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JOTTINGS.
General Sir H-enry Hildyard commenced
his career as a sailor, putting in flve years
beforo the mast.
Since 1903 the cost of the British Civil
Service lisa increased from; £26,685,034 to
£46,787,673, the amount required in 1911
1912.
Written' by Kilng Edward, when ten
years old, to his sister, .tie 'rincesa
Itoyal, a letterl has been sold in London
for £6 25s.
Accordiig .to the final provisional cen
ass returns, the population of India is
now 315 millions, a0 increase of a20
millions since 1001.
Formerly a residence of King Henry
V111.. Plainstow Hall, in London, has now
been acquired by the Church Army and
opened .as a home.
By a census recently taken, it was found
that 1162 men, 321 women, and two child
ren 'were homeless in one night in the
sti'eets of London.
To ,make his set of certain stamps un
ique, a St. Pdtcrsburg collector recently
paid £2500 for, five duplicate stamps,
Whlch he thdn burnt.
In the British Army there are 112 gen
crAils' on full or half-pay, and on retired
pay 233;' while Genmaiany has 122 gene
rals on' the ctiive list.
When Queen Victoria knighted Sir Winm.
'rrelrar, an cx-Mayor ot London, she dis
patched a Lord-in-Waiting to ascertain
his height, which proved to be 6ft 3tn.
After lying in the Meidway for seven
years, the cruiser Champion, a trining
ship for stokors, was dry-docked, and
forty tons of mussels have been taken
off.
Durlng last year nearly 170 teons of
eggs were collected from members of
the Framlingham (IE?g.) Agricultural So
ciety,, a sum of £13,000 being reanllsed
by thelir sale.
To English bookmakers in Holl.ind, ac
cording to an appeal against their ex
pulsion. £25,000 worth of stamps are
sold at Middleburg, £8000 at Flushing,
and £1250 at Goes.
Under the Butter and Margarine Act of
1907, 1831 "fancy names" for margarine,
and 44 names for mixtures of butter and
milk, have been approved by the English
Board of Agriculture.
Colonel Seely is the only lifeboatman
in the English Government. He was in
charge of a troop of Imperial Yeomanry
in Soteth Africa when he first becamo a
member of Parliament.
in Great Britain during the past three
years, 'seventy-four men have been sen
tenced to death, and forty-seven execut
ed; while of ten women sentenced none
sulfered the extreme penalty.
Viscount Haldane claims' to belong to
an ancient Scottish family of Danish ori
gin. In the North the Secretary for War
is besct enown as a theologian. He is one
of the best German scholars in England.
Among' the articles left by forgetful
Dpassengers on the South Eastern and
Clhatham railway (Eng.), are a motor
car, forty bicycles, 3000 umbrellas, four
sewing machines, carved stone idols, and
t.heatrlcal scenery.
MIr. Andrew Carnegio's ,nceastors on his
father's side were weavers, and on his
mother's side shoemakers. The Laird of
Skibo declares his emblems of nobility to
be a weaver's shuttle crossed by a shoe
maker's knife.
In some quarters an impression prevails
that when the King of England travels by
train he does not' pay for the '.ccommoda
lion. But (says th, ':Railway Magazine'")
although, presumably, every railway com
pany would cheerfully convey His MlaJes
ty and the Queen free, our rulers pay cx
actly the'same price as a:nybody else for a
special train, in additian to the hlrst
elass fare of every passenger.
The nickname "Louis Baboon" was in
vented at the same time as that of "John
Bull." In tie reign of Queen Anne,'Dr.
Arbuthnot, the friend of Swift, wrote
a satire called "The History of John
Bull." In this he ridiculed the politics
of Europe during the war of the Spanish
Succession. John Bull is the English
man, Ni: Frog the Dutchman, Lord Strut
represents Charles II. of ,Spain,'isad Louis
Baboon is Loulis XIV. of France.
