OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 871, 9 November 1888, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

THE COLORADO COALFIELDS. A coording to the last report of the State Superintendant of Mines for the State of Colorado, coal is being mined in fifteen counties, and the total area of coalfields for the State is estimated at 100,000 square miles. SOME LANGUAGE STATISTICS. The relative number of persons speaking the different languages of the world is thus stated by Professor Kirchkoff, to decide a dispute as to the most popular tongue. Chinese is spoken by 400,000,000, Hindostani by something more than 100,000,000, English by more than 100,000,000, Russian by more than 70,000,000, German by more than 58,000,000, and French by about 40,000,000. WHAT IS POISON ? Dr O. Meymott Tidy, lecturing recently at the Royal Institution, mentioned the difficulty experienced in endeavouring to actually define what is a poison, and offered the following solution:— ‘ Any Bubßtance which, otherwise than by the agency of heat or electricity, is capable of destroying life either by chemical action on the tissues of the living body, or by physiological action after absorption into the living system.” . The fact would seem to be that poison ia a question of quantity, not quality. Very small quantities of aconite, hydrocyanic acid, &c., suffice to destroy life ; but usedj in limited quantities they are valuable drugs. Neat sulphuric acid, like absolute alcohol, is a poison, but both are harmless, and even useful when diluted. One well-known definition of poisons is 4 substances which derange the vital functions and produce dea'th by an action not mechanical.’

NATIONALITIES IN THE RUSSIAN

ARMY.

. Probably the Rnssian army is the most heterogeneous in the world, so far as its ethnology is concerned. From information on the point just issued by the Russian Statistical Department we learn that of the 227,906 recruits levied

in 1885, the racial composition was as follows : Russians, 169,052 ; Poles, 17,212; Bulgarians, 406 ; Tchecks 12; Lithuanians, 5800; Letts, 3424 ; Greeks, 155 ; Moldavians, 2350 ; French, 1; Germans, 3572 ; Armenians, 142; Bohemians, 39 ; Georgians, 3 ; Jews, 10,011; Karehans, 309 : Tchouds, 20; Esthonians, 2604 ; Laps, 1; Moravians, 1707 ; Cheremissians, 704 ; Votiaks, 841; Zyrians, 282 : Peemians, 68 ; Voguls, 5 ; Chuvachis, 1529 ; Tartars, 4508; Bashkirs, 3017 ; and about 100 belonging to three other different races or tribes. In all, then, the Russian army comprises 32 different race, or at least tribal elements, among which it is noteworthy neither Ossetians nor Circassians are .represented, so far at least as these recruits aro concerned.—United Service Gazette.

GREAT INTERIOR HEAT OF THE EARTH. A remarkable instance of the increase of temperature in the earth toward the centre has been presented at Pesth, where the deepest artesian well in the world is now being bored for the purpose of supplying the public baths and other establishments with hot water. A depth of 5,140 feet has already been reached, and it furnishes 176,000 gallons daily at a temperature of 15S degrees Fahrenheit. The municipality have recently voted a large subvention in order that one boring may bo continued to a greater depth, not only to obtain a larger volume of water, but at a temperature of 176 deg. Fahrenheit. A NEW RAILWAY IN CENTRAL ASIA. On May 27 the Trans-Caspian Railway from Mikhailovsk, on the Caspian Sea, to Samaroand, a distance of about 900 miles, was formally opened. The first train which passed over the line contained General Annenkoff and his colleagues, several notable men of soience, and the representatives of the Press, as well as several foreigners of distinction. It completed its journey in very good time, notwithstanding that there were considerable floods on part of the route, and a rising of the water of the- Amu Daria, both of which, it was thought, would cause some delay. This new line goes within a few hundred miles of our Indian frontier, and the Russians believe that it will attract the trade of Eastorn Turkestan, Western China, Porsia, and Afghanistan. This will probably affect Indian trade, to say nothing of the ease with which the Russian soldiers bould bo conveyei by train ia the case of a possible invasion of India—the only country it menaces.

