The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1891-12-20
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

In 1890 q, 412 people were killed in India
by snakes, and 6lO,653 snakes were killed
by people.
Boise City. Ida. has o sixteen-year-ol
girl who is six feet two inches in height
and weighs 207 pounds, aid she Is still
growing.
The first diamond in South Africa was
found by two children, who were playing
near q stream In 1857.
Copies of the Icelandlo Bible printed in
1854 are still in existence. A banker of
Lexington, Mo-, has one.
The horse has no eyebrows, and if much
white is visible in the eye itself tits sure
sign of a vicious nature.
1t is claimed that the Chinese invented
the mosquito net 1t was In use In China
for many years before 1919.
Leather coins with silver nail driven
through the center were issued in France
by King John the Good in 1906
English locomotives have neither bells.
headlights nor cowcatchers. Warning is
given by the shrillest of whistles.
A milestone set by Benjamin Franklin is
still standing in New London county, Con-
necticut. 1t is old and moss grown.
The skin of black deer is worth about
$500. One of these animals has recently
been seen In Maine. and hunters are after it.
The first COINS made on this continent
were made in Mexico in 1885. They were
called the real" and arc now worth %
each.
In England an American diploma of med
icine does not entitle its pOssessor to call
himself NJ. d. If he does he may be pros
ecuted.
Berlin street-car conductors only receive
62la cents for days work of eighteen
hours but they can live there for about 20
cents per day.
The frog. owing to it's peculiar structure,
cannot breathe with the mouth open; and,
if il were tOrcibly kept open the creature
weuld die of sutfOcation.
An old French prOyerb says, Salute no
red-halred man nor bearded woman nearer
than thirty feet off. with three stones in
thy fist to defend thee in thy need"
The treasury silver stock weighs IL, 900
net tons. and TO carry it would require !, 900
freight cars carrying eleven tons each. OF
2. 200 cars carrying i've tons each, or $500
two-horse wagons carrying two tons each.
Rabbits, snakes, birds and fishes never
close their eyes because unprovided with
eyelids. The rabbit and the common barn
yard fowl are each provided with a thin
membrane which is let down over the eye
when asleep or at rest.
The increasing wealth of the various ma
tions Is somewhat remarkable. During
the last ten years the Bank Of France has
more than doubled its reserves. The Bank
Of Germany in 1881 held about $40, 00O. 600.
In 1889 IL held SO,OOO,OOO.
The term "tabby cat" is derived from
Atab; famous street in Bagdad. inhabited
by the manufacturers of silken stutfs
called atabi. or tatfety. This stuff is woven
with waved markings OF watered silk, re-
sembling "tabby' cats coat.
The light of the sun will take the temper
out of steel, and the edge disappears and is
useless until the tool is resharpened. Moon
light has the same effect. An ordinary
crosscut saw IL said to have been put out
of shape in single night by the moons
rays.
Russia has been visited by eight nation
al famines during the present century, in
1901. 1s0s. 1911. 1872, 1888, $780, 1860 and 1891.
In addition TO these there have been sever
al provincial famnes as severe. if not as
extensive as those which affect the whole
population.
The terrible Japanese earthquake Oct.
% was predicted TO day by an anony nous
letter writer. who wrote TO the Japanese
Cabinet about three weeks before the
letter Is now preserved in the governments
archives as great curiosity.
For several hundred years. and down to a
comparatively recent date. money was
coined at from twenty five to thirty differ
ent cities in Franeethat had inherited tho
privilege. Now all French money Is coined
at the Paris mint, and bears. instead of the
effigy of some distinguished person, q head
representing the republic or liberty in the
more general sense.
The first iron mined in this country is
generally supposed to have been in Saugus
Mass. about 1915. Iron ore and smelted
iron have just been found i'm North Beverly.
This puzzles the oldest inhabitant," as no
person living ever knew that iron existed
there. The smelling must have been done
at an early date. very possibly before 1913,
as there were settlements there as early as
1910