OLLA PODRIDA.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 880, 11 January 1889, Page 6

OLLA PODRIDA.

NEW SWEDISH RAPID-FIRING GUN. At the Copenhagen' Exhibition is shown the first specimen of a new Swedish rapidfiring gun, designed by Mr Harold Thronsen and manufactured at the large and celebrated establishment of Finspongs Styckebruk, Sweden. This new gun attraots a considerable amount of attention. The Finspong gun is capable of firing 18 shots per minute witn one man, while with two men it has a capacity of one shot every other second, or 30 shots per minute. Tho gun exhibited at Copenhagen has a calibre of 47 millimetres ; its entire length is about 52 calibres, and the distance from the base of the projectile to the mouth of the barrel is 40 calibres. There are five different projectiles shown at Copenhagen, viz., solid shot, steel shell, chilled point cast-iron shell, common shell, and shrapnel with 64 Bmall projectiles ; the weight is the same for them all, viz., about 3-31bs (or 1-5 kilogramme). The muzzle velocity is 2141 feet (657 metres) per second with a charge of 750 grammes of Swedish field artillery powder ; the maximum pressure in the barrel has been 2300 atmospheres. The mechanism is both simple and strong. The Finspong gun rests in a pivot carriage, so that it can be worked in all directions. It has a shoulder piece about the size of an ordinary rifle, against whioh the man who works it places his right shoulder, and with the right hand he holds the trigger, or, if he works the gun by himself, works the lever that moves the eccentric, while the left hand rests on another lever, which, when pulled towards the man, acts as a brake and fixes the gun in any position and in all directions BO that several shots can be fired against a certain point without it being necessary to repeat the aiming for each shot. The gun shown at Copenhagen has a screen of plate iron, but otherwise the gun is able to produee all-round fire. The material is wrought Martin steel, manufactured at the establishment. Finspong has both iron mines, furnaces, and Bfceel works of its own, besides vast forests and ample water power. Besides the orders for guns, which Fingspong steadily receives from the Swedish Government, they have orders iu hand at present for about seventy guns for tho Danish Government. — Engineering. DYNAMITE SHELLS. The Royal Engineers’ Journal draws attention to some very important nitro-gelatine experiments at the Dardanelles, which were supervised by Mi F. H. Snyder, and conducted by the Turkish artillery. The gun used waß an American breech-loading howitzer of 15 centimetre calibre, and the bursting charge of the shell consisted of prepared nitro-gelatine. The target was made of twelve 1-inch iron plates, welded together, with a strong oak backing ; it weighed 20 tons, and was placed 200 yards from the gun. The first two shots missed the target, but the third completely wrecked it. It is stated that Mr Snyder has effectually proved that shells charged with his nitro-gelatine can be fired with safety from ordinary guns, and reasoning from the effect of this 6-inch shell on the experimented target, it is supposed that tremendous damage could be doue to an ironclad by shells of large calibre. Mr Snyder does not seek to penetrate the plateß, but to shatter and displace them — a mode of attack to which steel is especially vulnerable. It is claimed for this nitro gelatine that HNwill not explode by contact with fire, nor by percussion, unless the shock is severe, and its force, as compared with gunpowder, is enormously greater. PSEUDO-CENTENARIANS-Some curious statistics, lately published with the authority of the French Academic des Soiences, indicate a source of fallacy with respect to centenarians, to which Mr Timbs used to attach much importance. In the very old, vanity is apt to exaggerate the age, jiist as in earlier life it often acts as a disturbing influence in the opposite way ; hence the statements of eoi-disant centenarians must be received with caution. It is said that in Bavaria, in 1871, out of 37 peraohs who claimed to be 100 years old, only one (a woman) was found on*official Investigation, to have really reached that age. In Canada, of 82 supposed oentenarians, only 9 successfully underwent the ordeal of a similar criticism. An inquiry of the same kind has just been made in France, with tho reßult that, of 184 persons registered as centenarians in the last census, 101 have been found to have no claim to that honour. Of the remaining 83 (52 of whom were women and 31 men), the

