Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1886-04-07
CURIOUS FACTS.

SHEARS with two blades and g. sprino
back were used in old Rome for Gin.
ping sheep, hair and hedges.
A BELGIAN treats textile fabrics with
an alcoholic solution of the green tar
| OF the birch, with which he expects to
render them almost indestructible.
The petrifed skeleton of whale
over thirty feet long has been discov-
cred by an officer of the Coast Survey
on g. range of mountains in Monterey
County, CAL, over $500 feet above
the sea level.
THE well at White Plains, New, is
down over $500 feet, and can go no
further until the water, which is seven
teen per cent. salt and SO heavy that
the ropes and tools float on it and the
drill does not penetrate the rock, is
shut out.
The London Times says that on g.
recent test of several thousand bayo-
nets now in use In the British army,
being q fair representation of the
quality Of all, thirty-three per cent.
were found to be useless for lack of
Stiffness and temper.
CASES of severe collie from lead
poisoning have been reported among
tallors and sewing women. This is
probably due to their habit of biting
Off and sometimes chewing threads of
sewing silk which has been weighted
with acetate of lead.
FROM studies in Sicily, Drs. Buchner
and Emmel ich find evidence that the
occurrence of cholera has some connec-
ton with the character of the soil, and
that it makes it's way into the system
through the lungs rather than through
the alimentary canal.
DIR. HARTWELL, of Johns Hopkins
University, says that German SOL
| der can scale a twenty-foot wall with
his arms and accoutrements, or Jump
an iron-spiked fence without getting
caught. Gymnastics are compulsory
In the German schools.
CURES of sciatica are reported as
having taken place after single ap-
pllcation of DR.. Debove's method of
freezing the skin above the painful
parts with spray of chloride of
methyl. The operation is said to be
applicable also to facial neuralgia.
Il lS SUlSSSSUSQ Uu6tU Uu0 Z 6tUdgOnldDS
may have lost as much as two inches
in stature since the adoption of con-
slant horseback riding, a. little over
two centuries ago. They were former
ly reputed giants, and their bodies are
still huge, while their legs are dispro-
portionately short and slender.
EVIDENCE of the decay of forests in
Australia is found in the present ex-
istence OF few trees far exceeding in
size any Of those about them, and
supposed to be survivors of q depart
ed race of giants. A tree twenty-five
feet in circumference at height Of
thirty feet above the ground was
described at q late meeting of the
Royal Society Of New South Wales.
Brown SEQUARD, the French physi-
ologist, has demonstrated that for
several weeks after death, or during the
persistence of herigid condition which
immediately follows the cessation of
life, the muscles of an animal undergo
slow alternate contractions and elonga-
tions; and he reaches the startling con-
clusion that the muscles in rIgor NOR
It's are not dead, but are still endowed
with vital powers, being, however, in
O. certain chemical condition which is
antecedent and preparatory to final
death.
THE popular notion that the inhab-
itants of Chinese cities are given to
unwholesome habits does not seem to
to be well founded, DR.. Dudgeon, in
a recent work on the diet, dress and
dwellings of the Chinese, says that the
people have admirably adapted
themselves to their surroundings, and
enjoy maximum of comfort. "They
have q good many lessons yet to
teach us in respect Of living and prac-
tical health" After an experience of
over twenty years with them, he says
that "they are subject to fewer dis
eases, their diseases are more amen
able to treatment, and they possess a
greater freedom from acute and in
fammatory affections of all kinds, if
indeed, these can be said to exist at
ALL" than obtains among Western ma
tiOns.