Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-08
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

cats, but louder and more emphaLlc-
There are 2Os, 749 railroad bridges in
the United StItes, spanning 3,2l3 miles.
The British census of April next will
be the largest and most elaborate ever taken IN
England.
Seventeen head of cattle, standing near
wire fence at ColIinsville, Tex. during rain
storm, were killed by an electric current few
days ago.
Seven years ago there was one brass
a band in the Salvation Army. 1t was composed
Dands have been formed.
When the chickens first begin to move
in the egg. just before Matching the mother
hen sings to them low grooming song, very
sweet, and never heard at any other time.
Steel trlnkets are likely to be the rage
next winter. An artiticer of steel ieweIry
named LIE Long has made hit with coronets
brooches, necklaces and earIands of steel bands
mixed with artificial pearls.
There are but two ways by which one
can hear animals really converse One isto listen
to them when they are not aware of your Dras
ence, always difficult feat; the other is to win
their entire love and confidence.
Among the many cases OF saving life
from drowning which have recently been re-
ported to the British Royal Humane Society
Tor recognition, there are Is in which the ages
of the heroes ranged from years to l6.
In every teaspoonful o! human blood
there. are about Is, 900, 900 900 red corpuscles,
but only 30.00O.OG0 white ones. The blood Of
clans, Holsters and nearly all other inyeTte-
brates contains no red cells but only white.
During October % steamships went to
sea from Galveston, Tex, carrying across the
sea 12S 336 bales of cotton. and II steamships
sailed for cOastwiSe ports, carrying ,SSS bales
more; the cargoes aggTegating in value sl0-
$50, 900.
-Of 30 pedestrians injured on the streets
of Cincinnati in one month, % owed their in
juries to the carelessness of female drivers,
and as a result there is call for an ordinance
to prevent any woman from driving horses in
that city.
The productions Of the Ferrara weavers
are noted for the Importance bestowed upon
the decorative element. Grace, lIghtness and
imagination supersede pretensions of STYLE and
they are now much sought after by modern
collectors
"A monster grape vine at Athens, Ga,
which covers more than quarter of an acre,
has been known to produce enough of grapes
in single year to make 100 gallons of wine.
1t was planted by Prof. Rutherf ord about 81
years ago.
Fowls have undoubtedly larger vo-
cabulary than any of the other domestic ami
mails; yet in half day you will probably hear
nary life But anything out of the ordinary is
instantly expressed in unusual sounds.
"A French doctor has recently been col
lecting statistics with regard to those OF his
patients who complain of nervous affections,
with the result that he has come TO the con-
clusion that the prime cause of all the evil is
the practice of reading in the train.
The feat of carrying the mails from
New York to London in seven days has Just
reducing the time to six days People Will not
be satisfied, however, until pneumatic tube IS
laid across the Atlantic which will carry the
mail bags from one continent TO the other IN an
hour or two.
The so largest libraries in Germany
possess about u, 100000 volumes, against En-
gland with about d, 45O 900, and North America
with about {. 100, 900 volumes. With each library
is given, besides the number of volumes the
available amount for purchases and other
special features supplied for this purpose by
the different librarians.
Electricity has not been practically ap-
piled in the art OF music heretofore exceLt
perhaps, in the operating mechanism of church
organs. George Breed of the United States
Navy. has devised method by which the
passage of broken current over conductor
in a mesnetIc field produces musical tones of
varying pitch and volume.
"A maternity hospital has recently been
opened at Marseilles which differs from the
general run. 1t is divided into two sections
one where children prematurely born are
reared like chickens in artificial foster
mothers (couveuses). GratiS-this is for the
benefit of the poorer classes, another is for
families in better circumstances whoare able to
pay.
ALI domestic animals, living a life of
routine, dependent the care of human
beings and often as in the case of COWS and
horses, with little chance to communicate with
others of their own kind, use a very limited
vocabulary in their everyday life; but any un-
usual circumstances produces new words,
easily distinguished by any one at all familiar
with their ordinary speech.
The Freihaus, in a suburb of Vienna,
is the most spacious building on the globe
Within its walls whole city of human beings
live and work, eat and sleep. 1t contains in all
between !, zoo and 800 rooms, divided into up
ward OF 4OO dwelling apartments of from four
to six rooms each. This immense house has l3
courtyards-five open and eight coyered-and
large garden within its walls.
M. Maseart, of the Academy of Sci
ences. has strung a pendulum to the second
platform of the EIffel tower, the ball of which
is within six feet of the ground This piy.s il
4 length of 377 feet. The ball is of steel and
weighs 2l2 pounds. The longest pendulum
known hitherto, was that of Foucault, in the
Pantheon, about 70 years ago, and it afforded
new demonstration of the earth's motion but
it was only about l60 feet long.
The Archaeological Society of Athens
has determined to establish local museum at
Tanagra, in Betia. whence the welI-known
fgurines come. The museum is intended to
house the great number of inscriptions found
of late years, which are of much importance
for Betian Onomatology. of the teTracottas
the best and most important that belong to the
society at Athens. in IT'S antiquarian at the
polytechnic, in the room next TO the relics from
Mycen8.
"A patent has been granted for an elect
trical drill for oil wells. The device so consists
of a series of motors in tendem connected in
such way as to make one motor. The design
has been to get the power within slx-inch
diameter SO that the entire mechanism, which
much resembles \ common boiler, can be
lowered in the well. and tho power can be ap-
Piled at the bottom. The drill bits are firmly
fastened on the rod, which is worked rapidly in
and out of cylinder, after the manner of q
piston rod