MISCELLANEOUS.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 220, 7 October 1873, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

Tijci Abound thr Wobld. — We have received of Ilite undry queries from correipondenti relative to the gain, or oss of time in circumnavigating the globe. Those whomve not found answers in the columns deroted to such pur* K)se will receire a general response in the following rather un using discussion recentlj carried on between tiwo grave Kid learned French savants on the tame rather paradoxical opic. Mr Jules Verne, of the French Geographical Society ias written a book entitled a " Tour Around, the World in Cwenty-four hours." What the nature of the contents of In; volume is we know not ; but at all eventi it excited M. F. Bertram!, of the Academy of Soienoes, to attempt to pose VI. Verne with the following conundrum : — ' A person tupposed to be furnished with the necessary means of, transportation, leaves Paris at noon on Thursday ; he travels to Brest,. thence to New York, San Francisco, Jeddo, Ac., returning to his starting point after 24 hours : that is, encircling the globe at the rate of 15dsg. of longitude per hour. At every station, as he passes on his journey, he asks : ' What time in it ? and he is invariably answerd : ' Noon.' U c then enquires ' What day of the week it is ?' At Brest, ' Thursday,' is the reply, at New Tork the same ; but' on his return, supposing he passes Paris from the east <uid stops at Pontoise, a town some 19 miles to the northwest of that city, he will be answered ' Friday.' Where does the transition happen ? OOrr r when, if our traveller i» a good Catholic, should he consider Friday's abstinence from meat to begin ? 'It is evident,' continues the questioner, ' that the transition most be sudden, and may be considered to take place at sea or in a country where the name of week days are unknown ; but,' he continues, 'suppose the parallel at which it happens should fall on a continent habited by civilized people speaking the same language, and that there should be two neighbours separated, say by a fence, on this very parallel. Then would not one say it was Thursday at noon, while at thesame moment the other would assert it to be Friday, at the like hour ? ' M. Verne answers as follows : It if true that, whenever a person makes a tour of the globe to the east, he gains a day, and similarly when travelling to west he loses . a like period ; that is to Bay, the 24 hours which the sun in . his apparent motion occupies in describing a circle aronnd the earth. This is so real and well recognised that the administration of the French navy gives a supplementary day's ration to vessels which, leaving Europe, double theOap* of Good Hope, while it retains on the contrary, a similar provision from ships rounding the Horn. It is also true that if a parallel existed such as above described, across aa inhabited region, there would be complete disagreement between the people adjacent thereto ; but this parallel dors not exist, for Nature has placed oceans and deserte in our path where transition is made a day gained or lost unconsciously. Through an international convention, the point for making the days agree has been fixed at the meredian of Manilla. Captains of vessels, under the same rule, change the dates of their log-books when they pan the 18th meredian. — Scientific American. Air Gab. — At the meeting of the Board of Directors of the Destitute Children's Asylum, at the Infirmary, on 3rd September, Mr Cowlishaw read the following interesting account of the new " Kromschroder air gas," handed to him by the Rev James Milne. The paragraph was taken from the Bradford Observer, and reprinted in the Aberdeen Herald of the 28th June last : — "The Kromschroder gas, a* it is called — an air gas, invented by a German of .that name — has an illuminating power as compared with coal gas of, five to three. Its manufacture is without trouble, its. storage without danger, and it has not the offensive smell of ordinary gas. It is in successful operation in Great Marlow, in Buckinghamshire, where a large party of scientific g*»tlemen were invited on Saturday to receive from Mr Kromschroder an explanation of the invention, and witnesa , its working. The apparatus for the manufacture of the air - gbs is an iron box about the size of an ordinary 100 table, on , the top of which is a double action air pump, and at the bottom a supply of hydro-carbon and an absorbant material. . The hydro-carbon p#tr»J«uin,-and into the receptacle- whioh , contains it the air pump forces the atmospheric air. X combination immediately takes place .with the UgkVest parts;, of the hydrocarbon given off by the absorbent material, and the air gas, now an accomplished fact, passes through a pipe into the gasholder. N o retorts and no purifiers, are required , but the gas ia instantly ready for use, with a twenty-five,, twenty-six, or twenty-seven candle power.. At a dinner which the company, including Mr Wethered, M.P., partook