FRAGMENTS OF FACT.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1315, 13 May 1897, Page 9

FRAGMENTS OF FACT.

TIT-BITS OF INTERESTING AND USEFUL INFORMATION.

There are ten volcanoes in Mexico. In England and Wales there are 900,000 more women than men. To salute with the left hand is a deadly insult among Mohammedans. The amount of air inspired in twenty-. four hours is about ten thousand quarts. It is a sign of rain when cattle stretch their necks and snuff the air for a long time.' The cocoon of a healthy silkworm will often yield a thread 1,000 yards in length. In the private schools of China a teacher is paid about one halfpenny a day for each pupil. Matches have not yet displaced tlio tinder-box in certain rural districts of Spain and Italy. Insurance companies assert that cycling is more dangerous than travelling either by railway or ship. France has kept 200,000 tons of coal stored at Toulon since 1892, to be ready in case war should break out. It i 3 asserted that a healthy baby should cry at least three or four times a day, in order to give its lungs the needed exercise. The Arabic vernacular furnishes a singular illustration of the populaiity of war in the East. It has more than fifty names for the sword. Nearly 6,000 pieces are required in the construction of a modern locomotive. It taken an ingenious man to properly put them together. A camel of the largest size has been known to drink from thirty to fifty gallons of water, and then travel without any more for twenty days. Parisian restaurant keepers mix a little honey with their butter. This is said to give it an agreeable flavour, and makes the inferior butter more palatable. A statistical genius has worked out the problem of how much gold there is in the the ocean. He values the amount at £24,000,000,000,000,000, but he is quite silent as to how it is to bo got out. It has been estimated that the total number of persons attending Sundayschools throughout the world cannot be less than eighteen millions, with about two millions of teachers. The blue violet is symbolic of love and the white of modesty. In Germany either is considered a symbolic of reticence. A Silesian lover can make his sweetheart no more acceptable present than a bunch of violets. There is nothing Scottish about the bagpipes, except the sheepskin of the bag and the tartan. The wood-ebony or cocuswood—comes from Africa and Jamaica ; the ivory from Africa ; the horn from. Australia ; and the cane for the reeds from Spain. Convicts in French prisons are paid for their labour, and earn about eighteen pence a day. Half of this they are allowed to spend for extia food, postage, etc. ; and the other half is saved, to be given to them when discharged. One of the most singular peculiarities of the floral world is the evening primrose, which opens about 6 p.m. with an explosion not very loud or formidable, but still quite perceptible to anyone who is watching the bud. It remains open all night. It is said that the amount of sleep one needs depends upon the amount of mental work he does while awake. Men whose brains are never busy can get along with five or six hours’ sleep a day, even though their hands be always employed during the waking hours ; but the mental worker must have more or go mad. A curious accusation of German imitation of British goods comes from the Transvaal. Cornish minors are in great demand on the goldfields on account of their skill, and receive higher wages than others. It is asserted that Germans there assume Cornish names and imitate the Cornish accent well enough to pass themselves off for the original article.

In some Hindoo households there are rooms known as krodhag iras—apartments with bare walls and no furniture, specially reserved for children when they misbe have. The krodhagara is the “ chamber of bad humour,” v hich servos the purposes of the corner for naughty children. A certain doctor who has been collectting information about the habits of long lived persons, finds that the majority of those who attained old age indulged in late hours. Eight out of eve~y ten persons over eighty never went to bed till well inte the small hours, and did not get up again till late in the day. For many years furriers have noticed that skins of polar bears which they have received have been mutilated by the loss ! of the nose. It has been discovered that this is a result of a superstitious belief prevalent among the Eskimo, that whenever a polar bear is killed his nose must be cut off and thrown upon the ice or bad luck will follow the hunter. An extraordinary instance of hereditary tendeucy to suicide recently came to light. A certain farmer hanged himself without apparent cause, leaving a family of seven sons and four daughters. Ten of the eleven subsequently followed the father’s example, but not until they had married and had children, all of whom likewise hanged themselves. The only survivor is a son, who has now passed safely beyond the family hanging age.