Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1890-09-10
NO. 80.
NEWS IN BRIEF.

.
10000 square miles.
One million dollars silver coin
weigh 5S, 929.9 pounds avoirdupois.
Until 1776 cotton spinning WAS per-
formed by the hand spinning wheel.
Only one book out of 10000 In
the Boston public library fails to be re-
turned.
The Spanish Main is the coast
along the Northern part of South
America
1t takes the Sultan Of Turkey
forty minutes to say his prayers in
royal form.
The first knives were used in Eng
land, and the first wheeled carriage in
France in 1863.
Criminals are executed by the
sword or guillotine in Switzerland. The
mode differs in various Canton@
-Ludovic Halevy, the French
writer, has a novel in hand which he
will hardly finish, as he announces his
retirement.
The lark does not rise until after
the chatiinch, llnnet and a number OF
other hedgerow folk have been meTrIly
piping for good while.
Alaska was purchased from Russia
in 1867, for 81, 800. 900, and the United
States Government has already received
that sum from the seal fisheries.
An ingenious statistician has made
the interesting calculation that the
women of the United States use enough
paint on their faces every year to paint
81 900 houses.
The tree under which George
Washington, on July 3, l775, took
command of the American armies
stands in Ca nbridge, Mass. 1t is an
elm, and is large, well preserved tree.
-1he twentieth anniversary or 3
wedding Is never celebrated. 1t is con-
sidered very unlucky to do so. The
Scotch think one of them will die within
the year if the twentieth anniversary is
even alluded TO.
Oxford College, England, has
thrown open its medical exam nations
to women. This, TO be sure, does not
give TO women the certified right 70
practice under English law, but 1t Is
one more step toward opening educa-
tional advantages to women.
The Valley of the Amazon Is
larger than that of the Mississippi, the
former river draining 2,33O, OOU square
miles, the Mississippi l2i4,OUO square
miles. Tie Amazon drains a greater
area than any river on the globe.
The greatest length of the United
States from the Atlantic to tile Pacific,
on the parallel OF forty-two degrees, is
2765 miles; and its greatest breadth
from Point Isabel, Texas, to the north
ern boundary near Pemblna, North
Dakota, l6ll3 miles.
The old magenta red Of twenty
five years ago Is making Its appearance
in many different shades and seems
likely to become popular color, al
though 1t has by no means replaced tue
asser i've scarlet and the rich, warm
crimson, which 50 far hold their own
against all corners.
w hlte embroidery IS used on silk
dresses Of all cOiOrs, patterns and de-
signs. Sometimes The arrangement IS
in the form of bTettelIes, often IL takes
the shap- Of a ZOuave Jacket, and more
frequently the open worked muslin ia
encIrcled about the arm and puffed
into sleeve head.
The last Sultan of Turkey was ac-
customed to shut himself up with q
slave and his iavorite wife in "A secret
room of his palace, and there glOat over
his treasures. Plungug his arms in q
heap OF gold dust and letting it slip
through his fingers seemed TO give him
more satisfaction than gazing on his
pile OF Jewels.
There is curious bit Of interest
ing information that viii be new To
mauy reader5. In Africa tbs prefix
serves for the purpose that the suffiK
serves for European languages. For
example: SPAN; SpaniaTd, Spanish-so
in our mother tongue; but in Africa
Uganda is the name Of a state, Wagan-
da are the inhabitants thereof, and
Magauda the language.
As a curiosity the sensitive plant Il
well worth culJivating in the window
garden. The leaves of this plant are
very ornamental, and so sensitive that
wher touched with the hand they i'm
mediately droOp and fold up, Tegaining
their former position, however, within
a quarter of an hour or 50 after. A
breath of wind will also cause the
leaves to act in a similar manner.
Hence its common name.
The library of Cornell University
possesses an or entail manuscript writ
ten on palm leaves, consisting of 1875
strips or leaves, each seven by one and
a quarter inches, fastened together by
center of each leaf. The writing Is
done on each side OF the leaves by
etching the characters with a sharp in
strument on the palm leaves, which
have been afteTward rubbed over with
a black pigment.
AT average speed a man walks
three miles an hour, or four feet per
second; horse trots seven miles per
hour, or ten feet per second; a steam
boat moves eighteen miles per hour,
twenty-sIX feet per second; a moderate
wind blows seven miles per hour, ten
feet per second; a storm moves thirty
six miles per hour. ffty-twO feet per
second; sound travels 743 miles per
hour, 1l42 Ieet per second; light moves
l92, 900 miles per second, and electric
ity 2SS, 900 miles per second.