The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-20 00:00:00

JOTTINGS FOR TIM CURIOUS.

A GREAT MENTAL CALPELA.Tou.--Jebediah Buxton,
whose powers of calculation baffle conception, was
quite an original genius. He was born at lnitan' in
Derbyshire, and was not taught either to read or
write. Whep he was requested to multiply 456 by
373, he gave the product by rental arithmetic, as soon
as a person in company had completed it in the common
way. Being asked to work it ~udibly that his method
might be known, he first multiplied 456 by 5, which
produced 2,280 ; this he again multiplied by 20, and
found the product 45,600, which was the multiplicand
multiplied by 100. This product he again multipled
by 3, which gave 136,800, the product of the multipli-
cand by 300. It remained, therefore, to multiply this
by 78, which he effected by multiplying 2,280, or the
product of the multiplicand mnitiplied ity 6 by 15, as 5
times 15 is 75. This product being 34,200, he added
to 136,800 which gave 171,000, being the amount of
375 times 456. To complete his operation, therefore,
he multiplied 456 by 3 which produced 1,368, and this
being added to 171,000 yielded 172,368, as the product
of 456 multiplied by 378. That Buxton's calculations •
were made on an original plan may be seen by his
multiplying first by 5 and the product by 20, to find
the amount when multiplied by 100. Had he followed
the usual plan the addition of `j cyphers to the multi-
plicand would have given the amount at once.
SiEOTAO-4;,Efl FIRST USED.—The use of spectacles,
which was unknown to the ancients, first became
known about the beginning of the fourteenth century ;
and an inscription on the tomb of a nobleman, Sal-
vinus Arma,tus, of Florence, who died 1317, states
that he was the Inventor. The person, however, who
first made the invention public, waa Alexander Spina,
Ilea native of Pisa. Ile happened to see a pair of spec-
taCles in the hands of a person who would or could
not explain the principle of them to him ; but he suc-
ceeded in making a pair for himself, and immediately
made their construction public for the good of others.
According to Dr. Plott, they Were invented by Roger
Bacon abeut 1280.

A LOST PLEASURE !—lt iFI related that Mr.
Tawney (an alderznau of Q,iford), was so fascinated
with " li.obinQon Crusoe," that he ived to read it
through every year, and thought every part of it as
true as Holy Writ. Unfortunately for him, a friend
at last told him that it was little more than a fiction ;
.that Robinson Crusoe was but a Scottish sailor of the
name of Alexander Selki4'k4 whose plain story of his
shipwreclzbn the island of Juan Fernandez had been em-
bellished and worked up into the narrative he so much
admired, by an ingenious author, Daniel Defoe.
"Your information,' said the alderm4n "may be
very correct, hut I wish you had withheld it; for in
undeceiviug me you have deprived me of one of the
greatest pleasures of my old age."
TAKING IT EASY I—" Dined at Fielding's : George
Dawson and Montgomery. Dawson told a good story
about the Irish landlord counting out the change of a
guinea. " Twelve, 13., 1.4. (a shot heard) ; 'Bob, go
and see who's that killed ; 15, 16. 17 (enter Bob),
It's Kelly, sir.' 'Poor Captain Kelly! a very good
customer of mine; 18, 19, 20. There's your eilange,
sir.' "—Moore's Dioru,

QUEEIif ELIZABETH'S SUNDAY AMUSEMENT.—When
the. Queen visited the University of Cambridge, the
colleges, of course, took much pains and wont to con-
siderable expense to prOYide 4.ppropriate diversion f
the Queen, who w4s entertained on Sunday with the
first Latin sermon she had ever heard, and a represen-
tation of one of Plautus's comedies. Not only was the
Latin comedy performed on a Sunday, but it was put
upon the stage in the very chapel where the Sovereign
had on the same day taken part in divino worship—
facts which are important illustrations of the way in
which Sunday was kept, and of the freedom with
which our pious ancestors used their churches for
social purposes, impre-Puritan Engla.nd.

