MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2302, 14 April 1898, Page 40

MULTUM IN PARVO.

•- All the suitor? for a girl's hand in Borneo •fire expected to be generous in their presents to tfer. These presents are never returned; therefore the wily young lady defers as long H3 possible a positive selection of the happy mai\. — Tho "Belgian Government, it is stated, bfFors a prizo of £2000 to anyone who will 'discover a chemical that will take the place of whito phosphorus in match-making. — Euglish travellers in Italy, especially in the south, are always painfully struck by the absolute indifference which the Italian of the «" lower orders " evinces to tho feelings of animal s — Truth. —An eminent scientist says that caterpillars cannot see more than two-fifths of an inch In front of them. — Belgium id the home of the racing pigeon. There the sport is a national pastime, and a wood pigeon frequently win 3 for its owner large sums of money, the piizes being considerable, to which heavy pools are added. .' —Tho Russian sceptre is of solid gold, oft long, and contains 263 diamonds, 360 rubies, and 15 emeralds. . ' _i(, wa s mainly the slave trade which transformed Liverpool from the paltry fishing /village or harbour for coasters which it was an the middle of the seventeenth century into the rising, and thriving commercial town which it was at the beginning of this present cen- . turv. : — Athenaeum. ! ' — Stone arrow points and hat diets have fceenJound in every country in the world. I . — An- automatic electric music leaf -turner as one of the latest patents. It is claimed for 'it that it can bo easily attached to any piano cmusic rack, and it is operated by touching a button with the foot. j — Modern man is gradually waking up^ to j 'the fact that he can utilise everything. Coal j Is not only a source of heat and light, but a storehouse of tastes, medicines, colours, periumes, and explosives. From 1401b of gas tar '5n a ton of coal over 200 distinct shades of aniline dyes aro made. j — It is said the entire African race in Amc- ; rica is gradually becoming bleached out, and ; that in tho process of years the black face jwiD disappear entirely. Tho diary, of an old woman who lately died in Vienna showed that she had spent 38,21-0 florins on lottery tickets, while her win-nings-amounted to^only 5000 florins. — Reconstruct, it is said, before you destroy. ( •But you must destroy in order to reconstruct, j The truth' cannot bo uttered without conctemning the falsehood. — Leslie Stephen. The ruby ia the centre of the Maltese cross on top of the British crown is the stone tbat was given to tho Black Prince by King Pedro, of Castile after the battle of Najora. | ■Henry V of England wore it at Agincourt. . j ' In England there are 84 male to 16 female , offenders ; in Scotland tho proportion is 67 to . { — Phoenix Park, Dublin, is one of tho finest cycling grounds in tho world. There are seven miles of excellent roads- ,, — There .ire 320,000 maidservants in Lon- % dcn — a number nearly equal to the whole population of Sheffield. — The most ancient European coin, the 'ducat, was first struck in the mint of -Venice, i »bout, 1284. , , ! '. — Of the earth's surface, 1,500,000 acres aro jdevoted to tobacco pulture. — It is. stated that Franco drinks' more alcohol annually 'thaii any other nation in ! —No foreign visitor ever, received such a (tremendous ovation in this country as Mrs tißeecher Stowe did in 1853. For a year projviously her name was in everyone's mouth, j l a<i her book, was in everyone's hands. All j Society, from peers to peasants, were wild, j 'about her. In less than 10 years the Civil ivVar broke out, but English society, which, j swept over "Uncle Tom," declared for the J "Slaveowners. — Echo. j

—At a recent hunting party abroad one Sportsman followed the chase and was in at the death on a motor phaeton, while another ""Vsed a petroleum tricycle. — A proposal has been made by a French 'fchemist to obtain easily assimilable iron tonics frQm vegetables by, feeding' the plants gudiciously with iron fertilisers. , — Some physicians declare that the most nutritious article of diet is butter, and that i>acon comes next.

— During the last 25 years tthe American people have imported £36,000,000 worth of precious stones. —In a thunder storm the safest place in-

floors i& said to be on a thick rug in the centre of the room, well away from such -iretal objects as fenders, bell-pulls, and wires. 'Dry spots aro always safest.

— The Chinese are said to possess astonishing secrets in the matter of confectioneries. jThey remove the pulp from oranges and substitute various jellies. The closest examination fails to reveal any incision in the skin" of the fruit. They perform, the same teat with !egg3. i — To so great an extent is salt used that 'jnany persons do not relish food tbat has not 'a salty taste that more or less-hides the real Savour, which is often very delicate. The 'system requires but a small amount ot salt. Its excessive use tends to paralyse the nerve 3 bf taste, or so pervert them that no food can bo enjoyed which does not contain an ex.cesieive amount. '

— The Atlantic Ocean is crossed monthly •Jjy 1000 ships. — Four hundred years ago only seven metals jXvere known. Now there are 51, 30 of which iave been discovered during the present cenpvry.

— The common frog possesses 80 teeth

— Zoologists say that all known species of ivild animals are gradually diminishing in kize.

