Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-11-22
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The Swiss pike was 1S feet long.
In 1880 there were 2, ,S14 light houses in
the world.
-Bungs were first worn in the court Of
Louis XIV.
From 40 to 100 deer still live at large
| on Long Island.
Over so miles of pneumatic tubes are
now used in London.
In all the Austrian empire there are
but l55 periodicals OF every class.
Two farmers in Putpam county, Ind,
have spent s4O0 in litigation over 50 hog.
The smoky taste in Scotch whisky ID
duo to the use of peat in the manufacture.
| There is a colored prisoner working in
| the Alabama mines who can speak Il lam
| guages.
The first woman on the English stage
was Mrs. Coleman as Iunthe, in the Siege Of
| Rhodes, 1886.
The increase in the number of persons
| who wear glasses has been very marked
| within few years.
I'm the South Pacific ocean is found
wonderful species of the seaweed called the
vegetable boa constructor"
The population of many South Sea
islands manufacture their entire suits from
the prOQuctS OF DdIun trees.
in year the food eaten by q horse 10
nine times his weight; that of COW nine
times; that of an OK six times.
Sheet iron kites, to enable q vessel
when in distress to communicate with the
shore, have been suggested.
Switzerland has 1O1 telephone e1-
changes, 12,595 stations. 3225 miles of line
and limits each subscriber to 500 CONVEX
sations year.
"A Reading, England, family can prove
by local records that they and their ances-
tors have paid rent for their house no less
than 400 years.
There is a beast in the court of Prester
John called Arians, having four heads; it is
in shape like a wildcat and of the bigness Of
great mastif dog.
The 200 tons of bullion now piled up
in the treasury would, If coined into silver
dollars and placed edge to edge, make q
chain 10, 800 miles long.
Charles Wood, of .Harleston, England,
has a brood of white blackbirds, a fact which
| is vouched for by several prominent ornith-
ologists and naturalists.
Edgar Wakeman and other experts in
gypsy lore believe that they were the original
! fire worshipers, and cite many facts to prove
the correctness of their conclusions.
The Victoria railroad bridge over the
st. Lawrence at Montreal is two miles long,
cost over So 5000 and contains 10 800 tons
of iron and 3GOO, 900 cubic feet of masonry
-Australia's compass plant is double
larISspur, on which two coIors of flowers
grow, red on the north and blue on the
south. AS compass 1t Is perfectly reliable.
Catherine de Medici. aIwaye wore a
wide black skirt. black pointed bodies
with wing sleeves, black collar, ruff
shaped, and hood that came down in 4
point over the forehead.
I'm one sense stones grow; in another
they do not. The crystal may become
longer and larger, but the boulder on the
roadside will not increase a hairs breadth
in leEgth or width in the next 1000 years.
The salary of the Prince of Wales is
500, ,0co per year; Duke of Connaught, SIPS OOO;
Duke of Edinburgh, SIPS OOO and the Duke Of
Cambridge, the Queens cousin, $780, 900. The
royal family costs the British taxpayers
$40, 600 q week.
The balance of a watch gives vibra-
tions every second, 500 every minute, 5000
every hour, 432 0CO every day and l47 600
during the year! At each vibration it rO-
tates " times, or, say about 1877. 100 900 revo-
lutons u year.
July has proven a fatal month to Presi-
dents. John Adams, Thomas Jefferson,
James Monroe, Zachary Taylor, NJ. Van Bu-
rem, Andrew Johnson, U. S. Grant all died in
July. JdIneS A. TcCClN6Q ulS utdIu
wound in July.
-Gypsies know nothing whatever of
heaven or a future state of rest for the right
eous dead, their vocabulary having no word
that conforms with our words paradise"
"neayen," "beautfful city," etc. They know
of q god which they call "devil' and of q
devil called "being"
There are nine 110-ton guns in the Brit
ish navy at the present time. The projectfIe
a 5I,;r
or forts weighs exactly 1900 pounds and
leaves the muzzle with g velocity of q l06
feet per second. and has a destructive en-
ergy equal to 55305 foot tons.
Careful experiments have shown that
the rate per second at which bodies acquire
velocity in falling through the air is 81 feet
per second at the end of the first second
from starting. At the end OF the next sec
Aond it is going at the rate of ca feet per Sec
ond, and SO on through the whole time Of
falling.
The compass plant of Madagascar is
Towering lichen, growing only on species
of fir tree and always on the east side. Curl
ous scientists who have transplanted this
wonderful lichen in the great botanical
gardens OF Europe saw that ft changes its
Dosition to the north side Of trees as soon as
it becomes acclimated.
The French Minister of Public Instruc-
tfon has decided to preserve the home OF
Joan of Arc in Domremi as q museum in
which to illustrate her history. 1t will con-
tain models of the various statues raised
to her memory. copies of the paintings
showing various scenes in her life and the
pictures of her which are in the Pantheon.
"A new system of railway eonduits has
been invented which is dependent for its in
sulating qualities in wet weather upon the
principle of the diving-bell. The wires are
supported in the top of an inverted trough,
made in short sections with closed ends, but
open at the bottom, so that. when water his
the conduit, the air contained in the in
verted troughs will prevent the water from
rising to the height of the wires.
The Democrats of Ladonia, Mo-, cele-
brated the Democratic victory with a great
bonfire, ending with casting their hats In
the flames. Not content with this, they
seized the headgear of all the spectators
and burned it up. Then they paraded the
streets in squads, robbed every pedestrian
of his hat, and, carrying it to the fire, con.
signed it to the flames. The result Is that
nearly the whole male population Of the
town is hatless.