Washington telegraph., 1854-02-01
A Chapter Of Curious Facts.


sustains % lbs.
A tin wire. the thirteenth Of an inch, sus-
tains but 34.7 lbs.
| of c,ppcr.
The emerald is ranked among the gems,
but is now found only in Peru. It is
( green, harder than quartz, and always in
crystal. Oriental cmarald is green sap
phire
The European mountains consist of prim-
tive and transition rocks.
The surface of the earth is 1a6, Se2 ,256
square miles: and its solidity is 250, $685.
/ 995,4l5 cubic miles
The sea is to the land, III round millions
of square miles, as 160 to 40, or 4 to /
The narrowest part Of the Atlantic Is
more than 2 miles deep. In other parts,
about one and a half miles.
Bullock describes fossil lizard $50 feet
long
Rounded pebbles are broken fragments
of rocks, rendered smooth BY mutual at
fractions, in long time, by water and tides
The Amazon falls but n foot in fifty
miles; the Rhine one foot in quarter Of a
mile; the Loire a foot in one and a half
miles.
Ninety species of bones of quadrupeds
have been found, which are now unknown.
The water of the Red sea appears to Be 80
feet higher than the Mediterranean. and
the Gulf of Mexico is % feet higher than
/ the Pacific.
About 30 fresh water springs are discov-
cred under the sea, on the south Of the Per-
sian Gulf.
The Mediterranean makes tide of only
or 2 feet.
The Caspian is 800 feet lower than the
Baltic and 345 lower than the Euxinc
No certain theory is formed on the cause
of earthquakes but the most general and
rational, ascribe them to steam and The
force of gasses formed by water ard meta;c
oxydcs.
Fourteen earthquakes. in different parts
of the globe, were recorded in 1927, and
perhaps this is an average number
The Sandwich Islands are volcanic
Owyhee is in the cole of a volcano high
er than Mount Blanc.
Count Rumford, BY boring cannon with
in water, so heated it by the friction
that he made it boil and actually boiled a
piece of beef in it.
One gallon Of water in steam will raise
SIX gallons from so to 212.
Four pounds of beef loses one pound by
boiling; one pound five ounces by roasting ;
and one pound three ounces BY baking
Four pounds OF mutton loses fourteen oun-
ces by boiling; one pound six ounces BY
roasting, and one pound SIX ounces by ba-
king.
Lamps were used by the ancients. and
candles were an invention of the middle
ages, At first. wicks were made Of hemp.
and candles papyrus, and the pitch of rushcs.
OK and sheep tallow is now preferred.
One pound of hydrogen consumes or fix
es seven and half pounds Of oxygen, which
melts $40 pounds of ice. One pound Of
wax, oil, or tallow, consumes or fixes two
pounds of oxygen. which melts 104 pounds
of ice.
The invisible radiations from heated bod
les may be acted upon by refraction and re-
fection like light. but they do no not pass
through transparent bodies.
a volume of ice is melted bv as much
heat as will raise an equal bulk Of water 40
degrees.
Animals die if their vital temperature is
increased one-twelfth. M
Melted snow produces about one-eighth
of its bulk of water; hence snow two feet
deep produces three inches OF water when
thawed -.-.t ....r
In Cornwall, certain steam engines have
lifted forty million lbs. one foot. with one
bushel of coal; and one at Wheel Town
lifted sixty-two millions with an cighty-inch
cylinder.
Water saturated with nitrc loses IL de-
grecs of heat and with nitrate Of ammonia
46 degrees Of heat.
All solid bodies become luminous at 500
degrees.
Extreme cold produces the same percep-
ton on the skin as great heat. When mer-
curry is frozen at 40 degrees below zero. the
sensation is the same as that of touching
rcd-hot iron.
Acids combined with water, condcnse il
and produce heat.
Eggs are hatched at 104 degrees of heat
When bulk of lime and water are com
bined, the heat is caused by condensation
equal to the bulk of lime, for tie mixture j!
the same bulk as at first
Water boiIs at 127 degrees at the, top Q
Mont Blanc.
One volume of any gas combines will
one of another, or with two or three ex
actly.
The coolest hour of the twenty-four is
: in the morning. and the warmest is from
g to 8 in the afternoon. The mean heat j
a from halfpast eight to halfpast nine. Th
greatest range is in July. and the least i