NEWS IN BRIEF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LI, Issue 15646, 27 June 1914, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF

Up td 1874 the Japanese vaccinated on the tip of the nose.

It is a carious fact that there has never been a Duke or Lord of Lone"in.

Paris has a r.. n.oer oi l-r>'4e bootblacks, and they are liberal'y pat nised. Fish, as a rule, Increase in weight and length every year up to their death.

Wiesbaden is declared to possess more donkeys than any other German town.

About one-half of the population of Greece are agriculturists and shepherds.

The sudden deaths among men are eight times greater than those among women.

A bat can absorb and digest in one night three times the weight of its own body.

A new sled for boys has a third runner, longer than the othe.s, in front, to facilitate steering. At a clothing factory in Leeds, England, electricity is used to operate IoCO sewing machines. Only a sixteen-hundredth part of tho surface of the globe is occupied by the British Isles.

There are more theatres in proportion to its population in Ita'y than elsewhere in the world.

To read the Bible through at the rate of a chapter a day would take three years and three months. A not uucommon sight in South Africa is a herd of ostriches racing along beside a railway train.

In Germany it is illegal for physicians to dictate prescriptions to druggists through the telephone.

Within the last 50 years 240 churches have been built in London, said the Bishop of London at Fulham.

The total cordage required for a firstrato man-of-war weighs about 80 tons, and exceeds £3000 in value.

The largest statue in existence is that of Peter the Great in St. Petersburg, which weighs 1000 tons.

People in feeble health rarely sneeze, i. vigorous, resonant sneeze is indicative of a robust constitution.

Moscow has the largest hospital in Europe; it lias 7000 beds, and a staff of 90 doctors and 900 nurses.

Pins have been found among the Egyptian mummies, and in the prehistoric caves of Switzerland.

The smallest bird's egg is that of Hie tiny Mexican humming bird. It is about the size of the head ot a pin.

Imitation smoke, made of properly coloured cotton mounted upon wires, has been patented for use in toy locomotives. There are in the United Kingdom about 3,500,000 cows, and on the average each yields 400 gallons of milk a year,

The ants of South America are great tunnel builders. They have been known to construct a tunnel three miles in length.

The signal codo books carried in warships have leaden backs, so that they will sink should the vessel be wrecked.

Platinum has been drawn into wire so fine that even when placed on a piece of white paper it is invisible to the naked eye.

The average duration of human life in European countries is greatest in Sweden and Norway, and lowest in Italy and Austria.

Chicago recently passed an ordinance, requiring windows in tall office buildings to be bo adjusted as to bo washable from tho inside.

Cocus wood is the hardest known wood; oak is the strongest) The heaviest Britisn wood is that of tho box tree, which sinks in water.

A giraffe assumes a high position immediately after its birth. At that time he measures six feet from his hoofs to the top of his head.

To give money for a charitable object in Burma is supposed to imply that the donop has been very wicked, and wishes to show hjs penitence.

A sleep-walker in California swam two miles down a river without waking up, and continued his sleep on the bank after leaving the water.

Toads have ben found so useful that they are sold in Franco by the dozen for stocking gardens to free tho ground from many injurious insects.

St. Peter's in Rome will accomodate 54,000 people; the Milan Cathedral 37,000 persons and St. Paul's Cathedral, London, 25,000 persons.

Coal was first used at Nowcastle- on Tyne about the year 1230, and became an article of trade between' that town and London some 50 years later

A camellia tree fifty feet high, and now in full bloom with 40,000 blossoms, cau bo seen in Plentiz, near Dresden. It was brought from Japan in 1840.

According to a doctor, the voices of singers and actors can bo much better proserved if used in theatres lighted by electricity rather than by gas.

Three hundred and eighteen statues of William 1. of Germany have been erected in German towns to tho present date, at a total cost of about £1,000,000.

Automatic scales, for the use of bankers, havo been invented. On a dial they indicate the weight as well as the value of a quantity of coin, silver, or gold.

Florence is mourning the death of a poet who was 7 feet 3 inches tall. Ho has, however, left a son and daughter each of whom is mere than 7 foot in height.

The metric system has been generally adopted bv the pecplo of Mexico, and is in use in ordinary practice, as well as being the official measures of weight and capacity.

A gold engagement ring, set with a diamond, and containing an inscription, was recently found tightly fixed round the neck of a partridge shot near Gaschowitz, Bohemia.

The Arabs were the first to use orange blossoms as bridal wreaths. The orange branch bears fruit and flowers at the same time, and it is therefore considered an emblem of prosperity.

The Egyptians bestowed great labour or. their tombs and little on their homes, ergarding the latter merely as temporary abodes, while the former they looked onus their eternal habitation.

In nearly every prominent street in Japanese cities is a public oven, where for a small fee, housewives may have their breakfasts, dinners, or suppers satisfactorily cooked fur them.

The wife of a Bulgarian rarely goes out without her husband, does not receive callers in her husband's absence and seldom appears in a restraurant, a cafe or a place uf pr'ihc amusement.

A peculiar v-„ier-animal is the Bynapta, which nature ! is provided with an anchor somewhat similar in shape to those used by ships. By means of this tho insect holds itself firmly in any desired spot.

Among the Alps there are several post offices at a height of 6000 ia', 01 7 .TO feet. One letter-box from which the postman makes four collections daily, is nearly 10.000 feet above the sea-lev'l

In cue of the minor Be.'lin courts recently began the trial lor fraud of August Ilubner and others. The accused are 31 in number. There are 1200 witnesses to be called, and the charges are contained in 480 closely typewritten, large sheets of paper. It" is estimated that the case will last several mouths. The public prosecutor was allowed nine months in which to try and master the general details of tho suit.

In tho cloisters of Westminster Abbey is a tombstono which has been polished every morning and decorated afresh with a bunch of flowers for nearly five, years. It is over the grave of tho lata Mrs. WjJberfnrce, wife of the present Ar;hdoacon of Westminster, who died May 15, .'909. Never a morning has passed but ft if b. floral tribute has been laid on it, and more than 1800 days have passed since May, 1909,