Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
AN inch of rain means 100 tons to the
| acre.
If you have a half dollar of 1888 with
| an "Op above the date you can get s12 for 1t.
One hundred and eighty millions Of
tons of coal were mined in Great Britain last
year.
Electric headlights of about 2. 500 candle
power are now in general use on the rail-
roads in Indiana.
In Corfu sheets of paperp pass for money;
one sheet buys one quart Of rice, or 10 sneets
| piece of hemp cloth.
In the province of Silesia, Germany,
there are at present 20 pedigree herds of red
cattle, consisting of 1,9l0 head.
New Jersey and New York elect their
Governors for three years; and of the other
AZ States 10 choose their Governors for four
years.
The Imperial diamond which was
recently purchased by the Nizam of Hydera-
bad from a London dealer is valued at ST.
100000.
The temple of Hom-mon-ji, at Inke-
garni, begun in 1882 and finished in 1907, il
one of the most famous religious structures
in Japan.
A solar disturbance lasting Is minutes,
in which vapors assembled to a distance Of
80 900 miles, was recently observed by as
tronomers.
To save the fnger-nails an ingenious
fellow has invented a pocketknife, the
blades of which are made to open by touch
ing spring.
The development of the cotton seed
oil industry has been so great that it has
supplanted the famous olive tree product in
majority of cases.
Telephones are put in the houses Of
Stockholm, Sweden, at rent OF 81 IS year
each. For each call, however, there is .
charge OF ~ cents extra.
1t is believed that there are 1900 pro-
fessional women painters, sculptors and
engravers in Paris, besides those who live
by painting menus, fans, etc.
Liverpool is the largest shipping port
in the world: then comes London, and then
New York. New York stands second to
London, however. as general commercial
city.
The first German Court of Justice has
held a session in Helgoland- The calendar
was blank. The clerk registered the fact
that the court met and adjourned and all
was over.
An oil painting owned in Philadelphia,
shows, it is claimed. that the first man to
wear IuSStI SHOES III AmcIlCd Was
Christopher Columbus; that, in fact, he
landed in them.
There are more women in British India
(124, COG, C00) than there are men, women and
children in Great Britain, France and Ger
many put together, with the population Of
several minor states cast in as well.
In Germany 5.5OO,OOO women earn
TIL cir living by industrial pursuits: in Eng
land, 1000 900: in France 8, 10000; in Austria
81, Il
cluding all occupations, something over a.
700 COO.
1t is estimated that the treasure living
idle in India in the shape of boards of orna-
ments amounts to ESQ 900, ,000 A competent
authority calculates that in Amrista City
alone there are jewels to the value of f2O0,-
0Oo,060.
Printers ink is now made from crude
petroleum in Ventura county, Cal. It is
prepared at small expense. The manufac-
turers are now engaged in experiments to
refine it. If these prove successful, it will
supersede the inks now in use.
The Russian standing army consists of
41O952 infantry, s4 92S cavalry, 67 976 artillery,
19325 engineers, and 81, $50 ordnance, total
of GIG, l7S enlisted men and 5000 officers.
The Cossack strength in peace, besides the
Cossacks in the above total, is AS; there
are q, 6a4 officers and men Of the reserve and
105,OOO officers and men of the local and
aux 1ilary forces. a total that is, OF about
Sl4, 900 officers and men. The war footing is
1920, I9S combatents, officers and men,
The red hat was first bestowed upon
cardinals by Leo ~. at the Council of
Lyons, in 1915. 1t is probable that as red was
in the Middle Ages royal color, worn only
by kings and members of royal families.
hats and gowns of this color were bestowed
on cardinals to indicate that thenceforth
they would rank with kings and princes. A
Iarlxr 1oI of
church, and in mediBval times the Pope's.
1egate often took precedence even of royalty
-Firefys of the large kind and high
lighting power that abound in st. Domingo
and other West India islands are employed
for lighting purposes, being confined in Ian
terms both for going about the country at
night and for the illumination of dwellings.
By attaching one of them to each foot while
travelling in the darkness they serve a
guide to the path. They are also utilized in
Cuba and elsewhere for ornaments, where
with the gowns and coiffures OF ladies are
adorned on festive occasions.
"A wonderful example of patience in the
Chinese is afforded by consular report
dealing with the manufacture of salt in Gen.
tral China. Holes about six inches in
diameter are bored in the rock by means of
a primitive form OF iron drill, and some
times period of 40 years eIapses before the
coveted brine is reached, so that the work is
During tliis time the boring, as may be
imagined, goes down to an immense depth.
When brine is found it is drawn up in bam-
boo tubes by rope working over q large
drum turned by bullocks. The brine is
evaporated in iron cauldrons, the heat being
supplied by natural gas which is generally
found in the vicinity of the salt wells.
One of the earliest excitements about
the nude in art arose over Michael Ange-
los cartoons in the Sistine Chapel, in Rome,
some of the figures in which were afterward
draped by another hand-that of Volterra.
When the decoration of the chapel was
finished the cartoons were examined by the
Pope and Court, and, as many OF the figures
were nude, the sensibilities of some of the
Pope's attendants were shocked. Among
these spectators was the Pope's chamberlain,
Biagio da Cesaria, on whom Angelo took a
unique revenge by painting his portrait on
one of the figures in the Inferno. Biagio
begged Paul I'LL, the reigning pontiff, to
have the portrait erased, but the latter
wittily replied: II can release from purga-
tory, but not from hell"