MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3040, 19 June 1912, Page 70

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Peers of tho realm may sit in courts of justice with their heads covered. London employs more factory-workers than any other city in the United Kingdom - . , . , Budapest has 50 churches in which divine service is conducted in 12 different languages. —ln Spain street performers on the guitar are licensed, while organ-grinders are rigorously suppressed. Out of. every 1000 criminals convicted in England 19 are Scottish, 21 foreigners, 32 Welsh, 97 Irish, and 831 English. Tho River Dee in Scotland has more poems written in its honour than any other stream in the British Isles. —ln Madagascar silk is the only fabric used in the manufacture of clothing. It is cheaper there than other materials. Glass brushes are used b.y artists who decorate china. They are made of glass fibres as thin as spun silk. ' Seven vears ago the citizens of Munich consumed 120 gal of beer each annually. They now average but 70gal each. —By the rules of the air, two aircraft meeting each other must steer to the r,ight, and pa3g- at least 110yds apart. —As much as £4OO has been paid for an egg of the great auk. There are only 70 known specimens of the egg of this extinct bird. ... Denmark intends to stop the migration of eelß from the Baltio to the outer ocean by placing a unique barrier of submerged electric lights between the island of Faroe and the Fyen coast. Eels, which migrate in tho dark, will not, it is believed, cross this barrier. Heat holidays have been established by law in the elementary schools of Switzerland. Recognising the well-known fact th; the brain cannot work properly when the heat is excessive, the children are dismissed from their, tasks whenever the thermometer goes above a certain point. . A physician has discovered that the air of tho Egyptian desert is about as free from bacterial life as the Polar regions or the high seas. He considers tho desert would prove an excellent place for people suffering from rheumatism or consumption to take up their abode. —ln some parts of Ohina a traveller who requires a passport must have the palms of his hand brushed over with fine oil paint; he then presses his hand on thin, damp paper, which retains an impression of the lines. This is used to prevent transference of- tho passport, as no two palms are alike. Snow ie sold in the North of Sicily, where it fetches about id a pound. It is & Government monopoly, and the Prince of Palermo derives the greater part of his income from it. The snow, which is gathered on the mountains, in felt-covered baskets, is widely bought in the cities for refrigerating purposes. Rats, mice, and squirrels unceasingly knaw at something, not out of pure misohief, as people generally imagine, but because they are forced to. Animals of this class, especially rats, have teeth which continue to grow as long as the owner lives. This being the case, the rodent is obliged to continue his gnawing so as to keep his teeth ground oft to a proper length. Few languages spoken by civilised peoples have not been offered at one time or another by matriculation candidates at London. At the last examination alone Kpers in 18 foreign languages were set—panose, Swedish, and Irish being among the novelties, while Marathi, Tamil, and Gfujarati appeared once more. There was again no candidates in Italian. A Chines© wedding is a very simple ceremony, and is rapidly conducted. The bridal party enters trie temple and lights a quantity of fireworks, including a number of crackers. The noise is intended to wake the "Groat Joss" from his sleep. The priest repeats the service with the hurried uttorance of an auctioneer, the bride and bridegroom take two little glasses of wine, and are then declared man and wife. The bona-fide maimed and lame beggars of Paris streets have formed an association for the defence of their privileges against the impostors who encroach on . their boats. The president has been re- " ceived by M. Bourgeois, the Minister of Publio Works, who promises to consider their demand of a certificate after medical examination. This will hinder, they maintain, an honourable profession from being disgraced by bogus cripples, who are seldom brought to justice. Attempts have several times been made to "measure memory." One of the experiments consists in reading a series of figures to the subject, at a regular speed of about two per second, and observing how many he can repeat without error in the order in -which they were given. Tho faculty of voluntary attention is, of course, called into plav in this experiment. Children from six to eight years old- retain, on the average, five figures; children 10 years old, ■ix figures," and adults seven figures. A lightning calculator, can retain more than 40 figures.

Even a steamboat can climb a hill by going up ono step at a time. This remarkable performance can be witnessed several times daily during the season of navigation beside the "Vrang waterfall in the Bandsk Nordsje Canal, Norway. At this point falls in the river prevent the passage of boats up or down, and a canal has been built round the rapids and falls. The ascent is made through a series of locks which accommodate one boat at a time, and in passing from the lower to the upper- lock the boat is lifted about 90ft. The London County Council now been 15 years in the making of its great map of London. This extraordinary map, when complete, will show every house in the capital, and be a complete guide for all local authorities. Already the work has cost £15,000. and there is no telling where the cost will end. Two years ago a start was made with the ownership section, for every owner is to be marked on this great map, which will be a sort of modern Domesday Book. The map will represent 144 square miles. where the sun cannot go. Experience, long before science had revealed the existence of invisible hut deadly germs or proved their relation to the diseases which attack man-

kind, or demonstrated the inability of these malignant microbes to live exposed to pure junlight, had worked out the great fact that illness multiplies in dark dwellings and dwindles when the sun's rays have reasonable access to the homes of the people. The dark months of our year are the uinhealthy months (taking things generally), and the medical profession does not mako ft* hay when tho suu shines.