RANDOM NOTES

Dominion, Volume 28, Issue 102, 24 January 1935, Page 8

RANDOM NOTES

Sidelights on Current Events (By Kickshaws.) The most famous fruit in history is the apple, says a fruit expert. Yet it is an undeniable fact tliat it is the grapefruit that catches the eye most. When Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Italy and the United States start maintaining peace according to their policy, what sort of a war will it produce? Britain, it is said, will benefit in tlie sale of the Chinese railway from Russia to Japan. Presumably, China is the country that has been sold. # * - The Bible that has been found in Christchurch only lain. long by lin. wide is certainly a small edition of the Scriptures. It breaks no records, however. There is a Bible in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, that fits comfortably into a walnut shell. In contrast to this, a Bible in f he Vatican is so large it weighs a quarter of a ton. There is no limit to. the size that a Bible could be printed.’ In fact, one Bible printed by a private individual at Los Angeles weighs half a ton. It ean be read from a distance of 50 feet There is. however, an art in compressing the 66 books, the 1189 chapters, the 31,173 verses, the 773,692 words, the 3,566,480 letters of tlie Bible into a book small enough to fit into a walnut shell. The New Testament, one might add, has been printed so small that it could be covered by a sixpenny piece. Usually copies of this nature are contained in little silver cases, complete witli a magnifying glass, to enable the printed words to be read. This, however, does not represent the last thing in smallness. A lad of 18 years, for example, has succeeded in printing the Lord’s Prayer on a green pea. Claims have been made iiiat, the smallest book in the world is only a quarter of an inch high and three sixteenths of an inch wide. It contains an English translation of Omar Khayyam. The book weighs a grain and a half and each page is one sixty-eighth of a square inch. The setting of the type of this book was of so delicate a nature it could only be done at night when there was no vibration. In contrast to this, the world’s biggest book, owned by the British museum, is six feet high, four feet wide, and six inches thick It was printed in 1556 inAmsterdara, and consists of an atlas of the world as known in those days. As a matter of fact, there was a great vogue for tiny books a century or so ago. A gentleman named Robert Henderson, of Massachusetts, has collected these books all his life. Few of them are larger than a postage stamp. In all, he has a library of 6000 of these midgets. His library includes a Bible and a complete edition of the plays of Shakespeare. We could do better than that to-day if it were necessary. A machine has been devised for writing ou microscope slides. The whole contents of the Bible could be written by this machine 59 times in the space of one square inch. But could a single sheet of that size be fairly called a book? « * * The strange things that surround the death of Lady Gaillard may or may not have earthly origins, but this does not infer that all strange things are reducible to a simple explanation. There are queer manifestations that may be beyond criticism just as there are fake mediums. There Is not tlig slightest, doubt that there are fake mediums, but there is bound to be doubt as to whether there are not. As regards fake mediums, Mr. Charles Beare, who made a name for himself for his psychic phenomena, publicly confessed that he was a fake. He decided to test the guillibilicy of audiences for himself and entered the psvchic world with that intention •Some idea of tlie way conviction is allowed to run away with practical common sense may be obtained from the fact that when Mr. Beare denounced himself, people refused to believe him. They continued to believe that he was genuine—simply because now and again he happened t n hit upon the correct guess. It will be seen, therefore, that, in examining a subject of this nature, one is bogged by credulity as much, if not more, than by incredulity. * $ « *

In spite of fake mediums and the like, there are occurrences that at any rate must cause thoughtful persons to think. Amaking things h’appen when people are about. Two Austrian girls, for example, named Weisl, have mystified scientists from ail parts of the world. When they are in a room, pictures drop from the wall, furniture moves about, crockery jumps into tlie air. This latter manifestation has occurred in the servants’ quarters in many an English home, usually with disastrous results, but not when scientific investigators _ have been present. Another individual who is causing experts to think, is named Pasquale Erto. He is 36 years old and emits various coloured lights from his body. He is of good family and has been examined by the leading scientists of tlie world. He has been bathed, washed with special preparations, and ho has been photographed in the dark. His curious manifestation was discovered when he was handling sealed photographic plates--the imprint of his hand was found on them when they were developed.

It is only fair to add that in the case of Erto science did discover that minute pieces of ferro ceTrium, the flint of petrol lighters, were secreted under his finger nails. No explanation has been made as to how he produced the illumination, but this discovery has certainly thrown a new light on his illuminations. The faet is that science puts mediums through a very severe series of tests. Sometimes only suspicion remains; at other-times, the manifestation is proved to be a palpable fake. A medium who brought back voices of the dead was tested by experts, lie was told to blow down a metal tube. Tlie act of blowing caused a ruby lamp to go out. The moment lie stopped blowing or started to talk tlie lamp lit. Tlie medium in question. Munnings by name, had to confess that he was beaten. In the case of a French Ind named Jeanne Panne, hl“ psychic manifestations were shown up in a rattier ingenious manner His line was the ringing of bells no mutter ’low well they were surrounded. Scientists put their heads together. A bell was entirely surrounded by a gigantic soap bubble' To ring tlie bell, it would be necessary to do so without breaking the bubble. The bell did not ring, but Jeanne was found to possess a meat skewer well coated with glycerine lint for the fact that this was d!« covered beforehand, the bell might have rung.