Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-09-22
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Oysters live to the age of from II to 10
years.
An average reader gets through 400
words minute.
| One of Mr.. Gladstone's most recent
sentences numbered 2l4 words.
| There are said to be 13, 900 different
KINDS Of postage stamps in the world.
| In Yokohama, with population OF TO-
OOo- the number of electors is under 300.
! AT Carlsruhe the police fine any one
who playso the piano with an open window.
The coins of Siam are made of porce-
lain: those of Japan are made principally Of
| iron.
Fans were used by the ancients, and
are distinctly mentioned as being used in 16d
B. G.
"A curious prize at progressive euchre
party in New York town was a 5O-pound
watermelon.
There are seven or eight negroes in
Texas, most OF them ex-slaves. who are worth
about 500 900 each.
The prison population of England has
fallen off of late years. out of lib prisons 81
have been altogether closed.
In Buenos Ayres the police alone have
the right of whistling in the streets. Any other
person whistling is at once arrested.
I'm the reign OF Queen Elizabeth
clergyman whose benefce did not exceed E2o
per annum was allowed to follow trade.
Russell Sage keeps an old 81 bill-the
first dollar he ever earned-in glass box in
his office. Mr.. Sage thinks great deal of it.
I'm 1906 any one absent from church on
Sunday fined 1 shilling. An act for re-
sfraining amusements on Sunday was passed in
AT the National Library of Paris MS.
of the Bible has been discovered. 1t was
written in 1853 in suburb of Perpignan, and
is richly illuminated.
The longest day of the year has 10 hours
at st. Petersburg. II hours at Hamburg l6I
hours at London. Is hours at New York, and 81
months at Spitzbergen.
Italy has ordered the study of English
to be added to the curriculum of all Italian
universities and has endowed the necessary
professorships for the purpose.
"A law recently passed in Denmark pro-
vides that all drunken persons shall be taken
home in carriages at the expelse of the land
lord who sold them the last glass.
"A young woman who has a dress max
ing establishment in New York makes her rent
by storing furs, wraps and winter dresses for
her customers during the warm weather.
The military authorities OF ST. Peters
burg have deereed that in future foreigners
shall not be allowed to serve in the army un-
less they are willing to become Russian citi-
Zens.
His Royal Highness the Prince of
Wales is a direct descendant of King Alfred,
being the thirty-third great-grandson. Thus
the English throne has remained IN the same
family for over 1000 years.
The Shah became father at the age of
I8. His eldest daughter is nearly As years old,
and is called the Glory of the Kings. She mar
ried the son of the master of the mint, one of
the richest men IN Persia.
Prof. Day, of the Geological Survey,
says: -'All attempts at making coke on an ex-
tensive scale in Illinois have thus far been
without favorable results. The chief diffir
is the impurity Of the COAL"
The heir apparent of the japanese L-.-
pire became of legal age I'll years) on Novem-
ber 8. 1889. He was appointed to some honorary
office and given a sword that has been kept in
the imperial family since 70l.
The number of wealthy Americans who
rent moors and fshings IN Scotland is greatly
on the increase. A financially gifted man of
New York reekons the sum total expended by
his countrymen at no less than 5000, 900 a year
this for rent alone.
An ingenious photographer possesses q
camera which he boasts cost him but 81 20 IS
cents of which went for a broken-down opera
glass, from which he got his lens. His outfit
of working tools comprised saws for 25 cents.
hammers for Is auger stocks for 25 bits for 10
and jackplanes for 25
For four years Mary Ryan, of Ashland,
Wis.,. aged % years, had suffered with supposed
consumption, and the case was considered
hopeless. Last Thursday night Miss Ryan
coughed up shingle nail, much corroded,
which she is supposed TO have swallowed
about the time she was f1rst afflicted.
emma voarv q raoord oF ,4o-,,, ,...-.
netic disturbances. etc., has been kept at the
Berlin postoffice. The results show that UNDER
ground wires are much less disturbed by mag
netic storms than overhead wlres while on the
other hand. accidents from lightning are much
less serious in towns where the overhead sys-
tenn prevails.
Mr.. Gotschalk, of New York, owns the
only genuine and perfect holy shekel in the
world. The interesting relic is about g. 400
years old, and was used in King Solomon's
Temple. Mr.. GotschaIk IS on his way to San
shekel to a friend who is a celebrated numis-
matist and has the largest collection in this
country.
The two sides of the human face are
not exactly alike, and German biologist as
serts that the lack of symmetry as a rule, 10
confined to the upper part of the face In two
cases out Of five the eyes are out of line, and
seven persons out of every ten have stronger
sight in one eye than in the other. Another
singular fact IS that the right ear is almost In
variably higher than the left.
The Berlin fire department has lately
received novel fire engine, which has excited
much interest in that city. The carriage is con-
structed entirely of papier mache. all the diff.
ferent parts, the body. wheels, poles and the
rest being finished in the best possible manner.
While the durability and powers OF resistance
possessed by this material are fully as great as
those of wood, the weight Is Of course much
less.
In England and other parts of Europe,
horse shoes are now in use. made Of cowhide
instead OF iron. The shoe is composed of
three thicknesses of the hide. which is pressed
into a steel mold and afterward treated by
chemical preparation. The shoe Is quite
smooth on the outside surface. no calks being
needed, as the shoe adheres firmly on polished
pavements. 1t is claimed this shoe is much
lighter than the iron one lasts longer, and that
the hoofs of horses wearing them never split.
FUNNY MEMS FANCIES.