Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-06-06
FACTS FOR THE CURIOUS.

THE pitch of note produced by the
wings OF the gnat in the act of flying is
two octaves higher than the highest note
OF seven octave piano.
" most ancient manuscripts are
written without accents, stops or separa-
ton between the words, nor was it until
after the ninth century that copyists
began to leave spaces between words.
ARCHITECTS and manufacturers Of
stained glass windows are said to get the
prettiest of their designs from kaleido-
scopes, which they turn until they find
design that suits their purpose.
MORE than half of the ships of the
globe are coaled with English coal, and,
though the output last year reached the
extraordinary dimensions of 147, 600, 900
tons, the whole of it obtained market.
A FACT interesting to mineralogists
and biologists has been brought to light
at the gold fields in Australia, namely,
that the quantity of gold in quartz does
not diminish with the depth in all cases,
for in some mines the gold is still album
dant at depth of $50 feet, and shows no
sign of dlmlnutiOn.
BEES have an intuitive guidance in
the selection of food, which has the
power of producing organic changes in
the bodies OF the young. even to the de-
termination and development of sex, so
that, by the administration of it under
what may be called artificial conditions,
certain selected individuals can be made
the mothers and queens of future hives.
The brilliant light of the electric arc
10 IN ha loco 7 -
the eyes than was for some time be-
ieved. So high medical authority as
the London Lancet reports that but one
case of serious injury from exposure to
the dazzling light has come under its
notice. and in that instance the exposure
was unusually severe and prolonged.
How OFTEN do we hear the query,
"What becomes of all the dead birds ?"
The secret of their mysterious disap-
pearance was but just now half told by
the buzz of those brown wings, and the
other half is welcome to any one who
will take the trouble to follow their lead.
This beetle is one of mans incalculable
benefactors, It is his mission to keep
fresh and pure the air we breathe. He
is the sexton that takes beneath the
mold not only the fallen sparrow, but
the mice, the squirrels, and even much
larger creatures that die in our woods
and fields. Beneath that clump of var
row I found just what 1 expected
small dead bird-and the grave diggers
were in the midst of their work. AL
ready the rampant of fresh earth was
raised around the body, and the cavity
was growing deeper with every moment,
as the busy diggers evacuated the turf
beneath. Now and then one would
emerge on tour of inspection, even
rummaging among the feathers OF that
silent throat, and climbing upon the
plumy breast to press down the little
body into the deepening grave. These
nature burials are byno means rare, and
where the lstless eye fails to discover
them the nostrils will often indicate the
way, and to any one DESTROYS of witness
ing the operation, without the trouble of
search, it is only necessary to place in
some convenient spot of loose earth the
carcass of some small animal. The most
casual observer could not fail soon to be
attracted by the orange spotted beetles.