GENERAL INFORMATION.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume 8, Issue 27, 2 April 1907, Page 2

GENERAL INFORMATION.

A million matches are used in Europe every twelve minutes: The Cayman .Isles, in the West Indies, export nothing but. turtles. Zoologists say ihas all known species of wild animals are diminishing in size.Only one man 'in every two hundred and eight is over six feet in height. Observing barbers declare that men with heavy beards are most apt to be bald. It is calculated that ']i\ per cent. of the cigars sold in London are not made from tobacco at all. The total number of men in the world's navies is estimated to bo two hundred and thirty-seven thousand. * The curliness of hair varies with its flatness. The Hatter it is the more it curls. Curling irons flatten the hair. London firms are said to spend over £2,000,000 a week in advertising, about half of which goes to daily newspapers. Half the ships in lh« world aro liritish. The best of them can be converted into ships of war in fortyeight hours. Frenchwomen in the rural districts wash their faces in butter, and rarely use soap and water. This renders the skin beautifully sofy and elastic. With one or two trifling exceptions, the submarine cables of the world, which stretch for over l2<>,oon nautical miles, and have cost. £IO,OOO, 000, are of Jlrilish construct ion. The remedial effects of laughter ar<« really wonderful. Cases have been known- where a hearty laugh has banished disease and preserved life by a sudden effort of nature. Sea-shells murmur because the vibrations of the air, not otherwise observable, are collected in the shell and by its shape are brought to a focus. Lord Roberts says that if our soldiers could be so trained as to make it certain that one shot in every 20 would reach its billet, the Army might be pronounced live times as formidable as any Continental army has yet shown itself. The London policeman joins the force at a salary of 25/ per week, with the assurance of a. yearly rise, lie has, in addition, his uniform, boots, coal-money, and some other extras, as well as the promise of superannuation pay at the end of tWenty-six years' service. An excellent way to cure insomania is to bandage the eves wilh a handkerchief before retiring. The compress seems to drive away the blood from the eyes and so cure, or at least temporarily relieve, imu feeling so often experienced by sud'erei s from sleeplessness, of Irving to see in the dark. The F.mpress of Ccrmany shares h«r husband's military tastes. At one of the grand reviews a few years ago she was in the saddle for two hours, riding superhlv. and leading her own regiment of cuirassiers past the Kmperor. Her uniform as colonel was a habit of white cloth, embroidered with the red and silver «oiours of the regiment on the shoulders and collar. She wore a Uuv'-conieivd hat of white felt with drooping plumes, and looked reinarkablv well. • 1520.'