MISCELLANEOUS.

South Canterbury Times, Issue 2791, 4 March 1882, Page 3

MISCELLANEOUS.

“ I notice that you always sit at your wife’s left, Mr Miggs.” “ Yes,” frankly returned Migg-', “that’s the side her glass eye is on. A New York correspondent says that Levy,-the brass and string bandit, is still stuffing wind into cornets with great success. A named Henry George Winter, has just walked four hundred and ninety miles in six days at the London Crystal Palace. This is the most railed Winter on record. In the year 1788 there were only 29

sheep in Australia. At the present time there are no fewer than 62,000,000. In the Darling District (New South Wales), there are two runs which each pass 500,000 sheep through the shearers’ hands every year. In Nantucket there are sixteen women to one man. Happy man ! The honor of being the ‘ father’ of the British army is claimed for General George Macdonald, colonel of the Bedfordshire Eegiment, who entered the army in the month of September, 1805. General Macdonald was born Oct. 10, 1784, and has consequently reached the patriarchal ago of ninetyseven years. “Itis a disgraceful shame!” exclaimed Mrs Smith, as her lord and master came in in a demoralized condition. “You’ve been drinking again, and it was only last week that you took the pledge.” “ Just my luck,” said Smith, “ break everything I get hold of.”

Inquirer—Does a man’s size vary ? Yes, sir; we’ve seen a man in a bar room treating the crowd, and he was the biggest man in the town till his mother-in-law came in and took him by the ear, and then he was a very little fellow.

We can always see the sunny side, if wo will, and sometimes the funny. “This maderiu,” said the physician to his gouty patient, “is really the cause o£ the whole difficulty.” “Well, then, Doctor,” was the reply, “ fill your glass, man, and we’ll get rid of the cause as soon as possible.” About the meanest bit of pocketpicking was perpetrated the other day in Sydney harbor, when two young fellows were upset in a boat, and while scrambling on to the bottom of the boat for safety, one picked the pocket of his brother in misfortune.

Mrs, Jones who has been awarded compensation for the destruction of her house by the police, kissed Ned Kelly during the famous Glenrowan fight, and the question of whether she was entitled to compensation turned upon the delicate query as to whether she kissed the desperado in love or fear. The Maoris at Putiki (Wanganui) are the proud and exulting possessors of a sow which rejoices in no less than four ears. The animal, which is a present from the Manawatu natives to Mete Kingi’s wife, has brought into the world two young ones, each of whom had the same number ot aural appendages. The little, daughter of a clergyman, hearing her father talk of John the Baptist, inquired .wliat a Baptist might be, and then, “ Are you a Baptist, papa ?” “ No, I am a Congregationalism” “ What am I?” “You are a Congregationalism” The child paused a moment, and then with great earnestness asked : “ Well, what is God ?” “ Heating a, city by steam” will soon be a historical-fact, The New York Steam Company is engaged in laying down pipes under-ground for the supply of steam for beating and cooking purposes, as well as for motive power. The boiler-house, which is in course of erection, will contain 64 boilers, with an aggregate of fifteen thousand horse power. The water produced by condensation is to be conducted back to the boiler-house by a return pipe which will run parallel with the other pipe.

A rather curious case is reported by the Grey River “ Argus ” as having been dealt with in the Resident Magistrate’s Court by Mr Stratford. It appeared that William Thomson went to , a borough reserve a few days ago and cut and stacked half a cord of wood, intending to cart it away on a future occasion. In the meantime William Kilner happening to come along, spied the timber, and thereupon carted it home. Plaintiff therefore claimed 7s 6d as the value of the wood. The Magistrate, however, considering that neither plaintiff nor defendant had any right to the wood, nonsuited plaintiff. . A lad aged fifteen, was admitted to a hospital in Ireland, suffering from hiccough. From the report of the case it appears that he had been hiccoughing incessantly for twentysix weeks, except when asleep. The rate of the cough was calculated on thirteen occasions. It varied from 8 to 22 per minute, or from 480 to 1320 per hour, its average being 14 per minute or 840 per hour. This severe case was cured in a very short time by pills of iodoform (one grain,) extract of Indian hemp (one-third of a grain), and extract of hemlock, the hemp being gradually increased to two grains a day. One of the greatest discoveries in surgery,in 1881 was the practicability of transplanting bone. An American surgeon, named McEwen, successfully transplanted bbne— fragments of wedges of bone taken from patients of curved tibse—into the arm of a child whose limb was useless by reason of extensive necrosis; two-thirds of the humerus had been destroyed, and no repair of bone had taken place. A good new humerus was the result, less than . an inch shorter than its fellow.

The projectors of the greatest engineering feat on record—the tunnel between Dover and Calais—are much elated by the discovery that the lower the works now in progress are carried on the smaller is the quantity of water met with. It is stated that the works are now comparatively dry, and consequently more rapid progress is being made than was originally anticipated. So far one of the most dreaded contingencies, both to constructing the ■tunnel and in maintaining it in safety when completed, is likely to prove less terrible than pessimists predicted.