ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Waikato Times, Volume 96, Issue 15033, 2 September 1922, Page 11 (Supplement)

ITEMS OF INTEREST.

FROM THE WORLD’S PRESS. Twins occur once in 69 births. Covered carriages were first used in England in 1580. Bell-metal is usually four parts of copper, to one of tin. The perfect human figure should be equal in height to ten faces. The first London theatre to be lighted by' gas was the Lyceum, in 1803. The Albert Memorial in London cost £150,000. The first cast-iron plough was made by Newbold in 1797. Basket-making is one of the oldest industries in the world. The first photographs produced in' England were taken in 1802.. There are about forty varieties of osier willows known to botanists. A man cannot be accused legally of libelling his wife. Ely 'Cathedral (England) has the only Gothic dome in existence. The, donkey is the longest lived amongst our domestic animals. Is- proportion to its size, the swallow has a larger mouth than any other bird. The bagpipes, the favourite Scotch and Italian instrument, were invented in Greece 200 B.G. The first meerschaum pipe was made by Karol Ilowater in 1723. This pipe is still in Pesth Museum. Specially designed aeroplanes for giving flying displays in roofed buildings are now being tested. Rubens was paid £4OOO for his work on the ceiling of the Great Banqueting Hall at Whitehall, London. Scientists state that it is possible for disease germs to travel to earth from other planets on the tails of comets. Sage, and rhubarb contain the greatest number of medicinal properties ojt any plants. A man has the right, legally, to open his wife’s letters, but donTbelieve any man who brags that he does it. The most valuable tiger is the Chinese variety, whose skin fetches from £lO to £2O. There were 579 fewer divorces and other matrimonial suits in England in 1920 than in 1919. • The beard of Mr John J. Tanner, of Brighton, Michigan,' U.S.A., measures 9l't. lin. from chin to tip,

Crgss is the quickest growing plant. It has been known to flower and seed within eight days of planting. After using her coffin for nearly fifty years as a dinner-table, a French octogenarian was recently buried in it. Table silver worth many hundreds of pounds is taken as souvenirs by the passengers of Atlantic liners every year. A new mirror, which is damp-proof and unbreakable, has been put forward by a French inventor living in London. A cricket ball bowled by a fast bowler has practically the same speed as an express train —namely, 80ft. to 85ft. a second. Threads of gold used in India for making lace are drawn out so fine that 1100 yards of it,weigh only one ounce. The great anaesthetic, chloroform, was discovered by Guthrie in 1831, and was first employed in surgical operations in 1846. Polo was played by women four hundred years ago. To-day trere. are about half a dozen women polo player 3 in England. Unlike European scorpions, which love moisture, those reptiles whioh hail from the East thrive best in a dry desert atmosphere. During the first act of a London theatrical performance, an inquisitive member of the audience counted 249 coughs and 12 sneezes. A picture of the place where the betrothal took place is the latest adornment for the engagement-ring of the United States belle. Bright Sunshine has the. power of making certain types of people very romantic and susceptible to falling in love. British consumption of sugar has gone down from 761 b. per head of the population in 1919-1920 to 541 bin 1920-21. Air-guns were first made by Guhr, In Germany, in 1656, and the inventionis also credited to Shaw, of America, in 1845. 'Boxing and other sports are indulged in by Boy Scouts in the crypt of a London church, which is used as a playground. Milk, which is the natural food of the young, is not suitable for older people, according to a Harley Street (London) specialist. Standing a patient on his head and gently shaking him is one of the “freak” cures adopted in America for certain digestive troubles. , Oil painting was an art thoroughly understood by the ancients, but was lost sight of and only revived about the end of the 13th century. Locusts are appearing in such numbers in parts of Spain, that they stop trains, and Government aid is beingj enlisted against them. “Please be careful, I am deaf,” is printed in large letters on a placard which an afflicted cyclist has fixed on the back of his machine. Pekinese dogs owe their popularity largely to the fact that, though lively, they are not quarrelsome or noisy, and are affectionate and faithful. The average man of 50 years has spent roughly 6000 days in sleep, has worked for 6500, walked about 800, amused himself for 4000, and has spent 1500 in eating and drinking. Ninety per cent, of the cases of trains being stopped in Great Britain by means of the emergency communication cord are said to be misuses of the privilege. The fastest trains in the world are two on the Great Western Railway (England) which, at certain stages of their journeys, travel at a speed of 78.5 miles per hour. The tolling of a bell at a funeral is a purely pagan custom. The idea was to drive away evil spirits. Funeral bells are known to have been used by the Church in the sixth century. I’iie Society of Friends was founded by George Fox, a shoemaker, of Drav-' ton, m Leicestershire (Eng.), and the members in 1650 were styled Quakers. Divers in tins British Navy before bt.Vug passed as prntloienl in • their craft, have to be able to work in 12 fathoms of water for an hour, and SO fathoms for a quarter; of an faquir