Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-03-25
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| -Celluloid in solution is said to make
nne lacquer for metal and q good wood var
nish.
"A drunken man picked up on the
streets Of Seattle, Wash, recently had $4,000
in his coat.
In AMMAN, French colony in Eastern
Asia. there is in circulation a coin, the 'loof,"
which is a nat, round gold piece. worth s65.
Poisoned grain has been scattered in the
Court House yard at Sioux City, and it is ex-
pected that the English sparrows will eat it and
die.
-Seaweed is now made into a tough
paper, which takes the place of window glass
When colored, the effect is similar to stained
or painted glass.
More land is owned by railroad COM
panies (211, 900 acres) than would make six
States as large as Iowa. Since 1861 no less than
lSl 600 acres of land have been given to rail-
road companies.
"A New York girl has been sent to the
insane asylum because she thought every man
she met was in love with her. but was deferred
from proposing marriage for the reason that all
supposed her too good for them.
The only onyx polishing works in this
country. located at Rutland. Vt. will be re-
moved to Missouri, and engage in preparing for
market the vast quantities OF onyx mined In
Crawford and Pulaski counties.
The first gun made for the Confederacy
is now in the possession of Mrs. Il. /. Miller, OF
Chattanooga, whose father made it at Holly
Springs, Miss. in 1861 1t originally had rihed
Darrel, and is still in good condition.
The only man tried, found guilty and
executed for treason during the existence OF
the United States was William B. Mumford,
leans under an order of General Benjamin r.
Butler.
The word Estates" was first officially
used May Is. 1756, when Mr.. Archibald Cary re-
ported to the Virginia convention then in ses-
sion at Williamsburg. the famous resolution
'to declare the United Colonies free and indie
pendent States"
Japan had plethora of epidem1cs dur
ing 1890. Influenza reached her shores in
February. Cholera followed with over 81 900
deaths. Dysentery affected IS, ,s7S persons, with
1882 deaths, ratio of 1884 per cent. Typhoid
fever occurred 22,6A times, with $3.50 deaths,
1855 per cent.
"A fertile brain at DEBORAH, Ia, has in.
vented a speed indicator, which is to be fast
ened TO the drivers wrist in such a way that
the dial may be seen at all times. small cord
connects the novel device with the sulky wheel.
A driver can tell by glaneing at the machine
how fast he is going.
"A Wiscasset, Me-, man discovered
big cash in his boot where he had cut his foot
while in the woods and just managed to get
home, feeling himself growing fainter from
loss OF blood all the way and tainted on arriy-
ing, when somebody discovered that the cash
only went through his boot and the red color
was not blood, but only woolen stocking.
-Geologists have proved that the dia-
mond mines of South Africa are situated In
vents or chimneys, varying from about 70 feet
to l500 feet IN diameter. and descending Yerti-
cally through the schists which form the ordi-
nary strata of the district These vents are
filed up with fragments of silicated and mag
nesian rocks, in which the diamonds are
scattered, and before the diggings began each
was capped Dy hillock or "kopje." They are
II in number, and run in a straight line about
120 miles.
The latest terror discovered by the
microscope is the acarus sacchari, which looks
like a crab, or even more so, and which has
been discovered to tile number Of 26S,OOO to the
pound in cheap sugar. This is interesting to
know JUST now, as the first of April is near at
hand and everybody is thinking of the cheaper
ing of sugar as result of the removal Of the
duty. What is known as grocers' itch is said to
be caused by this acarus. which attacks the
hand, SO frequently plunged into the sugar when
serving customers.
An emploYe of the Postal Telegraph
office of st. Petersburg has invented a watch
which requires winding up only once in As days.
He submitted his watch to the Mechanic Tech
nical Association. who wound It and deposited
it in a vault for trial. 1t found precisely as
the inventor represented it to be. Now the
man wants TO get q patent on his invention,
but the dif1cu ty presented itself that be does
not belong to any mechanical guild. Whether
layman he IS entitled TO patent a
cbanical invention the Minister OF the Interior
will have to decide.
"A quarter of century since, the aver
age doctor was almost everything. He was
physician, surgeon, oculist. and now and again
in case of emergency. would pull tooth. We
are attempted to believe that speciaIism in
medicine is very modern innovation. But
read this from so old writer as Herodotus:
"The Egyptians have among them a great
multitude Of physicians But each man is
physician of one part OF the BODY only: for one
healeth diseases of the eyes and another dis
eases of the head and a third diseases of the
teeth" Verify. there is nothing new under the
sun.
I'm what was at one time great bog or
swamp, resident of Kendallville, Ind, some
days ago while running a ditch exhumed sew
eral perfectly-preserved skeletons OF deer
found Just as the creatures mired, possibly
of years ago. One head was found
with outspreading antlers of great size. the
length of the horn being 4S inches and the
from tip to tip Al inches Close
TO the head the circumference was II inches,
from the head Is inches. The horn is black,
glistening in the sunlight like polished ivory.
It is regarded as An extremely valuable speci-
men.
British fondness for territory is illus
trated very graphically in a well-knOwn pocket
atlas published by an English firm. British
possessions are all printed in brilliant shade
Of red. but the world is a large place, and even
the numerous colonies Of the little island fail
to make as great a show as was desired, so
Grant Land, the great continent of rock and
ice lying north of the Arctic Circle, and Gra-
ham Land, a similar tract south of the Ant
arctic Circle. were also printed in rosy hue.
These desolate wastes are underlined and uDeX-
plored and of about as much use as the Milky
Way Certainly no nation will dispute Britain
mas right to paint them red if she wants TO.
The most famous opal in history was
hat which was worn in a ring by the Roman
Senator Nonius in the days of the TriumVirate.
It's size scarcely equaled that of medium
rzed hazelnut. Yet its beauty and brilliancy
.endered it marvel among the dilettanti OF
Rome especially when it was known that the
roIdsmitbs and ''money-changers'' had set its
7alue at ST. 0OO, 900. Marc Antony made over
ures to Nonius for its purchase, intending. it
s thought, to present 1t to Cleopatra; but the
senator refused to part with it, and for fear
hat it would be taken from him by sheer
orce sought safety in flight Here history
oses all trace of this famous gem. there being
10 record of its transferral from NOnius to any
# his family.
rnuuv TrrTnue, FATCTEs