HERE AND THERE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17218, 8 December 1923, Page 8

HERE AND THERE.

AN EYE FOR EVERYTHING. FIRE OF LONDON. On Sunday, September 2 (the 257th" anniversary of the great fire of London), parties of students were taken, over the site where 13.200 houses and forty-four halls of livery companies were destroyed, as well as St Paul’s Cathedral, the Guildhall, the Royal Exchange, and many other of old London’s famous buildings. The fire lasted four days and nights. Damage to the extent of £10.000,000 was done, a sum worth more than it is to-day, and 100.000 people were rendered homeless, but not more than a dozen people lost their lives. a sit Ant part of ton don. The British Museum reading-room ia one of the most silent spots in London. Though the room is capable of accommodating 450 readers—and there are generally not fewer than 300 present—an atmosphere of profound silence enwraps the place. Tt has always been so, for the poet Gray, wtxo was one of the first visitors to the room, wrote: “ I often pass four hours in the stillness aud solitude of the reading-room.** It is appreciated to-day far more than it used to he, for Lord Beaconsfield has left it on record that when his father first frequented the place bis companions never numbered half q. dozen! PALMERSTON’S LITTLE JOKE. Lord Palmerston knew well the value of taking time. Once, it -Tiverton, a vehement electoral opponent inquired whether he would give a plain answer to a plain question. To this Lord Palmerston assented. The question was: Would he vote for a Radical measure of reform ? Palmerston at once answered: “I will”—pausing, while the Liberals cheered, then adding “ not,” w hereupon the Conservatives applauded ; waiting until they had done, Palmerston continued. “ tell you,” when, the wily and evasive candidate retired amid laughter. SUN-DRIVEN ENGINES. Frequently the sun’s rays are used to generate power in a miniature engine. In America recently a parabolic copper mirror focussed the rays on a test tube of water the heating causing steam, which in turn operated the tiny engine at a high rate of speed. The inventor said that his invention, could be used to provido light, heat and power, or to operate motor trucks. “Coal,” he added, “will before very long be. considered "something which merely clutters up the cellar. Every community will havo its heat-canning plant, where the sun’s rays will be caught and concentrated. The millions of units of energy from the which we now waste, while we continue to drain the earth of its oil and coal, will be put to use.” ALL ABOUT BEACHES. At Brighton (England) the beach is shingle; at Bournemouth sand. All around the British coasts are found beaches of sand or pebbles, sometimes one, sometimes the two mixed together, and always accompanied by sea shells. Usually it slopes rapidly downwards from high tide mark to about half tide limit, below which line it is much more level. A mud beach is rare except in estuaries of rivers, and still more uncommon is a terrace of hard rock without any accumulation of sand or shingle. All beaches, however are composed of fragments ot the neighbouring cliffs, which are continually being broken up by waves, frost, or by inland water. Old beaches are found in the Alps at ten thousand feet above sea-level, and in the Andes at fifteen thousand feet. MARKING INK. Marking ink does not “ run ” because it has as its base principle nitrate of silver, a substance which is not affected by water, and the chemical effect of light or heat upon which is only to cause it to turn black. On account of light’s action on it, it is sold in blued-glass, or otherwise opaque bottles, and as it can’t be seen till it has been exposed to light or heat, it is mixed with some colouring matter, so that the purchaser may be able to see what he is writing when he uses the ink to mark fabrics of any kind. A little gum “binds” the ink, and the touch of a hot iron “turns” the nitrate of silver, and produces the black stain we know. Water never would affect it, and heat has done all it can in turning it black, so the ink will not “run.” HUMAN HAIR CLOTH. Tons of human hair are being turned into cloth by a southern factory to supply the demand of rotton-seed oil mills for a fabric that will withstand, for a time at lfeast, a presure of 4000 to 4500 pounds a square inch. Only that made from hair is strong enough (the “ World Magazine’ tells us>- Formerly it was woven from camel’s hair, but the price of that product went to such high levels as to prohibit its use. After a series of tests, a method was devised for weaving human hair in specially constructed machines. In China buyers found plenty of coolies ready to sacrifice their long queues for American money. Bound in huge bales, the hair arrives at the factory ready for weaving. having already been isperted and sterilised on the way over from the Orient- Combed and carded. it is twisted into threads and fed into the looms, where it woven into rolls of cloth half an inch thick, the bolt weighing 400 pounds. FAMILIAR PHRASES Folk frequently wonder what is th« origin of familiar phrases. For instance. the expression, “a. pig in a poke.” originated in Northampton Market, when some wags put a cat in a bag or poke, and sold it as a pig to a countryman- When the buyer opened the bag, ont jumped the cat. This also gave rise to the expression, “lotting the cat out of tho bag” “ Kicking the bucket,” is a phrase that owes its conception to the days of the great gold rush to California and Australia in 1849-51. Many unfortunate seekers after gold, losing their all in an unavailing effort to find the precious “ dust,” committed suicide. The suicide tied a. rope to a beam in liis hut. Then, standing on an upturned bucket, he would adjust the other end of the ropu round his neck. When all was ready he rim ply kicked the bucket from under Ins feet. And so the end.