Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-27
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Il
There are seven millionaire editors in
New York.
Nine water companies supply London
with water.
Whisky was first made in Ireland by an
| English monk.
Over 10000 Irish people settle in En-
gland oyery year.
There are 100 deer forests in the High
lands of Scotland.
There are II registered sects of Wesley
| ans and Methodists
The Paris Figaro pays yearly divi-
| dend of over slO0,0OO
The Chinese endure change of climate
better than any other race.
People eat 20 per cent more bread when
the weather is cold than when it is mild.
"A shoe firm in Macon, Ca, has been
conducting business at the one stand for 90
years.
The number of diamonds known of the
weight of SO carats and upward does not ex-
ceed 20
Chelsea man put his patent incubator
over ducks egg and Matched duekling with
! four eyes and two bills.
William l., of Germany, served In the
army as full private before he had attained
MS 7th year. AT II he was in action.
"A Benton Harbor man has a musket
which was used to kill Frenehmen 200 years
| ago, and powder flask older by century.
In the year 1919 sugar is said to have
been sold at Is 911d pound, and was eonsid-
cred a very luxurious article till the eighteenth
| century.
What is considered the finest and largest
melon patch in Warwick, K. l., is lighted by
lanterns through the night and guarded by an
armed watehman.
An English geologist predicts that
within so years aleonvulsion of nature will sink
the whole or New Zealand so feet below the
| surface of the sea-
"A Polander woman living at Sala-
manca- one day last week, picked and marketed
over 20 quarts of blackDerries. and in the after
noon gave birth to triplets.
The mortality of the globe is said to be
81 every minute. 1.79O every day. or 1885, O.s35
every year. The bifths amount to 1O0, 600 every
day. and SO, 1000 every year.
"A watch for blind people has been In
vented in Switzerland. In the middle Of every
| figure is q small peg, which drops when the
| hour hand reaches the figure
The use of india-rubber for erasing PEN
ell marks was first suggested in or just prior to
1752 by an aeademieian named Magellan,
descendant OF the great navigator.
in Alpine county, Cal, near the Nevada
State line. according to the census taker. there
is no church and no minister, but four liquor
sellers and nine professional gamblers. and yet
the jail has not had an inmate since 1887.
I'm 1860. when the population Of England
and Wales was a little below 20, 900 there
were over 900 paupers Now, with an esti-
mated popuIation of % 600 OOl the number has
fallen to 665,OO0.
The Austro-Hungarian convict who is
condemned to die stands on the ground with \
rope around his neck, and at a given signal he
is pulled off his legs to remain struggling in
the air until he IS sIrangled.
"A new kind OF lance has been intro
duced into the German cavalry regiments. Its
pecuiarity lies in the fact that il is constructed
wholly of steel, the necessary lightness being
secured by making the shaft hollow.
Experience has shown that an electric
street car can be comfortably heated by the ex-
pendIture of one horse power of electrical
energy. The electrical heaters do not reduce
the seating capacity Of the car, which IS Kept
clear of coal dust and cinders.
The Heligolander has singular dislike
to being a soldier, either on land or sea. In
the course of five years. IN spite of tempting
high pay, only four islanders have entered the
British navy and one of these. stricken with
homesickness. soon left the service.
in certain British regiments pet has
become quite an institution, as in the case of
the South Wales Borderers whose gilded-horned
goat is familiar to many as it marches proudly
along at the head of the regiment, under the
guidance of pair of drummer boys.
A remarkable proceeding is reported
from Chicago, where father-Jacob Lanfeld
was arrested for not taking out theatrical
license for a little theater which his children
ran in the cellar, charging five pins admission
He was arrested on a warrant sworn out by .
policeman.
DIR. Leonard j. Gordon, President of
tie Jersey City Board of Health has made .
suggestion that all telegraph poles on which
live electric wires are strung be painted red,
that the public may be able to distinguish
them. Dr. Gordon will bring the subject up
for discussion at the next meeting OF the board.
The chief industry of Zanzibar and
Pemba is Glove growing. The tree was intro
duced in 1880. and the harvest Of the present
year is expected to be 100000 pounds, at an
average local value of 10 cents pound A 10
year-oid tree is capable of yielding 20 pounds of
cloves: trees Of 20 years often yield upward OF
100 pounds.
1t is stated that the English War De-
partment have now definitely decided to have
permanent balloon depot at Lidsing. near
Chatham. The proposal is an important one
for the district, as, in the first place. it means
an expenditure of 1000 or 10000 upon build
ings and afterwards the maIntainance OF a astaH
there. 1t is expected that the works Will be
commenced at an early date.
"A Dexter, Me-, man scratched a match
on a convenient pane of glass and to his sur
prise it lighted as readily as though the glass
had been sand paper. To those who have been
accustomed to seeing people search for
rough surface on which to scratch match, it
would be rather startling. Not only ordinary
matches but even the safety matches, usually
unlightable except on the box in which they
come, can be lit on glass
"A French doctor has been giving some
advice to persons who are unable to give up the
pernicious habit of taking book to bed with
them and reading themselves to sleep. In the
first place, he says, they should every evening
bathe their eyes with salt water--not salt
enough to be painful, however. The reading
should be done in reclining position, but
sitting up. as reading on ones back is hurtful
to the sight almost as much as feeble hight
which should be careful ly avoided.