Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-07-09
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

An express engine consumes ten gallons
| Of water per mile.
-Constantinople is the most drunken
| city in the world
The coffee palaces of Melbourne are the
finest in the world.
American factories produce $1,000
watches every week
The new fourth-class at West Point
will contain 206 members.
Every square mile of the sea contains
, 120, 900 900 fish of various kinds.
The cost of one-man sea-dlVing ap-
paratus for a depth of 200 feet is 500.
"A Hebrew soap mandatory has re-
Gently been established near Jerusalem.
Some of the African tribes pull their
fingers till the joints crack as form of salu-
tation.
Pupils in the schools Of japan are
taken out rabbit hunting one day In every
autumn.
The only Arabic newspaper published
in America is the Ka,oba6 American, printed
in New York City.
AT Quito, the only city in the world on
the line of the equator. the sun sets and rises
at o'clock the year round.
The smallest newspaper in the world
is Ey Telegram. published in Guadalajara,
Mexico. 1t is four inches square.
I'm all England there are only Sc
school boards which do not provide for
ligious instruction by the teacher.
The smallest known insect, the etera
tomas punamil, a parasite of the ichneuman,
is about one-nineteenth of an inch in length.
Lately there were 81 child candidates
for admission to the Asylum for the Deaf
and Dumb, London, of whom 25 were elected.
"A ton of steel made up into hair springs
when in watches is worth more than 12H
times the value of the same weight in pure
gold.
Sweden ranks first in the number of
women graduates in medicine, philology and
Jurisprudence in proportion to her popula-
tion-
The celebrated "Emperor's Goblet"
in the possession of the municipality Of
Osnabruck, has been sold to Baron Roths-
child, of Frankfort, for f5000O.
The largest schooner in the last pub
lished Government list is the Golden Age,
176S tons, built at Abbott's Bridge, o., in
1883, and hailing from Sandusky.
A London street preacher, recently ar
rested, proved to be the pal of pickpockets.
He drew a crowd and prayed while his ac-
comp1ces preyed upon the crowd.
AN Ohio inventor has patented collar
in which the end buttonholes are placed in
tabs of thinner material, thereby avoiding
the troble OF buttoning stiff band.
"A converted Chinaman who promised to
allow rice for while to any mother who
would spare a child who would otherwise be
destroyed, had at one time as many as 800
pensioners.
The concession granted by the Danish
Government for working the free port Of
Copenhagen is for so years, the Government,
however, reserving the right of taking it at
the end OF % years.
The rose crops in Bulgaria and France
have been so severely damaged by hoar
frosts and cold rains that there is scarcely
enough to supply the demands of the po-
made manufacturers.
The latest architectural novelty in Chi
cago is a book-shaped block, IL stories high,
to be known as the Mercantile Register.
"ThiS book will have steel bindings with
terra-cOtta trimmings"
"A new combination washer and nut lock
for railroad use has recently proved itself
very useful. The nut can be released and
tightened up with the greatest ease, an the
washer can be rinsed frequently.
An indianapolis man has invented
process for "'aging'' violins. He claims thes
in two weeks time he can impart TO any Or
dinary violin all the fullness and richness
of tone possessed by Stradivarius.
The new Boston directory for 1892, which
has just been issued, containes POS 352 names.
The number of new names added this year
is 46 405, but this is par TALLY offset by the
1898 names which have been erased
A number of epeayls. some of them
of considerable value, were found recently
in mussel shells on the shoals in White
river near Seymour, Ind. One man real
ized SIS from his find in few weeks.
"A curious way of attracting charity
has been devised in Vienna by the opening
of a sham battle of Custozza, in which the
Austrian troops, commanded by Archduke
AlDrecht, defeated the Italians in 1868.
-Berio, European bicyclist, owns the ,
lightest bicycle in the world. The tires
weigh > pounds ounces. The rear wheel
is % inches. The machine is geared to SO
inches. The rat trap pedals weigh only Ii
ounces.
The PERCENTAGE of poor to the general
Hebrew population of London is %, and
rather more than half the ''poor" receive
recurrent charitable relief. the proportion
of those thus relieved to the general Hebrew
population being 12.6 per cent
On one of the islands off the coast of
Maine lives a man, now so years old, who
was born there, and las never been off the
island. He has accumulated fortune in.
the grocery business and is content to live
and die on the few seagirt acres
After the Saline county Kan. cyclone
a Saline grocer missed a washing machine
which was standing on the pavement just
before the storm. 1t was picked up the
other day on the open prairie several miles
from Salina in a perfect state of preserve
tion.
"A couple of months ago Philadelphis
woman bought rustic table made of tho
boughs of some trees from which the bark
had not been removed. About two weeks
ago the table began to throw out green
sprouts, and now the whole table is in full
bloom.
"A watch for the blind is among thu
newest inventions. A small peg is set in tn
middle of each figure. When the hour han
reaches given hour the peg for that hou
drops. The sightless owner, when he wan
to know the tiIne finds which peg is dow
and then counts back to twelve.
"A coppersmith at the Bath, Me-, Ir
Works has hammered d miniature teakett
from a small copper cent. The small tt
kettle has swinging handle and moval
cover and nozzle. just as any teakettle
and water can be boiled in it. Robert Duf
er the maker, was eight hours on the job