MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2840, 19 August 1908, Page 71

MULTUM IN PARVO.

•—A "bee- can outfly a pigeon. - — Pepper was a very rare luxury in the tfeigni of Henry VII. — Cartridges are used 1 as money in Abyssinia.

" — Statistics prove that school teachers, as a >lass, are long-lived. — A Condon fog is estimated to weigh 3,000,000;QOO tone. — Memory,- it has been ascertained, is 'stronger in summer than in winter. —"•Th& - average canal horse can pull a barge <>i- 25 tons at two 1 and a-half miles an hour. — "Recent Admiralty experiments proveihat- coal keeps best under water, particularly sea water. — rln Germany the telephone charges amount to' only" about one guinea per subscriber annually. — The dog tax in Berlin is to be increased from 20s to '30s. There are 38,000 in that oity. ' ' —The French are the most heavily taxed ■European, nation. ' —Wood' intended to be made into piancs ' irequires to be kept 40 years to be in perfect condition. .—The highest clouds are only about 10 niiles above the earth. . — Antwerp and Amsterdam are two of ._ ihe-.'healthie3t .of European- cities.' " ( — In* China v the \ property, of the- faLh«<r^ -'must bef~ equally divided among the children: ' ' . — Jfewfoundland ..contains nearly .40,000 lakes, only 687 of which have names. — Jamaica fireflies emit so strong a light -that half a dozehv of them will suffice to read by. ; • — Beef- 1 ie the most popular meat diet 4n Berlin ; -pork comes next, then mutton, and. veal-- fourth. .• - - - — Light passes from the- moon t > lie earth in one and one-fourth seconds. — The strongest single animal thread - known is a-hair from the tail of a horse. j — The "human, head ie, according to a •ha; manufacturer , on an average increasing in size. — Sharks were practically unknown in the Adriatic Sea till the opening of the Suez Canal. The" Escurial, the royal palace at Ma- ' "drid, is so "large that it would take four 'days to go" over it. . ' — For penknives the steel is tempered at - 470deg, for table knives at 530d<-g, and for caws at,-560deg. - — A poirad of sheep's wool produces one square yard of cloth. — The Chinese were-- once a great fighting nation." They twice reached Moscow — one© in' 1237, and again in 1293. — The Mikado of Japan includes among his retainers 30 physicians and 1 60 prieste. — The*" oldest living Scotsman is sai-i to be* Archibald MacCrunnion^ of Skye, aged 109 years. - ■ -rTHe- site of the battle of Hastings, in 1066, js AbouC eight miles from the modern town of that name. „ -. >.^-It_ is" estimated that . at least 32,000 "*• beggars in. Vienna axe making .better liv- " ings' than —.The bird' of paradise is found only r>\\ the - island' of- New Guinea- and- the, neighbouring coasts of Australia. — Tfie averaare annual consumption of tobacco in England ie 30oz per head of iihe populatioßr ■ —The "Queen of Holland, --who is 'very fond of animals, dislikes and discourages the killing of them for sport. —An elephant works from tlie age of 12 to 80. He can draw a load ot 15 t<-ns, lift half a ton, and carry' three ton*, on h.-» i>sck. " ' • — -Miss Ina Richmond, resident at Kilkenny with" her brother, Mr John, Richmond, who is manage* of the gasworks -there, has been appointed manageress of gasworks" at Magheraf elt. The position as a unique one, as Miss Richmond is believed 1 to be the first lady who has been appointed to - take charge of a gasworks in -the United Kingdom. She is one of a* family who have been connected with the manufacture, of gas for -half a century, and for a number of years has evinced great interest in everything relating to works of this kind. —It may be accepted that the average cost of production of a play at a liondon West End theatre is £1400, and the average weekly running expenses are £800 ; in words, the average manager has, for "the first six weeks of his new play, to take £1033 per week of seven performances — that is -to say, £148 per performance— to pay his way and recover his initial outlay on the .piece. With a decided success the average "London society -theatre takes_ £180 a performance; while with a disappointing piece — well, it is on record, that a wellknown playhouse once held 5s in all, and that "with a piece which cost £60 per per1 f ormance to play ! i — The latest" Thames' tunnel, which has recently- been opened by the Prince of Wales, is the thirteenth now -existing under the river's bed. One of the -12 other subways has an . interesting history. This is Brunei's tunnel, which runs, very close 'o the new one, and is now used by the East Xondon Railway. It wae in 1825 that Brunei first attempted to bore under the Thames between Wapping and Rotherhithc. The river broke into the workings several times. After a serious accident in 1828 the work was abandoned and the place allowed to flood. Seven years later the dauntless Brunei returned to the task and had the workings pumped dry. It took ■him another seven years before he completed the tunnel. — Consumers of gas by means of the penny-in- the -slot meter not uncommonly use the meter as a savings bank, confident that the extra money found in the moneybox by the collectors will be returned to Jiem, says the Gas World. This habit appears to have been abnormally developed in Wigan. In the year ended March 31 lasv the coins found by the collectors, apart from the legitimate penny, were as follows: Five sovereigns, J.O half-sovereigns, four half-crowns. 465 florins, 502 shillings. 134 sixpences, 250 threepenny -pieces, and 384 halfpennies. Another department has been added to the British Museum. This is the gramophone record department. Records of tho voices of all the most eminent people in all walks of life will be supplied to the museum fey a gramophone company. The museum trustees undertake not 3o allow the records to be heard for 50 years, at the end of which time it will be possible for the student to go to fche museum and awaken the voices of the past, just as he now turns up the writings of departed masters. The greatest care will be exercised in r .ac-nf erring upon parsons the honour of a niche in the chamber of voice records at ihe British Museum. The few celebrities

who so far - have "achieved this distinction number about a dozsn; and they include the Archbishop of Canterbury . the Archbishop of Westminster. Lor-d Kelvin, Lord Roberts, . Mme. Patti, ilme. Me-lba, and Signor Caru&o.