Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-08
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

Chicago policemen use bicycleA
The China-St Petersburg canal is T. AZ
miles.
There are 5000 postmistresses in this
country.
Three times as many herrings are con-
sumed as any other fish.
"ScumgulIian" is the euphonious name
OF new town in Georgia.
The Lord Chief Justice of England L.
also the principal Coroner.
The present public executioner in Paris
has guillotined 22O persons,
In the coldest part of Siberia the soil ID
frozen to the depth Of go feet.
The famous cathedral at Vienna is now
lighted with electric arc lights
The cabmen of Paris are now forbidden
to smoke pipes while driving fare.
Brandy is the invention of the French
and has been known to the world for nearly
900 years.
About third of the entire population
of the world speak the Chinese language or
It's allied dialects
Out of total of 513 known species of
animals in Africa, 472 of them are to bs
found in no other country.
There are nearly 14O, 900 shop assistants
and warehousemen in London in what ara
termed early closing hours.
Chicago has factory which is wholly
given over to the manufacture of useful
articles from waste animal blood.
-Pompanian, Mela, Plutarch and other
ancient writers speak of nations which, at
the time when they wrote, knew not the use
of fire, or had but recently learned it.
The Lord Mayor of London's badge of
Office contains diamonds to the value OF
SlaO,O and the temporary owner has to
give bond for it before he is sworn in.
The walls of the old Chateau d. If in
the harbor of Marseilles, made known by
Alexander Dumas in his ''Monte Cristo,"
are covered with autographs of visitors.
George Smith Is to be tried at Valparaiso,
Ind. for the third time. on the charge Of
having stolen a Scent cigar. About s.. .0OO, It
Is asserted, have been expended in lawyers
ices.
The ragman's prolonged and somewhat
doleful cry, which used to be heard moro
frequently than at present in our Streets
mas ifs prototype in Genoa, from whence is
came directly to this country.
The Japanese Government has provided
for visit of 1000 OF its middle-class citizens
to the Fair at Chicago next year, and then
look aoont IN other large cities in this
country before their return home.
1t is said that mail matter dropped in
the postoffice at Paris is delivered in Berlin
in an hour and n half, and sometimes within
80 minutes. The distance between the cities
is 100 miles, and the mail is sent by means OF
pneumatic tubes.
AN ostrich raiser of Honolulu will er-
hibit bird at the Worlds Fair that is
wonder and a terror. He is feet inches
high, weighs $50 pounds and can kick "a
times-mOre or less-durinG the snap of a
kodak. He is named Jumbo.
In proportion as the earth cools down
ice accommodates near the poles and on the
tops of mountains; water is taken more
deeply into the surface of the terrestrial
crust, the formation of hydraEed minerals
being manifested everywhere.
"A Culinary a cademy" has been formed
among the leading chefs of Paris. The men,
bers aTe.30 in number, and they meet once a
month in an establishment in the Passage
Saulnfer. under the leadership of q cook
attached to one of the most celebrated
res aurants in Paris.
There has been remarkable decrease
in the prison population of England and
Wales since 1877 which is worth noticing.
In the half year ended 1878 the prisoners
amounted to 20, 533; in 1888 the figures for the
whole year had gone down to IA, ,536, and in
loS2 the number was l2,653
AT Monor, in Hungary, there is, it il
stated, q shepherd who is 1O6 years old. He
still attends to his hocks. His wife-she is
his thirds 81, and both husband and wife
are hale and hearty. All the old man COM
plains of is that he gets so little snuff and
such weak stuff for 10 kreuz ers.
As continents are formed one part Of
the waters Of the seas is transported to them
in the form of lakes, rivers, eternal SHOWS,
glaciers and organized substances. Owing
to these actions the waters OF the oceans
have been constantly diminishing and their
levels lowered correspondingly.
One thousand acres of land in Taney
county, Mo-, owned by st. Louis men ARE in
closed by a wire fence feet nigh and used
for deer park. This fence is constructed
around the hill slopes so that the deer may
leap over into the park, but cannot get back.
They become very gentle ana are never
mole5ted.
"A Berlin publisher is circulating the
following announcement on the cover Of
one of his periodicals: "Notice to the reader.
Owing to favorable arrangements 1 am
enaDled to present to the friends of my
magazine purchasing the entire volume =
living pig, about three months old, on extra
payment OF 10 pfennig (214d.)
Captain Eugene Favre, of the schooner
Saint Peter, captured an immense sea bull
He estimates the weight Of the fish at about
8 900 pounds. He claims that it measured
seven feet in length with tail seven feet
long The width of the mouth, he further
says was two feet, and between the eyes
seven feet.
AN immense dining hall for students, to
be known as the Mensa Academica, was
opened in Vienna last week. In it 1000
students can dine together. The intent of
the institution is to enable students to eat
together at a minimum cost instead of be-
Ing compelled, by reason OF their small
means, TO obtain their meals in cheap and
low resorts.
The Turkish Sultan has granted con-
cessions for the construction of long rail-
ways which will open up his territory to the
east, the north and the south, all having
their termini at Constantinople. One road
IS to run to Damascus. and another, the
rieris and Euphrates Railway, to the Per-
sian Gulf The concessions have been
granted to German and Belgian firms, En-
glIsh firms being entirely left out.
Out of a population of 100000 in
Prussia only 2,435.SjS persons possess an in
come of over 800 marks a year, which is
equal to about $2s5. This fact is shown by
the first years results of the new income
lax in Prussia. Two million one hundred
md eighteen Thousand nine hundred and
'ixty-nine paw income tax on the lowest
'cale-that is, on incomes of between 800 and