MULTUM IN PARVO

Otago Witness, Issue 3333, 30 January 1918, Page 47

MULTUM IN PARVO

When she declared war against Austria Italy had only 80 flying machines, most of which were of French make. Now she has 3COO, all _ made in Italy, and all of the latest design. Three meatless days a week have been appointed in Constantinople sinco November 1, and 'the slaughtering of cattle has been restricted to 11 slaughter-housce. Regarded as the oldest coroner in England, Dr Samuel, coroner for North Somerset, recently completed 50 years' service. He is 84, and still going vigorously. Ho has held 3000 inquests. Sergeant H. Ernest Phillips, of the Suffolks, who is only 4ft ll£in, and who was said to bo the smallest sergeant in the British army,, has just received his discharge after serving for more than two years, mostly in France. —lt is roughly calculated that over a quarter of a million tons of potatoes, valued at £2,500,000, have been raised during the past year by allotment holders—a year's supply for about 3,000,000 persons. Since the commencement of the war tho Army Contracts Department has bought some 400.,000,000 tins of preserved meat, roughly equivalent in weight to 'that of six super-Dreadnoughts. Europe where there has not been a single strike of any importance during the past two years. It is also a notable fact that since the beginning of the war not a single Italian newspaper has been seized or suspended.

Mechanical arms weighing lilb each are now being supplied to crippled French officers and soldiers. A French airman who lost bo'tly arms at "Verdun gave an illustration of what could bo accomplished with the artificial arms. Picking up a needle, taking a match from a box and striking it, picking up a penny and putting it in hia pocket, and unbottoning his coat were actions easily carried out by the lieutenant. The movements of tho arm and fingers are made by means of a fine metal cable, which is pulled by the wearer on moving his shoulders or expanding his lower ribs. The hand is beautifully modelled in copper and nickel; each finger moves separately. —ln Washington a huge etock of gold is housed in the vaults of tho United States Treasury. A corridor in tho basement has been shut off by steel gates, and the gold is stacked up like bricks awaiting ' the mason's hand. In that pile is 1200 tons of _ pure gold, much of it representing British coins sent to Washington in payment of war supplies, and molted down in tho assay office next door. Each brick is worth about £I6OO. and the .total value is more than £150,000,000. '_ A boom in Spiritualism is one of the by-products of the war. London has never been so full of "mediums" as it is at the present time, and these harpies, who live on tho gullibility of a section of the public, have never reaped such a harvest as they are now raking in week by week. Numbers of grief-stricken widows and mothers, anxious to clutch at any straw which promises to bridge the chasm of death, have foolishly allowed themselves to be deluded by the swindling "seance" fraternity, who pretend to receive "messages" in various forms.

; —V Gunner," writing in the Spectator, says there must be millions of rats destroyed on the battle front in France by the gas. Apparently they rush to the surface when they smell the fumes, and die by thousands; yet before 12 hours are over the beggars are swarming just as thick as ever. One captain tells a story of being out on a listening patrol, and not daring to move owing to the proximity of an attentive < sniper. All the time a huge rat was '.nibbling his packet of bread and cheese, and making indigan't remarks to another rat that wanted to share in the feast.

Unusual scenes were witnessed on the South Coast, says a writer in the -Yorkshire Evening Post, when fishermen who launched their nets to trawl the foreshore caught, instead of fish, barrels of wine, which the heavy ground swell of the previous day had stirred up from 'the sea bed and .swept shoreward. These hogsheads, over 20 in munber, were found floating a stone's throw from the shore, and they evidently formed part of the cargo of some ship sunk. Each barrel contained about 60 gallons of choice red or white wines in good condition, and untouched by the salt water. In all there were over 1000 gallons, and as many as three barrels were .taken at one time* in one net.

Recently, in the vicinity of Scarborough, a fall of the cliff has revealed a hoard of 20 bronze weapons, which consisted of battleaxes, epears, chisels, gouges, portions of a sword, etc. Twelve of the axes, of the socketed type, are perfect. One shows the unusual featiire of a rivetholo in place of a loop for secure hafting; another contained a portion of the original wood shaft. Some of the axes are in their rough state, as if just turned out of the mould; others have obviously been in use. The collection evidently formed the stock-jn-trado of a metalworker of the Bronze Age, at least 1000 years before the Christian era.

Gratifying success has attended the ozono treatment department of the Queen Alexandra Hospital for Soldiers at Millbank, London. About 18 months ago the treatment, which consists of allowing a stream of ozone to pour into the innermos;; crevices of old chronic- wounds, was given an experimental trial. Now (writes the medical correspondent of the Daily Mail) it has taken its place as one of the most valuable means at the surgeon's disposal in tho_ carrying on of the cure of deep-seated, intractable wounds. From an iron cylinder oxygen is conveyed to a glass chamber, in which it passes through a tube of silica connected with an electric battery. The oxygen is here converted Into Kone, and thenco is poured out through a fine rubber tube inserted into 'the depths of the wound. Fifteen minutes' treatments, which are quite painless, are th.: daily dose. ropes, which in the past has characterised the ringing of church bells, electricity now makes possible the playing of chimes by merely pressing the various keys of a piano-liko keyboard. Electrically-operated chimes are now used expensively in mpiry theatres, and in some churches. The chimes consist of long metal tubes, suspended vertically from a wooden frame work; indeed, this design makes for the utmost compactness, as is evident from the fact tbat 16 tubular 'tower chimes require a floor space of only Bft by 10ft, and a height of lift. Each chime is struck by a solenoid-operated hammer, which in turn is operated from the keyboard through the agency of a relay.