FRAGMENTS OF FACT.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 3327, 8 January 1898, Page 1 (Supplement)

FRAGMENTS OF FACT.

One of tho few trades in the world controlled by the labourers themselves is that ot the emery quarryman. There is but one known mine in tho world, and that is operated and owned by the miners on tho co-operative plan. There are about 200 men engaged in the trade, all of whom have to bo married before they are admitted to tho fraternity.

Mount Athos, in Turkey, is occupied only by hermits and monks of the Greek Church. On it are nearly a thousand churches, designed for the accommodation of 8000 men, but no women; and the rule is strictly enforced.

A “ billiard controlling clock,” which automatically registers the exact time a billiard table has been in use without tho possibility of an error has recently been invented. The apparatus consists of an ordinary clock and a small box attached just largo enough to admit the balls. While the billiard balls remain in the box tho clock is stopped; when they are taken out tho clock immediately starts, and goes on until tho balls are replaced.

At first it was estimated- that tho Niagara river came into existence through changes in tho level of tho land round tho groat lakes, about 55,000 years ago ; but later this was reduced to only 12,000 years. Sir Charles Lyell increased the estimate again to 35,000 years ; but more recently others have lowered it to about 9000 years. Tho latest estimate places tho age of tho river at 32,000 years, and that of the cataract at 31,000 years. At one period the height of the falls was 420 feet.

Servants seem to have tho upper hand in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. They refuse to cook dinner later than four o’clock, and insist on going home before dark, so that not a house has a servant in it after eight, and mothers have to stay at home to look after their babies.

In the sixteenth century the average length of a doctor’s life was thirty-six years five months, in tho seventeenth century it was forty-five years and eight months, in the eighteenth century fortynine years and eight months, and in the nineteenth century fifty-eight years and seven months.

A journal in Madrid tries to increase its circulation by printing its nows not on paper but on linen. Instead of ink, a composition is used which readily dis : solves in a liberal water bath. After absorbing the news, the reader merely places the shoot under a public fountain, and there is a snowy handkerchief.

The dexterity of a skilled performer is due solely to practice. Contortionists are generally taught at an early age, beginning with some simple motions like bending backward until tho head touches the floor, and rising again without tho aid of the hands. Afterwards more difficult feats are learned, until the muscles and joints b Q ?9°4e so supple that the whole frame can be twisted to any angle with apparent ease.

A lady called at a large employment agency recently and asked if they could recommend her a domestic servant, explaining that tho latter’s duties would include tho looking after twenty dogs, which required to bo fed thrice a day. And the pay offered was two shillings a week! Singular to say, there have as yet been no applicants for this situation.

A foreigner in Japan caunot obtain a patent for an invention except by fraud, If a patent were obtained by a false representation that a Japanese citizen was the inventor, and it was discovered that he was not, the patent would be at once cancelled. It is precisely the same with trade-marks and designs. The result is that all goods of foreign manufacture, the label of which is worth copying, can be bought all over Japan of Japanese manufacture, and considerably under the cost of the genuine foreign-made article.

The chief waste of power in walking comes in in supporting the body and in friction when the foot strikes the ground. Human muscle is exhausted almost, if not quite as much, by supporting a weight as by moving it, and standing still is a very tiring task.

Some idea of the fine point to which platinum wire can be drawn will be realised from the fact that threads have been drawn two of which can be twisted together and inserted within the hollow of a human hair. These threads are so infinitesimal that it needs a magnifyingglass to see them.

- America is the only country which can boast of s daily musical paper. It is called, appropriately enough, the Presto, is published on all seven days of the week, and has its headquarters at Chicago.

The lowest annual salary paid anyone in the Consular service of any Government is five shillings. This is receiyed by the United States Consular agents at Kalamata, Greece, and Dardanelles, Turkey,

A peculiar industry of the river districts of Norfolk is the growth of the root of calamus, or sweet flag, which sometimes yields as much as £SO an acre, It is much used by distillers to give a much, valued “bouquet" to certain liquors, ineluding rare varieties of gin.

A New York cafe, which has 300 patrons, is run on a novel plan. There is no cashier, but each customer makes a daily memorandum of the amount of his indebtedness, and pays the proprietor at the end of the week; and the cafd has never yet been cheated.

An experimental race was recently made between a skilful typist and an expert penman, the test being the number of times a pbrase of eight words could be reproduced in five minutes. The typist scored 37 and the penman 23.

It is announced that in lh 6 future bottles will perhaps be made of paper. The advantages claimed for the paper bottles are many. A glass bottle is extremely liable to break, and, in case of old wine, the breakage of a bottle in a bin causes a serious loss. The paper bottle, it is claimed, cannot bo broken, unless considerable force is used.

A remarkable case of the recovery of speech and hearing is reported from the Canton of Ticino, in Switzerland. An Italian, aged 41 years, who five years ago became a deaf mute in consequence of a serious disease, ygs startled by the sudden appearance of a runaway horse. As he jumped aside to avoid the animal, bo Uttered a scream, and soon after found that ho was able to talk and hear.

A clever workman In a cutlery factory in Sheffield has recently made a dozen pairs of shears, each so minute as to weigh less than half a grain. That is about the weight of a postage stamp. Bach pair was perfect, and would cut if sufficiently delicate material could be found.