The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-09-30
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

TIE bee-beetle can draw forty times
its own weight.
THE eggs of the cheesemite are so mi
mute that q pigeons egg would hold fully
100, 900, 600 of them.
The sea anemone can at its pleasure
turn inside out, and again assume its
natural shape and appearance.
The census figures show that more
than three-four.hs of the people in the
United States4sive at an elevation OF less
. than Loo ~ sssea.
THERE is IN Springfield, Mass, piano
made IN 1870 by an uncle and brother of
John Jacob Astor, both of whom were
at that time piano makers in London.
THE grasshopper has between his
throat and his stomach an apparatus
called a gizzard, with more than 200
teeth in it, for grinding his food
II has been reckoned that single
aphis, or plant-louse, may give rise in
one summer to a quintillion Il, 600, ,000,-
600, 900, 000, ,000) of little ones.
WHITE alligators found in Brazil travel
far and well on land. Their skulls and
bones are frequently seen in the forests,
and they deposit their eggs in the woods.
THERE lies buried near Naples, not
only the cities of Herculaneum and
Pompeii, but another which fiourished
1000 years before Christ, the ancient
city of Cume. Few remains now exist
to stimulate the mind of the traveller.
MORE than one-tenth of the inhabi-
tants of the United States live in ten
cities-New York, Philadelphia, Brook
lyn, Chicago, Boston, St. Louis. Balti-
more, San Francisco, New Orleans and
Clevelsnd-whose aggregate population
is 5,033, 760.
THE whistle of a locomotive can be
heard {, 300 yards through the air; the
noise of train 2, 500 yards the bark of
dog and the report of a musket can be
heard ], 800 yards the roll of drum or
an orchestra 1000 yards; the human
/ voice travels l 1000 yards the croaking
of frogs, 900 yards; the chirping of
crickets, 500 yards.
/ DIR. JOHNSON tells an extraordinary
story of a sea-cucumber which he pos
sessed. He forgot to furnish II with
fresh water, and the creature became
/ sick and detected. Under this neglect it
wasted away in most remarkable man
ner. One by one ii elected its tentacles,
/ its teeth, its digestive tubes These
fragments lay here and there, scattered
/ about the aquarium. Still what was left
of the creature was not dead. Its empty
sack contracted at the least touch. AS
soon as fresh water was provided the
I animal began to revive again, reproduc-
/ ing one after another of its lost organs,
and at the end of two or three months
/ appeared to be as well and as happy as
/ before.
FRENCH newspapers report the discov-
I cry in Algiers, by the archseologist NJ
Tarry,,of city which had been intombed
in the sand NJ Tarry's attention had
been awakened by the mound-like ap-
pearance of the sandy soil, and some
digging brought to light the minarets
and upper portion of a mosque. Further
excavations laid bare a terrace, tower
and about dozen houses, all in excel
lent preservation. He reported his dis
coveries to the Government of Algiers,
which has undertaken to have the site
thoroughly explored. The place is in
the southern part of the province, not
far from the town of Ouargia, and ex-
posed to the full blast of the sandy
winds from the desert. Probably sue
cession of siroccos bearing clouds of sand
completely filed up the streets and
houses, making the town uninhabitable,
and SO drove out the population. At
present there is no ground for conjecture
as to the date of the occurrence.