MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2404, 29 March 1900, Page 48

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— A French naturalist asserts that if the world should become birdless man would not inhabit it after nine years, in spite of all the sprays and poisons that could be manufactured for the destruction of insects. The insects and slugs would simply eat up our orchards and crops.

— Mexico has vast deposits of onyx and marble.

— Only about 80 years have elapsed since the first railway in the world was finished. — Mont dv Lion, which overlooks the battlefield of Waterloo, has on its summit a memorial to the Prince of Orange, who was wounded on the spot on which it stands. The lion is cast from metal which was captured from the French. 1 — When potatoes were first introduced in Germany they were for a long time, like tomatoes, cultivated merely as a curiosity. — Fireworks are sometimes used before the services at the Bahia Cathedral, in Brazil, in order to attract the attention of the people.

— The stoves of the Bolivian Indians are curious things. A hole is dug in the ground about 18in deep and lft square, and over this is built a roof of clay, with holes of different sizes to receive the various cooking pots. Roasting is done on spits passed through the holes, so that the meat comes out very much smoked unless great care is taken to have only live coals at the bottom of the oven. — Tea was first mentioned in Chinese annals 2700 B.C.

— There are only B§o,ooo men in the world who gain a livelihood chiefly by fishing. ■ —It has been found that the pain caused by the sting of nettles is due partly to formic acid, and partly to a chemical resembling snake poison. Our nettles are comparatively harmless; but in India, Java, and elsewhere, there are varieties the painful effect of which lasts for weeks. , — The British Empire has an area of 11,399.316 square miles, and a population of W2,514,800 persons, the former being equal to 21 per cent, of the supposed surface of the land, the latter 27 per cent, of the population, of the world.

— The Queen has conferred the decoration of the Royal Red Cross upon Miss Sarah Clarke, Miss Mary Nutt, and Miss Minnie Powell for their devoted services in tending the sick in the field hospitals at Lokoja and Jebba, on the West African Coast. — The famous stepping flonei at Bolton Woods, Yorkshire, are picturesque, but they have been the cause of endless inconveniences and not a few ugly mishaps. The Duke of Devonshire has now erected a footbridge over the river.

— France, Germany, and the United States are endeavouring to secure a stable and safe powder that will, at the same" time, give low pressure and 'high velocity. England has centented herself with the use of cordite. Ordnance officers agree that cordite is a very suitable powder, but it has one defect. Guns from, which cordite is fired quickly erode, and the heat is so intense that the life of the gun is considerably lessened. — More than half a million lives are daily dependent upon the efficacy of iron and steel ropes. — Great Britain buys- more than 20,000 horses in the United States every year. .- - — Wymondham Church, in Norf oik, besides being many centuries old, is unique in possessing two steeples. This arose from a quarrel between the monks and the townspeople, who had joint use of the church, over the bells, the result being that the parishioners were by ( special license permitted to erect a second tower in which to hang tlier own set of bells. — England consumes £8,000,000 worth of fish every year. '.—. — Grecian women in olden days had longer feet than the average man of the present time. — The seahorse alone with one other existing fish, the gar pike, possesses the power which was common to many 'of the older fishes— that of turning its head independently «?f its body. The seahorse can also turn its eyes in almost any direction. — The finest scenery in Ireland is on the north-west coast of Oonnemara, Mayo, and Donegal. There are no grander headlands in Europe than these broken, precipitous highland masses towering above the Atlantic. — The popular impressions the bee must be revised. It has long been praised for its industry and diligence, but it has been found that in these respects the bee is a fraud. As a matter of fact, "the little busy bee" works but about three hours a day, and is a most thorough-going loafer for the rest of the time. • — Last year there were 35,983 abstainers in the British Army. Of these, the force in India 'contributed 22,280, or practically every third man, and the 'Home section 13,703 — a much smaller proportion. — ' Since the war of 1894- the Chinese population of Shanghai has grown from 400,000 to 700,000. The attraction lies in the many new industrial establishments. — The wood of the redwood tree never decays, it is said, and fallen trunks which haye been overgrown by old forests are as solid as the day they fell. — Captain Ernest Andree, of Sweden, brother of the missing explorer, in a letter to a friend shows that he has by no means given up hope of the explorer's safe return. The balloon, he thinks, may have come down in the unexplored region north of Alaska and the Parry Islands, from*the remote parts of which a journey to these islands might take two years, while another year might be added before a traveller following that route could communicate with civilisation.

