NEWS IN BRIEF.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2051, 6 November 1919, Page 1

NEWS IN BRIEF.

America has 1,000 schools giving lessons by cinematograph. China has the world’s oldest'chain bridge in existence. Berea, Ohio, has the largest grindstone factory in the world. Canada’s sea coast equals half the world’s eircamfcremr^. .A fathom, Oft., is derived from the height of a full-grown man. The great armadillo has 02 teeth —more than any other animal possesses. Moths have been caught in midocean, 1,200 miles from the nearest laud. By using less material,in army kilts, Britain has saved £23,000 a year. ' Antwerp, one of the four.largest ports in the world, is 53 miles from the sea. A pullet at Broom hold, Essex, laid an egg with three separate and complete yolks. Professional etiquette forbids French judges and judicial officials riding in omnibuses. During the winter a toad becomes torpid, and lakes no food for from four to six months. A Persian carpel has been in use for over 200 years in the main hall of the Shah’s palace in Teheran. Coffee-houses were shut up in 1075 by King Charles IT., who denounced them as ‘‘seminaries of sedition.” On November 28th, 1814, the London Times introduced the stgam printing press to the industrial world. Nearly everybody smokes in Japan. The girls begin when they are, 1|) years of age, and the hoys a year earlier. The highest steam-navigated body of water in the world is Lake Titicaca, which lies at an altitude of 12,545 ft., 'partly in Peru and partly in Bolivia. The largest airplane engine in the world, just tested in England, weighs less than a ton, and has 1,000 horse-power. The snpersliiions use of horseshoes as emblems of good luck originated in England about the middle of the Seventeenth Century. British investments in Argentina total more than £400,000,000. There is £227,750,000 of British money invested in railways alone. A woman of Alamanda, Cal., has obtained a divorce on her testimony that her husband- had bought her only two dresses in 17 years. When a sailor notices the deck covered with dew he knows that his ship is within 30 miles of land. Outside that distance dew is not deposited. Wild pigeons arc believed to be the most voracious eaters of the animal* kingdom in proportion to their size. One consumes 1,000 grains of wheal in a *tlay. The first elephant ever exhibited in America was shown at Philadelphia in 1796. Grown people were charged a dollar a look, and children a quarter. It is estimated that at least twothirds of all the letters carried by the postal service of the world are written, sent to and read by Englishspeaking people. The giant airship, R 34, is 039 ft. in length, or 100 ft. longer than Westminster Abbey. . Her total weight, however, is loss (ban half that of a railway engine. A French deserter, arrested in Belgium, murdered the prison warder into whose charge he was given. When examined he declared he had deserted only-to go to Amerongen to kill the .Kaiser. That was why ho carried a revolver. St. Dunstau’s, with its method of teaching soldiers and sailors how to be accomplished though bliml, has achieved many wonders, but perhaps the most remarkable case is that of Sergeant Alan M. Nicholas, 2nr. Durham Light Infantry. As one of the “Old Contemptible*,” Nicholas was wounded immediately after the retreat from Mons, recovered, and became bombing instructor. OnSeptember 4th, 1916, a defective bomb exploded, robbing him of the use of his eyes, blowing off both hands, and giving him other grievous wounds. His case might well have seemed hopeless, but, thanks to patient, scientific training, a spe-cially-constructed machine, a pair of artificial hands, plus his own indomitable spirit, he can,-all unaided, type, letters without errors, and recently he passed a two and a quarter hours’ test. Only two corrections were made. His artificial hands, of French manufacture, are of aluminium, each finger being movable. The pair weigh 3]lbs. and are worn without much discomfort, though, after a long day’s work, they feel heavier. Sergeant Nicholas took lessons in elocution; and he addresses meetings on the work of St. Dunsi tan’s and the National Institute for the Blind.

While playing golf at Deauville, Baron James de Rothschild, eldest son of Baron Edmond de Rothschild, was struck in the eye by a ball, shattering the monocle he was wearing, and necessitating the subsequent removal of the eye. 'A similar accident occurred a week later in England. A Ramsgate chauffeur named G. T. Castle, was driving a motor car along the road between Sandwich and Ramsgate, when he. was struck in the eye by a golf ball from the St. Augustine's Links, which adjoin the roadway. Castle was taken to the Ramsgate Hospital, where it was found necessary to remove the. eye.