NEWS IN BRIEF.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16026, 18 September 1915, Page 1 (Supplement)

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Oct of every 1000 births, eleven are twins.

Fifty years ago Florence "was the capital of Italy.

Britain has grown abroad to 73 times her area at home.

Mr. McKenna rowed bow in the Cambridge crew of 1887.

Turkish parents beat their children on the soles of the feet.

During the Crimean War our weekly expenditure was £700,000.

Tile Freedom of the City of London can be purchased for about £28.

Only one woman in a thousand marries after she is 60 years of age.

Bread made from pine-bark and moss is sometimes eaten in Finland.

Blind fish are found in the waters of the Mammoth Cave, Kentucky.

Some whippets can tear along at the rate of over seventeen yards a second.

The Sahara Desert has an area of about three and a-half million square miles.

It has been estimated that each inhabitant- of England uses 90 bricks a year.

Inhabitants of San Francisco do not like to hear their city referred to as 'Frisco.

Flowers turn towards a lighted electric lamp just as they turn towards the sun.

Mr. William de Morgan, published 'hie first novel when he was 66 years of age.

The Siberian railway is the longest in the world. Its total length is 4785 miles.

Fruitgrowers used to thrash their walnut trees in order to make them bear well.

Captain WoolJey, of the Queer: Victoria Rifles, was the first territorial to win a V.C.

" Curfew" comes from two French words, " couvre feu," which mean " cover fire."

Most of our military terms are French, but nearly all our naval terms are AngloSaxon.

Queen Victoria was presented with a bedstead made of gold by the Maharajah of Cashmere.

More fish are found off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland than in any other part of the world. »

Charles Dickens was offered a baronetcy by Queen Victoria, but refused owing to lack of means.

Giffard, the family name of the staunch Conservative, Lord Halsbury, signifies "the Liberal."

The air in a room 15ft long, 10ft wide, and .10ft high would weigh more t.Kan a hundredweight.

_ Among the trophies captured from Napoleon at the battle of Waterloo were two living eagles.

Some 2000 men are employed in New South Wales on the work of catching and destroying rabbits. *

Before being milked, cows are cleaned with vacua-cleaners in many parts of the United. States.

The _ River . Plate, in South America, is the widest river in the world, being 140 miles wide at its mouth.

Six miles an hour was the rate at- which the first locomotive, constructed by George Stephenson, travelled.

Widows and unmarried women used to wear a cord of running knots on the axm to denote their condition. "

The catacombs of Rome contain the remains of about six million human beings; those of Paris three million.

The forge over which Alfred Krapp first obtained control _at Essen, • in 1848, was manned by but three smiths; , , *

Birds of prey generally seek their prey in the daytime, while beasts of 4 prey generally seek theirs at night. " _ "

On a man of average stature, the pressure of the atmosphere is about 15 tons but. being equalised, - it is not felt. '

, " Paradise,"' -by Tintoretto, is the largest painting in the world. It .is 84ft wide, 33jft high, and is now in the Doge's Palate, Venice.. -. w

Mozart could • play the harpsichord when four years old, had mastered the violin when five, - and ; was •. composing music at the age of six. ; ' 1 ' *

Canaries came originally from the Canary Isles,] where, in their wild state, the birds were "not yellow, as we know, them; but a dark olive green. " _ Armageddon, according to the ; Revelation of . St. John, 'is the great battle in which the last j conflict, between good and evil is to be fought. • """

Only 40 years ago the Japanese - went to battle clad from head to foot in armour, and - wearing hideous masks 1 to frighten the enemy. The teeth of ; the badger - are ■■ very peculiar, for, . instead of resting • on each other when the animal's mouth is closed they fit into each other. '

' To tell the difference between diamonds or crystals'and glass or paste, touch them with your tongue. . ; Diamonds and crystals feel very much the colder.

One of America's "bank holidays" is called " Arbour Day." On this day all the school children are let off work in order that they may plant trees. - {

Mrs. Besant's name is • prondunced with the accent -on the second syllable, but Walter Besant's: name :is pronounced' with the accent on the first syllable.

; The male heart. weighs from 10 to 12 ounces; the female from 8 to 10 ounces. Its average , size is about sin long, Sjin wide, and 2in in greatest depth.

A halyccm is a kingfisher, and " halcyon days " are so called because it was . supposed that- the weather was always peaceful when the kingfisher was breeding. Gorillas build nests among the branches of trees, in which the mother and young ones sleep, whilst the father sleeps at the foot of the tree, mounting guard over his family.

Eighty years ago it was the duty of clerks at the London G.P-O. to examine every letter for the country with a candle to tee whether .it consisted of more than one sheet of paper.

In Shakespere's time the parts of heroines were taken by boys, there being no female actors. That is why the. poet makes so many of his heroines disguise themselves in male attire.

Strictly speaking, the word " Yankee " only applied to residents in the New England States of America. It is derived from a corrupt pronunciation of the word " English " by Indians. In Germany the. prefix " von," as in von Hindenburg, means "Court worthy." It is granted by the Sovereign, who alone can raise a man from the rank of a citizen to that of a gentleman. * .

At the Four Counties Inn, which -lies * between Tamworth and Ashby-de-la-Zouch, c it is possible, without leaving the building, to eat in Leicestershire, sleep in Stafford- ' shire, drink in Warwickshire, and smoke in Derbyshire. ' '%■

Archimedes once arranged a. number of mirrors so as to bring the rays of the sun to a point called a focus, which means a hearth. The heat thus gathered together from the sunshine is said to hare been sufficient to set fire to the Soman ships, which were besieging the harbour of Syracuse. x. - -

In India, in the healthy neighboured of Ngapatam, living is so cheap that beef tenth" of India than emigrates, but he costs only ljd a pound apiece, eggs 2d a dozen, butter 2£d a pound, and fret and vegetables in the same remarkable proportion— for instance, pineapple 5d a dozen, and new potatoes 2|d a peck. ;

John Cupsick, a miner/ of Hazleton, Pa., became extremely ill, and in a local hospital, a few days later, was pronounced dead by the doctors. Being friendless, his body was sent for dissection, to a Phila-" delphia hospital. Just as the physician* were about to use the knife, John aroused from his trance, and asked this conundrum: "Why am I .undressed*'- -