MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2161, 25 July 1895, Page 44

MULTUM IN PARVO.

*- Paderewf ki is alleged to have declared recently that there are two musical nations in the world— the gipsieß snd the Jews. With all others the lovo of mutic is acquired by cultivation; bufc gipsies and Jews are naturally musical. j • — Frauce is the greatest wheat-producing uountry in Europe, not excepting even Russia. For the tfaree years ended 1892 the estimated ■ average annual product of wheat in France . -was 278,769,000 bushels, and in Russia 201,280,000. — It is said that the Duke of Saxe-Coburg has madenp his' mind never -to play a violin rßoior Boio in public, even fora charity, the reason assigned for this step beii g the adverse judgment of the critics. • — Kaiser Wrthelm has forbidden the officers "and men of the Berlin garrison to tmoke in the principal streets of that city, in consequence of megnlarities in the salute offered to his Majesty and the members of th€ Royal Family. — Borne of the Siberian tribes, when they travel, carry a email bag ef their native earth, ' the taste of which they suppose will preserve them from all the svili of & foreign sky. / — The two oldest secret .trade processes now - In existence are considered to be the manufae-i-tnre of Chinese red, 6r vermilion, and that 'Unethod of inlaying tbe*hardest steel with gold 1 and silver, waich seems to "have been practised at Damascus ages ago, and. is known on'y to the i'Syrim smiths and their pupils even to this i (lay. — The"greatest daily change of temperature ■"to be found on the earth's sarfaceis in Arizona. ' There is frequently a change of 80deg in 12 ' hours. . There is a man well known in toe Paddmgtoh district who .is the precise image of the Pricce of Wales — that is to say, as regards his facial appearance. The likeness is so remarkable that it is no unoommon thing lor policemen to ealute as the humble mortal passes- by, and for pedestrians to raise their hate. — Calico was made in Calicut, India, as early - Mim , , . — The brain and liver are moßt closely in sympathy of aDy two distant organs of the human body. — The origin of the "Red Hand", is accounted for &9 follows : — In an ancient expedition to Ireland it was given out who ever first touched the shore should possess the territory which it touched. O'Neill, seeing another boat likf ly to outstrip his-oma, cut off his left hand and threw it on the coast. From this O'Neill the prince? of Ulster were descended, the motto . of the O'Neills being to this day the "Red Hand of Erin." — The clerks of the House of Commons always receive new wigs when a new Speaker comes into ofEoe — High-grade microscopes are said to make ■the human skin appear like a section from a Jish — showing thousands of minute scales, each -• ever- lapping the other. — Last year's returns of the British Genera , -fort- Offioe enow that 1,790,500,000 letters .'passed through it, the greater portion being • stamped with Id postage. •. — The tiar* which the Pope .weares on solemn ■' occasAnß is-tnade of papier maohe. The real ■ on« is so heavy that the frail octogenarian who ■-Bits in the Papal chair oould not wear it without danger to himself I _ vL_ Recently the Earl of Jersey opened a margarine facfory mear London capable of tura- - ing out 175,0001b of that produot per day. — The bed of the North Atlantic consists of two valleys, separated by a mountain range j that run 6 from the Azores to Icelaud. j — The most healthy places frequjnt'y have the highest death rate, on arcount of the large number of invalids that visit them. — The cost of draining the Zuyder Zee and reclaiming 450,000 acres is estimated to be not less than £25,200,000/ including measures of defence aud compensation to the Zee flfhermen. But the v«lue of the land reclaimed is'put at £26 100 000* so that in 32 yeara, tbe time allowed 'for finishing the work, the Dutch will Aave obtained an; ther province, and have made .a profit of nearly £1,000,000 ou the transaojtion ■ — The JBed SeaJs for the moat part blue. It gets its name from .the fact that portions of it are covered by minute anitnalcula which dye the surface of the'water red where they float. — The most critical period of human life is the first year. If this is safely passed and old age is reached, the most critical period on the way is juat about the age of 60. " The turn of . life," as this is called, is almost certain to lead to the grave or prolonged old age. — A spider saved the life of the graad-nnele of the German Emperor. Frederick William -■was King, of Prussia, and an attempt was made to poissn him in a cup of chocolate. By chance a spider fell into, the cup, and for this reason the monarch gave the ohocolate to a dog, Tfrhb immediately died. Inquiry was made, "with the result that the cook was hanged, and a Urge spider wrought in gold now decorates one of the chief rooms of the Winter Palace at totsdam in memory of the King's escape. ■. ; — An linglishman the other day received a Singular mittaive. It was entirely ,iv the language of idds : c, and the words could only be determined by humming over the few notes as ' they were down in notation. It was ultimately discovered that the musical note? formed the - opening line of an oratorio passage, •' For unto us a child is born." — The ivy differs from ordinary plants in - having rootlets on every stem, thus rendering it plmost independent of its main groond-roote. Its notorious killing action upon growing trees when it takes possession of them is mainly due jbo absorption of their juices. If there is any 'moisture in stone or brick walls the ivy will absorb it. — From 1867 to 1881 Rwia sent 621,000 persons to Siberia, fully 100,000 relatives of prisoners having accompanied the exiles of their pwn free will. — The costliest Parliament in the world is 1 that of France, the two Chambers annually i costing the nation upwards of £300,000. Next in order comes the Parliaments of Spain, £89,200 p ltaly, £86,000; Auntria, £72 500; | England ££1,920 ; Belgium, £36,000 ; and Por- j tngal, £30,120. The German Reichstag costs £19,000. — The two longeit words hi tbe Century Dictionary are ''palatopharyngeolaryngeal' and " transubstanti&tionetlist." ' — Berlin possesses a club called the " Giants," every member of wbieh is 6ft tall. Vienna has a "Lazy Club," no member of which does anything for a living ; and London a " Baldheaded Crab," where nothing bat polished skulls are ieen. — Asbestos clothing, which is not only incombustible, bnt non-conducting, is now made in New York, and is recommended as a protective dress for firemen. Experiments show that with A proper Mapirator'and an asbestos tuit a fireman can enter a burning building with much ■ less danger to his life than if "he wore the ordinary nniform. — It is said that 200 French cities are going to erect sUfcusa in honour of the late President; Carnok

