Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-06-15
FACTS FOE TIE CuRlOuS.

THE furnishing of silver when exposed
to the air is due to sulphuretted hydro
gen, the metal having a strong attraction
for sulphur.
OYSTERS can live twenty-four hours in
An exhausted receiver. The flame OF =
candle goes out III one minute, charcoal
in five minutes.
TaE horns Of the water-snail are hol-
low tubes, and when it draws in its horns
the eyes disappear down the tubes.
/ When the 'optics" are needed again it
is caly necessary for the muscles round
the tube TO contract, and SO 20 squeeze
the tip gradually out
STRUT, an English authority on
games and amusements, speaks of q
Yorkshire jumper, named Ireland
| whose powers Were marvellous. He was
six feet high, and at the age of Is leaped,
without the aid Of spring board, over
nine horses ranged side by side
| EXAMINE the thread-slimo how we
will we can find in it no mouth, no
! stomach, no muscles, no nerves, no
parts of any kind Yet it eats and
breathes and grows. When it is too
large to be comfortable it splits III two,
and each half goes it's way as a living
animal.
| ToPHAM, an Englishman, born in ITO,
Was possessed OF astonishing strength.
/ His armpits, hollow III the case OF 0rdin-
/ ary men, We're with him full Of muscles
and tendons. He would take ban OF
iron, with its two ends held in his hand,
place the middle of the bar behind his
neck, and bend the extremities by nam
force until they met together.
ONE of the most curious railroads in
the world is ten-inch gauge road run
ming from North Billerica, Mass, to
Bedford. 1t was first hooted at by the
people, but was completed, making a
length OF about eight and half miles.
There are eleven bridges. The rails
weigh twenty-five pOunas to the yard.
One grade Is 155 feet. The cars and en-
| glnes are constructed SO as to be very
near the ground, giving them greater
safety. The cars have an aisle with one
seat on each side, III the same manner
cars weigh but four and half tons, Or
dlnary cars weighing on an average
eighteen tons. Trains run at the rate of
twenty miles al hour with perfect
5afe'y. The engine : placed benin 4
the ten5 5er, giving 1t eater adhesion
to the track. Tay weigh eight tons,
and draw two pa 9enger and two freight
cars. The cost OF the road was about
S4,50) per mi.e.
In Colorado is ten acre field, which
Is no more nor less than subterranean
lake covered with soil about eighteen
inches deep. On the soil is cultivated
field of corn, which produces thirty
bushels to the acre. Ii any one will take
| the trouble to dig a hole the depth of a
spade handle, he will find it to I'LL with
water, and by using hook and line fish
four or five inches long may be caught.
The fish have neither scales nor eyes, and
are perch-like in shape. The ground is
black mari IL nature, and i'll all proba-
bility was at one time an open body of
water, on which accumulated vegetable
matter, which has been increased from
time to time, until now 1t has Ii crust
| sufficiently strong and rich TO produce
ine corn, although 1t has to be cul-
ivated by band, as it is not strong
enough to bear the weight of d horse
Whil- harvesting, the hands catch great
strings OF fish by making hole through
the earth. A person rising on his heel
and coming down suddenly, can see the
growing corn shake all around him. Any
pne having sufficient strength to drive a
:au through the crust will find, on re-
leasing it, that it will disappear alto
| gether.