THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Southland Times, Issue 19553, 6 May 1905, Page 1 (Supplement)

THE EDITOR'S SCRAP BOOK.

Interesting Gleanings from Various Sources

Hue upkeep of the British Navy costs about £35,000,000 per annum.

* * * £lOOO was recently paid in Paris for the door through which, during the French Revolution, Marie Antoinette, Charlotte Corday, and Danton went out to execution.

The horseshoe represents the halo over a saint’s head, and for that reason it was supposed to bring, good fortune to its owner. This is h very old superstition.

The " Marseillaise,” which is the National Anthem of France, is supposed to have been written by Rouget de Lisle in 1792. It is of revolutionary origin, and is the most bellicose of. all the National Anthems.

A black bear was roasted and served whole at the annual dinner of the Canadian Camp Association this year. The enormous dish on which Bruin appeared had to be made specially for the occasion.

The president of tho Republic of Venezuela has had built to his order in his capital of Caracas a palace of steel. It is bomb and bullet proof, and is adapted to resist revolutions or earthquakes.

So many Russian medical men have been sent to the front, that the authorities at Odessa have been, obliged to permit lady doctors to act as supernumerary house Burgeons in all the hospitals. * * *

The Japanese are using a new saueageshaped bomb, which, when thrown into the trenches, bursts and gives forth an odour so foul, that it causes all the soldiers in the vicinity to faint. The effect of the gas is, however, not fatal.

A fish known as the “ Angel Shark 1 " and generally found only in the North Pacific, has just been caught by a trawler in the North Sea. It is over four feet long, and has oddly shaped fleshy wings instead of the ordinary fins.

Professor McAlister told the students of Guy’s Hospital the other day that he had discovered in the British Museum a hair restorer invented by a King of Egypt. The ingredients are calves’ feet and dogs’ claws boiled in oil.

When an Australian writes for Paderewski’s autograph he must now inclose half-a-crown. The pianist makes this stipulation because “ the percentage of autograph-hun-ters is larger in Australia than in any other country of the world.”

A Parisian lady, claiming £2,000 damages from her landlord because the noise of the horses next door kept her awake, produced as evidence a dressmaker’s certificate, showing that, owing to want of rest, her waist had become two inches smaller.

Never has the world seen such a nation as Britain, and there is much excuse for the feeling that she is entitled to continue to inherit the earth. She still wants more, when what surprises everyone conversant with her position is how she ever succeeded in getting and doing so much. lam impressed every time I look into the figures.—Andrew Carnegie.

There is no doubt that a cow yields more milk after the removal or suppression of her horns. This was proved by Neumann, who saw four Dutch cows without horns give from thirty-six to thirty-eight piuts of milk a day on poor pastures, while some of the same breed, but with horns, gave only twenty-four or thirty pints on good grazing land. This curious fact has been confirmed by American breeders, who have tried similar experiments.

The journalist alone has the privilege of moulding the opinion, touching the hearts, and appealing to the reasons of hundreds of thousands everyday. The soldier may wait forty years for his opportunity, most lawyers, most physicians, most clergymen, die in obscurity, but every single day opens new doors for the journalist who holds the confidence of the community and has the capacity to address it.— Jos. Pulitzer.

In the Riviera, as well as in Cyprus and elsewhere, goldfish are frequently made use of to keep down the plague of mosquitoes These pests generally breed in the neighborhood of water, In which their larval can be deposited, and every tank or pool about a house thus becomes a nursery for them. Goldfish are fond of mosquito larva?, and if a few of them are put into each pool they will effectually check, even if they do not completely abolish, the nuisance.

As soon as a tree stem ceases to take in much uiointuro, « layer of cells is formed with very tender shells or cases on the stalks of each leaf, close to the branch or twig. This growing tissue presses forward like a wedge, pushing the older cells, and at last compelling them to snap. The breaking point is often so clearly defined, that when a leaf has fallen it seems as though its stem had been cut through with a knife. This is the real reason for the downfall of the leaves, and their weight is often enough to separate them from the trees, though, of course, wind and frost also help.

In Japan the common chrysanthemum is eaten with relish as a salad. For this purpose only the petals are used. These are plucked while tbe bloom is fresh, and are boiled until they assume something of the consistency of a jelly. Salt, vinegar, and sugar are then added, and the salad is served with any dressing which may be preferred. Sometimes ata large dinner party the room is decorated with growing chrysanthemums, petals from plants chosen by the guests are then and there dropped into boiling water, and a salad is soon ready, tinted with the color of the flowers. » » *

Tetanus, or, as it is popularly called,lockjaw, from one of its most distressing characteristics, is a very formidable disease of the nervous system. Nicolaler, in 1884, and Kitasato in 1889, have proved it to be an infective disease, produced by the inoculation of the drum-stick bacillus. As its favorite haunt is the earth, the disease is most frequently induced in wounds which have been contaminated by soil. It is marked by involuntary, persistent, and painful contractions of an extensive group of muscles, and usually begin with those of the neck, the jaws, and the throat, tbe patient having a peculiar fixed smile, “ the sardonic grin.” These germs are found to multiply locally in the parts affected, but not in any other part of the body or blood.

To determine the velocity of electricity a “ sparkboard ” was fitted, with six insulated knobs in a straight line. The distance from 1 to 2 was the tenth of an inch ; between 2 and 3 was a quarter of a mile of insulated wire ; from 3 to 4 was again the tenth of an inch ; between 4 and 5 was another quarter of a mile of wire, and between 5 and 6 was once more the tenth of an inch. When the jar was discharged there were three sparks, one from 1 to 2, one from 3 to 4, and one sto 6. It was found, by viewing these in a rapidly revolving mirror, that the image of the spark between 3 and 4, which could only be formed after the wire coils had been traversed, lagged a little behind the other two. This displacement of the image was then measured, and, as the velocity of the mirror was known, the velocity of the electrical discharge was determined as 288,000 miles a second.