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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 246, 16 October 1891, Page 2

The Shah of Persia has delegated a doaen noblemen to visit Germany and study the methods employed in the various branohea of the Government- services. - The following i 8 a scale of the average duration of animal life from the most celebrated writers, on natural history :— A hare will live ten years, a oat ten, a goat eight, an ass thirty , a sheepien, a dog from fourteen to twenty, an ox to.: twenty, swine twenty-five, a pigeon eight, a turtle-dove twenty-five, a partridge twenty five, a raven one hundred, an eagle one .hundred, a goose one hundred ahd fifty. Ladies will be surprised to hear that the use of red parasols has been' officially forbidden in many villages of the Tyrol. The peasants say that the starling colour irritates the grazing cattle;' and that a number ol accidents of reoent date were da<r to the display of red sunshades. s ;. '; A man^amed JohrrAndreWsbn; a native ol Montrose, has juet died at Cardiff, aged 101, being born June 20ch,'1790, Hill career was a remarkable one. \He\weht to sea when fourteen years old, and left it when seventy°k?be Vlßil - ed n6arly every^ Brb oI tna If the American gossip of the Manoheßter Examiner may be relied on, one of the most notable features of the forthcoming session of Congress will be the effort to secure, if not a national law of divorce, at any rate some sort of unity of procedure on.the part of the various States of the Commonwealth in deal* ing with matrimonial differences'. - Publio opinion is thoroughly aroused about the subject, aud haa oome to' the conclusion that it ia about time that Amerioan divorces should cease to be regarded with ridioule and reproach by the whole of the civilised world. Ihe nation having outgrown its tempestuous youth, and attained the years of disoretiou, has at length -oomifc'ericed tb realise that the sanctity of the marriage law constitutes one vOttM. principal pillars upon whioh rest tha entire fabric- of oiviliaed society, and that anything calculated to bring it ihto contempt ia .destined to result in permanent and lasting injury, to the community. A Rußßian naval lieutenant named Kouznetsoff, who haß lived many yeara ia Japan, relates in the Oronßtadt Viestnik, the offioial organ of the navy, that the whole of tha Japanese ariatooraoy are strongly inolined to. wardß the Protestant form of religion, and that they only wait for the Mikado to change hiß religion in order to follow his example. Lieutenant Kouznetßoff calculates the numbar of Japanese who have adopted the Russian orthodox faith at 17,000. < The oldest vessel is said to be the Vifciladt,* built at Baltimore in the year 1780, and consequently 111 years old. She is owned by Mr S. Peathany, of Santa Cruz, and is now doing good servioe as mail oarrier between St. Thomas and Santa Crnz in the West India Islands. In her day Bhe was a coaster, a peaceable common carrier of merchandise, a slaver, and a pirate. Two English oyolists have oroßßed the highest ot the Alpine passes, the Stelvio, which, at tha height of 9125 feet, oonneots the Austrian Tyrol with Italy. This is the most elevated road in Europe available for vehicular (radio, and was taken by Mr J. W. Moore and Mr Burgees, of the Ohiohester Cycling Tourist Club, on thetr way to Vienna. " The Brethren's Annual." a little book issued by the Amerioan Drunkards, has an artiole on the •' Dimensions of Heaven," founded on Lav. xxi„ 16; in whioh it is shown with the utmost precision that there will be more thanlOO rooms 16 feet square for eaoh person, A textile manufacturer (says a Renter telegram from Trdreß), who was caUed in as an expert at the reoent examination of the Holy Coat, states that when the wrappers round the relio were removed the vesture itself proved to be in so tattered a condition that it oould not have been exhibited. After consulting numerous experts, Bishop Korum at length called iu a venerable and experienced nun, who proposed that the fragments should be gummed together, tha material being too worn to stand the strain of a needle and thread. This method was adopted, and the various parts were united in this way. The thiok leathery substanoe now exposed is believed to be the tunio itself, though it is probable that the: original garment is partially overlaid with layers of old wrappers, which have been decaying together with the ooat to wbioh they have adhered. Another expert, Dt Book, of Aix-la-Chapelle, states that he ex-. amined the reverse side of the ooat, aud dis* covered that it was mounted on Byssus silk. This anoieut and costly material was not manufactured after the sixth century, and was in use inthe first, though always extremely oostly; and the faot that tbe Holy Goat has this ancient material for its foundation is held in Oatholio circles to be a strong argument id favour of the genuineness of the relio. Nine members of the Kite Arctio Expedition arrived at Halifax, Nova Seotia, on August 31. ' The expedition reaohed 77.43 N, and 70.20 W. Ia these regions they found a rooky country aud flowers in luxuriant profusion, although the vegetation did not reach higher than six or eight inches. The members of the exp;dition bring with them immense collections of plants, flowers, herbs, and butterflies, some of whioh were previously unknown to exist. They found , all the published charts of Greenland to ba incorreot. They left the North Greenland expedition under I^ieufc. Peary in Melville Bay, 2500 miles north of Halifax, Lieut. Peary proposes next spring to penetrate still further north on snow shoes, in order to determine, if possible, the boundaries of Greenland. The party have built a house in Melville bay, in which they will winter, Mrs Peary will remain there during her h_sband's expedition in thejapring. It is stated in Pariß thafc.the Pope is preparing an Enoyolioal on different forms of government, the object being to explain that the Ohuroh is the creditor and not the = debtor of every monarchy and Empire. The Pope Csays the Daily Chronicle's correspondent) will instanoe the Frenoh concordat as a speoimeu of the oonoiliatory polioy of the Papacy in its dealings with the rulers of different oountries. His HolineßS will conclude by exhorting modern sooiety to gather up its forces for the regeneration of tha world. Incidentally the Socialist question will be referred to as a proof that the struggle between labour and capital can only be settled peaceably upon the lines of a Christian .-ooiety. Outside that Socialism can only degenerate into fruitless and "* perilous anarchy. The Frenoh Minister of War, acting on the reports of the Frenoh military . attaches abroad, has appointed a committee of officers to devise breastplates to protect 'soldiers against the fire of the new rifles. This committee has recommended the adopttion of a a breastplate made, of nine parts of copper and one of aluminium offering three tunes greater resistance than a steel plate of the same thiokness. The thiokness of this armour, which would only be nsed in time millimetres. - It u pointed out .that the German military authorities . havf given orders for a new Danish breastplate, theSventionof a Oaptain Holstein, which has been tested at the Amager shooting grounds. A writer in the London Lance\t .directs attention to the fact that the inost recent' remedy for alcoholism is petroleum or paraffin oil, to which, the notice of the St. Petersburg medioal authorities was, called by an accident; It appears that a labouring man. who had been drinking heavily for four days and nights, entered, in a complete state of intoxioation, a grower '» shop.' notioed by the housekeeper, he " staff. * gered up to an open oa^.o^pretoleunv and began drinking., f row it With difficulty he was dragged away from tne cask and seeing the Wei Quantity' ol petroleum he imbibed, it wfs expSfthS he would fall down senseles&'and bf serikS fn ft i*teJ rolo,U 5 h d WW**** of all the ill effects of over drinking, the nausea, unsteadiness of gait and headaohe disapi)e_ii__as if by magio, j a f aofi is stattf VM the shop sober and quite [»upth« B^.-^V;.