All Sorts

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXVII, Issue 12, 25 March 1909, Page 478

All Sorts

, --. , . # r- „ While it takes England two years to build a battleship, it takes France five years. In the Middle Ages pepper was a very costly condiment. So much was it valued -that a small packet was deemed a suitable present for a notable, person. Manchester, in England,- and Boston, in the United States, are almost exactly equal in" population, while Birmingham and Baltimore are also very nearly alike". A baron's robe has two rows* of ermine; that of a viscount two and a half rows ; an earl's has three rows ; . a marquis's three and a half ; and a duke's robe four complete rows. ■ ' I can't see the use of being in a hurry,' said the* deliberate man. ' Look at lightning, what a mighty lot of good might l?e got- out of it; were it not always in such an awful hurry.' . . Miss Sarah Jones has just celebrated her 75th birthday at the Royal Hospital for Incurables, Putney Heath (England), whore she has been an inmate for more than 51 years. / Lady (with some hesitation) — I—cI — cr — wish to look at some false fringes. - s Tactful Salesman — Certainly, madame.- What shade does your friend wish? Contributor : ' I should like to leave these poems witlr yoxir editor. -What is the usual procedure? I haven't done any magazine ' work before.' Office Boy : ' Well-, the usual custom is to leave 'em an' ' call back in a day or so — and git 'em.' In the face of keen competition from American, German, French, and Belgian firms, Messrs. Clayton, Sons, , and Co., Ltd., of Leeds (Eng.), have secured the contract for the largest water-tank in the world. The tank, which is required for the water supply of Calcutta", is to . hold 9,ooo,ooo'gallons, and with its supports will contain nearly 7000 tons of steel. The tank will be placed at a height .of 90ft above ground. Tlie supports, when the tank is full, "will have to bear a weight of over 40,000 tons. The contract price is £91,367. The pale, proud girl turns to the big, heavy-browed-man, who is gazing at her so intently. He has a glittering knife in his hand.. 'Have you no heart?' she asks, in low, even tones. ' No,' he tells her. ' Then give me twopenny w^orth of liver.' Rapidly cutting off the desired amount, the butcher wraps it up for her, gives her the change, and turns to wait on the next customer. * For many years past the horticulturists whose one aim and object is'to produce strange -flowers, have worked without success at the creation of a blue rose. The green carnation they did achieve, but the blue rose remains beyond their powers. The Japanese are famous for thei;; eccentricities in flowers and trees, and the new rose which they have now succeeded in growing should have considerable success. It is true that it is not blue, but nevertheless it has qualities which make it very remarkable. It is a sort of photographic flower, for it changes its color according to the amount of sunlight which is thrown on it. In a dark room the color of the rose is absolutely white, but when it is placed in the light its petals darken until it becomes a deep red, and finally .a purple. , But it does not keep the color, for when it is put back into the shade, its petals lose their color and gradually become white again. In fact, it may be looked upon as a -recorder of sunshine, and in this respect it is quite a fairy flower. Statistics show that the annual value of stamped medicines, sold is, increasing at an enormous rate. _ The amount expended in remedies of this description in the years below-mentioned was approximately as follows : — 1860, £350,000; 1870, £580,000; 1880, £1,080,000; 1890, £1,740,000; 1900, £2,310,000; 1907, £2,620,000. Reckoning the population of the. British Isles at aboiit twenty-three millions in 1860, and thirty-nine millions in 1906, it follows that the amount, spent ,in patent medicines per head is now about five times as great as.it was half a century ago. After making, full allowances for the increased spending power of the' masses, these figures prove ..conclusively that notwithstanding the wide diffusion of knowledge, the spread of education, and the raising of the standard of intelligence among the people, the appeal of the quack and the charlatan* to the credulity, of the public meets with a readier response than ever.' - •- • -