The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-02-14 00:00:00

JOTTINGS FOR THE CURIOUS.

EARLY Tier OF MAPS.—The first regular map on
record was One of brass or copper, made for Cleomenes,
King of Sparta, just before his setting out on his ex-
pedition to attack the Persian empire. There exist
several evidences that . the Athenians were well
acquainted with the use of maps. Roman generals,
after a victory, were in the habit of showing to the
people on their return, a painting or map of the
country they conquered. Maps and charts were in-
troduced into England about 1489, by Bartholomew,
the brother of Christopher Columbus, who was de-
tained for some time in England by Henry VII., and
procured a maintenance by making and selling them.

THE TORTOISESHELL OF COHMERCE.—Tbe hawksbill
turtle is the animal which furnishes the valuable tor-
toiseshell of commerce, and is, therefore, a creature of
great importance. Tne scales of the back are thirteen
in number, and as they overlap each other for about
one third of their length, they are larger than in any
other species where the edge, only meet. In this
species, too, the scales are thicker, stronger, and more
beautifully clouded than in any Other turtle.
DERIVATION OF THE WORD "OOP."—The word
" copy " comes from the Latin word copia, meaning
abundance, because copying documents means multi-
plying them. In ancient times, when the art of
writing was somewhat limited, and printing unknown,
c?pyiste commanded good prices. The slaves usually
did the copying work among the Romans, and earned
large sums of money. In the middle ages the monks
were the principal persons who wrote and copied docu.
ments.

THE ORGAN.—The invention of this instrument is
attributed to Ctesibius, of Alexandria, who lived 150
E.C. The period when this instrument was introduced
into the churches of Western Europe is rather uncer-
tain, but is supposed to be about the year 755. Before
the tenth century organs became common in England;
In the fifteenth century several improvements were
introduced by Bernhard, a German, to whose country-
men we owe many of the excellencies of the instru-
ment as it exiets at the present day.
ETYMOLOGICAL—Britannia is a Celtic name. The
Celtic language is Phcenician naturalised in these
Islands from the first settlers, the descendants of
Tarshie, son of Javan, one of those by whom "the
isles of the Gentiles were divided in their lands."—
(Gen. x. 5.) In pure Celtic, Britannia signifies the
"Land of Metale ; " in Syriac, from which it is de-
rived, " Baratanac " means tke land of tin. The
modern name, Britain, is but a modification of the
ancient Baratanac or Britmnia, consequently, "The
British isles" literally mean the tin isles, and identify
Britain as the Cassiterides (tin islands) of the Greeks,.
and the Tarshish of the Scriptures which supplied
Tyre with "silver, iron, tin and lead."

THE SPEED Or BlRDS.—Spallanzi found that the
swallow can fly at the rate of 92 miles an hour, and he
computes the rapidity of the swift to be not less than
250 miles an hour. The common crow can make about
25 miles, the eider duck 90 miles, the eagle 140 miles,
the hawk, and many other birds, 150 miles per hour.
The flight of migratory birds does not probably tweed
50 miles within the hour. A falcon belonging to
Henry IV. of France escaped from Fontainebleau, and
wa3 found at Malta, having made at least 1,530 miles
within 24 hours. Sir John Ross, on the 6th of
October, 1850, despatched from Assistance Bay two
young carrier pigeons, and on October 13 one of them
reached its dovecote in Ayrshire, Scotland, the direct
distance being about 2,000 miles.
ANCIENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS.—The Egyptian
flute was only a cow's horn, with three or four holes
in it; and their harp or lyre had only three strings.
The Jewish trumpets, that made the walls of Jericho
fall down, were only rams horns; the psaltery was a
small triangular harp or lyre, with wire strings and
struck with an iron needle or stick • their sacbut re-
sembled the zagg used at Malta in the present day, a
species of bagpipe; the timbrel was a tambourine, and
the dulcimer an horizontal harp, with wire strings,
and struck with a stick like the psaltery.
THE MOHAMMEDAN ERA.—The Mohammedan year
consists of twelve lunar months, called Malharram,
Saphar, Rabia, Latter Rabia, Gomada, Latter
Gomada, Rajab, Schaban Ramadan, Schawal,
Dulkaadar, and Dulhaji. Each month contains
twenty -nine days and thirteen hours, and the year,
consequently, three hundred and fifty.four days and
nine hours. But as it was inconvenient to have a year
which was not of an integral number, it was so
arranged that there should be nineteen years of three
hundred and fit ty•four days, and ekven years of three
hundred and fiity.five days in a cycle of thirty years,
thus making each year an integral number. The
Mahomedan computation of time, as everyone knows,
dates from the Hegira—the year of the Flight of the
Prophet from Meccah to El-Medinah, when he first
appeared to the world as an inspired character. This
event took place on Friday, July 16, in the year of
our L ird 622; and the five hundred and thirty-eighth
of the Hijra brought back its commencement to the
same day of the week and month on which it first
began. This five hundred and thirty-eighth of the
Hijra corresponds to the year of our Lard 1143; con-
sequently five hundred and twenty-one of our years
are equal to five hundred and thirty-seven Mahomedan
years. The year 1298 of the Mohammedan era will
commence on the 4th of December, 1880,

