MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2003, 14 July 1892, Page 36

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Tho Pope is said to be the richest man in Rome. He personally directs the financial transactions and even carries the key to his safe, which he keeps in his apartments. — The exact site of the notorious "Black Hole of Calcutta," long supposed to be lost, has been re-discoverd whilst excavating the foundations of buildings in old Fort William. — There have been precocious young men in England who did not fall to the rear as advancing years come on. John Stuart Mill struggled -with Greek verse at nine and Cardinal Newman at five was deep in Ovid, while the younger Pitt went up to the university at 16 with a store of learning that amazed his tutors, — Since the English occupation of Egypt the planting of timber trees in the delta of the Nile has been largely carried on, and there is no doubt that this has changed the climate considerably, rendering the atmosphere much more moist than was formerly the case. — A project for the settlement of 500 RussoHebrew tamilies in Winnipeg has been brought before the London Russian-He-brew committee. It provides tor a combination of railroad work with farming. — Professor Marshall tells us that the oak in a general way requires to grow from 120 to 200 years before it is fit to cut for large timber. — It is said that in no three cities in the world have greater advances in sanitation been made during the last 20 years than in Bombay, Madras, and Calcutta. — A singular incident occurred in connection with the sudden death recently of Mr Chamberlain's head gardener. The man's wife, who had lost her speech some years ago, was so shocked at hearing of her husband's death that she recovered her voice. — The Society of the Friends of Trees flourishes in Nice. Its object is the general restoration of the forests throughout the French Republic. All the bald spots are to be covered with a new growth. — About four millions of copies of the Scriptures have been circulated by the British and Foreign Bible Society during the past 12 months, printed in over 300 dialects and languages. — Careful investigation in Prussia reveals the remarkable fact that the average life of Jews ia Prussia is five years longer than that of Christians. — The funniest sight in Paris is to see the bears in the pits at the Jardin dcs Plantes seat themselves comfortably, hold up their forelegs in a position of supplication, and with wideopen mouths, beg for buns, their eyes rapidly blinking in the strong light from above. They easily catch in their mouths anything that they can reach without moving off their bases. — A ton of roses yields only 2oz of the attar, or otto of roses. If kept at a temperature below 60deg, attar crjjßtalises ; if kept open to the air and light it is easily volatilised. — Last year 147 people were killed and 6000 wounded by street traffic in London. Some of the latter died and some were maimed for life. — It is reported from Warsaw that 20,000 Jews, carefully selected from all parts of Russian Poland, will, by the consent of the Government, leave for Baron Hirsch's colonies in th_e Argentine Republic. — There exists in Chicago a society the membership of which is restricted to coloured men with white wives. The object is to benefit a class of persons who, for their inter-racial marriage, are ostracised by both blacks and whites. — Rubber heels for marching have been introduced by a French army surgeon. The infantry have tried them with good results. — Some centuries ago there arose a dispute regarding a bearing in the coat of arms of the Rutland family, and the right of another great house to its adoption. On this trial Chaucer gave evidence. It lasted through one whole century and the latter part of the preceding and former part of the succeeding one. — The hoarding of treasure by the people of India is shown by the fact that in that country the gold and other ornaments now lying idle are estimated to bo worth over L 250,000,000. — Electric drills are being rapidly adopted in mining and tunnelling operations. The Anaconda Mining Company at Fremont, Col., expects to double its present shipments by equipping its mines throughout with electric drills. — A man discovered a bundle floating down the Danube. When opened it was found to contain a living infant, who was sleeping soundly. — The Hamburg authorities have seized 100 cases of American dried apples, claiming that they contained oxide of zinc, having been evaporated in a galvanised iron frame. — Bodies of the dead suspended within hollows of the Baobab treY, that grows in Africa, are transformed into mummies without further process of embalmment. — Most of the men in the islands of southwestern [Japan load lives of idleness and are cheerfully supported by the women. — Sir Robert Ball, professor of astronomy, disscussing the question "How long can the earth sustain life?" inclines to a belief that the human race is probably doomed to extinction in about 5,000,000 years. v — Articles made of silver are called plate, from the Spanish word plata, which means silver. — The desert of Sahara is becoming a garden. Within a few years 12,000,000 acres of desert land have been made fruitful by artesian wells. But there are 960,000,000 yet to be reclaimed before all the sand wastes of South Africa are utilised for garden purposes. — Ostriches have about the smallest brains of any living creature of their size, as can easily be seen by noticing the small head, which is very flat and depressed above the eyes. — Mr Sidney Webb describes London as " a colossal breeding and training ground of individual wills and intellects." Every day 400 children are born in it ; every day 250 children in it enter school for the first time ; every day 200 begin their apprenticeship ; every day 150 enter married life, and every day 200 die. — More than one-fourth of the gold and more than one-third of the silver produced throughout the world in the year 1891 was mined in the United States. — It has been invariably observed that none are so insolent in power as they who have usurped an authority to which they had no right. — An inventor of Jackson, Mich., proposes to use trained eagles instead of gas in aerial navigation. — The walls of old Exeter Castle are crumbling. An inspection revealed the fact that millions of microbes are gradually powdering away the stone. — When cotton thread was first made, 840 yards of it weighed one pound. Heuce it ii No. 1. A pound containing twice that number of yards is No. 2, and so on. — The Spaniards luckily struck the auriferous X)ortion of the globe. More gold has been obtained from Spanish- America than from any other part of the world.

