MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2317, 28 July 1898, Page 48

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Australia is Iwonly-six limos as large as the United Kingdom, fifteen times aa large , as Franco, aud almost equal to tho United 6 -Tn a roconl tost of speed at Gibraltar Iho British Channel Squadron succeeded in putting in 8000 tons of coal and tt clUn« ready for of the new mountain railway on tlio iiochstauiien, near liadJSSSiall. Bavaria, is that the force, o traction ln directed vertically upwards, being d«Sml from • balloon. ! » dl »« Ul « SohmU.li the propelling fo.ee w gravity, ami tho balloon acU as a check to prevent accelerate, motion. A ballast of water, taken m at the top of the mountain, provides tho additional downward lorce required. — A now style of boat for use on tho Yukon River has recently been constructed. H«« comnosed entirely of iron and canvas, we.ghs iSSIUan 1231b. and can bo taken to piece, aud packed in a very small compass. _ An Italian artist in London is »aiil_ to Icing Xwn on a littlo dial tho moment the ° l i C l Byßr2?neB y ß r2?ne 115 ft long. 10ft aquaro at one end and 4ft square at the other, has been s ccSfuHv cut from the sandstone quarries ?i AnS It is supposed to bo the longest SihX JKTL just t r ed out an in i7CS"- oomi-ml Spain und Portugal lo two men sitting back to ba«k on a bench: and never turning round to look at or sneak to each other. Tlio smaller country Xn it ..dependence at the expend of bpain intho eleventh century, lost it again in the .ixioenll.. regained H forty yoars and liiib profiorvod it ove. biih-o. i'aoi biuce S«i I'orlugal has roßaru*! Spain with Sealousv and distrust. -London Review. 5 --Between the ticks of a watch a ray of light could move eight, times round the gloho. — Corks are ueing made for modioino botitles which will drop the liquid instead of pouring it, an air inlet being cut m opposite Bides of the cork, with a bulb to control the air vacuum inside the bottle. -Tho rate of pay in tho French army is about tho lowest of any in "Europe. A private receive* sightly more than 2Jd per day a drummer, pioneer, or bandsman, 3d ; corporal and bandsman of ten years' service, 4Jd ; sergeant, 3d: colour-sergeant, Is; sergeant drummer, Is 3d ; and sergeant major, 2s Ai. — Marines are the police on board sinp. Originally they wero employed to prevent mutiny among the sailors — The average amount of sickness is human life is nine days out of Iho year. --The sudden changes of climate encoun tercd by soldiers when troops are moved from one quarter of tho world to another are estimated as increasing the annual mortality ol 'Europe by 50,000 men. — Most of tho gems set in signet rings, Which ara manufactured in Birmingham, are obtained from various parts of the British coast. The beaoli running to the north of Tyiiemouth is .especially rich in garnets, cornelians, and agates. — Tt is not generally known that pearl fisheries exist in Great Britain. Those of the Sol way Firth and the lliver Irt are the most lamous. . , „ ... , — Tho whole of the rum issued to British seamen comes from the West Indies. It is stored at Deptford in huge vats, holding from 4600 gallons to more than 32,000 gallons. When it is bought it is 40 per conL overproor, bul, when issued to the men is reduced to 4.b under prtml- Seamen under 20 years of age aro not allowed any rum. — Sweden exports 1,000,000,000 boxes of matches yearly, and has the oldest match faotory in the world. — Every night, in every ship in her Majesty's' navy, the Queen's health is drunk by the oflicers of tho vessel, but it is a curious fact that it is always drunk sitting, the officers never rising as ia usual on land. Ihe origin ol this custom has nevei been elucidated. . — Recent measurements of the Chinese ■Wall show if to be 18ft high and 1300 miles long. — According to the old Saxon law a maiden and a widow were of different value. The latter could he bought for one-half the sum •whicn the guardian of the former was entitled to demand. A man therefore who could not afford to buy a maiden might perhaps be able to console himself with a widow.

— Batcolona, the 'largest city of Spain, has 520,000 inhabitants, : Madrid 507.000. — Tho growth of London is astounding. The latest, returns indicate that during every month of the year, alike in summer and in winter. o\or 1200 hou?es are erected.

— The bottled beer of England requires nearly 70.000 kms of cork yearly.

— There are nearly 19.000 hounds inaintainod in the United Kingdom exclusively for hunting purposes. — The wren often makes a dozen nests, leaving all but one unfinished and unused. — Prussian blue paint is made from the ashes of l.he burnt hoofs of horses.

— A silver coin is usually in currency for about 27 years.

—111 1 may surprise some to learn that the foreign trade of China has increased nearly threefold in 30 years, but wo fancy most people will bo astonished on hearing that, the foreign tiado of Japan now nearly equals that of its huge ueighbour, having amounted to 382,500,000d0l in 189/, as against 445,000,000 for China in 1896. Indeed, Japan's progress in trade lia3 been almost as rapid as her rise in importance as a power.

— At Luchow, in- Germany, 129 fathers wore not long back fined /or allowing their children tinder teD years of age to dance at the harvest festival of a village near by. The village pastor objected to the dancing and reported the easo to the police. It was discovered, however, that his children had danced, too, and he was fined with the rest.

— Five hundred and twenty-six men and *orty officers are required to man the cruiser New York.

