Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-11-30
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

New 1Ork mas O,UUO UNION 1em3le uotcl
hands.
of the 1900 policemen in Chicago !, ,555
are Irishmen.
The pendulum was first attached to the
clock in 1856 by Huygner.
The United States and Canada have
l,O29 miles of street railway.
Holmes american Annals was prob
ably the first history of the United States
deserving the name.
European travellers and merchants have
gathered up all the ancient carpets that
were for sale in Persia.
The Arkansas Legislature settled 3
dispute as to the pronunciation of the State
name some years ago by a statute whleh
made the correct pronunciation "Arkan-
saw" with the accent on the first syllable
During the first seven months of the
present year 149 707 emIgrants went from
Great Britain to the United States. A per-
centage of these were foreigners, principally
Swedes and north Germans, who embarked
at Liverpool.
The Chinese have a reluctance to save
drowning man, it being supposed that the
spirit of a person who has met his death in
OF the water until it has caused, by drown
ing, the death of a fellow creature.
"A snake Is feet long and proportion
ately large in circumference was killed re-
Gently near Richmond, Va. just as it had
seized small colored boy. 1t is believed to
have been an anaconda which escaped from
q small travelling show in that neig ghborhood
about two years ago.
IA peculiar accident, reports a Boston
recently befen a sandown,
N. H., woodchopper. Feeling a stinging in
piece of lead, undoubtedly a rifle bullet
which had struck his ak. and thence glanced
to bis wrist. 1t was so hot as to Durn the
flesh"
"A strange antipathy once prevailed to
rescuing a drowning man, the idea being
that the person saved would, sooner or later,
do some injury to the man who preserved
his life. The Bohemian fisherman 5hrinks
from snatching drowning man from the
waters, fearing that the water demon
would take away his luck in fishing, and
drown him Mt the first opportunity.
I'm the will of the late King of Wurtem-
berg some curious legacies were left. The
bootblack outside the palace gates is to wear
patent leather shoes for the rest of his life,
cetvc pension of 1000 marks a year. An
old apple woman who sweeps crossing
around the corner gets a pleasant position
In the palace, a black silk gown and a small
pension.
The genealogies of Jesus Christ given
by Matthew and Luke are both considered
correct, though not complete.
The former failed to insert several genera
tions that Luke added. 1t is now believed
that even Luke's, as given in the third chap
ter twenty-third verse, is not complete,
though it does mention 40 generations from
Joseph to Abraham, while Matthew, in
chapter one, mentions SO.
Tser river, which flows through Munich, car
rying the city's sewage, says that i've miles
below the city there is not a trace of the pol
luton which finds its way into the river.
Some observers have thought that the self
publication of rivers is due to deposit on Of
sediment. DR.. Won Pettenkofer, however
maintains that the real agent at work in
purifying the lser river is the oxygen of the
air which is absorbed in the water.
I'm Morocco are two little rivers that
once a year, Mt the time of the greatest heat,
Ire filed with red water. tits supposed the
color comes either fr& b a strata of red clay
through which the streams may pass or from
nyriads Of little red organisms Another
curious stream there is large creek with
waters almost as salt as those of the ocean.
This creek comes from great beds of salt. OF
which it carries off a very considerable
Quantity in solution. In the dry season the
creek bed is exposed and is found to be COW
bred with thick incrustation of salt.
of flowers used as food the Glove is q
familiar example, but the most remarkable
Of all food flowers is that produced by the
nahua tree of India, whose f1eshy blossoms
'orm a staple article of food among the
Door. The people Of the hill tribes could
hardly exist without a regular supply of
nahua flowers, which are pulpy and sweet,
'ut somewhat nauseous to the unaccus-
omed palate. The surplus crop of these
blossoms is, to some extent, dried, but the
main part Of the uneaten supply is put into
rude STILL which gives out copious sup
,ly Of an exceedingly fiery and Irritating
track used as beverage.
The giraffe is mainly sought after in
Africa for the value of its hide, which COM
nands a value of from f2 JOS to s4 los q
kin, varying according to age and sex. The
lide Of tough, thick-skinned old bull, from
N inch to an inch and quarter in thick
less. is of course the most sought after. Not
many years since the hides of the rhinoc-
ros and hippopotamus furnished OK whips
nd riding whips-colonially known as
jamboks-an over South Africa. But the
hinoceros is all but eXterminated south of
ambesi; the hippopotamus becomes scarcer
ear by year, and the hide of the giraffe is
onsequently in greatly increased demand.
The Rothschilds became prominent az
ankers through Mayer Anselm Rothschild,
money lender in the Judengasse, of Frank
ort, at the beginning of this century. The
ign was a red shield, hence the family
ame In 1906 Germany was invaded by the
rench and the Elector William of Hesse
assell being obliged to flee and unable to
Ike his money with him, deposited s5.00O,-
10 with Anselm guaranteeing to allow it to
,nain eight years without interest, pro-
ided it we're safely kept The judicious in
estment of this immense sum laid the
,undation of the immense family fortune,
nd in 1923 it was repaid with per cent in
rest.
"A fortune of 3O,0OO,OOO francs on de-
osft in the National Bank of Venice, was
# by Jean Thiery. a Frenchman, who died
Venice in 1876, to the Champagne branch
his family, but there was trouble about
.oving exactly who was entitled to it un-
II the will, and the money lay in the bank
hile the heirs pressed their claims. In l797
? order of the French directory, the funds
the bank were seized by the French army
nee then the claimants have been trying
get it out of the French Government. So
uch disturbance has been made about iJ
tely that the case of one claimant was
ken up by the Government the other day,
i'd Judgment was rendered which simply
nied the liability of the Governments.
rough an act of war, to pay the debts of
eVenetian bank.
sEASONABLE SMILES