MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3148, 15 July 1914, Page 59

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—lt was stated at a congress at Edinburgh recently that the clerks throughout the kingdom number about 700,000. Quilp’s place of residence on Tower Hill, described in “The Old Curiosity Shop,” is, owing to its condemnation as unsafe, now being demolished. —At a sale of rare porcelain at Christie’s £2IOO was paid for' a pair of Chinese famillc rose beakers 19in high. A large new island has appeared above the surface of the sea to the east of Formosa as a result of the recent eruption of Mount Sakuraehima.

With wings measuring 6ft lin from tip to tip, a gannet —a seabird rarely seen in England—has been killed; near Williton, West Somerset. Two houses at Farcet, near Peterborough, which were marked for demolition, have been sold for a pint of beer, the purchaser undertaking to pull them down. A potato-peeling machine costing £l6O is to be supplied to the Joyce Green Infirmary by the Metropolitan Asylums Board. Having selected as a nesting-place a small box in which a bell rings whenever a train is approaching Torrington (Devon) Station, a tom-tit is quietly sitting on several eggs. • . While m Rome recently an Aberdeen tradesman, Mr Sunderland, purchased from a hawker a statuette of a Roman soldier, sin high, for 10s. It was thought to bo bronze, but examination now shows it to be gold. Although-, not yet 15 years of age, Master Ernest A. Moore, of Alma street, Quecnsbury, has been appointed organist at Providence Congregational Church, Ovenden, Halifax. There were 25 applicants for the post. A chemist at Siena, named Partini, claims to have discovered a new method of permanently preserving the human body in perfect condition after death. He is now exhibiting a corpse of a man of 30, which has been left lying in the open air for four months after treatment. The body is just as it was at the time of death, even the eyes remaining unaltered. The moving stairways at the Oxford Circus Station of the B«:kcrIoo railway are now in operation, and the electric lifts have been dispensed with. These _ escalators are the largest in the world, being capable of transporting 27,CG0 people hourly. There is accommodation for 600 people at one time on the two stairways. The journey between the street and the trains occupies about a minute and a-half. A satchel with a burglar-alarm attachment is one of the latest 1 , ideas for protecting bank messengers and paymasters from thieves. Inside the satchel are bells and a revolver loaded wuth blank cartridges, under the control of a mechanism similar to the combination lock on a. safe. As long as the satchel is in the hands of the messenger it is quiet; but as soon as he lets go of it the bells begin to ring and the revolver is fired. The most wonderful clock in the world has 95 faces, and indicates simultaneously the time of day at 30 points on the earth’s surface, besides the movement of the earth around the -sun, the phases of the moon, the signs of the zodiac, the passage over the meridian of move than 50 stars of the Northern Hemisphere, and the date according to the Gregorian, Greek, Mussulman, and Hebrew calendars. 1 This marvellous clock is at St. Petersburg. Mountaineering as a cure for corns was mentioned by Professor Roget, of the University of Geneva, in a lecture before the Royal Society of Medicine in London Thirty-five years’ experience of summer and winter mountaineering, he said, had taught him with unfailing regularity that he was most light-hearted and happv at an' altitude of from 5000 ft to 6000ft.’ As if by magic his corns disappeared, and then rheumatic pains and similar ailments vanished or lessened their hold perceptibly day by day, only to reappear when he returned to a low altitude. The largest accident pobey ever issued to a theatrical organisation _has been taken out at New York bv over ItX) of America’s most prominent actors, who shortlv start on their annual nine-dav tour, under the auspices of the Lambs’ Club, of New York. The total amount called for by the policy is £500.000. and the premium paid by the club was £1250. The Lambs will be insured against any accident that may befall them during their nine-day gambol. Having recently accomplished the triple run of 156 miles between London and Brighton, Mr C. W. Hart has now issued a challenge for £IOOO to am- three men to run from Brighton to London and back twice, a distance of 208 miles, no country or colour boms 1 barred. In the event of the challenge not being taken up, he is prepared to back himself for the same amount to run the distance against the Brighton coach, provided only two changes of horses for the whole journey and two drivers are allowed. Ordinary goods delivery vans may soon be replaced by aeroplanes, if the successful experiment recently 'made at Chalons (France) is to be fob owed up. A start in" this novel method of express delivery has been made bv the aviator Lacrouz". who has delivered a barrel of wine from a lecal hotelkroner to one of his customers some m’les nut in the country. The revenue authorities, nevertheless, demanded toll as though the cask had been delivered bv road, and this was paid on a sample of the contents of the barrel. During the course of a short but sharp thunderstorm wb'ob passed over Ardiejo-h. Bugland. Good Fa’l the residence of Mrs Back, was struck bv lightning, a large kitchen stack being cut completelv in halves, one-h-lf remaining standing. The fluid then travelled into the maid’s bedroom, smashing the stove and mantelpiece, and driving the stove into the room. It ripped up the carnet and split the paper off the walls of the bathroom adjoining. It then ran along 47ft of piping all round the bouee breaking the joints off. and under a large water tank to the pipes of an ornamental fountain in the front of the house, bursting all the pipes of the fountain. The “Model Town” on the TOntuckv side of the Ohio River, opposite Evansville find.), consisting of 10 acres of land, a citv ball and electr'c light, and power plant, was sold bv auction for biick faxes to the only bidder tor flopo The p r opertv is valued at over £6OOO. The town was laid out four or five years ago bv a man named Brown; who announced that the town would be run on tbe Utopian plan. Stores, factories, and all other businesses were to bo operated bv the people, and all citv ordinances wore to bo framer! by the citizens in town meetme-a After Brown disappeared the inhabitants left the town. A bath of paraffin wax, heated)-, to 125 deg Fahr . is the new and extraordinarily effl cacions tr-atment for rheumatism, gout. <lciatica, lumbago, and kindred affections.

The method, which is called the Keritherapy, has been described by its discoverer, Dr Barthe de Sandfovt, to the Academy of Medicine; which is unanimous in regarding it as a precious contribution to medical scence. Dr de Sandfort had for some time used plasters of superheated wax on wounds, ulcers, burns, carbuncles, etc. These r.ot only removed all pain, but caused the Vyies to heal with almost miraculous rapidity. This led him to believe that wax' might advantageously be applied to the whole body. Accordingly, he went to an oil refinery and entered a vat containing a hundred gallons of boiling w r ax. Far from being burned, he experienced rather a pleasant sensation, and the after-effects were wonderfully exhilarating. He was so encouraged that ho tried the treatment on some patients, with results far exceeding expectation. Steamship men in New York say that the number of bicycles taken abroad by Americans for use on touring trips in recent years is so small as to be negligible. Time was when a different condition existed, when the bicycles and tricycles and tandems which annually went overseas in the holds of ocean steamers were numbered by thousands. The company which wished to make the greatest appeal for patronage was careful to afford every facility for the care and handling of the vehicles. These were the days before the advent of the motor car.