Lake County Press, Issue 2136, 20 September 1906, Page 7

INTERESTING ITEMS.

After the age of thirty the brain of a woman decreases in weight. American women are growing taller while the men are getting shorter. Eighty-five per cent, of the peoplo who are lame are affected oh tho left side. The hardest of all ivory is obtained from the hippopotamus. This will emit sparks like a piece of flint when struck with steel. It is used principally for making artificial teeth. Of the thirty-eight Sultans who have ruled the Ottoman Empire since the conquest of Constantinople by the Turks, thirty-four have died violent deaths. A miraculous well was discovered recently in New Guinea at a depth of (500 ft. Anything made of iron or steel and dipped into the water at once became magnetic. Less tobacco is consumed in Great.* Britain, in proportion to the inhabi-* tants, than in any other civilised? country. The average is twentythree ounces per annum for each pel"*.' son. It is now a well-established conclusion of science that the higher we rise in the scale of nervous organisation the greater the possibilities of pain, it is part of the price we have had to pay for the more evolved life. Nearly everybody smokes in Manila It is a common sight, after sunset, to see a father out for a stroll with his wife and children, and every one of them over the age of five years smoking a cigarette. What is asserted to be the oldest lifeboat in existence is preserved at South Shields as a valued relic. It was built in 1830, and during more than fifty years of active service was instrumental in saving 1,028 persons. size, sometimes 80ft. and even 90ft. { Although whales grow to enormous I long, the throat of the common I whale is so small that it cannot ! swallow a bit as large as a tea-bis-i cuit. The spermaceti whale has a mouth large enough to swallow a man. * The hottest region on earth is on I the south-western coast of Persia, where Persia borders the gulf of the same name. For forty consecutive days in July and August the ther- | mometer has been known not to fall (lower than 100 degrees, night or | day, and often to run up as high as 128. J. I A large Dublin manufacturer has a '' room entirely furnished with Irish I peal. The carpets on the floor, the ! curtains at. the windows, the paper i on ili:> walls are made from this subI stance. For many years he has ex- | pcninonicd with the material!, which is now very largely exported as fuel, aiul be has discovered that it is possible to procure almost any kiud ol I fabric from it. 1013.