EPITAPH ON CAPTAIN JONES.
"Tread softly, mortals, o'er the bones

Of the world's wonder, Captain Jones:

Who told his wondrous deeds to many,
Yet never was believed by any!
Posterity? let this suffice
He swore all's true—yet here he lies 1"

A "TRAGEDY "IN REALITY !—The history of Sweden
records a very extraordinary incident, which took
place at the representation of the mystery of the
Passion, under King John IL, in 1513. The actor
who performed the part of Longinus, the soldier who
was to pierce the Christ on the cross in the side, was
so transported with the spirit of this action, that he
really killed the man who personated our Lord; who
falling suddenly, and with great violence, overthrew
the actress who represented the Holy Mother. King
John who was present at this spectacle, was so enraged
against Longinus, that he leaped on the stage and
struck off his head. The spectators, who had been
delighted with the too violent actor, became infuriated
against their king, fell upon him in a throng, and
killed him.

THE NAME OF THE DEITY.—it le rather singular
that the name of God should be spelled with four
letters in almost every language, viz. :—ln Latin,
Deus; French, Dieu; Greek, Theos ; German, G-ott ;
Scandinavian,.odin ; Swedish, Codd ; Hebrew, Aden;
Syrian, Adad ; Persian, Syra ; Tartarian, Idga
S-panish, Dias; East Indian, Esgi or Zeni ; Turkish,
Addi ; Egyptian, Aumn
.or Zent ; Japanese, Zaiu ;
Peruvian, Lian ; Wallach:an, Zene ; Etrnrian, Chur ;
Irish, Dieh ; Arabian, Alfa; and others still with
four letters.

SHOEBLACKS OF THE OLDEN TIME.—The shoeblacks
of the present day are only a reappearance; for nearly
a century ago shoeblacks were at the corner of almost
every great thoroughfare in London. As the
pedestrians passed, the shoeblacks called out, "Shoe-
black, your honour! Black your shoes, sir !" Some
of them accommodated their patrons with an old pair
of shoes to stand in while they operated. Soon after
Day and Martin commenced manufacturing their
"liquid shining blacking" private shoe-blacking be-
came general, and public shoeblacks rapidly disap-
peared, and became extinct until their reappearance in
the present day.
THE FIRST GREAT FIRE OF LONDON.—Baker, in
his Chronicle, says that the greatest fire that ever hap-
pened in London, previous to that of 1666, was in the
20th of William 1., or 1086, which, singularly enough,
had as its scene the present site, London Bridge, and
commenced on the Southwark side, and consumed all
the houses from the west to the east gate. By some
accident the fire extended in such directions as to hem
in the numerous crowds that were assembled to help
the distressed, when the poor sufferers, to avoid the
flames, threw themselves over the bridge into barges
and boats; but many of these sinking by people crowd-
ing into them, and others missing them, three thousand
persons were drowned in the Thames,

HAIR TURNING SUDDENLY GREY.—The hair of Marie
Antoinette, Queen of France, turned grey during the
first night of the detention of her husband, Louis XVI.,
by the revolutionists. Dr. Darnell thus explains this
phenomenon :—" Grief, fear, and other emotions," says
he, "are well known to alter the colour of tlee secre-
tions, and such mental conditions are known also t
have been the proximate causes of sudden changes of
the hair." The doctor spealis on this subject from his
own experience. He says, "The hair of a lady in my
own family connection, from some distressing circum-
stances which deeply affected her, became grey in a
single night. Fear especially seems to have the power
of depriving the hair of its colour." We have it on
the anihority of Dr. Darnell that a medical man in
London, under the fear of bankruptcy, had his dark
hair so changed in a single night that his friends failed
to recognise him; but the colour of his hair returned
as his worldly prospects revived.
THE SHORTEST AND THE LONGEST PARLIAMENT.—
The shortest Parliament that ever sat met in the 34th
year of the reign of Edward 1., and existed for one day
only ; the longest was not that which is historically
known as the "Long Parliament," which, according
to the general computation, existed 16 years, 145 days,
or according to another (the outside limit) 17 years
and three montths. The second Parliament of Charles
11. met on the Bth of May, 1661, and was not dissolved
till the 24th of January, 1678. having thus had a dura-
tion of 17 years, 8 months, and 16 days. This, there-
fore, is the real "long" Parliament. The longest ses-
sion of late years was that of 1847-48. which lasted 293
days, and was referred to by the Speaker in his address
to the queen, as well as from the throne, as a
"laborious and protracted Session."

