Miscellaneous;

Waimate Daily Advertiser, Issue 34, 14 January 1899, Page 4

Miscellaneous;

The annual export of codfish irdrd Newfoundland is about 1,350, OOf) cwt. In Germany, orie man in 213 goes' to college; in Scotland, one in 520; in the United States, one in 2000 ; in England, one in 5000. The bitterness of * grain of strychnine can be tasted in 600,000 grains of water. There is more exertion used in running 200 yards than in riding a bicycle four miles. The necessity of preparing tobacco for the consumer has developed 2274 patents, Among every 1000 bachelors there are 38 ciitniaals ; among married men the ratio is only 18 per 1000. The famous rich man of ancient times, Croasus. is calculated to have possessed about £4,000,000. From present appearances the paced races of the future in England, America and France will be paced by motor tandems, etc. It becomes more and more evident that the motor cycles as now used in France (sotne of which paced Huret, France, in his recent marvellous ride of 100 miles in 3hr llmin 1 l-sth sec) are now sufficiently perfected to be used in place of the manned pacing machines. It has been rumoured for some time past that Victoria's amateur champion, Leslie Park, intended forsaking the " trophies " for the " cash," and the tumour hae now been confirmed by Park having resigned from the amateurs and joined the cash body. To adjuat a nut, fix the spanner on tightly and then give a sharp twist. This will be found a far better method than slowly turning the wrench. According to the annual return of punishments in the navy, 154 bluejackets were tried by court-martial last year out of a total of 82,241 ; but four of them were acquitted. In 1894, with 67,381 men serving in the navy, 146 were courtmartialled, and in 1887, out of 51,358, 149 were coirrt-martialled. A new lifebelt is made of sheet rubber, which passes round the neck, across th» chest, and round the Waist, and can be inflated in one minute by the mouth. Its weight is about lib, and it is alike flexible, light, and easily placed in position. The blue tint in glass has its cause in chemical deposits formed in the coal-gas furnace, and which, under the action of the air, produces a blue coat on the glass. To remoTe this blue tint causes considerable tiouble. There is no part of the world which has such a black record for Wrecks as the narrow Baltic seas. The number in some years has averaged more than one a day, the greatest number of wrecks recorded in one year being 425, and the smallest 154. About 50 per cent, of these vessels became total wrecks, all the crews being lost. The oldest piece of wrought iron in existence is believed to be a roughly-fash-ioned sickle blade found near Thebe6. It was imbedded in mortar under the base of the Spinx, and on that account is known as " the sickle of the Spmx." It is now in the British Museum, and is believed to be nearly 4000 years old. The Cour de Cassation has no power to " try " Dreyfus. It can simply inquire into the circumstances of his trial, or into circumstances that have arisen or come to light since ; and if satisfied that justice was not done, the trial is quashed and the whole affair sent back to the competent court to be begun over again. The marks on playing cards are said to have their origin in a symbolical representation of four different classes of society. Hearts represent the clergy ; spades, the nobility (derived from the Italian word " spads," meaning sword) ; clubs, the serfs ; and diamonds, the citizen. ! It is computed that when at rest we i consume 500 cubic inches of air a minute. ' If we walk at the rate of one mile an hour, vt c use 800 ; two miles, 1000 ; thr^ee > miles, 1600; four miles 2300. If we start ' out and run six miles an hour we consume 8000 cub c nches of air during every | minute of the time.