By aid of an apparatus devised by Pro
f'tsor Charles Nordmann the heat of tile
fixed stars can be told,' by a comparison
of thleir spectra. The highest tempera
tur'o so far found is in onel of the smaller
stars of the constellation Taurus, which
shows 27,000 degrees. The temperature of
our sun is less than one-seventh of this,
being only 010S degreles. hv2n tha;t is
quite warm. for the .l :tric furnace is
only 6500 degrees. iMauy of the stars are
very much hotter than our sun.
If you stir a' cup of tea, you will find
any floating leaves collect in the centre.
In the same way. in' midAtlanttic, between
North Africa and Mexico, there is a vast
comparatively still, area of water ann
rubbish enclosed by the current from the
Equator on the south and the Gulf Stream
on the' north. This is the Sargasso Sea,. in
which, liko the. leaves 'in the teacups,
floating substances, wreckage, and masses
of seaweeds collect. It, is impassable to
shipping, and one day, no doubt, will be
explored.
Regarded as the handsomest and best
dressed man in the force, Chief Inspector
Stockley, of Scotland Yard, who recently
retired, was known to his intimates as
"The Toff" or "Gentleman James." He
began life as a clerk in a city oflfqe, but
with 'his imagination Ilred by the stories
of Sue, Gaborlau, and Poe, decided to
join the police after six years of offie
life. And lie makoe the interesting con
fessin that lifo in the London police
force is every bit as romantic as iet
imagined it int his early days.
Up to now the greatest ocean depths
recorded are:-In the North Pacific, tie
Challenger or Nero Deep-5260 fathoms.
In the Atlantic, the Narcs Deep, betweei?
the West Indlies and Bormuda-4l6G
fathoms. In the Indian Ocean,' Wharto,
Deep, between Christmas Island and toe
coast. of Java--382S fathoms. There er'
now known fifty-six of these "deeps"
where the'depth exceeds three geographl
cal miles, ton exceeding four miles, and
four .exceeding five mile. A fathom Is
'six feet, aind one cable's length Is 120
fathems.
Mr. Jerome K. Jerome objects to being
labelled as a humorist pure ana simple,
but it was, of course, as a humnorous
writer and lecturer that he first attractei
public attention. One of his lecturing
tours wasin thle United States, and on
his arrival on the other side.he was met
by the tsual group of reporters. "Aren't
you a bit nervous?" asked one, "abhut
submitting your particular brand o0 hum
our to American audiences?" "Young
man," was the solemn reply, "I have
faced,a Scotch audience on a damp night,
adi now. I fear no foe!"
Sir Joseph Ward, the Premier of New
Zealcnd, tells this story of a Maori
"'wiich-doctor." The man claimed that he
was able" t: walk upon water, and one day
a group of his followers went with him to
a lalke in order that they might seeo him
perform the miracle. When they reached
the water's edge. the "witch-doctor" tut
neucd to those about him. "Do you all be
lieve that I can walk on the water?" he
demanded in solemn tones, "Yes,. yes,"
was (Iho reverent answer, "we Ido believe."
'Then,' was the calm reply. ''there is no
need for me to do it." And he walked
away.
In thie liritish Crown Colony of lHon
kbug a coin is in circulation known us
the "1uil." This is a tiny copper coin
with a hole itt the contre, intended to
takeolto the place of the Chinese "cash,"
wlhich is one fifty-third of a penny, and
is in . general useo mong the coolies
in the colony. The mil Is one-tenth part
of a cett., one-thousandth part of a dol
lar, and as the silver dollar in use
in Hongkong is worth about Is 7d, It
follows that the mil is in reality worth
about one-filfty-thirdl of a penny, This,
tihurofore, is the value of the smalleout
British coin.
The' Norvwegian Government sent out
Inst year a deep-sea rsearch expedition.
