NEW, ODD, INTERESTING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VI, Issue 512, 26 October 1912, Page 7

NEW, ODD, INTERESTING.

Cl::.;:i has 10 cities v.itli popv:I;;lit:i:s of over half a, million. Cliiii has S,ooo miic-3 of ■ telephones,, worked by an English company. At six months a baby walrus will cat fifty pounds of codfish a day. Unbreakable bottles made of paper are produced in the United States. A penny is estimated to change hands about 125,000 times in the course of it; life. The average "tramp" steamer consumes 20 tons of coal a day; the "Lusitania" 1,000. In the Belgian Parliament there is an age minimum of tweny-five for deputies and forty for senators. Green peas contain twenty-two per cent, of nourishing food, potatoes one per cent, less, and cucumbers only four per cent. In the early days of smoking rich people smoked silver pipes. The poorer classes made a walnut shell and a straw answer their purpose. It would take nine and a half days for the armies of Europe to pass a given point, marching five abreast, 15 inches apart, at an eight-mile gait. A plot of land in Broadway, New York, was recently sold for one million five hundred thousand pounds, equivalent to nearly six guineas a superficial inch. As illustrating the excellence of tho paper (which is made from unused linen scraps) upon which Bank of England notes are printed, it is stated that when one of these notes is twisted into a rope it will sustain a weight of 35S v pounds. A Chinese manuscript lately discovered p:oves that anaesthetics were used in China seventeen hundred years ago. A certaii. concoction was given by the doctors before performing an operation, which rendered the patient unconscious. The anaesthetic was a simple preparation of hemp. Something new in aeroplanes has been invented by a Japanese nobleman. The inventor has taken ths dragon-fly as his model, and has constructed two sets of wings which can be made to flap at the will of the operator. It is claimed that this arrangement will enable the aeroplane to maintain its position in the air without moving.

"Sneeze-Wood." In South Africa is to be found the "sneeze-wood" tree, which takes its name from the. fact that one cannot cut it with a saw without sneezing-. Even in planing the wood the same effect is sometimes produced. No insect or worm will touch it; it is very bitter to the taste, and its specific gravity is heavier than water. The color is light brown, the grain Tuning very close and hard, and it takes a go.od polish. For docks, piers, or jetties, it is a most useful timber, keeping sound a long while under water. Canada's Heavy Losses From Fire. The fire losses in Canada during the last two years amounted to nearly 8J millions sterling. In igio they exceeded all previous records, and represented a sum of 13s. per head of the population, as against 10s. lOd. in 1909. Canada's record, therefore, is worse thr-» that of the United States, where, during the last ten years, the fire fiend has claimed a toll of 50 million sterling annually, or 10s. per head of the population. This annual loss on the American continent is in singular contrast to that experienced in Europe, where the general average ; s put as low as 2s. per head of population. Where Doctors Differ. Doctors are divided in opinion as to the antiseptic properties of tobacco. A practitioner recently remarked that the antiseptic power of tobacco, in his opinion, was not so great as was generally thought, and he supported his view by citing the frequency of the smokers' sore throat. Dr. Cornet, of Paris, has recently contributed a paper to the Paris "Medical," in which he claims that the weed possesses great powers as a bactericide. It sterilises the saliva and does not hurt the teeth. It is an error, the doctor asserts, to attribute inflammation of the gums or of the mucus glands to tobacco. It was the same with cancer. It could not be traced to tobacco exclusively. The New Year in Japan. The New Year is ushered in amid great rejoicing in Japan. On the last day of the old year no one goes to bed the bells ring all night long, and on New Year's morning the usual sweeping and dusting of rooms is not permitted lest any good luck should be swept away. All the gateways are decorated with straw ropes, oranges and lobsters, the last because of its crooked back being regarded as the symbol of old age—and from January Ist to 3rd, the "three chief days of the New Year," the people regale themselves with "Zoni," a stew of rice cakes and greens boiled in fish gravy, which is the Japanese substitute for our own Christmas pudding. The New Year holidays last until January 16th, winding up with a Feast of Return to Labour. ?