MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2310, 9 June 1898, Page 40

MULTUM IN PARVO.

- — A diving outfit costs as much as £140. Every vessel in the American navy except small torpedo boats and destroyers carries at least one diver. On battleships there are sometimes a,B many as four. Their boots ,Weigh about 201b each and helmet 401b. - —By the year 1900 Japan will have to pay '£5,000,000 a year as interest on its national debt.

Dogs are trained in the French army to carry ammunition to the soldiers during a battle. Large Pyrannean sheen dogs are ' used for the purpose, and they are able to carry 500 rifle cartridges. They are terribly afraid, however, of the firing, and if wounded take good care not to run any risk again- - When Lord Dalhousi© was made a Viceroy afc 35 he said that he felt bound to b» solemn, or some Cabinet Minister would be asking where his hoop was ; and but that Lord Randolph Churchill was a duke's son. he .would at 36 have been considered indeporously young for an officer. Spectator. Canada, supplies about one-fourteenth of Uie imported food of Great BritainTha custom of christening abJps,a.t their launch is believed by many to be a relic of an old heathen custom handed down by tradition and constant use from the days of the early Romans. . The estimate of tho number of tramps in the United States varies between 40 and 60 • thousand. 1 — Xiord Charles Beresford, who is at present attracting so muoh .attention in Parliament has been asked by 46 constituencies to sit in the House of Commons for them- " — The highest masts of sailing vessels are from 160 ft to 180 ft high, and spread from "60,000 to 100,000 square feet of canvas. — Certain women in St. Petersburg, the ■wives of scientific men, anticipating the visit to their city next summer of. Dr Nansen, have determined to make him a unique present. It Xvill be a square of tapestry upon which will be embroidered a map of the polar regions, jwith the line of Nansen'a march marked in gold thread. The Wien, the little stream from which • (Vienna derives its name has been covered over, and is now no longer visible, a fate whioh has befallen innumerable rivulets of London. — Both in England and-Scotland the name of Smith heads the list of Barnes, and it is fifth on the list in Ireland, whose leading name is Murphy. In proportion to the population there are more Smiths in Scotland than in England, for in Scotland on© person in every 70 is named Smith, while in England only one person in every 52 is a Smith. — Accordions were invented in 1829, and a single German firm now manufactures over 17,000 a year. — ; Hegel long ago compared the Sovereign s jjlace in the British Constitution to that of the dot" over the letter ii — finishes off and completes the whole, though that whole might .exist without it. — Speaker. _ . The natives of Alaska Tiave eating matches b.t whioh great numbers of the villagers com- . pete. The man who 'eats the moat is con- . sidered the finest man.

— According to the law of Denmark a Christian must be succeeded by a Frederick, and a 'Frederick by a Christian. .To attain this end. without the changing of names in case of death or other'reason, every Danish prince has the ariaines of Christian and Frederick among very fine and large selection bestowed f&pon him at baptism. — It has been estimated that, there are between 150 and 200 women who are practising 'dentistry in the United States. t— Charcoal applied to tha wound will often jbure a burn in one hour.

- The two little islands of Zanziba and Jpembra furnish four-fifths of the cloves consumed by the world. j— Garlic came from Asia, and has been ,ttsed since the earliest times. It formed part of tHe diet-of the Israelites in Egypt, and was used by Greek and Eoman soldiers and African •peasants. — The Crystal Palace accommodates more people than any other building in the world. - It will hold 100,000 persons.

— Bluejackets make their own clothes. sThey can. buy the cloth required for a suit — about five yards of serge — at a little over ieighteenpence. Somß of the men make the - clothes for others, and draw a very respectable income from the practice, often saving enough to start a tailoring business of their own when they leave the service. — Scot is the equivalent of the Anglo'Saxori word " sceat," meanin? taxation; therefore "scot free" originally meant "free from the payment of taxes," and now it has become a general expression for freedom from anything. . — The bngle on which the late Trumpetmajor Joy sounded the order for the Bala- . clava Charge was, "with other Crimean relics, . Bold by auction in London recently for 750gs. —An orphan .asylum at Moscow, founded fey Catherine 11, is supported by a tax on play- " ing cards.

— In American colleges one professor's chair In every eight is filled by a woman. — There are three times as many muscles in the tail of a cat as there are in the human bands and wrists.

— The cost of a single torpedo with its charge and equipment is about £350. Some torpedoes are controlled from the shore by Xneana of an -electric cable, others are imJpelled by a gyroscopic apparatus-, and all contain from 2001b to 5001b of gun-cotton. Water does not destroy the explosive qualities of guncotton, and that is one reason this explosive is Used.

— A material has recently been produced /which is said to be a splendid substitute for leather, and only costs one-third 'as much. It is made of one thiokness of drill or duck, with kt heavy . surf ace coating, —A territorial army is one whos» soldiers, being non-professional men, are living in their homes and earning their own bread. In such an army* the cadre, or headquarters, officorß and material of each unit (battalion, aquadron, or battery) are permanently quartered in the district where the men who have been trained by that unit live. Ou ths call to Urms the men walk over to the headquarters, receive their arms, cartridges, and jkit, and fall in under the officers who taught tliem and whom they know.