Thu official report may not appear for a
year or' more. nbut It is understood that
sonm of the fish trawled' from the ocean's
bottom had special organs whichlemit a
bluoegreen light resembling In function a
searchblight. Such lish, of course, live In
the- dark, at a temnperaturo approarhing
fruaclng-point, and with a pressure of
wsater 'on their: bodles of four to live
tons , to Uthe.. square .linch. When they
were ilauled up the fishces were dead and
mutilated, owing to the expansion of
their .bad:y-gases under lighter water
prcsur.e,
On the banks of the Nlagara River,
where the rapids begin to swell ana
swirl, preparnatory to their final plunge,
there is a signboard bearing the startling
notice, "Past Redemption Point." Toe
persol who gets into . tho rapids nae
passes that point cannot be rescued.
Every hundred pounds of sea water con
tains, on an average. 3hlb of solid mat
ter, the chief constituent, of which iscom
mon salt or sodium chloride. The Litter
taste of sea water- is dlue to a smnall
quantity of Epsom salts _or magneslum
chloride present.
The first Duke of GrnitoD was granted
by Charles II. a certain import duty
kInown as "prisage and butlerageo" Ilpon
wines. In 1e06 the then existing duke
commuted this duty for the annuity of
£6870, and his heirs still receive yearly
this handsome income.
It Is a common mistake that the cat
ing of fish feeds the brain. Fish Is ,f tso
more use for the purpose than any ether
nutriment. But fish is a most valuable
diet to ward off consumption, for It con
tains nitrogen, which is able to ropale
the waste of the lung tissues.
Thq education of women hIas benefited
substantially under the will of Mliss
Mary Anne Ewart, who has left £f0,000
to Newnla'm College, Cnmlubridgo (IEng.,
end £10,000 to Somerville College, Ox
ford, to provide schlolarshilps for wo
men students. Miss Ewart has been a
pioneer In women's education, and Bed
ford College, as well as the women's
colleges at Cambridge and Oxford, al
ready owed het r much. both in the way
of Decuniary help and in sympathy and
keen Interest. In the days when Newsn
ham was still a risky experiment she
came to its aid withl a large anonymous
donation, and it would be hard to reck
on the value of her long lifo' work for
the ciasse which fifty years ago seemed
almost bopoless.
An Inkstand that was probably In use
three thousand four hundred-odd years
ago is now exhibted in a Berlin mu
seusp. It is of. Egyptian make, and is
supposed to belong to thie eighteenthi
or nineteenth dynasty, or somewhere
about 1500 B.C., a:though its real ago
can be Judgel 'only epproxhiatiely. It
is smade of wood, an. thas, two compart
ments, an upper oni,. provided with two
holes, one for black and one for red ink,
and n lower one for holding reed pens.
The black and red Ink are certainties;
for some still remains, in a dry condl
tion, within the ieceptacles. Another
-nedlent Inkstand 1i silpposed to lhave
been Intended for the use of a school
boy. It wojuld cdrtlily hloild ink enougll
for a schoolboy's r.eeds; for it has no
fewer than four Ink holes, Both inlk
stands were found nat Thebes.
There is only one member of the pre
sent British Cabinet who has helped by
means of his own phrotographs to illus
trate a Government Blue Book. The
Postmaster-General was travelling some
years ago in Rhodes.a before he had any
thoughts of becoming an 'nder-secr
tary, let alone a member of t~he Cabinet,
and in the course of his wanderings he
tookle an excellent phdtogirapI of the Rf
pon Falls (so uneinee sifter the late peer
when Secretary.of State for the Col
onies). This was subsequently Incor
porated in an oflicia.i Blue Book relating
to that part of the British dominions,
wllich was issied a short time after
wards. There leave been several occa
slons sincelupon which these usually
dry-as-dust publicatlons have.been en
livened by means of the ca:mera, notably
the reports of the Departmental Conm
rittee on Coioners' Law and the prac
tice in Coroners' coi-rts, in whic a large
number of very striking photographs
were liserted for the purpose of illus
rating the danges, of deadly flannel
ette. • .
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