MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO.

!*• On a big oak tree there are more than seven million leaves. — The county of London covers 75,442 acres; but the London police area is 443,421 i ©cree. — Gustavua V is the fifty-seventh King pf Sweden. I — The postal business of the world is increasing 7 per cent, per annum. —No reptile has ever been found in New- ( founclland. —In Russia a declaration of love on a post-card renders the sender liable to a line. — The ancient inhabitants of Sweden ■were the Fins, now the modern inhabitants of Finland. ' — Fifteen years is the average life of the modern battleship. ' — The United States has the greatest variety of postage stamps. — Out of every million of the world c population, 61 are blind. — Most 6pider& have poison fangs, but few are dangerous to human beings. — Mattresses made with paper ehavings ar« in use in Germany for soldiers' beds. — According to bakers, people eat 2Q per cent, more bread in cold weather than in mild. — Lake Erie produces more fish to the square mile than any other body of water in the world. — The cow tree of Venezuela is a natural dairy. Its sap is similar to milk, and is used as such by natives. — Snakes ha\e no external ears, but "hear" by feeling vibration ■of sound on their delicate scaly covering. I — A Swiss water-power plant utilising a. head of 1150 ft is now being completed on the river Lsontsch. —On a snail's tongue, which resembles a long, narrow ribbon, as many as 30,000 teeth are sometimes distributed. — Letters are delivered to some of ths islands of the Tonga group, in the Pacific, by sky-rockets fired from steamers. —In 12 months tigers in India were responsible for the death of 698 human beings and 28.714 head of cattle. —In Austria, prizes are offered to farmers to encourage them to recover waste lands, and lay them out as pasturage. i — The cotton handkerchiefs provided for French soldierc have printed on them 6aniiary precepts to be observed during a campaign. — Night-work for all females and for males under 15 years of age is forbidden by law in Italy. —In London SOO million eggs are consumed yearly, which weigh 60.000 tons, and cost ths eaters £4,000,003. — The 18 flags used in the International Code of Signals can bo made co represent 20,000 distinct signals. —In the civilised countries of the world 60 per cent, of persons over 10 years of &ge have to work for a living. — Kew Gardens, London, possesses tho largest collection of palms in the world, nearly 500 species being represented, — Commsrcial tra\e!lers in Sweden are compelled to take out a license, costing 100 crowns — shout £5 10s — a month, or they incur the risk of being fined. — There is one lighthouse not indicated on any mariner's chart. It is in the Arizona d&sert, and marks the spot where a well of fresh water a-waiis the traveller. — Standard time in Belgium, Holland, and Spain is the same as in Great Britain. It is one hour faster in Germany, Italy. Austria, Denmark, Sweden, and Servia. j — Women are not allowed on the island i of Ferdinand de Norouha, belonging to Brazil It is reserved for male convicts. — The only colony of Barbary apes in existence is on the Rock of Gibraltar. It is protected by the Government. —In Spain boys under 16 are not allowed to lift or carry more than 161 b, or push or draw heavy loads. j — China is opening new schools at the ; rate of 2000 a year. — Including Hayti, San Domingo, Panama, and Liberia, there are now 24 Republics in the world. — Where three religions meet yoti can get a really gencro\is week-end. In Serajevo, Bosnia, you may lay down your implements of livelihood on Thursday e\ening and take a -week-end until Monday morning. For the Mohammedans, Chris- ; tians. and Jews have come to an understanding, and nobody does any work on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday— just to a\oid anno y ing other people. — During the recent Russo-Japanese war, a war correspondent was arrested in the Japanese line-s and condemned to be shot as a spy. Marshal Oyama, to whom the sentence was submitted for confirmation, personally investigattd the cass, and ascertaining that tho condemned man was a Scotsman immediately released him. The war correspondent asked the Marshal why he took such interest in Scotsmen. ''Baeauso." said the Marshal, "you belong fo the greatest nation in the world — the nation which has produced two of the greatest men the world has ever known — Sir Walter ficott and Dr Westwater." — A German physician, who lived to the age of 119 in extraordinary enjoyment of intellectual and bcdily vigour, attribufed this to the circumstance of always sleeping with his head to the north ; this, he fancied, caused the magnetic current so to operate that it withdrew the exhausted matter from the body and supplied new and pure in its place. —At the thirty-first annual ploughing match of Illinois, recently held, Alvin Stark was proclaimed the champion plouarhman of the world. He drove a single sulky plough with three horses over half an acre, and the judges declared there was not a variation of half an inch in the furrows, measured at the ends and in the middle. — Hadstook, in Essex, possesses what is probably a unique water supply. It is entirely derived from a deep well in the parish churchyard. The well is over 800 yea.rs old, and is known as St. Botolph's Well. The inhabitants of Hadstock de-c'ar-e that it- contains thp best drinking water in the kingdom, and as ths village in quest-ion is one of the healthiest place? in Etsex there is undoubtedly some truth in their boast. — The Norwegian whale fisheries extend over nearly the whole of th-3 Arctic. The whales are shot from small steamers, tho implement usedi being the so-called bomb harpoon, an a. -row-shaped iron spear furuished with a line, which is discharged from a. small cannon. The whale often forage ths vessel a long distance until the creatures becomes exhausted end expires. It is then towed to the anchorage and / stripped of the blubber.

