Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-08-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The Riverside Elysian
Dancing Club is the name of a popular social
organization at Wichita.
The French have planned works at
Havre for utilizing the ebb and flow of the
tide to work turbine wheels to generate
power for the dynamos to supply Paris with
light.
During the term of court which closed
last week at Burlington, Kan, six jury cases
were tried in which the amount in actual
dispute was only $44 80, while the costs ag-
Sregated nearly $500.
"A wren built nest on machine in the
shops of the Dawson. Ca, Manufacturing
Company that made about 5000 revolutions
minute, and raised four birds. The young
birds left the nest last week.
A sycamore tree near Newton, Conn, is
said to be s. feet high and 21 feet in diameter,
while its branches shade an erea extending
so feet from the trunk. 1t produces large
and abundant white blossoms.
Miss Louise Renner, of Wise, Isabella
county, Mich, went into the woods with her
father last winter and with an ak and saw
helped her father earn Sl2j. She has also a
bureau made entirely by herself.
There are now over 325 electric rail-
roads in the world, 80 per cent of them in
this country. About 4 900 cars, 1000 motors,
2.t0) miles of track and $50 OOO 600 passengers
Recent experience in cold storage shows
that different articles of food require differ
ent degrees of temperature for their preser-
walton, varying from 33o Fahrenheit for eggs
to 15o to 26o for poultry and various kinds Of
game.
Butter made from eocoanuts Is rapidly
taking the place of the ordinary butter in
Germany and Switzerland. 1t is said to be
healthful, easily digested. as palatable a5
huttpr from
much cheaper.
North Carolina is to have one of the
longest electric railway lines in the world 1t
is to run from Asheville to Rutherfordton, a
distance of Al miles. The power to operate
the road is to be derived from water The
line is intended for both freight and pas5en-
ger service.
The oldest church in Europe is said by
some who are discussing the question to be
st. Martins, Canterbury, which was built as
a church before the end of the fourth cent
tury, st. Mary-in-the- Castle, Dover, was
built about this time, but for nearly 200
years it was used as a garrison fuel depot.
The cultivation of the India-rubber tree
on the island of Trinidad is receiving much
attention. A few trees of different vare-
ties were imported few years ago and were
placed in the botanical gardens. The re-
suits have shown that the soil and climate
are remarkably favorable to their cultiva-
ton.
Prof. Foster predicts terrible hurri-
canes during September, October and No
vember on the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.
These hurricanes will seriously affect
weather and crops. The professor begs his
readers not to disregard this forecast as a
sensational alarm, but to heed it, as we shall
have the most violent storm period this fall
thst we have had in go years.
"A lake has a wonderfully tempering
effect on the climate. Thus, according to
NJ. Forel, the quantity of heat accumulated
in Lake Geneva during the summer of 1899
was equal to that given off by the combus-
tion of 81, 100000 tons of coal, or the amount
carried by coal train !, l20 miles in length.
The greater part of the heat is discharged
into the air of the valley during the cold
season, thus producing milder tempera-
ture in autumn and winter.
In Scotland there is a company which
pays certain amount yearly to a number of
iron works for the privilege of collecting
the smoke and gases from the blast furnaces.
These are passed through several miles of
wrought iron tubing, and as the gases cool
oil; one plant is reported to yield 25,O00 gall
Ions of furnace oil per week. Oil thus OBJ
tanned is distilled and a considerable quaint
ity of cresol. phenol. and some other SUBJ
stances are procured from it.
In the course of an investigation, part
the Royal Society, Prof. Roberts-Austen has
discovered the most brilliantly colored al
10y as yet known 1t has a rich purple
color, and bright ruby tints are obtained
when light is reflected from one surface of
the alloy to another. 1t contains about 70
per cent of gold, the rest of the alloy being
aluminium. The constants of the aluminium
gold series of alloys are now being exam
ined and will shortly be published.
Judging from the gradual and steady
e
patents each year, the inventive genius of
England is being maintained. According to
the report of the London Patents Office the
total number of applicants for patents made
during the year 1890 amour ted to 81 307, being
an increase of 800 as compared with the ap-
plications of the preceding year. OF these
"A 900 emanated from persons residing in
England and Wales. The applications for
designs and trademarks, amounting to 22,-
235 and 4,25S, were respectively less by l35
and Is than the similar applications in 1889.
An actress Gied in New York and her
friends called an undertaken to make ar
rangements for the funeral The undertaken
wanted toyknow how they wanted the coffin
trimmed, whereupOn the friends of the dead
woman said they would accept his sugges-
tiOns. "Well," said the undertaken. ''if the
deceased was single woman should trim
the coffin in white; if a married woman, in
heliotrope." The friends said they would
think the matter over and send him word
as to their decision. In the afternoon the
undertaken received this note: Trim the
coffin in white, with a dash here and there
of heliotrope."
I'm the suburban districts of London
much annoyance has been caused, and un-
neighborly squabbles induced, by cock
growing al untimely hours. A contrivance
has been devised whereby the nuisance COM
planned of may be obviated, peace secured
and harmony restored. 1t is q very simple
one. Let iath be loosely suspended over
the roosting place of the aggressive bird and
Immediately he rears his head and stretches
his neck as preliminary to n raucOus blast
he receives a rap on the comb which checks
his performance and fills him with astOnish-
ment. After repeated attempts attended
with like disconcerting result, he subsidies
into a gentle melancholy, and ruminates,
possibly over the degeneracy of the times,
till the day being sufficiently advanced, he
is allowed to roam abroad.
n