Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-02-21
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

1t cost Glasgow waxworks proprietor
| Is. per mile recently to convey a lion by
rail from London to Glasgow.
Fifty per cent of the books taken for
perusal from the public libraries of Paris,
London and New York, are works OF fiction.
In almost every school of the Mikado's
empire it is the custom one day in the
autumn to take the pupils out rabbit-hunt-
| ing.
of the half hundred titled doctors in
England only one is veterinary surgeon, and
ne lives at Windsor and treats the Queens
horses.
Railway schools for children of railway
employees are maintained by the railway
companies Of India, at very small expense
TO the pupils.
The total revenue of the charitable in
stitutions having their headquarters in Lob
don amounted last year to over six million
sterling-or, to be precise, .s6,060,763
One of the Ameer's latest acts is to
order that funeral expenses be cut down,
because OF q verse of the Koran which con-
demns prodigals to the lower world.
The voyage to Liberia takes 50 days by
sailing vessel In 20 years. during which
there have been nearly 200 enigrations.
there has not been a case of loss or disaster.
The early lake dwellers in this country
wrapped their fishhooks with charms man
ufactured from various animal substances,
the bats being put on outside. They i'm.
fetishes
The lighting of steam cars in Europe
appears to be becoming quite common. The
Jura-Simplon (steam) Railway, Switzerland
has lso of its vehicles including so passen-
ger cars, lighted by electricity from storage
batteries.
The Lancashire County Asylum at
Prestwich, with $500 patients, and Colnev
Hatch, IN hiddlesex, six miles north from
London with accommodation for 225O
England.
There are over 900 islands under the
nag OF Japan, and in Georgian Bay, the
north extension of Lake Huron, where we
nnd very few islands on the map, there are
IN reality several thousand islands, most Of
tnem, OF course, quite small.
The past year has been one of the worst
business years ever known in Saxony,
Over 10000 distress warrants were issued in
Dresden alone-an increase of nearly 90 per
cent, and the number of bailiffs has had to
be considerably augmented
The Austrian Government has enlarged
the boundaries of Vienna to such an extent
that the metropolitan area is now halfas
large as London, twice as large as Paris and
three times larger than Berlin Yet Vienna
past.
Throw pebble into q pond and then
think of the sad fate of old Mother Earth IL
she should fall into the sun spot now visible
with the aid of a bit of colored glass Ac-
cordfng to one idea the disturbed area is
i4o, 900 miles long and about 100000 miles
wide.
The smallest man in the world is said
to be a midget from Holland, "a years of age,
who calls himself "Prince Mignon." and who
is exhibiting in Berlin. This little chap is
exactly two feet high, and is a perfectly
formed human being; his performances as
an acrobat are really wonderful.
The Earl of Rosse's famous American
aloe, which, on completing the hundredth
year of its existence last August, suddenly
bloomed into flower and rose to a height Of
% feet, has now further verified the ira
ditions of its species by dying and leaving
seedlings spr1nging up at its base
Careful observation and comparisons
made by scientific Americans prove that the
hottest region on earth is on the southwest
srn coast of Persia, where that country
borders the gulf of the same name The
thermometer never falls below 1902 at night
and frequently runs up to 1880 in the after
noon.
According to the epilogue writer of the
seventeenth century it was then easy to dis
anguish the country from the town gallant
n a theater, the latter being known by put
ing his periwig in order with a comb, while
lis provincial brother wns content to atrafn
he same object with four fingers and
humb.
of the IA, 119 miles of railway which are
pened in England and Wales, 1904 have
Iouble or more rails, and 5,025 single. In
however, the proportion is very
Iifferent. There, of the 3, 162 miles, 1,292 are
louble and so are single And in Ireland
he matter is much worse; there only sos
niles are double as against 2, ,1s9 single, out
# q total of 2, ,792 miles.
There is mention Of steel in yery an
lent Chinese writings, and an account Of
he process of manufacture by one writer
bout 400 B. c., and various descriptive aIlu-
ions to it, implying considerable amount
f knowledge and power of discrimination
us subsequent periods down to the present
ay, when it is still a hourishing branch OF
heir manufacture.
st. Valentine was bishop noted for his
entleness and charity, who was beheaded
i Rome in 270 A. d. in the reign Of the EN-
eror Claudius. The day observed in COM
of him by the early Christian
t first entirely religious, but in recognition
the personal character of the saint the
ties were such as to pay a tribute to his
lildness and charity.
An underground lake has been discov-
red three miles from Genesse, Ida. 1t was
,und by well digger. At depth of l6
,et clear, pure lake water ran out over the
1rface for q time, then settled back to
le earth's level. The most curious
art of 1t Is that fish were brought
, the surface by the overflow. They havea
ocular appearance and are sightless IN
cating that they are underground fish.
he spring has attracted much attention,
Id many farmers in the vicinity fear that
Ieir farms will drop into the lake.
An animal growing between the high
i'd low water marks on the Japanese coasts
a mud worm called ISABELLA. 1t occupies
.rd limY tube of its own making, and gets
, food, when the high tide comes mp over
, hiding place, by thrusting out head
lshy with tentacles, and sucking in cur
nts of water loaded with minute particles
nutriment Out of this wriggling creature
Q shore people make a soup, which is true
rmi icelli, not paste imitation of "1fttle
ormsl' and is said to taste as badly as 10
lells.