PITHY PARS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 183, 16 June 1916, Page 3 (Supplement)

PITHY PARS.

There are 20,000 different kinds of butterflies.

* * * * The world produces about 250 million tons of grain yearly.

» * * * Good players oil the harp arc scarcest ol all musical performers.

* * * One hundred pounds of raw beef weighs only 071b. after roasting.

The biggest cemetery in the world >s the Catacombs at Rome. They contain six million bodies.

The largest window in Britain is in the east window in York Cathedral. It is 75 ft. high and 32 It. wide.

At the Government pawnshop in Pal is about 3-50,000 watches and Ov,ooo wedding-rings are deposited every year.

Deafness is more common in cold countries tha.i in warm climates, the ear being very sensitive to atmospheric clia nges.

# * * * The finest human hair is golden, and red is the coarsest. The thickness ot the human hair varies from the 250 th to the GLKJth part of an inch.

*** * . London was made a bishopric A.l). 31-1, Bangor in 516, Winchester notuntil 635. Lhudaff is another ancient bishopric. It dates from A.D. 400. * * * *

Ants can stand extremes of heat and cold. Forty-eight hours' exposure to frost will not generally kill them, and one speci.cs has been observed to nest in chinks in a bloeksmitlfs forge.

The largest sum ever realised by a bazaar was .at .one opened in the Covent Garden Theatre in May 1545. It was to obtain funds for fighting the Corn Law. The amount realised was £'25,046.

Wages in the United States, on tii»< average, are more than twice tnose in Belgium, three times tlose of Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and cue and a-half those in England and Scotland.

Tn the manufacture ol knives the division of labour has been carried to such an extent that one knife is handled by seventy different artisans from the moment the blade is forged until the instrument is finished and ready for the market.

A fairly brisk trade exists in skulls, and they fetch anything from 3s. to £5, according to their antiquity and rarity. Anatomists are not the only persons who purchase them, for they are bought by private people and oy museum authorities.

In some Japanese temples may be seen suspended great coils of rope woven from human hair. Such ropes, made of hair sacrificed by thousauus of woman and girls, were used to hoist stone and timber for the temple, anu are preserved as relics.

**T * C The Greek sponge-divers often work at a depth of 30 fathoms, and sometimes more. As a rule, however, descents beyond a depth of 30 fathoms are impossible, because ot tin l immense pressure of water, and because air cannot be pumped much further.

A Chinese banknote issued over sis hundred years ago lias been placed m the British Museum. This is the earliest specimen of a banknote known to exist in any country. About ISin. in length, and half that in width, it is a curious-looking document.

Tt is a mistake to suppose that the tip of the tongue is the most sensitive part of the body. Thos.e engaged in polishing billiard balls, or other substances that require a very high degree of smoothness, invariably use the cheekbone as a means of detecting any roughness. * * * It is a curious fart that the fur-seal was once a land animal. The baby seals are actually afraid of the wafer; they would drowu if thrown into it, and have to learn to swim by repeated efforts. When once they have been taught ts swim, however, they soon forget to walk. * * * Spanish trains are notorious for their unpunctualitv, and this fact is admitted even by the railway companies themselves, for the time-tables in many cases simply indicate the hour of departure, with the void "minutos" —that i>, an indefinite number of minutes —written after it. * ■Jfr -if * People with chest complaints are recommended by medical men to read aloud, as this strengthens throat, lungs, and chest muscles alike. The reading should be deliberate and the enunciation clear, the body being held in an easy, unstrained, upright position, so that the chest will have free play. * * * * Many wandering gipsies employ a very simple method to check ui.»iionesty on the part of tae member of their band of musicians who has to make the collection. They give him a plate to hold in li s right hand, and a live fly, which he lias to keep imprisoned in his left, as he goes round collecting the monev. *"* * * A medical journal says that in the continued use of the eyes in i,uch work as sewing, typesetting, bookkeeping, reading, and studying, the saving point is looking up from the work at short intervals and looking round the room. This practised every ten or fiftien minutes relieves the muscular tension, rest-s the eyes, and makes the blood supply much better. # * * When pins were first invented in the fourteenth century the maker was allowed to so!I them on January 1 and 2 only, and lupon these days the ladies flo'ked to buy them. They were so <•xpen-.iv>> that it was customary to give ;ss a wedding-present a certain sum of nioaey to ln> used as "pin hioiH'N" : hence the term.