Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-10-29
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

-Baccarat is said to have gained hold
on Topeka's population.
1t is reported that Chicago man in
tends to start an elephant farm in Southern
California.
Burlington, Kan, has a bank whose
stockholders are all farmers living upon and
operating their farms.
in Venezuela fireworks are never ex-
ploded at night Sky rockets and roman
candles are sent skvward in broad day light.
1t is estimated that Il, 900 quail have
been killed in Mexico and marketed in the
United States since the season opened, Octo-
ber l.
"A grilled chop, grilled tomatoes and
pint bottle of ale is an Englishman's lunch.
This is taken about o'clock, and costs 2and
8 and tip for the waiter OF pence.
The wear upon the Cape Cod coast is
shown to be at the rate of 755,756 cubic yards
per year, or an annual wear of the coast
equal to a distance OF about eight feet
in Poland some of the customs are
peculiar. One of the said customs is to drop
in upon your friends and crawl into the bed
that has the greatest capacity at bed time.
A recent eruption on the suns face was
photographed and lasted for fully Is minutes.
Its angular height showed it to be a dis
turbance causing the vapors to ascend fully
$4,000 miles.
The record-breaking quality of the
drouth may be inferred from the fact that an
island. which hadn't been seen before since
1861, has recently appeared in Lake Wasso-
keag in Dexter.
There are records of elephants that have
lived for 200 years, and an age of $50 years Is
not regarded as so very old for an elephant.
1t takes about quarter of a century to get
the elephant to full maturity.
The Chinese have superstition that if
they release q bird or a beast in captivity
they draw down a blessing uponthemselves.
The other day one of them bought three
turtles at Portland, Ore, and threw them in
to the ocean.
A curious artifce of war was adopted by
a Chinese junk when attacked by a man-of-
war. The crew threw cocoanuts overheard
into the sea, and then jumped in among
them. Nearly all escaped, for 1t was i'm
possible to tell which were heads and which
were nuts.
"A very superior quality of brick is now
from the waste sand en-
ployed at the factories in grinding and polish
ing glass, which necessarily aecumglates in
such large quantities. The bricks thus pro-
duced have specific gravity of only L5 and
are perfectly white
"A rainbow at night is something new,
but that is what Dr. Conger and family, of
Pasadena, saw the other night. OF toward
the mountains a distinct semi-circle was out
lined against heavy bank of fog, being al
together like the regulation rainbow, except
that it was colorless.
The superstition of sailors that ecclesi-
astical associations bring bad luck to the
ship will be strengthened by the recent ex-
plosion of the steamship Evangers boiler on
Puget Sound, by which three men were
killed outright and five others badly hurt.
The Evangel had been g gospel ship, and
was built by small subscriptions from q
great number of churches.
While ascending Pixies Peak by the
new rack railway, about one person in 200
is affected by the rarity Of the air at the high
altitude. The indications of distress are
itching and redness of the nose and then
blacl1ness under the eyes. A woman who
was dying apparently on trip recently was
sent back on the locomotive to the foot of
the mountain, where she recovered. The
summit is IA, 400 feet above the level of the
sea.
The degree of delicacy which has been
attained in the application of the radio
for the measurement of radiant
heat-viz, from the candle. fire, the sun,
the moon, the stars, or anything else which
radiates heat in space-is pronounced
by scientists. n single illustration
4 really appreciable effect is produced on
that instrument by candle placed two miles
away.
There was recently taken from small
creek near Stringtown, 1. T., a genuine curl
osity in the shape of petrified horse, which
had, beyond doubt, been lying in the bed Of
;he stream for many years. The creek,
which is known as Mason's Ford. has been
winding away for some time, owing to the
allure of the springs by which it is fed, and
s now'but shallow rivulet, and number
IF Indian relics, human bones, ETC., have
been taken from its bed
I'm some parts of the Colorado desert
water boils up from springs, which are sur
rounded by circular hillocks of carbonate Of
ime from four to eight feet in height, the
of which has been deposited from
he flowing fluid. The latter is so highly
charged with gas that it is difficult to keep
,orks in bottles filed with it. IL seems
lueer to find in such desolate country real
oda water fountains supplied by nature.
'yrups are not offered to order, unfortu-
lately.
"A commission of gypsy moth extermin-
TORS acting at the expense of Massachu-
etts, under legislative authority, has been
It work in the vicinity of Boston. The State
las already spent 100000 in its war upon
his insect pest, which in more than one
uburb has stripped the trees entirely of
OllaRe. Ine raVdSeS were worse IN 0lluule-
eX county than anywhere else, and billions
# eggs were there destroyed. Indeed, the
Nuisance has become so offensive that tH
Ire department was frequently called ouf5
wash moths off the trees and afterwal,
rush them with rollers. This winter th'
of annihilation will keep 80
men employed at marking trees with the
atal white circle. Twenty-one years ago
he gipsy moth was unknown in Massachu-
etts About that time a French professor,
Eho brought some eggs over for natural
istory collection, allowed them, it is said to
low out of o window. Hence all the
rOuble.