MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2252, 29 April 1897, Page 40

MULTUM IN PARVO.

-— In Siam each year is named after an Animal, and people born in certain years are forbidden to in'ermarry. Thus, au elephant baby cannot marry a tiger, nor a lion a lamb ; and there are heavy penalties for lying about one's age. — There is only one sudden death among women to every eight among men. — A hurricane holds the beet time record for one mile, covering the distance in half a second. Then a balloon has done the mile in 4-Oseo. The third place is held by a railway engine in 53 57eec. — E. D. Middlekauff, the man who invented the glass" lemon equetzer, or rather the glass cone by which the inside of a lemon is taken out, made 50,000d0l out of it, and now has been offered 100,000dol for four new inventions of a similar simple and practical character. — A Chinaman believes that he can destroy warts on his hands if he. steals something. He also thinks that he can care a colic if ho turns the soles of his shoes uppermost when he goes to bed. — The Swedish bride fills her pockets with bread, which she dispenses to everyone she meets on her way to church, every piece she disposes of averting, as she believes, a misfortune. — In Russia tbe principals in a due! partake of breakfast together before going out t-> light. — The Kiel CaHal is lighted over its 62mi'e3 by electtioity, and is the longest distance in the world lighted continuously in that way. There are 5000 poles. — For many years Ruskin received £5000 annually in royalties. His publishers cay that since 1871 there has never been a less on any of his works. — Aristotle believed that grey-eyed people had keener sight than those with blue, black, or brown eyes. . Science of later years has demonstrated that this idea was fallacious. — It has been calculated that the actual amount of salt contained in the ocean would cover an area of 5,000,000 square miles with a layer a mile thick. — The Ameer of Afghanistan hss taken to bicycling in a right royal manner. He sits in kingly state on a machine which he had specially manufactured for him in England, while two attendants make the wheels go round. — Many paupers have lived to be 100 years old, but there is no record of a .millionaire having attained that age. — The Queen has immense wine cellars in her various palaces, and some of her wines are recognised to be the finest in the country. — Immediately after Mr M'Kialey's election to the Presidency he was beeifcged by lifeinsurance agents. The President-elect wa3 j compelled in s°lf-defence to take out a policy. | It is for 50,C00d01, and the company is the ! same which paid heavy policies on the lives of | Garfield and Arthur. ! — A novel postal service will soon be esta- ] blisbed between the Farallouo Islands and San Francis co. The Farallonea lie same 40 miles west of the city, and all outgoing and incoming vessels paes cloie by. It is propesad to employ carrier pigeons, and maintain hourly service, if necessary, between the islands and the mainland. — There is no word -in the Red Indian language to express "year." Indians reckon time by the return of snow, or the springing up of flowers ; and the flight of the birds announces the progress of the seasons. The motion of the sun marks tbe hour of the day ; and these distinctions of time are not noted in numbers, but in language and illustrations of highly poetic character. ! — In the human voice, though generally but j of sine perfect tones, there are actually no less than 17 592,186 different sounds. These effects ire pro-uued by 14 direct muscles, which give ' vbout 16,383 different sounds, and 30 indirect muscles, which produce 17,575,803 sounds. — The amount of dampness in an aptrbment , may be tested by closing doors and windows and leaving a piece of fresh quicklime in the room for 24 hours. If thr^e- quarters of an ! eunce of wdter be absorbed by the lime the room may be considered unhealthy. The amount of water absorbed is determined by weighing the lime. j — There are over 10,000 homelejs men and women in London above the age of 50 years ■ who live by cleaning doorsteps, picking rags, ! acd collecting refuse of all descriptions. ; — A crrrain doctor, who has been collecting information about the babits of long-lived persons, finds that the majority of those who attained old ago indulged in late hours Eight out; of every 10 persons over 80 never went to bed till well in the small hoars, and did net get up again till late in the day. — When the telephone wires are overland, the speed of transmission is at the rate of | 16,000 miles a scond ; where the wires are through cables under the sea, the speed is cob more th»n 6020 miles a second. — To salute with the left hand is a deadly issult among Mohammedans. — France has kept 200 OCO tons of coal stored at Toulon sinca 1693, to be ready in case war should break out. — Anything black will produce more disturbance in your baby's mind than anything whits. A child refusing to go to a relative in dark clolhes would co 1 ; hesitate If the suit were j changed to a light colour. 1 — A rich Chicago woman, who was granted a divorce recently, was required by the court to contribute to her husband's support, the judge rema^kiag tha f , ia these days ot absolute equality of the sexes, it was as proper for a woman *o pay alimony as for a man. — A novel clock just patented is designed to light a lamp at a certain hour by means of a projecting rod, which holds a. match, and is sprung into position and the match ignited by a weight falling on the tripping lever. — The blow of a bullet will ordinarily paralyse so many nerves and mucles of a white man as to knock him dowu, even though no 'vital part be hit. On the other hand, the Indian gives little heed to such wounds, and to kill him the bullet must reach the brain, the heart, or the spine. — Tbe blue violet is symbolic of love and the white of modesty-. In Germany either is considered as symbolic of reticence. A Silcsiau lover can make his sweetheart no more acceptable present than a bunch of violets. — Advertisement writing is becoming a regular branch ot literature in the United States. Some of tbe first-class writers command salaries of £2000 a year, and now young men are regularly training for the work, even going to college in preparation for it. — The coldest placs in tho world is Verchoyausk, in Russian Siberia. According to meteorological observations, it appears that from November to March the average temperature is — 60deg Fahrenheit— that is, 92deg below the point at which water freezes. In February 1892 the extraordinary temperature of — 93deg Fahrenheit— that it, 125deg of frost ■ — was reached. This is the lowest temperature recorded in any part of the globe. The mean temperature of Verchoyansk for all parts of the year is only ldeg on the Fahrenheit scale.

