MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3510, 21 June 1921, Page 51

MULTUM IN PARVO.

The only pure white monkey known to exist was recently brought to London. _ —Up to the end of the second month of jife, human beings and apes pass through identical stages of development. A British soldier in khaki and a British sailor will appear in a new stained-glass window to be installed in St. Albans’ Uathdral. Fatal accidents in which London motorbuses were involved worked out last year at one Tor every 1,250,000 miles covered. —IF all the houses and buildings in Lon don were placed side by side in a long line, they would reach across the three great contients of Europe, Asia, and America. • —the annual cost to the nation of feeding the rats in the United Kingdom, at the rate of one penny per head per day, would pay for 2,640,000,000 loaves of bread. The charms of German girls proved of great attraction to American soldiers in the Army of Occupation on the Rhine, the result being that over 3000 frauleins became American brides. - —An extraordinary egg has been laid by a crossbred hen belonging to Mr J. L. Brown, a farmer, of Ashley Green, Herts. The egg weighed 7ioz, and contained a second egg inside —a perfect egg, even to the shell. The people of Amsterdam have been taught how to behave in public—i.e., which side of the path to walk, how to hold sticks and umbrellas, etc.—by means of an official cinematograph film. Births and Marriages in England and Wales during 1820 were the highest ever recorded. The number of deaths was the lowest since 1862. when the population was only about 20,C00.C00. There were 057,994 births and 466,213 deaths. A “poerhouso” for millionaires who have lost their wealth through business failure has been established in Chicago by means of a private bequest. Each member lias a private bath and the ttse of libraries and billiard rooms. A wonderful device has been perfected by Mr A. Ward, of the Great Central Railway Company. The appliance automatically closes and locks all the carriage dcors immediately the train is in motion, and they cannot be opened until the train stops. If a collision or fire should occur, however, the device at o'-ice frees tlio doors. formed at Port Arthur which will make rain in any agricultural district at any time desired, says Everybody Science. The moveing spirit is an ex-officer of the R.A.F.. and his plan is to use aeroplane, from which at a suitable altitude liquid air will be sprayed, thereby causing the moisture in the surrounding atmosphere to condense and fail to the ground. Reports on experiments with pigeons in determining sox in advance of birth are made by Oscar Riddle, of the Carnegie Institute. He found that the males responded at much greater speed than the females, and that by subjecting birds to oxygen pressure male monsters were developed. If this process can be developed, he declares, it may lie possible to induce artificial devi lopment by which sex can be determined in advance. - Why ;.= the nine of diamonds called the “Curse of Scotland':’’ Probably the most satisfactory explanation is that connected with the massacre of Glencoe. The order for this slaughter was signed by John Dulrymple. Farl cf Stair, the man who was instrumental in bringing about the union between England and Scotland. The coat of arms cf the Dalrymples Itoro nino lozenges or diamonds on the shield, and it was because of this, according to many students of heraldry, that the expression arose. It is certain that the nhrasc goes back to 1745, because on October 21st of that year a caricature appeared showing the young Chevali-. r attempting to lead herd of bill's across the river Tweed, with the nine of diamonds lying before them. Another explanation is connected with the theft of Queen ilarv's crown, which contained nine diamonds. ’Jo tep'aee these a heavy tax, referred to as “the curse of the nine diamonds,’’ was levied upon the Scots. The greatest waster in the whole world is rust. It costs Britain alone £32,000,000 yearly. When the oxygen of moist air combines with the sensitive surface of a metal it produces an oxide. ’J his is rust and nothing else. Alminium is the only metal that will not rust. Gold is genera'ly taken to be a rustless met"!, and it is true that it will not combine with oxygen of itself —without aid. that is. Given the aid. it will rust. Ornamental steel that with a purplish or lilac colour —is the worst rust or, because the colour tinge has been produced by part-oxidisation, and the pro ess begun artificially is continued naturally. Dry air will cause rust, bit the metal has to lcat a high temperature. A poker which has been made red-hot will rust when it cools. Grate-bars do the same. The flakes that come from red-hot iron when it is hammered are hut rust. The best preventive of rust i.- fat-oil varnish (cite part) mixed with re tpied spirits cf turpentine (five parts), and applied with a gc. The highest steel polish on mathematical instrument, lemaius absolutely unaffected if this solution is applied. Tinware is rendered practically immune from the r 11 —: fiend h. when tie.', the ware is smeared v.i'.li pine lard and baked in a hot oven. America, the land of “big things.” has Started work on the world's biggest bridge. It will span the Hudson Hit in- from New York to '.ler.-cv City, and its total length will be 8300 ft. apw oviwateb the distance fr< in fit. Fatd’s fathc r'i: 1 to Charing Cross. The centra! span will be ICOO yards, mis penile I from two steel towers, each gCOffc hitrh, by * I cables sft thick. The bridge will carry eight railway lines and two footpaths. and its construction will cost someti ' lik< £IO.(X .000. Although, when completed, it wit! be the biggest arid most solidly-constructed bridge in the world, if will not Ije by any means the longest. This distinction belongs to the one built- by British enginrets over the River Ganges, at Sara in t'<e Bengal Presidency of Judia. Covering a distance of about 15 miles this bri ■ < £4 00.000 Next to it. in point cf length, comes Uio Cernavoda Bridge, over tiic Danube, which is nearly twelve miles long, about the distance between Waterloo anti Surbiton. It was designed by a Frenchman, built by an Englishman, and bought by the Rumanian Government in 1852. The world’s loftiest bridge is that, spanning the Zambesi River, in South Afri-a. close to the Victoria Falls. It is 400 ft above the river-bed, approximately the same height as the cross on top of the dome of St. Paul’s is above the pavement.