The morning call., 1892-11-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

In the early English plays a board with a
name On II Indicated the locality of the
scene.
For over 90C years, Nuremberg. Bavaria
mas made most OF the toys used through the
world.
The Clothiers' Guild was established by
Henry l., A. ID. l112, as one of the London
companies.
The Roman ratapults and balistas were
transported In the train OF an army on cars
like artillery.
Stockings were first used in the eleventh
century; before that cloth bandages were
used on tile feet.
Chile is said TO number among her popu-
lation more poets per capita than any other
nation In the world.
Residents of Halensburgh, Scotland,
killed centenarian last month-a donkey.
claimed to be 102 years Of age.
Old Neptune. generally believed to be the
first horse purchased by the Government for
the llie-saylng service, died a short time
ago.
A mau at M0OresYille, Mo-, had the MAIN
spring Of his watch broken by a flash of
lightning few days ago and was totally
uniDjured.
So remote is the planet Neptune from the
sun, It's mean distance being 9, LAS, 1898 miles,
that Its temperature Is estimated To be 900
degrees below zero.
The Norman En- glish ladies dressed their
hair In two long paits, and, when nature
was not liberal, iOngthened the plaits with
braids OF wool, tow or horsehair.
News has been received at Liverpool of
the arrival at Sierra Leopa, West Africa, of
a remarkable specimen of the ostrich tribe.
IL Is ten feet high, and came from Central
Africa.
In 1910 Europe produced four times as
much grain as this country; in 1887. nor
NAL year. the United States produced
nearly half as much grain as the whole of
Europe.
The German Government recently tried
to grow cabbages in Africa. and as the veg.
etable refused to adapt itself to the climate
steps are now being taken to try if potatoes
cannot be grown there.
During the reign of Louis XIV, the bod
ices of French aud Italian ladies were cut
with so llberai hand that the Pope inter-
Tered and threatened the wearers with ex-
communication. The menace had no effect.
Paris gardeners buy toads, which they
use as insect deStrOyers. There is regu-
lar weekly sale of these hideous little ami
mails IN the French capital. 5-franc
piece VIII BUY from seven TO dozen Of
them.
The rivers of Russia grow shallower year
after year. and the Vorskla, once an abun-
dant tributary of the Duieper and COM
pared 10 the Hudson or Delaware, $50 miles
in length, has completely and permanently
dried up.
The German army has a swimming school
Tor troops, where every one must learn to
SWIM. The best swimmers are able to cross
stream OF several hundred Yards width.
even when carrying their clothing, rifle and
ammunition.
knots OF the threads are so fine that they
cannot be seen by the eye. No machinery.
has been introduced there yet for making
rugs or carpets, each tuit or knot being tied
by deft fingers.
One of the latest applications of electricity
10 mining operations Is seen in a lead mine
In Belgium. Each bucket arriving at the
top OF Tie shaft makes an electric contact,
and needle in the Office indicates, by red
line upon revolving drum, the number of
buckets brought UP.
The hi, near Jerusalem were the cruci-
nixon OF Jesus occurred is formed of lime
stone The shores of the Dead Sea are lined
with pumlcest0ne shoYered out Of some
volcano that destroyed SodOm and Gomor-
rah, which cities finally sank beneath the
waters OF the Dead Sea.
By placing two iron bars at seven or eight
yards distance from each other and putting
them In communication Oh cne side by au
insulated wire aud on the other side with a
telephone, IL Is said that storm can be pre-
dicted twelve hours ahead through certain
dead sound heard in the receiver.
The first high hat ever worn was carried
III.
trait appears among Albert Durer's mar
ginai Illustrations of the celebrated PRAYER
book of the Emperor Maximilan. In Jost
Ammann's Book of Escutcheons." pub
lished in 1889. nigh hat forms the crest of
a nobleman.
Robert Braybrook. Bishop of London.
who died in 1404. was taken from his tomb
after the great IRE of 1906, after having been
buried 262 years. Notwithstanding this bis
remains were found to be perfectly fresh
and unshrunken. His hair had grown
more than yard in length and had a
natural, lifelike luster.
The smallest wire is $1,000 of an inch in
diameter. which is of course much finer
than the hair on ones head Ordinary fine
wire is drawn through steel plates, but these
smallest wires are drawn through dia-
moDd plates and are then run through ma
chinery which winds it spirally with a layer
OF silk thread which is 1-1O00 of an inch in
diameter.
One OF the most remarkable productions
OF the Isles of Chileo is the celebrated
barometer tree" which grow in great
profusion IN ali OF the salt marshes. In
eter is as smooth and white as that of syc-
amore, but with the near approach of
storms these characteristics vanish like
magic and the bark turns black.
Two natural objects seem to have fur
nished the model for the spoon to primitive
man, the river or sea she'll and the leaf of
plants. In Southern China shell spoons are
still used that are closely reproduced in the
familiar porcelain spoon of that country,
while metal spoons are found in India on
which are reproduced even the veins OF the
leaves from which they were copied.
But one species of venomous bird Is
known to the student of ornithologtcal od-
a feathered paradox of New Guinea. Per.
sons bitten by the creature are seized by
maddening pains. which rapidly extend to
every part OF the body. Loss of sight. con-
yulsions and lockjaw are the other symp-
toms. which follow in rapid succession.
~ The whole Moslem race despise and abhor
the sound OF bells, which they say cause the
evil spirits to assemble together. They do
not use them on their mosques or churches,
but have instead men called muezzins, sta
toned In the minarets, who call out five
times each day Tor the people to assemble
Tor prayer Inc cry is: There Is no god
but God, and Mohammed is his prophet"
On the 1st of July last there were seventy
six railroad managements in the German
Railroad Union working iD the aggregate
AZ. 224 miles of railroad, of which 26 333
miles were in the German Empire. 16 7S2
miles in Austria Hungary. 1880 in Holland,
1921 in Roumania. 433 In Belgium, 800 in
Russian Poland, l03 In Luxembourg and Go
miles in Bosnia (an Austrian protectorate).
The rage for the antique which makes 1t
profitable for the purveyor to this taste to
visit daily score of iunkshops has ex-
tended even to warming-pans. These uten-
sils when made OF copper fetch from So TO
81 apiece, and are hung up against the
wall by their purchasers along with other
bric-a- brac. though they have a practical
use as corn-poppers which the collectors
probably ignore.
1t a remarkable fact that the specific
gravity of hardened steel Is less than that
of the unhardened. another singular point
being that steel. Of course. expands with
heat. and when it Is allowed to cool slowly
regalns Its original size; but if 1t be cooled
suddenly--the only way in which 1t can be
hardened. although it contracts very much
1t does not quite reach the small size OF the
unhardened state.