MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2086, 15 February 1894, Page 38

MULTUM IN PARVO.

An automatic electric music leaf-turner is one of the latest patents. It is claimed for it that it can be easily attached to any piano music rack, aud it is operated by touching a button with the foot. —In spite of its reputed feab of having carried Mahomet in four jumps from Jerusalem to Mecca, seven miles au hour is the cametfs beet pace ; nor can it maintain this rate over two hours. — A mile of hedge and ditch equals an acre of land. The amount of extra land that would be rendered available for crops, were all the hedges in the United Kingdom trimmed properly, would be equivalent to 600,000 acres. — Edison, although a millionaire, still works as hard as of yore. His laboratory (which costs £40,000 per year to maintain) still frequently holds him within its walls for 48 houra at a stretch, during which his food is of the simplest, chiefly consisting of bread and cheese. — The late Sir Andrew Clark was the fourth eminent physician in attendance upon the Gladstone family whom the "Grand Old Man " has survived. —An Italian physician in a recent report says that 4 per cent, of the population of Naples die annually from impoverishment of blood, caused by the lack of meat as food. — Medical men die off more rapidly than other professional men. Between the ages of 45 and 65 two doctors die to one clergyman. — The biggest of big bells is in the Kremlin •at Moscow. It weighs 432,0001b. — There are, acoordiug to Dr Stanley, the late Dean of Westminster Abbey, still eight of the olives of Getbsemane staming, "whose gnarled trunks and scanty foliage will always be regarded as the most affecting of the sacred memorials in or about Jerusalem." — The Hou-e of Lords had on its roll 401 members in 1830, and 433 in 1837 ; but to-day there are 572 peers in the Second Chamber. Since 1830 there have been 328 new votes added to the House of Lords, of whom 208 .were added by Liberal Ministries and 120 by Conservatives. Mr G'.adstoue alone has made 82 peers. — The amount of gold in circulation in Great Britain and Ireland is estimated us varying, according to circumstances, from £65,000,000 to £110,000,000 sterling. — Of all European countries Italy has the greatest proportion of criminals. They number 5140 to every 1,000,000 of population. — A Michigan paper says that in a certain village in that State so many people have the ague that the church bell is rung at specified hours for the inhabitants to take their quinine. — Sentiment is as old as anything else, as ia indicated by the discovery in Egyptiau tombs dating back to be. 2000 of wedding rings engraved with a heart and two clasped hands. — A girl is often in her mind and disposition more like her father than her mother, and it is commonplace to say that men of geniue, for example, derive their nobler part from the mother's side. — Atalanta. — In the neighbourhood of Westminster £250, £300, and even £400 a year is aeked for seven or eight rooms, and in addition the tenant is compelled to do repairs, and redecorate the interior at stated intervals. This, of course, includes taxes and water charges, but even with these thrown in the sums mentioned have a formidable appearance. — The I tnau of Muscat possesses a pearl weighing 12£ carats, through which you can see daylight ; it is worth about £33,000. — The Comstock silver mines in America are 2700 ft in depth, and.theheat m tho lower levels is so great that the men cannot work there over 10 or 15 minutes at a time. Every known mean? of mitigating the heat have been tried in vain. Ice melts before it reaches the bottom of the shafts. — Henry 11, King of England, conquered Ireland in 1172, and styled himself Lord of Ireland. The English monarchs were styled •• Lords of Ireland" until the reign of Henry VIII, who 6tyled himself King ; this title continued till the Union, January 1, 1801. — Scientists say that if the bed of the Pacific Ocean could be seen it would disclose to view several mountains with truncated tops scattered over it. These mountains would be perfectly bare at the base, aud all around their tops they would ba covered with beautiful vegetation of coral polypi. — Each policeman in the Metropolitan and City of London forces is estimated to cost on an average about £98 per annum, and he arrests about nine persons a year. — The coaßfc of India has very few indentations, and consequently few good natural harbours. — If a train, moving at the speed of 25 miles an hour, were suddenly stopped, the passengers would experience a shock equal to that of falling from a second-floor window ; at 30 miles an hour they might as well fall from a height of three pairs of stairs ; and an express train would, in point of fact, make them fall from a fourth story. — The French language, it appears, is better adapted to the purpose of the telephone than the English. It is stated that the large number of sibilant or hissing syllables in English renders it a less easy and accurate means ot communication. — Au organist says that a cow moos in a perfect fifth octave, or tenth ; a dog barks in fifth or fourth ; a donkey brays in a perfect octave ; and a horse neighs in a descent on the chromatic ecale. — When a gla c s is as full as it possibly can be of liquor, the surface of the liquid is slight ly convex, and the centre lies higher than the brim. Iv view of this fact such a glass full in calkd a bumper, because the liquor bumps up, or protrudes in the middle. The most dangerous part of the British coast for sailors is that between Flamborough Head and the North Foreland, including as it does both the Humber and the Thames. The next most dangerous district is that between Anglesea and the Mull ot Cantire, which includes the Mersey and the Clyde. Begging in Russia presents itself in the form of a recognised profession, and those who follow it are more numerous than those engaged in any other. — Two boys of e'ght years havejuft fought a duel with pistols at Ghent, in the presence of two other schoolboys, who ac l ed as seconds. One of the bojs i*, sad to relate, reported to have been killed by a shot through the head. — The word "scamp " has a strange history. It once only meant " traveller," but 300 or 400 years ago nobody travelled except when he was obliged to, so the word gradually acquired an unfavourable mcauin^. — What is the horse power of a whale ? This is the problem wb/cb. has been solved by a brace of Scottish mathematicians. A whale was fitrauded on the western coast of Scotland some weeks ago, and tLe intere3tiug calculation was made that power equal to 145 horses would be required to propel the whale through the water at the rate of 12 rui'es an hour. A process of forming artificial whalebone from animal hair, consisting iv subjecting the hair to a softening batb, then to a bath of acetic acid, and finally placing tho mass undei great pressure, has been invented.

