The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1880-12-17
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

Ii IS said that no rhymes exist IN the
English language for the words silver.
orange, month, kiln, bilge and gull.
1t has been said that man is the only
animal that makes use of tools, but the
statement has been controverted, OBJ
seryat1on having shown that other ami
mails do occasionally employ tools. This
Is especially the case with MONKEYS.
winch In confinement have been OBJ
served to use stones to crack nuts. and
sticks or leather straps to draw toward
tnem objects which lay beyond their
| =, SHAKsPEARE uses more different words
than any other writer in the English
{ language. Writers on the statistics Of
words inform us that he uses about
lo,OOO different words in his plays and
sonnets, while there is no other writer
VINO uses so many as 10000. Some few
winters use as many as Il, 600 words. but
tne great majority of writer's do not en-
ploy more than 5000. In conversation
but from 5000 to 5000 different words
are used. .-.a,-- NJ
In the city of Dublin there are a. 600
Iamlhes, averaging five members. who
sre each living In a single room. The
aeath-rate Of the city Is 40 per LOCO.
which Is equivalent to so per 1000 In
the tenement-house districts. These
Two facts, the enormous number of fanajs
hes living in single room, and the high
death-rate, prove that the horrors and
dangers OF Irish distress have not been
exaggerated. These families of five,
smut mp each IN a single room. depend
Ior support upon wages of from 10 to IL
English shillings week.
TIE ease with which the Fsoni.
maux OF st Lawrence island can see To
n great distance, and the marvellous wav
IN which news is transmitted from the
most distant points, is really wonderful
A native VIII describe the dress and an
pesrance OF a man who is approaching at
great distance. A white man. even n
snarp-eyed sailor, can Just make out
that 1t Is a human figure. So il ANYTHING
occurs ON the coast, if q piece of wreck
comes ashore, the full particulars Will
ne known IN short time OOO miles
rom the place where il occurred If Is
n wonderful system of telegraphv-one
native rushing off to pass the news n
another, and thus speeding inteIli0ence
over hundreds of miles in a single dav-
FROM the examination of . hook COM
piled 1000 years b. @. it has been as
cert"lned, what has long been supposed
That Chaldea was the parent land Of
astronomy; for it Is found, from this
compilation and from other bricks. that
he BabylOnians catalOgued the stars
md distinguished and named the con,
, They observed the seventh
lay as one of rest. They invented the
un-dial to mark the movements of the
bodies, the water-clock To
Measure time, and they speak in this
work OF the spots on the sun. fact tbpv
ould only have known by the aid Of
telescopes, which it is supposed thew
'ossessed, from observations that tbeT
ave noted down of the rising of Yenns
nd the fact that Layard found a CRYSTAL
ems IN the ruins of Nineveh. These
bricks contain an account of the del
&c, substantially the same as the mar
alive IN the Bible. They disclose that
ouses and lands were then sold. leased
nd mortgaged, that money was loaned
interest, and that the market garden
rs, to use an American phrase, "worked
q shares" that the farmer, when plow-
q with his oxen, begailed his labor
18th homely songs, two of which have
cen found, and connect this very re-
ote civilization with the usaQes Of
'-day.