NEW, ODD. INTERESTING

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 7, Issue 424, 8 November 1918, Page 4

NEW, ODD. INTERESTING

♦ There is only one sudden death anions v.f.incn 10 ciuin Hiking men. flpilt will remove lunar on Ihe .teeth, am! is a tooth-powder absolutely .'-alf 'o ii-''. fiii i; dissolve-. Sugar cane in Cuba. >■! out In virgin land, may i.«e cut for iliirty years without re-plantin?. One estate of the Tsar's covers over one hundred million acres three limes the sue of England. fn the early parr of Hie nineteenth century more than two hundred offences were punishable with ijeatli in England. Of sponges, the largest ever found came from the .Mediterranean. It was more than three feet across and ten feet in circumference. At Ave years old camels are fit to work; but their strength begins to decline at twenty-five years, although they usually live to be forty. The ancient Egyptians used a form of blaflt.-fiurnace in 2000 B.C. There are pictures of these ironworkers on the tombs at Thebes. Oocoanuf-shells make excellent fuel, especially as fire-lighters, the enormous amount of oil they contain causing them to blaze up at once. The shamrocß was adopted as the national emblem of Ireland because Saint Patrick selected it in order to explain to the Irish the doctrine of the Trinity. It lias been found that telegraph wires will last for forty years near the seashore, but in the manufacturing districts the same wires will last only ten years, and sometimes less. . The Japanese divide the day Into six day "hours," of 120 minutes each, from the rising to the setting of the sun. and six night "hours," from sunset. to sunrise. The talipot palm of Ceylon grows to the height of a hundred feet, and ita leaf is so large that it will cover from sixteen to twenty men like an umbrella. . .a _ .. . The most brilliantly-colored quadruped is the mandrill baboon. Its nose is brilliant azure and scarlet, and other parts of the animal show fiery red and purple. Cork, notwithstanding its buoyancy, will not rise to the surface from a depth of two hundred feet below the ocean's surface, owing to the great pressure of water. At any depth short, of that it will gradually work its way to the surface. The highest tide in the world Is said to be in the Bay of Fundy, between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The tide there sometimes rises to the height of seventy-one feet, and the increase is occasionally as much as a fool, every five minutes. The proper meaning of the word "posset." frequently used in Lancashire. is a drink taken before going to bed. Originally it was milk curdled with wine, and comes from the Latin "posea." meaning a drink made with vinegar and water. It. is asserted that nowhere in the world is coffee, as a drink, worse than in Java, where the coffee bean is supposed to be at its very best, The Javanese distil coffee essence of extreme strength, bottle it. and pour a few drops into a cup of hot water when they desire refreshment. Horseflesh as food was introduced into Gaul when the country was invaded by the Franks after the conquest by Julius Caesar. Records relative to 1104 show that it was eaten in Paris at that time. In many parts of Austria and Germany also this food is much used, and often from choice. There is in the Army Museum of Paris a piece of shell which is supposed to have caused the only wound which Napoleon ever received in battle. The wound was inflicted at Ratisbon on April 23rd, 1809; the Emperor hastily bandaged the wound and paid no further attention to It until the battle had been won. Cigarette smoking in England date» back to 1544. The great impetus to their increased use was caused by the Crimean war of l8">4-56, when numbers of military and naval officers adopted this method of smoking from the inhabitants of Russia, Turkey, (Malta, i.e an(. and other parts of Europe.

Very useful handkerchiefs are those which are supplied to French soldiers. They have printed on them a number of sanitary precepts to be observed on ihe march and during a campaign, and are further decorated with pictures of dßcers of all grades, so that a French private can tell at a glance to what grade any officer he may see belongs. ~ The tremendous extent of certain Am erica ii offices has made it necesary lor some manufacturing companies, hi order to facilitate the delivery of letters from one depaijM to io put iheir odice-bc^^H roller The skates are <H p. it with specially-constructed v «| whieU make them «fl *r_ I