GENERAL INFORMATION.

Western Star, Issue 2154, 6 November 1897, Page 3

GENERAL INFORMATION.

When a damsel tells a younz man that she has dreamt about him the night before, it is high time for him to begin to be careful. In France hospitals for infeotious diseases are furnished with telephones, so that the sick may converse with their friends without danger of communicating disease. The smallest town in the world is the miniature place known as Steward City, Alaska, its three inhabitants being respectively mayor, chairman of the board of aldermen, and president of the common council. It has been decided to place the African elephant under the protection of the law and provide him with a sanctuary, where no man bent on destruction may enter. A tract of land 200 mi.es long by forty broad will bo set apart for his use. It is said the bee can draw forty times the weight of its own body, and after you have seen a bee lift a hundred-and-sixty pound man off his feet, you will believe it. A peculiar epidemio which attacks fishermen in the saraine industry is said to take the form of whitlows on the fingers. They are due, it seems, to the handling of fish which are infected by certain species of bacteria. An interesting feature in the observation is, that for the production of these whitlows two distinct species of bacteria are necessary. Though Mr. Gladstone never sits in the House, permanent records of him remain on the brass-bound oaken despatch boxes which always stand on the table which divides the two front benchesi Both of these bear indentations caused by Mr. Gladstone's signet ring, when, alike in office and Opposition, ho brought down his clenched fist with tiemendous force on one box or the other. The rooms of a Korean woman are as saored to her as a shrine is to its image—indeed, the rooms of a wife or mother are the sanctuary of any man who breaks the law. Unless for treason or for one other crime, he cannot be forced to leave those rooms; and, so long as he remains under the protection of his wife and his wife's apartments, he is secure from the officers of the law and from the penalties of his misdemeanours. The latest idea for bridal bouquets is rather a pretty one. Instead of all the flowers being grouped together in one bunch, they are tied in separate little bunches, and secured by white satin baby ribbon, which combines them in place. Then, when the bride is going off on the honeymoon, she shakes aS the bouquets loose, and the bridesmaids each try to catch one. There is a superstitious fancy anent good luck being attached to a flower from a bride's bouquet.

The Queen's special trains from Cherbourg to Nice and back cost about £4,QQO, and Her Majesty also has to pay for the specials from Boulogne to Nice and back, whioh convey the servants, horses, carriages, and heavy lug-gage The average total coat to the Privy Purse of the Queen s annual Continental trip is about £IO,OOO. The fashionable ink in Paris at present is violet colour. Soine men use a golden ink. It is a favourite plan to use several inks of varied hueß in writing one letter. This is thought to add to the appearance of the note. If Paris sticks to its hooby, we may expect a return to the iuuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. One of the curiosities at Chatsworth is a

weeping willow made of copper, and ao dexterously fashioned that at a distance it resembles a real tree. It is actually a shower bath, for, by pressing a secret tap, a tiny spray of water can be made to burst forth from every branch and twig of the tree, to the disuomfort of any who may be under it. The first man who discovered gold in * Australia was hanged for his pains. He was one of the first oonviots transported to Botany Bay, and when he learnt the great secret he brought a sample to show Mb sueoess, and was promptly hanged by Governoi Phillip for attempted escape, and to keep the demoralising discovery unknown. , ■ / A ourious plan for catching fiah is used or the river Columbia, North Ainerioa. A ' number of wheels are set up in the middle ol the stream, which, as they turn round, cater up the fish and cast them into troughs by the river banks. The salmon are then tinnec and sent all over the world. As muoh at five tons' weight of fish a day has thus beer taken.

Paris has a bathing olub, where all sorti of baths will be prepared after the old and foreign recipes. Asses' milk (such as Queea Isabella of Bavaria used every morning), rose-water, lemon-juice, barley, Mecca balm, etc, will be found there, yes, even the famous bath of Malaga wine, for it seems that the latter is simply perfect as a skin •S aa(lat* An actress in Stockholm lost her power ol speech and memory through sudden grief, and could not take her part. She was accordingly hypnotised, and the operator having suggested that she should proceed to the theatre and go through her part, she did bo quite unconsciously, and in suoh a natural manner that the audience remained in ignorance of what had taken place.