MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 1762, 29 August 1885, Page 6

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— At the age of 73 the late Sir Julius Benedict contracted a second marriage with Miss Fortey, a highly talented and accomplished pupil of his, Avho undertook part of her husband's engagements as teacher during his last illness. By her he leaves an infant son. — An " infallible remedy " for drunkenness, which was lately extensively advertised in Berlin and sold at a high price, was found on an analysis to consist of ground gentian and calamus, worth only the merest trifle, while destitute of the slightest medical effect, for tho purpose claimed. The Japanese army department contains not a single American ov Briton on its rolls, although it has 60 foreigners employed, of whom 47 are French, four Dutch, four Belgians, three Germans, one Austrian, and one Italian.

— An additional picture for nearly every clay in the year was placed last year in the " rogues' album " in the Berlin Criminal Police Court. During the year the collection served to identify 124 criminals. — The London Medical Press says that the fact has at length been made abundantly clear that trichiniasis is contracted mainly by those who .consume pork derived from the more carnivorous wild swine which abound in forests. Persons whose pork diet is derived from animals carefully fed on large dairy farms do not suffer from the affection.

— By Mohammedan law a convert to Mos» lemism who relapses is executed.

— The Paris cemeteries are not consecrated; the religious rites over the bodies of Catholics takes place in church, not in the burial ground. Suicides may not be reported in detail in the Uruguayan papers under penalty of a heavy fine. The- theory of the authorities is that publicity suggests imitation. —Out of every 100 men in New South Wales, 63 will be found to be native-born Australians ; but out of every 100 criminals, only 35 are of Colonial birth. England and Wales contribute 27 per cent, of the male" criminals, and foeland 22 per cent. ; Scotland contributes but 7 per Aent. — Fiorcßce Marryat was asked why her heroes were always light-haired, and replied that 6he was always most impressed by dark-haired men, and as she usually wrote about somebody she knew she changed the colour of their hair as one way of covering up their peF&oaaJity. — First-class carriages are not much required on some German lines. The statistics have always shown that they are little used. On one of the State railway systems in the year to March 31, 31883, only three passengers in 1000 travelled first-eLss, so that most of the trains must have had no firsvclass passengers at all.

— Three and a-half ye&vs ago a census was taken of Protestant missions in India, in order to see exactly what progress was being made, and that showed that in India alone, at Aha end of 1881, the native Christian Protestant community numbered 417,372, of whom 113,315 were communicants, i§l native ordained ministers, and 2488 lay preachers or catechists. i — Many of the plants in the TujJeries at Paris I are -200 and 300 years. I — It is estimated that at the Grotto of Lou* des I no less than 81,000 candles are burned every V — Jj?b.e words of parting, "Adieu," "• Farewell," " Good-bye," express the gamut of our sorrow on a friends departure. " Adieu " is somewhat frigid and cerenwhious. It is like a graceful how With " Farewell " we despatch on his " « 1 trasfcy friend just #s we grip his hand voyage* w "Ttat £ «> Good-bye" lies hid a on departure! TO i %gjj ng . gWWflfl .into whole volcano o. ""^gsjojied embrace of action.it expresses the in v •- « aze w9. .dear the lover, or the long, steadfast „ * **4ts& foe friend's eyes as we press his hand „ • — leaves for years, it may well be, for " ever.-

—On the 28th and 29th of June there was held m connection with the Antwerp International Exhibition, a very fine show of cut roses in the horticultural pavilion, and no less than 10,000 of the most exquisite specimens from the Grand Duchy of Luxemberg (MM. Soupert and Notting growing no less than ISOO different species on 30 acres of ground). Germany and France competed against the famous fore of Belgium.

— At a recent meeting in Westminster Abbey London, a member of the Universities' Mission in Zanzibar stated that they had thirty-five native evangelists, formerly slaves, and among their converts was an earnest Christian youth formerly page to the Sultan of Zanzibar. The' released slaves had printed at their printing office the whole of the New Testament and a large portion of the Old in the Swahili language understood throughont the interior. '

— Tradition says that famines occur in Japan every 40 or 50 yeavs. Modem history records great famines in 1640, 1673, 1730, 1781, and 1835. This is the fiftieth year since the last great dearth. The climate has been very irregular for the past few years, and droughts and floods have been experienced in various provinces. This year atmospheric changes have been very violent, and old people who witnessed the famine of 50 years ago are entertaining apprehensions as to the recurrence of the dreaded calamity.

—The, Russian government has made friendly advances to iho Abyssinian king and church, anil the overtures are met with alacrity. It is believed that Abyssinia will be found useful to Russia and annoying to England and Italy in future Anglo-Russian controversies. —Eight years ago tho Congo was little more than a geographical expression. Up to the Falls it had been explored, and below this barrier various traders had established themselves. The upper course was, however, only known from the narrative of Mr Stanley, while the little ascertained regarding the habits of the tribesmen on either of its stretches was not pleasant enough to encourage a closer acquaintance. Today the river itself and the lands which it drains occupy more space in political literature than any other region of East or West Africa.

