Parisian Notes.

Manawatu Herald, 14 December 1893, Page 2

Parisian Notes.

> fFROM OUR OWN CORRKSPONDENT ) MtlNOfl UISMAKCK'S WKIGHT. 1 Prince Bismarck is -reported- I ' to have lost full fourteen pounds in ■ weight, and 11 centimetres in circumference. From his average , weight of 21Q pounds, r which he maintained with remai&able regM--1 larity for a number of years, he has now come down to 182 pounds. LAVUKS AN!> THEIR BONNETS. ' i The decree of the Grand Opera : Directors, prohibiting the wearing of hats and bonnets by ladies in the Jctuteuil* d' orchestra at their theatre, was for the first time rigorously

applied the other night without any protestation on the part of the fair spectators. Only two or three ladies had made their appearance in hat*, in ignorance of the new regulation, but placidly accepted seats in another part of tho house. In the case of two aged ladies, wearing bonnets richly ornamented with lace, the director declared that this afcylfc of our grandmothers' head gear was entitled to all respect, and politoly . admitted the wearers thereof.. ' A SAILING VESSEL " fi» (lc /S'«Vcfe." v A sailing vea3el lighted with electricity is seldom seen In any part of the world, but tho new Spanish bark La Vigesnn, which recently arrived at Philadelphia from Vigo, Spain, is lighted throughout with the strongest and clearest , electric lights to be seen anywhere, either ashore or afloat. She is a bulk oil as well a3 a general cargo carrier. A little oil engine, stowed away in a safe park of the vessel's hold, furnishes not only power enough for the light, but enough fco pump in or out her Euid cargo. . OUT OF XHK WORLD. A detachment of Alpine Guards, consisting of twenty-two men, has been stationed on the summit of the Col dv Frejus, a portion of Mont Cenis. The hut that they inhabit is nearly 10,000 feet above sea level and in the course of a few weeks they will be snow bound and unable to descend until next summer is far advanced. Tho are provisioned lor eight months, bni; are not entirely cat off from all news, as the station is connected by telephone with Modane. a thikf's trousers. Two young men entered a wineshop the other evening and ordered a bottle of •' very old wine." The landlord went down into the cellar to fetch it, and whilst he was gone one of his customers " pocketed " the billiard balls in a manner for which they were not intended, whilst the other opened the till. The landlord suddenly reappeared through the trap and made a grab at one of the-, thieves, who fled,, but liko Joseph, left part of his raiment in his pursuer's hand. The piece was given to a detective, and the next day a young man wearing trousers of the same material, but with a, recent patch in them, was arrested and confessed his guilt. IMNGEBOUS CIGAIIKTTE3. Hitherto it has been the custom to sell all the old bandages, cottonwool, and other matter from the Paris hospitals, but it has come to the notice of the authorities that; a great part of these materials found its way to the- paper makers, and was used for the manufacture of cigarette papers ! As this practice was evidently dangerous — microbes being notoriously hard to kill, experiments iiajfe been tried afc the hospital Lariboisiere, with a view to getfcij^-*id-of the old bandages in a safsfc^anner. To burn them in the staves was open to objeotion, and it j was 7 found necessary to erect a! special apparatus, This plan will shortly be adopted by all the othor j Paris Hospitals. " ; A MAGNIFICENT WIST. ' M. Antoine cV Abbadie, member and ex-president of the Academic des Sciences, and Mme. d' Abbadie have made a splendid offer to that institution, In the fkat place they are prepared to make over at their deith ; their estate of Abbadix (Basses-Py-renees), the annual revenue of which is 20,000 francs, and one hundred snares of the Bank of France, representing a capital of 400,000 francs, on condition that an observatory be i erected at Abbadix, where a cata- 1 logue of 600'Btars is to be compiled by members of a religious order, the j work to be finished by 1950. The Academy can moreover engage in any scientific researches it pleases at Abbadix, provided vivisection is never .practised. A committee has baen- appointed to consider this generous offer. NEW BANK OF FRANCE NOTES. In a few days time the Bank of France will begin the issue of new notes. There will be no change in rtie > design, but the paper, though , lighter, is stronger than that hitherto usedj and will render imitation even more difficult than it is at present, i