— Few countries have a more varied flora than Portugal. The number of species has been estimated to exceed 4000, and of these more than 3000 are phanerogamous. — Great Britain has a longer sea coast line than any other nation in Europe. It measures 2755 miles, with Italy second, 2472 miles. Russia ranks third and France fourth. — The Spartan women, at curtain games, laid hold of old bachelors, dragged them round their altars, and inflicted on them various marks of infamy and disgrace. — The prevalence of "colds " brought about an amusing incident iv the House of Commons recently. So many people seemed to be so afflicted that a couple of members decided in going through the lobby that they would put to each man they met the question, " How'a your cold ? " altogether without the knowledge that they had one. In most cases the answer returned was " Oh ! it's better, thanks," or " It's as bad as ever," or something similar. In no case was the possession of a "cold" repudiated. — Last year 580 persons visited Carlyle's birthplace at Ecclefechan. Two of the number were Chinese. — In 1885 a law was passed in Portugal abolishing hereditary peerages by a gradual process. — Baron Fricks, a Russian nobleman, living in Copenhagen, has just turned showman. He is enormously rich, but his eccentricities have put him in disgrace with his family. He is travelling now with one colouted man, two monkey?, three bears, one lion, four pigs, 40 parrots, innumerable cocks aud hens, and a brand-new Hungarian wife of great beauty. — Soufch American ants have been kuown to construct a tunnel three miles in length. — Italy as regards the production of raw silk is in advance of all the other countries of Europe. Lombardy, Piedmont, and Venetia are centres for its preparation. — A Hungarian inventor claims to be able to make from wood pulp a fabric suitable for durable clothing. Of the population of Spain onefifteenth are said to be nobles. — Silver teaspoons become heated more rapidly than plated ones, and are therefore less adapted to practical use. This is because silver is a better conductor of heat than the other white metals of which spoons are usually composed. — The oldest ruiua in the world are probably the rock-cut temples of Ipsambul or Abou Samboul in Nubia, on the left bank of the Nile. Ihey are over 4000 years old. — Such a thing as a British soldier signing his accounts with across, so much in vogue years ago, is unknown. Every man is compelled to go to school until ho passes an examination and obtains a certificate. — The Women's Suffrage Association of Belgium bhows by the latest census held in Europe that am^ng 16 European nations the female sex preponderates. It does so most utrongly in Portugal and Norway ; leasb in Belgium and France. — Duelling in Kuesia has become bo common that the Government has been compelled to decree a severe code of punishment Killing an antagonist will involve six years in prieon. — There are some curious superstitions concerning waves. The Arab sailors believe that the high seas of the coast of Abyssiuia are enchanted, and whenever they find themselves among them they recito verses which they suppose have a tendency to subdue them. — The parish clerk of St. David's succeeded his grandfather in the office in 1827, and the two together have filled the post continuously for 118 years. This is something like a "family living," — The first English sovereign to use the plural " we " instead of "I" was King John, in 1199, and the practice was adopted by the German ernporors and French kings at about the same time. — Nearly one-half the total number of suicides take placa between the houra of 6 a.m. and noon. — In the days of William the Conqueror it was more dangerous to kill a rabbit than a man. A murderer could escape with payment of a fine, a rabbit-slayer was put to death. — Scoff no more at the girl with fiery tresses, for if you don't appreciate h«r, some other young man probably does. Statistics show that red-headed old maids are a great rarity. — A generation is calculated to average 33 years and four months. — For the 17ch year in succession the Vicar of St. Mary's, Kilburn, has received from a "mysterious philanthropist" a gift of £100, which has been placed in the church box rolled up in a piece of paper, and containing the request that "this sum shall be devoted to charitable objects." — Naturalists assert that the hippopotamuß will become extinct within the next 20 years. — The ordinary indiarubber tobacco pouch, semi- circular in shape when closed, was really invented by a working man. He is said to have got £5 for his idea, and the man who took is up is stated to have left over £20,000 after living at the rate of £1500 a year. — The wife of Captain W. W. Gordon, of Savannah, was the first white child born in Chicago, aud she doesn't look a day over 40. —At Mongtze, in China, there is a timber mine. The trees have been buried under sandy soil to a depth of 6f6 to 75ffc, and they are well preserved. Apparently they have been overwhelmed by au earthquake at some immemorial time. They are of the pine trees called " Nain Hou " by the Chinese, and contain a preservative essence ; heuce the wood is employed in making coffin". — There are in ladia two great Government opium factories. The largest of the-;c is at Patna. Here the manufacture is carried on during the summer, and iv the winter the opium is packed and distributed. The stock in the immense warehouses at the close of the manufacture reaches a total value of £4, 000, 000. The other great factory is at Ghazipur, near Benares. The production reaches 60,000 chests a year, half of it being consumed in India, and the profii; to the State is from £5,000,000 to £6,000,000 sterling.