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New Zealand Mail, Issue 1507, 17 January 1901, Page 37

Owing to the high price of ebony the manufacturers of pianoforte keyboards have been' searching for a long time for a- cheap substitute with a grain close enough to take the necessary polish. At last it was found that dogwood could be stained, oiled find polished until it equalled ebony both in appearance and utility. One-third of the people - who go mad are said to recover their senses. Year in and year out, the coldest hour of each twenty-four is five o’clock in the morning. A company to lend umbrellas has for some time been carried on successfully in America. For a small annual payment anyone* upon being suddenly caught in the rain, can drop into one ot the depots and obtain an umbrella on loan by simply leaving his metal check. If a train, moving twenty-five miles an hour, were suddenly stopped, the passengers would experience a shock equal to that of falling from an ordinary se-cond-fioor window; and an express train’s :§r<dden stoppage would b© like a fall from a fourth storey. It is certain that ants intentionally sanction the residence of certain insects in their nests. This is the case, for instance, with a curious blind beetle, which is absolutely dependent upon ants. It seems to have even lost the power of feeding itself; at any rate it is habitually fed by the little insects.