age was certified in 67 solely by the statements of relatives ; in only 16 was any documentary evidence forthcoming. Most of these oentenariaas belonged to the southwestern part of France, especially the foot of the Pyrenees. BRUTAL EXECUTIONS. Commenting on the Home Secretary’s answer to Mr Brookfield as to the results of the present haphazard system of executing criminals, a correspondent of the British Medical Journal writes :— ‘ So late as April and Angust of last year the murderous Currell and Lipski (whose executions I witnessed) had quite narrow escapes of decapitation, the former getting a drop of seven and the latter eight feet, though Berry informed the Governor of Newgate that the drops had been arranged at five feet six inches and six feet respectively. In Currell’s case all the veins leading from the brain, together with the oesophagus and many muscles, were ruptured, large quantities of venous blood escaping through the mouth into the white cap, the lower bolder of whioh, being ineluded in the constricting noose, pent up the fluid, so that it only filtered through in a small stream to the bottom of the pit, where the prison surgeons and myself were taking the pulse. In Lipski’s case the damage to the integument, muscles and spine was extensive, as may be easily imagined, but there was only superficial bleeding of small extent, I may add that Lipski s pulse beat for thirteen minutes (stopping once at the end of five minutes) at the rate of 160, the quickness proving (according to Professor Haughton) complete insensibility. All others whose executions I have witnessed had good, normal pulses (80) for about ten minutes, strangulation being the cause of death.’

VALUE OF LABOUR IN THE UNITED STATES. Here are a few statistics bearing on the value of labour in the United States, America. It can be seen that the eighthours system has not yet found favour in the Land of Freedom. In New York city, according to the Journal of United Labour, trackmen get $1 35 per day ; brakemen in the yard receive §SB per month ; conductors, §63 per month ; switchmen from §!0 to §SO per month ; road breakmen, §2 10 per day, and road conductors, §3 per day. At Pikeville, N« 0., men get from §3 to §lO per month, women 25 cents to 40 cents per day, working from early morning to sundown in the cotton fields. They have to pay from 11 cents to 12 cents per pound for meat, §i per hushel for meal, and §4 50 per barrel for common flour. A Milwaukee man sends labourers by the hundred to parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. Labourers get §1 75 a day, railroaders 16 to 20 cents per cubic foot and scrapers and graders §1 75 per day. Some of the Swedes are at work before daybreak. They generally work by the pieco. At Washburn, Wis., saw-mill labourers get §1 65 to §1 75 per day of eleven hours : lath-mill, §2 to §2 50 ; pile-drivers, §1 75 to §2 ; gang sawyers and carriage-riders, §2 to §2 50 ; filers and circular sawyers, §4; shingle and knot sawyers, §2 to §2 50 per day ; shingle packers, 10 cents per 1,000. Pay-day every two weeks. At Gainesville, Ga., common labourers get 35 cents to 75 cents per day ; farm hands, §4 to §8 per month, with board ; carpenters, 60 cents to $2 per day ; painters, 75 cents to §1 50 per day. Flour costs §7 per barrel ; meal, 80 cents per bushel; meat 12£ (cents per pound ; lard, 12J cents per pound ; coffee, 25 to 30 cents per pound ; sugar, lO cents per pound ; rice, 10 cents per pound ; syrup, 50 cents to §1 per gallon. THE NUMBER OF THE STARS. The total number of stars that one can see, says Professor E. S. Holden, in the Century, will depend very largely upon the clearness of the sky and the keenness of the sight. In the whole celestial sphere there are about 6000 stars visible to an ordinarily good eye. Of these, however, we can never see more than a fraction at any one time, because a half of the sphere is always below the horizon. If we could see a star in the horizon as easily as in the zenith, a half of the whole number, or 3000, would be visible on any clear night. Bat starß near the horizon are seen through so great a thickness of atmosphere as greatly to obscure their light, and only the brightest ones can therefore be seen. As a result of this observation, it is not likely that more than 2000 stars can ever be taken in at a single view by any ordinary eye. About 2000 other stars are so near the South Pole that they never rise in our latitudea. Hence, out of 6000 supposed to be visible, 4000 only ever come within the range of our vision, unless we make a journey toward the Equator. With a telescope, this number is greatly increased, and the most powerful instrument of modern times will show 60,000,000. Of this number, not one out of 100 has ever been catalogued at all. In all, 314,926 stars from the first to the ninth and one-half magnitudes are contained ia the northern sky, or about 600,000 in both hemispheres. All of these can be seen with a three-inch object glaas. VAST EXTENT OF THE CANADIAN DOMINION. The Dominion of Canada is composed of seven provinces and a number of vast territorial districts, which correspond to the Territories of the United States.. _ The provinces bear a relation to the individual States. They are unequal in size, British Columbia having 390,344 square miles of area, and little Piince Edward Island containing only 2; 133 square miles. Quebec has 103,355 square miles,. Ontario has, 107,780, Nova Scotia, 21,731 ; New Brunswick, 27,322, and Manitoba possesses 113,961. The enormous North-western territory, whioh has been subdivided into Alberta, Saskatchewan and Arthabaoka, comprises 1,919,502 square miles, Keewaytin, 895,306 }

