Multum in Parvo.

Otago Witness, Issue 1581, 4 March 1882, Page 6

Multum in Parvo.

Japan, in every way, seems determined to progress and keep pace with the march of European civilisation, without paying the slightest heed to Asiatic' prejudices and traditkvi;B. O»ly a «!u>rt time ago tltt Mikado form&lly annouswed Lib intention to grant his subjects a constitnfcK.aal form of government at tho expiration of nine years, and now we are told that a conference of tho representatives of the European Powers will shortly b'j held at Tokio, by express desire of the Japanese Government, to censider means for remodelling the country's commercial relations with Europe and America. Queen Victoria is said to have a remarkable collection of autographs. She purchased through an agent, two of the MSS. of the .Disraeli novels, and got them ft r about £20 apiece. Twenty years = agoj a; Hat of the < late, Dean Stanley's publications, mostly sermons and occasional pamphlets',' filled many i pages of the' catalogue: •of tbe -' British < Munoum. < If > the D.'au's writings could all be , brought together it would be found that h« wrote more than any', one of his contemporaries; ''"'■: * '. : M«n Genuaniiw ( in » » successful sculptor in Greece— the first aud only Greek lady who han devotddborHolf'to'-inat'art.' The Prime Mm. fctee han oommisaionod her to execute a bust of Canning^ '• whose , memory Greece keep;! holy,' for tie Hellenic Chambers'. Bishoprics > are ' multiplying in England. Within threeyesrs Truvo.and Liverpoql Jiave been created, and now tbe funds are rapidly flowing' in for a See of Newcastle. The Dake of Northumberland has given £10,000. ,t . The birthday of the German Crown Princess this year is to be celebrated, among oibvr things; by the opening of a national art museum at Berlin, similar, to tbe South Kensington Museum of London. It will cost 3,000,000 marks.- i ' • . • ■ Rev. John Hunter Morrison, D.D., who, firat suggested jhe Week of Prayer, died at his station in Dahia Doob, 'India; on September 16th, of cholera, in the ssventy sixth year of bis age and forty-third of his missionary serVJ6O.' ' " "' ' A statement has been made of serious interest to a,H engaged in miesisnary operations. It is Ibat some American infidels of culture have gone 1 to the Island of Ceylon, in order to counter - act the .teaching fpf tbe missionaries, and, in effect, to teach Buddhism,, . , . In Japan, with' more than 30,000,000 people, there are ohly 1,000,000 head of cattle, of which only 6oo,oToare fit for food, 1 or two head for every 100 people. • ■. i v , . . An internal revpnne collector of New York says there are 25,000 c'gar makers employed in that city. There »re 830.000,000 cigars annually madetberei'arjd^SO.OOO.OOO cigarettes, j whereas, befdte the-war, > itnly 50,000,000 . cigars 'were madtt, pet annum, : , • .>. > - ' The A materials , for buildicg the Count Botocki's, palace at 1 the corner of the Avenue Friedlanrt and the Itue de Balzac, Paris, have' coßt 6,000,000, fran&s The stone has all' been brought ifrom the Jura." Tbe interior decor !! »tion .'of the houfte will cost at least another' 6,000 000 tmicß. •„ „ „-■ . - Indiauopoliß people have a new plan of oar11%'ten the poor "that is working well. Its » Hociat«d chatitie'B arraDge to h%ve enoh family ofyfflicte'd poor under the special care of a Wfl'Mc-Ju family. '. ■.• < Engird hus mtire wealth: and poverty 'hon auy oth ( eT,conutry! ,T^re are about 3,000,000 utter pan'per-v and 7,000. Q00 ,on the ' verge of waul. Ittakes au.eu'/'rmousmass of wretcoed. nesa to niak«'gr'ea't milltonaries. • ■ Diplomacy in a hereditary profession in Eogland. . SirE. B. Malet, now coming iato, great prominence as, British diplomatic ogent in Egypt, I? son of Sir A. C, Malef, long Minister at Frankfort, Sir E. Thornton's father was a diplomatist; and ' his ' son ' ia now' attache* at Wasbiniiton. • -'' ■ < > Over 30,000 men are believed to be' out of employment in connection with the wages dis-, pate in the Staffordshire potteries. , It does not appear that Moody and Sa'nkey ' are repeating their triumphs in E- gland: Their audiences are comparatively small, and the clergy do not, as before; countenance their revivalism. The .London Times says, that nearly "all the converts made during their first visit are now backsliders; Trade beirjg quite dull with a shopkeeper in ono of the provincial towns of Fiance, he placed in his window the following placard : ' Tbe proprietor of this, shop desires to marry a young lady or a young widow.' , The nibh was immense. Moncore D, Conway n»yd that the Brights, Dilkes, Chamberlains, the Harcourts and Playfaira (their beautiful American wifes at the head of society), ( ate