MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 3574, 12 September 1922, Page 51

MULTUM IN PARVO.

• A man cannot be accrued legally of Shelling his wife. Basket-making is one of the oldest industries in the world. . . There are about 40 varieties of osier willows known to botanists. After using her coffin for nearly 50 years as a dinner-table, a French octogenarian was recently buried in it. Polo was played by women 400 years ago. To-day there are about half a dozen women polo players in thjs country. Locusts are appearing in such numbers in parts of Spain that they . stop trains, and Government aid is being enlisted against them. Dartmoor Prison (England) was built to receive prisoners of war during crur struggles with Napoleon. Fitting up the Majestic, our largest Kner, was a costly proceeding, the stores including 16,000 cups, 30,000 plates, 2400 teapots, and 8000 tumblers. Food prices in South Africa are only 19 per cent, above those of July, 1914 ; and in the United States the increase is 36, in Australia 40, and in, Canada 42 per cent. “That Monday feeling,” which most office-workers suffer from, is now said to be due to office windows being closed during the week-end, thus making the air stale. —Of the hundreds of children, between three and six years of age, examined in a London school clinic, none enjoyed the amount of sleep decreed as necessary by the doctors. Chola women, of South America, are stated never to remove a petticoat, clean ones being added as required; some of them are credited with as many as 40 of these garments. The first case of a wild animal suffering from rabies has just been reported from India, where a panther, which was killed after attaching several people, was found to be suffering from this conjplaint. Blowing white dust down mine tunnels to increase the illumination is the latest scientific aid against "'miners’ blindness,” a disease which costs the country £1,000,000 annually. Although the number of birds and animals in the London Zoo was much higher last year than in the previous year, the cost of upkeep has fallen remarkably; provisions which cost £10,505 in 1920 were £7OO cheaper last year. —By pressing a key on the brontometer. an observer can register, not only the number of lightning flashes, hut also the exact time at which each one occurs. Scientific methods for cutting down the fatigue of factory workers is proving successful, the result in one confectionery factory being a 27 per cent, increase in efficiency. - Blinded by the “living screen” of caterpillars hanging by their suspension threads, a motorist recently lost control of his car on a Surrey road and ran over a bank. Fortunately no one was hurt. Tough wood, or wood that is hard to split, is so because the fibres of which it is composed cross and interlace each other. The wood of the elm is a familiar example. The toughest wood known is lignum vitae. It cannot be split by ordinary means. —ln the Spalding district of Lincolnshire, England, flower-growers are using electric light in order to secure early blooms. Glasshouses are being fitted with Powerful, electric lamps, and during a part of the night, and on sunless days, the light is switched on. Generally speaking, animals require much less sleep than human beiijgs. The most hard-worked member of the fourlog’goa creation., the horse, is invigorated and ready for work after only four hours of repose. Discovery of the secret of the reproduction of the light of the glow-worm is e.aimed by Professor H. Newton Harvey, of Prirreeton University IU.S.A.) The glow-worm’s light is 97 per cent, light and °“y 3 , PT r , <»nt. heat, a ratio which no artificial light can approach. The term “carat,” in the case of diamonds, means weight, and not, as in the case of gold, quality, and is derived from an Indian seed which, when dry, is absolutely uniform in weight. A diamond weighing 100 carats, therefore, is one that seeds 1 ™ Mme weight as 100 of these Indian -Because a snail has 14,175 teeth it does ~m e, a n sna ds can bite more effectively than we can with only 32 Similarly because crabs have more eves Gian we have, they cannot see any better. When you meet a crab upon the rocks this summer, have a good look at him It mav anpear to you that ho has only two eyes' m the form of two small black spots at the end of two little stalks. Through a magnifying glass, however (if vou have one in your pocket), you will be able to see that each eye is actually composed of hundreds or even thousands of very tiny eves packed closely together. The tiny eves are square m shape, and an ordinary crab mav easilv possess as many as four thousand, all told ' We have only two. but wo possess the power to move onr two eves about, which a crab does not. The crab’s eves are fixed and cannot, be moved from side to side or uj and down Nature has therefore ’ defilm erv t.lvof clyoll .. I £ all around him without, moving his eves—and it is as well to remember this w-hen chaw* mg a Crab Wlfh Particularly big A novel note was struck recently in America, when two boys, each 14 years of age, met to decide the “marble-shooting” championship of the world.” The holder of the title, Hilaries “Buster” Rech, of New Jersey, was challenged by Michael Troiano champion of New York ; the contest being held at the former city. 'The superintendent of State playgrounds laid out a circle one foot in diameter, placed 10 marbles in it, and marked off the first shooting lino 20ft away. He then announeed the rules through a megaphone and the contest began. The first, “round” wan won by the defender of the title amidst great excitement. In the second “round,” however, the challenger played magnificently, and easily outclassed his opponent, who wan in f)pcnorntp position whop f»wm a distant of 15ft. he hit Troian o’s remainin g marble a resounding smack, and was proclaimed champion of the world. “Buster” was presented with a silver cup, which he will again have to defend against a Now York boy. There will probably ho many other claimants to the title. The winner ■hot with the knuckle, Troiano with the thumbnail, and tbe result is held t.o establish the •opromacy of the former method.