Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-29
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

| "A man breaths seven hogsheads Of air
| in n day
-Thirty-three million and thirty-three
| thousand people die every year.
Flowers amounting to s14, ,175, ,328 were
sold by American florists last year.
The Icelander believes that the earth
has an opening through it from pole to pole.
1t is estimated that California will have
469,Oco tons Of wheat for export before next
June.
Near Caspar, Wyo., a valuable vein Of
| coal has been found just beneath the grass
roots.
Sugar Is now being extracted from the
sap of sugar pine trees in CALIFORNIA 1t is
light brown in color and contains a largo
percentage of saccharine matter.
The Guanches, the inhabitants of the
Canary Islands, are said to be the remnants
of the ancient race who 10000 years ago peo-
pied the drowned continent Of Atlantis.
Madagascar is probably the only place
in the world where Christmas is celebrated
twice year and where there are also two
New Years days observed by one and the
same people.
1t is remarkable fact in natural his
tory that every race, whether of man or
beast, and everything that has life which
by Its own peculiar and individual odor.
Prof. de War, in studying the relations
of oxygen and magnetism, lifted a saucer
full of the gas iquefed by q magnet, the
liquid remaining fast to the poles until dis.
sipated in the original form by the heat OF
the metal.
1t cost the Englishman who bought the
buffalos from Buffalo Jones'' s25 900 to pur-
chase and get them across the Atlantic.
They were bred in Manitoba, and their new
home is to be the park of Hagerston Castle,
in Northumberland.
The superstition of the yellow donkey
of India; the story OF the swift ass of East
ern Asia and the ass of Dionysius, and
many other marvellous ass stories, are all
survivals of that curious form of religious
worship-the alteration of the ass head.
One of Albuquerque's, N. NJ, public
school teacher is about to marry an Indian
now attending the Governments Indian
School there. The brave is said TO be very
bright and one who, on his return home,
will probably be elected chief Of the tribe.
BY great many people Arabia is sup
posed TO be the home of the horse. From
ancient Roman, Grecian and Jewish history
we readily learn that the horse was uns
known in Arabia long after he was COM
mon factor in the life of Southern Europe.
"A chicken was slaughtered for the FAM
lily table recently below Pendleton, Ore. In
dressing the fowl woman discovered in
the craw two small nuggets of gold about
the size of small nail head. How the
chicken found the gold is now the question.
The following doubtful compliment is a
fragment from love letter: "How wish,
my darling Adelaide, my engagements would
permit me to leave town and come and see
you 1t would be like visiting some old ruin,
hallowed by time and fraught with a thou
sand recollections."
There are few flowers whose perfume is
actually deadly. The flowers of the kali
mujah, or death plant, found in the Islands
of Java and Sumatra, emit perfume pow
erful as to overcome, If inhaled for any length
of time, full-grOwn man and killing all
forms Of insect life approaching It,
More than any other State of the Union
the State of Georgia has retained the Indian
names Of It's rivers, and most of them have
a musical sound, as, for example, the Oc-
mulgee, the Ohopee, the Ogeechee, the Can
nouchee. the Oconee, the Chattanoochee,
Saltilla, the Altamaha and others.
Pedro ". of Dragon Q351), found him
self compelled to prohibit his Catalonian
subjects from wearing false boards, but the
most singular substitute was the golden
boards worn by the Kings of Persia. The
Kings of France, of the first dynasty, wore
boards entwined with gold threads.
I'm the first eight months of this year
lis, 160 immigrants arrived at Rio, Brazil. OF
these, 5s, AIS were Italians, 22,036 Portuguese,
Il ,so6 Spaniards, 1O,9s4 Russians, 2.l57 Aus
trians. 2,35l Germans, l,7S9 English, l,7O3
Swedes 900 French, 334 Belgians 264 Poles.
159 Swiss. 30 Americans, II Dutch, and J, 100
Asiatics.
in remote times a sacrifice of some kind
was always offered at the completion of a
building, either public or private. Sacrifices
were not only offered at the completion OF
structures of all kinds-the foundations
themselves were usually laid in blood,
whether the structure was a castle, bridge,
cottage or church.
I'm the language of the millions of
China and Japan there is no term that cor
responds with our God. Every student OF
missions knows well the abiding difficulty
in China over the question of o term for
God. Both the native Christians and the
foreign missionaries are divided among
themselves over this perplexins problem
EVERY lover of rare and curious in
formation knows that most of the ancients
were dead set' against beans, but no mod
ern unraveler of old-time mysteries knows
why. 1t may be truly said that there are
but few philosophers of the present Day
that 'Hznow beans" Pythagoras adInonished
his pupils to abstain from beams but on
what grounds no one knows.
A Central American newspapertells OF
a man living in San Paulo. Brazil, who is
considerably 100 years old and who is grow
ing young again. He has recently grown
new set of teeth, and his hair, which had
turned gray, is now almost black again. He
is in active business as q horse trader, ana
occasionlly he rides over ten leagues In
day He has been married three times, Is
now widoTer and is quite wealthy
Few people, probably, are aware of that
which in the eyes of many citizens consti-
tutes sufficient reason why the city OF Lon
don-the zone square mile" as is is some
times disparagingly termed-should retain
lite municipaI government and privileges.
The nrofits assessed to income tax under
schedule ID amounted in 1sS9-90, for the city
alone, to upwards of f70, ,0OO,c COO, the rest Of
the county of MiddeseX reaching E41, 100000,
and wealthy Lancashire coming in bad
third with something under f33.OO 600. These
three far exceed the rest OF England ana
Wales all put together.