Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-11
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

-Smokeless powder increases in use.
Wool is made from wood tree fiber.
"A Hessian watchman gets cent day.
Americans are the greatest meateaters.
Vermont claims the first electric motor
-Pennsyivsnia contains four castor-ol
mills.
Cannon projectiIes have been photo
graphed.
-Sauguinite, a new mineral, contains
silver, arsenic and sulphur.
Detroit undertakers must wear rubber
coats when they handle diphtheria corpses.
-Chicago has the biggest lime kiln. Six
thousand barrels Of stone and lime arc crushed
in day.
1t is no unusual thing for veelsply-ss
ing between Japan and San Francisco to bring
1000 900 fans as q single item Of its cargo.
Houston county, Ga, claims the young
est Confederate soldier in the person Augustus
L. Dixon, who enlisted In 1858 under II years Of
age.
The word preface" used in the begiu-
ming Of books was originally word of vel.
good may it do you."
The Springfield Republican says:
"Wachusett, the only decent mountain down
East Is about TO be sold like any parcel Of level
mead and woodland"
Diamonds have appeared in greater
profusion in London society this year than ever
before. They have been worn in profusion at
morning enteytainments.
The Michigan penitentiary has class
of 10 in telegraphy, originated by one Of the
prisoners. Each convict purchased his own
instrument by working overtime.
-Australis has now 4,75O. 900 Of people,
I5O0 900 more than the population ofthe Amer
lean Colonies when they declared their inds-
present tune.
Every year layer of the sea, IL feet
thick, is taken up into the clouds The winds
bear their burden into the land and the water
comes down in rain upon the fields, 70 dow
back through rivers
The commerce of New South Wales,
one of the Australian provinces, in proportion
to Its numbers is three times that of Canada,
nve times that of France, and eight times
greater than the trade Of the United States.
"A brown rat with blue tail was killed
at the Cincinnati court House Friday Is was
not nav species, but = plain. everyday Nor.
its caudal appendsgs in bucket OF blue paint
"A boot sole, the bottom covered with
iron. was found imbedded 10 . chunk Of coal
at Benton Harbor the other day. This GOAL
was made several years b O.. and the sole
must have been an old iron one of capital, lefs
In the footprint Of the march Of time.
1t is said there Is q tract of forest trees
in Southern Oregon embracing about 1900
square miles. which, cut and sold at $40 per
over. It Is estimated that the amount of mer.
charitable timber standing Will reach 00,U0o,-
000,0 900 feet.
"A few years ago gentleman bought 100
acres several miles below Macon, Ga, on the
East Tennessee road, for which he paid $40 sn
only 81 an acre, and within four years from the
date of the purchase cleared $4,000 from the
sales of fruit grown on this land.
Two thousand pairs Of wooden socks are
knitted at the prison at Jackson, Mich. each
year. The man who bosses the tailoring de-
partment says: "If . convict sees some other
satisfied until he gets pair, or knows why he
doesn't. They tear the toe OF q sock or the
heel, and then try to make me believe it's .
legitimate wear-ouE"
There are hopes Of introducing the
magic lantern as q means Of signalling at sea.
When So used. the lantern will be called
the 'Lucigraph." 1t will have slides in the
shape Of stencil plates, each with q letter or
figure cut in it The screen Is a nag stretched
in q conspicuous part of the ship, ON which the
letter OF the slideis projected. BY the help OF
glasses. the distant ship reads the letters.
-One Of the most frequent complaints
among canaries Is asthma. This disease il
easily cured If taken hold of at once. The bird
dealers sell q powder that is mixed in the water
the birds are given to drink, and there is also
bird tonic which is good for all the ills that
bird flesh Is heir to. When bird has the asthma
the symptoms are heaviness of breathing as
nj arfa writ 1nl1 NJ int haa
known to breathe like human beings.
BY careful experiments made at the
United States Mint it has been shown that IS
are lost BY abrasion every time 81. 100000 in
gold coin are handled. The experiments were
conducted with bags containing 5000 each,
and ir was shown that the mere lifting of the
200 bags making up 81, l,OO0. .OOO to q truck to be
stated, and that their transfer from the truck
again made a second similar loss.
France has in her army unique body
OF troops for the protection of her railways in
war. NJ ost of them are men living near the
eastern boundary-among them 1000 foresters
and customs oficials-able to get in the field ar
contingent was moblized. that its efficiency
might be tested. The mobilization was not
very successful. Halt of the men could get no
overcoats because there were none for them.
The zone system of passenger fares,
which started in Hungary, and has also been
successfully applied in Austria, was adopted on
May L by the Cork, Blackrock and Passage
Railway Company, in Ireland, for service be-
tween Cork and Crosshaven and Afghads. two
popular pleasure resorts in the harbor. 1n-
stead Of 15O kinds of tickets formerly required
there are now only 8. and the new rates Of fare
are about 80 per cent lower than the former
tariff.
The death Of a young man in Lyon
county, Kan, by stroke Of lightning from an
almost cloudless sky was certainly very re-
markable, but caseof the same kind occurred In
1850 on the prairie midway between Clinton and
in the same State. Ayozng man
was riding on q gallop, when bolt was seen by
residents near by to dart straight downward
from a cloudless sky. The horse, with his rider,
were found very shortly after with small
round hole passing through the head and body
of the man, and thence through the horse int