MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2299, 24 March 1898, Page 48

MULTUM IN PARVO.

«» — The popular impression that every family possesses a Bible as well as a dictionary and a. copy of Shs-k* speare, like other popular impressions, s< ems to be an erroneous one, for there U in Net? York a firm that makes a business of renting out Bibles of an expensive and handi-ome kind, suitable to baud to a. bishop or a fashionable clergyman on the occasion of a christening, wedding, or funeral in the family. — The blue coat worn by butchers originated from its being the colour of tbe uniform of a guild. — The largest wine tank in tha world has been constructed at- Osti, Sanoma County, Cali-fori-ia. It holds 500,000 gal of grape juicis. ~ — Russia is said to own 3,000,000 horses — cearly one-half of the whole number in existence. — When the British Museum was first opened the number of visitors was limited to 4-5 a day. It is not now unusual for 50,000 persons to pass through the building on a holiday. — It i 3 claimed that Lake Erie produces more fitb. to the square mile than any body of water in the world. — In Chitia a company of 30 actors can be engaged fur £6 to pay as many pieces as may be desired for two days at * stretch. — Oiily one person in a thcujand dies of old age. — Woman is a subject never mentioned in ' Morccco. It would be considered a terrible breach of etiquette to ask a man about his wife. . — Tbe buffnlo which are at present in such numbers in Northern Australia and Bathurst I»land a:e nat:ve3 ot Southern Asia and islands adjacent. They are used throughout India, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra, Java, &c, &c, for ploughing the rice fields and other work. They have a strong antipathy to Europeans. They are in no way related to the American bison. Tbeir correct name is Indian buffalo (Bubalua buffelus). They are otten called the water buffalo, from their habit of tying in water to keep flies and other insects from troubling them. .. — Sea weeds do not draw nourishment from the toil at the bottom of the sea, but from the matter held in solution in sea water. — There is living in Grantham (Lines) an old lady n»med Mrs Jane Hullott, who recently entered upon her 102 nd year. A short time ago frhe was driven to her Dative place (Bilderfcon, Notts), after bsing absent from it for o?er 80 j<?*rs. She is reported to be in fairly gcod "heiillh, and ciin walk as fast as any ordinary pedestrian. — The • population of the United States is said to be growing at the rate of three and < .a-quarter perrons every minute. j — Elephants in the Indian »rmy are fed j twice a day. When meal time arrives they are ! drawn up. in line betore a row of piles of food. ■ Each animal's breakfast includes 101b of raw j rice, done up -in five 2lb packages. The rice is j "wrapped in leaves, and then tied with graps. At tbe command " Attention ! " each elephant "raises his truck, and a psckage is thrown into its capacieus mouth. By this method of feeding not a single grain of rice is wasteJ. > — The habits of ants sre more like thase of . & man than are th& habits of any other of the lower animals. j — In some of the European art galleries the dust is removed from tha paintings and statuary by means of an air pump, a jst of air being thrown with great force against tho article which ueeos dusting. | — The largest gold coin in the world is the Butish fivt -sovereign piece. The smallest is coined in Persia, and is worth a little under two shillings. — Tbe JBay of Fuady, in Canada, has the highest tide in the world. It rises a foot every five minutes, am 1 sometimes attains a. height of 70ft. — The amount of loss by fire every year in Europe and America is rrrrible to contemplate, being no less than £73.000,000 sterling. America is the greatest sufferer, the States bearing £22,500,000 of the total less, while Russia ct-mes next with £21,000 000. and the United Kingdom follows with £10,000,000, Germany £6,000,000, Canada £4,000,000, France and Austria £3,500,000, and Italy merely a round million. > j — There ate 169 Scotch mountains which have the prefix " Ben." - — The paternal character of the French Government is amusingly exemplified in one of , the rules of the Bicycling Toaritig. Club of ' France, whicb, of course, bear the stamp and [ teal of the Minister of the Interior. No woman can become a member, on tour, unless furnished with a declaration, witnessed by a notary, and s ; gned by her father or husband, that she has permission. — Bad temper has an injurious physical effect on the digestion, as it tends to drive the blood to the brain, thus leaving the stomach unable to perform its functions properly. — The beak of the mosquito is simply a tool box wherein the mosquito keeps six miniature surgical instruments in perfect working order. Two of these instruments are exact counterparts of the surgeon's lance. One is a spear •with a double barbed head, the fourth is a needle of exquisite fineness, a saw and a pump going to make up the complement. — The secret of fire-eaters consists in washing out the mouth and rubbing the skin with pure spirit of sulphur, which cauterises the outer skin. — Dr F. E. Yoakum, of Los Angeles, California, has applied the X rays to .the determination of gold in quartz. In a photograph ho was taking there was a vacant space on the plate, and he placed a piece of gold-beariog quartz oa it. When the plate was developed , the outline of the quartz came cut on it, with specs here and there which showed the presence of gold. — Henry 111 was the firefc English sovereign to coin gold. — The Britannic, of the White Star Line, the other day completed her 250 th round voyage ' to and from New York, and her 500ch passage across the Atlantic. This means that, she has travelled a distance of 250 times 6200 nautical miles, or more than one and three-quarter million statute miles, without renewal of engines or, it is said, boilers, a performance doubtless without parallel in the history of eteam navigation. She has carried 57.400 flaloon passengers and 165,500 steerage passengers. Under steam 114,000 hours and 106,800 hours under way, she has consumed 513,000 toes of coal, and her engines have made 350 million revolutions. — A recent day's fog cosb London £24,000 for gas alone. This was exclusive of the cost cf electricity anil oil and tbe loss to tradeepeople by tha stoppage of traffic. —Ab orange tree will bear fruit till 150 years old, and there are recorded instances of orange trees bearing when 500 years old. —An extraordinary fact, says a prison doctor, ii that a large proportion oi' criminals can draw well. — Nearly a quarter of all casea of insanity Me hereditary* '

