Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-02
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

dents below Fourteenth street ana east OF
the Bowery in New York.
The Supreme Court of Massachusetts
once decided that the use of the word
damn" is not profanity.
A blacksmith's tools of the present day
are almost identical with those used in the
same trade over 300 years ago.
The oldest liquor in any New York
club cellar is supposed to be some Savillac
brandy OF the coinage Of 1903 at the Union
Club.
The largest brandy still in the world is
located about two miles from Stockton, ON
Ell Pinal. the pioneer vinevard and winery
of San joaquin county, California
The name Bridget is from the Celtic,
meaning strength; the name is found in the
French, Spanish and Italian rs we'll as the
English language; though varying from the
common Irish form.
The tonnage of the Majestic is 9,861;
that of the City of New York is 5,7s3; the Ma
jestic is 5s2 feet long. longer than the City
of New York, while the latter is broader and
deeper than the former.
"A black bear jumped aboard a con-
struction train, near Falmouth, o., and was
apparently enjoying the ride until some Of
train men made their way to him from the
caboose and dubbed him of.
simply variety of another poplar, and has
to be increased wholly from cuttings. The
pollen bearing form, so far as known, is not
in this country. The plant is wholly pis-
tillate.
Somebody besides the fishermen must
be making considerable money out Of
Columbia river sturgeon. 1t sells readily in
New York and Boston at 25 cents pound.
while on the Columbia it is worth at most ,
cents.
The Chinese mechanical reckoning table
to be seen in laundries and 'joints" and
gaming houses is called the swanpan, and
has been in use in China since the fourteenth
century. The Romans in ancient times had
similar device called the abacus.
The enlargement of the Hebrew colony
at Woodbine, n. j., has given great en-
couragement to the manaArs of the Hirsch
Fund in New York, some whom, however.
regret that the colonists are more desirous
of engaging in manufacturing pursuits than
in agriculture.
- Calvary, the hill near Jerusalem where
the crucif1ion of Jesus occurred is formed
of limestone. The shores of the Dead Sea
are lined with pumice stone, showered out
or some volcano that destroyed Sodom and
Gomorrah, which cities finally sank beneath
the waters of the Dead Sea-
Two young men near Los Angeles, Cal,
are rapidly making u fortune Staying
coyotes. Last April they were not worth
$50, but now they have s., 700 to their credit
in bank. and they are adding about $50 a
week to their deposit. At s. scalp there is
more money in trapping and shooting
coyotes than in craving grain or fruit.
"A French Royalist journal gives the
number of the Dukes in France at g. OF
these 80 date from the old monarchy, II from
the first empire, from the restoration, .
from Louis Philippe and from the second
empire. The oldest Duke is Due de Morte-
mart, who was born in 1874, and the young
est the Due de Guiche, who was born in 1872
Electricity has been tried in Sweden
for blasting. A deep hole is drilled in the
rock and Jablochkoff candle is inserted
and the current turned on. The intense
heat causes the rock to swell at that point,
and internal strains crack the whole rock.
Holes are best drilled into the solid parts,
not, as in blasting, in the seams and soft
places.
An old adobe house built by Captain
Stephen Smith in 1sis, and known as the
Bodega ranch house, in Sonoma county, Cal,
was burned recently, and now the only
thing that remains to mark the spot that
was once an important Russian settlement
Is the flagstaff erected by Colonel John c.
Fremont in 1916. The loss is estimated at
about S, 600.
The difference between the English and
the Continental methods of writing numbers
(the latter ours) may be thus stated. The
former increases in this way: One; ten; ten
squared Q0O); 100 multiplied by 10 Q,00O):
1000 squared Q,00O,O0O:) 100000 squared
equals one billion q, 900, 900 600 0O0); and then
squaring each denomination to
obtain that next higher. Our system null
tfplies every denomination from thousand
up by thousand to obtain the next higher
denomination.
-Hypnotism is defined by Prof Bern
helm, on of its chief students and expert
ents, as 1.-THE induction Of a psychical con-
dition in which the subjects susceptibility
to suggestion and ability to act upon it arc
increased" Sometimes the sub
ject is in sound sleep, sometimes in half.
waking state, and often in full possession Of
the senses and the intelligence. Sometimes
this state is self-induced, but more often 1t
is produced by some mysterious influence
Of another on the nervous system of the
subject.
In 1860, the year before the war, there
we're published in New York 10 daily papers,
besides AZ weeklies, semi-weeklies and
monthly periodicals. During the % years
snding with 1885, 1,491 new papers were
started in New York. including 80 dailies
Ind GIL weeklfes. Of these papers 1,l05 died
before the end of the 25 years, leaving per-
,entage of about 80 per cent surviving. This
s remarkably heavy mortality. Among
he weeklies 46O died, 55 Of them in less than
year and los in less than two years.
Opium smoking is absolutely forbidden
n Japan. The sale OF opium, except by
lruggists, is forbidden, and even they are
lot allowed to sell the drug except upon
loctors' prescriptions. under penalty of fine
nd forfeiture OF license. No opium is per-
nitted to be imported. That used in medi-
inc is grown in a district near Osaka and,
8 soon as the crop is gathered, is bought by
he Medical Bureau of the Japanese Gov
rnment and again sold to licensed drug
lists to be used only for medicinal purposes.
nto Yokohama, but, when found, it is for
cited.
One of the most curious wells in this
Vest is on the place of Henry NJ. Henderson,
n Oakes avenue. This well can play a tune
n dozen different instruments at the
anne time. The well is about 100 feet deep.
t nearly all hours of the day or night
ind blows up from the bottom of it, and
Thistles through the cracks in the tight
oard covering One day not long ago Mr..
henderson collected all the musical instru-
rents he could-eight. He bored holes in
ne boards covering the well and at one
perture placed a cornet, at another q bass
orn, at another q clarinet, then = hfe, an
tin horn about three yards long,
louth organ and other instruments. One
fter another they began to blow as he put
lem in. When all were going the din was
,rrible, and there did not seem to be good
ote sounded. The wind does not come up
'om the well in steady blow, but in gusts
more or less force, and it was amusing
ell as astonishing to hear the old bass and
le nine-foot tin tube snort together.