MULTUM IN PARVO.

Otago Witness, Issue 2896, 15 September 1909, Page 64

MULTUM IN PARVO.

— It Is estimated that in Egypt there are 10,000,000 people who can neither read nor write. —Mr Orville Wfight says that in 10 years the conquest of the air will have been accomplished. —In all, two millions of money is said to have be^n spent in a vain attempt to take back the America Cup to England. — Fi<=hing-net», djed bhie to resemble the colour of sea-water, are found extremely effective for catching fife-h. — In London alone there are some 2000 societies and institutions for the relief of misery and suffeiing. — Boys of 16 desiring to become <sailors in th^ navy must be at least sft 2iin in height ar.d 33in round the chest. — 80l ton's parks and recreation grounds <xner about 'SO acres, which, at various times, have coat tho town £84,000. — Father Bernard Vaughan is one of the few Roman Catholic priests who have ever preached -before King Edward VII. — Among the Hottentots, if a widow marries again she is obliged to cut off the joint of a finger for every husband she marries after the first ; this she presents to her new huubanid on her wedding day, beginning at one of the little fingers first. — In parts of Alaska is found a kind of fUh that makos a capital candle when it. Ie dried. The- tail of the fish is «tuck into a eraok of a wooden table to hold it upright, and its nos-e is lighted. It gives a good, steady light of three candle-power, and considerable- heat, and will burns for about three hours — Sugar is now manufactured in Germany from old rags. The rags are treated with sulphuric acid, and converted into destrine. This is treated -with a milk of lime, and c then subjected to a new bath of sulphuric acid, which converts it into glucose. The glucose obtained by this process is identical with that of commerce, and! may be used in tha same way for confections, ices, etc. — The first in which Admiral Fisher went to sea wa<- a small sailing two-decker. In a prominent place tho inscription, '" Silence .' "' wns displayed, and beneath it "■ Deeds not WorcK" Every &hip he has commanded lias berne those word*.

