The Hickman courier. [volume] (Hickman, Ky.) 1859-current, 1881-08-05
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

| CARRIER R-P1GEoNs often exhibit re-
| markable love of music, and they are
exceedingly fond of aromatic Odors.
/ WHENEVER any one of a herd of hye-.
mas, in their native state, is wounded its
companions tear it to pieces and devour
/ it.
! JELLY-FIsHEs can live cut in two for
an indefinite period. Halves of them
will swim along as if nothing had hap
| pened.
THERE is pair of scales in the New
| York Assay Office of kind so delicate
that, when brought to a balance with
two pieces of paper of equal size in the
pans, the mere writing of name with
| lead pencil on one of the pieces OF
paper will add enough weight to the
paper to tuTn the scales in its favor.
WHEN a lion is reused he never goes
directly forward, but takes an oblique
course, receding with a slow, proud mo-
~tion, going from one side to the other,
and bounding rather than running.
The lion is long-lived animal in his
native forest his age exceeds that Of
man. When a lioness fears lest her re
treat may be discovered she often hides
her tracks by brushing them out with
her tail.
IT is said that the bats of Java seldom
fail to attack such persons as lie In the
open air with their extremities exposed !;
and they are so dexterous in this opera
ton that they can insinuate their acule-
ated tongue into II vein, and continue
to draw the blood without being per-
ceived and that during all the time
they are engaged, they agitate the air
with their wings III so pleasing manner
as to throw the sufferer into sounder
sleep than he was before.
THE common flea lives by sucking the
blood of man, and of some species of
quadrupeds and birds 1t abounds par
ticularly in the nests of poultry,
pigeons and swallows, and wherever
sand and dust accumulate in the chinks
of floors it is to be found also plentiful
in beds, wherever cleanliness is neglect
ed. Fleas undergo n complete meta
morphosis. The female lays about
dozen eggs of a white color, and slightly
viscous. The Larvae is a lively little
worm, at first white, afterward reddish,
and destitute of feet.
THERE are at present in the Old
World and in the New World more than
IOO, 600 railway locomotives. Their to-
tai force is equal to 30,000.000 horse
power, and all the other steam engines
on the globe are estimated at 46, 600, 900
horsepower. The technical " horse
power" however, is really equal TO three
average horses, and each horse TO about
seven men, the aggregate power, there
fore, of all the engines being vastly
more than the effective force of all the
human workers living. FOur-fifths of
the steam engines now at work have
been made within a quarter of a century
or so.
SOME of the washing waters of Paris,
which were formerly run into the sewers,
are now collected in casks, and, the suds
being subjected to chemical treatment, the
fatty matters are being manufactured
into toilet soap, made fragrant by the
addition of oil of rose. According
this process little suIphurIc ae1Ssa-s =
added TO the soap water obtained from
washing linen, the whole is then stirred
up, and the fatty matter is allowed to
stand for few hours, when, on it's col
lecting upon the surface of the liquid, it
Is gathered in casks. Instead of sui
phuric acid, sulphate of iron or ferru-
ginous sulphate of alumina may be en-
ployed, by the action of which the sepa-
ration of the fatty matter is obtained,
being precipitated in the form of an in
soluble soap. After the action of these
metallic salts the operation may be ter
minated by the addition of milk of lime.