MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2286, 23 December 1897, Page 48

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Sea fogs ttt&y be dispersed for some distance ahead of a vessel by means of a new indention, consisting of an arched distributing pine with jet tubes set in one side. From these tubes is discharged water or otber liquid in spray against the fog. — The base uses* to which famous horses may come at last is shown by the statement that the charger which carried the hysterical General Boulanger is now filling a more useful place between the shafts of a Paris cab, while Marshal Canrobert's favourite steed is destined to supply scram for the anti-toxin process. — The mosb remarkable knife in the world is that in the curiosity room of a firm of cutlers in Sheffield. It has 1690 blades, and 10 blades are added every 10 yeais. Another curiosity is three pairs of soissors, ali of which can be covered with a thimble. — There are ia America over 300 lady chemists. — The record of the largest number of notes struck by a musician in 12 hcur» is said to have been made by Paderewski, who struck 1,030,300 notes — While the Duke of York's speeches are gaining bo much approval, it is not without ' interest that one recalls- the fact that his father made his first public speech wheu 15 years old. — One of the strange professions of London -is said to be that of a trunk packer. He will fold expensive gowns is tissue paper, and stow ' away delicate bric-a-brac in the safest way. — Generally speaking, races living at high altitudes have weaker and more highly-pitched voices than those liviDg in regions where the supply of oxygen ii more plentiful. That, in America, among the Indians living on the plateaus bet wees the ranges of the Andes, at an elevation of from 10,000 ft to 14,000 ft, the men have voices like women, and the women like children, and their singing is a shrill monotone. — Pneumatic shoes for cycling are beiDg talked of for racing, the idea being that by their use vibration and consequent numbness 'would be much reduced. — An American paper points out that, notwithstanding all that Britain owes to mechanic?, - there is bub one workman who received the higfcesfc funeral honours of being buried in Westminster Abbey, and that was G-eorge Graham, a famous scientific instrument maker of his day, who in 1700 invented the dead-beat escapement in clocks. Graham's obsequies were attended by the Royal Society in a body. — The Australian native has » weak voice, but a knack of sending it a long distance, and .the lowest tribes of African bushmen would crme into the same category ; but of all human beings, it would reem that the dwarf race discovered by Stanley in Central Africa have, in point of volume and compass, the weakest of . human voices, and this is only what one would N axpect from the feebleness' of their .physique jenerally. ' - — The inmates of British prisons who can.,aot read or write receive compulsory education _ ttwico a week. — Henceforth the names of monsrebs and of t princes .who are now reigning, or who have reigned in Prussia, may not be used without 'permission as signs for cafes aud restaurants in that country. This is tbe texb of a recent decree which, although it has been in force only a short time, has already been applied in Berlin. A publichouee which had " Kiiser Friedrich " for its sign has been obliged to ctrange its name. — There is a well-known instance of a town in the north cf England having been completely built through the jealousy of two rival .steel manufacturers. They both started in quite a humble way next door (o each other, so to speak ; but before loDg each was jealously out* tripping every advance the other made, until at last the competition drew in hundreds of eteel workers from the surrounding counties. These went on increa&iog, contractors and builders followed in their wake, and in less than 10 years a large town had sprung up. — It is a peculiar fact that with most men the growth of hair is stronger on one side of the face than the other. It is said that hair slwajs grows more quickly on that side on which we are stronger. — Besides a considerable number of large .water power infctallatiocs Switzerland ia full of small power plants, nearly every town in that land of mountains and waterfalls being well supplied ,with power from the "white coal," as the melt'ng enow on the mountain ' sides has well been called. Wheu there are no large streams, many small ones are impounded and collected in reservoirs on the hillsides, and .■it ia rare to find a place of any size which is . not well lighted by the power of some mountain stream. r— A comical contest was recently fought by two Huddert.field bill-posters. They had been 'covering each other's bills for some weeks, ! when they agreed to settle the matter with paste brushes, each starting with a full bucket of paste.' In five minutes they were a droll sight, each covered froni head to heels with the sticky stuff. — The locgevity enjoyed by astronomers is proverbial, and an American astronomical journal gives a long list of them who have far exceeded the threescore years and ten. Among the eminent names are Casfioi, who lived to 97, Caroline Herschel to 98, Sir W. Herschel to 84, Newton to 84, Mary Somerville to 92, Halley to 86, Sir Ge.