New, Odd, Interesting.

Rodney and Otamatea Times, Waitemata and Kaipara Gazette, 23 August 1911, Page 3

New, Odd, Interesting.

A pair of wings for a monoplane cost about £40. A*n eagle can live without food for twenty-eight days.

An engine driver in France earns from £ 160 to £200 a year.

Longevity is said to be most frequent in countries of low birth-rate.

African cat-fish have the power of discharging an electric shock sufficiently powerful to disable a man.

Intoxicating liquors have been made from the sap of the birch, the willow, the poplar, and the sycamore.

A woman died recently from blood poisoning caused by rubbing a small sore on her face with her kid glove.

In Persia the dough for making bread is rolled out as thin as a pancake and as long as an ordinary bathtowel.

Seaweeds do not obtain nourishment from the soil at the bottom of the sea, but from the matter contained in seawater.

In certain parts of Mexico the natives hang- the nests of a large species of spider in their houses to entrap flies and other small insects.

The record of wrecks in the Baltic Sea is greater than that of any other part of the world. The average is one a day throughout the year.

The largest bed of salt in the world is said to have been discovered at Fort M'Murray, Manitoba. It is two hundred feet deep, and extends for three hundred miles.

The letters in the alphabets of the world vary from twelve to two hundred and two in number. The Sandwich Islanders' alphabet has the smallest number, the Tartarian the largest.

Between January Ist, 1909, and the corresponding date in 1910, the number of trade unions in France declined from 5354 to 5260, while the aggregate membership increased from 944,761 to 977.350.

It is reported that a North Dakota inventor has patented a hammer with a loop of metal under the face of the head, in which a nail can be held without the risk of smashing the user's fingers.

In a ton of water in the Caspian Sea there are nib of salt; in the Baltic, 18 lb; in the Black Sea, 261b; in the Atlantic, 3 ilb; in the English Channel, 721b; in the Mediterranean, 8slb; in the Red Sea, 931b; and in the Dead Sea, 1871b.

Experiments prove that the lignite coals of Texas are excellent fuel for stationary plants and domestic purposes. The time is not far distant when the State will rank as, an important coal-producer. There are thousands of acres of lignite coal in Texas.

When flocks of wild duck and geese have to go long distances, they form a triangle to cleave the air more easily, and the strongest bird takes the position at the forward angle. As this is a very fatiguing post another bird before long takes the place of the exhausted leader.

The manufacture of sand-lime bricks in Germany has assumed large proportions. From 1897 to 1902 eighty plants were established for the production of these bricks, and there are now said to be two hundred and eighty in operation. Ordinary sand-lime bricks sell at an average price of about two shillings less a thousand than clay bricks, and the cost of production is said to be from nine to twelve shillings a thousand.

An inventor has brought out an aviator's parachute which folds into a small space, and in the event of the aeroplane capsizing or plunging- to earth, opens and jerks him out of his machine. A dummy weighing one hundred and fifty pounds was recently launched off the Eiffel Tower, seated in a Bleriot monoplane body, and equipped with one of these parachutes. Both figure and aeroplane descended gently to the ground.

Science and Marriage. The State of Indiana has passed a law which requires all male applicants for a marriage licence to present a certificate of good health signed by a physician. The minority in the Legislature argued that marriage should be ruled by romance alone, and not by science. The law passed by fifty-one votes against thirty-three, sixteen members of the House refusing to vote.

Wireless Messages for Soldiers. The new pocket wireless telegraph of Cerebotani, an Italian electrician, is simply a receiver that can be carried in a small case. For short distances, a wire thrown over a branch will serve as an antenna, and a needle moving over a lettered dial spells out the messages from a wireless transmitter, letter by letter. A soldier or agent in any field of work may be kept constantly instructed in this way.

Brains Not Much Bigger. Addressing the Royal College of Surgeons, Professor Keith said there! was every reason to believe that man, at the beginning of the pleistocene period, was not so very dissimilar from.l hisf descendant of the present day. |

From the-scanj^r: remMhs"fromn\hHi j ■scientists^,fiad^-t6 -driwCtheir/on' vu-, -sioris,~he estimated that the >nain of] tHis primitive tftje was al/out two-; thirds that of-the average man of the! presenttime. •_ ' j !

