Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-07
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
The potato was carried from Virgins
to Ireland in 1910 by Sir Walter Raleigh.
-Bayarians now employ the electric light
to capture a moth that is destructive TO the
forests.
"A Montana man has recently found
very valuable sapphire in the gizzard OF
turkey.
A Chicago woman has chameleon for
pet. 1t Is quite tame and very fond OF It's
mistress.
-Truckee, New, had a shaving contest
recently. The successful artist scraped his
man in 45 seconds and no blood was she'd
"A man in Gold Run, Cal, lost the
sight of an eye in looking for the black spot
on the sun through piece Of smoked glass.
"A monkey was taken up in a balloon
recently ut Sacramento, Cal, and made
successful descent by means of parachute.
No Indian wigwsm has been struck by
lightning since the dawn of history, and no
Indian has been killed with lightning for
more than 100 years.
"A California boy swallowed some con-
centrated lye about three years ago, and,
according to the Pomona Times, he has since
lived exclusively on milk.
A French officer has devised q rifle
that will throw a stream Of vitriol for dis
tance Of over 1000 feet, to be used against
savages when they attempt rushes.
"A cart drawn by horse over an ordi-
nary road will travel IL miles per hour Of
trip. A four-horse team will haul from 35 to
S6 cubic feet of limestone each load
The first railroad in India to be built
and controlled entirely by natives has been
sactioned by the Indian Government. The
line will be about 80 miles long in the
Hooghly district.
kid gloves were mentioned in the Bible.
In the 18th verse of the 9th chapter of GEN
esis Isaac's wife is accused of putting on the
hands of her son Jacob 'the skins OF the
kids of the goats"
AT a recent fox drive, near English,
Ind, participated in by more than LOCO peo.
pie. the catch was three foxes, 97 rabbits
and three polecats. The men who got tho
cats are now residing by themselves.
The skeleton of a whale, over 100 feet
long, has been discovered buried in the
sands on the shore of Baranhon Island. of
Alaska, far above the high tide mark. It Is
supposed to have been there hundreds OF
years.
There is Georgia man who keeps him
self concealed in a dark closet, except at
night, and refuses seeing or conversing with
any one. He even eats his meals, it is said,
in the closet. He is reported to have lived
thus for five years.
The black icorice stick in the drug
stores comes mostly from Spain and is made
of pure juice mixed with little starch,
which prevents it from melting in warm
weather. The word licoiice means "sweet
root" and is of Greek origin.
If the conclusions drawn by late ex-
perimenters are sound it would seem that
were an eel provided with an apparatus to
inject its own blood into wound as the
serpent injects it's venom. eel in the mud
would be even more Objectionable than
serpent in the grass.
The brain of Tourgueneff, the novelist, is
said to have been the largest ever weighed,
the indicator showing that its weight was
size of this brain will be better understood
when the reader is informed that the aver
age human brain does not weigh above 1880
grammes.
A wealthy Austrian woman has Just
founded an asylum for mothers-in-law. The
building, not yet completed, is to be big
enough to accommodate 500 guests. and the
institution will serve as pleasant refuge
for ladies whose company is not agreeable to
the ungrateful men who have walked OF
with their daughters.
A gentleman who lives in Mount Ver-
non Ga, is said to have veritable curiosity
in the vegetable line. 1t is a cabbage, or
collard, that in going to seed just literally
ward it iatrened itself out like fan. until
it became 10 inches wide and about half an
inch thick. the top being ornamented with
fringe composed OF thousands OF bloom
buds.
In many parts of Switzerland smooth,
fat stones, evidently hand-polished, are
often picked up. They are covered with
lines, dots, circles and balfcircles, and are
known TO the Switzers "a "schalensteines"
The origin and use of these stones has lon4
been a mooted point among the learned.
Some have thought that they were charms,
others that they were meant to commemor-
ate the dead
The Kaffirs, who cannot get snuff as fine
and as pungent as they wish, rub the already
prepared mass between stones, and mix
it with kind of pepper and some ashes.
The blacks in Dschesire mix their tobacco
of pap which thev cali bucka. They take
a mouthful and roll it about for a time with
their tongue. There are regular bucka
parties given.
AS far as research has been able to
determine glass was in use 1000 years before
the birth of Christ. and was even then not
in its infancy by any manner Of means. In
the Slade collection at the British Museum
bearing the name of an Egyptian king of the
eleventh dynasty. This is the oldest speci-
men of pure glass bearing anything like
date now known to exist
i'm the suburbs of Mobile, Ala, reside
a number Of negroes, the descendants of and
part of the last cargo of slaves brought into
the United States in 1861. They have never
associated with other negroes. are but par
tally civilized. still use their native lam
puase, and are ruled by a queen of their
own choosing. They enjoy a good reputa-
tion for industry and honesty, and their col
ony is one of the curiosities most eagerly
view ed by sightseers.
-Supposing that our great forefather,
Adam, had begun to count as quickly as he
could, and that when his life was ended his
son commenced where the father left OF.
and that he spent his whole lifetime. day
and night, counting as fast as he could, and
supposing that upon his death he had en-
Joined upon his heirs an eternity Of count
ing. and that they had continued doing so
up to the present moment, their united ef-
forts would not yet have reached the amount
of one-quarter of billion.