Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-11-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

of 500 grains from a single seed.
-Chinamen generally travel by threes
and fours, and are always chattering.
-Chicago's registered vote is 10000
New York's is a little less than A5,OO.
1T is said that there are $4,000 brass
bands in this country, with 10000 performers.
That beautiful planet Venus will have
reached its brightest the latter part OF the
week.
Some gentlemen at Newport, KY, an
nounce that they can make aluminium for
cents per pound.
There are "a London correspondent
says l56 packs of foxhounds in England as
against l53 last season.
1t Is reported in Germany that the EN-
peror is going to introduce American cars for
the passenger service
The French Minister of War will sup
press the old custom of allowing soldiers to
settle their duarrels with the sword.
In the art gallery at the Windsor, Ont,
Exhibition is picture CT the Crucifxion, re-
puted to be by Hans Memling, and painted
early in the fifteenth century.
Cincinnati is wire center, and claims
to make among other things $1,000 bird cages,
25.O0O traps 12O0O0 fly traps and $50 900 seves
annually. IL is a big industry.
The London bill posters have determined
to form a committee of censors. 20 which all
posters shall be submitted. with view to pre-
serving the beauty Of the streets.
Ingenious engineers suggest that the
artesian well may be developed by means Of
electrical appliances into powerful and cheap
source Of almost unlimited power.
Civilization is advancing in Africa.
The last Liverpool steamer for the mouth of
the Congo carried II. 900 cases of rum, II cases
of gin, 460 tons of gunpOwder and IA mission
aries.
A plan for colossal maneuvers of Ger
man and Austrian troops on the plains of
SaxoIy next summer is being discussed by the
military men Of the two great central European
powers.
A new hymn book, compiled by an
English Ca tholic priest, and just published by
the Bishop of Birmingham is tho first Catholic
hymn book that has included Cardinal New
mans LEAD, Kindly Light"
-Soundings in the Black Sea show that
beyond q depth Of 800 feet the water Is 50 i'm
pregnated with sulphuretted hydrogen gas
emananng from decaying animal and vegetable
matter that living organisms are not found
there.
In Tepe-Kermene, an ancient town in
Crimea, platiEa coin has been found bearing
the image of Antiochus of Syria, who died B.
c. 164 The coin is the only one of the kind
known to exist, and for this reason its value is
inestimable.
There is curiously named literary So
ciety in London, the full title of which is the
" Odd-volumes-united-on d-once-a-month-to-form-a-
perfect-sette: object-conviviality-an
admiration" 1t is commonly known as the
"Ye Settle of Odd Volumes"
"A cold wave, as defined by Prof. T.
Russell, is a fall of temperature in "A hours Of
200 over an area Of $1,000 square miles. the tenn
perature in some part of this area descending
to 36o Between 1880 and 1890 no less than SOL
cold waves were recorded in the United States.
In London the daily papers talk of
bridges for pedestrians on street crossings,
where the crowds and the vehicles now often
make an impossible jam. This was tried on
bridge was so little used that 1t was taken
down.
The excavations of the Greek Archeo-
logical Society on the Acropolis Of MycenB
have been rewarded by the discovery of some
go different objects of antiquity, among which
are bronze swords and knives, several hatchets,
a razor, q round mirror and some gold orna-
mentS.
Austria has not only high school Of
agriculture, but Is intermediate and So primary
agricultural schools. besides chairs of agricul-
ture in polytechnic establishments and agricul-
tural experiment stations. There are also l6z
courses OF agricultural lectures, attended by
about 10. 600 persons year.
Aluminium bronze Of 10 per cent, it is
claimed, has a breaking strength of 10000
pounds, as against $4,000 pounds for steel;
hence when the time comes, which cannot be
far distant for building bridges of aluminium
or its alloy we shall have structure about one
third the present weight and much stronger.
"A terrapin farm is described by the
Fernandina (Fla.) NerUs. II is an inclosurs
about 20 feet square, one-half Of it filed with
loose sand and tank OCCUPYING the rest of the
space. The tank is below tide level, and at
high tide the salt water runs in from the marsh
to a depth of four feer. The tank was all per-
forated with holes. and the owner. digging
down with his fingers. uneartned some baby
terrapins an inch or two long.
I'm England and Wales, out of 26, 954
food samples which were recently analyzed,
3,096 were found to be adulterated. This is
equal to 1lM per cent. a percentage lower than
in any previous year since 1888. when it was
der II. Nearly one-half the samples taken
were of milk, and the percentage reported
against was 132 Taking London by ITSELF it
was 2L2 per cent, which compares with 1l9 in
Leeds, ILL in Sheffield. 9S in Liverpool, 81 in
Manchester and Sc in Stafford.
1t is strange coincidence that exactly
100 years ago young girls in London were in
constant terror of meeting the Jack the Rip
per- of that day. He attacked and wounded
several ladleS In dlnerent paris OF the town,
cutting their garments and gashing them in the
body with sharp pointed instrument, al
though he never went so far as murder. In
April, 1870, a large reward was offered for the
apprehension of ''the Monster" as he was
popularity called.
-Malarlal fever is the one sad certainty
which every African traveller must face. It's
geographical distribution is still unmapped,
but generally it prevails over the whole east and
west coasts within the tropical limit. along all
the river courses, on the shores OF the inland
lakes and all Iow-lying and marshy districts.
The African malaria spares no man; the strong
fall as the weak; no number of precautions can
provide against it; no kind of care can do more
than make the attacks less frequent; no pre-
diction can be made beforehand as co which
regions are haunted by it and which are safe.