MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2157, 27 June 1895, Page 38

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Tbc finest privsta library in England is smcl to bo th at of Lord Aclod, &t Aldenliam. It contains 60,000 volumes, and its owner claims to have read or examined the whole of tliem. ' — If; is estimated that greater quantities of gold end silver hava been sunk in tha sea than are now in circulation on earth. An amr.ymous donor hau just sent £5000 for «l.c ctuncel of tho new Sb. Peter's Church at E.-s'tourne, the foundation stone of which Wfcß laid by the Dufeo tnd D access of Devonshire la>t autumD, who gave tho sits as well ns £5000 toward the ccsfc of erection. — There oro in the world 270 cities having more lhan 100,000 inhabitants each ; 35 having moro than 500,000 ; and 12 with a population cf more than 1,000,000. I in the London metropolitan district there *re enaployod 4050 postmen, and, taking their daily amount of walkiDg at 12 miles on the average, tbis would represent an aggregate daily journeying on foot of 48,360 miles, a distai.ee equal to twice the circumference of the globe. — A bott'.e 115't high will be a feature of the Boxdeanx Exhibition about to bo opened. It •will stand in the grounds, the basement serving us » rcfrf sbmenfc rocm. Thß second and third floors will be reached by staircases, a winding staircase JcatJJDg up the neck of the bottle, a icicsV at the euiamifc b;ing nude to represent *b° oorlr ' .. „. „„ Durirg Icsfc year no Fewer than booo persons met with accidents in the streets of • liondon, about a tenth of whom owed their injuries to cycles. — The staff of the Brituh railways 13 mostly wade up of men who have entered the service as lads, and worked their way up. — A Jock of Napoleon's ha"r sod at auction in New York rtcently for £10. —In Lancashire the death rato per 1000 for children under three months old is 382, for childrm between three and six mor.Uis, 240, and for children between cix mouths ai.d a year, 180. Apparently as many aa eigbb cul; of every ten children die before becomißg one year old. — Truth says that a f on of Comte Walewski aud Rachel, the tragedienne, has set up as sn Italian warehouseman in the Quartier • Blarbceuf, Paris. He is tho image both of -his mother and his graudf ather, the First Napoleon, but has not a gleam of genius, and seems Absorbed in his shop. — The estate of ToddmgtDn in Gloucestershire, now in the market, presents ft combination of the mystic number seven. It has been been 700 years in the same family, conei^ of 7000 acres, and includes 700 acres of fruit larma. — Tho lion appears to be the only wild animal absolutely indifferent to the British climate, and the three Lig specimens presented to the Queen, and which nave recently arrived from Northern Somalilaad, have reached Bugland in perfect health. — The Japanese religion demands that a man must _yorebip on the toil every day. Princes and rich men evade this by sprinkling a little dirt in one ccrr.er of the room, sometimes on a equMe of cement made for tho purpose. ' - - — Lord Gourtei ay, the eldtsfc son and loir ftf the Earl of Devon, is tn inspector under tho Local Government Board. The Hon. Robert Xytteiton, one of the brothers of Viscount Cobham, i« a duly qualified and practising solicitor. Tho Hon. Edward Lyttelton in an as.istant master at Eton. ' — Many words which at first sight appear to be distinctive Americanisms are really English. The " I guess "so often met with in conversation with Yankees was a phrase used •by both Chaucer and Sbakeßpcare. The word ."slick " was in use heroin the sixteenth cea'tury, and many other supposed Americanisms '■.re of eqoa'ly ancient British origin. —In London there is a manufactory in which every kind of rare or anoient coin is made, and a collector need nnt go out of the " place if he wants to fill his cabinet with numismatic treasures. — The Emperor of Germany is having a miniature fort put up in his eons' playground, designed by »we of Krupp's engineer's, and fitted up with Krapp'u cannon and all the newest mv. nlions for warfare. This is to teach the young princes the practical working of a fort, and in the minutest details the toys will be perfect. .„ — A man at Marseilles has made a bet that fee will stand for 28 days on a pedestal and pose as a statue, with only 28 hours off during the whole time. The fcene of the bet is to be Marseilles, and the living statue will be watched night and day. by those betting on or against him. — At Singapore the post of " tiger-slayer-in-chief for the Straitofiettlements " has just been 4»iven to a Frenchman with a record of 600 tigers killed. — The word "henr ymoon " is derivedfromthe German, and has its significance from the fact that tbe Germans formerly drank mead— a nweet liquid made of honey — for 30 days after the wedding. — Frog?, which are a valuable food crop in Belgium, are now under the protection of law in that country. — Pelicans seem strange creatures to have about one's hou r e, but Jules Verne seems to extract greit pleasure from the keeping of three of them. ( —In