Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-14
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


An italian engineer has originated a
system by which he proposes to utilize the
power of trains running down grade.
AN old well in California which, for a
number of years, has furnished excellent
water, has suddenly turned into an oil well.
The first overhead trolley electric street
railroad in England is under construction In
the suburbs of Leeds by an American COM
pany.
During a recent thunderstorm in Maine
the skin of boy who was struck by light
ming turned dark purple, and has remained
SO ever since.
Indians cannot live in close confne-
ment. Statistics show that most of those
imprisoned for crimes quickly sink with
consumption.
-Colors passing through prism can be
made to produce sounds. Green and red
lights produce the loudest noises and blue
and yellow the faintest.
An electrical stop watch has been tested
in bicycle race. where it determined the
winner, although he was only one-hun-
drsdth of a second ahead.
"A young man in Washington met a
band of elk while, hunting. He killed one
and the others turned upon him. He was
obliged to kill seven before they left him
alone.
The Congress of Nicaragua has ordered
that ten young men, to be selected from the
difere MT provinces of the Republic, be sent
to Europe to be educated at the expense Of
the State.
There are now q law firms in the United
States composed of husbands and wives, and
there are about 200 American ladies who
practice law in the courts or manage legal
publications.
In computing a mans age Cinnamon
always reckon two years back from the day
when he celebrated his first birthday: or, in
other words, as though he were a year old at
the time of his birth.
"A law is to be passed in Costa Rica
making the sale to foreigners OF Indian an
tiquities collected in the Republic a crime
punishable with severe penalties. A similar
law is to be passed in Ecuador.
Seeds are distributed to great extent
by winds. Every one has seen on summer
days the little embryo of the dandelion,
floating in the air by means of the feathery
parachute to which it is attached.
"A postage stamp of the original value
of about 16 cents was sold by auction in
London recently for $40. 1t was MoIda-
Wan 81 paras postage stamp. Three years
ago copy of the same stamp realized at
auction only $50
Birds have horns also sometimes. The
horned screamer (which is related to the
duck) has a single horn attached to its
skull, springing from a cartilaginouS base
and curviug upward. 1t is really modified
feather, though true horn
Senior Mota, q moral reformer who is
Mayor OF Mosquera, a town in the United
States of Colombia, has decreed that women
arrested for disorderly conduct in his ba1ll-
wick snail have their heads shaven before
they are set at liberty again.
During an exceedingly violent erup-
tion in the sun, observed by astronomers on
the 18th of last June, masses of matter were
projected into space, it is estimated, at the
rate of 600 miles second. This speed was
so long continued that these masses must
have escaped the attraction OF the sun.
In this plain official statement from an
English Government circular is material for
pleasing reflections: "Mr. Wycherley, the
postmaster of Whitechurch Salop, has re-
tired upon his earned pension of ESQ per
annum and has been succeeded by his wife,"
The salary of the postmaster, nov of the
postmistress, is ESQ per annum.
The laughing jackass, when warning his
feathered mates that daybreak is at hand.
utters cry resembling a troop of boys
shouting, whooping and laughing in a wild
chorus. The innocent night jar, which has
been slandered under the name of goat
sucker has cry, an observer says, as of one
lamentinQ in distress, which once heard is
never forgotten.
"A draw plate with hole II, 900 of an
inch in diameter costs now $40, and one with
u 4 l,O0O of an inch can be bought for 50 80
In drawing very fine wire several plates are
used, all wires below $1,000 of an inch re-
quiring intermediate pleats, owing TO the
lack of tensile strength. Platinum is used
for the smallest wire that can be drawn.
The cross web in fine microscopes is of plat
mum.
Additional investigations in the new
iron fields in the Mesaba Range, 30 miles
north of Duluth and almost midway be-
tween that city and the Vernillion Range,
show that the recent discoveries are among
the most wonderful yet made in this coun-
try. Experts estimate that in the half dozen
locations now being developed about 30, ,000-
900 tons of the best Bessemer ore are in
sight
An experiment is being made in ship
ping fresh salmon from the Pacific coast
to Europe. If it be successful fresh salmon
will be shipped hereafter instead of canned
Thirty thousand pounds of fresh
salmon was shipped in car from Frazer
River last week, going by way OF the Cana
the cold storage room Of German steam
ship, to Hamburg
When cat died natural death in an
Egyptian house the occupants of the dwell
ing went into mourning and shaved off their
eyebrows. When q fire occurred they were
more anxious to save the cats than to ex-
tinguish the contlagration- Nevertheless in
some parts of the same country cats were
as unclean animals, for creature
which was considered sacred in one town
was often viewed with horror as impure in
D neighboring city.
-Cuttle-fshes of several species, big
and Httle are sold in many of the markets
of the world. particularly in China and
Japan. They are much eaten in Chile. Ger
tain kinds, called octopuses because they
have eight arms, are caught in the Mediter-
ranean and salted and picked chiefly for
in Greece. Octopods are also
hunted in Puget Sound by the Indians on
the Coast who are skilled in Spearing them
from canoes. Often they are big enough to
be dangerous antagonists
An electrical pool table is the latest
electrical novelty. Contact buttons are so
arranged in front of the pockets that when
| ball rolls into the pocket it strikes the but
ON and the point made is recorded by an
on the wall of the room. The
;ame principle has been applied to pin
POOL table. Push buttons are arranged in
place of the pins on an ordinary pool table,
md the balls passing over the buttons
-ecord the count on the annunciator, and
he score is kept automatically and accu-
,ately.