All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, 30 August 1906, Page 38

All Sorts

Switzerland, with a population of only 3,500,000, can put 500,000 men into the field. Her army costs her only a million a year. Twelve persons own one quarter of Scotland ; one fourth of the acreage of England and Wales is in the hands of fllO individuals. The greatest depth to which a submarine boat is known to have descended under full control, and without inquiry, is 13 Bft. At Manheim, on the Rhine, a fum of rope manufacturers makes steel-wire towing-ropes, s&in. in circumference, in one continuous length of nearly nineteen miles, and weighing over 210 tons. The British soldier carries a helmet which weighs l^lfe ; the helmet of the Prussian infantryman weighs only a trifle over 14oz, ; while the Italian is still better oil with a kepi which turns the scale at between lloz. and 12oz. A Home paper states that the first game of lawn tennis was played in 187«4, by Major Wingfield, its leputed inventor, the late Clement Scott, and two others. It was at least, two yearlh later before the game assumed anything like its present form and began to attract any attention. Prince Henry of Prussia is insured for £180,000 ; the Czarina for £250,000 , her daughter, the Grand Duchess Olga, for £500,000 ; and the Czar himself for £800,000. Probably the largest insurance policy of any description is that of £10,000,000 taken out by the British Admiralty to cover the risks attendant on the naval manocuvies. A hawk can spy a lark upon a piece of earth almost exactly the same color at twenty times the distance it is peiccptible to a man or dog. A kite soaring out of human sight can still distinguish and pounce upon lizards and field-mice on the ground, and the distance at which vulUlcs and eagles can spy their prey is almost inciedible. Remit discoveries have inclined naturalists to the belief that birds of prey have not the acute sense of smell with which they were once accredited. Their acute sight, seems better' to account for their actions, and they appear to be guided by sight alone, as they never sniff at anything, but gaze straight at the objects of their desire. There are fourteen bones in the nose. The sense of smell is probably more acute in the dog than in any animal. Some physiologists assert that the olfactory nerves are destitute of the power of sensation otherwise than to detect odours. ' Nosology 'i is not, as some might suppose, the science of noses. The term comes from two Greek words and signifies the scientific classification of diseases. In the finny tribe there is no communication between the nasal cavities and the mouth. Fish do not use their noses in breathing, but breathe through their gills, so no communication is necessaiy. The lobsters which we are now trying (at Portobello, Otago) to introduce into New Zealand, can smell as well as animals that live upon the land. A piece of decayed meat suspended in the water in a locality where lobsters are abundant will soon be completely surrounded by a greedy, fighting crowd. The swordfish uses his nose as a weapon of offence and defence. This member is often several feet long and armed on each side with strong horns. At the Central Criminal Court in London there were recently (says the ' Weekly Freeman ') an exceptional numbjer of charges of making and uttering counterfeit coin. At the conclusion of one of the cases the foreman of the jury asked the authorities if they would take a suy^estion from twelve business men who during the year had to deal with considerable sums in siher coin. There was a most simple test for the detection of base coin. It was to sharply cut the milled edge ol a good coin against the milled edge of the suspected coin. If the suspected coin were a spurious one the metal would almost immediately begin to shave off. It was, he added, a test that could be carried out anywhere, on the top of a 'bus or in a shop, and the public ought to be acquainted with it. After making a personal lest, the Common Serjeant said he quite agreed with the suggestion of the jury as to the usefulness of the test, and said it ought to be made known. The foreman added that he had written to three Chancellors of the Exchequer, pointing out that they ought not to deprive the public of this simple test by issuing crown pieces and threepenny pieces without milled edges.