*— London has 3000 miles of sewerg, 34,000 miles of telegraph wires, 3200 miles of gas pipes, and 4500 miles of water mains. — Thunder can be heard nine miles away. — The monthly consumption of snails in ', > Paris is estimated by the million, and there . are 100 restaurants and at leasb 3000 private i tables where they are accepted as a delicacy ! by their epicurean consumers. ' t — According bo an eminent doctor, the ex- ' cessive use of salt tends to paralyse the sense of (saute. — It ii estimated that in England one woman in every six earns her own living. I — The climate of England is much drier than it ueed to be, on accouat of the clearance of the j great forests. — There are in circulation in China at the present time coins bearing Ihe names of emperors who lived 2000 years ago. — The natives of the South Sea Islands use the wood of a tree to catch fiah. It only has to be put in the water, and soon tha fi*h coma to the (surface in a stupefied condition, and can j easily be caught with the hand. ! — The following stanza contains every letter of the alphabet except E :—: — A jovial swain may rack his brain And tax his fancy's might, To quiz in vaiu, for 'tis most plain That what I say is right. — In Bucharest, Eoumania, women perform some of the severest forms of labour. They mix the mortar and cazry it, as w«l! as the bricks, to the topmost storeys of buildings in course of construction. | —It is stated that the mosb crowded sptfS j on the earth's surface is the •' Manderagio," in i the city of Valetta, in Milan. Upon a spot in | this place, about two and a-half acres in exj tent, no fewer than 2574- live. This is at the '. rate of 635,000 per fquare mile, or 1017 to an : acre. j — There are no fewer than 31 Scottish ■ societies in London, of which 12 are associated i with Highland counties. 1 — Wife-beaters are treated in sensible style in Germauy. They are not imprisoned, as in this country, but are arrested every Saturday after they ha/c finished their week's work, and kept in prison until the following Monday. This is done regularly every week, until the 1 sentence has expired. The object, of course, is r that the de'inquent shall'be able to earn money during the wetk to support his family. — The city of Moscow, in Russia, is mentioned as being in possession of excellent vrood- | paved streets 300 year 3 ago. — Several practical inventors have been experimenting on glass skates for years. Some time ago these experiments resulted in a tkate made of glass, hardened by a recently-dis-covered process to the consistency of steel. The entire tfeate is of this substance, the upper part resembling a slipper, opened behind, with a split leather "lace-up" securely attached as a heel-cap. — The British soldier has not always worn a ! red uniform White was the prevailing colour ■ -under Henry VIII, and dark green or rusaet in | the time of Elizabeth. i — London funerals cosb over £1,000,000 annually. — Manhattan Island, oh which New York now stands, was originally bought from an Indian chief for about £5 of our money. j I — A German paper maker has recently ob- ! tamed letters patent on Lotties made of paper j for use on board ship. The naw bottles are ! I mads of a composition which, with the solu- j tion in which they are made water-tight, is still j the inventor's secret. After being impregnated j with this fluid tha paper bottks are slowly 1 dried in gas stoves. ! : —In the Franco-German War every third German soldier had a map of the country through which he was travelling. — The microphone is being utilised for the education of deaf mutes, and such persons can actually bear sounds proceeding from the microphonograph, and soon learn to utter them. Ib appears to be an efficacious method, even with persons who have passed middle life. — Naturalists have ascertained that Eccrpions and certain kinds of spiders are able to make peculiar noises to warn an enemy that an attack is attended by danger. — The seal worn by tho Pope, and used by him on official documents to which his signature is attached, has en it the engravings of a fi-h with the cipher of the wearer. Since ths thirteenth century every Pope has worn a ring of I this character, and it is shattered with a j hammer when the wearer diea, to prevent its j use on a forged document. j — A tingla pencil company in America mana- • ftictures 1200 different patterns and styles in pencils. — Aldersaot Camp was formed in 1855, and j tho barrscka which now stand on the site of the j old village coat the Government nearly a quarter of a million sterling. Many competent authorities consider that they furnish the finest accommodation for troops in Buropa. j — There aru said to be 150,000 survivors of j the Aztec race in New Mexico.