MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 2817, 4 March 1908, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO

*- Japan experiences, on an average, 500 fearthquak« shocks in the course of a year. — *lhe sound of a bell can be heard under water at nearly 100 times the distance at which it can be heard through air. — About 2000 vessels of all kinds disappear in the sea every year, carrying down 12,000 human beings, and involving a loss of about £20,000,001) in property. — The wind is perhaps the most active disseminator of plant life over the globe. A region devastated by fiife will, in the course of a few months, be reetocked with many different kinds of plants. — The ears of most defenceless animals, such as the rabbit, are turned backwards, because these creatures constantly expect pursuit. Hunting animals, on the other band, have their ears turned forward. — Paris is noted for the number of its legless cripples, who propel themsehes along the street in little box trolleys by means of their arms. This fact has prompted the proprietors of a French sporting journal to organise an international race for legless cripples of both sexes. „ — The Glasgow Town Council is to supply wholesome milk for babies, but lately decided against opening municipal playgrounds to children on Sundays. —To mark the spot where King James IV of Scotland fell at the battle of Flodden a. monument is to be erected by the Berwickshire Naturalists' Club. — A. marked crab has been recovered at Montrose which had travelled from just north of Scarborough to the Scottish port, a distance of 155 miles, in 659 days. — Farthing packets of tea are being sold throughout India by growers, who ha\e at last recognised that they have an immense market at their door. — The English Semi-teetotal Pledge Association states that in the four years of its existence it has sworn in nearly 100,000 persons, who have taken, its pledge to abstain from all intoxicating drink, except at midday or evening meals. — A Chicago doctor named Siebel is reported to have discovered a method of prolonging life by means of the electricity generated by the human body. Dr Siebel declares that it will soon be possible to store this natural energy and to draw on the accumulations at will, thus checking the ravages of age. — British soldiers are to be equipped •with a new bayonet, which Mill be between 4in and sin longer than the one now in use. The suggestion hae been under liscuseion for some time, and the Army Council has now decided to adopt the single-edged weapon which the Japanese dsed so successfully against the Russians. —An injury to the tongue is repaired by Nature with more rapidity than is the case with any other part of the system. — Washington street, Boston, measures 17i miles from end to end, and. is said to be the longest paved street in the world. — According to the return of the Fishery Board for Scotland the total value of all fish landed oji the Scottish coasts during October amounted to £178,419, and for the past nine months to £2,841,904. —In the Italian army ail cavalry regiments are supplied with carrier pigeons, which are used for the transmission of information during all their military manoeuvres in camp. Young cavalry officers go through a course of instruction on the training of pigeons for military purposes at the Pigneral College. — The Yang-tse-Kiang, the " famous muddy river of China, is also one of tb * greatest, and ite valley is the most densely populated and closely cultivated river-basin on the globe. It crosses the whole emp're in its 3000-mile course to tlic sea. The river has a different name in almost every province, and continually pours a flood «1 diluted mud through its valley, colouring the ocean for a distance of several miles from land. —An odd custom of great antiquity still prevails in the town of Oakham, in Butlandshire. Every peer of the realm passing near the castle, which was built hy Walkelin de Ferrers, is expected to deliver a shoe from the foot of one of his horses, or to pay a fine in default. The fine usually takes the form of an ornamental horseshoe, often surmounted By the coronet of the peer presenting it. The total number of shoes at present in possession of the local authorities is 300, and among the most valued are those presented by Queen Elizabeth. King George IV, Queen "Victoria, and Queen Alexandra. — The largest mass of ice in the world is probably the one which fills up nearly the whole" of the interior of Greenland, where it has accumulated since before the dawn of history. It is believed now to form a. block about 600,000 square miles in area, and averaging a mile and a-half in thickness. According to these statistics, the lump of ice 16 larger in volume than the whole body of water in "the Mediterranean ; and there is enough of it to cover the whole of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland with a layer about seven miles thick. — An. illustration in the Scientific 'American shows * saddle made of leather from tanned human skin. This, made from the skin of one man, is probably the largest article ever made of such leather, though persons of peculiar taste have not infrequently possessed and prized smaller articles of a similar It is said that the human skin majkee excellent leather, somewhat similar to that obtained from the pig. And it is found that when a piece of human skin is tanned, any tattooang which may have been made on the surface is preserved in the leather. It is therefore sometimes tanned for the express purpose of preserving the tattooing. The skin of the scalp can be tanned with the hair on and this is said to make the best kind of wig. — The manufacture of paper from the fibre of the cotton-stalk is one of the latest inventions which are said to have passed, the experimental stage. It is asserted that all grades of paper, from the best form of linen to the lowest grade, can be manufactured from cotton-stalks. In addition to this a variety of by-products, Buoh as alcohol, nitrogen, and material for Sfun-ootton and smokeless powder, ©an also be oecured in paying quantities. Mills for the use of cotton-stalk 3 treated in that way may b«come general in the cotton-growing States. It is estimated that on an area of land producing a bale of cotton at least one ton of stalks can be gathered. Upon ibis baais, fj«m 10,000,000 to 12,000,000 tons m raw material coujkl fee seeded fojf Jh§

f production of paper, which would increase the value of the Souths cotton crop nearly 10,000,000d01.