steadily Americanising European institutions. Keokuk, lowa, had a queer matrimonial jumble the other day, when a son married bistather'B divorced _ wife, , the father having secured a divorce in order that he might marry his wife's sinter. '•'" ' s •'■ \ John Bright'B , acqessien to tho ; Cabinethas never effected the ?ocial lifa^ of hinaßelf or his family. Neither' his hfce wife nor 'members of his. family have ever mixed in what in England is called society.' ,In fact,, he has, never even had a hou'so, in London. ■"-" ■ ■ Jobh' Jacob was recently fined In the Wnr-ehi^-atreet Cuurl;, London/ in the sum. of £1-, because, when at a meeting led by the Salvation army, the people cried out'i 'Glory to the Lord,' he for his part roared ' lustily : ' Glory to the devil.' , A dog which bad been accidentally confined at Met 2, fasted 39 days before he was released, and recovered. j , ;j; j „ , . v , ( The Bilk trade of Lyons now occupies some 120,000 looms of which only 30,000 are within the* cjlty.. Including tboue who work in the silkworm . establishment b there are 800,000, porVons employed in tbe,, Lynns rilk trade. In 1787 there were but 80,000 and 18 000 loom< ' " ' In the' West Free Church, Da'ndee, which hss' just' been' renovated, a telf phone line has beeui established from the pulpit to the bedside of a bed-ridden member of the congregation. ; , . . > The latest dtvice for superseding the cashboy in large detail stores is a system of troughs,' along whioh roll hollow balls, carrying money and change to and from the cashier. Tbe Nashville American hss Reen no more orderly, quiet, well-governed community than Flak University, the coloured race's college. Sweet potat.Lfcs are finding their way into the Loudon market's, and the English people, who slow to at'une their' palates to novelties, are taking,ksndly to them. , ( , „, Tbe Dofco of WeJlinfijton is President of the Britißb GoatSocioty, tho poculi»r Hud'philanthropic of jeet • f 'fhicb. is to induce poor p?oplft to kn«j i Rfsntfi. M. Riciiuibftch, in noticing tho etatemont that Dr E, O. Spitzka iouua in thw egg of a turtle a live maggot, Bays fchat ho onco tcund }a a hen's egg « pmali pieco of vuided jagur,

There is a great desire in London to get the electric light into private houses, although the agents of the gas companies pretend to say that electricity in that shape is more dangerous than g»s. Electricians, however, are trying to allay r,hes3 fears, and it is presumed they will sue- i ceed. Education gives < fecundity of thought, oopiousneßß of illustration, quickness, vigour, fancy, words, images, and illustrations ; it decorates j every common thing, and gives tho power of trifling without being undignified and absurd, — Sydney Smith. • A ten-yeat-old son of Martin Wright, of Bonne County, lowa, was left at home one day recently, while hiß parents went to DodJ- j son* and a tramp, who attempted to rob the house, was driven away by the boy at the muzzle of an empty gun. Of the > German people it in said that they form no exception to the rule that the most fiubmissive of human beings prefer being led to being driven. Some birds, it fs said, desert their young whenever the little ones have been touched by any member of the human race. The young birds die of starvation in the nest, and are eaten by the ants that are always j foraging up and down the trees. The Austrian Emperor has resolved to erecS at his own coat, a permanent bhapel on the site of the Ring Theatre, in which a requiem maW may be said yearly, r In 'some parts of the Maryland Peninsula the following is believed to be a Bare cure for chills and fever :— A live fapider is, caught and plicad in a thimble, and a cloth tied- over securely to keep it, confined. . The thimble )S' suspended ,around, the nei;k of tha person until the spider dies, which not,, only cures, but prevents the chills. (<( < <- . The Archbishop of Canterbury and Cardinal Manning recently met on the same platform in London. ' Around them were Baptists, Presbyterians, Unitarians, Weßleyans, and Friends. iThe assemblage was made a unity, by the force of one great purpose., . They met to make orotest against the traffic of opium in the East. - •„ ; ,j ,"•-•,'.» Publishers of hymn books, says the B&ptist Weekly, sometimes like to pose as 'models of benevolence. From the sale of 'psalms and hymns ' in use in the English Baptist churches upwards of £8000 has been donated to widows aud orphans pf ministers. ' ... A movement is on foot in Birmingham, England, for creating a monument 1 to John Bright. It is proposed that the foundation--stone shall be laid on the 10th of August,. 