— There is a most characteristic story told of Frank Buckland in the charming biography which Messrs Smith, Elder, and Co. have just published. When the great naturalist lay dying — " God is so good,'' he said, "so very good to tlu- little fishes, I do , not believe he would let thoir inspector suffer shipwreck at last. lam going a long journey, where I think I shall see a great many envious animals. • This journey I must go alone.'' — In Manchester there are some 52,000 electors tb a population, in 1881, of 393,000; in Birmingham a population of 400,000 gives an electoral list with 63,000 names. In the metropolitan boroughs, on the other hand, Marylebone with 498,000 has but 42,000 voters ; the Tower Hamlets with 438,000 has an electoral register of 41,000 ; and the 366,000 of Chelsea have only 84,000 on the electoral lists. —Writing on July 1, The Times correspondent at Constantinople stated that fearful anarchy and distress prevailed in the Turkish provinces. The Sultan, he says, " is possibly in ignorance of this deplorable state of things, but throughout his empire the misery and discontent of the people have reached such a pitch that unless speedy and general reform be forthcoming deplorable results will assuredly be witnessed." —New Guinea is about 1400 miles long and 490 broad at its widest part. Its northernmost

coast nearly touches the equator, its most southern stretches down to lldeg. south latitude, and so north. The close proximity to Torres Straits of this the largest island of the world, if Australia be regarded as a continent, makes it important in many ways, not only on account of the part which New Guinea is destined to play in Australia, but Imperial politics also.

— It is certainly significant that the steamships which a few years ago traversed the Straits of Magellan are now running between London and India, China and Australia, through the Straits of Torres, the yearly tonnage which has passed through the latter within the past five years exceeding the tonnage which has passed through the other straits iv five-and-twenty years. — The injury done to cattle and their hides by the ox warble-fly has lately been exciting considerable attention in England. Mr Richard Stratton, the well-known shorthorn breeder, recently estimated the loss sustained at £1,000,(100 sterling per annum, and Mr Hatton was inclined to consider it about five times greater. The loss on the warbled hide is stated by Mr Hatton to be one penny per pound, and, taking the statistics of two markets in Birmingham, he showed that the proportion of warbled hides to sound ones in the course of seven weeks was 1906 of the former to 3279 of the latter, entailing a deficiency in their sales of £545.

— Had Darwin died before the publication of his " Origin of Species," his earlier labours would have entitled him to a place in the first rank of naturalists, and even now, were the "theory" shown to be' entirely erroneous, were it replaced by a sounder, and truer, and more convincing explanation of the secrets of life, the endless facts with which it is illustrated would for ever remain a monument of his genius and sagacity. He taught the world to regard the simplest flower, or the most familiar circumstance, in a new light. A primrose and an earth-worm were, after he had thrown the light of his research over them, something very different from what they were before. — Standard. — Recently-published statistics show that the population of Europe has increased in a hundred years from 145 millions to 350 millions, or, adding the people of European race settled out of Europe, to 420 millions ; that the English race has multiplied five-fold, the Russian fourfold, the German two-and-a-half-fold, and the other races of Europe in a smaller proportion, Italy having nearly doubled and France and Spain having added only 50 per cent, to their population. — Experienced lumbermen have always held that timber cut in the spring was not durable for building purposes. Recent scientific investigations sustain this belief. It is shown tnuithe richer the wood is in phosphoric acid and potassium the more likely it is to rot and and mould; wood put in the spring contains eight times as much of the Jattep as when cut in the winter.

— For an able-bodied roan to be caught a third time begging, was considered a crime de-

serving death, according to an old law in England, which remained in force for sixty years. The poor man niight pot change his master at his will or wander from place to place. If out of employment, preferring to be idle, he might be demanded for work by any master of the" craft" to which he belonged, and compelled to work whether he would or no. If caught begging once, being neither aged nor infirm, he was whipped a* the cart's tail. If caught a second time his ear was slit or bored through with a hot : £j?jon. If caught a third time, being thereby ' proved ftp be of no use upon this earth, but to jjye upon ijL pnly tp Ijis own hurt and to that of *£«*6f M ?10^T^ death as a felon, Ou - tiwWBQQI (3ourjer spate's that p, re- "— The *** * fi k^ (?pe 7 pax * n< * n * ne markable fatan,,., '"* fa ? Mt Sg»J 9 2 *$ WW 6A6 A months old has just be... U Hempston. It seems that the *,_ '"awiy the tail of a gamecock, which had imn*o. turned upon it, knocked it down, and struck i<, savagely three or four times in succession with his spurs. The post-mortem examination showed that the spur of the fowl, which was two inches in length, had penetrated the child's skull behind the left ear, and all efforts to save its life were unavailing. —According to official statistics, the total number of German emigrants during the twelve years from 1871 to 1882 was 999,385. Of these 951,704 went to the United States. —The influence of the troubles in Egypt is being felt throughout the length and breadth of Africa. The Mohammedans are encouraged to perpetrate cruel outrages upon the Christians among them, and a number of missionaries are held in captivity in the interior of the Soudan.

, — The Jews of Persia are in the habit of making pilgrimages to the tombs of Esther and Mordecai, who lie in a poor little shrine near Hamadau. These tombs are covered each by a wooden ark, on which are stuck small pieces of paper like labels, covered with Hebrew characters. They are placed there by the Hebrew pilgrims,