MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2516, 4 June 1902, Page 58

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— The Paris Musee de l'Armee has re- ' <ently reca : ved a most interesting and novel [present in the shape of a unique collection jpf 'buttons, selected from the many varieties tof uniforms which nave been used from the Joaya of the First Republio till now. The Collection numbers 800, many of which lire extremely rare, and was bought from ifche owner for the nation by a generous •Honor who calls himself "Sabretache." i £ —While in South Africa, Major H. A. ' JOummings found that the air of the Pretoria valley became very hot and dry, and Jthe severe etonns generated include- whirlrwinds, carrying dust, paper, leaves, etc ' iflFrpm a gelatine plate exposed one second ; Jto a dust storm, thousands of colonies of (bacteria were developed. It is believed *nat fevers are spread* in this way. : — It is stated by the Lancet that Dr G. ' jP. Wtanurn has had remarkable success by fine -burning of incense freely in the roomy ' pi his influenza patients; it is very useful In both recent and old-standing catarrhal teases, and can claim all the merits which . tettach to antiquity, for it is an antisceptic , (which was used in the days of Solomon. { ! — The Bishop of Kipon is the champion pi episcopal travellers. It is estimated ihwt during Jiis 17 years at Ripo-n he has travelled over a quarter of a million miles, the equivalent of a journey more than ten times.'- round the equator. . As evidence of -, us 'hospitality, during this period no fewer . ihan 60,000 meals have been provided to Official guests alone at the palace. — Between 21 and 30 a man is ill five *nd a-half days a year on an average; and between 30 and 40 seven days. In the ; iiext 10 years he loaes 11 days annually; and between 50 and 60 30 days. — Glass-blowing, ■ for example making bottles, is unhealthy, and workmen are advised to abandon the occupation when about 10 yeara of age. Accordingly M. Boucher, tof Cognac, lias invented a bottle-making t machine, which ha 3 boon awarded a gold , ciedal bj the French "Societe d'Encourage- , Jnent a I'lndustrie." The machine receives ■ Freed glass in a mould and blows it into '. Jhape. Two machines with two men and j & boy can make 3600 bottles in 24- hours. ! ffhe price of bottles thus made is lowered , b0 to 70 per cent., and they are of good | duality. The workmen do not suffer like frlas3blower<>. } ' — -An outbreala of fire occurred under extraordinary circumstances at Ash ton. flPhere were placed in the window of Mr Bait's chemist's shop, Six Ways, Aehton, «. number^ of bottles containing chemical solutions, and the rays of the sun were focussed by the glass on to some celluloid articles behind, which eventually ignited. i '". — Even trades unionists themselves do not dways realise what' a strike may cost them. Thi cotton weavers of Blackburn have just been more than surprised at the figures pubdshed in connection with an abortive eight months' strike at the mills- of Messrs Banfcister BroEners. The strike pay alone, at Ihe rate of £200 a week, amounted to £7000, ijrhilet damages and costs in two lawsuits | Aggregated £3000, apart from the Weavers' | 'Association's own costs. I

' — Experiments have lately been made in iChicago for the purpose of ascertaining to fwSat «xtent a covering of snow on the (ground is effective in lessening the contamination of the atmosphere by germs. Shaljow dishes containing the preparation used

in making germ cultures were (Country Life reports) exposed to the air in ten "different places for three minutes, when there /was no snow on the ground. The average ihumber of germ colonies in each dish, after Sallowing time for incubation, was 630. The Experiment was repeated after a fall of snow •wqual to a quarter of an inch of rainfall, and the average number of germ colonies tras found to be only 66-

! —The world's best timekeeper is v said to i>e the electric clock in the basement of the jjerlin Observatory, which was installed by g?rofesßor Foarster in 1865. It is enclosed in an air-tight glass cylinder, and has frequently run for periods of two or three months with an average daily deviation of ionly 15-1000ths of a second. Yet astronokners are not satisfied even with this, and Tefforts are continually made to secure ideal conditions for a clock by keeping it not •only in an air-tight case, but in an under■ground vault where neither changes of temtoerature nor of barometrio pressure shall ever affect it. "* — Mr Harry Brown has been giving the

insurance Society of Edinburgh, some curi--pus figures illustrative of the degrees of "Hangers from accident. He said that if a schoolmaster's risk in respect of a certain j jmm payable on death by accident was Is, a ' farmer's would be 3s 4d, a carpenter's to Bd, a slater's 15s, and a South "Wales miner's J B7s. The bicycle, the motor, and the com- ! plex machinery of industry had largely lidded to modern risks. It was stated in the course of the discussion that followed ' that accident claims almost doubled during * spell of frcsty weather. '- — "Very remarkable in many ways are the as a people. Their taste for old 'teggs may be referred to in illustration of "this. The Chinese have what may bo depcribed as a penchant for old eggs. These 'ifeggs are, of course, preserved by various ' jmethods, and we read that it is not at all 'junuaual to find cellars ir which they ar» kept to the age of from 50 to 100 years, pfonong the Chinese it thus appears that old figgs are worth about as much as old wine is in some other countries! In certain .jparta of China a favourite dish for invalids consists of eggs which have been preserved in jars .of *ed clay and salt waten .for numbers of years. - • — Attracted tv the eihrill humming oi "telegraph wires before a storm, Dr Eydam, a German jcientist, has made a novel investigation. He is now convinced that any t "unusual disturbance in the telegraph wires tforetells bad weather, and that the characfc«r of the atmospheric disturbance may be Qearnt from ihe sound. A deep sound of considerable strength, for instance, heralds * *light showers of rain and moderate winds . /within 38 to 48 hours, says the doctor ; while w \s sliarp, nhrill sound gives warning of high * ""winds with Tain or snow. - At a meeting a Welsh society in (Liverpool Mr T. E. Morris, barri9ter-at-law, lectured on the inconvenience and confusion arising from the paucity of distinctive surnames in Wales. In Liverpool alone J430 Welshmen rejoiced in the name of 'John Jones, and at an inquiry held at West<minster into the County Council water * '(scheme 16 witnesses bore the same simple Jeognomen. Recently, at the Corwen Board «f Guardians, owing to th« numerous 'Joneses who ar* members of that body, it Tfas decided to enter in the minutes each snanls house and parish, as his full nam« was not sufficiently distinctive to remedy ibe _»tate pi thjggg*

—'Parisian barbers are legally compelled to wash their hands after attending a customer before waiting on another. They must »ho use only nickle -plated combs. — A French newspaper describes an ingenious method of milk adulteration practised in Athens. The residents have a penchant for goats' milk, and herds of the^e animals are led along the street by milksellers wearing long blouses with capacious fileeves. Their cry of '"Gala ! gala !" brings the housewife to the door, and she prudently demands that the goats shall be milked in her presence. This is done, but the milkman has in one nand the end of a thin tube which up his sleeve and connects with an indiarubber receptacle full of water, which is carried under his ampls blouse." At each pressure of 'the fingers on the udder there is a corresponding compression *of the water-sack, and milk and water flow side by side into the milk pail.