Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-26
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

"A ton of gold is worth s602, ,799 20.
One thousand Iaths require about II
pounds of nails.
Consumption of the last pickle does not
lead to the production Of poem.
| "A one-eyed perch was caught IN the
ohlo river at Steubenville last week
| 1t is estimated that over 100, 900 tons OF
Ice still remain stored around Lake Champlain.
AT Greenwich the moon has been OBJ
served with scarcely an intermission Tor lou
| years.
-Ihe biggest firm in Oregon is said to be
Cume q Davis. of Shedd, the combined weight
Oh the TWO men being 600 pounds.
There are five women and one man Hv-
ing at l62 Amherst street. Toronto who sleep
every night IN their respective cofins.
Reading cars, fitted out with the most
popular periodicals and books, will be attached
to the passenger trains of the ST. Petersburg
and Warsaw Railroad.
The earliest mention of holly in conuec-
tion with Christmas establishment is a carol in
its praise, written about I450 and preserved in
the Harleian manuscripts.
-Spearing salmon in Rogue river, Oregon,
has furnished rather tame sport to numbers
during the past few weeks. Many ranchers are
feeding them to their STOCK hogs-
The isolated Galapagos archipelago is
a rich repository of animal and vegetable
forms. Its flora differs by one-half of its spe-
cles from that OF the rest OF the globe
A singular disease has recently been
called to the attention of physicians. 1t is
form of recession of the gums of the superior
molars, which is said to be due to the use Of
tomatoes as food.
The bee belt of Colorado is that portion
of the Bear Creek valley in Jefferson county
lying between the towns of Morrison and Little
ton. There are fully $500 working colonies in
the district named.
The sun gives 600, 900 times as much
light as the full moon; 1000 900 times as
much as the brightest star in the sky and
&c. LOCO times as much as all the stars In the
heavens combined.
In England's AuStralasian properties
the sale of opium to the aborigines and kanakas
is very large, and the drug is even given In
wages. The Presbyterian General Assembly
has asked the government to stop 1t.
The Alaskan section is peculiarly suited
to maritime life and, in climate. soil and sur
face, resembles Scandinavia. In this section
there is little scope for agriculture; but mining
and fishing would be natural occupations.
The late President Grant once spoke Of
our Western Cordilleras as the 'strong box" OF
the nation. He realized the fact which many
people are slow to recognize, that the larger
part OF our resources is west Oh tne "lsSiS-
sippi
Some hunters will not eat the meat of
deer that has been run and worried by dogs.
but only of those which have been killed by
what is called still hunting-that is, which are
shot and killed and SO don't suffer much be-
fore they die.
BY way OF testing the speed of flight in
nj rarNfrfr rad
and marked a sand martin or bank swallow
the feeblest of its genuS-on her nest at Pavla
and SET her free at Milan, Is miles away. She
few back in Ii minutes.
1t is not so we'll known as it might be
that Cincinnati, o.. has an industry whies is
now the largest of its kind in the world, viz:
that of woodworking machinery. The prod
ucts of the various firms engaged IN II are
shipped to every cline and nation.
The group of bodies termed by chemists
the observation-disclosures they are COM
posed Of carbon united with oxygen and hydro
gen in the proportion in which those two ele-
ments combine form water-contain the
well-known series of sugars, gums and
starches.
The ready recovery from wounds and the
success of grave surgical operations during our
| Civil War; under circumstances which were on
| the whole less advantageous than those which
attend the conduct of war in Europe, prove
| that the American body has more recupel at1ye
power than that of the European.
| While Mr.. Williams, of Montezuma,
| Ca, was driving under an OAK tree az dusk the
| other day he was amazed to find his horse leave
the ground and remain in the air. JnVestiga-
tion proved that the affair was not super
natural as the animal had got caught in a
swing hanging from a bough of the tree.
Zone good cigar smoked after each
meal" says DR.. William A. Hammond, lis
| what may be called moderate use, and can
| rarely inflict any damage to the system. The
| exceptions occur in those persons of peculiar
| organization, impreSsionable and easily dis
| turbed by stimulants, sedatiyes or narcotics"
| "A very expensive fad is having your
portrait cut as an onyx cameo. The work is
very slow, difficult and Iaborious The image
| when done is permanent and will last for Gen.
| turies There are enough people in New York
| who enjoy this kind of extravaganza to give
| constant employment to fiVe cameo portrait
| carvers.
"A Japanese chef, or fancy cook, finds
employment from his own nationality in pre-
pairing the fish dinners which are SO prominent
| feature of life in the land of the Mikado. One
of his pc. masterpieces consists of a large blue
tsh. which, when served, has not single scale
broken, ard which, when opened. contains
sea bass and that in turn one or two smaller
fishes in equally perfect condition.
Some years ago, a farmer living near
Rowton, in Shropshire, noticed on a path in .
field hole which had been suddenly made by
some mysterious and unknown agent The
Iaborers who were near told him that they
had Just heard a remarkable noise OF explo-
sion; and when the farmer put his hand down
into the hole, he felt something hot at the bot
tom of il. He took spade ana dug up the
strange body, and found it to be piece OF iron,
weighing about five pounds.
The Dominion of Canada embraces to-
day. under one Federal Government the entire
territory of British North America. including
the islands with the exception of Newfound-
land. which has so far preferred to remain out
side the confederation. This vast area IS d.
yided into seven Provinces ana four Territories.
The Provinces are follows, taken IN the order
of their population and wealth: Ontario,
Ouebec. Nova Scotia. New Brunswick, Mani
toba Prince Edward Island and British Colum-
bia- The four Territories, which include vast
areas OF prairie land in the great Northwest,
very thnly populated, are Alberta, Assiniboia
East Assiniboia West and Saskatchewan.
THE HUMOROUS CORNER.