Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

There are seven American girls among
the students at Newnham, Cambridge, En-
gland.
-Millet's Angelus, which in size meas
ures 28x2IS inches, sold at the rate OF s26S "a
per square inch.
At present England imports a million
Holsters annually from Norway, representing
money value of $4,000.
In 1864 the royal library of France did
not exceed 20 volumes. Shortly after Charles
V. 1t increased to 900.
The first stone of St. Pauls Cathedral
was laid at the northeast corner of the CHOIR
2lo years ago on June 90
Acknowledgements in his library only
Iour authors-Plato Pliny, Plutarch and
Ptolemy, the geographer
The ostrich. the largest of birds, has
Deen not inaptly described as feathered camel,
or the giraffe among birds.
Africa presents a unique field for the
geographical distribution of mammals. Out of
its total of 523 species Az are peculiar to that
country.
The new hotel which Mr.. William W.
Astor IS building on the northeast corner OF
Fifty-ninth street and Fifth avenue will be II
stories high.
"A woman founded daily journalism.
The first daily newspaper was the Ddily Cour.
ant, established in London in l702 by Elizabeth
Mallet, and edited by her.
AT the beginning of the fourteenth GEN.
tury the library of Louis TX. contained only
four classical authors. and that of Oxford in
1850 consisted of "a few tracts kept in chests"
The native troops in the italian service
are not niggard over little powder and shot
II, hi, L. Er.t,%
Kauhbai, they fred $500 shots-and killed
two men!
The value of manuscripts in the middle
ages suggested costly bindings for books that
consumed the labor of lives to copy, and deco
rate with ornamental letters or illustrative
paintings.
One of the most important discoveries
made in the West for long time is that Of the
onyx deposit near Prescott, Ari. 1t covers an
area of fully 80 acres and the strata range in
depth from to 30 feet.
After the siege of Athens, Sylla dis
covered an entire library in the temple of
Apollo, which having carried to Rome, he ap-
pears to have been the founder of the first
Roman public library,
The first public library in Italy was
founded by Nicholas NiccoI, the son of a
merchant, who relinqulshed the beaten roads
of gain. and devoted his soul to study and his
fortune TO ASSIST students.
-Japan's literary welfare is looked after
by AIS newspapers, magazines, etc. Toxic alone
boasts of l6 daily newspapers. 1t is Imperative
that each officer of the Government should
subscribe to the Government organ Rt0ompo.
Richard de Bury, Bishop Of Durham,
and Chancellor of England so early as 1341,
perhaps raised the first private library in that
country. Among his purchases were 80 or 10
volumes of the Abbot of st. Adams for so
pounds weight of silver.
The height of the New York World
building from curb to highest point of roof. is
1874 feet, and to the top of the tower is 800
feet. The top of the tower of Chicago's audi.
torium is 27U feet. The Madison Square Gar
den tower, now building, will be 300 feet.
Probably the oldest house in the United
States is a decaying stone dwelling that stands
in Guilford, Conn. 1t was built In 164O and is
still occupied. In Colonial times it did duty
occasionally as fort and was place of refuge
for settlers when King Philip was on the war
path.
The Egyptian papyrus is an aquatic
plant. having a stem from to feet high. Its
soft, smooth flower stem afforded the most an
cient material from which paper was prepared.
Its towering stems and leaves are twisted into
ropes, and the roots, which are sweet, are used
as food.
One of the Ptolemies refused supplying
| the famished Athenians with wheat until they
presented him with the original manuscripts Of
| Aschylus. Sophocles and Euripides; and in re-
turning copies of these autographs, he allowed
them to retain the 10 talents which he had
pledged with them a princely security.
of gallinaceous fowls, adapted to the
poultry yard, Africa possesses but single
genus, the guInea-hens, which, however, are
found in no other part of the world. These
birds, Of which there are three or four disLinct
IN in Ia nf Or md ara
most frequently found among underwood in
| The vicinity of ponds and rivers.
Endless species of heaths are found in
Africa in great beauty. including. in the South
| ern part, extensive miniature moods of heaths,
where some varieties reach 4 height of u to Is
| feet, and are covered throughout the greater
part OF the year with innumerable flowers Of
beautiful colors, the red being prevalent. Over
500 species have been discovered.
The clothes of Oliver Cromwell when a
baby are still to be seen at the famous house Of
Chequers, in Birminghamshire. They are
carefully cherished by the present owners.
The costly satin robe in which he was christ
ened has since been used for many of his
descendants, as well as for the babies of the
family that now owns Chequers. Six tiny
caps, scallOped round the edges and bound with
ribbon that is now yellow with age, form part
or the collection.
A medical statistician who has lately
visited the United States discovered that
Americans ruin their teeth by indulging too
much in ices and iced drinks, and found also
that the dentists use large quantity of gold in
refurnishing the decayed molars. He reckons
that there is provided annually for this pur-
pose in the United States no less than sl00. 900
worth of gold and this leads him to the
further calculation that in three centuries the
cemeteries of this country will contain a guam
tity of the yellow metal equal in value to s35,-
00O, 600