— Zootherapy consists of transferring a diseaso from man to some animal, and is the converse of tho medical theory that animals convey disease to man. This system of curing alls was devised by Ferapi, a Florentine. lie mentions the case of a man suffering from rheumatism who made his dog lie across his bed. Tho man recovered and the dog died — In the British Museum there is a shell of a giant tortoise which lived for upwards of two hundred years in the grounds of Plantation House, in tho island of St. Helena. It was frequently the object of much ouriosity on the part of Napoleon during his enforced stay on tho island. — Paper made from seaweed is a growing industry in France. It is so transparent that it lias been used in place of glass.

— Korea is about 600 miles long and 135 wide. It is very mountainous, and the climate is one of the finest in the world. Nine months in tho year the skies are bright, and tiie winter is superb, with its extreme dryncss, clear skie.i, and crisp, frobty nights. I'rom September to June thero are no extremes of heat or cold.

— Professor Barnard, after observations with the Lick telescope, places the diameter of Neptune at 32,900 miles— from 2000 to 4000 miles lass than is stated in mo^t text books.

— The ancient Tarot packs were the earliest playing cards known to our forefathers. They consisted of 72, 77, or 78 cards. Tlipsc card? are still used in remote parts of Italy, France, and Switzerland, and ava made in Florence, the designs being handed down from generation to generation.

— In Italy, out of 1840 fire-eaters who exchanged pistol shots or sword thrusts on tho field of honour during last year, only one died on the spot, though fivo others eventually succumbed to their injuries.

— In 1850 the tallest building in New York was only fivo storeys high, and the church spire* wore ronspicuoui above thorn. Now there is only one spire in the city as high as tho taJledt building.

—An oval gold snuffbox which belonged to Louis XV was sold for £3350 at a sale in Christie's rooms, St. James's, recently. A gold watch that belonged to Louis XIV was sold for £1120.

— The foot of tho reindeer is most peculiar in construction, being elo\e.n through tlio middle, and each half curving- upward in front.

— The Maldive Archipelago contains 14,000 islands, which abound in cocoanut. palms.

— According to American statistics tho United Stales have fought more than 40 different wars against tho Indians in tho last 22 years, at a cost of about £200.000,000. While 30,000 Indians were sent to tho " happy hunting grounds," but 19,000 white men lost their lives in the fighting.

— Tho River Jordan makes the greatest descent in the shortest diftance of almost any stream. During its cour.se of 120 miles it. tins 27 falls and descend* 3000 ft.

— An old man named George Russel. who has died in Aberdeen, Las left property -valued at £1.3,000. The interest is to be distributed yearly among the policemen and scavengers of the city, in recognition of kindness done by a local constable to the testator's sister 50 years ago.

— Green garnets aro more, valuable than diamonds because they are so exceedingly raro. They aro of an unsurpassed rich shade far beyond that of an emerald, and are very brilliant. On the other hand red garnets are so common that they cost next to nothing.

— Oakum is largely employed for surgical purposes in dressing in the hospitals of Great Britain and on the Continent.

— A woman ha* far more chances of marriago at 23 than at 21.

— The average life in Great Britain of women who work for a living is 36 years.

— The greatest iieat obtainable in a cookingstove is 750deg.

— Ladies sit hatless in a Chicago Presbyterian church- " 1 am tired," the minister is reported to have said, "of preaching to a single row of faces before a forest of milhnory." His appeal has been gradually responded to, and now. during church service, the hats are placed where they can do no harm.

— An engineer says that during the last 50 years the size of steamships ha? been multiplied twenty -fold, the horsepower employed to drive them has been multiplied forty-fold, and tlio speed with which they traverse the sea has increased threefold.

— A horse, an old hunter, attached in a baker's cart., while being driven in West. Dorset, no sooner heard the cry of the hounds and the huntsman's horn than it boiled after the pack, and came to grief while endeavouring to clear a gate.

— In the People's Palace there is an Italian castle and battleship carved from a lump of common rock salt.

— Tho human heart is 6in in length, 4in in diameter, and beats on an average 70 times per minute, 4200 an hour, 100.C00 times a day, and 36,792,000 times in the course of the year, so that the heart of an ordinary man 80 years of age has beaten 3,000,000,000 times. — From the time of the Dutch wars in the seventeenth century the population of the surface of the sea has been predominantly British, and this predominance, once established, lias so increased that at the present moment onehalf of the tonnage of the world is British, no other single nation possessing a tenth. The gross tonnage of steamers in the world slightly exceeds ten millions, of which nearly seven millions aio T3ritish, whilo no other nation owns a million tons. — Sir Charles Dilke.

— Mrs White, formerly the champion lady swimmer, has died in London. At the height of her popularity she earned between £70 and £80 a week, but died in comparative poverty. After her death her favourite dog- flung- himself upon the body of his mistress in great grief, and for nearly an hour v. ouJd let no one approach the bed.

— When a fish has lost any of its scales by a wound or abrasion, they aro never renewed.

— The money invested in tho British laUwayis exceeds the national debt by £120,000,000.

— Jewish guides in Rome never pass under the Arch of Titus, but walk round it. The reason is it commemorates a victory over their race.

— Boston claims to ha\ r e the longest paved street in the world — Washington street, uliich is seventeen and a-half miles in length.