— Cats and several other animals have a false eyelid, which can be drawn over the eyeball, either to cleanse it, or to protect it from too strong a light. — It is raid that in London there are no fewer than 10,000 professional musicians of various grades, and that more than onehalf of them are women. — Am»nußcript Hebrew Bible in the Vatican -weighs 3201b, and is the largest Bible in the world. — In Albania the men wear petticoats aud the women trousers. The women do all the work and tb. tir husbands at' end to the heavy standing round. — Very many people imagiae that the 1 Canary Islands derive their names from the birds so-called. They got their title, however, from the Latin canis, a dog. They were sonamed from the large and fierce mis tiffs bred in the islands. — There are only two male relatives of Robespierre living at the present day—Maximilian de Robespierre and his son. — The yearly expenses of the Sultan of Turkey have been estimated at no less than £6.000,000. — The smaller the seeds of plants the more numerous they are. A single plant of spleen wort wij^.prcduoe over 1,000,000 sseds. ! — When a prince of the Austrian Royal Family dies his horse follows the funeral, covered with a black cloth, aud lame in -one hocf. The lameness is produced by driving a nail through the, horseshoe. This is a siga of the deepest possible mourning. ! — Tbe general supposition that the air is , most transparent under the cloudless skies of the desert is not correct. The air of the polar regions^when clear, is far more transparent;. — Most of the black hair used io wigs and " switches " corner from the Italian and Spanish convents ; most of the^ b'.onde hair from the heads of Swedish, D&mah, Russian, and Garman peasant girls. — The combined value of artificial flowers and ornamental feathers imported into Eagland lasb year exceeded £1,000,000. I — Some New York undei takers, whose customers are poor people, are u«<ing coffius made of pAper. The coffins are made in all styles out ot pressed paper pulp, aud after being varnished and sEaiued they resemble polished wood. It is asserted that they are far more durable than wooden ones. — In Hamburg the authorities tax a dog according to its size. — About 730 people living in London are said to have incomes of over £20,000 a year each. — Instead of an engagement ring the Japanese lover gives hit sweetheart a piece of beautiful silk for her sash. — At the age of 73 Darwin, the naturalist, declared that a cigarette rested htm more aftar hard labour than all else. — The rmall Crown diadem of the Czirina contains the finest diamonds ever set, and it took many years to collect theie exquisitelymatched gems. — The most valuable modern painting is Meissoirier's " 1814," which was Bold to a Frenchman a few years ago for a turn equal to £56,000. — Polar bears have b?en known to live in captivity for a great number of years. Two are said to have been io. the Zoological Gardens for 25 years and 34 years respectively. — Of the few genuine relica of Shakespeare preserved in his native town, the most interesting are his signet ting, with his initials "W.S." on it, and the desk at which he sat in the grammar school at Stratford. — A Parisian scientist has been experimenting with the smoke of tobacco, and fiuds it to be one of the most perfect germicides and diainfeitants ever used. — The sales at Messrs Christie's have for some time past averaged over £300,000 per annum ; but in 1882, when the famous Hamilton collection was disposed of, the yeirly total was considerably over £600,000. The amount produced by the great collection alone was nearly £400,000.