CYPRUS.—Cyprus derives its name from Cypria, a
surname of Venus, when her first temple was
erected. There are over one hundred thousand in-
h.blts.ute, ihn majority beinti Mkt ofelebroted
Mount Olympus is situated on the island. Richard
the First of England took possession in the year 1191,
and left an English governor in charge. The wines of
Cyprus are at first red but pale with keeping.
THE CENSUS.—The word " Census " is derived from
the ancient Romans, and signified a declaration made
before, and registered by, the Censors, containing an
enumeration in writing, given by the several subjects
of the Empire, of their respective names; places of
abode, estates, quality, wives, children, domestics,
tenants, slaves, &o. The Census was instituted by
Serving Tullius, the sixth King of Rome (B.C. 566),
was held every five years, and embraced the number-
ing of the whole nation. With the fall of the Roman
Ecnpire the Census got into disuse, and it was left
for the youngest state in the world at the time to set
an example to the others in a matter of such vital
un-
portance as a decennial numbering of the people.
The American Union began to number its people
periodically in the 18th year of its political existence,
whereas the first English Census began in 1801.
SINGULAR FACTS IN liumAN LIFICI—The average
length of life is about 28 years. One quarter die pre-
vious to the age of 7, one half before reaching 17.
Only one of every 1,000 persons reaches 100 years.
Only 6 of every 100 reaches the age of 65, and not
more than 1 in 500 lives to 80 years of age. Of the
whole population on the glethe it is estimated that
9),000 die every day, about 3,700 every hour, and 60
every minute, or 1 every second. These losses are
more than counterbalanced by the number of births.
The married are longer lived than the single. The
average duration of life in all civilized countries is
greater now than in any anterior period. Macaulay,
the distinguished historian, states, that in the year
1685, not an-unhealthy year, the deaths in England
were as Ito 20; but in 1850, Ito 40. Dupla, a well-
known Frerci writer, states that the averaga dura'ion
of life in France, from 1776 to 1843 increased 52 days
annually. The rate of mortality in 1781 was lin 29,
but in 1850 1 in 40. The rich men live, on an average,
42 years, but the poor only 30 years.

GLOVES.—Like most articles of modern fashion,
gloves were known to the ancients, even in remote
antiquity, as Xenophon relates an instance of Cyprus
appearing without them, Among the Greeks and
Rmnans their use was confined to protecting the hands
when engaged in certain kinds of manual labour, and
Laertes is so described by Homer, where digging in
the garden. The name is derived from the old Anglo-
Saxon word " glof," and the introduction of glovta
Into England was of very early date. In Limier
times the covering for the hand • was so richly em-
broidered and ornamented with jewels as to constitute
an expensive item of dress, and an allowance for
"glove money" was part of a lady's expenses. Some
idea of the extravagance in this respect may be
inferred from a description of one enumerated in the
royal wardrobe of King James of -Scotland, in 1579,
where, among sundry articles of luxury, is a lady's
hawk-glove, set with twelve rubies, seven garnets, and
fifty-two great pearls, and thereat covered with small
pearls.
SPECTACLES FIRST USED.—The Use cf spectacles,
which was unknown to the ancients, first became
known about the beginning el the fourteenth century;
And an inscription on the tomb of a nobleman, Sal-
vinna Armatus, of Florence, who died in 131.7, statea
that he was the inventor. The pnison, however, who
first made the invention public, was Alexander Spina,
a native of Pisa. He happened to see a pair of specta-
cles in the hands of a person who would or could not
explain the principle of them to bun; but he succeeded
in making a pair for himself, and immediately made
their construction public for the good of others. Ac.
cording to Dr. Plott, they were invented by Roger
Bacon about 1280.

LADIES IN PARLIAMENT.—In Henry the Third's
and Riward the First's time four abbesses were sum-
moned to Parliament, namely, of Shaf tesbury, Berk-
lug, St. Mary of Winchester, and of Wilton, In the
35th of Edward 111. were summoned by writ to Par-
liament, to appear there by their proxies, namely
Countess of Norfolk, Countess of Ormond, Anna Dis-
penser, Countess of March, Johanna Fitzwater,
Countess of' Pembroke, Mary de St. Paul, Mary de
Roos, Countees of Oxford, Countess of Athol. These
ladies were called Ted colloquium tractatum b 7 their
proxir 0, a privilege peculiar to the peerage, to appear
and het by proxy.

- - -
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 montln. The second Parliament of Charles 11.
met on the Bth of May, 1661, and was not diEFolved till
the 24'h of January, 1678, having thus had a duration
of 17 years, 8 months, and 16 dos. This„, therefore,
is the real " long " Parliament. The longeg session 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."
Dna OF THE ANCIENTS.—The difference between
the diet of the ancients and that of us moderns is very
striking, The ancient Greeks and Romans used no
alcoholic liquor, it being unknown to them; nor coffee,
nor tea, nor chocolate, nor sugar, nor even butter, for
Galen informs us he had seen butter but once in his
tropicalojnarmaiva
p e
psppeirce. s,
curry, a
pimento, They used neither clove, nutmeg,
life. They were ignorant of the greater number of
mace, ginger,
buckwheat, nor French beans, nor spinach, nor sage,
tapioca, salad, arrowroot, nor Potato or it t varieties;
nor even the common, but a sort of marshgrosan_bean ;
not many of air fruits, as the orange, tamarind, or
American maize. On the other hand, they ate sub-
s
stances which we now neglect—the mallow, the herb,
ox-tongue, the sweet acorn, the lapin. They liked
the flesh of wild asse,s, dogs, the dormouse, the fox,
, and the bear.