The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-05-26
CLIPPIYGs FOR THE CURIOUS.


! When the bees are young honey re-
mains longer white, and is known as
virgin honey.
| The loss of a hand was one of the PEN
I al mutilations enacted by William the
Conquerer,
Hanpings for rooms, called arras, were
/ first made in Arras, France, in the four
teenth century.
The yearly consumption of quinine
in The United States is computed at
500, 600 ounces.
The dahlia is a native of Mexico, and
was brought to England by Dahl,
Swede, in 1904.
The discovery of the luminosity of
plants has been attributee to the daugh-
ter of Linn9us.
Under the microscope the brilliant
feathers of a humming birds breast
shows only dark brown.
During the reign of Trojan 5000 poor
children were supported by the govern
ment in Rome alone.
The medicinal Ieech is found only in
Central Europe, Asia Minor and part of
the northern coast of Africa.
1t is within the last two centuries
that the first attempt was made in Eu-
rope to establish quarantines.
Among the Tahitans and New Zea-
landers the woman wear their hair short
and the men theirs long.
The first grain elevators of America
were built il Chicago eleven years ago.
Southern Russia is the chief source of
the salt supply to the other governments
of the empire.
The farm animals of Great Britain
represent about one half of the total va
lue of those of the United States.
The national library of Mexico is re-
ported to be in deplorable state, thou
sands of books lying about in confusion.
Mounds have been found in the Py-
reneeS as distinct in their resemblance
to animal forms as any American
mounds.
The custom of throwing a shoe after
a bride comes from the Jewish custom
of handing a shoe to the purchaser Of
land after the completion of the bargain.
The pine needles of the Silesian for
ests have been converted into forest
wool, which, besides being efficacious in
cases of rheumatism, can be curled,
felted and woven.
The edible oyster attains its full
growth only in the waters of the Amer
lean coast, and its representative in
Great Britain dwindles down to a small
coppery bivalve.
In some parts of Germany a curious
custom exists. The peasantry who pos
sesS bit Of land, however small, never
enter church without having a nose
gay in their hand. They thus show
that they claim the consideration due
to those who possess some property in
the parish.
The megapod of the East Indies builds
an artificial mould in which its eggs are
deposited to be Matched. TIE mounds
are sometimes fourteen feet high, with
a circumference of 150 feet, and the de-
cay of the vegetable matter of which
they are composed produces an artificial
warmth sufficient to hatch the eggs.
BallonistS have an unique method of
taking ''soundings" to learn their dis
tance from the earth when travelling in
the all at night. a loud shout is given
and the seconds are counted until the
echo from the ground is heard, From
the time required for the return of the
sound it is easy to compute the height
of the balloon.
The ancient custom of sending a pres
ent of fine cloth to certain high officers
Of state and gentlemen of Queen Victor
las household has lately been observed
by committee of the court of aldermen
of London. The custom seems to have
originated in a desire to encourage COM
petition in the manufacture Of fine
goods.
The ancient Huns seem to have been
the ugliest of races of Central Asia, and
the homeliest individual was probably
the ''veiled prophet of BokhaTa" the re-
pulsiveness of whose features was so
overpowering that he did not venture to
appear without a mask, for which he
afterward substituted golden veil, and
was consequently known as ''the yelled
one -