Pith and Point.

Western Star, Issue 2152, 30 October 1897, Page 4

Pith and Point.

Most sheep die before they are a year old. About 400,000,0001 b. of soap are used In Britain yearly. The best time for exercise is about two hours after a meal. There are thirty-five landowners in France to one in England. Heat waves are only remotely connected with the sun’s action. New York women spend more.on dress than any women In the world. The railways of the world are estimated to be worth £6,000,000,000. The street accidents of London amount to about 3,500 a year—nearly ten a day. A racehorse galloping at full speed clears from 20ft. to 24ft. every bound. The imports of esparto and other vegetable fibre for paper-making do not Increase. Four women took M.D. and six women M.B. degrees at the London University last year.

About 600,000 trees are annually planted by Swedish school children under the guidance of their teachers. The English would prefer a permanent alliance with the United StiXes to any other that could be sugge£s*d.—•"Spectator.” Our dignity and our interests are our first consideration, and we cannot abandon these in exchange for the goodwill of the universe.—“ Standard.” The Long Gallery at Hatfield is a truly magnificent room, well ever 150 ft. in length. Its splendid floor Is a parquetry one, made of oak cut In the park. Men of God have always, from time to time, walked among men, and made their commission felt in tne heart and soul of the commonest hearer.—Emerson. A large library is apt to distract rather than to instruct the learner , it Is much better to be confined to a few autnora than to wander at random over many.— Seneca. When a Dutch maid servant wishes to go to a dance, and has no swain of her own, she hires a cavalier for the occasion. A beau with an umbrella receives double pay. The Queen of Italy, who Is never Idle, is now r studying Hebrew. She has made great progress in mastering the language, and is deep in the study of the literature.

The tooth of a mastodon, in an almost complete state of preservation, has been recently unearthed. It weighd 141 h. 120 z., and measured lOin. by 6in., and Is of the purest ivory. Mild steel, such as is used in constructional work, often contains from 0.3 to 0.4 per cent of manganese. At the Forth Bridge the percentage was 0.7 for much of the material used.

Paper indestructible by fire is said to have been invented by a Parisian. A specimen of it was subjected to a severe test—forty-eight hours in a potter’s furnace—and it came out intact.

Many of the ladies of our Royal family are devoted to nursing, and the Duchess of Fife says that were she not the daughter of the Prince of Wales she certainly should have become a lady doctor.

Byron and Scott could each have engrossed a woman’s heart; but the former it would have been the greatest misfortune in the world to have loved, the latter the greatest privilege.—Lady Eastlake.

The reason why so few people are agreeable In conversation is that each la thinking more of what he Is intending to say than of what others are saying; and we never listen when we are planning to speak.—Rochefoucauld.

Date vinegar, which is now being put on the British market, is regarded as something quite novel and superior to malt vinegar. It Is to be noted that the Arabs and some Asiatics have prepared vinegar from dates for ages past.

Lady Wolff, the wife of the British Ambassador in Madrid, has received permission from her Majesty Queen Vlotoria to wear the order of the Nobles Damas de Maria Luisa, lately bestowed upon her by the Queen Regent of Spain.

The office of Postmaster-General in England has grown to be one of almost unequalled importance—at least in time of peace. The holder of it controls 128,000 State servants—more than three army corps, more than the entire personnel of the Navy.

A curious fact has been noticed about divers—they always wear their boots out at the toe. It shows that they do not walk upright, as they are always represented In pictures, but bending forwardin other words, the bottom of the sea is not level, but slopes steeply

The unoccupied class at the last census numbered as followsßetired from business (not army, navy, church, or medicine), 192,941 males and 68,496 females; pensioners, 20,988 males and 2799 females ; living on own means, 97,466 males and 409,097 females.

Seek the sunlight is the advice of all present-day hygienists. Patients on the sunny side of the hospital-ward recover soonest. The person who always walks on the sunny side of the street outlives Ms shade-seeking brother by ten years. Sleep in rooms where the sun has shed his rays all day. Bask in the sun all you can.

The crowns of Spain, Portugal, and Poland are of exactly the same form. The crowns of Denmark and Sweden are of almost similar shape, consisting of the eight arched diadems, rising from a marquis’s coronet, which conjoin at the top under an ensigned mound. The kings of most other Continental countries are crowned with circles of gold.

The average Scotchman stands sft. 51n., the average Irishman sft. 7%‘in., the average Englishman sft. 7%in., the average Welshman sft. 6%in., the average of the four being sft. 7%in.; whereas the British professional class, according to the bulk of the statistics, average sft. 9in„ and are the tallest men In the world, except some of the South Sea Islanders.

It is not generally known that the late Alexandre Dumas Invented the now popular phrase, “revolting daughter." One of the French papers tells the storv When Sarah Bernhardt was invited TO join the Comedle Francaise she went to Dumas to ask his advice. “My dear child,” said he, “ don’t sign. Shall I tell you why ? You have frizzy hair—ilke m j ne _ a nd that means that you are a revolting daughter.”

The people of the United States ought to have a keen realisation of the expenses as well as the horrors of war. Lives incapacitated by diseases contracted through exposure and by maimed limbs stretch through more than one generation. The pension list included, 30th June, 1895, more than thirty years after the Civil War, 969,544 names, and gained 860 last year. The estimate for pensions next year is no less than 141.450,000 dollars.

Carlyle one day went into a tobacconist’s shop In London, and asked for a certain brand of tobacco. The shopman, not having the kind asked for, and not knowing who he was dealing with, produced another sort, which he thought might pass for that desired. Carlyle took the tobacco In his hand and examined it ; then looking at the shopman, he said, “Deal in the veracities, sir '. Deal In the veracities !” and stalked out of the simp.