— Cabmen have to pass an examination in knowledge of London streets before they can obtain a license, and this is far more necessary than might be supposed, for 691 men in the year 1889 failed in the examination, and not a severe one at that, while 1211 were passed. — It is said tha^, more money is spent for eggs than for flour in the United States. — Thirty-four pounds of raw sugar make 21 of refined. — The manageress of two leading life insurance companies in California is said to receive L2OOO a year — possibly the largest official salary paid to a woman on record. She has over 100 women under her control, and regulates the insurance concerns over a large area. — On an average there are 106 boys born to every 100 girls, but more boys die in infancy than girls. — Only 1£ per cent, of the population of India can read and write. — The first Earl of Salisbury was created in the reign of James I, and ever since it has been the practice in the family that the eldest son should commemorate that monarch's favour by bearing the name of James. Every Marquis of Salisbury until the present has been go named, and the Prime Minister had an elder brother James, who died in 1865. Blindness reaches ;tho highest point in civilised lands (216 persons to 100,000 of population) among the Spaniards, who are brunettes ; while it is much smaller in Sweden (91 per 100,000, or less than half), tho land of blondes. The United States has the lowest ratio of blind population in the world. Egypt has the highest. — Robert C. Winthrop, of Massachusetts, the venerable ex-Speaker of the House of Representatives, has enjoyed the acquaintance of every President of the United States with the exception of Washington and Jefferson. — Preparations for strange passengers are about to be made by a ship-building firm on the Clyde. It is to construct a steamer capable of carrying 200,000 live lobsters on each trip from Halifax to Europe. The steamer is to make 14 round trips a year. — The earliest known lens is one of rock crystal unearthed by Lavard at Nineveh. This lens, tho age of which is measured by thousands of years, now lies in the British Museum, as bright and as clear as it was the day it left the maker's hands. — Burglar-proof glass has been invented by a Dresden manufacturer. It is made by pouring molten glass over a network of steel wire. It is especially adapted for skylights and jewellers' windows. — It is believed that the world's population is increasing at the rate of nearly 6,000,000 a year. —Iv the popular histories of the seven wonders of the world we read that the Pharos, one of the first lighthouses, could be seen at a distance of 100 miles. In order for this to have been possible, says a scientific authority, the Pharos must have been a mile and a quarter in height ! — Hackney coaches were forbidden during the reign of Charles II on the ground that they destroyed the king's highway. — A. gentleman who recently visited Russia had with him a tonic sol-fa text book, which was seized by the Custom House officers, evidently under the impression that it was Nihilism in cipher, and in spite of the owner's explanations it was confiscated. — The persecution of the Jews has made the most influential caste in Europe, a caste controlling all the Bourses and most newspapers, the deadly foes of the Romanoffs, while the famine has shattered all hope of prosperity for the Russian Treasury for many a long day. — Spectator. — The colony of titled Englishmen in Paris, who are under clouds at home, is said never to hare been so large as at the present time. — la the early part of this century a bushel of salt, the worth of which was about 6d, was subject to a duty of 15s. In 1823 this was reduced to 2s, and in 1825 finally abolished. — Roots of the onion penetrate the earth to a depth of from 4ft to 6ft when conditions are favourable. — Never was social life so brilliant and fascinating as in tho French salons of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Never have women counted for more in the history of a nation. Social life was both a science and an art, and those who composed it were both actors and spectators in what is the most human of sciences and the most artistic of arts. — Spectator. — Most of the men in the islands of Southwestern Japan lead lives of idleness.and are cheerfully supported by the women. The males arc fond of music, some of them beiug excellent musiciaus, on various instruments, but it is considered disgraceful for a woman to play. — A Frenchman has invented a new ribbon loom which works automatically and needs no surveillance. If a thread or warp breaks, the shuttle is stopped instantly, and the attention of the weaver, who could by this system attend to many looms, is called to the defect. — Dynamite has been superseded in Sweden for blasting purposes. Electric wires are introduced in tho rock and then heated. The sudden heating of the rock rends it in pieces, quietly and effectively, without peril to human life.— N. Y. Ledger. — A cork leg without a knee-joint does not cost as much as ouo including the knee, and if an artificial hip socket is to be made the cost is correspondingly increased. — The German Emperor is a very firm shot, although obliged to hold his guv only with the right hand. The weakness of his left arm has forced him to train himself to hold tho gun or rifle like a pistol, and his arm is very steady and sure. — Over 100,0001b of snails are daily eaten by the Parisian lovers of such dainties. The taste of a properly cooked snail is said to resemble that of a mushroom. — The long tails of the Shah of Persia's horses are died criinsom for 6in at their tips — a jealously-guarded privilege of the ruler and his sons. —If (says the Horticultural Times, in a curious com|iutation) there was but one potato in the world, a careful cultivator might produce 10,000,000,000 from it in 10 years, and that would supply the world with seed again. — A son of the Duke of Argyle has opened an office in London for the leasing and selling of estates in Scotland. — The Japanese jiurikisha-man solicits custom by crying : "If the honourable lord does not give himself the trouble of too much illustrious delay, the fare will be only R0 sen. Condescend to make gracious use of this worthless servant !" — Out of the 38,000 Polish emigrants who went to Brazil, 1500 are recorded as having returned. It is estimated that 18,000 Poles died in Brazil from the yellow fever. — A powerful lamp, which distinctly illuminates objects over half a mile distant, by mean* of a great reflector, is to be adopted in the French army. It is carried on a light waggon, behind ibe soldiers, and they will be in obscurity while the enemy and all objects in front will be made conspicuous. — The smallest quadruped in the world is the pigmy mouse of Siberia.