THE AGE OF THE STARS. The principal thought of an article by M. Jannson, ia L’Astronomie, is that the idea of evolution may be applied to the stars as well as to terrestrial things. The stars are not fixed and eternal, but are subject to change and time. They have a beginning, a period of activity, a decline, and an end. By recent advances in the study of celestial physics, especially with the spectroscope, we are enabled to know something of the actual condition and relative age of some of the stars. We may assume that the age of stars, other things being equal, will depend upon their temperature, and that their temperatures are higher in proportion as their spectra are richer in violet rays. The majority of the stars which are visibe to the naked eye are white or bluish, and therefore at a high temperature , bat many are yellow or orange, like our sun, showing that they have passed their youth, while others are from dark orange to dark red, showing that their sidereal evolution is far advanced. A TEMPEST. In no part of the world do tempests of greater fury rage than on the line of the Gulf stream in the North Atlantic. They are hurricanes, indeed, and not a year passes without their recurrence. One visited the Bahamas and Cuba in September last, and an American paper thus talks about it:—A dispatch from Havanna says that reports from cities along the north side of Cuba show that the recent storm passed there, doing greater damage than hero. In Batabano, forty miles from here, the Spanish gunboat Lealtad, fifteen men, broke from her anchors and sunk. All hands were lost. Fortythree bodies were washed on the beach at Batabano. Every vessel in port was sunk, the loss of life being considerable. The city of Mantanzas suffered the loss of several tugboats. A number, of houses were blown down, with great loss of life. . All the wharves were damaged and vessels at anchor sunk. The city of Cardenas, is in a fearful condition. Even stone buildings were demolished. The river rose six feet. In some parts of the city the Inhabitants had to flee for their lives, the water washing the furniture through'tbe streets. The steamer Enrique tied up at the wharf also sank. The total loss in Cardenas is over 1,080,000d015. The loss of life cannot be estimated.

BICYCLISTS BEAT THE COACH KE-

CORD TO BRIGHTON.

A highly successful effort was made the other day by four members of the Polytechnic Cyoling Club to beat the record of Mr Selby’s coach, which recently covered the distance from Hatchett’s Hotel, Piccadilly, to Brighton and back in 7 hours 50 minutes, though it should be mentioned that sixtyfour horses were used on the journey. A start was made at 10.38 a.m., Mr E. J. Willis bfeing the first rider. A strong southwesterly wind was blowing at the time, which greatly impeded the cyclist’s journey to Croydon, where Mr G. L. Morris was in waiting, and quickly mounted the machine.

The latter took it on to Crawley, when another relief came, this time from Mr S. C. Schafer, who completed the down journey, the time when the Ship Hotel was reached being 2.34 p.m. Mr S. Walker was hardly as successful as the others, his time back to Crawley being I hour 36 minutes. But from this point the men pushed on rapidly, and Mr Morris eventually reached Hatchett's at 6 hours 14 minutes 19 2-5 seconds, thus beating the coach record by 13 minutes 40 3-5 seconds. One machine only was used during the journey, weighing but 35 lbs. SUPERSTITION IN RUSSIA Superstition has much to be answerable for in respect to the horrible deeds committed in its name. Few of them, however, can exceed in horror the one brought to our notice as having lately been perpetrated in an out of the way spot of Russia named Schebersohin. A short time after the burial of a muoh-esteemed Jewish inhabitant of the place his grave was found open. A little distance off lay his skeleton, from which every scrap of flesh had been removed. This terrible discovery naturally caused the utmost consternation in the locality, and the inquiry which was set on foot-resulted in the authorship of this revolting Seed being traced to two men of evil reputation)?. They ultimately confessed that, with thefleshcut away from the corpse, they hoped -to make an ointment whiah would havp tbe power of making invisible those -who rubbed their bodies with it. Whence tbjs superstitious belief arose is not known : but the miscreants intended to put of the ointment to the test, so as to.oommit burglaries with impunity.—Jewish Chronicle.