the Arctic Islands, 311,700, and the islands of Hudson’s Bay, 23,400. Here ia an area in the aggregate of 3,406,542 square miles of God’s earth under the ajgis of Great Britain.

Polyglot is the population thinly scattered over the land. There are 1,200,000 Frenchmen, the Emerald Isle has contributed 925,000 and the Land o’ Cakes has 555,000 representatives. Three hundred thoueand persons trace their near descent to Germany; there are about seventy thousand relatives of Taffy the Welshman, and the so-called Scandanavians number about eleven thousand souls. Ontario, the most thoroughly English province, has a population of 1,700,000 in round numbers ; Quebec contains 1,600,000, of whom 1,100,000 are French. Nova Scotia contains 450,000; New Brunswick nearly 400,000, Prince Edward Island 120,000, British Columbia 120,000 and Manitoba approximately 175,000. PERSONAL EXPERIENCE OF AN ELECTRIC SHOCK. Mr. T. D. Bottome sends to the Electrical World (New York) his personal experiences of a ‘ shock ’ from an intermittent current. He says:—'On touching two terminals to close a circuit on some experimental apparatus, I thought of course I had grasped the insulation ; but the bare end of a flexible wire managed to touch my right-hand fingers while I held the binding sorew in the other hand. I was instantly thrown down and held perfectly rigid, unable to speak, it seemed to me, for two or three minutes, but probably twenty or thirty seconds would be nearer the actual truth. I felt unconsciousness ooming on, when suddenly I became loosened and I lay perfectly limp a moment i-r so. I got up, but was scarcely able to walk, the pains being greatest in the hips. However, I got a voltmeter and found 140 volts on the circuit, and the alternations or intermittences were 150 per second, while I found my resistance, under the same conditions, to be 4,500 ohms. The wire that slipped out of my hand left a burn on my fore-finger in the shape of an elliptical hole about 5-32 inches deep, and scarred the flesh about the hole at a radius of £ inch. During the contact I felt difficulty in breathing, but five minutes afterwards my skin was all aglow, as if a bath brush and Turkish towel had been used vigorously, while the respiration became full and a trifle quickened. Two days afterward I was all right, except a little soreness all over.’ VITALITY OF FAMILIES AND GENERATIONS. Some interesting faots iu respect to population were noted in a ‘ Deni:>grai.'liic Study of the Diminution or Increase of Families,’ recently read by Dr Gustaro Lagneau, boforo the Aoaddmio de Mddeciue. He quoted Littr6, who had demonstrated that history proved a remarkable phenomenon. Free populations, the citizens of ancient commonwealths, could never maintain themselves by reproduction. All aristocraoios and close bodies of men have gradually lost iu number, and would have become extremely reduced without occasional mixture with new bleod. Between 1583 and 1654, the Sovereign Council of the City of Berne admitted 487 families to citizenship. In 1783, only 108 of these families had escaped extinction. Out of 133 families composing the Couuoil of Geneva in 1789, only 92 could be traced, at home or abroad, in 1873. Out of 458 baronets created by James I. and Charles I. between 1611 and 1648, only 107 of their titled representatives remained in 1731. In IS4O, only 8 out of 80 noble families existing in 1400 had escaped extinction. M. Benoiston de Ch&teauneuf, after scrutinizing the pedigrees of 380 noble French families, found that their average duration was three hundred years. The great burgher families of the Hanseatic towns of Holland and Venice disappeared rapidly ; not one of the original patrician families of Zealand are now in existence. Laine, carefully examining thirty-one charters of cities in Languedoc, Burgundy, Lorraine, and Brittany, granted at the end of the twelfth century, authenticated 314 noble families only represented in 1840 by 12 survivors. Turning to the poor, the extinction of small tenant families, easily traced by legal documents, appears almost as rapid. Out of 127 families existing in the Commune of Marigny-en-Orxois, now in the Department of the Aisne, in 1555, only 14 appeared to be in existence in 18S6. Englishmen must not lay too much stress on the depopulating effects of great wars in Continental countries. War losses are rapidly repaired; Frederick the Great said, after one bloody engagement in the Seven Years’ War : ‘ Une nuit de Berlin ripar ra tous ces ravages.’ The struggle for existence in Anglo-Saxon communities must dislocate families in any given district very rapidly. Heredotus, in his Egyptian chronology, remarked that three generations of men represented a century. Calculating on the Father of History’s principles, a generation lasts about as long in France, although oareful calculation, from 1788 to 1888, brings the average duration of a generation, from male to male in a family, down to thirty-one years. M. Lagneau ends his important monograph with a gloomy sentence. The population of the Kingdom of Prussia is increasing at the rate, of 4T4 children to each marriage. Twenty-five years ago, the French nation increased at the rate of 3'oß, but now at only 2’97 per marriage. Strange it must ever seem .that civilised countries are all complaining that their population is either too great or too stationary ; but the subject ia too complex for discussion here, —British Medical Journal.

