Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-24
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

Chicago people used 63,552, 0Oo, 900 gal
Ions of water last year.
Every fifth boy in India is at school,
and only every fifteenth girl.
"A new medicine just discovered 10
called isobutylorthoeresoliodi
There are q, 900 cases on the docket Of
the United States Court of Claims.
-Gunpowder was discovered from the
falling of spark on some materials mixed
in mortar.
Pendulum clocks were invented after
Gailleo stood observing the lamp in church
swinging to and fro.
-Dona Isadora Cousino, of Chile. is wsssa.
$500 0o0,O 600, making her the richest woman, n
not the richest person, in the world.
On farm at Palmyra, Me-, is q tree
utterly devoid OF bark. Its trunk is smooth
and Of q light buff color, ana the tree -four
tshes finely.
"A brood of chickens was Matched near
Madfsonvflle, La, last week, one of which
began growing when it was three days old,
and has continued to crow ever since.
The total estimated investment in
electrical industries in the United States at
the close of 1891 was s7OO COO 600, one-half of
which was invested in electric light COM
panleS and electric railways.
"A superstition of this kind is current:
Anyone that has an empty purse should be
careful that the moon does not shine in it, or
else that purse will not have anything In 1t
as long as the moon doth last.
The number of suicides is not iucreas-
ing largely in Prussia, as is generally sup
posed II 1888 IL was Gill; in 1884, $500: in
1885, 6,02s in 1886, 62i2; in 1887 $500: in 1855,
1888; in 1852 5,6l5, and in 1890, $685.
"A lady in Springfield has a large cage
full of red birds. She owned at first one
tame red bird. and one wild bird after an
other came visiting him till the cage was
occupied by the voluntary captives.
The total force in the naval service
afloat in 1890 was SO, 359 officers and men, of
whom 30,020 were between the ages of l5 and
"a, 1870 between 25 and IS, $3.50 between IS
and 40, and $40 above As years of age
The falls of the Anio at Tivoli are to be
utilized for the lighting OF Rome. A turbine
plant of 1000 horse power has been put
down, which is capable of driving dynamos
currents at 5000 volts pressure.
The cocoloba wood or seaside grape, .
product of Florida, is becoming popular for
knife handles, the pink and violet tint of
the wood. added to its great hardness, max
ing it very desirable for that special pur-
pose.
City exhibits with pride a canary sitting
on four eggs in a nest with a bird less than .
month old from her latest Matching. Six
others of her brood perished in the cold Of
two weeks ago.
That anomaly, woman hermit, NAV be
found in Glynn county, Ca, in the person Of
Miss Ann Piper, who has spoken to but three
persons in the past l6 years. Although she
lives within two miles of q railroad she has
never seen train
"A Canadian electrician states that cleo,
tricity causes the tides, and demonstrates 10
by electrifying a rubber comb by rubbing 10
through the hair, and then drawing it over
the top OF glass filled with water, the re-
suit being that the tidal wave follows the
comb.
The forms of sea life in the upper por-
ton of the ocean waters may descend to q
depth of 200 feet or so from the surface, but
there then succeeds Il barren zone, which
continues to within $50 to 800 feet from the
bottom, where the deep sea animals begin to
appear.
Dealers in human hair recall the in
structive fact that the panic Of 1s784 sud
denly stimulated the trade among the
French Canadians. The hardships of that
period drove the women to selling their
hair, and considerable quantities were sent
to the United states.
TIT has been estimated,'" saws tho
Tropical Florida, that there is in this State
'50, ,00O, 900 tons of moss hanging on our trees.
This, when gathered an cured, is worth
,ents per pound at our doors. II it is worth
cent a pound it would amount to the
,normous sum of 81, 900. "
The coolest region in the United States
les along the northern border OF Minnesota,
,etween the southern point of the Lake Of
he Woods and the Dakota border. The tenn
>erature along that line often falls as low as
100 below zero. In 1878 the instruments at
eembina registered from $50 to go below.
There is a tree about 40 miles from
Charleston, N. C., which Is 81 feet in circum-
erence near the ground and divides into
I've enormous branches, each of which
would make a fine tree. The tips of the
branches nearly touch the ground at about
o yards from the trunk. II is live oak.
The italian peasant probably consumes
more flour than the peasant of any other
European country, because the manufacture
Of flour into various forms of macaroni Is
common in all the poorer Italian house.
iolds. Italians are peculiarly ingenius also
n their treatment OF dough, which they
make into many curious and appetizing
orms.
The diamond to be cut is mounted in
older, contained in brass cup at the end
II a piece of copper wire, which is held in
ongs on the mill disc. The revolving disc
) charged with diamond dust and oil, pre-
enting, so to speak a diamond surface, upon
which the diamonds, soldered in a cup, are
ut and polished. The mills run 2, 600 revolu-
ions per minute.
The most wonderful woodpile on record
3 owned by a man Of Oxford connty, Me. In
he pile of eight cords, all cut from one
iece of forest, are no fewer than 20 different
inds of wood, viz, white birch, yellow
irch. white maple, rock maple, white ash,
rown ash, black cherry, wild cherry, apple
rec, elder, beech, moosewood, willow, FIR,
ogwood, spruce, sugar plum, elm, poplar
nd hemlock.
"A new penny-in-the-slot machine has
cen fitted up in England for the collection
( letters. 1t is in electrical connection with
ne Postal Telegraph office opposite the sta
on On dropping penny into the slot and
ulling out the slide, a brown colored en-
elope containing another envelope and
ard appears. The act of Withdrawing the
ide sends the call signal to the telegraph
tfice ana a messenger is at once dispatched
, the station to take the message.
rr7N