NEW, ODD, INTERESTING.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 563, 30 April 1913, Page 7

NEW, ODD, INTERESTING.

In the Polar regions the sea contains less salt than at the equator. - The sting of a bee is only one-thirty-second of an inch long. Over three million pairs of blankets are' woven in the United Kingdom annually. Over six million acres of land aro under tobacco cultivation throughout the world. There are no fewer than 161,416 persons in London licensed to drive, motor cars and motor cycles. Montreal has an area of 40.23 sq. miles, or of 25,747 acres, whereas in ; the acreage was only 3,404. The best cork comes from Algeria. There arc two and a half million ■irres of cork forests in that country. The Tsarina of Russia possesses a ypewriter inlaid with mothcr-o'-lcarl. The keys are of African iv>ry, the bright parts of solid gold. The' total population of Russia in •".v.ropc and Asia is officially given as ;.i*ig 60,095,200 on January Ist, iqio. v f this total. 3.0 per cent, are Jews. ■ Asphalt pavements in Berlin aggregate about forty-live per cent, of the i';il paved area 01 the city. About .. -;imv per cent, is stone pavenein, ."-d two per cent. wood. In China a i.'in cannot, by will, iisposc of his land in favour of any me person, whether relative or •tranger; it must be distributed among ill his male children without execpion. Spurious mummies are .made in •'ranee, and shipped all over the ,-orld. Antiquarians, before purchaing, now examine mummies with the v-rays, by which the sham article'is eadily discovered. A sheet of nickel one twenty-thous-:adth of an inch /thick, is cheaper, ougher, and more flexible than an irdiriary sheet of book-paper. A nic:el book, two inches thick, would :ontain 40,000 pages. Such book vould weight only a pound. A )ound of nickel sheets can be made or five shillings. Within the next 1000 years the popilation of Europe will have increased, in American writer has estimated, : rom 375,000,000 to 700,000,000, that )f Asia from 875,000,000 to 1,000,000, >oo, that of North and South Ameria from 120,000,000 to 1,500,000,000, :hat of Africa from 75,000,000 to :00,000,000, ' that of Australia from 5,000,000 to 60,000,000 —the whole population thus rising from 1,450,000,300 tq 3,360,000,000. iagpipes Appreciated at Last. Chinese musical taste seems to find is most perfect form of expression in he bagpipe rather than any other nuscial instrument of European origin, nd the Chinese people have paid nore attention to concerts given by he pipers of our Highland regiments han to the bands of other organisaions. iVomen as Churchbuilders. The women of New Jersey are engaged in building a .church. They ire all engaged by day, but after their ordinary labors are over they are to be seen on the scaffolding at work in the Women's Apostolic new church. There they are busily, mixing mortar aid placing the stones in position. The master builder is Miss Sarah £arle, a sprightly little lady with grey resses. Jurious Optical Powers. Nature has enabled some animals .0 see objects behind them as well as n front without turning round. The. rare has this power in a marked decree. Its eyes are large, prominent, and placed laterally. Its power of seeing things in the rear is very noticeable in greyhound coursing, for, though the dog is mute while running, the hare is able to judge to a nicety the exact moment at which it will be best for it to double. J-lorscs are another instance. It is only necessary to watch a horse driven invariably without blinkers to nonce this. The giraffe, whichxis a very timid animal, is approached with. the utmost difficulty on account of its eyes being so placed that it can see as well behind as in front. When approached ,this same faculty enables it to direct with great precision the rapid storm of kicks with which it defends itself. A New Musical Combination. The young Swedish-American inventor, H. K. Sandell, has produced an apparatus called the violano-virtuoso, combining an electro-automatic violin with an electrically-controlled piano, so that the two instruments may be made to play together, or separately, as may be desired. Even an ordinary violin can be employed, by proper adjustment, with the piano. The place of the violin bow is taken by little wheels, consisting of flexible celluloid discs. It is "said that the most delicate shades characteristic of artistic execution can be perfectly im.itat.rJ, and that the playing of the violin can be extended beyond the range possible to a performer w;.li fingers and bow, because' with the apparatus all the strings can be attached at the =ame , time, and all the movements combined. 6