INTERESTING ITEMS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81860, 8 October 1906, Page 4

INTERESTING ITEMS.

The ancient Egyptians understood and Era?!H-V. (heart of brewing several centuriel efore th; Christian era, as did alss ,he ancient Gr<ek3. Spaniards and Britous made a fermented drink from wheat, which was used in £pain under the name of ceria, and alio in G.iul. Tacitus telis us that in his day, about 100 A 1)., beer was the common beverage, and that the Germans understood how to convert Uuiey into mult. Six hundred years later Charlemagne gave orders that Hit best brewers should always accompany his cjurt. • • • Her Kogelli, a German expert, says that a succession of deep yawns is of more benefit than a bottlo full of the best tonic, and that the habit, practised as a regular lung eiercise, is a grand aid to health. It is certainly true that deep and systematic breathing is an excellent thing for our lung?, and it is on similar ground that Xi'igelli recommends a hearty yawn. lie declares that the eipan sion of the breast bones, and the stretohing of the arms, which accompany awhole heartSwn, together with the filling of thelongß, rm a splendid daily exercise, and provide ui free of cost with most perfect chamber gymnastics. * * * Until the beginnning of the seventeenth century English princes, and other babes, were immersed three times in the font when christened. The last Prince of Wales who was submitted to this ordeal appears to have been Arthur, the son of Henry 11., who died in 1502, at theage of sixtsen. The abolitior of the practice was strongly objected to by Sir John Floyer, a celebrated physician, whe died in 1734, upon sanitary grounds. " lirmersion," he says, " would prevent many hereditary diseases," and " the English will return to it, when physic has given them a clear proof that cold baths are both safe and useful." So oar moming tab is the ovicome of Boyal immersion. • • • In 1713 the British Government offered £IO,OOO, £15,000, or £20,000 to anyone discovering a method for determing the longtitude at sea within sixty, forty, or thirty miles. John Harrison, a carpenter's son, made bis first chronometer in 1735, and was sent the nexr year to Lisbon and back to test it. The trial was successful, but the inventor was awarded only £SOO He produced other instruments in 1732 and 1749, and finally in 1759 he constructed a chronometer in the form of a watch, five inc.".,.3 in diameter, which was only 1 min. 54 sec. in error after a voyage to Jamaica and back. This was equivalent to determiniug the longitude within eighteen miles, but full payment for his invention was withheld till 1773. • • The Russian naval standard— a blue flag with a white cross—was adopted by Pe:er tinGreat, who stayed for some m mltis at G1 irdam, near Amsterdam, working as a mechanic, to gain a knowledge of shipbuilding. Daring this time he took a strong fancy to u clever workman named Cruys, whom he per snaded to return with him to Russia, after he had revealed to him his true name and position. Cruys drew tbe plans for the first ships built for the Russian Navy, ami to show his appreciation, Peter the Cne.U made liini an admiral, and gave orders that the Russian Navy should thenceforward have a special flag with a white cross upon it, to perpetuate the memory of his trusted associate, Crnys being an old form of the Dutch word for cross. • • • The bet that wheat should follow beans as a crop has been known for centuries; the reason has been discovered but recently. II the roots of a healthy bean are dug up, a number of nodules or tubercles will be seen upon them. All pod-bearing vegetables have ■oeh nodules, and microscopic examination has shown that they consist of milllionsof bacteria, which are incessantly absorbing free nitrogen from the air, and converting it into forms suitable for the plant's digestion. In fact, mncb more nitrogen is absorbed than can be used, and the surplus is left in the ■oil, which thus becomes fitted to produce a larger wheat crop. These bacteria have been successfully cultivated by an American man of science, and beans and similar vegetables inoculated with them develop great tubercles and grow to a large size even in the poorest •oil. Millions of them, absorbed by cotton, can be sent by post to any part of the world, and arrive in perfect condition. An electric motor coin-counting and wrapping machine has been invented, to facilate the rapid and accurate counting and bundling of coinsof all descriptions, from pennies to sovereigns, since there are many lines of business which necessitate the employment of a large stall of clerks, whose sole duty heretofore has been the performance of this laborious task. The machine counts and wrapi ooins at the rate of seven every second, or 420 coins every minute, *nd does this continuously as long as the motor runs ami coins are fed into the " hopper." The coins are wrapped compactly at the rate of from eight to twelve bundles per minute, according to the size of the ooins. Since an expert is only enabled to count and wrap fifty coins a I minute manually, it will be seen that the maohine will do at least as much work as eight men. 1 • • • Inine old days, municipalities use to manage their own post-officea. Aberdeen, for Instance, had a " council-post " as early ss 1590; the letter-carriers—there was usually onlyone at a time—being clothed in blue, with the town's arms in silver on the right sleeve. The burgh records of Glasgow for 1630 contain a resolution by the oouncil that " ane trustie youthe be made aposte,"and lie appears to have received 6s. Bd., together with a salt of clothes and a pair of shoes, for his titrable. This was subsequently raised to one shilling weekly in English money (12s. Boottiih), and then, alas, the pay vanished entirely, for the •' post's " business increased 10 much that he required a horse, to purchase which the canny City fathers advanced funds an condition that the rider of it served " thankfullie " without wages for a season. Then, wben the steed had thus been bought on the instalment system, the same shrewd Scottish Council initiated the first penny post by making that sum the fee, from 1663, for ■very letter received or delivered. •• • I

Like the arranging of flowers, the tying of knots has been carried to the point of a complex art by Japanese. There is one wayone right way, that is—to knot the cord that confines a birthday-present. There is one way to tie the brocade-bag of the tea-jar when the Utter is empty, and another when it is full. Mot only general ignorance of social customs, bat deadly insults may be communioated by the way a knot is tied, foreigners often making 'dreadful mistakes, either through not blowing, or from ignoring the niceties of knot etiquette. Hooks and eyes, buttons and bnckles, are unknown, so far as Jaganese dress is concerned. They do not bare much to fasten, but what they do have they fasten with cord. That is why they have carried the tying of cord so far. The Japanese have hundreds of ornamental knots, some of them so old that they antedate writtan history. Japanese children are taught to make knots just as they are taught to writ* and draw. All sorts of flower and animal forms are copied. There is the chrysanthemum knot, theirisknot, plum-blossom, gins-tree, and cherry-blossom knots. There i a stork knotfa turtle knot, a knot named tor the sacred mountain Fujiyama. An easy knot if called the " old man's knot," Tbqn iiilio u old " woman's knot."