the British army one aoldier in seven is now under 20 years of age. This, of course, includes all recruits and b&ni boys. — It is estimated that the annual sales of German toys in England amount to £2,000,000. — Doctors' prescriptions must not be written in Latin in Franca. — Zoologists say that all known species of wild animals are gradually diminishing in size. — More than 40 per cent, of the British people could rot write their names when the Queen ascended the throne. The proportion in that condition has now been reduced to 7 per cetit. — Mexico is regarded as the most productive country in the world. In most parts two crops are possible each year. — Three-tenths of the eivninga of a Belgian convict are given to him on the expiration of his term of imprisonment. Borne of them thus gave more money in gaol than they erer saved before. — Wheat ian be grown in the Alps at an elevation of 3600 feet ; in Brazil, at 5000 ;in the Canscasus, at 8000 ; in Abyssinia, at 10,000 ;in Peru and Bolivia, at 11,000. — It oosts »b jub £b 10s a week to keep an elephant in food The muscles of the hand reach their .highest perfection in man, no other animal having a true band. Bat in contradistinction, the muscles of the eye-*, ears, and nose, often found in an almost radimentary condition among mankind, are very highly developed in some of the lower animals. - _ In Tokio there are 800 public bathhouses, in which a person can take either a hot or cold b&th for a turn equal to one halfpenny.

— There hftvo been 27 caeen of icsanity in tbe Bavarian rojal fimily during tho last 100 year?. — A custom thet has existed for several centuries is st'll maintained in soiuo towns ou the Lower Rhine. On Easter Monday — auction day— the town crier or clerk calls all the young people together, and to the highest bidder sells the privilege of dancii>g with the chosen girl, and her only, during the entire year that follows. The foes flow into the public poor-box. — False jewels are made in a variety of ways. Uai&lly the basis of the paste is an artificially ompounded substance called etrass, made from litharge, white sand, and a small quantity of potash. Thes3 ingredient?, when properly mixed, form the brilliant white paßte from which alse dinmends are manufactured. — The beaver's dam is constructed in exact ' accordance with the best principles of engineering, and is always in width, both at top and bottom, exactly proportioned to the weight of j wa'or it is intended to support. — The costliest fur is that of the sea otter. A eingle skin of this animal, sold last year iv London, fetched more than £200. It was 6ft long by 2ft wide. — A broiize halfpenny is exactly lin in diameter, and therefore gives as a very convenient measure. L»id on an Ordnance map of the inoh scale, the halfpenny just covers 500 seres. — The African ostrich has but two toe 3on each foot, and one of them has no claw. The Bteam railways of the United Slates employ in good times nearly 1,000,000 men of all grades. — The German people, who in 1816 numbered only 25,000,000, are now more than 45,000,000, and their present rate of increase is greater than that of any European nation. They add yearly 115 to every 10,000 of their population, while the United Kingdom adds 101 to the same number, and France only 26. — Probably the most extraordinary journal in the world is published weekly at Athens. Its contents are written entirely in verse, even to the advertisements. — There are some 15,000 people in London whose professional occupation is writing for publication. — Most Tnrkibh baths have a room, the temperature of which is kept so high that eggs could soon be cooked in it. The air, however, must be very quiet, and care must be taken | that no metal touches the body. — Altogether about 100,000 islands, large and small, are scattered over the oceanß. — In each wiDg of the o&trich 26 long white plumes grow to matuiity in eight months. In the male the*e are pure white, while those of the female shade to £cru or grey. — The biggest tobscco facbory in the world is going to be built in Sb. Louis. It will cover over 20 acres, cost £200,000, and employ 3000 workmen. — An Asiatic never kuowa auybhing which he thinks it dangerous to dtjeuss — Spectator. — " Boo," the word used to frighten children, is a corruption of " Bah," the name of a Goth famous for his brutal cruelty. — Some years ago a number of precise experiments were made, when it was ascertained that £100 worth of sovereigns lost £3 93 8 4d of their value in 100 years of use ; similarly £100 worth of half-crowns lo3t £13 lls 8 Bd. — A woman living in Maine ifl said to make a living by adminifiterirg, for a small fee, thrashings to such of the children of tb.3 neighbourhood as are in need of correction. — The receipts for this season at the Casino, Monto Carlo, are tbe largest ever known ; but it is probable that at the general meeting, instead of paying alf^iier dividend, the administration will propose to lay out the extra pront3 on improvements. — On an average 19 persons out of every 100 committed for , murder are condemned and executed. " v