Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-04
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
Captain r. Ureck is the tallest man in
Colorado. His height is feet and inches.
The whole number of hogs packed in
Cincinnati for the winter season from NoVem-
Der l, 1883, 20 March /, 1889, was SOO,OS2
"A ghost with the lock step is one Of the
rareties of spiritualism, but that is what they
say" has been heard near the old prison at
Alton, ILL.,
AT Montreal, on Monday, Ralph Fl.
Husson, of London, died ten minutes after
wedding Mary Mulcahy. Pneumonia was the
cause of death.
AT Scottsburg, Ind, an oak tree was
felled recently from which was cut board ten
inches thick, feet 2111 inches wide at butt, and
feet 6H inches wide at the top, ana u iees
long.
w. j. Doris, of New Haven, Conn,
has an African boa constructor p years old II
is 30 feet long, and weighs AS pounds. Inc
snakes appetite doesn't trouble it only Iour
times year, but at each meal it is fed at least
10 chlckens or rabbits.
Vaccination is compulsory in England
and optiona1in in France. In the large cities OF
France the number of deaths from smallpox
was l,go6, or OBI per COO OF the living popula
tlnn In the large cities of England during the
same period the number of deaths was 332, or
O.04 per loo
For six years William Teneson, Of
Bristol, Bucks county, has been troubled with
sore on his neck for which number of physi-
clans have treated him without success On
THURSDAY last Drs. Pursell and Groom, Of
Bristol cut open his neck and found wisdom
tooth that had become detached from the Jaw
and had buried itself in the tissues of the neck.
The tooth was honeycombed and much en-
larged.
The King of Wurtemburg has fancy
to ascertain whether the moon is inhabited by
causing photographs to be taken of that Iumi-
nary and then magnitying the negative hum
dred thousand-fold. Ike pictures produced by
this process show nebule with little dots, and
the King declares the dots to be men and
women. He hopes eventually to get some OF
them into distinct shape.
AN Ohio poultry raiser has made q
curious discovery. He says that If you go out
to feed flock of chickens and will cause them
to wait, they will invariably, as they crowd
about you, begin a circuit around you from
right to left, in 'front.' and continue this revolu-
tion as long as you stand there. No amount OF
1nterruptiOn.or maneuvering can confuse them
or compel them to take the contrary direction
at any time.
in Brazil there is tribe called Cafu-
SOS, which has sprung into existence by mar
r1age between the long, stiff-haired natives and
the imported negro slaves. AS might be ex-
pected from the admixture of these extremes,
this people possess hair of very extraordinary
kind. 1t rises perpendicularly from the head
In thick, curly masses, and forms wig OF such
enormous dimensions that the possessors must
stoop low when entering their huts.
The great Eiffel Tower in Paris will be
finished by April /. The tower stands at pres
enr S25 feet high, and weighs 1880 tons. Only
800 tons remain to be added. To approach the
summit of the tower there will be three dis
kiv,aN rfrA1 - T,r1 1%T...
first platform, two others to the second and
third platforms in a Verticle line The whole
trip will take five minutes and the elevators
will be capable Of taking up $50 persons an
hour.
AT the Boyal Powder Factory of Wet
teren, in Belgium. new gunDowder is being
made. They call it poudrepapier, or paper
powder, and it Is said that a charge Of two and
! half grammes (thirty-nine grains) gives, in a
rifle of small caliber, an initial velocity Of $50
yards to the ball. This is equal to, if it does not
beat, the Lebel powder. The additional adj
vantages are attributed to it of not smearing
the barrel, of producing no smoke and OF caus-
ing no reeon.
The trumpeter who congratulated the
| German Emperor early on the morning of HIS
Majesty's birthday anniversary by a joyous
| blast from his instrument has been fined
| three marks 'for giving signal which was not
| required" but his Imperial master has put
| balm into the wounds which the fine inflicted
/ on the patriotic trumpeter by expressing to
| him, in personal audience, his pleasure at the
| birthday salutation, and presenting him with a
| s5 note.
-Holsworthy, a village of England, is
| all excitement over ghostly light which every
| night internationally flashes across railroad
cutting. From dusk to midnight the village
station is thronged with people anxious to OBJ
| tain a glimpse of the light. Old stories OF
superstition long dormant in the district are
| being revived. and the fact that three people
| have been killed near the spot in the last year
| or so encourages the belief IN the supernatural
character of the luminous apparition.
M. Mosso, of Turin, having carried out
/ q series OF experiments with the blood of eels,
finds that it possesses marked poisonous prop
critics. Even to the tongue it has an insup-
portable acridity. and very small quantity Of
| the serum is sufficient TO kill dog. Half q
cubic centimeter injected beneath the skin of
dog weighing IS pounds killed it in four minutes.
At this rate, an eel weighing five pounds would
contain enough poison to dispatch ten men.
The blood of animals thus poisoned cannot be
made to coagulate, just as after the bite OF
serpents. Fortunately the blood is inert when
introduced via the stomach, and it loses it toxic
properties when heated.
Girls in Biddeford and Saco, Me-, seem
to have some queer tastes. One lady makes an
excursion to the brickyard each summer and
lays in a supply Of NICE blue clay to eat
through the winter. Another favorite dainty
is q soft brick and long experience has taught
her how to select the choicest specimens at
glance. Each of these ladies has lived to q
good old age to enjoy her favorite dishes. One
young lady may often be seen picking from the
sidewalk soft, shelly rocks, and, after nibble
to see if they are just right. transferring the
rock to her pocket for future consumption.
Soft, clay pipes, which one girl buys by the
dozen, ground-up slate pencils, chalk, sea sand,
white rags, brown wrapping paper and starch
are among the favorite luxuries of others.
Perhaps the queerest taste of all is that for
ashes. One young lady is said to delight in
coal ashes and to be often seen raking over old
coal ashes for limp only partially burned.
upon which there is nice, white ash. Another
has but recently broken habit which she has
followed since childhood of eating bread
sprinkled with wood ashes instead of butter.