Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-09
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


Europe has $4,000 match factories.
The rabbis say Cain killed Abel with .
club.
Only one man in 2O3 is over feet In
height.
Iron pavements were first laid in Lon
don in 1917.
Ginger essence contains twice as much
alcohol as whisky.
| Heath is South African plant which
came to Europe in IVA.
The Paris sewers are the largest and
most complete in the world.
Baking bread, cakes and pies became q
profession in Greece 3. c. 49,
The Phenicians were the first to EN-.
ploy engineers to forstfy cities.
Several thousands of hairpins, in manv
styles, have been recovered from Pompeif-
In 1891 the number of newspapers pub-
lished in the United States and Canada was
1888.
AT banquets, in Queen Elizabeth's
time, every guest came with his spoon in his
pocket.
The word "encore'' was first used In
English theaters in ITO and gave great
offense.
Greek and Roman architects placed
earthen jugs in the walls of tneaters TO in.
crease the resonance.
-Ninety-four elementary substances are
used in cotton dyeing with several thoa.
sands of combinations.
The Egyptians ascribed the invention
of weaving to Isis; the Greek to Minerva.
and the Peruvians to Mapco Capac
About 1870, women adopted a kind Of
doubtlet, or breeches. to be worn under the
gown, that they might the more easily use
mems saddles and stirrups.
The Suez Canal, the greatest work of
marine engineering, is SO miles long, and re-
duces the distance from Europe to India
from II ,S79 miles to ., CPS miles.
-Pulque is the Mexican drink made By
fermenting the juice of the agave. It's dis
tinctive popularity is its SMELL which re-
selnoleS that of putrid meat.
-Ude says: "What Bacon was to phil
osophy, Dante tn poetry. Angelo to painting,
Columbus to geography, Galileo to astron-
omy, Gonthier was to cooking"
Prof ]. Wortley Axe estimates that
upward Of 5000 horses annually die or ara
killed in London, and of these about half
| succumb to accidents or inhrmity.
Mount Ararat, the resting place of the
Scriptural ark, is, in reality, two mountains
separated by valley. Tie higher neak IL
1910 !eet, and the lesser 5000 ieet above sea
level.
The ordinary folding fan is said to have
been invented in Japan, in the seventh GEN.
tury, by q native artist, who derived the
idea from the way in which the bat closes its
wings.
In 1880 black masks were worn In
public by ladies Of all ranks. The mask
was held in place by ribbons passed behind
the ears, or By glass button held between
the teeth.
There are some roomy theaters in this
country, but none that comes up to the old
theater of IEmilius Seavrius, at Rome. which
comfortably seated $1,000 persons. 1t was
built $50 years ago.
The surfaces of nearly all the conti-
nents and islands have at one time formed
portions of the oceans floor. They have
risen from the water partly because of the
retreat Of the waters.
When resident of Rolls county, Mo-,
went to cast his vote on election day he
found thnt ne was several sizes larger than
the voting booth. The Sheriff was obliged
to construct for him a screen made of horse
blankets.
The smallest coin ever struck in this
country was a half-cent, which was issued
between 1913 and 1857. China is the only
country that has coin so small as our mill;
the Chinese "cash" is worth about one-tenth
of a cent.
Here is an idea of what little spot of
land may do in the way of production: The
Island of Jamaica sells annually to the
United States bananas exceeding in value
the entire apple, peach and cherry crops of
that country.
The estimated wealth of the United
States-that is, the value OF all lands, build
ings. railways, etc.,-is put at s64, 900, 100000
The amount OF money of all kinds is esti-
mated by the Secretary Of the Treasury to
be 81, los, l3O,092
Oysters come nearer to milk than al
most any other common food material as
regards both the amounts and the relative
proportion of nutrients the food values OF
equal weights of milk and oysters being
nearly the same.
The sea water originally put in the
great aquariums at the Crystal Palace, Sy-
denham, in 1854, is said to be still used
there having been used over and over since
that time, record without parallel in the
history OF similar institutions.
In addition to the ordinary coins we'll
known in the United Uingdom, the Mint
produces silver and bronze pieces in cents
for Canada. piastres and haIfpiastres tor
Cyprus. cent pieces for Hong Kong, nickel
pence and farthings for Jamaica, and cent
pieces for the Straits Settlements.
AN Australian pearl diver says that one
of the strange effects OF diving is the invari-
able bad temper felt while working at the
bottom OF the sea. As this usually passes
away as soon as the surface is reached, it 10
probably due to the pressure of the air af.
fectlng the lungs, and through them the
brain.
The Norman term "maire," afterward
Anglicized into "maYor," was introduced in
the reign of Henry IL. and it was King John
who first granted the citizens of London the
right of electing a mayor annually. The
prefix of '1OTd'' and the style OF "righs
honorable were granted by Edward I'LL,
in 1854.
PIROUETTEs FROM PUCK.
Mrs Eosdicl (readino the neMsnanerl-