BRIEF MENTION.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1219, 12 July 1895, Page 12

BRIEF MENTION.

The church, said Voltaire, is the poor man's opera house. The Japanese are known by the Chinese as " imitation devils/' Tbe latest Parisian freak of fashion is luminous face-paint. The Neapolitans are noted for their dread of the jettatura, or the evil eye. The Queen is practically lifted into her carriage whenever she goes out driving.

Mr Oscar "Wilde once alluded to Punch as " a paper which he absolutely made."

Lord Cromer is famous in Cairo for his habit of nearly always wearing a white top-hat. Out of every 20 patients received into French hospitals 10 are ill from being alcoholised.

According to the latest statistics, tbe women in Swedon outnumber the men bv 148,669.

The ideal of Japanese loveliness is a long, narrow face, with a high, receding forehead.

It is said that in Woolwich a petition for war forms part of the regular prayers of the devout.

It is stated that an American firm propose to issue an "expurgated edition" of " Pickwick "!

Chimneys were apparently not mad© use of in England till the twelth or thirteenth century. There is nothing, except religion and politics, which causes such frequent quarrels as the umbrella. Louis XIV. once invited Moliere to sit down at his table and waited upon him with his own hands.

There are ten newspaper editors in the HQUsa.. l of. Commons, six printers, and three, stationers* The Chinese once lost eleven millions of their people; in two months (in the famine of the.two/^fe^s.);.

The total; publiedebtt:Qt/the:v L selfgoverning British Colonies, amount to something like L300,000,00Q. - The lawfulness of instantaneous photo* graphy has become a subject of discussion In French !e«;al circles. If we lost command of the sea for only three months, we should be left with nothing to eat. — Spectator. The most remarkable denizen of the lion-house at the Zoo at present is a fine young snow leopard. In some parts of Sicily the people believe that a man in a red mantle will appear before an earthquake. The percentage of casualties among war correspondents is greater than among the actual fighting men. Eight hundred and thirty-eight pairs of corsets for men were made by one firm in England last year. Dover convict prison has cost the nation LIOO,OOO for erection, and a good deal more for maintenance.

The Paris students have special privileges, among which is that of going to the theatres at reduced prices. Mr Astor, the millionaire, keeps two solicitors —one English and the other American —constantly in his service. Bees in a hive never turn their backs on the queen. This is a curious point in the etiquette of animals. Although France has fewer ships than England, she possesses more than Germany and Italy combined. A firm of publishers have asked Mr Labouchere to write his reminiscences. He has declined- the invitation.

Medical colleges have only existed in Bussia about 15 years, and in that time 600 women have graduated. In China missionaries are sometimes addressed in not unkindly tones, " Well, Foreign Devil, what do you want l >" The value of a complete set of first editions of Eobert Louis Stevenson is estimated by an American paper at LBO. It is calculated that the robin requires about 14 feet of ordinary earthworm, or that same bulk of other "grub/* daily.

" It is upon the boilers alone that our grand fleet depends, aye, and the safety of the nation." So says Mr Allan, M.P. Determined not to be behind the mother country, American ladies have started a ladies' kennel club in New York. It was Mr Gladstone who once described the present era as " this so-called nineteenth century/' but he added, "of progress." Mr Disraeli once said that what was required in. the Speaker " was the courtesy of a gentleman and the impartiality of a judge." Archduchess Elizabeth, daughter of the Crown Princess Stephanie of Austria, is sail to own the smallest dog in the world. When completed, the Simplon Tunnel, between Switzerland and Italy, will be the longest tunnel in the world, viz., 12£ miles.

A bill is to be introduced into the next United States Legislature providing for police matrons in all cities of 7000 inhabitants.

Mr W, T. Stead estimates the money locked up in church buildings and sites in London at nearer L 20,000,000 than L 15,000,000. In Bussia the priests are forbidden to smoke for the curious reason that it is said, "That which cometh out of the mouth defileth a man." In the Athenseum Club, the home of literature, there are members who cannot write a grammatical letter. So remarks the Morning. Miss Gould is probably the wealthiest bride of the century, as there is little doubt about her fortune being quite three millions sterling. Nelsons original signal, as published

j in the first accounts of the battle of Trafalgar, was, " England expects every man to do his duty." The breaking up of a soap-bubble, according to Lord Rayleigh, occupies between the two-hundredth and threehundredth part of a second. An energetic woman in Nebraska possesses a portable steam threshing machine, and makes a very good business by taking it about the country. The total number of cabs plying, for hire in London is about 11,000. Some: times in one year the authorities " knock off" as many as 700 " decaying" cabs. The Chinese country folk at first willingly accepted presents of cigarettes from the Japs at Wei-Hai-Wei, and now ask for them often in the most confident manner. A French doctor says he would utterly forbid tbe trade in drinks known as " bitters," as the essential oil they hold has a rapid and pernicious effect on the human organism. The legendary belief that the eye of a murdered man"might retain a permanent image of his destroyer has just received something like scientific confirmation at Ghent University.