The Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1859-1865, 1859-09-22
NO. B..
Column nOGEnteresttngv Varieties.

OF shelf.-The painting and sculpture
galleries Of the palace Of Versailles extend
over six miles.-In the course of three
and a half years 270,000 trees were felled
in order to get at the gutta-percha.-
The eyes of needles are punctured by
machine which, superintended by one boy,
can punch 10000 in day.-A ray of
artificial light travels at the rate of
10000 leagues in second of time-
Astronomers have given the rate of solar
light at 49,, 800 miles a second.-In
the formation Of a single locomotive there
are over 5000 pieces to be put together,
and these require to be as accurately ad-
justed as the works of a watch.-Every
watch consists Of at least 202 pieces, en-
ploying probably over 200 persons, and
distributed among 40 trades, to say moth
ing Of the tool-makers for all these
Gas-liShting was unknown in 1900: it
was not until two years after this that
Murdoch made his first public exhibition
OF 1t in London. Since that time his dis
covery has encircled the globe. In Eu-
rope and this country all the principal
cities any many large towns are lighted
with 1t; and even New Zealand villages,
where no white man had built his resi-
denee in 1900, are now Illuminated by
the same subtitle and beautiful agent of
human comfort and Every
pound of cOchineal contains 10000 insects
boiled to death; 100000 pounds are an
nually used for scarlet and crimson dyes.
Tile odorous matter of flowers is in
ilammable, and arises from an essential
OIL. When growing in the dark their
odor Is diminished, but restored in the
light, and it is strongest in sunny eli
mates. The plant known as the jra5onaeZya
takes fire in hot evenings by bringing a
flame near its roots.-At present there
is no really successful ventilating and dust
excluding apparatus combined for railroad
cars. Much ingenuity has been displayed,
and many patents have been issued for
devices for these purposes, but as yet the
system needs to be perfected-The ma
tional road over the Cumberland noun
tains is more extensive and durable than
the celebrated Appian Way, at Rome
To find the contents of a cask in i'm
perial gallons, guage the bung diameter
and multiply its square by 2 To the
product add the square of the head diam
eter, and multiply these by the inside
l,0S9 for imperial gallons-The Julian
acqueduct OF Rome is two miles longer
than the Croton aequeduct of New York,
but the Croton carries more water than
all the seven acqueducts of Rome put to-
gether, and more than any other acque-
duet in the world, and is longer than any
other, excepting the Julian.-The Hi
nois Central Railroad is the longest ever
constructed by one Company, and in point
OF Workmanship is equal to any European
.-Thestone arch over Cabin Johns
Greek, on the Washington acqueduct, is
about fifty feet greater than any other
stone arch in the world, and is more beau
tiful in proportion than the arch over
Ocha, in Italy, so long celebrated for its
magnifcence.-The tunnel on the sum-
nit of the Pennsylvania Railroad was
more difficult work than the tunnel under
the Thames.-The structures on the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, at Harper's
Ferry, and the Staracca viaduct on the
New York and Eria Railroad, are equal
in magnificence to anything Brunei ever
did in England, or Moran in France
The suspension bridge over the Niagara
River, at Lewistown, is ,042 feet 10 in
ches in one span, and 46 feet greater than
any other single span in the world, being
nearly twice as great as the celebrated
bridge over the Menai Straits in England.
The United States Dry Dock, in
Brooklyn, is the largest dry dock in the
world, by many feet. The plates of iron
used in the gates of this dock are the lar.
gest that had been made up to the time
they were rolled-The estimate origi-
nally make by the Belgian engineers for
the wear of rails upon their lines, was 120
years. At present ten years is not under
the average life of rails, whilst many are
actually so much worn in twelve months
as to be no longer fit for use.-Boiler
explosions are always reported, but simple
ruptures, which often occur from over
pressure, and with no further consequent
ces than the loss of steam and local injury
to the boiler, are seldom publicly report
ed, and there are many who are not aware
tha, such casualties ever happen.-The
bark of trees is generally thichest on their
Northern sides.-Georgia is the light
est taxed State in the Union. Its State
tax is only two-thirds of mill to the
dollar. \ man owning $4,000 worth of
property is only taxed .62.-The old
est church IN America is in the town of
bingham, Mass. 1t was built in 1851