The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1854-02-16
4 Chapter Gf Curious Facts.


4 lead wire, the thirteenth of an inch
sustains % lbs.
\ tin wire, the thirteenth of an inch,
sustains 34! lbs.
Gun metal is I2 lbs. of tin and 100 lbs
of copper.
The emerald is ranked among the
gems, but is found only in Peru. 1t is
green, harder than quartz, and always in
crystal. Oriental emerald is a green
sapphire.
The European mountains consists OF
primitive and transition rocks.
The surface of the earth is 196, ,862,
253 square miles; and its soldity is 250,
926, $50, ,4l5 cubic miles.
The sea is to the land, in round millions
of square miles, as 100 to 40, or to l.
The narrowest part Of the Atlantic is
more than two miles deep. In other
parts, about one and half miles.
Rounded pebbles are broken fragments
of rocks, rendered smooth by mutual at
tritions, in long time, by water and tides.
The amazon falls but foot in fifty
miles; the Rhine one foot in quarter of a
mile; the Loire footin one and half miles
Ninety species of bones of quadrupeds
have been found, which are now unknown.
The water Of the Red Sea appears to
be thirty-two feet higher than the Medi-
tcrranean, and the Gulf of Mexico is
twenty feet higher than the Pacific.
About thirty fresh water springs are
discovered under the sea, on the south Of
the Persian Gulf.
The Mediterranean makes tide of on
ly one or Two feet.
The Caspian is 300 feet lower than the
Baltic and $40 lower than the Buxine.
No certain theory is formed on the
cause of earthquakes; but the most gen
eral and rational, ascribe them to steam
and the force of gaSses formed By the
water and metallic ozydes.
Fourteen earthquakes, in different parts
of the globe, were recorded in 1927, and
perhaps this is an average number.
The Sandwich Islands are volcanic.
Count Rumford, by boring a cannon,
within water so heated it by the friction,
that he made it boil, aud actually boiled
a piece Of beef in it.
-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 ounces by boiling; one pound six
ounces by roasting, and one pound four
ounces by baking.
Lamps were used by the aneients, and
candles were an invention of the middle
ages. At first, wicks were made Of hemp,
papyrus, and the pith OF rushes. Ok and
sheep tallow is now preferred.
Animals die if their vital temperature
is increased one-twelfth.
Melted snow produces about one-eigth
of its bulk of water; hence snow two feet
deep produces three inches Of water when
/ thawcd.
In Cornwall, certain steam engines
have lifted forty million pounds, one
foot, with one bushel of coal; and one at
Wheel Towan lifted sixty-two millions
with an eighty inch cylinder.
Water saturated with nitre loses II de,
grees of heat; and with nitrate of ammo
nia 46 degees of heat.
All solid bodies become luminous al
500 degrees.
Extreme cold produces the same per
ception on the skin as great heat. Nher
mercury is frozen at 4D degrees below
zero, the sensation is the same as that q
touching redhot iron.
Acids combined with water, condensf
it aud produce heat
Eggs are hatchel at l04 degrees Of heat
The coldest hour of the twenty-four il
five in the morning, and the warmest /:
from two or three in the afternoon. Tht
mean heat is from halfpast eight to half
past nine. The greatest range is in July
and the least in December,