MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2569, 10 June 1903, Page 62

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—In East Indian schools mental arithmetic is a vastly more serious matter than it is in the schools of this country. Oatch questions aro numerous in the Orient, and $ie multiplication table is swollen into a mountain of difficulty by native teachers. Pupils of ten years are taught to carry the multiplication table up to forty times forty.

— Every Persian house is constructed on a plan of secrecy. No windows are visible from the streets.

— The perfume of the mutmeg flower is said by some naturalists to have an intoxicating effect on small birds. — With the exception of the British Parliament, the Swedish Bigsdag is the oldest legislative body in the world. The Kingdom of Sweden ha£ maintained its integrity ac far back as there is any record. — The street beggars in Barcelona have entered into a solemn covenant to withdraw from circulation all the two-centime pieces which they receive from the charitable .public, so as to compel their benefactors jfco give them the coin next in value — viz., five centimes. - — In France-, postage stamps are sold at •11 tobacconists' shops, which also- liave pillar boxes to receive letters for tire poet. . —On the West Indian Island of Nevis ihcre- is a population of over 13,000, with ' only one doctor to administer to the ail-, xnents.of the -people. — The wild .horses of Arabia will Jiofc admit a taano horse among them, while the wild horses of South America endeavoiir to decoy domesticated from their masters, and seem eager "to welcome them«_ — The beginning of winter or summer in China depends on the whim of the Emperor. On a certain day announced by him all his subjects have to put on their winter clothes, though in some regions summer heat may etill prevail. —At the public library at Macon thei\ is a barometer made simply of a thin strip of cedar and a thin strip of white pine, placed together and stuck perpendicularly in a base rest of wood. When it is going to rain the strips bend down, and when it is to be dry they stand rigidly stiff and •feraight. It tis eaid to indicate coning •torms unfailingly. — More than 1000 people in Paris earn • living by fortune telling. Their joint income is said to amount to about four hundred 1 thousand pounds annually. — Magic qualities are attached in Hungary as in Germany to tho lime or linden tres. In some villages it is usual to plant one before b house to prevent witches from entering. — Nell, o bright-looking, plert Airedale terrier, 18 months old, has been installed as collector for tho Widows' and Orphans' Fund of the Great Western at the parcels receiving offics of the company at Charing Cross. She k equipped with a hEmdsome oollar, box, and ini3cription, and her "takings" havo been encouraging so far. —In Belgium there are no extensive forests or timber lands, and wood for all purposes must be imported. — Light-haired people, it is said, as a. rule, live lcnger than, those having dark hair. — A falcon has been known to fly 1350 ■niles — from Paris to Malta — in 24 hours.

— London's smallpox epidemic of last year cost the Metropolitan Asylums Board close on half a million sterling.

— Recent experiments in France have ■hown that the yellow and green colours possessed by the silk spun by certain caterpillars are due to colouring matter derived from the food, and passed through the blood of the epinners. By impregnating leaves ,witli ■artificial colours the experimenters caused some species of caterpillars to produce flilk of bright orange-yellow and fine rose litres. By the aid of the spectroscope ltbe presenoe and nature of coloured pigments in the blood of the little animals was established.

— The Governor of Westphalia has ordered that a town councillor of the little town of Alilen who does not attend^ the meetings of the council shall bo fined sixpence the fhai time he is absent and five •hillings the second. Councillors who talk Sionsei!£e may be ordered to keep silent for one or more sittings. Those who diirulge the doings of tho council to outsiders may be excluded for six months, and those who are found to be "disturbing element*" may be excluded according to the trill of the chairman.

— What are known as "exhibits" in law cases range from sheets of paper to boilers jwtd other laTge articles. At various times sn omnibus, a motor-car, and a cab have 'fceen on view in the private roadway by the aide of the Jaw courts, and as these articles could not be brought into the wit-mees-box the \judgo and jury have had to go out and inspect them in the open. One of the - most ponderous "exhibit*;" ©ter. brought before any of his Majesty's tribunals was a large ship's boiler furnace, /which was conveyed from Swansea for inspection in an action heard before Mr Jugtic© Walton the other day. —An inventor has succeeded in making la typewriting mach uio which prints Arabio characters. Tho principal difficulties to bo overcome were in allowing some letters j double the space of the others, and iv pro- ] viding certain letters with three different forms, according as they fall at the beginning, in the middle, or at tho end of a .word. The machine contains 84 characters, eight of which automatically supply 'themselves with double the Gpace ta!ren by the 'others. The machine has been tested by a committee of examiners at Beyioutc, and prouounced satisfactory.

—As proof of the extraordinary advance &hat is being made in London is incandescent gas lighting, it is stated that the past few years as many as 18,000 street lamps have been fitted on tho incandescent system, or practically six-sevenths of all the public lamps in London, which mumber nearly 22,000. The system is beSng co extensively used for private lighting ithat one of the gas companies sells ac many ■s 750,000 mantles every year, independent of the mantles supplied and maintained by private firms for the users of the company's iga.B. — Italy seems to hold the record of late yearfc for expensive law. Signor Antona Traversa, a merchant, of Milan, lied three years ago, leaving behind him a fortune of (£600,000 and a will which displeased cerHam of his heirs. They disputed it, and the more they did so the more heirs came !to tho fore. Eventually when the case was called for trial, no fewer than 105 lawyers were found to have been briefed to (represent the various litigamts. So great "Wore their expenses that when all was •ettled £400,000 was divided among thorn in fees, while the heirs had to be content with Vie remaining £200,000.

— The attention of the German artillery experts is at present engaged on improving Birkland's electro-magnetic caraon. Although it is only available in forts and is too complex to bo trusted to an ordinary gunner, it is believed by the Gorman authorities to have a great future before it. The principle of this new gun is the passing of a powerful current through, wire spirals in the bore without heating. It throws a 501b projectile more ! than three miles with accuracy, but the inventor claims that he can increase this distance fourfold. A science paper remarks that this is the first electro-magnetic gun that German artillerists have found practicable. Travellers to Egypt should beware of the treasures they purchase in Cairo. The other day an enterprising Australian selected a mummy, and for the trifling matter of £20 was permitted to ship to the antipodes a distant relative of one of the Pharaohs in o-ood order and condition, considering all things. On mentioning his purchase a medical friend in Sydney suggested the Rontgen rays being turned on the relative of Pharaoh. They dieelosed no mummy within the swaddling rags. The purchaser thereupon set to work to unao his purchase fjad' inside ho had the melancholy pleasure of discovering etones. old newspapers, and a large quantity of bulrushes.