The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1884-03-14
SELECT SIFTINGS.

The first tunnel was made by M. Rignet
at Bezieres, France, in the reign of Louis
XIV.
Gun cotton was invented by Professor
Schenbein, in Basel, and first made known
il 1916.
"Dieu ct mon droit," the royal motto
of England, was the word given by Rich
ard the Lion Hearted to his army at
Gisors, in 1893. Henry vi. first used it
as motto.
By an act of parliament of George H.,
still in existence, u man can evade pay
ment of his tavern score on the ground
that the consumption of spirits is con-
trary to public policy, and ought to be
discouraged.
The old superstition as to mandrake
the ground, and that he who heard its
cry died within the year, and, therefore,
those who would gather it stopped their
ears, fastened a dog to the plant and
whipped him until he pulled it from the
earth.
The ancient Egyptians of the Nile had
floating bee houses, designed to take adj
vantage of the honey harvest. They were
warned when it was time to return home
by the depth to which the boat sank in
the water under the weight of the cargo
of honey. That the bees might not be
lost, they were obliged to journey during
the nighttime.
The famous Washington bowlder at
Conway Corner, N. H., has been ac.
curately measured and found to be thirty
feet high, forty-six feet long and thirty.
five feet wide. 1t is solid granite, and
weighs 8, S67 tons by calculation. This
is probably the largest isolated piece OF
granite in the world, and is apparently a
vestige of ancient glacier action.
According to tradition, the first In
dian reached Martha's Vineyard on a
cake of ice, and found there giant
named M6shup. He had five children.
He used to catch whales and great fish.
and pluck up trees to make fire, and
roast them. The Goals and the bones,
relics of these gigantic feasts, are still to
be seen there. To facilitate the catch
stones at proper distances into the sea,
on which he might walk with ease.
This is now called Devils Bridge. Once
on time an offering was made to him Of
all the tobacco on Martha's Vineyard,
which, having smoked, he knocked the
snuff out of his pipe, which formed
Nantucket.
The teeth of the snake are not always
found in its mouth There is a snake in
Africa which lives upon the eggs of birds,
which he purloins out of the nests. This
snake has nc teeth proper in his mouth
if he had, they would be much in his
way, for they would break the egg when
he caught hold of it. Instead, then, of
teeth in his mouth, he has them in his
stomach, and they are formed in very
curious manner. Certain little bits of
bone, parts of the vertcbrR, are made to
perform the function of teeth; they pro-
ject one from the center of each verte-
br@. The ten next to the mouth point
| in forward direction, the last ten back
ward; the ends of these bits of bone go
through the wall of the stomach, and
then become covered with enamel like
real teeth; so that, on looking into the
stomach, a row apparently of real teeth
is seen at its back part. The egg, when
swallowed by the snake goes down into
the stomach, and there meeting with the
teeth, is broken against them by the
pressure of the walls of the stomach
The contents of the egg being thus
broken, cannot escape, had there been
teeth in the mouth the egg would have
broken there, and most of the fluid con-
tents been lost.