Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-08
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

-Spectacles were invented by Allesandro
de Spina in 1885.
"A Baltimore lecturer advances the idea
that Satan had red hair.
-IreIand's inhabitants have decreased
over 20 per cent since ls41.
-Twenty-nine States have enacted laws
resembling the Australian ballot law.
Marriage of the clergy was first posi-
lively forbidden in 1914 by Pope Gregory
VII.
The medusa is a fish, so fragile that it
meIts and disappears when thrown on the
beach.
A petri6ed turtle II inches in diameter
and inches thick has been found on Lake
Champlain.
AS many as 10000 Japanese have left
their country this year to seek their for
tunes elsewhere.
New Hampshire takes its name from
Hampshire. England. 1t was originally
called laconia.
The North Star cannot be seen south OF
the Equator. but it is visible every ywhere to
the north of the line.
The Gar of Russia has no settled in
come, but he has an estate and mines which
bring him in f2 900 per year.
-lHe LiCk LeicsCOplC puOtOSIdHS dtc ~
perfect that they must be strongly magni-
fed before their details can be examined.
1t has been ascertained that the potato
is in no wise dependent upon its eyes for
growth although the pieces with eyes grow
more rapidly.
-Esop. whose fables have been read for
more than 1000 years. was born GO years be-
fore Christ. He was a slave in the island of
Samos, Greece.
The snail has the greatest number OF
teeth. 1t has been proved to possess 10000
in its mouth, which without a glass looks
very innocent.
The number of members of the House
of Lords. England, varies from $40 to $40.
while the French Senate numbers 800 and
the Chamber of Deputies 5s4.
Recently experiments in England have
shown that lighthouse signaling can be seen
at a distance of IN miles at sea. The rays
were directed vertically toward the sky.
The highest altitude in New York is
only 175 feet above tide water in East river.
The highest point on Long Island is Harbor
Hill, where an altitude of 3S4 feet is reached
February in 1900 will not contain %
days, although it will be leap year. February
in 100 also contained only 90 days. There is
slight error in the Gregorian calendar, but
it will only amount to one day in 3,S25 years.
Australian butterflies bathe. One will
alight close to the water. into which it backs
until the whole of the body is submerged,
the fore-legs alone retaining their hold on
dry land. In moment it will fly away, ap-
parently refreshed.
"A remarkable family of eight old
women is living in the same house at Vexio,
Sweden. Three are widows and five are old
maids. Their ages aggregate within a year
or two of 100 years each of the women being
nearly 80 years of age.
On the Northern Railway of France an
important experiment is about to be tried
on a large scale. All carriages, even on
short-distance trains are to be warmed, and
the warmth is to be produced by means of
boxes of acetate of soda.
Two fishermen at Isle au Haut, Me-,
recently captured n devil fish which meas
ured ~ feet in length and % inches across
the back and weighed over 100 pounds. The
creature fought furiously, and would have
been more than match for one man.
"A Japanese doctor never dreams of ask
ing a poor patient for a fee. There is a
proverb among the medical fraternity OF
Japan, "When the twin enemies, poverty
and disease, invade home. then he who
takes aught from that home, even though it
be given him, is robber"
-Acorns form an important article of
diet among many tribes of Indians. They
are bruised into meal and made into dough
for bread. The meal is usually soaked pre-
liminarily in water to take away the bitter
taste AcornS are stored away in trees by
woodpeckers, and in times of scarcity the
natives rob those deposits
Japan appears to be turning out her
university graduates at a faster rate than
employment can be found for them. A
Japanese cotempora ry states that many of
this years Imperial University graduates
have as yet been unable to find employ
ment and says this state of things is gradu-
ally assuming serious aspect.
Many kinds of grass seed are used to
make flour for bread and mush of excellens
quality. Along the rivers in Colorado and
Arizona grass seeds are collected in large
quantities and supply much valued winter
food for the Indians They are ground into
flour, mixed with water into a dough, and
cakes of the latter are baked in the hot sand
The srice test for crime is favorite
method in the Indies of detecting criminal
when other means fail. When a theft, for
instance, has occurred in q house where
there are number of servants. the medi-
cine man or Indian detective is sent for He
administers rice which iS chewed by the
suspected. fhe one who cannot eject
white pulp is adjudged guilty
The Governments of Bosnia and Mon
tenegro are advertiser for good women
physicians, whom th ey will'engage for their
hospitals at liberal salaries. The women of
those countries have adopted the prejudices
of their Mussulman sisters, and will not al
low male physicians to treat them in { cir
Illness This news received with great
pleasure at st. Petersburg, nd quite num-
ber of Russian women doctors departed for
the Balkan provinces.
The horseshoe superstition still sticks,
and Junk dealers in New York find it prof.
table to keep horseshoes in stock for sale to
dwcllers In the tenement-house region.
where a horseshoe over the door is still not
uncommon. II all the money drawers of
small shops could be rummsged, enough
horseshoes could be found to supply half the
euuines in town. The superstition is that
the shop will do a good business so long
the presence of the horseshoe is known only
to the shopkeeper.