MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2686, 6 September 1905, Page 69

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— Belgium, where publio libraries are almost unknown, hag 190,000 publichou?es. That means one publichouse for 36 inhabitants, or one' publichouse for 12 men above 17 years of age, the publican included. During the last 50 years th© population has increased 50 per cent., the number of publiohousos 258 per cent.

— The old-world town of Sfoerborne, which is to be the scene of a pageant this summer, has in its magnificent church a tenor fcell, weighing- over 60,0001b, and sa ; d to be the heaviest bell ever rung in a peal in England.

— A good, remedy for a sudden chill is to inhale three or four breaths, expanding the lungs to their fullest extent, holding the inhaled air as long as possible, and then slowly exhaling it through the nostrils. The effoet of this is to set the blood 1 in motion as if from rapid exercise. — Horses in Iceland ar© shod with sheep's horn. In the Soudan, a kind of sock made of camel's skin is used for this purpose.

—In Canada there are. over 100,000 square miles of oil lands, a greater area than all th& lesb of the world's oil fields put together. — Andrew Carnegie's philanthropic, fads have cost him about 138,000,0D0d01, but lie still has 300 more millions laid away for that rainy day. He could even stand a deluge. — The site of a little cigar shop afc the oorner of Wall street, New York, has* just been sold for £140,000. This works out at £5,200,000 an acre. — Perhaps^ the most unusual way of delivering mails is that adopted for one of the islands of the- Tonga group in the Pacific, where the danger of approaching inshore renders it necessary for the mail steamer to use a sky-rocket as a postman. — A system of electric cooking and dishwashing is to be installed in all the warships of the United States navy. — Since 1892 no newspapers have been printed on Sundays in Norway, and since 1895 no bread has been baked on that day. — The fruit growers in Perthshire have decided to inroort 300 female -pickers from Ireland as an experiment. They are desirous of getting rid of the tramp pickers, who are giving the district a bad name. — The pearl oyster doss nob begin to produoe pearls until it is six or seven years of age. % — Vigorous sneezing is a prooi ot a. robust constitution. People in fee.ble health seldom sneeze. . — In° Ceylon the native 3 believe the cocoamut tree will not grow out of reacn of the sound of the human voice. have great difficulty m dwoending beyond 150 ft. . -A depth of 200 ft has never vet been achieved. — Mary and Rose Kmner, two servant airte of Vienna, have been left house property worth £12,000 by their late mistress. — In a few years' time, when the leas:s fall in the South London property of the Prince of Wales will bring him m _nearer £150,000 per annum than tho present £100,000. H's Royal Highness practical y. owns the riverside from Waterloo to Blackfriars bridges. — The British Empire produces onethird of foe world's coal, one-ninth' of its copper, one-eighth of its iron, one-fifth of its lead, one-ninth of its silver, and onehalf of its gold. — Mrs Celia Wallace, of Chicago, possesses the only black diamond necklace in the world. She spent 15 years in collecting the stones, which are enormously valuable. Theso gems are interset with white, diamonds, for one of which, an Indian stone, £1200 was paid. — The largest grips vine in the world is growing in the OarpLnteria Valley, 12 miles east of Santa Barbara, California, and is called La Para Grande. It was started from a cutting bl years ago by a young Spaniph woman, Dona- Ayala. Ib is Bft 4in in circumference at its base, and one of tho horizontal brandies measures more than 3ft in circumference. The trellis covers about a third of an acre, and 60 heavy posts support it. The vine produces as many as 5000 bunches annually. — A record- consignment of cheese was recently dispatched from Liverpool to London. It consisted of 5000 cheeses, weighing 200 tons, and was consigned to oaie person, a London merchant. Its value was about £9000. Some 32 railway tracks were required for the carriage of the cheese. — The fact has be<Mi disclosed in a London police court that a number of persons augment their- incomes by acting as bailersout for people taken dnto custody on charges of drunkenness, eto. Fees vary ecnoi'ding to the gravity of the charges, 10 per dent, being charged in addition to bail for drunkenness, 20, per cent, for assaults on the police, and 30 per oent. in larceny cases.

