Facts and Fancies.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 451, 25 July 1919, Page 1 (Supplement)

Facts and Fancies.

Wagner and the Number Thirteen. Richard Wagner was essentially a child of the number thirteen. He was born in 1813. Add the numbers 1. 8, i, 3 and we have again thirteen Wagner had thhteen letters in hi; name. He composed thirteen great works. He finished '■Tannluusor" 0,1 April 13th, and it was produced on March 13th. And \Aagnci died an February 13th. A Musical Mouse-Trap. It has been ascertained that most animals arc sensitive to niusi< . and it appears that mice, liki lizard .. arc par ticularly so. An inventor has hit 0 1 the idea of profiting by this attisii'. I taste on the part of mice to make them I prisoners. lie had substituted .1 j musical mouse-trap for the ordinal v I apparatus, instead of placing a ,'ier • ' of cheese or baron in the Pap. the manufacturer has concealed, in a f:*.!=e bottom, one of those little in.oV.-i) boxes which play various tunes automatically. The mire are irresistibly attracted towards the musical box. and. to hear better, they go right into the mouse trap, from which they cannot escape. A Pyrenean Tradition. The Descit de Carlittc, in the. Pyrenees, dose on ten thousand feci above the sea, contains no fewer thar. sixty lakes of varving sizes. These. according- to local lladition. were |.: fI at the time,of the Flood. Win 1 the waters subsided, it is said, N'oah a'.d his family landed on the Puy de Prigue, one of the highest peaks in the district. Proof of the truth this tradition is found in an iron Tinto which, the peasants declare, the aik was moored when the lauding was il fected. Backward Mexico. ... Acapulco, Mexico, with one of the finest harbours in the world, is one 0! the most wretched towns in the country. It is poorly built, the houses being, for the greater part, composed of adobe with tiled roofs, while the ma jority of the poorer class can afford nothing better than rude huts built with poles stuck in the ground, the fronds of the cocoanut pnlm woven into the sides, and the whole thatched. Num erous earthquakes have damaged the buildings, and scattered ruins and cracked walls give the town a wretched appearance. There are no improvements of any kind, no sewers, waterworks, telephone, or electric light. Lore of the Hand. Originally, shaking hands in greetin was taken as evidence that each person was unarmed. When a man Kisses the hand of a woman he expresses his submission. This is also the idea when kissing the hands of kings. When an oath is taken it is done by raising the right hand, or laying it on a Bible. A Bishop gives his blessing with the thumb and first and second fingers, the three symbolising the Holy Trinity. The wedding-ring is placed upon tho third finger of the .voman's band to show that after the Trinity, man's love, honour, and duty are given to his wife. Besides the deaf and dumb, there arc many people, notably of Latin and Semitic races, who talk with their hands. Ingenious Sun-Oiais. Parisians have always been extremely devoted to sun-dials, aud it is pro bable that the French capita! possess es a greater number of these time indicating devices than any other rit\ in the world. Fven in the eighteenth century the sun-dial was most popular m Paris ; and fashion singled out I >: its choice the sun-dial of the I'alaiRoyal. Fverv day at noon this v,..tho centre of interest of an eagei crowd in the corner of the P.dai- Ko\ .- garden, standing motionless, wit 1 : their noses in the air." hatch w:>< waiting for noon, having his watch ii hand, ready to set at twelve o'clock. When the Duke of Orleans was alter ing the palace in rySj the Parisians were much disturbed, thinking that they were to be deprived of their favorite sun-dial. But the Duke did 1101 onl\ preserve the sun dial, but added to it a little powder magazine, which was so arranged that it exploded when tl c sunlight fell upon it, thus notifying everyone who heard the explosion tl at the hour of noon had arrived. Later a canon, which wis discharged hv tin sun at noon, took the place of t! • little powder magazine.