Tallest British Boldler. Private H. Barter, who has just joined the Ist Battalion Grenadier Guards, is only 18, years of age, but is 6ft. Biin. high, and is still growing. He is believed to be the tallest soldier in the British Army. His father is a Devonshire farmer, is 6ft. sin., and his mother sft. lOin. He has lived nearly all his life in the.country. Two hours a day in the gymnasium and about three hours' drill is his daily work at present. Since he was 14 years of age he has smoked.

Heredity. "Males inherit the characteristics of *heir female parent, and females inherit the characteristics of their male parent." Writing in support of this theory a correspondent of the "British Medical Journal" says: "We often I notice how rarely a great writer, great poet, or great artist has a son who follows in his footsteps, though the daughters may write or paint. In the same way when an amiable woman marries a bad-tempered man, the sonswill be amiable and the daughters badtempered."

Drink and the Tired Cyclist. When one is tired out with riding, a change from saddle to foot for, say a mile, is well calculated to pull one round. In such circumstances many men rely on alcohol, some on bottled beer or stout, and others —the majority, one would judge—on whisky and soda; but among them is never to be reckoned a man versed in long-dis-tance riding. According to my experience, food—a bar of chocolate, a bite of bread and cheese, a bun, or even a meat pie—is ever so much better than drink for jaded muscles.

Biggest Telephone Exchange. Plans are now being prepared for a telephone exchange to be used -by the New York Telephone Company for its long-distance switchboard. The exchange will be the largest in the United States, and, it is believed, in the world. It will afford employment for 200 operators, and at the outset will have accommodation for 20,000 subscribers. The building is to be constructed to a height of 15 storeys, but will ultimately be increased to 25 storeys. When completed it will also provide for 60,000 local subscribers.

The Paraffin Hump. Paraffin injections are a new method for branding criminals, which a Dr. Icard, of Paris, has invented. He points out that by the Bertillon process there is delay in establishing identification, and he proposes to obviate this delay by injecting paraffin. The injection forms a slight hump, which remains for the remainder of the person's life without the least danger to his health. A detective arresting such a man, or even before arresting him, would, on feeling the hump, know him instantly for an old offender.

The Rest Cure. In America the isolation cure in the private sanitorium is, in fact, said to be becoming a kind of cult with some women. They vanish into retirement on the least suggestion from their doctors, and look upon the rest-home as a welcome release from the busy life of entertaining, of endless rushing about, of travelling, dining out, bridge playing, and calling, which undoubtedly plays havoc with the nerves, even if the patients have perhaps hardly reached the mental flabbiness which forms the excuse for the sanatorium season.

The Color of the Eyes. Brown eyes are due to a brown pigment laid down in the iris; blue- eyes are due to a lack of such pigment. When both parents are brown-eyed, the children get the tendency to form iris pigment from both sides of the house, and the condition of the pigment is said to be duplex. If the children get the tendency from one parent only, they still have brown eyes, but the condition is said to be simplex. Two parents lacking- brown in the iris (blueeyed) will never have children with brown eyes, but only with blue eyesT If both pairents have brown eyes simplex, then one in four of the children' will have blue eyes. If one parent has simplex brown eyes and the other has blue eyes, one-half of the children will have blue eyes. But if in both or

either one of the parents the blue iris pigmentation is duplex, all of the offspring will have brown eyes.

Ants with Umbrellas. I The doings of ants are among* the most interesting things that natural- j ists find to study. No members of the insect world present more startling1 suggestions of intelligence and forethought governing their actions. It is not correct, however, to explain the habits and conduct of ants by human! analogies. For instance, it was once Supposed that the so-called "parasol" ants, living- in hot, tropical countries, carried little leaves above their heads for the sake of protection from the sun. But it has been found that while the ants actually do carry leaves, suspended by the stem which they hold in their jaws, and that columns of them thus furnished with leaves, like an army with banners, march in regular order, the leaves, instead of-being intended to shelter the ants from the sunshine, are deposited round ~their nests to form a soil in which grows a kind of fungus they are fond of.