MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2272, 16 September 1897, Page 40

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— The queerest fed on record is that of a Scarborough lady, who amuses herstlf by capfcuriDg and taming all sorts'of sea monstrosities. She bas jwrs of devil fish, and says she really epjoys their presence.

■ — Garibaldi's widow is still living at Caprera, where the patriot was buried in 1882. She is in receipt of a pension from the Italian Government.

— The opportunity, they say, makes the thieF. Unquestionably it also gives the potentially grent man hi« chance — Referee.

— To distinguish a mushroom from a toadstool, sprinkle salt on the uod«r side. IE it turns black the vegetable is edible; if yellow, it is poisonous.

— A man, was sentenced in Colorado for the murder of a woman, and the husband of tho murdered woman asked and obtained permisiion to act as executioner.

— Chelsea district in London utilises its street refuse by separating the rags and paper, which are converted into brown wrapping paper, while the rest of the retuse ie burned in tbe furnaces of the reducing works, and the residuum is used in briebmakiug. , — During last year, in the city of London alone, 586 persons were killed by falling from buildings.or out of window*.

— Aiuoug the many daily papers published in -Paris i« a regular beggars' journal (Journal dcs Mendients). "This strange production, which is originally .written out on a single sheet and .then copied many times, contains mnoh inforrns.tion.of great pith and moment to the professional beggar.

-— A quart of oystera contains, on the average, jvbout the same quantity of active nutritive substance as a quart of milk, or a poucd of very lean beef, or a pound and a-half of fresh codfish, or two-thirds of a pound of bread.

—An Irish observer estimates that wasps captured between 300 and 400 flits on two of his cow* in about 20 minutes. There was a eoßstant stream of wasps carrying Away flies, probably to feed the larvae in their nests, and returning to catch more.

— Since "the Chinesa war Japan has very foolishly been increasing her army to the neglect of her navy, though it is evident from the result of the war that »U conquest in China ia forbidden her by the European Powers. As an insular nation her manifest policy is to develop and to rely upon her navy. Her chance would have been a war between the United States and Spain over the Oubau question. Then she cou'd have seized tbe Philippines without interference. — Saturday Review.

— Ireland sends out as emigrants to other landi Jrom 40,000 to 50,000 of her sons aud daughters aci-.iia.Hy, wh-le Scotland parts with only from 16.G00 to 18,000. The figures last yewwtre: For Ireland 42,222, and for Scotland 16.866.

__ — The sea round any desert island rarely visited by man and far distant from any mainland always teems with fish..

— The weight of the earth it five and a-half tinea that which a globe cf water of the as me size vroold . possess. Ita weight in tons is six thousand million million oaillioos. Thi« number may be written with a figure 6, followed by 21 Hero*.

— At the beginning of this century * most peculiar caolera remedy was in use in Persia. A leaf from, the Koran was crumpled up and forced down the p&tieat'u throat.

— In -Paris ,the houses are very high and the streets narrow. In London the houses are low and the streets bread.

— The recreations oE somefamoui people are rather eccentric. A famous novelist, lately deceased, took delight ia gazing on the bodies recovered from the Thames. Lord Erukine went to every fire in London be could reach. Lord Stowt>ll attended every exhibition held ia London, from those of pictures to doableheaded calves. '

r — The proposition ot the Illinois Central railway to use electricity for ruunicf its euburban trains is attracting a g' e *^ deal of attention from railway men, as it will be the first practical attempt to substitute electricity for steam in railway operations. It will be tried on eight miles of road, the suburban business of which is supposed to be the heaviest of any one 'railroad in the world. — American Manufacturer.

—If the waters of Spithead had been enclosed by * wall, the water line would have risen 15ft when the vessels that were present at the Eoyol Naval Review were floated on them.

— If African negroes are treated with the proper mixture of justice, kindness, and severity, they -are willing to follow the English, to die fighting for them, and to maintain, what is far more difficult, an order like thats of British troops in garrison.' African negroea, in fact, like military discipline, and are civilised by it when the officers are Englishmen. — Spectator.

— A freshly-caught fish his red gills, while those of one not recently caught are paler in colour, or of a dark purple. Diehontsfc dealers, to make stale fish seem freth, put beef blood on their gills. >

— The longest continued cataleptic sleep known to science was reported from Germany in 1892, the patient having remaiued absolutely unconscious for four and &-half months.

— After a been competition at public tender, principally between an English and a Belgian firm, a concession has been granted to the former to lay a network of tratnwayr, to ba worked by electricity, uniting Barcelona with the surrounding districts. The tot-al length will be about 40 miles, and the capital involved about £1,000,000.

— In the seventeenth century the average duration of life was only 13 years ; in the eighteenth, 20 ;'in this century ifa is 36. What will ib be in the twentieth ?

— France has kept 200,000 tons of coals stored at Toulon since 1893, to be ready in case war should break out.

— Mere and more is London becoming the Mecca of the talent of all nations— the magnet that draws to itself the best art and artists of BTerj race and every country. — World. — It is noted thab the women of the royal families of Europe are, on the average, much' stronger mentally and physically than the men. " ■ , — If wo cannot claim Handel as our own fay birth, we can point to him as a commanding musical genius who chose to make his home in' our land during the worthiest days of his life, end who poured forth for our especial benefit the finest fruits of hi* rare gifts. — Dnily Telegraph. — A photo of the royal train on its way back to Windsor, after the Jubilee, shows her Majesty in her saloon trending over the table and carefully examining the contents of the teapot. — The island of 'Bornholm, situated' in the Baltic, acts as a huge magnet. It exerts such an influence on the compass that it can cause a vessel to turn perceptibly aside from its course. The effect of this magnetic island is perceptible at a distance of nine miles and »-h»l£.

— Professor P. Tacehini, of Rom<£ describes a remarkable thunderatorm which passed over Italy on April 24, in which rain was mixed with sand and seeds of the carob that had evidently been transported from Africa.

. — ■*■ fish with legs has just been discovered in Denver. It is called the " axoloti," and was found on the window sill of the State House by an attendant. It is a hideous, dirby-hued green-and -yellow reptile, about lOin in leDgth, with a head like a bulldog, an enormous mouth, six web-footed pawa, and a tail thab tapers to a laeh.

— The earthworm propels it<?elf along the ground or through the earlh! by meaas of .bristles projecting from each ring of its body. — Tha United States Government is about to construct for irrigation purposes an .artificial lake, near Larauaie, Wyoming-, by building a dam across a chasm, thus damming the waters a. distance of two miles by teo. It is estimated enough water can ba stored to keep the entire eastern part of Wyoming and Western Nebraska supplied with water during dry seasons.

— Ships propelled by gas engines are apparently gaiuing favour in France. A new boat of this type has recently been put in service for the H»rre- Rouen-Paris line, the speed attained being seren knots. It is 100 ft long, with 7ft draught, divided infco four water-tight compartments. The gas is supplied from ou shore, and is stored on board in a steel holdtr, an accumulator composed of steel pipes, under a pressure of 95 atmospheres — about 8501b. The eugine employed is a two-cylinder one, of 40-horee power. . — The record of the largest number of notes struck by a masician-in 12 hours is said to have been rnad^ by a- well-known player, who struck '1,030,300 votes.

— No one knows each night whore the Sultan spends the hours of darkaeus. He has & series of bedrooms — as many as 50, it is said, in soino of his palaces — and to these he retires alone, sleeping in whatever apartment may take his fancy. The doors are of iron, and have highly elaborate locks.