Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-01
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Chile has an area OF 21s,925 squas
miles.
-Nearsight is hereditary. but . larger
percentage prevails among blondes than
brunettes.
Physicians headed the list of suicided
4 year in the last ten.
The population of the United States
west of Buffalo is much larger than that easSS
of that point ana rapidly becoming more So I
Tho entire Indian population of this
country is about $50 900. and they hold 90 ooo,-
900 acres Of the public domain, exclusive Of
| Alaska. ,
There is dentist in Rome who has
drawn as many as 400 teeth in one day, using
only his thumb and forennger instead Of
| forceps
| The people of Paris have consumed
I within the year 81, 291 horses. 20 donkeys and
40 mules. the meat weighing, according to
| the returns, 4,6l5 tons.
"A sturgeon weighing 5O7 pounds and
two chincoon salmon weighing 11s pounds
were caught in the river near Cathlamet,
Ore, one day last week.
London pays its gas companies annually
f4,4oo,0 900 for a commodity which costs to
produce only ca, loo, oo0 thus giving the mo-
nopolists clear profit of sl 5000 600!
| "A remarkable death occurred near
Savannah, NO., last week. Mrs Reggin, the
wife of a weIl-known farmer residing near
| that place, bled co death through the cavity
| Of a defective tooth.
in 1889 COW was tried for murder at
| Poitonf, France; and five years later pig.
which had killed child in the streets OF
| Menlan, was thrown into prison, tried and
| strangled in the market place.
Salt does not enter into the food of the
| poor Venetians. They never taste it, ands
| the hospital for the scrofulous children at
Lido is flled by those who have not had this
necessary article in their food.
An Italian publisher got the opinions
| of 100 writers and scholars as to who are the
best authors. The replies placed Darwin at
the head of foreign writer's, Shakespeare
next, with Schiller, Goethe and Humboldt
| following.
1t has been over 1,5O0 years since the
| rule was adopted which makes Easter the
first Sunday after the full moon after the
sun crosses the line. By this arrangement
of things Easter may come as early as March
p or as late as April 25.
1t was the Chinese who invented the
well-known plan of capturing ducks and
other water fowl by wading toward them
with basket over the head anc dragging
them under water before they knew what
AoA tuCu ny tuO lCSS
The Brownia aria is . botanical Curl
osity. That fact Notwithstanding, however
its scientific name would not have been
used above had the plant q more common
one. 1t Is species of palm, and it is known
to bloom only after intervals of exactly. -
years.
"A most remarkable case il reported
from Kentucky. Rev. o. 81. Morrow,
prominent Baptist minister of Simpson
county. reared q family of six daughters.
He received all Of them into the church.
baptized them all, and said the marriage
ceremony for each of them, and buried them
ALL He survived the last daughter several
years.
When sewing was rendered easier by
the invention OF the thimble, or thumben as
it was originally called, that useful article
was worn upon the thumb, not the finger;
and the Japanese dentist, disdaining any
but natures appliances, finds his thumb and
finger all suficing in the extraction of the
most stubborn OF aching teeth
When horse goes insane he is apt to
kill himself by butting his head into a cor.
ner. At the Veterinary Hospital Of the Uni
versity of Pennsylvania, the largest of its
kind in the country, such cases are treated
in an oval brick chamber, perfectly dark
When this is heavily bedded with straw it
Is almost impossible for horse to hurt him
self.
The 'angry tree" woody plant which
grows from 10 to 25 feet high and which was
formerly supposed to exist in one State in
the Union, Nevada, has recently been found
in Eastern California and Arizona. If dis
turbed this peculiar tree shows every sign
OF vexation, even to rufhing mp its leaves
like the hair of an an-ry cat, and giving
forth an unpleasant, sickening odor.
The pealhunters of Borneo and The ad-
jacent islands have peculiar superstition.
When they open shells in search o: pearls,
they take every ninth find, whether it be
large or small, and put it into q bottle which
is kept corked with q dead mans finger.
The pearls in the phial are known as seed
pearls" or breeding pearls" and the native
Borneose firmly believe that they will re-
produce their kind.
The dew collected from the caves of the
Common ladies' mantle often contains not
less than ~ per cent of carbonic acid; tho
traces of iron and other metals and nom
metallic elements, which could only have
come from plants, have been identified in
dews. The dew which forms over the
stunted wild crops that grow on the salt
bearing soils of Siberia is often perceptibly
saline to the taste.
The Indians of the Sitkan region, in
modelling their canoes, have apparently by
intuition solved successfully the dif1lcult
problem Of least resistance, buoyancy and
requisite sta tabihty-qualities essentially nee
essary in working boat, but the proper
cOmDlnaClOn OF Wnlcn mas often put to the
severest test the constructive skill Of the
most experienced white man. All the tribes
of that region use dugout canoes, the size OF
which varies from 10 feet to more than 30
feet in length.
In repairing the ancient ruins of Casa
Grande, near the town of Casa Grande,
Ariz, the Government party unearthed the
following valuable relics, which have been
forwarded to the Smithsonian Institution at
Washington: Seven stone axes, one serpent
urn, carved stone mountain sheep, three
pieces Of cloth, four large unknown devices
OF stone, q lot OF shells, three ollas, painted,
q lot OF she'll loops, carved shell devices,
decorated and painted shells.
I'm that enormous waste known ~ the
Cobb desert, north Of China, showers some
times fall during the summer, and the tor
rents of g day I'LL the dried-up water
courses through which water seldom runs.
1t is In these channels that the Mongols dig
their wells, expecting to find q little water,
when upon the surface of the plateau itself
the soil has lost all traces Of humidity. Itis
owing to the fact that part of the moisture
falling during few rainy days Is thus pro-
served within reach that it is possible for
caravans to cross the desert.
TLNHT T.