Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-12-10
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

on juries in Russia. without special permission.
Miss Laura Burns, of Martinsville,
Ind, has a head of natural hair seven feet in
length.
The ptarmigan is noted among birds for
having triple moult, with three distinctive
dresses.
Most of the buttons used on cloaks and
coats are made from potatoes which have been
treated to bath of sulphuric acid.
The gatling gun is the invention of
Hartford Yankee and is IN use by all the ar.
inles and navies OF the world to-day.
-Powesheik county, Ia, has paid for the
killing of 125,OOO gophers since the first Of
March. The boys gopher the reward.
Few eggs are strictly symmetrical, how
ever nearly they may seem so, one side bulging
out though very slightly. more than the other
The highest church spire in the world
has just been completed 1t is that of the ca
thedral at Ohm, Wurtemberg, and is $50 feet
high.
The magpie, as though self-conscious
that its own thieving habits may be initiated by
its neighbors, surrounds its nest with hedge
of thorns.
The sociaole grosbeak, of South Africa,
joins nest to nest until the tree is said to break
down under the accumulated weight of the
common edif1ee.
1t is asserted, scientifically, that the
kingfsher lines the end of its hole. nest, with
the undigested spiny fsh-bones she elects in
pellets from her own stomach.
Cuttings OF the Mexican vanilla plant
will become rooted in about a month, but do
not bear fruit until the third year. They con-
tinue to bear for about 80 years.
Marshall Pass, on the Denver and Rio
Grande Railroad. 10,S51 feet above the sea
level. is the highest point crossed by any rail-
road inside the limits OF the United States.
1t is usually said that there are but
seven nine-lettered monosyllable words in the
English language, viz: Scratched, stretched,
crunched. scranched, screeched, squelched and
staunched.
In hotels the life of a napkin is put
down as three months. provided it is of extra
good material. sheet lasts six months, and
a tablecloth de oends for its existence upon the
care that is taken of it.
The best magazine rifle Of the war, and
one that still ranks high as a weapon of cavalry.
is the Spencer rifle patented by an American
in 1862. and supplied in large numbers to our
sailors and our troopers in 1853
BY the method of spectrum analysis re-
searches have revealed the existence of seven
well marked substances in the coloring matter
OF eggs. to the admixture of which IN certain
proportions all their tints are due.
The first practical revolver was the in
vention of Colt, an American. and only few
years ago the English and Turkish Infantry
were armed with the Sneyder rifle, the lnven-
tion of Pennsylvania Dutchman.
The curious discovery has recently been
made that Yegetarians are never affected with
seasickness. NJ. Ghany says that persons who
have never eaten meat are proof against the
poison of the most venOmOus SerpentS.
II L L ID
q solid fence with an artistically carved upper
line and here and there anumber painted upon
it in white. Investigation showed that it had
been built of the pew doors of a dismantled
church.
Near Bath, Me-, is a novelty in the
fence line. 1t is a picket fence, 10 feet IN
length, composed entirely of the swords of the
sword-fsh, which presumably had been aecu-
mulated during long sea-faring experience OF
the builder.
Incubation is performed, as is we'll
known, by the female of nearly all birds, but
with most of the passeres and many others the
male seems to share her tedious duties, and
among the Ratitae, apparently without excep-
tion, the cock takes that office wholly on him
self.
I'm some parts Of Pennsylvania the fen ces
are built almost entirely of the stumps of huge
trees laid in row, the roots IN juxtaposition
and interlacing, making fence tnat is hard to
squeeze through or climb over. In the next
county the fences may be built almost entirely
of stone.
The first man of science who seems to
have given any thought to oology was the cele-
bfated Sir Thomas Browne, of Norwich. who,
already in 1851 when visited by John Evelyn
(whose diary records the iact) had assigned n
place in his cabinet OF raritles to collection OF
birds eggs.
io hat ooIo aI.I, 4
marking of eggs are deposited on the shell a
short time before their exclusion, and the mo-
tion of the egg, in its outward progress is often
indicated by the character of its markings: as
circular spots while at rest and blurred and
spiral while in motion.
"A tame crow belonging to Mrs Hen
rietta Mcpherson. of Herkimer, n. Y, will
whip any dog in the neighborhood, and amuses
itself jumping upon chair with spool Of
thread, picking the end loose and unwindng
the spool in the face of the cat. As the car
jumps for the runaway spool, the crow will
laugh like child.
Zoology taken alone proves to be guide
as misleading as any other arbitrary method of
classification, but combined with the evidence
afforded by due study of other particularitieS
whether superficial or deeD-seated, it can
scarcely fail in time to conduct us to orni-
biological arrangement as nearly true to ma
ture as we may expect TO require.
An amusing instance of early minute
ness in faithful recording is afforded in the Re-
corder's Office at Steubenville. Jefferson coun-
ty, o. Evidently Judge Cable wrote the Re-
corder, asking him to make record of mar
riage. 1t would seem as if the latter treated
the note in much the same spirit as the Irish
man did the doctors prescription. The record
made in Record A." page So, reads as follows:
"April IL, 1898. There was John Mcconnell and
Elizabeth Bell married and would be glad if
you record it. Philip Cable, Jefferson county,
IS. Duly recorded the Sth day of May, 1898.
Zenas Kimberly Recorder"
That which is thought to be the last case
of punishment at the whipping post in Jeffer-
son county, O., occurred at SteubenviIle, in Au-
gust, 1910. The indictment was against Charles
Johnston, who was found guilty of receiving
stolen goods, the damages being assessed at "a.
The Court passed the following sentence, VIZ:
THAT he be taken to the whipping post, and
there whipped nine stripes on his naked back;
that he pay 81 damages to BeZaleel Wells; that
he pay a fine of $40 and costs of prosecution; be
confined IN Jail nine days and stand committed
until judgment be complied with" Tradition
has il that the prisoner was colored and the
property in question = ham.