Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-03
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
There are spoken in Europe 5s7 langu-
ages.
There are 100000 blind people in
Europe.
The temperature of man is $3.50, that
of fish 10.
The Teutonic steamship consumes 300
tons of coal per day.
-Thirty-four pounds of raw sugar make
2l pounds of refined.
As rule clouds are about mile above
the surface of the EARTH
"A Birmingham, England, man collected
SAC, pennies during his lifetime
The cost of making $1,000 Bank OF
England note is less than penny.
There are about four yards of very close
sewing in a ladys ten-button glove.
An average acre of grass newly mown
weighs nearly two and one-half tons.
Silver articles are called 'splate" from
the Spanish word plata, which means silver.
The pin factories of the United States
manufacture about is, ,oOO. .OOo,O 900 pins year.
More than half million dollars worth
of gold is used every year for the purpose Of
filling teeth.
There are 5000 vegetarians in Boston
and ., 900 in Chicago, besides others in New
York and elsewhere.
Aluminium ore is reported to have been
discovered in large quantities and unusual
richness in New Mexico.
The Grand Falls of Labrador are said
to be more than twice as high as Niagara
Falls, being $50 feet in height.
"A farmer in Delaware claims to be able
to preserve watermelons for winter use by
coating the rind thiclly with varnish.
The interesting fact has been developed
in the case case Of table glass that the much
admired iridescent film is slightly soluble
in water.
The first thing a japanese does in the
morning is to take down the entire front Of
his building, leaving the whole of the in
terror open to view.
Russia has been visited BY eight ma
tional fanines during the present century,
in 1sOl 1908, ls1l 1872, 1888 1s4O 1860 and 1891.
In addition to these, there have been sew
eral provincial famines, as severe, If not as
extensive, as those which affect the whole
popu ulation-
The famous Rutherford photographs of
the moon, now in possession of Columbia
College, were the earliest made, and they
lunar photography, even by those who have
seen the photographs of the moon taken at
the Lick Observatory in 1888.
The light of the sun and the moon exer-
cises a deleterious effect on edge tools.
Knives, drills, scythes and siczles assume a
blue color If they are exposed for some time
to the light and heat OF the sun: the sharp
edge disappears and the tool Is rendered
absolutely useless unless it is retempered.
Steam pipes have been made in England
from tue ramie fibre. The material is SUBJ
jected to tremendous hydraulic pressure
and, having the property of being unaffected
by moisture, will neither shrink nor swell,
beside being non-conductor of heat. The
pipes have twice the tensile strength of steel
pipes.
The first iron mined in this country is
generally supposed to have been in saugus.
Mass, about 1643 Iron ore and smelted iron
haye just been found in North Beverly.
This puzzles the "oldest inhabitant,- as no
person living ever knew that iron existed
there. The smelling must have been done
at an early date, very possibly before l643, as
there were settlements there as early as
1910.
Rhode Island is the only State having
two capitals. The State had two large towns,
each claiming to be the political center, but
neither agreeing to surrender its alleged
prestige. The result was the selection of
.
mating, opening at Newport with an ad-
journed session held at Providence. Con-
necticut had two, New Haven being the Sec
ond. but Hartford became the State capital
in 1873
Rio de Janeiro, situated in the bay of
the same name, has probably the finest
harbor in the world. 1t is entered from the
south through passage not more than ], 700
yards wide. between steep hills rising more
than 900 feet and extending inland about
Is miles, thus forming one of the most
spacious and most beautiful harbors in the
world: The entrance, girded on both sides
with lines of +iInpregnable fortifcations, can
be made without pilots, and the largest YES
sells can anchor Immediately at the quays
OF the city, and enter its magnificent docks.
in Thomas county, Ga, was Iamonia
Lake, of large extent, which has, within a
few months almost entirely disappeared.
As far as the vision can reach lie waste and
bare the bottom of the lake, with nothing to
mar its barrenness but the countless num-
bers of turtles, terrapins, fish and eels,
which wr1ggle, squirm and crawl about in
the mud in a vain search for water. There
ranean passage, through which the waters
OF the lake have escaped. Once before in
1880 it is said, the lake ran dry.
Washington was called by many sobri-
quets. He was first OF all Father of his
country" providence left him childless
that his country might call him father"
Sigourney calls him "Pater Patrie." Chief
Justice Marshall, the american Fabius."
Lord Byron, i'll his lode to Napoleon" calls
him "The Cincinnatus of the West" For
having new world on his shoulders he was
called the "Atlas of America" The English
soldiery called him by the sarcastic nick
name of Lovely Georgius." Red Jacket,
the Seneca Indian chief, called him the
Flower of the forest" The Italian poet
Vittorio Alfieri, called him "Deliverer of
America" In the Gazette of the United
States he was called the savior of his
country" His bitter opponents sarcastically
called him the "Step-father of his country"
during his Presidency.