MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3512, 5 July 1921, Page 45

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Giraffes are found only in Contra! and South Africa, chiefly in desert regions. The bee, in proportion to its size, is thirty-five times aS strong as a horse. The cost of making a Bank of England five-pound note is one halfpenny. A mosquito has twenty-two teeth, all of which may be seen through a microscope. A feature of Japanese weddings is the building of a bonfire made of the toys of the bride. A new tank, recently demonstrated in France, will cross trenches, swim on the surface of water, and then dive and crawl along the bottom. * —lf the United States of America were as densely populated as is Belgium, they would hold a population equal to that of the whole world. The population of Paris, according to the census taken recently, is 2,856,000 —an increase of only 16,(XX) since 1911. Cherry trees mature most rapidly when grown in old hop fields; hence Kent, the hop eounty, is also noted for its cherries. A new doll toy, which will “chatter” by means of concealed phonograph, has been designed. The records will, it is suggested, be an educational value to the fortunate children possessing these playthings. A race of white cannibals, recently rediscovered in South America by an American explorer, have not been seen by any white man since 1763, when Spaniards were reported to have caught sight of them. Among the paradise fish, found in China, the male blows bubbles until a sticky froth floats on the surface of the water; to the undersurface of this he transfers the eggs as soon as they are laid, guarding them from destruction by his mate. —Of 633 fatal accidents in the London metropolitan police area during 1920, 18 are attributed to push bicycles, 69 to horsedrawn vehicles. 118 to tramcars and motor buses, and 433 to other mechanically-pro-pelled vehicles. The telephone was a toy in 1876; the typewriter a crude arrangement in 1878; the electric industry a baby in 1879, when Edison invented the incandescent light; the phonograph was a curiosity in 1890; and moving pictures a flickering experiment in 1896. Sound is said to move at the rate of thirteen miles a minute, and. compared to light, it is* s slower than a snail. If we should hear a clap of thunder half a. minute after the flash of lightning, wo could calculate that the discharge of electricity was about 6ix and a-half miles away. Public hangmen’s fees have gone up. The pre-war fee was about £5 and expenses, but recently ha.ndmen have asked for. and received, £lO or more and expenses. There is no fixed fee for a hangman; in each case the fee is a matter of arrangement between the sheriff of the county and the executioner. The tailor of the future will take his measurements for a suit of clothes with the camera. A .special tane measure marked with big figures is fitted from the neck to the feet, and three others round the back, waist, and hips. A photograph is then taken of the tailor’s client from the front, side, and back. The tailor thus obtains a permanent record with all the necessary measurements. Toads of a tropical country, where they are accustomed to fireflies as on article of diet, will eat red-hot coals with avidity if offered to them. The experiment was tried by Mr W. N. F. Woodland, an AngloIndian. at Allahabad. It sounds a cruel trick, hut Mr Woodland, writing in Nature about it, says these toads have verv little s°nse of anything except hunger. Though the hot coals must have, burnt their throats a.nd stomachs., they did not seem to feel it. and would gulp three or four pieces before they realised that the glowing coals were not fireflies. Everyday Science). When a tornado or cyclone has passed over a swamp it often rains tadpoles in the neighbourhood, and a Whirlwind passing over a desert will catch up and carry away sand for hundreds of miles. The French and Italian Rivieras recently experienced (not for the first time) a “rain of blood.” Everything exposed to it was left crimson, and the superstitious regarded it as a sign and portent of dreadful things. But the rain had really deposited red sand brought by the wind from the Sahara. The Scottish Society of America met at Red Springs, North Carolina, with Judge J. P. M'Neill, of Florence, S.C., acting president, in the chair. Officers elected were: Governor Cameron Morrison, North Carolina, president; Dr C. G. Vardell. J. P. M’Neill, and J. M‘N. Johnston, vicepresidents; Mrs Beatrice Bullock, Red Springs, secretary and treasurer; and Rev. John M’Sween, Rowland, chaplain. It was decided to co-operate in producing next, year on the campus of Flora Macdonald College. Red Springs, the pageant of Flora Macdonald. A number of relics on view yvere examined with interest. These included a locket containing a sprig of white heather, a snuff box presented to Flora by Allen Macdonald on their wedding day, a brooch containing a lock of Flora’s hair and a lock of Charles Edward Stewart’s, and a piece of paid worn by Charles Edward Stewart in the Highlands after Colloden. A real genuine London fog is, as most people realise, extremely dirty, as well as unpleasant (comments Everyday Science), but even the most disgusted housewife may he surprised at the actual amount of grime ** in lb weight that the fog-atmosphere car ries about. Recently a tine sample gave the Met corological Office an opportunity they had been waiting for for a long time; they promptly put it through the new weighing machine that they oevised. and found that there were 111 b of dirt to every million cubic yards of fog. As 31b of dirt in the same extent of atmosphere will make an appreciable fog, it. will be gathered that the specimen was a good one. The weighing machine is a piece of pure white tissue, paper, through which samples of fog are forced. '! lie amount of dirt is calculated from the degree to which ihe white paper is coloured and darkened. The amount of dirt borne in the air of a big and smoky city is astonishing. It is calculated that in the course of a year considerably over 11 tons of airborne dirt are deposited on each square kilometre of London. The city, however, is steadily growing cleaner, for in 1916 the deposit was more than 14j tons, and it has steadily? decreased year by year since. The air is dirtiest in London about 10.30 a.m. ; it then cleans and becomes dirty again between 4 »nd sp. m. The kindling of morning and •vening fires is mainly to blame for the ptil ution.