The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1881-11-17
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

OUT of every 100 inhabitants Of the
United States sixteen live in cities.
A LOCOMOTIVE drinks forty-five gal
Ions OF water every mile it travels.
HE finest thread in spiders web is
composed of no less than 1000 strands.
WHEN an orang-outang dies the others
cover up the body with great branches
of trees.
nj. LIE GUAT saw in Java o female
chlmpanzee that made her bed very
neatly every day, lay upon her side and
covered herself with the clothes
The heat on the Colorado desert is
terrific. At Yuma the thermometer fire.
qucntly registers 125 degrees and tho
ar IS 80 rareded that objects 100 miles
distant appear very near.
In is noted as curious fact that no
PRESIDENT, from Washington to Garfield,
was born IN city, and that only the
second Adams was even nominally q
resident of city when elected.
SOME beetles, when oounterfeiting
death, will suffer themselves to be grad
uaily roasted without moving single
JOINT. 81 have pierced spiders with
pms, says Mr.. Smellie, land torn them
slightest marks of pain"
LIE water -DOatmen, among the most
agile OF water insects, row themselves
along under-sido uppermost. Their
habit OF moving upside down is of
great use to them in feeding, for many
OF tAcir victims have hard backs, so the
watrr-bontmen dive down and come up
under their prey, thus attacking them
on their soft side.
The unicorn still exists in the interior
of Thibet. 1t is there called the one
horned tso-po. Its hoofs are divided
it is about tvelve or thirteen hands
high ; it is extremely wild and fierce,
yet nssoriating iA' largo herds. It's tail
Is shaped like tnat of boar, and it's
horn, which Is curved, grows out of it's
forehcnd. IT is seldom caught alive,
but the Tartars frequently shoot it, and
use its flesh for food.
LIE equatorial diameter Of the earth
IS greater than the polar 10y some thirty
four miles. While tho center of gravity
remains rs now the polar and equatorial
regions Will remain substantially the
same; but if from any cause tho polar
shall prcp0nderate, then change in
polarity will ensue. Such, without
doubt, was tho case when the tropical
elephants were incased in the icebergs
OF Nov" Zembla and Spitzbergen.
The paintings of the ancient Egyptians
show that we cannot mix paints as we'll
as they. III manufacturing metals they
| were our rsuperiOrs. They made asword so
exquisitely that itcould be put in nsheath
cOlled up like Il snake without breaking.
They had the steamboat and canal 5. 600
years ago. and they had the art of mov
ing immense masses of rock, weighing
1000 tons each. The pyramid built /, 500
years b. O. employed 100000 men for
twenty years. Twelve billions, seven
hundred and sixty millions pounds of
granite were used in its construction.
and i'll dimensions it was AGO feet high.
ASTRONOMERS say that the average
number Of mctcors that traverse the at
mospherc, and that are large enough to
bc visible to the naked oye at one place.
If the sun, moon and stars would per-
nit, Is fOrty-two in nn hour, or / 1000
daily. The apparent SIZE of motcors is
greatly nlagniticd by irradiNtion. Some
OF them have been computed to have O
diameter of 100 or 20J feet, and others
1000 up to 5000 or 5000; but this
must be regarded as the diameter of the
blaze OF light which surrounds the
meteor. The meteor itself, before il
takes fire, may have diameter of only
n few feet, or perhaps only fraction OF
an inch. The mean distance OF meteors
from the observer is about l05 miles.