Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-03
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

The best champagne corks cost about
cents each.
This country mines 2O,OOO,OOO barrels
of salt year. '=@
The stones of the Pyramids were moved
| into place on rollers.
According to Andrew Lang Great
Britain has 100, coo novelists.
The earliest newspaper established in
| Sweden was founded in 1643.
In the last century it was fashionable
in England to go baldheaded.
On festive occasions both Roman and
Greek wore garlands OF flowers.
| -Gongs, bells and horns have been In
use as dinner calls since the eighth century.
-Vitellius, the Roman emperor had one
dish which cost 1000 sesserces, or over
$40 900.
I'm Shakespeare's day there was no
other scenery than tapestry hangings and
curtains.
| "A resident of Missouri recently fn-
ished guitar composed of over I,OOO pieces
| of wood.
| The Sandwich Islands become hilarious
on the juice of vegetable resembling the
beet root.
4 -hlIiR SDA4ACo oP1uACA puppies uOuLn
old easily bring $50 apiece, and when half
grown 800.
of NIissouri's 27 Governors only three
were born in the State. Ten of them came
| from Kentucky.
During the coming year France will
spend 81, ,9OO, ,Oc0 FOR arms and ammunition for
| the cavalry alone.
The Lord Mayor of London's badge Of
| Sl2O O0O and the temporary owner has to
! give bond forit before he Is sworn in.
Five thousand canaries were among the
passengers on the steamship Tauric, which
| arrived in New York on Monday from Liver
| pool. They were consigned to bird lancier
in that city.
The big panniers of 1920 were worn
with a "creaker,"'a q hustle made of linen
cloth. gummed and folded, which squeaked
| outrageously with the slightest movement
| of the wearer
The inhabitants of the Andaman islands
are the smallest race of known human
! beings-that is, taken as an average. The
/ height of fUll-2rown Andnmanian seldom
| exceeds 81 leet, and few weigh over 65
/ pounds.
| The tallest soldier of the German army,
| a trooper OF the First Regiment of Prussian
| Guards, IS feet 81 inches high. When he
| presented himself lor his uniform q special
| Instrument had to be procured to take his
| measure.
| 1t was not until the fifth century that
| in Europe priests began to shave their
\ crowns. The hoInan clergy then adopted
| the circular method, and shaved that small
| round spot on the top OF the head which IS
| known rs the tonsure.
| The "angry tree" attains a height of
| from 10 to 25 feet. 1t is found in Nevada,
| California and Arizona. If disturbed by
| contact or moved by the wind, it manifest5
| signs OF vexation, rufllin9 its leaves like the
hairs Of an angry cut and emitting sleken-
ing odor.
"A Vienna correspondent enters into de-
| tails respecting new rifle lately invented
| by Herr Won Mannlicher which he describes
| as u weapon OF terrible destrucriyeness. As
| many as l20 rounds per minute have been
| fired from ii, and it has no more recoil than
| d rock rifle.
Recent borings at Dover have proved
| the coalbed there to belong TO the upper
part of the middle carboniierous formation,
that is to say tie bed of coal found at Pas
oe- Calais Apparently, therefore, The bed
| extends under the Channel and Is part OF L
| great coal area uniting France and Eng
| land.
-'Teatite," soft, resinous substance
found in quantities i'll the Bear River Moun-
! taius, was unknown to the mineralogisJ
| known in otner quarters of the earth TX
4 p6Fts who have gwen it thorough tests are
i OF the opinion that twill finally become
amber OF tile finest qsaifty.
The annual report of Inspector General
I Dumont t, OF the steamboa: inspection service,
to the Secretary of the Treasury shows that
| the number Of passengers carried durin the
| year (partly estinated) 6G51, OOOOOo- Inc
| number of lives lost WAS 200, decrease OF
| l3S. OF the lives lost As were passengers and
1 ~ Off mud Of the EgGsplS
-Chrvsanthemum salad is the latest fad
at the London West End. 1t is claimed that
the flowers are eaten plain, with oils and
! vinegar boiled with butter, or mixed with
| truffies and cloves and steamed ChryS-
anthemum flowers as an article OF food are
| said to have been long in use in japan, from
| where the London fad is probably taken
There is a touch of humor in the fact
| that mosquito and musket are froIa the
| same roos, the Latin word for fly. One
| comes through the Spanish masca, Il fly; the
| other nrobubIy through the italian. The
| popular notion that the Mosquito coast of
| Central America give name to the Jersey
| pest is pIobably an inversion OF the true
| sequence.
-Among-the numerous presents sent to a
| Sbah of Persia by one of the Russian En-
perors was bedstead of extraordinary mag
nifcence. 1t is said to have been entirely
made of crystal, and was accessible BY step4
| of the same material all worked in imit:t-
| ton OF large diamonds, incrusted i'll solid
| frame On each side there were spouJS
| made to eject scented water, which by Its
murmuring invited sleep.
The shipment of live Holsters from this
side the Atlantic to England is declared by
| fishery experts in England to be impracti-
cable. Experiments were made last year,
but they have not been repeated this sea-
son, Under the most favorable eircqn-
stances the Holsters did not reach tine EIc
glisn market in a healthy condition, anu tne
| Governments exports deprecaTe any IurtheL
attempt to demonstrate the teasibllty o1 the
scheme.
Tine congresses held in Spain during tina
centennial commemoration almost rival IN
number and variety those that 1t Is pro
posed to hold in Chicago in 1895. They IN
cIude the c. ngress OF Amerieanists, feoa
gogic Congress, Congress Of SplrltuaLlsts
the Catholic Congress, Geographlcal Col-
rress Congress OF Free Thinkers Hlsplno
american Portuguese Mercantile Congress-
a Standardization Legal Congress ams
min or congresses of artisans ana o'ueH
whic pass almost unnotieed