MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3525, 4 October 1921, Page 51

MULTUM IN PARVO.

Trial by jury is said to have existed in 2COO b.c. . T Tire dome of the Palace of Juatice in Brussels is made of papier mache, Thirty-five secretaries required to deal with the Pope’s correspondence. -—Each female salmon yields approxi mately 5500 eggs each year. Women farmers in the United fatates number over 260,000. The swallow’s mouth, in proportion to its size, ia larger than that of any other bird. , . , Apphcations of electrical currents to growing crops has increased the yield by 21 per cent. Unemployment in France has sunk to about 0.1 per cent, of the total population. The British Red Cross received £16,500,000 in voluntary contributions during the war. Pianos are to be taxed in Pans at tile Tate of 30 francs for an upright and 60 francs for a grand. Bees have been trained to start anu stop work at the sound of a gong by a breeder of Fleet, Hants. Planting hair on bald heads by a little electric machine is a novel invention of an American doctor. —A cherry tree at Sittingbourne, Kent, which still bears fruit, w 7 as planted in the reign of Henry Till. Ladybirds are being imported into certain American States from China to lignt a disease which is attacking fruit trees. -—Each pupil at a London secondary school costs a total of £42 each yea l ", of which £2B is paid by the State and country. - One teaspoomul of good arable son contains more living organisms tlian there are human being in the whole U nited Kingdom. , More than 1200 blind men have a.ready been established in trades and professions tlirough the medium of St. Dunstan’s. —-Any iiomeiess man in London can obtain, on application to the police or at the night offices of the Metropolitan Asylums Beard, a ticket entitling him to supper and a bed. Llforts are also maae to find him employment. —in Japan Hue metric system became legal in 1913, and now, after eight years to give the people time _to adapt themselves to the new units, the system has been made compulsory, the same P*au has been followed in China and Siam, where it is still in the preparatory stages. ‘two 14,000-ton navy colliers engaged in towing two barges of the Panama Railway Steamship Company, with a displacement of 7500 tons each, have recently been equipped with wireless telephones in order to keep in contact with one another in rough weather. The barges are also similarly equipped. - A reversible turbine, the invention of a Brazilian, Fausto Pedreira. Machado, is now being perfected for commercial manufacture bv a company in the State of Delaware, U.S.A It is claimed that the new mechanism will revolutionise marine propulsion, as it will cost less to manufacture, will reduce operating costs, and will be positively reversible. A considerable industry has been developed at the foot of the French Alps ,n the manufacture of ferro-silicon by the aid of the electric furnace. Ferro-silicon is an indispensable agent in the metallurgy of iron and steel, being as important in that respect as manganese. For a long time it - was produced only with the blast furnace. All dewdrops are perfectly round. Dew is deposited only on a fine, clear night. Evening dew is unhealthy, being laden with noxious exhalations. More dew is deposited on cultivated than on uncultivated land. Dew will not stay on rose leaves, because these have an essential oil in them. Dew rolls off cabbage and like leaves, because they are coated with a fine waxen powder. Dew is most abundant in exposed situations, there being: less to arrest the radiation of the earth’s heat. There is no dew after a windy night; it is evaporated as fast as produced. We get most dew alter a hot summer’s day. Little or no dew is ever deposited on smooth stones, polished metal, or woollen material. If there were no sunsets there would be no dew, and vegetation would perish. It is the sun’s withdrawal, and the cooling ot the earth, plants, etc., by radiation of theii heat, that makes them cold enough to condense the air vapour into dew. Nature’s wisdom is shown by the fact that plants with woolly leaves require most moisture and it is those leaves -which radiate most heat, and therefore get most dew. There are skies blue, red, yellow, blade and grey. What makes the colourings, anc what do they portend? Fifst. it must be noted that there is really no “sky” in the sense that poets write of it as the “archiny dome.” What -we call the sky is just air plus the illusory effect of distance. Ant a blue, rod, or other coloured “sky” i; only air which is holding or reflecting blue rc-d, or other rays. A yellow sky is tha colour because the air is moist. Moist- ai is more transparent than dry, and it allow the yellow rays to pass. A yellow sunse is an indication of wet, because the colon shows that the vapours in the air art already condensed into clouds, which wii soon discharge as rain. A blue “sky” i brought about in a somewhat peculiai fashion. The weak blue rays of light which are reflected upwards from the earth cannot get through the air, and are there fore sent down again. So we get a pre dominant blue vision or a blue “sky.” L grey sky at sunrise is caused by the ai being sufficiently clear to allow the thre< main coloured rays—blue, red, and yellowto pass, with feeble intensity. This combi nation is a “grey.” A red sky''mean that the air is so dense that it stops a] but the red rays. This air densitv is du to a great excess of vapour at the point c condensation into rain. Thus “red in th morning” portends a. net day. Certain surnames arc prominent in th records of achievement. Take Napier, fc instance. As soldiers, sailors, diplomats and authors, men bearing ties name hav made history. The families of Wordswoit and Coleridge have contributed splendi talent to Church, Bar, and literature Another name which shines is ficott. ( course, dir Walter is the great- Scott, hr many of 'hat, name who bear no relation e!iip to the author of “Wave-ley ’ hav added lusi'ro to the record of this famoi surname. But if is doubtful if any Brit is name can beat the record of Russell. Lor John Russell was a distinguished Prim Minister; Lord Russell of Killowen was great Chief Justice; Sir William Hovvar Russell was the greatest of war correspoi dc-r.ts; G. W. E. Russel! was a. famoi man of letters and a brilliant essayist while there are many other well-know Bussells to keep up the honour of t-1 name.