Something of Everything.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2051, 30 November 1907, Page 4 (Supplement)

Something of Everything.

Wo first hear o! -,-or.sted in 1340.

. Punctuation marks were first used in 1490.

Soap has been known to tho world for 3,000 years.

You cannot find a word to rhyme with “echo” or “month.”

It is supposed to be unlucky to carry an umbrella handle downwards.

A mouse seldom lives longer than three years.

There are 300,000 one-room dwellers in Lonodn.

Pewter is an alloy consisting of 80 per cent, of tin anil 20 per cent-, of lead.

The first street tramway was opened in 'America in 1832/ and ran from New York to Harlem.

Korea is one of the most responsive of all heathen countries to missionary effort.

German silver is a brass containing from 15 to 25 parts of nickel in each hundred.

Japanese factories do not stop work on Sundays, but the first and fifthteentli of each month are holidays.

The Nile overflows its bankr. from July to October. This is due to the rainfall of tho Abyssinian highlands.

Owing to tlie great improvements in antiseptic surgery, only six patients die of every hundred that have a limb amputated.

Rheumatism is exceptionally common amongst sailors, owing to the cold anil wet to which they are exposed. -> \

The manager of a theatrical touring company in Russia has to deposit with Government enough money to bring all his people home again. Actors are never stranded there.

In German East Africa, giraffes, zebras, antelopes, chimpanzees, ostriches, and vultures are now protected by the game laws, but bonuses are paid for killink full grown leopards and lions .

In Berlin is a “Central Baby Transfer Institute,” where anybody can place or secure a child for adoption according to their selection and according to the rules of the institution.

Men of big individuality are as rare in the world of music as they are in the world of politics. Tlie late Dr. Joseph Joachim’s influence, says the Nation, was largely due to his character as a man.

A steeplechase for ladies, held annually in Calcutta, is believed to be the only existing event of/its kind. Tho course is two and a-half miles long, with many mud fences, and the prize consists of a handsomo cup.

A boy’s hair grows oue-half slower than a girl’s. In boys the average rate of growth is 3ft 3in in six years, being ah average of .lOSin. per day. During his twenty-first and twentyfourth years a man’s hail' grows quicker than at any other period.

A priest from the Midi, France, who is now in London, states that in tho south of France wilie is now sold by the hour. On payment of a penny you can go into a wine cellar and stay thero for half an hour.

The famous fogs of Newfoundland are only found, as a rule, oil the east and south coasts and on the “banks” being caused by 'the meeting of tlie Arctic current with the Gulf stream. The interior in summer is described as a most delightful climate, resembling that- of the South of France.

A Rochdale gentleman has bequeathed property .of the value of £<3ooo “to be expended in the encouragement of artistic journalists.” It is thought tliat this will lead to severe competition among ■ tho gentlemen who are responsible for. the portraits with the Turnerian mist effects which are now such an important feature of bur daily papers.

It is claimed that one watering of tllo streets with sea water is equal in efficiency to two, or even three, waterings with fresh water. It keeps the road surface moist for a long time, but, without making it muddy; it hardens and binds macadamised roads; and it forms a preservative crust which prevents dust from rising.

When the Queen gave a children’s tea party at Buckingham Palaco recently, one of Her Majesty’s grownup guests recalled to another a fact not generally known, that it was at Buckingham House that the first pot of tea in England, and the first cup of tea drunk. The old liouso on the. sito of which Buckingham Palaco now stands was the abode of tlio Duke of Buckingham, and it" was lie who introduced tlio cup that cheers to polite society.

A large Baptist church that stands in the city of Santa Rosa, California, enjoys tlio distinction of having been constructed entirely from a single tree. Of course, that includes the woodworkof the structure. The tree from which the timbers, lumber, and shingles were cut was a giant Californian redwood. A considerable quantity of the lumber was left over after the church building was completed. The building lias a. spire 70ft Aigli"; an audience-room capable of seating 499: a parlour capable of seating eighty ; a pastor’s study 14ft by 20ft, a vestibule, and a toilet-room.

It is generally believed that it is not possible for a lieu to lay more than one egg a day. Professor Cowell, of the University of Maie, lias been making observations on the subject. Careful notice was taken of several white Wyandottos, one of which especially was suspected of transgressing tlio average rate of output. These suspicions were verified. The special white Wyandotte actually laid thirtyfour eggs in thirty- three days, aiid twice in two months laid two eggs in one. day, and seven other Wyandottes exceeded the usual output, hut not to the same extent.