-rg.i Airey to 90, Sir David Brewßte)r to 86. Sir B Sabine to 94, Humboldb to 90, Schwabs ±p 86, Santini to 91, and Fontenelle to 100. Ttegularity of habit conduces to longevity in any walk of life, and it is a necessity to the astronomer. Tbis, added to the calm pursuit of those who study the heavens, counterbalances the effect of late watching* and exposure to the night air. — There are 256 railway stations within a six-mile radios of St. Paul's Cathedral, London, while within a 12-mile radius there are nearly 400. — Holland has determined upon a gigantic engineering feat — the reclaiming of 787 square miles of land, now lying under the Zuyder $see. Eight hundred years ago fill of Holland contained but 600 square miles of land. Gradually, by iKeans of great dykes, land has been reclaimed, until the present area is nearly 13,000 square miles — more than 20 times the original area. — An American journal, in view of the wave . a>f heat under which that 'country was recently suffering, issued the following .advice to its readers : — (1) Abstain from all intoxicating liquors ; (2) eat sparingly.; (3) dive.st your"selvei of all superfluous clothing ; (4) if you ' have a walk, walk, slowly ; (5) keep tha mind ' calm ; mental irritation increases the effects of temperature. — Fine voices are seldom found in a country where fish or meat diet prevails. Those Italians who eat the most fish (those of Naples and Genoa) have few fine singers among them. The oweet voices are found in the Irieh women of the country, and not of the towns. Norway is not a country of singers, because they eat too much fish; but Sweden ig a country of grain and song. She carnivorous birds croak ; {rain- eating birds Bina,

— The tail of the fbh is his sculling oai*. He moves it firtt on one side and then the other, using his fins as balances to guide his motion. If the fish is moving fast and wants to stop, he straightens out his fins jasfc as the rower of a boat does his oars. — A revival preacher in Epsom, Indiana, annoyed by constant disturbances at his meetings and the threats of the liquor sellers, went into the pulpit armed with two revolvers the other night. At the first outbreak he fired into the crowd, killing a three-year-old child. Iv the excitement he managed to escape. Strangely enough, the victim was the child of a man who had advised the evangelist to arm himself. — A few week* ago a well-known authoress, who is no common musician, appeared one evening on the parade of a popular English watering place and charmed her listeners with songs and guitar. In June of this year a duke's son appeared on stilts at a north coast seaside resort in full clown's war-paint. His performance was the result of a bet that he would rival the show of a beach professor of etilt-walking, and he did it. — Over 100 homeless persons sleep nightly on the Thames Embankment seats. One man, on being aroused the other night by a policeman, waved a good-bye to his fellow-sleepers, and springing over the parapet into the Thames was drowned. Complaint is made of the number of people who spend night and day in Hyde Park, rendering it a dangerous place after dark. — Some wonderful crvea were discovered recently at a place called Sterkfontein, about eight miles to the north-west of Krngersdorp, in tbe .South African Republic. Limestone had been quarried for some months in a small kopjo, and after an explosion during some blasting operations a cavity of great depth was left. A long rope was secured, and a party descended, and it was found that they had driven through the roof of one of the largest of a series of magnificent caves. The spectacle Tras one of great beauty, the lights carried by the explorers being reflected from thousands of stalactites on every hand. The farther the party proceeded the more beautiful the crystal formations became, some shaped like wreatha of roses and huge floral bouquets. The caverns, which have nob yet b.en one-half explored, seem to run in tiers down to a depth of 150 ft. — Among the most remarkable works in Australia is the overland telegraph from Fort Darwin to the south of the continent, which was completed in 1872. Almost the whole 2000 miles of its length was through uDinhabited country — much of it a waterless desert. The wooden poles wei'3 prepared at the nearest available places, but some had to be carried 350 miles, while the iron poles were taken an average distance of 400 miles by land. Over 2000 tons of material had to be carried into the iuterior, and the tetal cost was £370,000. — A young soldier named Chevallier, aged 23, and belonging to the 2nd Battalion of tbe Cuasgeurs d'Afrique, wasshob for having sliuck - a'corpor*!. He was driven to the rifle range in a cart, accompanied by tbe chaplain. On arrival the condemned man descended from the c&rt and walked firmly to the place of execution, where the firing party was drawn up. His eyes were bandaged, and the word oE command being given, a volley was fired, Chevallier falling dead. The men of his regimont were .marched past the corpse where it lay, while a Zouave band played a funeral march. A large crowd witnessed the execution. — It is stated that the blood of Cromwell still runs, through female lines, in the veins of the following weil-koown persons : The Marquis of Ripon, the Earls of Chichestor, Morley, Clarendon, Cowper ; Lord Ampthill, Lord Walsinghara, and the Countess of Uothes. Amongst commoners who can claim kinship with Oliver is Sir John Lubbock, M.P.