MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3016, 3 January 1912, Page 66

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Some of tho restaurants of Germany serve food on paper plates. A ton of oil has been gained from tho tongue of a single whale. The bififeest apple orchard in tho world, in Kansas, contains 64,000 trees. Australia is said to bo capable of supporting about 100,000,000 inhabitants. Frog’s skin when tanned, though one of the thinnest, is one of the toughest leathers. Lord Mayor of London as a title was fust bestowed”in 1354 by Edward 111. ' —Sixteonpcnce is the English equivalent of an Indian rupee; a lac of rupees is 100.000. . Organs were known before the Erne of Christ, and were used in religious sorvicc-s early in tho Christian era. —• There are in London more Scotsmen than in Aberdeen, more Irish than in Dublin, more Jews than in Palestine, and more Roman Catholics than in Rome. “Have tho goodness to circulate” as tho phrase used by the Madrid policeman when he requests you to “ move on.” A stone house is not so durable as one of brick. A brick house, well constructed, will outlast one built of granite, —lt is computed that there is £800.000.000 worth of gold and jewels at the bottom of the soa on the route between England and India. Wild dogs are now one of the dangers of Indian jungles. Even tho tiger and panther flee before those now pests. Gorman engine-drivers are given a gold medal and a sum of money for every 10 years’ service without accident. \ pearl diver considers ho ha« done a good day’s work if he collects 200 shells. The record number taken in one day stands at 1000 shells. Tho elephant requires loss sleep than any other animal. In spite of their capacity for hard work, these giants seldom, if ever, sleep more than four, or occasionally five, hours. , . . , Tho swiftest bird is either the vulture, which is said to bo ab’o to travel at the rate of 150 miles an hour, or tho English kestrel, which can probably equal, if not exceed, this speed l . When the moon is full, in some parts of Africa objects are distinctly visible at a distance of seven miles; while print can be read with case by starlight.

Over 1000 ships of various kinds and sizes sail up and down the English Channel every 24 hours, and there are seldom fewer than 200 near Land’s End. Australia has cows enough to _ p v ® each man, woman, and chkd in the island continent throe apiece; while the Argentine can do even better —there are five cattle to each inhabitant in the big South American Republic.

Egypt is the only country in the world where there are more men than women. The male sex in the dominion of the Jvtiedive exceeds the female by 160,000. The Arabs show their friendliness when meeting by shaking hands six or cig times. Arabs of distinction go beyond this—they embrace each other several times. —To the sapphire has been, ascribed various times magical properties, the '' chief ones being: That it prevents wicked thoughts; and that it is such an enemy to poison that, if put in a glass with a spider or venomous reptile, it will kill it. , Serlby Ha'l, near Retford, the stately home of Viscount and Viscountess Galway, possesses the distinction, of being the only military hospital established in England y authority of the War Office for the reception of wounded in the event of_ invasion. —lt used to bo the custom m the Belgian Parliament to supply notonly the members but the reporters m thegallcry with brandy and water ad lib Evoiy member habitually spoke with a gl^ a ° f and water beside him, and when he bed finished it an energetic attendant brought otter ’ s is the costliest of all fur. A small skin has been sold tor £BO. and although this was a fancy price, from £SO to £4O is nothing out of thoimy. T e value is governed by the depth of the black colour, studded with sdver haire, richness of the fur. The catching of the sea otter is almost entirely confined to the °-VLtlllo*. fact that fl» to *»1 once a land animal. The babv scals afo actually afraid of the water; drown if thrown into it, and have to leain to swim by repeated efforts. _ When o - they have been taught to swim, however, thov soon forget to walk. . —To “cut one’s stick,’ meaning to run awav is an expression found not only in English, but also in French German. Italian, and Spanish. It is thought to refer to the practice among travellers for tong ago of cutting a staff from a hedge or tree before starting out on a journey. The Turkish woman is marriageable at the ago of nine years, and. by Turkish law, at that age, if married, she is com petent to manage her property and dispose of one-third of her fortune The law allows her to abandon her husband s house for just cause, and will protect her m so doing She cannot bo compelled to labour tor the support of her husband. ™ , -Among the nations of Europe Turkey is the only one which flies no bed in time of war. Though a party to tho Geneva Convention, Turkey has steadfastly refused to use the emblem of that Convention, the Greek Cross, to protect its sick and wounded in time of war. In place ot the cross tho Turkish Army Medical Corps make ufio of a red’crescent on a white is going to have 24-hour clocks. The railroad stations will be furnished with timepieces the faces of which will mark 24 hours instead of 12. On-o will no l° n g^ r take a train at 20 minutes past 1 m toe afternoon, bat at 13.20. Instead saying 4 o’clock, one will say 16 o clock. Theatrical performances will commence at 20 o’clock or half-past 20. , A French inventor has adapted trie microphone to tho discovery of underground water. One end of a tube is inserted in the ground, the upper end qemg attached to the microphone. Tho sounds of flowing or dropping water are conveyed to the oar from groat depths. _ In tho Marne Valley, France, two springe were rco-mtlv discovered with this apparatus at a depth of about 50ft below the surface of tho ground. .... Tho gun to destroy the airship is perfecting almost as fast as tho airship itself. Tho Ordnance Bureau of tho U.S.A. Navy Department has recently tested tho latest gun to lx? devised. It shoots a 11b bomo 18,000 ft into the air, at an angle of Psdog. Meanwhile, tho Ordnance Bureau of tho army has made a gun which has an effective range of seven miles, and which shoots a 61b bomb. Either gun would bring down an airship at any height it is likely to

attain. , Ail investigation into the causes or accidents among industrial workers carried on for a number of years in Gorrrany shows that t!ie greatest number of casualties occur on Saturday, while Monday is a close second. The largo number of _ accidents on Saturdays is generally explained by the fatigue “of the week telling on the men, but it is noted also that the Monday accidents are about as numerous. This gives rise to the suggestion that the day of rest is sometimes riot too wisely spent. Whatever mav be the opinion as to the practical results of the experiments of the aerial nost from Hendon to Mindsor, further attempts are to bo made in this direction. There is under consideration a project for an aerial postal service between Algiers and Timbuctoo. A schcm is in contemplation in Madagascar for a service between Antananarivo and Amboistra and Fianarnntsoa. In the United States schemes of a similar nature are before the postal authorities. It may bo recalled that a few weeks ago the aviator Pregi, on behalf of a Paris newspaper, brought letters from Rabat, in the interior of Morocco, with more or less success. —lt is an interesting coincidence that the birthdays of the man who saved England for the English and the man who S"ved India for the Emrlish both fall upon Michaelmas Dav. In other words, Michaelmas Dav was the annlvors,ary of the birth of .Tames Olive, in 1725, and of Horatio Nelson, in 1758. The former cleared the French out of India ns the latter cleared them out of the Mediterranean, and it is ot interest to recall til at the hero of Arcot and of Plassey was alreadv a hero before the v'etor of the Nile and Trafalgar was born. Plasscv was won bv Olive, a young man of 32. in 1757 —12 months before the birth cf Nelson, and 12 years before the birth of Napoleon.