Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-10-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

An artesian well in Dallas, Tex, yields
100000 gallons Of drinking water caily.
What is called anthracite coal In pay
ing quantities has been discovered IN Mexico.
1t is stated that nearly 326, 900 tons Of
unsold ice are stored in houses along the Ken
nebeo river.
The largest family among members Of
Congress is that of Mr.. Bullock. Of FLORIDA, who
has ID children.
Several schools for the instruction Of
voters under the new ballot law have been
opened in New York.
Substantially all of the modern explora-
tion in the Dark Continent has been compassed
In the one generation from Burton 70 Stanley.
In Paris out Of the ZOO, 900 residents i.
Is calculated that 1 in IS. or l50,Ooo,live on
charity with tendency toward crime. In Lon.
don the proportion is in 30
1T is now about so years since apples
were hrst sent to England, and at present our
b.itisn cousins are agitated over the possi-
Dility OF growing their own fruit.
Government scouts are ont ON a hunt for
the herd OF 70 buffaloes which recently es-
capped from Yellowstone Park, and is supposed
TO De grazing somewhere in the Red Desert
I'm the thirtleth year of the reign of
8
w. Rawleigh to make licenses for keeping Of
England"
The Indian Government has published
return showing that in the years 1887. 1888 and
1889 872 males and 132 females were tortured by
Dacolts in the central division of Upper Bur.
mah. One hundred and eighteen cases re-
suited in death.
"A cucumber is exhibited at Mont
Ia 90
inches wide and weighs 60N pounds. The patch
In which It grew is full of cucumbers weighing
from one pound upward.
Recent flower shows have indicated a
return Of the old-fashioned double dahlia to
popularity. With all its prim stiffness, this
hover is gay and varied in color.and admirably
adapted 10 decorative purposes.
Rome mas the character, not undeseryed,
Of being the most unhealthy Of the capitals Of
Europe: Munich has always the speeter of ty,
phoid fever haunting it, and Stuttgart can BY
no means show a clean bill of health.
This year is supposed to mark the
tercentenary of the invention of the micro.
scope, and there has been some talk of an In.
ternational exhibition to commemorate the
event. The invention is credited to Jansen, an
optlclan at Middelburg, Holland.
The lumber cut this year will exceed
that of last year by several million feet The
estimate places it at not less than $50 600
fees and not more than $50, 600 900. The season
as whole has been prosperous, the demand for
lumber being good and the price profitable.
From verv remote period the moon
has been supposed to exercise mystic infu-
ence upon the earth and its inhabitants. Bus
apart from astrological mysticism and poetical
rhapsody. there is still widespread belief that
the moon is largely responsible tor the eccen!
tricities of the climate.
On Saturday last Steuben7ille, o.,
parrot belonging to DR.. Nelson went OF on an
excursion. roosipg on the top of a west-bound
Panhandle train. The bird was returned to
the doctor in good order, having been found at
Goulds station, where it likely left the train
| and was picked up by the parties returning 1t.
The interest taken, curiously enough, in
| the reign of that merry monarch Charles IL in
scientific pursuits-of which the founding Of
the Royal Society is an EXAMPLES well illus-
trated by some OF the patents taken out at hat
| period. For instance, one granted in 1910 to
Prince Rupert 'for converting soft iron into
! Steel"
Fred Spencer, of MiddIetown, N. j.,
/ placed quails' eggs under a hen recently, and
has coop full of the game. They give their
foster mother "a heap of trouble, for the dispo-
| sttion to wander and whistle suddenly Is in
them, and there is evidence in their pensive
| look that they suspect a fraud or mistake
has been perpetrated somewhere by some!
body"
| i'm Paris there is an extensive and com.
| paratively wealthy association known by the
| high-sounding title of the Paris Syndicate OF
| Professional Mendicants. The existence of a
| corporation of the kind had been known to the
| authorities for some time but il had never
| been fully Investigated until quite recently.
| The October issue Of Chambers Jottr1lGEtell;'
/ about it,
In England, in 1877, "agrant was issued
unto Jane Vanef, widow, and hOop-petticoat
| maker, of the sole use and benefit of her new
| invention of machine or joint hoops so con-
| trived that she can bring an hoop-eoat of four
/ yards wide into the compass OF two yards or
| less, for ladies to go into coaches and chaireg
without any manner Of trouble or incon'
Venience."
The prejudice sprevails that plants in
the sleeping rooms are injurious because they
are constantly throwing off carbonicacid. Re-
cent investigations have shown that i'll effects
are altogether too slight TO deserve cOnsIdera-
ton. If room is properly ventilated, plants
can do no harm, and, even If it is not. the guam
tity of carbonic acid exhaled by them will noe
materially affect the purity of the air.
Among the early English patents is an
amusing one granted in 1882 for "a fish CALL or
looking glasse for fishes in the sea, very
useful for the fishers to call all kinde of fishes
to their nets, speares, or hookes." Fishes
then, like the rest Of US. have their weak
polnp, II WoulQ seem, among which not the
least is vanity. Fancy a respectable old sole or
elderly conger being taken by such a trans.
parent device!
Records show that violence or capture
was a necessary feature of marriage IN nearly
every land at one time or another. and even as
the present day among Uany races the custom
is preserved in a modified form. Perhaps the
Bedouin Arabs of Mt Sinai conduct their mat.
rimonial arrangements in the strangesI fashion,
tor when a man desires to marry, he goes to the
maidenis father and makes bid, which may or
ma ynot be accepted.
One Of the points especially noted by
military observers during the recent maneuyers
when smokeless powder was used. was that in
the clear atmosphere, unobscured by the smoke
of battle, all bright accoutrements were seen
alta great distance, thus betraying the positions
of the various bodies of troops. It is stated
that in consequence of this the French Minister
of War has decided to submit TO technical mil.
itary committees proposal TO have the helmets
of the dragons and the scabbards of officers
and soldiers bronzed SO as to dull their bright.
ness.