Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-15
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

adopt the Australian ballot system.
in Chicago there is an admirable legal
bureau which gives legal advice free to the
poor.
1t is said that II, 900 rosebuds were sold
by one New York florist the other day in two
hours.
1t is believed that the worlds popula-
ton is increasing at the rate of nearly s,oOo,-
600 year.
"A prisoner escaped from Sing Sing last
week in order that he might take his best
girl to picnic.
1t is stated that the Thomson-Houston
Electric Company has 1,o3o patents on its
electrical apparatus.
The Josephine (Orego-) caves have
been explored for about ten miles, and they
seem to run away into California
AN English physician has traced the
grip in many cases to infected postage
stamps on letters from persons suffering from
the disease.
The Swiss have done the least fighting
this century, and their only important out
breaks have been more Of q civil than
military character.
-Four railway companies, the Great
-yestern, the Great Eastern, the Southwest
ern and the Northwestern, bring into Lon
don about 100000 gallons of milk every
year.
1t is now generally held by electricians
that the principle of the aurora borealis ia
tho same as that shown by the Geissler tube.
in which electricity Is discharged through
rarefied air.
"A calf with six distinct feet, all of
which are used in walking, is reported from
Mooresv1lle, Ind. 1t is alleged that this
freak has brother endowed with an equal
number of feet.
Fluids which do not adhere. or are not
attracted upward by the sides of vessel,
sink round the brim and rise in the center.
Ehus mercury in a glass forms a convex sur
face, while water forms concave.
I'm the summer of 1889 4,039, 900 lobster
eggs were Matched and the young Holsters
planted around the head of Trinity BAY, the
eggs having been obtained from lobster
packing establishments in the vicinity
I'm discussion lately carried on as to
the distance ut which large objects on the
earth's surface are visible, it was stated that
the Hfmalaya Mountains have appeared to
view from the great distance of pa miles,
One of the finest opals in the world il
worn on his cap by the Chinese Minister at
Washington. 1t is as large as pigeons egg,
and is surrounded by damon ds The vaI1e
of the cap, with its ornament, is placed az
s., 600
Though the falls of Minnehaha have
gone dry, Minneapolis will supply an artifi-
cial cataract there while the National Re-
publican Convention is in session by layipp
pipes to connect the falls with the city water
works.
Electric welding is now applied to the
work of manufacturing iron wheels. The
process of Welding the hub, spol1es and tire
of wheel is accomplished in 80 seconds
mnrh ha ooh hrv
the old process.
"A new form of saddle is being served
out to the Garda du Corps experimentally
by order of the German Emperor. There
has been some talk in military circles lately
OF new saddle, all the metal parts of which
are made Of aluminium.
"A school teacher reports that everv two
years he had to buy a Bible, to replace one
roughly handled by his scholars; TT times in
81 years he made his pupils kneel on peas,
and 5,00l scholars had to do penance with a
ruler held oyer their heads.
"A few years ago the Baroness Burdett
Coutts came into possession of an abbrevi-
ated edition of a pony which was only u
inches in height, and was but IS inches in
length, counting from the end of the nose
straight across to the root of the tail.
The smallest inhabited island in the
world is that on which the Eddystone Light
diameter; at high water the lighthouse,
whose diameter at the base is 2s3I feet COM
pletely covers 1t. It is inhabited by three
persons.
-"Galigani" reports that rather curious
ceremony has taken place near Poitiers.
The electric light has just been laid on in the
parish of st. Philomen,a and the Bishop of the
diocese solemnly blessed the -dynamos. A
special ritual had been composed for the
ceremony.
-Itis impossible to fill glass completely
with any liquid, from rim to center. The
most common f1uids-such as water, milk, or
spirit-are' attracted from the sides of the
vessel into which they are placed, so that
they rise around the brim, leaving hollow
in the middle.
The sisal grass of Yucatan is one of tho
most remarkable vegetable products known.
1t grows in long blades, sometimes to the
length of four or five feet, and when dry the
blade curls up from side to side, making a
cord which is stronger than any cotton
string of equal size that has ever been manu-
factured.
AN insect of South America has Its
fangs so like the flower OF the orchid that
smaller insects are tempted into its jaws,
while certain spiders double themselves up
in the angle between the leafstalk and the
stem, and so closely resemble flower buds
that their unsuspecting prey approach to
their deStructlon.
The electric current on the 30th of
March, turned its first furrow in American
soil at the Kansas sorghum experimental
station. The motor developed ample power
to plow deep and fast, but it became evident
that rheostat OF resistance coil, such rs is
used in starting electric cars, is also nece5-
sary with the electric plow-
Electricity has now been applied to
stone carving-the blow being struck by
means of Carstarphen's electrical recipro-
eating tool. With this machine, the stone
cutter or the sculptor can devote his entire
attention to the lines his instrument is to
follow, while doing the work more rapidly
than by his own muscular power.
The first female knights are said to have
been women who stoutly defended Tortosa
against the Moors in 1149, and were reward
ed with large immunities for themselves and
their descendants. When Edward I'LL
founded the Garter he bestowed the robes
and badges on his Queen and on the wives
and daughters of the other knights.
I'm California it is found that peach
stones burn as well as the best coal, and
give out more heat in proportion to weight.
The stones taken out of the fruit that is
timed or dried is collected, and sold at the
rate of SIS ton. Apricot stones also burn,
but not so well as peach, and do not COM
nand so good price.