The Erik, of London, arrived at Lerwick on Mon-
day, from the Greenland seal fishing with sixty tons of oil.
The other vessels of the fleet, including the Norwegian and
Peterhead ships, with two exceptions, have from 40 to 70
tuns each. On the whole the fishing has been only moder-
ately successful, but the catches may yet be improved.

HINTS ON VENTILATION.

In London, on FritVey evening in last week, at the College
for Men and Women, Queen's-square, Mr. Joseph J. Pope,
M R CS, delivered a lecture on "Ventilation,"
The lecturer said it was not often suspected how
iksipprta.bt it was to prevent the accumulation of car-
bonic) acid in a room, especially when a patient was
suffering from fever. Every healthy person required
1,680 cubic feet of fresh air in the hour ; but it was
not possible to provide that in a room or house where -
a number of persons resided, and it was only in the
open air where it could be enjoyed. Hence it was
important there should be little furniture in a sick
room, for each article destroyed so much pure air.
Every one had, therefore, to consider first how they
could obtain pure air and from a pure source; and,
secondly, without a perceptible draught. When any-
one went in a room from the fresh air and was sensible
of the slightest smell there, the room was badly venti-
lated; and, though one was not aware of it, there was
organic matter present.. When there were draughts
in a room, it was injurious to health, as there were
heats and colds, which did more harm than good.
Rooms should be aired in the absence of the family, so
that the wind might pass freely through them.- When
wind blew at a mile per minute, it was not perceptible;
from 10 to 20 miles a minute it was breezy ; from 30
to 50 miles it was a gale; from 50 to 60 miles, a storm;
and from 80 to 110 miles a minute a hurricane.
Children should not be sent in a morning before break-
fast into a cold wind, especially with a empty stomach,
as they got chilled, and it did the system a deal of
harm. In Egypt, the houses were ventilated ft.; ono a
hole in the roof, and not =frequently the only
entrance to the house was through a hole in the
side of the wall. Every room should have windows
near the roof, and opening from the top, and if the
party slept in the room where he lived, let the
window be opened from the top for a short time be-
fore going to bed, so as to allow the carbonic acid
to escape. If the obnoxious gas was not permitted
to escape it would get cold after the lamp and fire
went out, and tke cold carbonic acid would come
down on its victims like a death blanket. He de-
sired poor people to know what was important for
them, and it was that they should never sleep on the
floor, for if they did so the carbonic acid pressed
itself down to the floor, and thus it was that the
working man got up in the morning exhausted and
wearied, and in fact felt as if he had never been in
bed. He warned all against permitting the bedroom
chimneys being stopped up with bags of shavings,
as it prevented the admission of fresh air, and
kept the carbonic acid in the room, thus doing
much harm to those who slept there. Archi-
tects nowadays were trying to make houses air-
tight, but they seemed to be unable to make them
water-tight, and they had succeeded in taking away
the old-fashioned larr.e fireplace and replaced for it a
registered stove, gave double plate-glass windows to
keep out every breath of fresh air, while their fore-
fathers did their utmost to let into their rooms as
much fresh air as possible. The fireplace was the
warm artificial ventilator, and it consumed the car-
bonic acid emitted by four persons in a room; but
means should be taken always to admit fresh air by
the windows. A beehive was as pure as the open air,
and how was this? There was only one door to a bee-
hive, which had no windows, so at night from twenty
to thirty bees nxed themselves on the floor of the hive
and napped their wings, and this wafted fresh air
through the hive, and when four or five bees fell eut
exhausted others took their places just to keep the air
fresh.