MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2808, 8 January 1908, Page 67

MULTUM IN PARVO.

—In Manchuria dogs are grown for their hides, which form a valuable article of commerce. _ — Glycerine has the property, extraordinary among liquids, of not evaporating 1 . / — The Scandinavians as a nation enjoy the grea-test freedom from epidemic disease. — All new schools in Switzerland have apportion of the ground floor appropriated for baths. — Buttons appear to have first come into tise in England in the reign of Edward I. The first were made of wood. — The Chinese are noted for the size of their brains. The average- weight of their brain is greater than the average weigh! of Ihe brain 'in any other people. — "•Carlisle -"Cathedral organ is to be rebuilt at a cost of £2000. and Mr Gjmiegie has promised a contribution of £500. — Liverpool nest office enrr> 7 ovees have a restaurant where 500 dine daily, and by four to one a proposed drink bar has been vetoed. — From 130 doors in Fulham the brass knockers were wrenched early on a recent Friday morning by an organised \gang of roughs. — A bottle of whisky has been taken from the foundation stone of a, home built 203 yoars ago, n>ar Washington, U.S. —The ordinary weight of the human heart is 94oz\ and in size the orea-n is eflual to the closed fist of the person to whom it belongs. > ' i -■A neerro's skull is bolievod to be harder and thicker tban> a white man's owing "to the early of African children to the beat of' the sun. " •r-Dootor's cos»ohmen interim wear whftp hats. This enables the puWiV to promptly recognise a phvsioian's veVcte in case his serving are suddenly reauired. ,—, — The most valuable statue in the wo->-ld is that of tb«* trod D^v+su. in Yokohama. Jar>an. 'It stands fiSift hieh, /wpighs 450 to"?, and contains 5001b of nure cold. ,—, — "Come and bring your pipe -with yon" i« the .invitation issued to tn'en^ attending tbe service"' on Sunday .'afternoon at St. Michael's. Coventry. •' ' |» — A ohurch of solid > coral is a curiosity of the Isle of Mane. This i«riartd. rising to -300?ft.,is the Mahesfr oftho SevonoJ'es erouo iri the Indian O^ean, and its buildings are all of scmarp Woo!™ hewn from .-massive coral, and clistpn like white •wiarb' I©.1 ©. x --X London Count-"- Council memorial tablet has been erected on th«» house> 54 Great M^rlborouerb street. London, where Mrs" r ftiddoTiß wfi{«ted at on«> time. — Th«> oldest Protestant YiburWh. in "Britain is the Moravian. Tt*>ppntlr +he London con'"greosation celebrated the 450 th anniversary of its oreanisatibn. —It is only 100 veajs si^oe the first eras comnanv was formed^ in TSno^and. and a Njrreat rcanv nersons now Hvinsr can well remember the tim<» wW it- was nuit<» common f or tbe smaller, shops to_ be, lighted by oil lamps. ' ~ \ ' — •Foil'- -vat*.' each doubly the size of tbe fßjnnus •'JTeid»'berg' fain, .have K»pn constructed for -Messrs TWn-ior^ of 7T»rofnV. Erfnh v*t will "hold 50 normal. anrJ to fill sb>,^rn all with cider will take £4000 worth' of atjples. • — Tjancashfw school children are to learn yrdenine. ''Tie county. education authority will provide <w»eds. tools; fertilisers, and fencJni'. on condition that school manasreTS prowdo an instructor and a Dlot of land at lea*? 4Of > smwre -varo's in area. — Mu/>Ti 'jTienftnpqs has y»^--n oreat o '' at B»drutli. Cornwall, by a suhs?di»ri<>p of Jand wh-«"flh has occurred >n a yard divid'nar two business orftmis^s. The subsidence has disa. hole 60ft df.eo, supposed to Tv* part o f +ii«. workings of the once famous Penendrea. mine. — -'The George Eliot memorial, which Mr F. A. Newdegate is erecting in Arbury 'Park, Warwickshire, within sight of Mary Ann Evans's birthplace, is a tapered pillar in grey granite, on -a three-step pedestal. - ' — Miss Rose Fritz, of New York, has beaten the world's speed record in .typewriting. The v yoang lady copied \ from a manuscript 5619 words in one hour.' or an average of just over 93£ words per minute. —Mr John Margerlson," who was for half a century employed 'By £he Hornby family at the Brodkhouse cotton mills, Blackburn, has left the bulk of- hie' fortune, valued' at over £5000, for the erection of a statue of Mr William Henry Hornby, father of Sir W..H. Hornby. M:P. < — • Miss Geraldine M. -Cobb* who has been married to Mr W. Bowzer (meat salesman, West Smithfield), listened to a novel chime of wedding bells. A number of men from the market attended wifch" their cleavers outside the building where, the reception was -held, and rang a wedding chime •bj tapping the cleavers with large bones. — A .striking illustration of ,the superstitious beliefs of Coinieh country folk may be seen in one of the villages of the Duchy. A death occurred recently in the family of a beekeeper, and he, believing that if he failed to " do so his bees would also die, . dratted each o.f his five iives with a piece of Wack crape. - — Germany has the largest labour organisation -in the world. This trade union — the Deutscher -Metallarbeiterverband, which represents all brarioljes of the metal-working industry — has a membership of no fewer than- 335.075, of which 15.000 are women. During 1906 a total of £17,500 was- spent by this organisation" to maintain strikers. — A young woman has just arrived in Vienna who claims to be the tallest woman in the world. She is only 27 years old, but stands 7ft sin, and weighs 26sfc' 101b. She is spare rather than jfout, is iiard of feature end voice, and altogether somewhat of the masculine type. Her father and mother are' not above ordinary stature. — The cotton handkerchiefs provided for Frenoh-eoidiers have, printed upon them a number (of sanitary precepts to be 'observed on the march and during a campaign, and are furtner decorated- with medallions con'teining pictures of officers of all grades, the qifferent uniforms being so distinctly portrayed that a French private can tell at once to what grade any officer ne ~may see belongs. - \ — A living 1 Union Jack, composed of .3360 boys 'dressed in red 1 , white,- and blue, wai formed on Bramall Lane Ground, Sheffield, the other day. Altogether 13,000 children took part in a patriotic Empire Day -display, which, though most elaborate, .was -kept free oFjingoietio features. Grpups of onijdren in costume formed . historical pageanfo representing events or customs in si.ll parti of the Empire. The words "9,0*1 Bless Our Empire" were formed with living letters 64ft deep.

