INTERESTING ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8182, 21 August 1906, Page 4

INTERESTING ITEMS.

The womaa wb». posiettts the longest bead of hair in ttie World it said to be Mercedes Lopez, a Mexican. Her height is aft., tad when she stands erect her hair trails on the ground 4ft. Bin. The hair is so thick that she can completely hide herself in it. She has it cut very frequently, as it grows so quickly, enabling her to tell large ti esses to hair-dealers every month. She is the wif« of a poor sheep-herder. - « • • • Professor Deherain, an eminent agriculturist, finds by experiment that large insipid mangold, such as the " Globe," arc less profitable to grow than smaller semi-sugared varieties which can be grown closer. He recommends a distance of twenty centimetres between the plants and fifty centl metres between the rows. " Bose " semisugared mangold are, he thinks, best for dry ind " white " aemi-sngared for moist land. » • r- , The total gold production of the world from the diseovery of America by Columbia to the year 1900 is, according to the report of the United States Mint, in roand numbers, £1,962,200,000. Fare gold of this value would weigh about 16,272 tons, and occupy aspaqe equal to 27,039 cubic feet. Graphically this amount oould be represented by» iol|S circular tower of gold 20ft. in diameter and 86ft. high. The total yearly world production of gold since 1900 would increase tbe height of such, tower about Bft. each yew. In the cemeteir of St. Domatilla, in the Boman Catacombs, has recently been diaeorered the tomb ot one of the earliest Popes—St. Damasoa, and of his mother, Laurenzia. This Pope's period goes bsck to i.e. 315, and all trace of the tomb had been completely lost, though that of the same Pope's sister, Irene, is well known. Mtny searches had been mad; in vain, and at lift it has been discovered near the crypt of St. Marcus, Marcellianus, with an inscription showing that the Pontiff's mother wu alio buried there. • • < t Two well-known French astronomers ot the Mendon Observatory have seen more than one little crater of the moon in eruption. This, at least, is the only reasonable explanation of what they observed, namely, little irhituh puffs of cloud suddenly hiding the mterg for a time. The apparently clear t.tmosphere of the moon, and the oval shape ;>f the clouds, tell in favor of it. There teems little or no doubt now that some active volcanoes yet exist on the moon together with an atmosphere, and i! an atmoephere, perhaps life. A parcel of the dearest cigars in the world, 1500 in number, has been dispatched from the famous Yuelta-Abajo tobacco fields in Cuba for the consumption of the New York multi-millionaire smra£i The price of one of these cigars is eiuAl to 18s of English money. None but the most faultless leaves are used in their production ; tbe making of them is restricted to the most experienced workers, who can only make eight cigars in k day. Every cigar is wrapped in fine Japanese paper and inclosed m a small £irtignt box of perfumed wood. • 4 « The rabbit, which was (and still is in most parts) the pest of the Antipodes, must be turning out a blessing in disguise. It is said that twenty millions of Australian rabbit ■kins were sold in London last year, representing a snm of over £IOO,OOO. Besides this, COO bales, containing 1,800,000 ■kins, were sent to France, while there were 2,656,440 frozen rabbits, in their fur, sent to England from the State of Victoria alope. This will give some faint idea of the enormous number of rabbits there must be in Australia. • t • A cat's funeral seems an imposing " function " in Japan, judging from a description in the " Japan Weekly Mail." The favorite puss of a rich noble lady was borne to its test home in a snow-white coffin, covered with a gorgeous white silk pall, while its inconsolable mistress and a large contingent ot female mourners followed the remains. Priests chanting a solemn litany met the bier and escorted it to its grave. Another defunct feline is commemorated by a handsome monument at the gate of the cemetery just outside Tokio, so that the Mikado's Empire must certainly be a cats' paradise. > « « Maize or Indian corn is very nourishing, and excellent dishes are made from it. Quite recently two French chemists have succeeded in extracting the nourishing principle from it, and producing a concentrated food like]} to be of great service for military, exploring, and emergency purposes. " Maizine'" as described to the Academy of Science, Paris, is a dry powder, easjly preserved, and five or six tablespoonfuls will support a man for a day. According to another calculation, 220 tons or so will ration an army of 10.00 C men for a year. When taken with milk, it is a better food for invalids and children than milk alone. • * * • According to experiments, a man attain! his maximum weight towards his fortieth yef.r, and begins to lose it sensibly toward; his sixtieth year. A woman, however, doe; not attain her maximum weight until hei fiftieth year. The ages at which peopli attain their maximum weight and th< weights themselves vary in the differen classes of society. In the affluent classei the average maximum weight is 172 pounds and is attained at 50 years of age. In thi artisan class is is 154 pounds, attained at 40 Amongst farm labourers It is 171 pounds attained at 60. In the average classes it ii 164 pounds, and Is reached between 40 an( years of age.