MISCELLANEOUS.

Inangahua Times, Volume VII, Issue 1180, 15 September 1882, Page 2

MISCELLANEOUS.

A local paper, says Truth, gives an account of ac very intelligent dog in Wiltshire. The animal was in the habit of going every day to the railway, and; as"the train pasedv'the" guard threw out a Standard newjspaper for a clergyman who lived hard by, which the dog seized in his teeth and carried to his master. One day the dog came back to the Rectory without a newspaper. On enquiry, the guard insisted that he. had acted as usual, but, upon making a search, it wa3 found that a Daily Telegraph and not a Standard had been thrown out, and the dog had refused to have anything to do with it.

Mr Maybridge, the well-known American ' instantaneousphotographer ' of horses, will contribute to the new number of 'Nature' another curious suggestion in regard to ' dead heats ' in races. He maintains that there is no such thing as a " dead heat,' and proposes that an invisible thread should be stretched across the course of a race at the winning post. Whichever horse should cut the thread across would of course be the winner. He suggests, at the same time, that steps

should bo taken for instantaneous'y photographing the scene at the winning post The plate produced would be the real arbiter of the raco in cate of dispute.

i The chemical fire engine, which wns ordered some time since for the service of the Christchurch Fire Brigade has arrived safely in Christchurch, and was put together, says the Press) by several members of. the Brigade, at the Christchurch railway station. In combination with the engine is tho hook and ladder carriage, for which there are four ladders, viz., two each 22ft, splicing into a length of 40ft, and two each 18ft' splicing into a length of 32ft. TJie tank has a capacity of 100 gallons, which will be chemically charged with acids, and the contents being self projecting into a fire will thus act as a fire-extinguisher. The equipments comprise 300 ft of four-ply gum horse, six hand extinguishers, forty sets of charges, twelve gum 'buckets, 60ft of drag rope, lanterns, fire axes, &c. The agitator in the bottom of the tank will worked by an *mll*fl*«9l»9n f rt)hi the -en£fW platform. The engine which has been stationed at the Chester street engine house is from the factory of M. C. Holloway, Baltimore, Maryland.

An extraordinary tricycle journey ,has been accomplished by the vice-pre-sident "Lyons Bicycle Club, -accompanied by his wife on a two seated ''machine." The travellers went from Lyons, through Nice, Genoa, and Rome, to Naples, returning via Florence and Turin, the whole journey re presenting a distance of some 2400 miles.

Even in these days of magnificent prices for pictures by successful artists it almost takes one's breath away to hear of the enormous sum of 6300 guineas being given for a single work. This wag the sum which was given at Christie's for Mr Long, R.A.s, well know •'Babylonian Marriage Market," 1 which was one of the pictures of the year at Academy in 1875.

Mr Darwin, in one of his late wqrks, has cited souis facts to show that man is not the only animal that laughs, and Miss Julia Wedgwood now comes forward in Nature with some further information on the subject. Miss Wedgwood has had from Zanzibar a letter from a friend, who kept a baboon as a pet, relating how this baboon, when playing with its owner, opened her mouth, showed all her teeth, & laughed regularly when tickled. At a joke the baboon would never laugh, and nothing made her so angry as being laughed at. The three first horses in the Sydney Metropolitan are not entered for the Melbourne Cup, an unusual circumstance. Hitherto, in many instances, the Metropolitan winner has been promoted to the rank of favorite for the Melbourne Cup, but this year the running in the Sydney Spring Handicap throws no light on the probabilities for the great race of the year A dreadful acoident occurred in Monte Video at the Masonio obsequies in memory of General Garibaldi. It appears that in consequence of an alarm of fire, 3000 people who were present at the celebration were seized with panic. A rush was immediately made for a narrow staircase by a number of women and children, with the result that 20 were trampled to death, and 10 others received severt injuries, I Great consternation prevailed in the city in consequence of the catastrophe, and a public funeral of the victims was held on the following day. The tire originated in an oil lamp falling upun the catafalque. A famous horse breeder of France has reared his stock for .twenty years on a diet of parsnips, instead of carrots and oats, with the result of " great vivacity of spirit and sleekness of coat " — conclusive evidence of healthful condition. '1 he yield is about twelve tons per-sore.-' - J ' — «-•■ -'-'>..•-■ .--.■..•-•■ The four boxes that govern, the world. — The cartridge-box, the ballotbox, the jiirybox, and the band-box. Professor in psychology — Can we conceive anything as being out of time and still occupying space V Medical student throughtfully. • Yes. sir— a poor singer in a chorus.'