MISCELLANEOUS.

Poverty Bay Standard, Volume I, Issue 96, 1 April 1884, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Woman, having bo long submitted to being called a capricious creature, might as weU bow gracefully to the inevitable, and give to her likings in dress the rather pretty name of caprices. In this way she may keep her more earnest feelings from receiving the belittling tide. 4 Broad ribbons of either Ottoman or velvet are muoh liked for wrap fastenings. While not a particularly new arrangement, it is yet more generally seen this season than it has been for some time. One says ” broad” b* cause such narrow style have been popular, but the usual width is about two inches. A directory of “ American heiresses” has been published in London, giving the name and address of each young unmarried lady in that country to whom a fortune has descended or is about to descend, for the specific benefit of impecunious British peers, brokendown Irish landlords, and other foreign adventurers. A new application for electricity has been produced. The late Lord Mayor’s carriage, when proceeding to and from the banquet held at Guildhall on November 9 was lighted by electricity by Messrs Shippey Brothers, electrical engineers of 18 and 14 King street, by the new universal glow lamps, the current being generated by Coad’s patent primary battery placed under the coachman’s seat. -This is the first time a carriage has been lighted by electricity in England. The in* stallation was carried out on a similar principle to that, used by Baron Rothschild in Vienna. Country gentlemen can now have the pleasure of electric light placed iq their carriages, and can avail themselves of reading the latest news in the evening papers. An old but gay Lothario, noticing a pretty girl alone in a railway-carriage, opened the door and smilingly asked, “ Are these seats engaged, miss?” “ No, sir, but I am, and he is going to get in at the next station,” she answered. “ Oh—ah—indeed—thanks—beg pardon I ” find, looking very foolish, he hurriedly entered a smoking-carriage. By a large majority the French Chamber have passed the Bill abolishing the monopoly of funeral trappings now enjoyed by Catholic churches and Protestant consistories, An account of the cost to France of the war with Germany, just issued by the audit department, puts down £341,440,000 as the total.

It is reported from Paris that the Edison Company has purchased the right of using the Faure - Sellon - Volckmar accumulator throughout Germany. E. P, Weston, the Yankee pedestrian, has announced his intention of undertaking a walking tour through England and Wales, with a view to demonstrate the superiority of tea over beer and alcoholic drinks in general during periods of prolonged muscular exertion. He proposes to walk 50 miles a day for 100 days, and at the close of each day’s walk deliver in the town to which his day’s journey may have brought him, an address on temperance, having for its title “ Tea v. Beer.” A clock of peculiar construction has been manufactured for the United States Signal Station Bureau at Washington. The case is brass, and allows the swing of a pendulum 39 inches long and is air-tight and admits of the air being exhausted, and the movements run in a vacuum, thus obviating any possibility of variation due to atmospheric changes. An electrical attachment is in connection with the movements, by means of which the clock is wound as it runs, so that there is not the usual liability to variation arising from the different conditions of the mainspring. This is accomplished by alternately breaking and closing an electric current. The motion thus obtained and the power of the current are used to re-wind the spring by means of a worm and other mechanism. The winding keeps exact pace with the running, and the slightest deviation from this standard is shown on an indicator. The train is jewelled, and is, therefore, little affected by friction. Oh, how refreshing palatable and reviving is a draught of cool water with Hop Bitters in it, to a fever patient. See. Obstructions of the kidneys and attendant organs will prove fatal if not removed by Hop Bitters. Read.