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Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 274, 19 November 1877, Page 4

Few of the persons who handle Bank of England notes, the City Press says , ever think of the amount of labor and ingenuity that is expended on their production. These notes are made from pure white linen cuttings only, sever from rags that have been worn, They have been maaufactured for nearly 200 years at the came spot— Laverstoke, in Hampshire — and by the same family, the Portals, who are descended ;from aome French Protestant refugees. So carefully is the paper prepared that even the number of dips into the pulp made by each workman is registered on dial by machinery, and oarefully counted and booked to each person through whose hands they pass. The printing is done by a most curious

process in Mr Coe's department withia the Bank building, There is aa elaborate arrangement for securing that no note shall be exactly like any other in existence ; consequently there was never a duplicate of a Bank of iEngland note except by forgery. It has been stated that the stock of paid notes for seven years.is about 94,000,000 in number, and they fill 18,000 boxes, which, if placed side by side, would reach three miles. The notes placed in a pile, would be eight miles high ; or if joined end to end, would form a Iribbon 15,000 miles long. Their superficial extent is more than that of Hyde Park, their original value was over £3,000,000,000, and their weight over 112 tons.

A Hint to Mothbbs,—" I cannot understand," said a discouraged mother the othor day, •* why my ohildren are so much worse than thoae of other people. I Jam always correcting tbeir faults, always telling them what fco do." and there was just the trouble. Nothing is worse than to he oontinually lecturing them ou general principles, saying over and over — '^ Never do this, never do that," till the best of children are bewildered, and made rebels in spite of their own intentions. When a little one makes a mistake, act that special mistake right; but beware of legislating for a lifetime to people of less tban ten years old. We are often responsible for children's naughtiness, because we forget that children have rights. The mother who is unfailingly polite herself to her little ones will be repaid by their good manners. But the loud tone, the quick emphasis, the arbitrary speech, will be repeated by the second generation with inevitable accuracy, and the mother will be ashamed of it.

Sending Plants to Sleep.—Several members ot the Parisian Biological Society have recently been engaged in a series of experiments which seem to prove that everything endowed with life, whether animal, plant, or ferment, is susceptible of being brought under the influence of anaesthetics—- in. other words may, be sent to sleep. It has been proved that the influence of anaesthetics extends to all the animal tissues, and last of all to the central nervous system. Hence it was argued that plants having tissues, must be also subject to the influence of ether, &c. Experiments bave proved this to be the case. Germination is arrested by ana33thetic. The watercress, for example, germinates within thirty hours. Ether arrests germination in this plantbut does not destroy tbat faculty. Ifmerely sends the plant to sleep, for germination recommences as soon as the use of ether is suspended. This capability of beiog sent to sleep is not confined to plants— it extends to ferments. Thus the ferment of beer, when submitted for twenty-foar hours to the influence of ether, becomes perfectly dormant, but recovers activity as Boon as ana.3thetio action is suspended.

A Mubdebous Sea Floweb. — One of the exquisite wonders of the sea is called the opelet, and is about as large as tbe German aster, looking, indeed, very much like one. Imagine a very large double aster, with ever so many long petals of a light greco, glossy satin, and each one tipped with rose colour. These lovely petals do not lie quietly iv their places, like those of the aster ia your garden, but wave about io the water, while the opelet clings to a rocky bed. Who would think it could eat anything grosser than dew or sunlight ? But those beautiful waving arms have another uae besides looking pretty. They have to provide food for a large open mouth which is bidden down among them — so well hidden that one could scarcely find it. Well do they perform their duty, for the instant a foolish little fish touches one of the rosy tips he is struck with poison as fatal to him as lightning. He imme- : diately becomes numb, and in a moment stops struggling, and then the other arms wrap themselves around him, and he is drawn into the huge greedy moutb, and seen no more. Then the lovely arms unclose and wave again in the water, looking as innocent and harmless as though they had never touched a fish.