— Chinese athletes Bay that the brains of the duck are the most strengthening food it is possible to eat.

— About 10,0001b of eider-down is oollected ftnnuaiy in Iceland, 70001b being exported to foreign countries. Formerly the peasants used to receive over 21s a pound for it, but th« price has now fallen to half that amount. The peasants seldom receive money, and are obliged to barter their down for merchandise furnished by the Danish merchants at the little - settlements on the 'fjords.

— Helmets made -of aluminium, to be covered with waterproof- cloth of various colours, according tothe branch of the service wearing it, are about to be adoufced in tha Breach army*

— A stab wound of the heart has been sewed up by a German surgeon, and the patienfc recovered.

— The insect population .of a single cherry tree infested with aphides was calculated by a prominent entomologist to be 12,000,000. — The difference in the colour of beer comes from the malt being more or less charred in the kiln-drying. — It is said that cold weather increases the consumption of bread, 20 per cent, more being eaten in frosty weather than in mild weather. — In one year 766 species of orchids flowered in the Kew Gardens, London.^ The earliest complete clock of which an accurate record exists was made in_ the thirteenth century by a Saracen mechanic. — Previous to the setting up of a clock at Hampton Court in 1540, no English clock went accurately. Switzerland has 19 associations devoted to collecting the discarded ends of cigars, and applying the proceeds to charitable purposes. In one year they provided 1720 poor children with clothing. A philanthropic society in St Petersburg makes something like £300 a month from a similar source. — The Norwegian corps of skaters, a force peculiar to the army of that country, is a body of soldiers armed with rifles, who can be manoeuvred upon ice or over the snowfields of the mountains with a rapidity equal to that of 'the best- trained cavalry. — One of the largest house agencies in London has applied for certificateS ) for a number of female "men in possession," with the idea of employing them in the large- number of cases that crop up in which the person levied upon is herself a woman, or an elderly person not likely to cause trouble. The presence of a woman, it is thought, wilJ make things pleasanter. — In one of the African oases about 600 artesian wells have been opened successfully along the course of a subterranean river. — A lighthouse constructed entirely of bamboo has recently been erected. It is said to have greater powers of resisting the waves than any other- kind of wood, while it does not rot like ordinary timber. — Moonshine has been found to have a marked effect on stammering. People so afflicted stammer most at full moon.

— The clergy of Russia are divided into two classes — the. white or village clergy, who must all be married, and the black clergy, or monks, who are vowed to celibacy. The higher dignitaries of the church are invariably chosen from the latter class.

— The "ilmakiur," a Finnish stone, which becomes almost white before the approach of fine weather, and darkens when storms are at hand, is used by the natives as a barometer, in which they repose the highest confidence.

— The longest artificial watercourse in the world is the Bengal canal, which is 900 miles in length.

— France has set up no less than 300 monuments to distinguished Frenchmen during the last 25 years.

— In Germany, when the yot« of the jury is evenly divided — that is, six against six — the prisoner is aquitted. A verdict of seven against five leaves the verdict to be decided by the court, and in a vote of eight against four the prisoner is convicted.

— It is calculated that the capital value of the British Navy at the present time exceeds £94-,000,000. — So penetrating is water at high pressure that only special qualities of cast iron will withstand it.

— The earliest known mention of the pianoforte was in a playbill dated May 16, 1767.

— It is estimated that 2,000,000 bicycles have been built in Europe and America up to date.

— Snow statues are the latest idea of- a French sculptor. The statue is made of copper, and in the base is a chemical preparation, by means of which the moisture is extracted from the air, and forms on the surface of the metal as a coating of snow in the course of a few moments.

— Immediately after the treaty of peace between Greece and Turkey was signed the Greek plenipotentiaries demanded the privilege — granted at once and with great ceremony by the Turks — of carrying away all the objects which served in the accomplishment of the treaty — inkstand, sealing wax, etc. These were taken to Athens and will remain in the arehiyes there as souvenirs of the war between the two countries.

— A window made entirely of stone has just been presented to a French cathedral. The stone is nephrite, found in Siberia, and so beautifully transparent that when placed as it is it catches the sun's rays, and reflects them into the interior of the cathedral. — A tablespoonful of liquid air poured on a fluid ounce of whisky will freeze it at once into flat Scales. As an agent, of destruction, liquid air is enormously powerful ; but no useful object has been found for it as yet.

~ -A-* a coaling competition between the ships of the Channel Fleet a short time ago 195 tons of coal were taken in in one hour by tho Majestic. If this is correct, it is the biggest record yet made, for it works out at something like three tons and a-quarter per innmte ! The Magnificent- managed to make an average of 153 tons per hour.