Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-06-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

in the United States there are 3,643
Free Masons and 6l747l Odd Fellows.
| A shark caught off the Irish coast In
1852 measured 81 feet in length and the
| weight of its liver was more than two TONS
Card playing was a favorite diversion
as far back az Shakespeare's time. Inc
| principal games then played are now un.
known, such as primers. "gleeK, na"'
| "ruff," and "knave out of doors"
-Shakespeare's expression, "false as
dicers' oaths," bears strictly in his own
| time. At the period of the Restoration false
dice were called fulhams, from having Deen
manufactured in a town Of that name.
"A stream near Tucson, Ariz, petrifies
all soft substance thrown into it. 1t is in the
great Colorado potato beetle belt and at the
time of their migrations thousands OF them
strike the water ana are converted into solid
stone.
Many English surnames end in ford,
ham (house), lea, ton (farm) and by dwell
ing). from the old practice of naming per-
sons after their native place. Aylesford,
GrfmstOn, Habersham and Ormsby are ex-
amples.
"A return card sent from London to Hong
Kong via Vancouver on the 18th of Marcn
reached its destination April 2S. and within
three hours was on its way to London on
p. & o. steamer, arriving in London May 30,
or around the world in 10 days.
The Empire of China, covering an area
of 1000, 600 square kilometers. now has pop
ulation of $50 900, 900, or about SO inhabitants
to the square kilometer. Ho-Nan is the most
thfckiy populated province having about 2l0
persons to the square kilometer.
Although it may not be generally known
the woods OF Northern British America are
still infested by h undreds OF queer species
of bison known as the woods buffalo" He
is much larger than the bison Of the plains,
which formerly abounded in such numbers.
An ingenious lock has been invented
by which doors, etc., may be locked from q
distance electrically 1t is specially applica-
Bile for doors in private and business houses
and offices, where absolute privacy is needed
or desired. The lock is operated by simply
turning switch.
"A resident of Huntingdon advertised
recently that he could prove that in spiritual
ism is a remedy for all pain. He proposes
to place himself under the surgeons knife,
and allow himself to be cut open, his heart
removed, his lungs cut in halves, and other
acknowledgements made to prove that he Is
right.
One of the most expert money handlers
in the Treasury Department. at Washington
is q woman, who has the remarkable record
of counting 5000 coins in a single day. So
delicate and sensitive is her sense of touch
that even when counting at this tremendous
rate she detects false coin with unerring
instinct.
I'm Mindinac, the farthest southeastern
island in the Philippine group, upon one of
its mountains, the Volcanic Apo, a party Of
botanical and ethnographical explorers
found recently, at q height of 2, 500 feet a bove
the sea level, a colossal flower, as large as q
carriage wheel, in fact. 1t is the largest
flower known.
Bombay. India has opened magnificent
new water works, supplying the city by
gravity with 81, ,0OO, 600 gallons of water daily.
The water is brought from great artificial
lake and passes Though 81 miles of tunnels.
The water works, including the dam and
aqueducts, are among the famous engineer
ing works of the time.
The bodies of the spiders of Ceylon are
very handsomely decorated, being bright
gold or scarlet underneath, while the upper
part IS covered with the most delicate slate
colored fur. So strong are the webs that
birds the size of larks are frequently caught
therein, and even the small but powerful
scaly lizard falls its victim.
In that enormous waste known as the
Cobb Desert, north of China, showers some
times fall during the summer, and the tor
rents of a day fill the dried-up water-courses
through which water seldom runs. 1t is in
these channels that the Mongols dig their
wells, expecting to find u little water, when
upon the surface of the plateau itself the
soil has lost all traces of humidity.
1t is said that in China the wife is very
seldom mentioned by her husband, but
when he does mention her it is always in
some rounds bout way. He has some name
that he calls her in his f1owery language,
which takes the place of the word ''wife"
One man calls his wife "my. hand the
clothes:' another calls her "rny dull com.
panion;' another my thorn in the ribs;n
another describes her as "the mean one of
the inner rooms"
The first commercial intercourse of the
English with the East Indies was private
adventure OF three ships fitted out in 1891.
Only one Of them reached India, and, after
a voyage OF three years, the commander,
Captain Lancaster was brought home in
another ship, the sailors having seized his
own: but his information gave rise to a
mercantile voyage and the establishment of
a company, whose first charter, in Decem.
ber, 1000, was renewed in 1903.
"A great rarity, in the shape of an
Aepyornis egg, has been exhibited at the
Geological Society. London. This huge egg
is as nearly as possible foot long, and the
specimen in question is valued at about $500,
SO that it rivals the egg of the great aux,
which fetches such fancy prices. The eggs
are occasionally found in Madagascar, but
only few of them have ever turned up.
The. bird which laid them is only imper-
fectly known, from fragments.
The sacred fires of India have not all
been extinguished. The most ancient which
still exists g. was consecrated IL centuries ago
in commemoration of the voyage made bv
the Parsees when they emigated from Persia
to India. The fire is fed five times every "a
hours with sandal wood and other fragrant
materials, combined with very dry fuel.
This fire. in the village of odwada, near
Bulsar, is visited by the Parsees in large
numbers during the months allotted to the
presiding genius of fire.
"A German cotemporary notes as re-
markable historical fact that for nearly 200
years no son of a monarch of France ever
succeeded his father ON the throne. Louis
XIV. succeeded his grandfather, Louis XIV.
Louis XVI. was the grandson of Louis XIV.
Louis XVIII was the brother of Louis XVI
Louis Philippe came to the throne on the
remuneration of the crown by Charles x,
who was the brother of Louis XVIII. Ma
poeon III. was the nephew of Napoleon l.,
and closed the long line of crowned heads in
France.