— ■ A singular illustration of the persistence With which " the Japanese adhere to their Family vocations is seen in an announcement h a Japanese newspaper that a certain cele'fcrated dancing master was to hold a bervice Jn honour of the one thousandth anniversary pi the death of his ancestor who was the iirot ,of the family to take up the profession. — 'If the standing 1 armies of Europe were inarched in. rows of five, and at the rate of 'three miles an hour, it would take one and 'a half days before every man could have passed miy given point.

—An expert declares that a 60-minute engagement between two big- fleets of the moJdern type would involve a cost of over iBIGO,OOO. And this estimate takes into view 'only expenditure of- ammunition and wear !uid tear of guns — leaving out of consideration damage to and loss of vessels. —In Russia duellists take breakfast together before going- out to fight. — The Escurial Palace in Spain contains a cathedral, a monastery with 200 colls, two colleges, three chapter houses, three libraries, and nearly 3000 other rooms. —In Arizona there is a town where, bo'cause of the aridity of tho region and the dryness of the climate, water is sold, peddled ii the streets like milk, and carried from house to house in canvas sacks on the backa. J>/ oack mulea*

( — Near the Caspian Sea there are several " eternal fires," so called by the natives, where nattiral gas issues from the ground, and has- been on fire for ages. — The British Museum has books written on- bricks, tiles, oyster shells, bones, and flat stones, together with manuscripts on bark, ivory, leather, parchment, papyrus, lead, iron, cepper, and wood. .It has also three copies of the Bible written on the leaves ot the fan palm.

— It is said that cold weather increases the consumption of bread, 20 per cent, more being eaten in frosty than in mild weather.

— The Ashantees hold that drunkenness forms no excuse for crime ; but, by way of preventing as far as possible any untoward results happening through intoxication, any ono who feels that way disposed has to streak his forehead with dashes of red paint. This danger signal warns quiet-going people to keep clear of the decorated ones.

— Tho number of matadors who took part ia bull-fights last year in Spain was 23. They received for their services altogether about £45,000.

— A subscription has been opened in Home, thp beneficiaries to be those persons ot Italian birth and living in that country who, on January 1, 1900, will have lived in three centuries. It is believed that there are nearly 300 centenarians in Italy, but the participants in the fund to be raised may exceed that number. . The minimum age of the prizewinners must be 100 years and two days. Such persons, according to their method of computing time, will have lived in the eighteenth, nineteenth, and twentieth centuries.

— Simla, India, is built on the side of a steep hill, arid the roof of one house is often on a level with the foundation of one in the next tier.

—Longbow strings were of plaited silk, and worth five times their weight in gold. — It has been suggested by a clever writer that a millionaire might do a great service to the antiquarians of some 5000 years hence by constructing a lasting monument, such us tha Pyramids, and enclosing in it a number of specially prepared books printed on parchment or other tough paper, together with samples of our scientific and artistic attainments, the whole collection to be hermetically sealed and placed'in a secure spot where time could not affect it.

— A Parisian professor claims that he can photograph objects in their natural colours with a single exposure. — There are various instances proving that metals _ which did not show any appreciable wear literally fell to pieces without any assigned cause. A steel rail which had been used continuously on one of the great English railways actually disintegrated under lhe wheels of a coach. The breaking up was so thorough that scientists investigated .and decided that the rail had simply bro'ien down like an overstrained animal.

— The State Capitol of Texas is said to be the largest State building in the United States and the seventh in aize among the buildings of the world. It is a vast Greek cross of red Texas granite, with a central rotunda, covered by a dome 311 ft high- It was begun in 1881, and finished in ISBB, having cost about £700,000. It was paid for with 3,000,000 acres of public land, deeded to the capitalists who executed the work.

—It A/as estimated that one English person in every 24- has red hair.

— Some Belgian swindlers not long back tried p r asting transparent paper over the postage stamps they put on letters. The paper took the' post marks, leaving the stamp beneath uncancelled and ready for use again. — The .Hindoos consider their dead as sacred, and do not allow them to be handled by alien hands, the nearest male relative— aon, father, or brother — preparing the body for burial ; and if there be none of these relatives, a son is adopted by the family for the purpose.

| — A small fragment of a dress, measuring > scarcely more than 2in, said to have been j worn by the Highland heroine, Flora Macdonald, was recently sold in Scotland for £6 \ 1Os " i — Experiments made in compressing flour i show that the bulk may be reduced two-thirds without injury to the quality. It is moulded hy hydraulic pressure into bricks, which are sweet, wholesome, and proof against damp, j — ITlies are not the only thing found in ; amber. In a big mass of clear amber, dredged 1 up out of the Baltic Sea recently, there was I distinctly visible in its interior a small squirrel 1 — fur. teeth, and claws intact. i - _ — Before submitting to the inevitable it is j wise to be sure that it is the inevitable. ; — The heart beats 10 strokes a. minute less Vlien one is lying down than when in an up- • r\o\ht posture.