I —A Swfd© has const ructed an aerial torpedo which is claimed to be capable ojE destroying a fortification or the biggest battleship afloat. It is 4in in diameter, and only weighs 221b. It was offered to the "War Office, but they declined to adopt it. | — " The League Against Excess of Aviation " in Paris has drafted the Allowing rules for airships: — No aeroplane shall fly at more than. 20 miles an hour. Descents? on military territory, cultivated land, or pleasure grounds, shall bo prohibited. Aero« planes shall be* taxed at a- tariff of onetenth of a penny per square centimetre of. I their surface. | — The heaviest gun any worship has ever carried weighed 110 tone. It has been, however, abandoned, as it proved impracticable. Its bore is lo^in, as against the 12in of the present heaviest gun, and its length 43£ ft. Its ' projectile * weighs 1 18001b. Only one round in seven minutes can be' fired, and its life is limited to 100 rounds. A shell from this gun erbaxte at a speed of 2087 ft per second... — Two kinds, of --torpedoes are carried in : British warships, -commonly -termed "A" pattern and W B" pattern. "A's" are supplied to all big irarehips and destroyers. They are nearly 20ft Jong and 18in ' in ! diameter. Their range is 2000 yds. The bursting charge consists of 2001b of guncotton, firexl by a fuse which explodes or impact. Their -cost is about £500. "B'»" are smaller thaM " A.%" and carry a smaller bursting charge. ' — Since the.Veijgn of George IH it has been a traditioru.in. the. JRoyal. Family thsfc' ' one or more of its princes should be brought up in the navy. Prince Edward of Wales was the last royal prince to enter Hie senior 1 service. ■ — « Floating cricket " is sometimes played on board large men-of-war. "Tip and run" < is the rule, and innings are short and sweefcL There are no overs, and bowling tabes place both ends. Seven or eight men constitute a side, and scores range from 20 to 50 runs, ' each innings lasting about 15 minutes. Tjho balls are made on board from twine wrapped round a cork and covered with canvas. 1 — Twelve-inch naval guns are the standard heavy gune of the present. Their weight is 65.8 tons, and 1 projectile 8501bLength, 617.7 in. The initial velocity of a. projectile from one of these guns is 3010 ft a second. Its effective range against an average modern armoured warship is aboub four miles. Projectiles cap be fired at a rate of one round a minute. Modern Dreadnoughts carry ten 12in guns. —Mr John Thomson, of the Hole-i-the-Wa' Inn, " Dumfries, Scotland, is the possessor of many Burns relics, including a Dumfries burger's ticket presented to the poet, an- old window in the inn with soxn.e> writing by Burns on it, 'and, many others'. So much value is placed on these ' relics, that their owner recently installed a large steel safe for their protection. — Our system, of notation is derived from the Hindoos, who themselves ascribe it to the Divinity. It is generally supposed to have been, introduced into Europe By the Moors or Saracens, who brought it from Arabia into Spain in the tenitib, century. According to an old account, which, 'however, is not sufficiently authenticated 1 , Gerberfc (afterwards Pope Sylvester II), who died in '.he year ICO3, brought this notation fTotn the Moors of Spain into France. — A novel method of toughening metals has recently been brought out. The metal to be treated is placed in a closed retort, and a small quantity of mercury placed in it. The retort is subjected to pressure, and then heated below the melting-point of the metal. "Wihile the heating is going on a current of electricity is passed through the metal. It is said that metal treated in th's manner is greatly increased in toughness and in ability to withstand the effect of se» wateT and other corrosive agents. Wihile more particularly adapted for treating iron and fiteel, it 6 eaid to act in the same manner on other metals. — The dock authorities at Sfax, Russia, are puzzled to know what to do with 2000 tons of salt which have been lying ;n; n their warehouses without an owner for two year* and a-half. The salt, which is in 40,000 bags, was brought by the captain of a sailing vessel, who sa : d it was purchased for the Russian Government. It was put aboard hi« ship, but a few days alter he had it transferred to the quay again, and hia vessel sailed a few hours afterwards. No claim has ever been made for the salt, which has been gradually melting for the last two years. The "Russian Government denies all knowledge of the purchase. ' : — An English thoroughbred horse seldom lives to a ripe old age; 23, however, ; a not an exceptional age for an Arab sbeed. Although he cannot compete with the English or American thoroughbred for speed, there i is no horse in the world like the Arab- for endurance and all-round fitness. Lord Roberts rede the same Arab through all nis campaigns, covering in 22 years a distance of some 50,000 biles. For the last 3COO years horsce in Arabia have been inured to hardy usage and very scanty feeding from carli-est yourh. Now they represent a splendid' example of Nature's hard rule — the survival of the fittest. i —The mania for "collecting" seems to attack" most people at gome period or another. A rather odd collection of curios ja that amassed by the Abyssinian monarch, Menelik 11, who is eaid to have in hia possession more than 2000 locks of hair, of every shade of colour and texture; each of these is carefully labelled with the date and other particulars of its acquisition. The came monarch has also a pretty and more comprehensible taste in emeralds, and is reported to possess one of tho?» stones which is of unique 6iz© and lustre. More fables have probably been told about the emerald than about any gam ;' a Belgian convent of the sixteenth century was said to have a diamond so large that its lustre eerv<?d to light the entire chapel. — The business of one well-known firm of opticians consists largely in the manufacture of horse epeot&oles (says an American paper). The object of the spectacles is to ' promote high stepping. The frames are of stiff leather, entirely enclosing tho eyes of the horse, and the glasses used are deep concave and large m size. The ground seems to the horse to be Taised, and he steps high, thinking he is going up hill or has to step over some obstacle. Thw system of spectacles is generally adopted! I while the horse is young, and its effect oil his step and action is said to bo remarkable. It has been discovered that the cause of a horde's shying i*, as a. nil", thorfc sight, and it is now suggested that the sight of all hor=e= should be tested, like that of i children.