At one hundred and three years old M. Chevroul’s general health is excellent ; he eats and drinks heartily and he sleeps Boundly. His legs, however, begin to show signs of weakness, and it ia for that reason only that he has ceased to attend the Monday meetings ot the Academy of -Science. The Rev. Newman Hall, the distinguished English divine, writes to a friend in Toronto. * I suppose at seventy-two I ought - to be old, but I feel as young as ever, and preach about five times a week. I oan \tfalk ten miles without fatigue. • My voice is aa as ever and preaching an inoreased delight.’ John B. Herreshoff, the shipbuilder of Bristol, R.L, is one of the moat remarkable

of blind men. To see him walking about hia Bhip-yard you would never for a moment suspect that his sight was not as good as yours, for he can point out the beauties of a ship with an accuracy and appreciation that are little Bhort of marvellous. Mr Bright has addressed a letter to a correspondent, published in the London Times, in which he deals with the various methods of preparation for public speaking. ‘To write speeches,’Bays Mr Bright, ‘and then to commit them to memory, is, as you term it, a double slavery, which I could not bear. To speak without preparation, especially on great and solemn topics, is rashness, and cannot be recommended.’ Hia own method, he goes on to say, is first to consider what it is that he wishes to impress on his audience, and then to write down merely the lino of argument on slips of notepaper, leaving the words to come as he is speaking. The concluding sentences of his speeches are, however, almost invariably written down, as also short passages, for the sake of accuracy. This method is, we should fancy, that whioh in praotice recommends itself to most men, —though we believe that some of our statesmen actually submit to the ' double Blavery ’ which Mr Bright denounces so feelingly. No doubt, however, a public speaker is right to compose his perorations carefully, and to commit them to memory. It is they, if anything, which will make his speeches live. In Mr Bright’s own case, hia perorations will remain as a part of English literature long after the occasions on which the speeches were made, and the speeches themselves, have been utteily forgotten.