AN OYSTER IN THE KETTLE.
"Here is the photo. of an oyster-shell which has been in a tea-kettle for seven years. When I put it in it weighed about one and a half ounces, and was not more than three thirty-seconds of an inch thick in any part. Now it is three-quarters of an inch thick and weighs eleven ounces. It had lain out in the garden for a long time and lost all the crust, which accounted for it being so thin at first. No one has ever been able to say what it is, although many have seen it in the glass case in the shop."—Mr. R. G. Foster, Post Office Drug Stores, High Street, Burford, Oxon.
A GEOGRAPHICAL POST-CARD.
"This curious post-card was delivered to me in Richmond thirty-eight hours after being posted in Lausanne. No other clue was given as to the intended destination than that afforded by the physical peculiarities of the 'map' itself—the address on the side of the card being written during transmission. The full address as shown on the 'map' is as follows, and is that of yours faithfully: 'To Edward H. W. Wingfield King, Esq., 5, Spring Terrace, Richmond-on-Thames, Angleterre.'" This is, perhaps, the most curious post-card of the many which we have published, and which does the Post Office the most credit.
ELECTRIC LAMPS AND PLANT LIFE.
"At the present time, when the effect upon the rainfall of the kingdom of multiplying electrical agencies is being discussed, it is interesting to note the results which follow upon the use of electric lamps in the public thoroughfares of our towns. There is to be seen at Southend-on-Sea a remarkable instance of the influence which the electric street lamps have upon the duration of leaves. In Cliff Town Parade those trees contiguous to the lamps were still well covered on December the 1st ult. on the side nearest the light, when the next tree, only a few yards distant, was entirely denuded of leaves. Our photograph gives the first tree in the parade with a good show of leaves on its front half, but the back of the same tree, which has been shaded from the lamp, has entirely shed its leaves. The next few trees are also quite bare of leaves, and looking down the row one sees that only those trees opposite the lamps bear any sign of verdure."—Mr. W. J. Cooper, 162, Stanstead Road, Forest Mill, S.E.