to be placed on the grave of the lat© Lochiol twenty-fourth Chief of the Clan Cameron, has been executed. The panels of tha cross are skilfully carved with figures, and the Lochiel coat-of-arms, with Eupponers, is reproduced with, delicate and graceful effect. — A curious proviso is attached to a bequsst oi lOOOdol by the late Mr A. Greenblatt, teacher of Hebrew, to the Jewish Home for the Aged at St. Louis. He stipulates that the legacy shall only be paid if the institution abo'ishes the fixed hour at which its inmates shall go to bed, and allows them to retire whenever they choose. —An indelible ink tree, known to botanists a^ Semecarpus anacardium, ie chiefly found in India, but grows also in North Australia and the West Indies. Its nut supplies the natural marking fiu'd. When driod fcr commerce the nut' is heartshaped and nearly black, and contains a black \tecid juice. For marlking linen or cotton this juice is mixed with quicklime. It an be made into marking ink by treating the nut with a mixture of alcohol and feulphurio ether, and is also used for black varnish. — — Fro ni Tokio comss the announcement of the discovery of a method for the manufacture of pulp from bamboo grass — sasa — for which results of the highest importance to rapermakers are claimed. The bamboo gras-s is very common in Japan, and has beea put to little use. It is proposed to teach the method to the Japanese farmers, and as it is hoped that pulp will be produced cheaply by it both the farmer and consumer should benefit. The matter is still unt?'2r investigation, and no details are obtainable — Watch-dogs are to guard the treasures of the Louvre. A recent and still un'expiained attempt to penetrate into the Apollo Gallery from outside aroused the anxiety of the authorities, who are now negotiating with the polics for an arrangement by which the night-watchmen are to be accompanied by -well-trained canine police. The role of the latter will depend upon th"ir beat. In the ground flcor rooms the dogs will be big enough to tackle a burglar. Upstairs, whare the more delicate collections are placed, fox terriers, pug dogs, and so on will suffice to give the necessary warning. — Foxhounds are being trained to act as- caddies at Oxford, Pennsylvania, to hunt for los: balls. The training is being done by Mr Frank Duburow, a breeder of hounds and beagles. The dogs at first showed a desire to pick up the ball and retrieve it, but they are now so trained i that they simply stand guard over the , balls. j\ir Duburow is seeking to train collies for the same purpose, -so that they en carry the clubs on their backs, thus abolishing the human caddie altogether. — The Neapolitan hooligan is a lazzaro, from an old Spanish word msaning leper or pauper. In Calcutta he is a bwdmash, literally "bad man." In Birmingham he is a pealky-blinder, or they say of him in a roundabout fashion that "ha carries the stick," which means the same thing. New York is content to know him as a tough, or a Bowery Boy. Scorpion is the name applied by the British resident in Gibraltar to the half-bred, half-baked variety of the j typo who infects the dark and devious j alleys of the Old Town. The hooligan has many ether names, too, bs«ide these ; but his main characteristics are the same. where\or mot. Assault and robbery he reAels in. Work he diidains. In short, he is the typical '"criminal in the making" cf Lombrci-o and \ua diecipls*.