— A weighing machine, said to be the most powerful in the world, is being made in Birmingham. It is capable of registering a load of 220 tons. — Having received a legacy of ±,1500 a Dover flor st has announced to his creditors, under a nine-year-old bankruptcy, that they will now !w paid in fuil, with 4 per cent, interest to date Only Is lid in the pound was r.aid under the bankruptcy The payments will practically swallow" up tbe legacy." — Dr. J. S. Haldano, F.R.S,, who has rendered some hiffhly valuable services to practical science, in his reports to the Home Office. on mining matters, has invented a method of rapid gas analysis calculated to be oE the utmost importance to workers in mines. He has designed bottles which render evident the presence of dangerous oases and impurities In the air underground, and by means of his apparatus "accurate determinations may-be made on tho spot." Such an invention should go far to diminish the mortality in mining work, in which, happily, of late years great progress has been made. — In its ultimate effects the electrification of the Zambesi Falls may have consequences at least as great as the Panama Canal. At present 35 million horse-power are running to waste, where the Zambcsj dtevs over its steep cataract of 140 yds. lhc Falls of Niagara are about three-quarters of a milo wide, with a descent of 158tt to 167 ft; the Victoria Falls are over a mile wide and the drop is 400ffc to 420 ft. First from the catara-cb and then from the ten- no rush in the gorge below the falls an amount of power could bo obtained far id excess of anything Rhodesia can use to advantage for many a day. — A photographic police trap for scorching motorists is likely to be heard of in the near future, for a Wolverhampton firm has invented an instrument which, when placed in position, requires only a button to be pressed, and at once a photographic reproduction is made of any passing motor car, with the time and the date. By the use of an instrument of this kind at the beginning and end of a police trap, the results should prove absolutely accurate, so long as the watches used in the apparatus are synchronised and the distance is properly measured. —In the Channel Islands, the spring months ccc the gathering of a strange harvest—a harvest of seaweed, collected round the coa-sfs by almost all tlie men and boys available, the total quantity collected being about 100,000 tons. Seaweed is a very valuable fertiliser. Throughout many districts in Great Britain, Germany, France, Denmark, and other countries of Europe, it is used to the exclusion of all others as a manure.

— The only known race of human beings entirely covered vith hair resides on the island of Yesso, adjoining Japan. They number about 100,000, and are known to tho Japanese as the "Mosinos,"_ or "all hairy people." They are clothed in a profuse and remarkable growth of hair, the only exception being; that the faces of the women are bare, but usually stained with a kind of juice so as to resemble the beards of the male.

— An addition to the literature of curious wills comes from the Arctic goldfields of Canada. A miner died at the head waters r of the Stewart River in the Yukon territory. On a piece of birch bark ho wrote his last testament, bequeathing his valuable claims on the river to his nieces. A companion who was with him in his last moments said, "We had mo paper, and so the sick man wrote his will on a piece of bark, and a friend and I signed as wit-

— The town of Carrara, near the famous quarries of that name, is literally built of V'bite statuary marble. The paving stones are composed of th's material, and whero Iheso are not used xhe roadway is made up and covered over with marble chins. The

population of the town is about 12,000, and its adult male inhabitants are practically all employed in connection with the adjoining quarries, which furnish to sculptors the finest statuary sto:n> in the world.

— At Quin-coy, Illinois, iha tramcar companies have recently adopted a ticket which they hope will help tram conductors to identify passengers riding with transfer tickets to which they are not entitled. The new ticket is printed with four humin faces — one of a bearded man, one of a man with only a moustache, and one of a man clean-shaven, the fourth being that of a woman. When a conductor gives a transfer ticket he ptmohes out the face most nearly resembling the person to whom he gives it. Thus a full-bearded man presenting a ticket punched thiough any of the other three faces would be known to be a, fraud.

