GENERAL INFORMATION.

Northland Age, Volume IV, Issue 48, 20 July 1908, Page 8

GENERAL INFORMATION.

An iron ship weighs twenty-seven per cent, less than a wooden one o! the same dimensions, and will carry 115 tons of cargo lor every 100 tons carried by the wooden ship, both loaded to the some draught of water.

The total area of Australia >* 1,402,447,120 acres, or about 20 times that of the United Kingdom. The total granted, sold, or in proc«*s of alienation is 125,639,289 acres ; the total leased or licensed, 720,763560 acres ; and the total unoccupied or reserved for public purposes is 1,056,044,271 acres, or rather more than half of the whole.

The population of the eighteen provinces of China, including Manchuria, is 407,000,000, or 7,000.000 more than that of the British Empire.

One of the most curious things about serpent venom is that each species seems to be immune to its own poison. If a snake is inoccu* la ted with its own venom it remains unaffected.

Government analysts have examin*ed the various patent medicines sold in Germany, and ascertained that fully eighty per cent, of them are without medicinal value, while 20 per cent, of them are injurious to health. The so-called tonics are nearly all hurtful, because of the alcohol they contain.

.It has been scientifically demonstrated that early marriages in India have resulted in racial degeneration. Boys and girls of nine or ten years are married in that country, with the consent of their guardians. In some sections laws have been passed prohibiting the marriage of girls under fourteen.

A ring made of the iron found in human blood is worn by M. Bai/uel, the noted chemist, who is chief of the chemical laboratories in Paris. He saved a large amount of blood which flowed during his experiments in phlebotomy, and extracted the iron from the other constituent's, finally converting it into a ring.

The nicotine in tobacco is removed by steeping the leaves in a solution of tannic acid. This is the method adopted by a German chemist. To improve the flavour of the tobaccq it is then treated with a decoetion of marjoram.

An American sailor belonging to a warship secured leave of absence, and had a lively time at Gravesend. When he awoke the next morning ha found himself arrayed in the uniform of a British soldier. The latter was a deserter, who had exchanged uniforms while the American was in a drunken slumber.

We were entirely right in say ing that if Sir Thomas Lipton built a Shamrock IV. to race for the American Cup, she was beaten before her keel was laid. The New York Yacht Club does not care a fig for a fair race. What it cares about and ell •it cares about is the victory, and it wnats to make that victory a dead certainty for the defender before the race is started. It can only do this by setting Sir Thomas Lipton s yacht, which has weathered the Atlantic, to race against freaks width could not weather Peg well Bay. To those freaks it is resolved to stick. WeM, let it stick. The sensible thing to do is to let America keep the Cup till tht American sporting ideal has grown a little higher, an d the American yachting world acquires opmc trifling notion of fair play.

The male Corcans are among th* laziett people on earth. They do little more than eat, and smoke, and chatter all day long. Thev |»ermit their wives to do all the work, and consider them no better than beasts of burden. \ s^*4.^