GLEANINGS.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 777, 21 January 1887, Page 4

GLEANINGS.

DIAMONDS BY THE TON. Diamonds from the South African fields are flooding the London market. The yield is fully a ton a month, and these jewels are in danger of losing their prestige. THE JERSEY LILY’S SHARP RETORT. Mrs Langtry is credited with a sharp tongue. Being introduced to a divorced society lady she was greeted thus : ‘ Your name has grown quite familiar to me from seeing it so often on the play bills, Mrs Langtry.’ ‘ Indeed !’ smiled the Jersey Lily ; ‘I, too, remember yours quite well. A divorce suit makes one quite as famous as theatrical posters, does it not?’ Professor Chevreul, the learned centenarian, offers a striking example of the connection between longevity and moderate living. A Paris contemporary states that every day M. Chevreul’s breakfast consists of two eggs, a slice of chicken pastry made by his own cook, and a pint of cafe au lait. His dinner is also unvaried, and daily consists of tapioca soup,'with grated cheese, a cutlet, a bunch of grapes, cheese, and three glasses of water. M. Chevreul never eats fish nor drinks wine. An important discovery has just been made at Pompeii. Near the Eastern gate leading to Nocera, a street of tombs, similar to the famous one outside the Western Gate, has been found, which, it is believed, contains sepulchres of the highest interest. Unfortunately, the excavation funds are just now very low, so that the scientific world will probably for some time to come be kept in suspense as to the precise value and further details of these interesting relics of antiquity.

Electric lights are now used in railroad cars running between Stuttgart and Schwabiah Hall, in Wurtemberg, and passengers are said to be thus enabled to read in them without effort.

The new edition of ‘ Pickwick,’ edited by the younger Charles Dickens, has been designed to mark the change in the manners, customs, and places described in the book which the passage of fifty years has brought about.

A recent visitor to Paris was much struck with the that no house in any street he went through was numbered thirteen. He says this is owing to the superstition of the French people concerning the number thirteen. It is the strongest of all their superstitions.

It is said that ‘ Little Lord Fauntleroy ’ is a portrait of the author’s son, Vivian Burnett, now some thirteen years old.

There is a law in Switzerland which compels every newly.married couple to plant trees shortly after the ceremony of marriage.

Russian petroleum is pushing the American product in Europe by virtue of the great output of the Baku wells, and improvements in handling.

On the recent occasion of the anniversary of the accession of the Sultan to the throne Count Abraham Camondo showed his loyalty by offering his Majesty a'magnificent - bouquet of nearly four yards in length and. two and a half in circumference. The structure represented a lemon surmounted by a crescent, inscribed with the name of the Sultan on one side in French, aud on the other in Turkish.

It is said that a flower has been discovered at Tehuantepec which is white in the morning, red at noon, and blue at night.

A tricycle cab has been licensed by the London authorities, and is picking up what patronage it can with a view to general introduction. Women like it because they can get in and out without soiling their dreses on the muddy wheels, and there i 3 easy communication with the driver. It is still enough of a novelty to be stared at.