Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-25
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

Seven hundred Columbus biographies
are extant.
The fy honeysuckle came from South
/ Africa in 1f5e.
New York City lays claim to over 500
Womea bicycle riders.
In Chin& every village has It's theatery
every city has several
Catherine de Medici imported mufs
into France from Italy.
Pork was the most highly esteemed
flesh at the Roman table.
The telephone has been known in In
dia for thousands of years
Many suits of armor worn in the four
teenth century weighed rs pounds each.
Roman ladies dress their locks in
eight different styles with numberless Tari-
atlons.
Sparkling champagne was the disco7-
cry or Petrus PerIgnon, a monk, who died
in 17l5
The shield of Hector, when slung at his
back in walking, covered the body from
neck to heel.
-Four-ffths of the engines now working
in the world have been constructed during
the last 25 years.
Among the French dsinties of the
fifteenth century were fried leeches and
hAshod porpoise-
The Union Pacific has Is long and .
great number of short tunnels, the aggrs-
gate length being 5000 feet.
During last year the number of electric
railways increased from 3S5 to 469 the capt.
tai stock rom sl55,Os7,s7S to Sos 81, 900, and
the mileage from 1916 to 5,446 miles
1t is reported that there is coal famine
in South Dakota and the farmers of that
State have been compelled to resort to
primitive fuel in the shape OF twisted hay.
"A hay saver consisting of three-sided
device which enables the horse TO insert his
head into the manger, but does not permit
ton
The stewards of St Nicholas Society,
New York, have an annual 'ttesting dinner"
prior to each regular annual dinner in order
to decide upon the caterer whom the society
shall Datronize.
-Four thousand new postofices were
established during the past year, and 557, ,615
unmailable letters poured in the boxes, S2,-
6l2 or them wholly without any outside sign,
symbol or address.
Our boldest bridge jumpers were out
done by Sam Patch of the middle ages, the
Austrian Knight Harras, who survived q
leap from the top of cliff to the valley of
the Zohoppan river, a vertical distance of
400 feet.
In England, France, Germany and Bel
GUM the number of births per thousand Of
population is steadily falling. The rate of
decrease is slower in some of these eoun-
tries but is marked in al.
ALI the gold in the world mot counting
that still in virgin state) would not make
~ C11
cube of the above dimensions could be put
in q room "a feet each way.
DR. Richardson, an English physician,
who has investigated the matter, states
that the men who are employed in the Paris
sewers as healthy as the average person,
and no other 800 men in that city are SO free
from Zymotic diseases.
"A new genus and species of blind cave
salamander is reported by Mr.. L. steinger in
the proceedings of the United States Ma
tlonal Museum" The discovery of such an
animal in North America is regarded by the
writer as a most important and interesting
event
The best lighted city in Europe is
Milan. American machinery only is em-
pIoyed in its two central stations. A curious
feature of the system of distribution is that
the wires, instead of being carried on poles,
are suspended from the brackets under the
caves Of the houses
The State of Oregon has Sc nurseries,
covering 1875 acres and containing about
5000 900 young trees, and Orchardists have
upward of 100000 acres of growing trees
One-hRlf of this acreage is in prunes, one
fourth in apples, one-tsRth in apples, and
the remainder in various kinds of fruits.
1t is reported that the telephone has
been put to q new use at San Leandro. Cal.
According to the authority, O man who is
afflicted with leprosy was placed in a cabin
away from the hospital Afriend of his had
a telephone put in the cabin and connected
with the hospital, thus enabling the patient
to converse with his friends and acquaint-
ances.
The popular idea that water is purified
by freezing has been again disproved by re-
cent careful experiments, which show that
the average amount Of impurity retained
BY the ice is 34S per cent OF organic matter
and 2I2 per cent of inorganic matter AS
organic matter is the more Objectionable Of
the two, the case is worse than was formerly
supposed.
The waters of the oceans and seas of
our globe hold not less than 1000 900 OOO, ,OOO-
600 tons Of salt in suspension. If these fg-
ures are correct and the ocean should be en-
tirely dried up, there would be deposit OF
salt 450 deep over every loot OF the great
basin II taken out and spread upon what
is now dry land it would give us a salt cover
ing nearly $500 feet thick
Prof. Vircnow has analyzed "hunger-
brod," the bread eaten by the peasantry in
the famine-stricken districts of Russia, and
finds that it is much more nutritious than
the rye bread made in Germany. The latter,
according to an analysis OF bread baked in
Berlin, contains but 6.04 per cent of albumen
and 0.48 per cent OF fat, while the "hunger-
brod' contains 1l-79 per cent of albumen and
S.79 of fat.
The severity of British justice was we'll
Illustrated at Northampton the other day,
where trial for murder was in progress.
The jury having been permitted to partake
Of lunch in their room. one of their num-
Der took this opportunity to step out and
post a letter. The Judge, hearing OF this,
gave the offending juror strong
lecture and fined him $50 He dismissed the
ury, and q new one was nmpanelled.
I'm Shskespeare's day there was no seem
sry used on the stage; the only decorations
we're tapestries and curtains In those days
The actors and actresses had to do more than
merely repeat their lines: they had TO supply
The scenic effect-whae little there was-as
we'll as the action of the performance. They
mad no races with real horses and a moving
1anorama, nor any saw mill, with a real
Juzz saw and real logs, to fall back upon.
The professors in the colleges of Spain
IRE miserably underpaid, often receiving no
nore than 500 per year. They endeavor to
make o small profit ont Of their textbooks,
zach requiring his own book to be used.
These books are frequently in manuscript,
)r, If printed, are sold at unusual prices
luence to secondhand shops and the annual
air, where q speciality Is made of collegiate
extbooks-