Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-20
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

The Gulf of Mexico has risen over one
| foot since 1851.
The average life of tradesman is about
| two-thirds that of a farmer.
The theaters in Melbourne are almost
all equipped with billiard rooms.
Three hundred and thirteen places are
licensed for stage plays in the Kingdom.
To be perfectly proportioned, man
should weigh % pounds for every foot Of his
height.
I'm Finland the women consider kiss
on the lips as the greatest insult, even from
their own husbands.
1t is calculated that the aggregate an
nual income of the working classes of Eng
land is about s., 500, 00O, 900.
1t is estimated that fully two-thirds of
the whole amount of public money held by
the London banks does not bear interest.
The greatest candle power in any ono
light used in a lighthouse Is at Houstholm,
in Denmark, where eight is 900 900 candle
power.
-Fulmodestone, Norfolk, which has 333
Inhabitants, must be healthy spot, for we
find that in 1891 there was not single death
in the parish.
An angels beauty is ideal Should an
anatomfst draw one with the muscles neces-
sary to move both arms and wings, We
should see queer figure.
The world consumes more than 80, 900
tons of cotton seed oil annually. 1t is
largely used in hotels and restaurants az a
substitute for salad dressing and for frying
fish
Some of the African tribes pull their
fingers till the joints s'crack" as a form OF
salutation, and one tribe has the curious
fashion Of showing friendship by standing
back to back.
Earth worms six feet long are found in
Gippsland, Victoria. They live in burrows
on the sloping sides of creeks, and are the
largest variety found in the world. 1t must
he burly bird which picks up the worm in
Gippsland.
"A gentleman in Ireland recently, on
cutting open potato at dinner, found in the
center a half sovereign. around which tho
vegetable had grown. Though discolored,
1t was in good state of preservation. and 10
now pretty ornament to watch chain.
"A high degree of magnifying power is
now obtained by replacing the eyepiece of
microscope with second microscope of
comparatively low magnifying power. The
separation and definition of the instrument
are not impaired.
In the Kingdom of Poland there. was
formerly a law, according to which any per-
son found guilty of SANDER was compelled
to walk on all fonrs through the streets OF
the town where he lived, accompanied by
the beadle, as sign that he was unworthy
of the name of man.
Everyone may not know that the Bank
of England notes are made from new white
linen cuttings-neyer from anything that
has been worn. So carefully is the paper
prepared, that even the number of dips into
the pulp made by each workman Is
rfpiS nm diaI hy cl1 line
The German military authorities recon-
mend that snowshoes should be adopted by
soldiers. A Berlin magazine, in article
on the Ski, or snowshoe declares that dur.
ing the last half of the Franco-Prussian War
of 1870, many losses would have been averted
by the use by scouts of snowshoes.
During the past few days many ancient
relics have been unearthed from she'll
mound just up the Dead river from SC.
Francis, among which are large lot of pet
rified human bones, turtle bones. small
gray arrow head, a ball of brown flint and
numerous kinds and shapes of pottery.
"A rule has Just been introduced at all
the theaters of Italy by which performers
are forbidden. under pain OF fine, to receive
flowers during a representation. or to notice
in any way the presence of the audience This
will now put an end in Italy to bouquet
throwing in the middle of a scene or at the
end of song.
With the ladies of Guiana every year is
q Leap Year, the privileges of which they as
sumo as q matter of course. Any maiden
who desires to marry a man takes an oppor-
tunity of offering him something to drink.
If he refuses this offer, it is a sign that he
will have nothing to do with her; but II, on
the other hand, he accepts it, the marriage
is held to be - - =.
The whale may claim to have a thicker
skin than any other animal. 1t has skin
less than several inches, and in
many parts fully two feet in thickness. The
distinction of being the thick1st-skinned
belongs to the Indian rhinoceros,
whose hide has knotty or granulated sur
face, and is so impenetrable as TO resist the
claws Of the lion or tiger.
OF all menagerie stock, the monkey
tribe is the moss precarious. The Compare
tive comfort OF q roo.-tree does not compen-
safe for the activity of their natural life,
and, considering that they feed on fresh
fruits in their primeval forests, it is not
amazing that after time unlimited die
tary of hazel nuts and stale buns is apt to
disagree with the quadrumanal digestion.
The Abaza, Clrcassian tribe, have
strange way of burying their boys. They
put the body in q coffin of wood, which they
nail on the branches OF some high trees and
make hole in the coffin by the head, that
the boy as they sav, may look unto heaven.
Bees enter the coffin and make honey. and
season comes, they open the coffiu, take out
the honey and sell it. .E
In Manipur, where we recently had
some trouble, there exists q peculiar native
abor system, not found elsewhere in India,
based on the theory that every man be-
tween the ages of IL and so is bound to place
his services at the disposal of the State for a
certain number of days every year. The
citizens may give the actual time to such
public works as may be designated. or they
nav commute this by money payments
based on the actual value Of their time.
With regard to the influence of cleo
;ricity on the growth of plants, a series OF
experiments made by Prof. Aloi on Lactuca
,cariola, maize, wheat, tobacco and beans,
Indicate that atmospheric electricity exer-
Uses a beneficial influence on vegetation:
that the electricity of the soil has similar
influence on the termination of seeds; and
hat the less luxuriant vegetation OF plants
Which grow in the neigh borhood of trees Is
n great part due to the diminution OF tenn
,er