Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-02-06
ERBURY EVENING DEMOpRAT WEDNESDAY FEBRUARY G. 1sse
STRAY BITS.

The remains of tho Confederate ram Merri- mac have just been sold for old iron.
 The bridge over the Indus at Sukkur is at present the largest railroad bridge in the world.
 Professor Graham Bell says that the con- genital deaf mutes of the country are increas- ing at greater rate than the general popu- lation.
 The skeleton of mastodon has been un- earthed in California. It is thirty feet long and has tusks between six and seven feet in length.
 Hereafter no student can matriculate from the University of the Pacific at St. Jose, Cal, who uses tobacco in any form.
 The rush for Washington to witness the in augural sights bids fair to exceed all previous occasions of this sort.
 It is said !atigued eye recovers last the perception of the color by which the fatigue has been induced, and first recovers the sensi- tiveness of the complementary color.
 The remedy against sore throat of wearing few threads of Berlin wool around the throat is said to act by keeping up a belt of skin action ard so acting as a counter-irri- tant.
 Rev. Anthony Swensson, of Detroit, is the first Swede to become a Roman Catholic priest since the Reformation. Out of popu lation of 6,OOO,OOO Sweden has only 5000 Roman Catholics.
 The smoke cloud that overhangs London is said to contain 800 tons of carbon. The waste involved in this is estimated at $13, 3,0O0,0O0 a year, and the damage to buildings at $10 ,0O0, 900 year.
 It is only about once in fifteen years that Mars comes as near as 36OOo, 900 miles. Its orbit is so eccentric that the interval between it and the orbit of the earth varies all the way from SC, GOO, GOO miles to 61 100000. Portable electric lights, arranged to hang on a button of ones coat, and with a para bolic reflector to concentrate the light, with | storage batteries weighing 111 pounds each, | are made to enable persons to read in railroad | cars by night.
 The mortality among the European nav l vies at Panama during the past three months has reached the astounding figures of fifty eight per 1000. That is as near as may be | decimation. The total number of Europeans WHO nave peIlSu III pr OSeSuUluS puo ullueI- l taking is 200.
 | The crowned heads of Europe are becoming so literary that magazine is proposed, to which only those of royal blood shall be allowed to contribute. No advertisement will be taken, and criticisms of each number will be furnished to the papers by the libra rian of each court.
 1 .Su r T that the word ''teetotal' had its origin through stuttering temperance orator, who urged on his hearers that nothing less than "te-te-te-total!' abstinence would satisfy tenn perance reformers. Some one at once adopted 'teetotal" as a suitable word, and it sprang into general use.
 l Milan, Paris and London lead the world in all that pertains to a thoroughly artistic | knowledge of dancing The Royal Academy de Ia dance" at Paris, founded by Louis | XIV, and which is presided over at the | present time by M. de Soria, is the most fin ished school of dancing in the world, and ap- preached by none save that of La Scala, in
 Milan.
 Charles Manning, while chopping down a
 hollow beech tree at Anna Station, O., which
 was apparently 100 years old had his atten-
 tion drawn to peculiar looking earthen jar,
 which was well sunken in the center of the
 hollow butt. A few blows of the ax liberated
 it from its confined position, and, after secur
 ing it, it was opened and found filled to the | brim with silver coin.
 The Kennebec Journal says it happened tc
 ono of Colby's professors when young
 teacher to "board around" one winter. Hi:
 arrival at one rural home took place just al
 dinner time, and he at once sat down witt
 the family to enjoy the repast The pro
 lessor doesn't remember that his appetite
 was particularly sharp that day, but at the
 close of the meal the mistress of the house
 looked across at her husband and remarked
 "Well, John, guess you might as well kill
 that heifer."