The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1881-02-11
BRIC-A-BRAC.
Cleaned from the Store House OF Ma
turo and the Cabinet of Art and
SClQHNA

ture and the Cabinet of Art and
Science.
Bells were first used in 400.
A bushel of wheat, weighing e. pounds,
contains $4,000 kernels.
The Chinese made wine from rice
nearly 1000 years before the time of
Christ.
The fire bell at Moscow, the largest
bell in the world, weighs 432. 600 pounds.
Some Of the underground sepulchres
of Egypt were Of vast extent. One at
Thebes, is S62 feet long.
AS early as II centuries before Christ
limitations Of costly woods were made
with great skill in Egypt.
1t is estimated that freight train
now enters New York every Is minutes,
each train averaging So cars.
AS soon rs an Egyptian king succeed
ed To the throne work began on his
tomb, whether pyramid or excavation.
The great bell of Florence, named the
''Plaf1o Veccio." weighing 1900 lbs,
is clevated 275 feet from the ground.
The surface Of the earth is always sew
eral degrees warmer under the snow
than the temperature of the air above il,
though the snow may not exceed four
inches in depth.
The Indians were great students of ar
chitecture, some "a elaborate treatise on
that subject. in the native language, hay
ing been discovered.
Ancient Assyrian architects built
walls of great massiveneSs. The hall at
Houyonjik, which was only 81 feet wide,
had walls Is feet thick, and that at MINI
rouds, 80 feet wide, had walls 20 feet
thick.
Tn AUst-aI;a Tho aua-ar,., .o,x,,a-.,,,-o
for certain three months was 101 de-
gress Fahrenheit in the shade. In the
winter snow storms often last three
weeks, and cover the ground to depth
of 10 to IS feet.
copper at Lake Superior and bartered
it TO the jewellers along the banks of
the great lakes and the Ohio and Mis-
sissippi. They did no. know how to
! smelt the ore, however, and used it
| cold.
The great Pagoda at Zanjore, by far
the grandest temple in India, resting
on base SO feet square, rises in Il stO-
ries to height OF nearly 200 feet. The
interior hall is of great magnificence
and is in a comparatively modern
| style.
In Nubia has been found a temple cut
in the steep face of q rock, the entrance
doorway being flanked by two statutes,
each GO feet high. In the interior was a
| grand hall, supported by two rows of
| piers, in front of each of which is q
statue Is feet high.
In the valley of the River Forth, seven
miles from the sea and 80 feet above the
present high tide mark of the sea, re-
mains of whales have been found, show
ing that in ages past the British savage
hunted whales in n sea where now is
dry land.
| A remarkable plate of ivory has been
found in q caravan of Central France.
On its smooth surface IS the portrait of
a mammoth, now extinct, apparently
executed from life. and was sketched
with great freedom of hand and artistic
boldnesss.
Lake George, Australia, was in 1924
20 miles long and eight miles broad. II
gradually shrank till in 1887 it became
quite dry, and its bottom was converted
into a grassy plain. In 1865 il was q
lake again, II feet deep; two years later
it was only two feet deep, and in 1875 II
was 20 feet deep.
The microscope Is a wonderful instru
ment 1t tells the murderer that the
blood which stains him is that of hii
brother, and not of the other life which
he pretends to have taken and as a wit
ness against the criminal, it, on one &C
casion. appealed to the very sand or
= which he had tread at midnight.
In the year 600 the first bells were
hung in England, in Lincolnshire They
were six in number. In those times /
was customary to bless the church bell
by q sort of baptism, after which IL wa
believed they had power to drive awal
, evil spirits, arrest tempests and extin
. guish fires.
Slavery Is still a recognized institu
ton of Arabia, and an active trade ii
blacks is carried on in some of the large
/ towns. Arab custom enfranchises
slave at the end Of seven years faith
fnl services, and on leaving his maste
? presents him with one or more camel
and an outfit. The manumItted ne
r groes marry and have an even chanc
in life with their former owners
E There is no prejudice against negro il
Arabia.
On an extremely cold but starligh
: night, large company had assemble
in ball room Ia Sweden, which in tn
course Of the evening became so heste
J, that some of the ladies tainted. An o
. ficer opened a window, and the rush @
J, cold air from without produced fail O
: snow in the room. Its atmosphere wa
;. charged with vapor, which, becomin
suddenly condensed and frozen, fell j
D the form of snow on the sstonishe
!. dancers