The bee., 1883-03-24
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.
Previous TO 1760 the French

freVlouS TO llOU the French
not eat potatoes, it being suppos
that they would cause freckleS.
Sea gulls' eggs were served at a To
cent dinner in Halifax, given to some
government officials, and were pro-
nounced excellent. They were boiled
hard and eaten with pepper.
The cathedral church, built in Lu-
beck in the years 1170-13l4, has a
curious clock. On the end of the hour
hand is a little clock which keeps ex-
act time with the large one.
The recent fashion among surgeons
of employing kangaroo tendons for
ligatures, is said to be giving way to
the superior excellence of the sciatic
nerve of the calf, as now used for that
purpose.
There is at Redear, small village
in England, cork model of Lincoln
cathedral, made by plowman, which
contains the extraordinary number of
100000 old corks, and occupied ten
years and seven months in building.
A lady in Hungary has the distaff
used by Marie Antoinette, in spinning,
during her Imprisonment. 1t is of
wood and ivory, inlaid with silver, and
still bears the hemp left upon it by the
ill-fated queen on the eve of her exc.
cutiOn.
The startling discovery has been
made by M. Pasteur that the saliva of
a person fasting is venomous, as it con-
tains parasites which will inoculate
Breaking the fast deprives the saliva
of its poisonous quality, as the para
sites are then taken into the stomach
with the food. The eminent biologist
gives for the present only the fact, and
makes no attempt at explanation.
At the time of the great exhibition
of 1851, the local committee of Dacca,
in India. gave notice that it would
award prizes for the best piece ofmus-
lin that could be woven in time for the
exhibition. The piece which received
the first prize was ten yards long and
one yard wide, weighed only three
ounces two pennyweIghts, and could
be passed through very small ring.
In Limerick Cathedral, Ireland, may
be seen the following inscription on a
handsome tablet: "Mementi mort.
Here lieth Little Samuel Darlington,
that great Under Taker of Famous
Gifts clock and Chime Maker; he made
his own Time go early and Late, but
now he is returned to God his Creator.
The 10Th of November. Then he
sceSt, And for His Memory this is
Pleast, BY His Son Ben, 1898"
Some curious customs are connect
ed with gloves; for instance, the GER
emony of removing them when enter
ing the stable of a prince or great
man, or else forfeiting them or their
value to the servant in charge. This
is an odd survival of vassalage, for the
removal of the glove was anciently a
mark of submission, and, when
forced, of degradation. When lands
or titles were bestowed gloves were
given at the same time, and when for
any reason they were forfeited the
offender was deprived of the right to
wear gloves. The same idea was prev
alent in the bestowal of a lady'ss glove
to be worn in the helmet 6f her knight,
and forfeited him if her favor
-c1ased, In hunting, the gloves are
supposed to be removed to-day at the
death of stag, but money given to
the attendants represents the custom.
1t was a very ancient form of ac-
acknowledgement to present a pair of
gloves to benefactor, and embroid-
cred gloves are still presented to the
judges at Maiden aSsizes in England.