REMARKABLE CURIOSITIES.

Waikato Times, Volume XXVI, Issue 2117, 2 February 1886, Page 4

REMARKABLE CURIOSITIES.

Thehk is in Turin, Italy, a tiny boat formed of a single pearl, which form it assumes in swell and concavity. Its sail is of beaten gold, studded with diamonds, and the binnacle light at its prow is a perfect ruby. An emerald Berves as its rudder, and its stand is a slab of ivory. It weighs less than half an ounce ; its price is one thousand pounds. There is a watch in the Swiss Museum only three-sixteenths of an inch in diameter inserted in the top of a pencil case. Its little dial not only indicates hours, minutes and seconds, but also days of the month. It is a relic of the times when watches were inserted in snuffboxes, shirt studs, and finger rings. Some were fantastic— oval, octangular, cruciform, or in the shape of pearls, tulips, &o. In 1575, Mark Scalliot, a blacksmith of London, made " for exhibition and trial of skill" one lock of iron, steel, and brass, all of which, together with a pipekey to it, we.ghed but one grain of pold. He also made a chain of gold, of fortythree links, and having fastened to this the before-mentioned lock and key, he put the chain about the neck of a flea, which drew them all with case. All these together — lock and key, chain and Sea— weighed only one grain and a half. Oswaldus Northingerus is said to have :nade 1600 dishes of turned ivory, all perfect and complete in every part, yet so thin and slender that all of them Acre in eluded at once in a cup turned out of a peppercorn of the common size. They were so small as to be almost invisible to the eye. They were presented to Pope Paul v. In 1692 a barrel was was made at Heidelburg, in Germany, which is composed of 112 solid beams 27 feet in length, is 10 feet across the ends and 18 teet through the centre, and coutains 800 hogsheads ; yet it was once drank out in eight days.

A w tMKRX editor, speaking of a concert-singer, says that her voice is delicious — pure as moonlight and tender as s shirt. A Fable. — The following is from the Leisure Hour : — A fox entered a merchant's waiehouse, and, finding nothing to his taste, was quietly going out. The merchant, who wished to have a joke with him, said, "My dear sir, may I kuow what you wish to purchase?" "I am afraid you have it not, *' said the fox. 11 What ! we have everything, from a needle to au anchor," sai I the merchant. "That is just what I waut," said the fox. "If you have a needle as big as an anchor, and an anchor as small as a needle, you will oblige me!" M Ah !" 3aid the merchant ; "in war and wit they win by .1 hit !" DiKbSTABLisiiMUNT. — The Rev. Montagu Villieis, preaching recently in England on the IMsestablibhment question, said, it was necessary and it was right to defend the temporalities of the Church, but he entreated his hearers to fight from right motives and not for the sake of self-interest, money, or position only. Disestablishment, which meant discndowment, would tremendously cripple the work of the Church at home and abroad, but even Establishmedt would be bought too deaily it it were pur« chased at the expense of truth. Looking, however, to the perhaps not dim and distant future, Mr Villiers asked what Churchmen would say to the appointment of bishops by men who regard the Cradle of Bethlehem as " the central superstition of the world." Disestablishment with all its evils would, he intimated, be preferable to the nomination by Radical Ministers of Erastian bishops who would sap the foundations of the Church. "Better the spoiling of our goods than the sacrifice of truth." American Co's Hop Bitters are the Purest and Best Bitters Ever Made. They are compounded from Hops, Malt, Buchu, Mandrake, and Dandelion, the oldest, best, and the most valuable medicines in the world and contain all the best and most curative properties of all other remedies, being the greatest Blood Purifier, Liver Regulator, and Life and Health Restoring Agent on earth. No disease or ill health can possible long exist \\ here they are used, so varied and perfect are their operations. They give new life and vigor to the aged and infirm. To all whose employments cause irregularity of the bowels or urinary organs, or who require an Appetizer, Tonic ai.d mild Stimulant, American Co's Hop Bitters are invaluable being highly curative, tonic and stimulating, without intoxicating. No matter what your feelings or symptoms am, what the disease or ailment is use Hop Bitters. Don't wait until you arc sicK, but if you only feel bad or miserable, use Hop Bitters at once. It may save your life. Hundreds have been saved by so doing. £500 will be paid for a case they will not cure or help. Do not suffer or let your friends suffer, but use and urge them to use American Hop Bitters. Remember, American Hop Bitters is no vile, drugged, drunken nostrum, but the Purest and Best Medicine evei made. Try the Bitters to-day. Get at Chemists or Druggists. Beware of imitations. Genuine has Dr Soule'i name blown in bottle