MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3031, 17 April 1912, Page 66

MULTUM IN PARVO.

_The skeleton alone of an average «Klftff Sum increases ftt _ an Th a rVi^orTa te 54 y^Fro g m one pound, ofsoap 25,344,000 B^l^ bl vear Can 4r n alien passengers ■William Ill's reign, in 10~0. {r<)m rt -S£. C 2»d n 3vtfW during Cheshire acre is 10,240 square.yards, I while the area of an Irish acre | Bq L at l SB foot of .cork weighs 151 b; a por-hydrometer. liveg - n the Un7tK.ngXn n have y been saved by means ' *J!&2S£ SS£ in 149. by Columbus, called Xaymaca, meanthree 'Varleycorns." these divisions being originally th/ length of. * well-dried grain of '• corn" of the barley. -Over 100,000 pedestrians pass over London Bridge m one day, vvhlie the number oT vehicles which cross this bridge exJudy shows were originated in Italy during the seventeenth century, and were probably introduced into England in the rei»n of Charles 11. ' , -Cinematograph films are made.of two has celluloid as its base, the other a composition known as acetate of cellulose. The latter is beconfcng more popular, as it is less inflammable There are some astrologers in China, but not many, as astrology is a very perilous profession. When one of these so-called prophets predicts an event which does not occur he promptly loses his head. Native compositors of the Journal ot Kantanga, the first Congolese newspaper, which has just appeared in the Belgian Congo, have gone, on strike. They claim that all their names should appear on the When IJoyd's has undertaken to re- j pfiace any lass incurred in a ship or its | cargo, agents of the company follow every movement of the ship until it reaches its destination. „ . Swiss cowbells have been introduced into the Himalayas as protection for cattle against tigers The latter always run away as soon as they hear the bells. ried woman, the mourning colour is pcarlet. The coffin, the hearse, the trappings of the horse, and the livery of the driver are all scarlet. . The shooting fish, a native of the East Indies, has a hollow, cylindrical beak. When it sees a fly on the plants that grow in shallow water it ejects a single drop of water, which seldom misses, and, striking the fly mto the water, the ft*h obtains its prey. The crown worn by the Czar of ltussia on State occasions' is surmounted by a cross formed of five magnificent diamonds, resting upon an immense uncut but polished ruby. The ruby lies upon 11 large diamonds which in turn are supported by a mat of pearls. and long, a small, round eye is considered ap extraordinary beauty. Chinese girls pluck their eyebrows to make them very fine. Turkish women paint their eyebrows ■with gold, and at night the effect is very odd and not displeasing. the 21 English Coronations that occurred between William II and Elizabeth, both inclusive, were held on Sunday. For each qf the exceptions there was a special reason. Since the days of Elizabeth not a single Coronation has taken place on a Sunday At a wedding that took place recently at Colombo, Ceylon, the bridegroom dressed up as the' bride, and the latter as the former, and the ceremony was gone/ through without the two people concerned being identified. Their friends are now questioning tho validity of such a marriage. Cooing counles who indulge in the I questionable habit of courting by post may be interested to learn that it is a punishable offence in Austria for lovers to vary ... tho official position of a postage stamD, whether on a card or on a letter, to indicate their sentiments. An enterorimag housewife at Cottonwood Falls. Kansas, has discovered a new use for c«ts. Every now and then she buys samples of milk from several dairymen. !The samples are put into saucers ond given to the cat. Tho richest milk is lapped up first, and the dairyman who supplied it gets the lady's custom. i —'Hangmen's autographs aro not 'a Valued marketable property. A few day 3 ago a collection of letters bearing the signatures of Calcraft. Berry, and Billinqrton, with the autograph of the notorious Crippen thrown in, only realised 17s at a London sale. Berry's autograph appeared on

a letter to an editor, protesting that an lnv poster had been attracting to himself a certain amount of attention by declaring in the public houses of the district that he was Berry. , Wives are still obtained by purchase in some parts of Russia. In the district of Kamvshin. on the Volga, for example, this is practically tho only way in which i marriages are brought about. The price of a prettv girl from a well-to-do family ranges from £2O to £4O, and in special cases a much ' higher sum is obtained. In the villages the lowest price is about £5. It is customary for the fathers of the intending bride and bridegroom to haggle for a long timo over the price to be paid for tho lady. A young farmer whose father cannot afford to pay for a wife for him need not think of getting married. From the days of antiquity it has always been a problem unsolved how to ensure the secrecy of letters. A Frenchman named Phion claims, however, to have discovered tho real method, which is as simple as tho egg of Columbus. Tho invention is thus described: —The envelope looks very like an ordinary one, but the tongue is a kind of loop, prolonged so as to fit the gummed j end to the upper right-hand corner, which ; is slit. The tongue is inserted, and further I fixed by tho stamp being stuck over it. The system is simplicity itself, and, except by ripping open the envelope or tearing c|!F the stamp, it is impossible to get at the letter inside. Among the peoples of the globe the Japanese, in their use of tobacco, as in many other things, would seem to be the most refined. They stuff! a little rolled pill of the fine-cut leaf into a bowl smaller than the smallest acorn cup, thrust it into the glowing charcoal, and inhale deep into the lungs just one fragrant whiff of the blue smoke, which they expel by mouth and nostrils. Then they snake out the little burning plug into the bamboo receptacle and load up again, valuing only the first sweet purity of the lighted luxury. " At the bottom of the pipe," they say, " there lives poison." —ln Germany the value of hands and fingers has been carefully appraised for insurance purposes. According to a scale agreed upon between the various accident insurance companies, losing the right hand lowers the earning capacity of a manual labourer by 80 per cent., and the loss of the left hand by 70 per cent. The thumb represents 20 per cent, of his total earnings. The first finger of the right hand is valued at 14 per cent., the middle finger at 10 per cent., the third finger at 7 per cent., ! and the littl© finger at 9 per cent. And J what is to happen to the left-handed man , whose left fingers are an asset in cricket? 1 A dog which has been trained "to steal has been arrested by the French police. 1 > was caught in the act of stealing a pair of lady's shoes from an establishment in Noisy-le-Sao. His procedure was so cunning that it left no doubt among the police that the dog's was no " untutored mind." Nothing could be learned from the animal at the police office, so it was decided to shut him up without food. After some hours' confinement the dog was released, and a police cyclist was in readiness to follow the dog home, but that dog, when liberated, instead of rushing home, deliberately walked to the other side of the road, and there sat down on a doorstep and waited events, every now and again throwing suspicious glances at the police in waiting. Finding that thero was no chance of the dog going home, he was again taken into the police office and sent to tho fourriere, where he met an untimely end. i - .