Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-05
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The cost per family OF 1000 In the
United States is s24S So year, against s222 81
in Europe.
-Danyille, Ind, has a cat which rings
the bell whenever she wants to be admitted
to the house.
Eagles measuring from 2 to IL feet from
tip to tip are common in the neighborhood
OF Albany, Ore.
"A woodtick has been discoveredfin Cal
ifornia that Kills cattle and horsessby sap
ping their blood.
Let a rat come near a elamshen and IL
the clam is alive it will seize the animal by
the tail and never let go till the tail comes on
"A hundred and twenty-seven years ago
England seized the first eight bales of cot
ton raised in the South and declared its pro-
duction should cease.
"A Polish chemist has discovered that
liquid oxygen is not colorless. In layer Of
it 30 millimeters thick he finds that 1t has .
bright sky blue color.
During the exhibition in Edinburg,
Scotland, there were over loo, 600 persons car.
ried in electric launches along the canal
from the city to the exhibition.
The hair dressing of ladies was an ex-
pensive affair in the sixteenth century.
Queen Elizabeth at one time was possessed
ofno fewer than go attires of false hair.
"A new parasite has been discovered
which infects paper money and is found no.
where else. 1t is in visible to the unassisted
eve, does not attach itself to persons, but
nultlplles at rapid rate.
"A Chicago guide book for the use Of in
tending English visitors advises them noe
to buy an outfit before coming, but to get
their clothes in Chicago, "in order not to at
tract attention by the different cut of their
garments.
1t now requires but 13 pounds of water
converted into steam, with pressure of IT'S
to 200 pounds in the boiler, to secure one
horse power with a triple expansion engine.
By the use of one-third more coal the press
ure in the boiler and the horse power can
be doubled.
I'm Durham, Me-, a cat was shut up in
the Masonic Hall at the October meeting of
the lodge and forgotten until the day of the
November meeting, just a month afterward.
Puss had torn all the paper OF the walls in
her efforts to escape, and was very thin but
still kicking when released.
I'm the group of great rivers the st. Law
renee is the most remarkable. 1t constitutes
by far the largest body of fresh waterin the
world. Including lakes and streams, the st.
Lawrence covers about 5000 square miles;
the aggregate. it is estimated, represents not
less than 5000 solid miles of water.
I'm 1016 an awful famine ragged through
out all Europe, and again from 1193 to 1l95,
when complete crop failures caused terrible
suffering. In England and France the peo-
pie ate the flesh of dogs and cats, and many
cases of canniDalism were recorded. During
the latter three years thousands upon
thousands perished from starvation.
The Arabs believe that the date palm
brings happiness and contentment TO the
country in which it grows. 1t is beautiful
tree, tall and straight, sometimes reaching
Ia;-~ %~FG q fr<,,,
feet long, and the spadices, or fruit-bearing
branches grow from $50 to 200 dates each; a
bunch of dates weighs from 20 to 25 pounds.
The French Kongo country is five times
the size of France. It is believed that it
contains 5000 600 people, and more than half
of them are Pahouins, as De Brazza calls
them, or Fans, as Du Chaillu made them
known. Those who know them best say
their name is properly Fangs. They are by
far the most remarkable people in West
Africa.
The leopard is an inhabitant of Africa
India and the Indian Islands. Its height is
about two feet. These animals are accus-
toned to live much on trees, and on that
account are called tree-tigers by the enatives.
They are easily tanned and become very fond
of their keepers, and they like perfume as
well as most girls do, showing decided pref
erence. however, for lavender water.
Ventura county, Cal, is the most pro-
life bean-growing section in the world. One
ranch OF 200 acres has produced ,030 tons
of Lima beans this year. 1t took 81, 900 sacks
to hold the crop. and they will I'LL about l03
cars on an average of ten tons to the car.
This will make eight or nine solid trains of
beans. But this is only from one ranch.
The railroad company expects to handle
1,500 car loads of beans on the Ventura di-
vision this year.
Biographies claim that there are Is
rivers on the globe which have a total length
of over 200 miles. OF these, two-the Mis-
sissippi from the source of the Missouri in
the Rocky Mountains to the Eads Jetties,
and the Amazon, from the source of the
Beni to the Isle of Marajo-ar over 1000
miles in length; to be exact, the former is
1900 and the latter 4,029 miles from the
source to the place where their waters are
mingled with those of the ocean.
People commonly imagine that in speak
ing of dogs they are referring TO single
species which has many varieties. But in
reality the name is merely a conventional
one under which are grouped in popular
parlance all of the domesticated canide-
The North American coyote IS in fact much
nearer to the greyhound zoologlcally speak
ing than the pug is. 1t is simply a wild dog.
So is the wolf likewise. From just such wild
types mans faithful four-foOted friends are
descended.
A German lady living in Manchester,
England, possesses what IS supposed to be
the largest Bible, in one volume, IN the
world 1t is an HEIRLOOM 200 years old, with
payes two feet long, and but little less in
width, and at the head of each page is line
in red ink, which translated reads, "This is
a history" Another resident of the same
CITY has compiled, so to speak, Bible in 30
volumes, his additions to the text consisting
of pictures and photographs which he has
collected to the number of nearly 10000
The ancient Egyptian cat was the prog
eny of n species that is wild in that country
today, being known as the felis naniculata.
This latter may be regarded as the ancestor
of nearly all existing pussies of domeSti-
Gated varieties. Its descendants were
brought from Egypt to Greece and Rome,
whence they spread over Europe. When
the Romans invaded Britain they found
plenty of wild cats in the woods, but the
people owned no tame ones. The feliS man.
iculata is of a yellowish color, darker on the
back and whitsh on tho belly, with obscure
stripes on the body and 81 tail ringed toward
the end. Doubtless some domesticated cats
are derived from different origins, as is pre-
sunably the case with the Angora or Per-
sian variety, which is thought to be de-
scended from an Asiatic wildcat.