The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1881-11-10
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.
THERE are oceanic crabs which swim
in the open bed for days without rest

THERE are oceanic crabs which swim
in the open bed for days without rest
ing. p. f..-,--ss-s,
70 The body of the young octopus blush !
es now with one color and now with the
other. -
The feather-like star-fsh is turned
upside down, and walks around on its
back, which is provided with claws.
THE Hottentots swim standing up.
The head and neck are kept out Of the
water, and, with eyes cast downward,
they move forward rapidly as if walking
quickly. - "a 5..... XII -
AT the beginning of the eighteenth
century the English language was
spoken by less than S,000,0 900 of people;
at the beginning of the nineteenth by
only 10000, 900, and now, with one-fifth
of the century yet before it in which to
spread, it is the mother tongue of 9O,-
O00, 200.
A BROKEN pane of glass in cathedra
library, in England, admitted the ten
drill of an ivy branch, which grew and
grew until it attached itself to a row Of
books worth hundreds of pounds. Then,
in rainy weather, it conducted water as
though it was pipe along to the topsof
the books and soaked them through and
through. The rain coming in over a
skylight in one library of rare books
rotted some Caxtons and other early
English books, one of which, in spite Of
its rotten condition, sold for 81, 900.
The devout Hindoo regards the COW
as deity. Tt is the incarnation of the
wife of Vishnu, the pure and holy ideal
of woman who rose out of the sea. 1t is
also the visible representation of the fe-
male element in nature-the universal
mother who supplies milk for the help
less young To see a COW on starting
on journey or commencing any enter
prise is an auspicious omen. The Hin
doc when in danger of starvation will eat
the meat OF human being in preference
to that of cow. Instances are frequent
of their starving on shipboard because
there was nothing but salt beef to eat.
A Hindoo who eats beef becomes an out
cast forever. Beef is not regarded as
unclean, as pork is by the Jews. It is
simply the product of q sacred thing-a
part of the deity. T.e- T..
Four barrels Of water of the Great
| Salt lake will leave, after evaporation,
nearly barrel of salt. The lake was
discovered in the year 1920, and no out
let from it. has yet been ascertained.
Four or five large streams empty them
selves into it, and the fact of its still re-
tanning its saline properties seems to
point to the conclusion that there exists
some secret bed of saline deposit over
which the waters flow, and that thus they
continue salt; for, though the lake may
be the residue Of an immense sea which
once covered the whole of this region,
yet. by its continuing SO salt with the
amount Of fresh water poured into it
daily, the idea of the existence of some
/ such deposit from which it receives it's
supply seems to be only too probable.
For the past fifteen years, until 1879
year, the lake has been gradually rising,
but that year it receded two or three feet
"a most unusual occurrence owing to
the exceptionally warm weather. There
are no fish in the lake, but myriads of
small flies cover its surface. The buoy
ancy of the water is SO great that it il
not at all an easy matter to drown in it.
The entire length of the Salt lake is
eighty-five miles, and its breadth forty
five miles. Compared with the Dead
sea the Great Salt lake is longer by for
ty-three miles and broader by thirty five
! poi1oo