MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2929, 4 May 1910, Page 66

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—On incomes of £6O and upwards a graduated tax was imposed in Great Britain in. 1799. —ln the naphtha works at Baku a naphtha spring has appeared yielding about 100,000 poods (3,600,0001 b avoirdupois) of naphtha in 24 hours - —ln 1866 Mr Arthur M. Kavanagh, who ihad neither arms nor legs, was elected to [Parliament. . The first University boat race rowed in outriggers was in the year 1846, when Cambridge won by two lengths. Thimbles are said to have been found at Hereulaneu.ni, and were long ago used iby the Chinese t Under the Kaiser's reign Germany s naval expenditure has risen from £2,500,000 to £20,000,000. . —Tibet is said to have been a kingdom BO long as 313 8.C., and was formerly held by China fiom 1255 to 1720. _ _ —That eombs are of ancient origin may :be gathered from the fact that they were found in the ruins of Pompeii. The last time the Dalai Lama fled from Lhassa was in August, 1904, the day after the arrival of the British force under GeneTal Maedonald. Discussing Irish affairs, the House ot Commons sat 21 hours consecutively in August 26 to 27, 1880, and 2 r hours in JanuarN 25 to 26, 1881. Different colours are said to be due simply to different rates of vibrations. To red are attributed 458 millions of millions of vibrations per second, and to violet 727. —One noteworthy feature about royalties is that none have been called "baby." From their "earliest years the royal children are always called by their names or possibly by some pet name, but an Prince or Princess is nevei called "baby" either by relatives or by his (or her) nurses. the age of ave a prince is styled "sir by his attendants, and a princess "madam. —lt was in 1309 that the first 'clock known to the world was placed in the town of San Eustorgio, in Milan. In 1344 a clock was installed in the palace of the nobles' at Padua. This was a wonder ot mechanism indeed, for besides indicating the hours it showed the course of the sun, the revolutions of the planets, the various phases of the moon, the months and the fetes of the year. The period of the evolution from the clock to the watch was 71 years—not so verv long, all things considered,—and the record of the first watcn is 1380. A half-century later an alarm clock made its appearance. Apropos of toe Howe copy of the Shakespeare first folio, which has just been acquired by Ml James Glen, of Glasgow, at may be interesting to recall that from an opening bid of £SOO the book wen. up to £2025 at the sale of Earl Howe a fine series of Shakespeare and other vorka on ■December 21, 1907. The folio contains an old price mark of. 255. This was just about the original value of the work, wnue a copy, the first recorded at auction, was publicly sold'in 1636 for 14s. J.'he record sum for a first folio under the hammer in England is £3600, realised for the fine Van Antwerp example in 190 1. —ln some Oriental climes the natives ■who find themselves unable to obtain sleep by natural means prevail upon their fronds 4c administer to them very severe fla&eUajfcions with bamboo canes. The pain thus sutained is supposed by the natives in question to bring on a reaction in the shape of a sensation of drowsiness, fcllowed by sleep. It is a well-known fact that a child who has been chastised will readily fall asleep soon afterwards if the opportunity is afforded, so that these natives probably have reason on their side; bu f . all tne same, there are few insomnia ipatients in this country who would resort ■to so drastio a measure for curing their complaints. 1 —The Lai. Journal regards it as a little .strange that in a Cabinet containing an ■unprecedented number of lawyers the office of Home Secretary should be again held by a layman. But our contemporary admits that precedent is rather against the view th.it the Home Secretary ought to ibe a lawyer. During the past half-cen-tury the office has been held more frequently by a layman. Sir George H. Lewis,-Sir George Grey, Mr. Robert Lowe, Mr Hugh Childers, Sir Matthew White RidJey, Mr C. T. Ritchie, Mr Akers-Doiiglas, Mr Herbert Gladstone, a,'nd Mr Winston Churchill are to be numbered among the laymen: and Mr Spencer Walpole, Mr Gathorne-Hardy, Sir Richard Cross, Sir "William Harcourt, Mr Henry Matthews, and Mr Asquith among the lawyers who have occupied the position during the past SO years.

Every one of the thousands of ropes used in the British naval service, from the smallest heaving line to the largest hawser, •whether it is used on board ship or in a dockyard, has woven into one of its strands a single red thread. This practi.ee has .prevailed since the days of Nelson. Many romantic suggestions have been advanced as reasons for this red thread; but, as a matter of face, the rea,l reason is a simple and practical one —simply that it affords a sure •means of identification of State property, and if any rcpe containing the red thread is found in unauthorised hands the presumption is that it is improperly possessed. It is forbidden that ropes manufactured for private use contain a similar red. (thread, as it is forbidden that any paper in the' United States contain bits of silk Buch as are placed in the paper from which ■the national currency is made.

Saint-Denis, who was a well-known figure in Parisian artistic circles 50 years ago," had eo trained his attention as to . be able to follow his dreams consciously and to remember them on waking. After long practice he determined io try to modify j the course of his dreams solely by an effort | of will; this he found he could do as . readily as he could, when awake, change the direction )f his steps ca* the subject. of •conversation. He ~ then determined on a new experience—namely, to "evoke spectres " —that is to say, to create images in the dream-pictures in which he seemed to move. This also he succeeded in doing; and for 15 years he continued to experiment, so that ho proved to himself beyond all possibility of doubt that he could change at will a disagreeable dream into a pleasant one, and so on. He thus con- ■ eluded that by a sufficient training of the : will we may guide our .mind through the world of dream-life as well as, or even better than, we can guide our body through the happenings of the objective physical world of reality.—The Quest. j