Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1890-07-02
FACTS AND FIGURES.

T FACTS AND FIGURES.
A Budget Of Interesting Data Compiled
for "Current Llteraturo." II
The United States Government has
paid out in round numbers $1,000, OO0,.
900 in pensions since the beginning OF
the civil war-The Arabian year ia
lunar, and in the course Of thirty-two
years each month runs through all the
seasons. total number of Amer
lean patents issued last year reached
%, 800, as against 1855 for 1883; more
patents were issued from the Patent
Office during 1880 than in any previous
year.-Three miles is about the average
velocity of the Gulf Stream, though ut
places it attains as high speed as
afty-four miles per hour; as it passes
through the Yucatan channel, which
Is ninety miles wide and over
1000 fathoms deep, the current
does not flow ut a, higher rate
than one-fourth of mile an hour; but
in the narrower straits Of Bemini it has
velocity Of from four to five miles, q
breadth OF fifty miles, and an average
depth OF $50 fathoms.-The caterpillar
foods with two saw-edged jaws, working
transversely, and uses them to such
good advantage that he ents three or
four times his own weight every day.
The oldest of existing Observatory is
at Pekin, founded in 1870, and still
containing three of the first instru-
ments.-1t is said the first cost of build
ing fleet Of Atlantic linors Is trifle
compared to the cost of running them;
in less than three years it will exceed
the cost of construction, so enormous is
the constant expenditure in wages,
port duties. and repairs.
The total length of the streets, ave.
nues, boulevards, bridges, quays and
thoroughfares of Paris is set down at
800 miles, of which nearly 200 are
planted with trees.-The English flag
floats over one-sixth of the population
and one-eighth of the surface of the
habitable globe. Sir John Her.
schel was defending the character of
astronomical science in view of IN error
Of nearly 1000, 600 miles in estimating
the suns distance, the correction was
shown to apply to an error OF observa-
ton so small as to be equivalent to the
apparent breadth of human hair at q
distance Of 1875 feet-A woman-charac-
ter was first acted by woman, so far
as the English stage is concerned, No.
vember 8, 1656.-Tha number of men is
almost equal to that of women; the
average of human life is IS
years; one.tourth Of the popula-
ton of the earth die before they
attain the age of seventeen years; it is
only ono person among thou rhd who
becomes centenarian, and hardly six
persons among thousand who attain
seventy-tive years of age:-The highest
railroad in the United States is the Dem
YER & South Park, branch of the I'm
ion Pacific, at Alpine Tunnel, 1856
feet above sea-level.-The number of
eggs in six-pound eel in November is
fully 9,000,000; under the microscope
they measure eighty to the linear inch.
The growth Of the nails on the left
ussAu Aol UA1oS 0ASAV w 9oA USyS luOre
than those on the right; the growth is
moro rapid in children than in adults,
and goes on faster in summer than in
winter; it requires an average of 1875
days for the renewal of the nails in cold
weather and but 116 in warm weather.
About 1900 species of insects, on
an average, have been discovered year.
ly during the last century.-One million
dollars of gold coin weighs $685. pounds
avoirdupois; Of silver coin, $4,000
pounds.-The small letter 81" was for
mer]y written without the dot; the dot
was introduced in the fourteenth cent
ury to distinguish ii" from ''e" in hasty
and indistinct writing.-In the forma-
ton of a single locomotive steam engine
there are nearly 5000 pieces to be put
together, and these require to be as
accurately adjusted as the works of
watch. There are over LOCO, 900 miles
of telegraph wire in the United States
enough to encircle the globe forty times.
England is the only country where
members of Parliament are not only un-
paid, but have no special rights or priv.
ileges.