THE RACE TO EDINBURGH. A correspondent writes to The Times call, ing attention to the increased .wear and tear mentally and bodily of the drivers 'and Btokers on the special trains in ‘ the race to Edinburgh.’ A friend of one of the drivers told him that he saw a marked effect on his apparent health. The driver told him his anxiety was greatly increased. On one occasion his stoker, who had gone along the en. gine to oil a valve, became paralysed with fear, so that he could not move forward or barkward. He, the driver,-had to leave bis place and follow his stoker, and seize his hand, and so they regained the standingplace. The distances run are so great and the pace so rapid, that any oiling, &c. is done with increased risk. The force of the wind is so great that when the stoker creeps along the foot-plate alongside of the engine he has to hold on by the rail like grim death, and has been carried off his feet. The public ought to know the danger they unnecessarily incur and the heavy tax they lay upon the powers of the drivers. THE TORPEDO. The manoeuvres, considered as a serious experiment, have had one effect already. ; They have undoubtedly greatly raised the position of the locomotive torpedo as a defensive weapon. It was pointed out from the very earliest appearances of the Whitehead that the weapon was the weapon of the weak naval Power, and that the real business of the strong naval Power was not to develop it, but tooirenmventit. The experiences of both Baird’s and Rowley’s squadrons go to show that the torpedo so far has been of no manner of use to the more powerful blockading fleets, but has been to the weaker blockaded fleets a weapon of deadly effect. There is a great deal to be said on both sided when we start with the bare fact that the Active in Baird's squadron and the Inconstant in Rowley’s fell victims to the insignificant and costless torpedo boat, not on any fanciful calculations of probabilities, but by being actually Btruck by the weapon as they would have been struck in real war. We shall hear by-and-by and gradually what the general opinion in the blockading fleets is, but we take it that it must be forming in the direction of a belief that' the blockading fleet in future war is most .heavily handicapped by the existence of the torpedo boat, —Broad Arrow. ‘ AMERICAN HARBOUR DEFENCE. The plans for two new harbour defence vessols attributed to the navy department are in some respects the moat novel yet attempted in the way of naval construction. The charge of imitating European types cannot certainly be brought against these vessels, since nothing like them is known. It is truo that the single-turreted monitor type, which is said to have been adopted, is familiar enough ; but such a vessel, of only 3,500 tons, yet able to carry a 16-inch, gun in its turret and a dynamite gun in its hold, and developing a speed of IS knots, must indeed be au original craft. The. double.turreted monitors, having a displacement of 3,857 tons, or not far from the one proposed, carry two lO.inch guns iu each turret, except the Puritan, which is of 6,000 tons, and is said to be intended to carry 10-J-inch guns. The difference between that and a 16-inch gun is enormous.—New York Times. BORING MOLLUSCS. The story of the maggot whfch bored into the metals on the German railways is recalled by the following paragraph, which we find, in a Liverpool paper:—Down at Leaso we, at the mouth of the Mersey, there are soft, muddy banks left uncovered at low tide, which are full of borihg molluscs of a most peculiar appearance. On Hilbre Island there is a larger shell-fish which bores into the sandstone, while the limestone rooks at Puffin Island and the Great Ormes Head are almost riddled by the curious borers. It used to be thought that they made their dwelling-place in the rocks by means of a chemical secretion, and many students still hold to that idea, ia spite of the existence of euch borers in mud and Bandstone ; but a note published in Indian Engineering casts a new light on the subject. A bridge built in India scarcely a year ago has been attacked by these shellfish, and all the bricks between high and low water have been bored to a depth of inch from their exposed surface. A specimen brick shows forty-five small holes of about l-16th inch diameter ; but if the inside of the brick is examined it is' found that these small perforations lead to chambers about 14 inch in depth by J inch in diameter, bored at right angles to the face of the brick. The

vitrified, over-burnt parts of these bricks have been bored as well as the softer parts; so that the attack of the mollusc is not entirely due to bad burning of the bricks. The work of the ship worm (Teredo navaliß) is done in the same way as is the work of this brick pest.

