In the 17th century, Johann Wilhelm got married, but the happy day was nearly ruined when a wheel on the wedding coach started to give way.

A 10 year old boy leaped to the rescue, attached himself to the wheel and became a human hub.

To this day the symbol of Dusseldorf is a cartwheeling youngster.

Children of the city entertain tourists by flipping all over the landscape for a few pfennigs.

The treadmill was used in English prisons for nearly 75 years. The idea was to put criminals to useful purpose; by walking the treadmill they created a power source for mechanical tools.

In 1895 in England there were still in use 39 treadmills and 29 hand-cranks, also a source of power supplied by criminals, only on a smaller scale.

Today in our prisons, we keep the criminals usefully occupied by supplying them with T.V. sets.

When you are wide awake, alert and mentally active, you still are only 25% aware of what various parts of your body are doing.

So you could say most of the things you do are done unconsciously.

Results often bear that out!

Barbers at one time combined shaving and haircutting with bloodletting and pulling teeth. The white stripes on a field of red that spiral down a barber pole represent the bandages used in the bloodletting.

Bloodletting at one time was a cure-all for everything from a stomach-ache to a herniated disc.

Ramses II, of Egypt is supposed to have sired 111 sons and 50 daughters. Imagine what it would cost today to put 161 kids through college!

Brigham Young, the great Mormon leader, fathered 56 children.

The Story family of Bakersfield, California, had 22 children by the same mother and father.

In the 17th century in England, only ministers, physicians, lawyers and successful merchants were entitled to call themselves "Mr." and their wives "Mrs."

Only 12 of the passengers on the Mayflower had the title of "Mr." or "Mrs."

Persons below that status were called "Goodman" or "Goodwife."

Today it would have to be "Goodperson".

Why do we say "God bless you" when somebody sneezes?

Well, in the Middle Ages, when influenza epidemics wiped out hundreds of thousands in a couple of weeks, a sneeze was usually the first sign the victim had been bitten by the fatal bug.

The doomed person's friends would mutter "God bless you" and scurry off as fast as their feet would carry them.

Women wear engagement and wedding rings on the 3rd finger of the left hand (not counting the thumb), because an ancient belief held that a delicate nerve runs directly from that finger to the heart.

If women wearing engagement rings had a heart, they wouldn't be wearing engagement rings! [This piece of trivia is obviously written by a man :+)]

In a 154 pound man, here are the elements that make him tick:

Zinc, copper, fluorine, silicon, iodine..tiny traces. Manganese .oo45 lb; iron .0006 lb; magnesium .007 lb; chlorine .23 lb; sodium .23 lb; sulfur .35 lb; potassium .54 lb; phosphorous 1.54 lb; calcium 2.31 lb; nitrogen 4.62 lb; hydrogen 15.4 lb; carbon 27.72 lb; oxygen 100 lbs.

Geniuses have their kinks, just like the rest of us. Viz:

KIPLING had to have pure black ink before he would write a word.

KANT, the philosopher, meditated while staring out of his window at a stone tower and when trees grew to obscure the toer he chopped 'em down.

BEETHOVEN poured cold water over his head to stimulate the brain.

SCHILLER, the poet, was stimulated by the smell of rotting apples which he always kept on his desk.

DICKENS believed magnetic forces helped him to create and he always aimed his bed towards the North Pole.

SAM JOHNSON needed a "purring cat, an orange peel and a cup of tea" to write.

ROSSINI, the composer, worked best in bed, under the blankets.

So did CASANOVA !!