1882, when Mr Bright will have been member of Parliament for Birmingham for a quarter of a century. There are now 10,000 Protestant Christians in' Mexico. Tho. Presbyterian Ohuroh began its work' there in 1872, and now, has '4000 'members. ' .The last census makes the total area of the' United .Statee,, exclusive, of Alaska, 3,023;00q square miles. This is about thirty,, times as, large'as the area of Great Britain and Ireland,' thirteen times as large as the Austrian empire, and so on. Texas alone is :largor than France, Germany, Austria, or Italy, and, if Trxas were as 'densely populated as' Mftssaohusetts, ' it wjould' "contain as large a 'population as tho whola country. < ' ' .' '*'. i A bill to repeal the law empowering eo-sle siastioal coucoils in Sweden •to prohibit tho preaching of diaseuting-minißters was carried jthrough' one. Chamber of the Bsiohstag.'by n y'ote of 85 to 64, but rejected in the other by 54 tp 25 votes. „ . , , v v , , i ' The Watchman,, of Boston, after alluding to tha fact, that Dr Austja Ph«l^B, of Andovor,' has lately avowed his belief, that the marvel* of Spiritualism are" of 'Satanic origin', «nya 'that many Spiritists are now identifying a certain class of spirits with the demons of the Bible.' . ■ Tne'Czar is a : regular church-gcer, and very fond of nacre d ! music. He maintains two; fine choirs at Peterhoff. i , , , ■ . Irish Liberals, even Homo Rulers, are tendering fresh suppprt to the' Government. Mr Shaw's letter, explaining his withdrawal from th? Home Rule League, is a remarkable manifesto. He pronounces' home rule impossible, and expressly, declares, that the Land Act, in" the opinion of the immense majority of the Iritsh people, has settled the land question, .He deprecaies agitation, which can bring only disaster to Ireland. : The Duke of Sutherland has carried his liking for railway engineering to the extent of owning a line all to himself. The line is ab»olutely tha last bit ia Great Britain travelling north. It is 17 miles long, and cost the Duke nearly £70,000. The net proceeds are under £2000 a year, but last year was a very bad, one; traffic receipts considerably decreasing. Eecently published statistics show that the consumption of tobacco in France has largely and steadily increased during the present century. In 1815 the amount derived by the State from this one article was 33,872 OOOf. In 1853 the amount had risen po 193,000 OOOf . while in the latest return given it was 313,546,000f, This represents an avorage of about 9f. per head of the population. The success of the Siemens Electrical Railway has been so great, according to Nature, that the municipal commission appointed to report on the possible application of electricity will advise tho experiment, of an elevated rail, way in some parts of Paris, , The only objec. tion to the .erection of ouch aline in the Boulevardsis its aspect, which, it is , supposed, will not be sufficiently ornamental. A large number of practical suggestions will be made by this dommißsion. ; .. , ; It is intended to hold a Naval and Submarine Engineering Exhibition »^ the Agricultural. Hall, London, in April, 1882. A prizi of 100 guineas is offered for tho test means of saving life in cases of shipwreck at sea, and a second prize of 50 guineas for the bnet invention of a humane charaoter connected with seafaring, - The plan of. the land fortifications of Germany's moat important naval port of Kiel has been settled by Count Moltke, and will consist bf 11 forts encircling the town. They will be at a sufficient distance not to prevent the gro'Wfh of the place. The erection -of this series of forts will bo begun in the spring,' and after their compL-ti v the fortifications of Dappel and Sonde'iurg will be completely dismantled. One million and a half sterling is the estimated cost of Ihe fortifications on the lard side of Kiel. In Chicago an experiment Ib i being made with a wire -rope tramway, in which the rope is carried in a tube Blink hetween the 'rails, the connection with the car being made by means of steel gripping ' bars which pass through a groove in the tube three-quarters of an inch wide. Interference with ordinary traffic is completely avoided, and . if the experiment stands the test of winter, the tramway companies in other towns have undertaken to employ tbe system. It is stated that tbe new press laws in Egypt are caniinggeneral consternation and indignai tion.' The European preßa is subject to an ; irroßpooaible and dosptfJc censorship, and j objacCionnblo papers' nre liable to confiscation jby tho Egypii^n podt-offico. fiforf-nv-H-, tha recipients ami difstributore of those pnpera are liable to fines. All penalties havo effect with- j out judicial process, at the kwl.^aco of tho Minister of the Icteric* lot the ti&e being.