GRAINS OF KNOWLEDGE

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 10 January 1931, Page 10

GRAINS OF KNOWLEDGE

The Superb Plume Bird is a native of New Guinea.

The first, census was taken in England, 10th March. 1801. Russia is rearing musk rats for their fur on a big scale. Immense quantities of sugar-beet are grown in Central Europe. The estimated weight of the Earth is six million million million tons. The county in which the least number of fairs are held is Hutlandshire. The mole lives on worms, wireworms, mice, shrews, small reptiles, and frogs. A Royal sign manual is a stamp made and used to imitate the Royal signature. The crossbill feeds mainly on seeds, and is remarkable in extracting them from every source. The bull-frog, if a good specimen, will measure some 20 inches from nose to extremity of toe. In Amazonian forests Brazil nuts are mostly picked by men in boats from trees by the waterways. In true meaning bumble is good and beautiful, “linin’ being equal to “lion” and “hie” to “belle.” A skeleton of a dinosaur thirty feet long and six feet broad has been found near Tetuan in Spanish Morocco, “Pommy,” the term applied to newcomers in Australia, is an abbreviation of “pomegranate,” and denotes a greenhorn. Aldeborontiphoscophornio is tho name of a courtier in “Chrouonhotoiithologos,” a burlesque written by Henry Carey in (1734). The meadow pipit is chiefly dark olive brown in colour with a mixture of green, white and rose—all of which change during the seasons. Probably the bird that flies the most Is the swift, which rises earlier and letires later than most birds, and is on the wing nearly all the day through. Tlie loud pedal on the pianoforte operates by a removing of the felt dampers from the wires, which thus permits a continuous flow of the tone waves. The largest animal in the world is the sulphur-bottom whale, some specimens of which are over a hundred feet in length and weigh nearly a hundred tons. It is the heaviest creature that has ever been known to exist. The spot exactly opposite to London on the other side of the globe—its antipodes —is in the ocean S.E. of New Zealand, near a small island which, in honour of its position, has appropriated to itself the name of “Antipodes island.” Anno Domini was first used in dates about 527 by Dionysius, a monk of Scythia and a Roman abbot. It was introduced into Italy in the sixth century. France used it a century later ami Spain not until the eleventh century. Its first recorded use in England is in (180.

A villain now means a scoundrel, but in olden times a villain was a farm servant or peasant. Under the Norman rule the Saxon labourers were oppressed and brutalised. They became rough and coarse, and ready to commit crimes. As a result, the word villain came to have the meaning that it has to-day. Some authorities says that a “baron” of beef is so called from a fanciful allusion to the word “sirloin,” inasmuch as a baron is superior in rank to a sir, knigh.t, or baronet. The best authorities, deny this. Dr. Brewer says that it is “so called because it is the ‘baron’ hack part of the ox, called in Danish the ‘rug.’ ” The custom of writing “Jno.” as a contraction for John seems to be an ancient one. It has been explained by the fact that our forefathers wrote “Jlion” oftenor than John, and that the “h” in former days frequently assumed the form of “ii.” A more probable explanation is that “Jon,” was once used as a contraction for both John and Jonathan, and that it was altered to “Jno.” for the former name, to prevent confusion.

“Three sheets in the wind” means unsteady (from over-drinking), as a ship is unsteady when its sheets are in the wind. Tim sail of a ship is fastened at one of the bottom corners by a rope called a “tack;” the other corner is left more less free as the rope called a “sheet” is disposed. If quite free the sheet is said to be “in the wind,” and the sail llaps and flutters without restraint. If the three sails were so loosened the ship would reel and stagger like a drunken man. “Black pepper” is the fruit of a creeping shrub. The berries are produced in clusters, and change, as they ripen, from green to red and afterwards to black. “White pepper.” differs from the black only in being, stripped of its cuticle, or covering. To effect this the black berries are. steeped in salt water, and after they have been exposed to the sun for several days the chaff is rubbed off with the hands. In this operation the pepper loses much of its original hot taste. The reason that lions are provided with thick and bushy manes is, so that, in their frequent combats, their adversaries should not be able to injure the head and neck, which are the parts always first attacked. The muscles of a lion’s neck are of immense strength, and it is of the utmost importance to him that they should not be injured. The mane also protects the muscles of the neck and shoulders from changes of temperature, so that they are neVcr stiffened by cold, or relaxed by heat.

The battle of Empingham, near Stamford (1470), was called the “Battle of Loose Coat Field,” because the men led by Sir Robert Welles, a Lancastrian, in rebellion against Edward IV., being attacked by the Yorkists, threw off their coats that they might flee the faster.

“Cast off their country’s coats, to haste their sneed away, Which ‘Loose Coat Field’ is called e’en to this day.” Drayton, “Polyolbion.” The planets are opaque bodies illuminated by the lisht from the sun. None has any light of its own. The word “star” is a general term applied to celestial bodies, including the planets. By astronomers the word “star” is used only to designate the self-shining bodies which are situated beyond the limit of solar attraction. 'The term “planet” was originally applied to stars which have a perceptable motion. In modern astronomy, however, the word is confined to stars which shine by reflecting the light of the sun. The origin of venison being sold by fishmongers is thus given in Prior’s “Life of Malone”: “Many noblemen having more bucks than they had occasion for, wished to dispose of them, but were ashamed to take money. They, therefore, sent them to their fishmonger, and received fish in return. This practice commenced about forty years ago, and the fishmongers still continue to sell venison, though they do not obtain it in the same way, for the owners of parks now find no reluctance in receiving cash for a certain number of bucks every season at a stipulated price.”