of,, illustrations of the difference between coal gas and air gas. were given. Mr Hastings havjng previously left instructions at the gat works to cha*g« the supply to the town at certain intervals from coal gas to air gas,. and back, again, the sudden variations when they occurred left no douht on the minds of the visitors, of the superiority of Kromschroder's air gas. The power appears to b» at least double. The light waa very white, steady and cheerful, and was pronounced by everyone to be a great success Among its advantages areto be noted, that it can. be used in the present gas pipes ; it removes the corrosion caused by the coal gas ; and if an, escape occurs, there is no inflammability, because the atmospheric air in the gas immediately separates itself from it* combines with its old associate, and destroys the power of combustion. If stored, it deteriorates only to the extent of 3i per cent, whereas coal gas is said to degenerate 50 per cent. The smallest towns and villages can at very small expens* be supplied with it, and even private dwellings can hare their own gasometer." Vitality or thi l< Psovli." — It has been remarked in this country and in others, during the prevalence of epidemic that Jews appear occasionally to enjoy an immunity from contagion, and that while a pestilence ha» swept through streets, decimating the- inhabitants, it baa left the Jewt untouched: This immunity, occurring when the hygenic condition* affected Jew and Gentile w.m nearly equal, suggests some curious reflections. In certain countries- the deathrate of the Semitic race- appears constantly in a favourable light when compared with that of the Christian population. In Boumania, for a long time past, the mortality of Jewt and Christians has presented a striking contrast j and while the deaths among the latter people have greatly exceeded the births, the contrary has been in a maike4 degree the cAe> among the former. A late report of the British Consul at Bucharest, Mr Green, dealing with the immense death-rate of the Christian population of Roumania, contain* th« following remarks : — " It wight b» thought that this cruel sign of the decay of the country arose from general climatic causes, from the unhealthinese of localities, from the- pr*vak]»oe of disease, beyond the control of man. This, however , it not the case ; and the proof of it it that the Israelilith 1 population, wherever it ia found, ia not subject in. our country to the law of excessive mortality. Thia mortality among the Christian population cannot, therefore, be attributed to the. above-named causes, which would operate with the same cogency on the Jews. It must have its root in the different manners, customs, and mode of life of the Christians, compared with those of the Jews, for it is a remarkabte fact that not only do Roumanians die ia larger numbers than they are born, but the same may be said of all Christians in our midst, of whatever nationality. Foreigners who com* to our country adopt our customs, and, a* a rule, the bad one* first ; they begin to eat at we eat, and from this tntranco into our tocial tyttem we may account for their being included under the law of mortality by which the Jews, who remain aloof, having a different mode of life, are not influ-enced."—-The Lancet. Mabcxllfs. — Brutus relates that he saw Marcellut in exile at Mitylene.living in all the happiness of which human nature is capable, and cultivating with as much assiduity at ever all kinds of laudable knowledge. This spectacle madehim think that it was rather he who went into banishment X since he was to return without Marcellus, who remained in it. Brutus adds, that Cesar overshot Mityltne, because he could not stand the sight of Marcellus reduced to a state to unworthy of him. The eloquence of Cicero, whose oration in favour of Marcellus is extant, prooured his recall ; thewhole senate interceding for him with such earnestness that they seemed to be suppliants for themselves rather than for Brutus. " This," says Lord Bolingbroke, " was to return with honour ; but surely he remained abroad with greater X when Brutus could not resolve to leave him, nor Csssar to see him ; for both of them bore witness to his merit. Brutus, grieved, and Casar blushed, to go Borne without him." Marcellus, however, was assassinated at Athens on his return home by Chilo, an old friend and fellow soldier. Chilo's motive is not explained.

A Queensland journal state* that no erening for the last few jcnrs has excited greater local interest than a fashionable marriage which took place at St. James' Chnreh, Too* wooraba, a short time ago. A rery gushing description is, given of the bridesmaids, guests, &c, but the most striking feature is that immediately on the bride entering the Church the choir sang the bridal chorus from " Lucia di Lammermoor." A morr inappropriate selection could scarcely h»ro been made, for everyone who has seen the opera, or rod Walter Scott's not el, is aware of tho very sad termination o£ the bridal day of " Lucia."