— Record stones have been laid of two great reservoirs, each of which will hold 2,000,000,000ga1, in the Peak of Derbyshire This is the scheme, started eight years ago, for the damming, of the Derwent to supply vrater to Sheffield 1 , Derby, Leicester, and Nottingham. Two great dams, composed of 1,000,000 tons of stone, have been erected. Each is over 1000 ft long and 112 ft high. Another is to be erected, and the general appearance of the Teservoirs when, full will be that of three great i lakes rising in steps, one above the other. — Strange as if may seem, a lot of moneyis made out of policemen's cast<>ff uniforms. Quantities are bought by African traders and exported to various parts of the "Dark Continent," where they are exchanged for palm oil, ivory, skins, and other merchandise. It is by no means an uncommon sight to see a swarthy savago dressed in the uniform of a London policeman and' wearing the regulation helmet of the force. — The costliest, fiats in London have been built on the site of the late Duke of Cambridge's house at the*torner of Park lano and "Piccadilly. There are six flats in the building and it is said that tho rental of each will be from £2000 to £2500. Heavy as this is, it will yield little more than a sufficient interest on the expenditure, which has been somewhat over £120,000. The flats ara unusually large, consisting of four reception, rooms and ten bedaeoms. —It is a fact well known 'among those who are in the habit of riding in motor d that their sleeo is sound and refreshing, even when, under ordinary conditions — that is to say. apart from motoring—sleeplessness hafi been the rule. This result appears to bo to a certain extent common to most open-air "exercises and pursuits, but the forced respiration-^conneoted with the continuous rush through the atmosphere seems ,to have'its own peculiar and specific effect in producing sleep.