Brief Mention.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 4878, 17 February 1894, Page 3

Brief Mention.

Ancient Egyptians worshipped the onion. Illinois now makes more whisky than Kentucky. Orer 2000 tons of snails are annually I eaten in Paris. The American centa of 1787 bore the < motto, " Mind your business." Great Britain has 1,951,000 domestic servants, earning .£68,500,000 per annum. Baron Oacar Dickson, of Gothenburg, celebrated hiß seventieth birthday on Deo. 2. Mr Milner Stephen, the faith healer, died after undergoing a surgical operation for an internal complaint. When a resident of the artic region takes a night off in winter he is away for about twenty-one weeks. The Empress of Russia's physician, when in attendance upon his august patient, receives a fee of JB7O a day. The United States produce 22201 b of grain to each person; Canada, 1500; Germany, 700 ; Scotland, 490 ; and England 369. In China there is an organisation called the Heavenly Foot Society. It ia forming a crusade against bandaging the feet of women. Fifty-six years ago the block on which the Chicago post office now standß waß sold . at auction for 50odol. It iB now worth 5,000,000d01. Ten million packs of playing cards are used in the United Statea every year, and that ia one to every seven people, men, women, and children. Suicide is becoming co frequent in Denmark that it ia proposed to check it by a law handing over the body of every suicide to the dissecting room. Mr Eobert Louis Stevenson tells how a certain fish comes up in Samoa once a j year, aud itß appearance is so regular that j it gives a Btarting-point for the native year. The venom of poisonous reptiles, insects, j etc., kills by changing the shape of the , blood corpuscles so as to make it impossible ; for them to circulate. This, of course, causes blood-poisoning. Comparisona of the reaulta of the " Sunshine .Recorder " of Greenwich for fourteen ! years show that throughout the year the i average daily amount of sunshine waa a j little more than three hourß. The total issues of fractional currency authorised by the United States Congreßß ! during the Civil War waa 50,000,000d01, and it ia now understood all but about 15,000,000, has been redeemed. ; The Bank of England destroys about 350,000 of its notes every week to replace j them with freßhly printed ones. One j evening in each week is set apart for the making of thia expensive bonfire. A statistician with an appetite for the * curious estimates that the people of the ' United States drink 8,125,000 gallonß of , water every day of the year, the average daily consumption amounting to a pint. Recently two girls in a New York seminary were playing at leap-frog in their bedroom, and one of them struck her head with such force against the wallas to produoe insensibility, which continued for several hours. The Matabele have a singular marriage custom. The husband does not buy hiß wife, who therefore remains the property of her father, and when ohildren are born their own father haa to buy them from their mother's father. A German biologist Bays that the two sides of the face are never alike; the eyes are out of line with two persons out of five ; one eye ia stronger than the other in eeven out of ten ; and the right ear is generally higher than the left. There ia one curious and interesting fact confirmed by men in charge of phonographs — viz., that clergymen have a decided weakness for hearing popular musio kail eongs, and that the voice of Mr Albert Chevalier ia the one most sought { after. j Mr Clarence King, the well - known geologist, has computed the earth's age, on the basis of experiments made on the effect of heat and pressure on certain rocks. Mr King concludes that the earth's age as a planet is 24,000,000 years. There are nineteen " King " streets in London, and "Queen" is the name given to thirty -four streets and squares. Eleven "George" streets are still allowed to bewilder people, and a dozen "William" streets do not tend to decrease the confusion. Ladieß' hand-bags, purses, belts, and such articles are now being made out of tripe. Of course the stuff is tanned, which process transforms it into a thin, black, soft, durable leather, and no amount of Btewing will make it regain its pristine tenderness. Italian fire-engines are to be Bupplied with hoses fitted with electric wires, by means of which the fireman working the nozzle can, by pressing a button so many times, signal to those at the pump that he wanta the water cut off, or driven through at half-speed, and ao on. A London city magnate, who daily drives to his place of business in the city, haß a phonograph in his carriage, into which he pours messagea, ehort letters, instructions, and other matters of importance. When he alights, the machine is handed to the head clerk, and he takes his instructions from it. i A unique boat has been constructed at Christianstadt. She is built with cix wheels supporting the aides so that she can run on the rails which join the two lakea on which she plies, and the engine power can be transferred from the screw to the wheels. She is called the Swan, and is of ten-horse power. The Masonic Temple at Chicago is claimed to be the highest commercial building in the world. It rises 302 ft above the side walk, and has twenty-one stories. In its construction 4700 tons of Bteel, and 16,000 tons of fire-proofing were used. It has fourteen paßßenger elevators, with a carrying capacity of 100,000 people per day. An Imperial Survey Commission has apportioned in plots an area of 1,250,000 aores of land along the route of tbe Siberian railway, for allotment among 100,000 settlers. There exists a certain amount of anxiety in Eussian Governmental circles lest the migratory rush of peasants on the completion of the new railway Bhould seriously denude some of the northern provinces. The hairpin is in China almost what the ring is in Europe, and the value of some of these ornaments is prodigious. They are of such complicated shapes, and bo difficult to insert, that they have to be worn night and day when once they have been put into the hair. Jade is the favourite Chinese ornament, and it is worth noting that to put jewels into it ia considered to be the mark of a rioh parvenu. Of the 50,867 natives of Ireland who emigrated last year, 91-5 per cent went to America, 3*B per cent to Great Britain, and the remainder to the colonies or foreign countries. Of the males who emigrated 76*6 per cent were returned as labourers; while of the femaleß 18,944 were servants, 1769 housekeepers, 576 dressmakers or milliners, 50 seamstresses, and 108 mill workerß. There were 3822 females unspecified. An original sentence waa lately given by a Magistrate in Missouri, says an exchange. A man who did not know how to read or write, convicted of a slight offence, waß sentenced to imprisonment until he had learnt to read ; another offender, who had a good education, was sentenced to keep him company till he had taught him to read. After three weeks tbey were discharged, aB they had fulfilled their task to the full satisfaction of the Magistrate. When the Pope has his toe kisßed he wear.) _, slipper with a cross upon it. It is tha crosß that receives this lip homage. Before the eighth century, we are told by Matthew of Westminater Popes gave their hand to be saluted. But it happened that ace. tun misguided woman nofconly kissed a Holy Fathei's baud, but alao squeezed k, which lo acaadalibsd him that he immediatoiy cut it off. After tbat he was forced to present his foot instead, » practice which continued for aH tune.