The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-08-20
CURIOUS FACTS
Philadelphia was settled in 1852.


The first watches were made in NJ
remburg in 1477.
Few large trunks are seen on the rail
roads nowadays.
The number of different languages
spoken in Europe is 5S7.
A pair of white robins with pink eyes
were canght at West Goshen, Penn, re.
Gently.
In Prussia there are 2O,000,O0O acres
of forests, 10, 100000 of which are State
forests.
In certain villages of the Indian CEN
tral provinces there is an official termed
the gapogari, whose duty it is to make
rain.
So many distinguished artists in
England have married their models
that the profession is in high standing
there.
During heated spell at Reading,
Penn, workmen removed street rail,
and it extended so mnch that it could
not be replaced.
A parrot owned by Kansas City (Mo.)
barber hangs in front of the establish
uent and occasionally advises passersby
to get their hair cut.
The Rev. Josiah II. Howes, Congre-
gational clergyman for over sixty-seVen
years,is still preaching in Litchtield, Me-,
although he is now in his ninety. second
gear.
Some practical but ipartistlc German
has made up a compound of sugar and
condensed milk and tea from which
cup of tea can be had by simply pouring
On boiling water.
Glycerinc was discovered by Scheele
about 1779, and termed by him the
"sweet principle of fats" and further
studied by Chevreul, termed the father
Of the fatty acids"
The manufacture of cotton goods in
Ceylon has for the last few years made
remarkable progress. The island
promises to become as dangerous
/ rival of India in that industry as in
The growth of tea.
One of the wedding presents to Explo
rcr Stanley was q gold geographical
watch from a firm of watchmakers, the
6rst of the kind ever manufactured. 1t
tells the time in almost every important
city in the world.
The interesting fact may be stated in
line that New York's new aqueduct IS
thirty miles long. 1t cost S22, 900, 900
| and eighty lives were lost in its construc-
ton. 1t brings 31S,O00,00 gallons of
water to New York daily.
Mrs. Betz, living on farm in Arizo-
MIA, went to field where her husband
was plowing. She put her three months
old baby to sleep in box in the field.
Soon after the plow team ran away and
smashed the box and killed the child in
stantly.
An explorer who has been collecting
specimens from the sea bottom, and also
watching the habits of marine animals,
says that artists are wrong in represent
ing divers as walking upright, as his ex-
perience shows that it is necessary to
walk with the body inclined forward at
an angle of forty-6ve degrees.
At the head of Onion Valley in Inyo
County, CAL, are two abrupt mountains,
one $4,000 and the other IA, 900 feet
high. Tumbling down the side of one
is cataract 500 feet high, which in the
distance resembles falling snow, and
two other waterfalls of equal height
are visible from the head of the valley.
Berlin, Germany, has o stenographer
with unique speciality. He attends all
funerals of prominent persons and takes
down verbatim the addresses of the 6ffl-
ciating clergymen. Then he prepares
highly ornamentcd copies of the ad-
dresses and sells them to the friends OF
the eulogized dead. His business is so
good that he has taken one assistant and
has advertised for another.
The practice of eating arsenic prevails
to O great extent in Europe. For time
it gives people the appearance OF health,
and renders respiration easier. After
awhile to give up the poison or to con-
tinue it, causes death. It is quite likely
that Mr.. Maybrick, of Liverpool, who
was supposed to have been poisoned by
his American wife last year, was q VIC
tim of his own folly in this rerpect.
A visitor to girls school in Hin
doostan is pleasingly struck By the rows
of graceful and eager pupils, with dark,
intelligent faces, plcturesquely dressed
in bright-coiored sarees or jackets and
skirts, and loaded with ornaments OF
gold or glass. They are quick and per-
scvering and tolerably attentive to the
often unattractive and monotonous
teaching of the turbaned schoolmastcr.