— The shipyards of Great Britain, all working together, could turn out a big steamship every day of the year. — "To launder" once signified to lavender or perfume clothes with the leaves of this plant before being laid away. — A French scientist has made some plants "artificially Alpine" by keeping them in an Icebox' all night and exposing them to the full action of the sun during the day.

— A book published in Japan 1000 years ago notes that at that time good silk was already produced in 25 provinces of that country. — The Lancet gives an account of an instrument called the neurotone for applying n, gentle electric current to the skin. The apparatus is contained on a base plate, al the bottom of which are mounted the two electrodes which are applied to the skin. They consist of polished metal plates 3£hi long by lin wide, with a suitable gap between. The batteries are connected to the apparatus •with a flexible cord. It is held in the Jiand and moved over the affected places nbout the same way as a flat iron is used in Ironing clothes. The current can he varied to suit the different requirements of the patient by a regulator on the base.

— Professor Willis G. Johnson, of the Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station, has recently caused some discussion among the governmental scientists at Washington by a brief paper setting forth the claims of hydrocyanic acid gas as a, lethal agent, to be used in place of the rope or the electric current in capital punishment.

— On the basis of results of previous exhibitions at Paris, it is assumed that 52,588 1 280 people will pass through the turnstiles, and it is possible that the total number may reach 60,000,000. -\ The island of St. Helena was heavily wooded at its discovery. To-day it is> a rocky desert, owing to the introduction of goats by the Portuguese in 1513. When the goats ate off the underbrush, rain washed away, the soil, and the big trees tumbled. — At a recent meeting of the Academic dcs Sciences, Paris, M. Jaubert announced the discovery of a new red colouring matter derived from naphthaline. It is called naphthapurpurine, and is made bj. oxidising naphthaline by means of binoxide of manganese in presence of sulphuric acid. It dyes cotton a "cranvoisie" red.

—To me the press is the mouth of a sewer, where lying is professed as from a university chair, and everything prurient, and ignoble, and essentially dull finds its abode and pulpit. Ido not like mankind ; but men, and not all o"f these — and fcvier women. As for respecting the race, and, above all, that fatuous rabble of burgesses called "the public," God save us from such irreligion ! — that way lies disgrace and dishonour. There must be something radically wrong in me, or I would not be popular. — IL L. Stevenson. — A natural curiosity, consisting of a mountain of alum, is found in China, 12£ miles from the village of Liou-Chek. It has a diameter of not less than 10 miles at its base, and a height of* 1940 ft. For centuries the inhabitants of the country have exploited this natural source of wealth, digging from it yearly hundreds of tons of alum. To obtain it they quarry blocks of stone, which they first heat in great furnaces, and then in vats filled with boiling water. The alum crystallises out and forms a layer 6in thick. The compact layer thus produced is afterwards cut into blocks weighing 101b.

— One of the most remarkable lakes • on the earth's surface is situated at Tar Point, on the Island of Trinidad, and bears the suggestive name of Pitch Lake. At first view the surface of this "lake, which is not a lake," gives one the impression that it is a large body of placid water, but a closer examination proves it to be a vast plain covered with hard and hardening pitch. In the winter months the surface of this lake is perfectly smooth, and of a consistency sufficient to bear any weight.

— A novel hotel in New York will be run entirely by women, even to hall and lift girls. Man will be permitted to put up' the structure, and then he will be banished for ever. There will be no male visitors, and no woman will be admitted who cannot furnish the best references. There will be drawing rooms, reception rooms, cosy corners, a library and reading room, together with all the comforts of a first-class hotel. The barroom will be a model tea saloon, but stronger beverages will be on draught for those who desire them.