THE WONDERS OF THE PHONOGRAPH-

There seems to be hardly any term to the life of a phonograph (writes the London correspondent of the Liverpool Mercury). * I heard some cornet-playing yesterday, originMly given out in America, which has been repeated in England more than a thousand times, and all the notes are still as distinct and clear as ever. The sensitiveness of the phonograph is also very extraordinary. It was taken to the Crystal Palace for the Handel Festival, and it registered the perfect roar of Niagara which arose from the movements of the multitude. Through this roar comes in curious distinctness the sound of the band and the voice of the chorus. Mr Edison’s secret lies mainly in the construction of his diaphragm. He uses two. To one is attached the needle which makes the record. It is the recording angel. To the other, more sensitive, is attached a pointer not much thicker than a hair, but strong enough to cause vibrations in the diaphragm, and to send forth thereby the sound to the ear. I hear that Mr Edison has abandoned, for the present at all events, his wax cylinders. They had failed to go safely across the Atlantic. Curious people handled them and spoilt them. Mr Edison is now at work preparing a new recording substance. At the same time he is also inventing a battery warranted to work ten hours, and recording the time during which it has been used. The wonderful invention'is approaching, but has not yet reached, absolute perfection.’ RHEUMATISM. IS ELECTRICITY A CUBE FOB. ALL PAINFUL AIL. MEOTS ? Electrio-light men are never troubled with rheumatism, says a local paper. The stiffjointed portion of humanity hover around the big dynamos in the Brush Light Company’s works just the same as consumptives seek a slaughter-house for the blood of a freshly killed bullock. 4 Why, people would be hanging around our dynamos all day if we permitted it,’said Superintendent Law. The discussion upon the subject of electricity as a curative agent in certain ebronio cases, notably rheumatism, has excited much interest among eleotriaians and all classes of workmen _ engaged in handling heavily charged wires. Numerous oases are cited in different parts of the country to prove that men engaged in these employments are free from all rheumatic and neuralgic troubles. This appears to be the case in Philadelphia also. ,j

Superintendent Law is ready to debate the question with the best informed doctor in the land. Eight years ago when he first began to work around dynamos in San Francisco he was afflicted with acute rheumatism. His fingers were hoisted out of all natural shape and proportion by the insidious disease, and the joints were swollen to many times their natural size. His shoulders, hips and knees were similarly affected, and he was, as he expressed it himself, so stiff that he could hardly move. He soon began to improve, however, when he aame into close oontact with the dynamos, and although he was not cured immediately, his recovery was sure andrapid, and .in less than eighteen months he was apparently a well man. He had no recurrence of the trouble, and he is convinced that the cure can be credited to nothing but the wonderful influence of the strong currents of electricity with which he has been constantly surrounded for years. Mr Law speaks of a portion of his experience as rather in the nature of heroic treatment. He has been knocked down time oat of mind by coming in contact, either through his own carelessness or by accident, with two wires, and upon one ocoasion remained unconscious for ten minutes. The shock upon that occasion, he says, felt to him as though he had been hit in the neck with a sand-bag. He was rather surprised to find himself still alive when hs came to his senses, if life can be taken in that way Mr Law thinks it would be the most humane method of executing criminals. He suffered no pain at all from the shock, except when he was burned, but he thinks it has effectually banished the rheumatism.—Electrical World, Aug. 4. HOW A HEDGEHOG KILLS A SERPENT. The 4 Arch, de Pharmacie ’ of May 5 describes the proceeding as follows :—Tho hedgehog cautiously approached the sleeping reptile and seized the end of his tail between his teeth. Then he rolled himself up into a compact ball and awaited developments. Tho snake, awakened by the pain, tnrned upon his enemy and fought with his fangs. The hedgehog, retaining his hold, allowed himself to be dragged back and forth during the struggle, and, meanwhile, the serpent’s jaws had become lacerated and useless from constant assaults upon the spines of its enemy. In a few minutes the serpent had become exhausted with his efforts, and the hedgehog, unrolling himself, disembowelled the serpent and ate his meal. In this case the hedgehog does not kill the serpent direotly, but obliges him to kill himself by dashing upon the sharp spines.