— It is wonderful how alike some twius are, not only in feature, but in character. It is seldoai, however, {hat the lives of tvin sisters or brother- are so nearly alike a& those of Mrs Mary and Mrs Ann Dennisoc These old ladies recenrTy kept their eighty-fourth birfcl-day at Arnold, Nottinghamshire, near which they have lived all their lives. The twins were marricc 1 on the same day by the same clergyman. They married brothers. Both lost their husbands as the result of accident, and both married a second time. Bocb enjoy good health, and neither has ever seen the sea.

— A lu-ique observation of the stopping of a clock by lightning has been made by Dr Erist fTartwisf, of the Bamberg Observatory. He was noting the intervals between lightning flashes and thunder when the rod on the observatory was struck tw'oe. with an interval of 46sec. The clock on a stone pillar in the basement stopped 3'l£eo after the second stroke. The clock was not injured, but the pendulum se«ms to have, been momentarily affected by a powerful oipctiic shock. — A striking career was that of the lute Charles Hacldey, lumberman and philanthropist, of" Muskegon, Mich. Hackley went to Muskegon wlie-a a mere boy, in 1856. with only 7dol in his pocket, having worked his passage across Lake Michigan on a schooner. He amassed a great fortune, his wealth at his death being estimated at £3,000,000. Although lie is said to have contributed to every church in the city he pever attended any, a.nd never witnessed a performance in a theatre. — A postage stamp in value about 2^l is pasted each week in a little blank book which every servant in Germany possesses. The stamp is tho donation of her mistress, enforced by law. Should the girl get ill, the stamps are redeemed by the Government, or she may keep them until she is old, when the Government pays their faop valuat

— The bar is not unduly paid in Frana FceG, in compa-son with the Engli^ courts, are remai*kably small. One or two conspicuous counsel _gain from £7001 to £8000 a year, but the great majority yen of those in the front rank have to be confent with much small-r h comes. The practice of the law is not nearly so remu erative as that of medicine, or. rather, of surgery. Leading operatoij make their £20,000 or £30,00-' a year. —At the Eutaw entrap-?*- to Druid Hili Park, Baltimore, stands one of the most . remarkable sundials in the world. Thtf time in many parts o. the world is showa wherever the sun is shining. It is easiiyj possible almost at first glance to read tho time within "two or three minutes, while* closer acquaintance with the dial enables the correct time to b-> read to the minute.i The base is of carved bronze. The instrument was presented to tho park b3 Peter Hamilton, who designed and mad© it entirely with his own hands.

— The profession of bridesmaid seems to be growing popular in New York. For some time it has been ihe habit at weddings in that city to pay bridesmaids. At a recent wedding there were no fewer tbam 15 bridesmaids, who- were all .punctually paid. Besjdes the beautiful dresses given. 1 by the brute's father, they each received £5 apiece for appearing in the •weddingtrain. There are >oung ladies who accept as much as £20 for their office of honour. One girl who is much sought after for her beauty Las appeared as 1-ridesmaid at more* than 200 weddings, and has in a short time amassed quite a goodly sum, besides"receiving many costly presents in addition.

— The Avhito sapphires of Ceylon are among the most beautiful gems in the world. They range from soft, velvety blue to peacock blue, graduating to almdsi. faultless white. Sapphires, are also found in greens and yellows, the former shade being" known as the Oriental emerald and the latter as the Oriental topaz. There is also a red sapphire, or Ceylon ruby, which is as valuable as the finest Burmese rubies. — The birth of a child among the working- class in Cumberland has been from time immemorial, and is still, celebrated by the making of a mixture called "rum butter." Its ingredients are butter, sugar, rum, "and spices, and it is a really palatable compound. Every person entering the house where a birth Jia s taken place ie offered a taste for several weeks after the event. It is an insult to the child and its parents to iefu.se the proffered dainty, and not to proffer it is considered equally discourte "jus. .--==■ There are several instances of meetings for religious worship being held in railway carriages and barns, and even in disused bre.veries, but at Twyford, near. Winchester, services are regularly conducted m a pr.blichcrase. This is done every Sunday and Tuesday at the Phoenix Inn, one of the rooms, which accommodates over a hundred . people, having been used for this purpose for the last 15 years. The entrance to the meeting room' is the ordinary public entrance of the inn", and tho services are well attended.