— A well-known sportsman in India hunts tigers by electric light at night. He sits on a raised platform in the jungle, and suspends a five-candle power incandesced lamp over the bait, which is placed about 30ft away. A switch on the hunter's riflo enables him to throw on the light when he is ready to shoot. 1 The tiger is temporarily blinded by the light, and a good shot can be had before his eyes become accustomed to it, - —It has been estimated that the total number of persons attending Sunday echools throughout the world canno 1 : be lets than 18,000,000, with about 2 000,000 of teachers. — A partly-nibbled £10 note was recently : taken out of a rat's hole in Great Ormond 1 street, Holborn. Rat-catchers are constantly . finding small articles of jewellery and coins in I rats' holes. On ons occasion a diamond worth ! £50 was found in an old house in Lambeth. — A camel of the largest size hss been known to driuk from 30gal to 50^ al of water, and then travel without any more for 20 days. — A fie3hly-caught lhh has red gill", while those of one not recently caught are paler in colour, or of a dark purple Di3bonest dealers, to make (.tale fish seem fresh, put beef blood on their gills. — During the Franco-Prussian War the , Venus de Milo was laken from the Louvre, > placed in an immense padded oak coffin, and } buried in the courtyard of the Prefecture of j Police in Paris. j — A lifeboat that can be folded into each j stateroom of a steamship, and readily extended for use, has jusb been patented. The occupant of the boat buttons a watertight cover about him, leavirg only the head projecting. The boat is unainkable, and, if overturned, instantly rights itself. ! —So continuous has been the change in the 1 Englibh language that the English of to-day I bpsi's no more rtsemb'ance to the English of 1000 yeara ago than it does to Gt-rrcau. — Eoglnnd has one member ot Parliament to Bvrry 10,250 electors, Ireland one for every 7177, Scotland one for every §974, and Wales one for every 9613. — One million bonnets were sold in London during one week recently. — In order tj make choice of a puppy from among a number of others, it is best to leave the choice to the mother herself. In carrying them back to their bed, the first the mother picks up will always be the best. — If cork is sunk 200 ft deep in the ocean, it will net rifie again on account of the pressure of the water. — An ordinary man can say everything tba 1 ; any occasion calls for with a vocabulary of 1000 words. Of these he only uses 400 or 500, using the remainder when an idea out ot the usual line of thought, occurs to him. —It has bean determined that a person having normal vision is abe to distinguish with each eje separately capital letters a quarter of an inch square at a distance of 20 t, and to read , tlin print, which is known us Pearl, and is tho smallest type In ordinary u»u, with i-isc tit .1 distance ot lliu. — The minimum height for recruits in the Foot Guards has been reduced from sft 9in to sft Biin. — The Grand Duke Paul of Russia is co tall that no hotel bed is long enough for his comfort, and he has one built in sections, which he carries with his luggage everywhere The bed is put up by a special mechanic, under the superintendence of the Royal valefc, wherever the Grand Duke goes. — While there are richer individuals on the other side of the " herring pond," most mil- j lionaires are to be found in Great B -itain. It is estimated that of people possessing £1 000 000 , or more there are 200 in Great Britain, 100 in i United States, 100 in Germany, 75 in France, I 50 in RutsU, and in all other countries 175. — Sarah Bemhardb was co eLchant-d with a toreador who killed five bulls reoc-n'ly that she gave him & valuable pin ornamenttd with brilliants. — Persons confined in insane asylums often display au inventive turn of mind. 'A patient, who believes himself shut up in the old Fleet Prison for the National Debt, has invented a simple automatic contrivance for the head of a lawn tennis racket to pick up • the balls and sbjlish stooping. — When riding in the evening many cyclists on the Continent wear a lantern fastened in the buttonhole of the coat. It is made of tin, with glass slidts, and opens at the back. Inside is the tiny oil can, with its very small wick The lautern is made with an attachment at the back, co that it may be fastened in the buttonhole or at the belt.