REALISTIC. The Dutch painters of 300 years ago liked to paint everything to the life, no matter whether the subject was attractive or repulsive. Many of their best pictures were carried home by the Spaniards at the time of the invasion of the Netherlands, arid are now in the gallery of that country. They mostly represent Scripture scenes, but , are less interesting as Bible illustrations than as faithful transcripts of the habits and customs of the Low Countries in the Sixteenth century. I remember one which particularly amused us. The ark stranded upon the topmost peak of Mount Ararat, occupies the background, while Noah and his family, Dutch to the backbone, are putting to rights their household goods. His wife is the most prominent figure, as she kneels before the huge oak chest, carefully taking from it and arranging ia separate piles, the household

linen all marked with, her monogram in red ! —Youth’s Companion.

A COBRA’S REVENGE

The Homeward Mail reports the death of Mr Andrew Fischer, an of the Madras Kailway Company, at the Pennar Bridge Works on the North-West line of the . railway, nnder most distressing circumstances. Ha was employed as a driver of bridge engines at the Pennar Works. While he was seated in the verandah of his bungalow he observed two large cobras on the barren plain immediately _in front of the house. Arming himself with a stoat stick, J he proceeded to the spot and encountered the snakes. He succeeded in killing one of them, while the other, which had been slightly wounded, managed to escape. Mr Fischer hunted about for the runaway, but could not find it. He then returned to bia bungalow and rested for some time, as he waa off duty. Later in the day he prepared to go to hia work, and with that object got out his olothes to dress. He sat on his coat, and was about to put on hia shirt when he felt something bite him on the back. He turned round, and to his horror found a snake on the cot behind him, which he is said to hav6 recognised aa the cobra he had wounded that morning. He immediately sought medical relief, and all kinds of remedies were applied, but to no effect, and he died in the evening, leaving a widow and an infant child, for whom much sympathy is felt. ‘ Kellayan ’ writes to a Bombay paper: —lt is commonly believed among the Hindoos that no animal is more revengeful than the cobra, and that if an attempt is made to kill it and it escapes, it never gives itself rest until it has wreaked its vengeance upon its assailant.

It is a new idea to most persons that edgetools not infrequently get * tired ’ and will not hold a keen edge until they have a rest. This is the testimony of carpenters, barbers, and wood-ehoppers. Locomotive engineers notice the same result in their engines. Possibly constant and bard usage may cause changes in the crystallisation that would account for this peculiarity in inanimate things. . , . In Sicily a charm is sometimes compounded by mingling a few drops of holy water out of three distinct parishes. These drops of holy water must be taken, either two from a ohnroh under the invocation of a male saint, and one from a chnreh nnder the invocation of a female saint, or vice versff. The mixture is then termed * elect 1 or ‘ married ’ water, and is secretly administered to the person whose love is to be brought back. ‘ Riches take unto themselves wings and fly away,’ said the teacher. ‘ What kind of riches is meant?’ And the smart, bad boy at the foot of the class said he * reckoned they must be ostriches.’ And the only sound iliat broke the ensuing silence was the sound that a real smart, bad boy makes when, without saying so in just so many words, he seeks to convey—and usually does_ convey—the impression that he is in great pain. ... The Chinese, who are always ingenious, have a simple law to entirely prevent the failure of banks ; at the same time, should a bank happen to suspend payment, its clients have sweet revenge ; for instance, as soon as a bank suspends payment all its clerks and directors are relieved of their heads, which are thrown into a large box, where they can be seen by the ormer customers and their friends,