NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1812, 11 April 1918, Page 4

NEWS IN BRIEF.

Meerschaum comes principally from Asia' Minor. In Morocco it is used as a substitute for .soap. The Ashmolean Museum, at Oxford, England, was founded in 1679, and is the oldest in the country. The Emperor of Japan can trace his-pedigree back in an unbroken line to the time of Nebuchadnezzar. The Peninsular medal, granted in 1847 to survivors of the war, had, in some eases, twenty-eight clasps. Cordite is not a high explosive, and is ndt put into shells. It is used to drive the shell out of the gun. The latest pattern of the Lee-En-fleld rifle weighs 81b. 10oz., and can hit with effect at any distance up to 2,500 yds. The highest part of London is Hampstead Heath, being'424ft, above sea level, or 84ft. above the cross of St. Paul’s. Lyddite, the high explosive, gets its name from Lydd, in Kent, England, where the experiments with it were made. ■ All field guns hereafter built for the United States army will be so mounted that they can be used against aeroplanes. The only animals left alive in the Antwerp zoo are the elephants, which are now being used for military traction purposes. The bed of the Pacific Ocean is believed by scientific men to have been above water ,at one time, and inhabited by men.