Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-06
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS

CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS
| The 11o-ton gun is universally disliked
in the Navy.
English pennies arc coined yearly to
the extent of SO, 900 pounds.
The average life Of coin IL Il years
The coinage of the silver is the most profit
able
The coinage of the world now absorbs
nearly two-thirds of the gold and more than
half of the total stocks Of silver annually.
I'm 1890, SO, ,0o0, 900 coins of % denomi-
nations were struck in the British Mint and
Of these 7.500,00o were rejected in weighing
| or were faulty.
| When Jerusalem was taken by Titus,
A. d. 20. 100000 Hebrews perished by tho
severe plague, famine, ETC., and $1,000 were
taken captive.
| Rome, in the time of Augustus. was sur.
rounded by a wall 20 miles in circumfer.
ence. pierced by 80 gates, and had q popula-
tion of 100000
The total yield of gold in Victoria
during 1880 was 5ss, $50 ounces, the output for
1891 was 597, ,629 ounces, an increase over 1880
| by 9.069 ounces.
Since 1878 the yesrly number Of pas
| sengers carried in tramway cars in the
United Kingdom has increased from LAG OO0,-
| 900 to 566, 100000.
"A rough diamond, which, when pol.
| fshed, will weigh about two karats, is re.
ported to have been found recently in Alex
ander county, N. C.
Railway enterprise In Japan is making
considerable headway. At the end Of this
month there will be about $40 miles Of rail-
way in the country.
"A little boy fell off a wagon on one Of
the principal streets in Hannibal recently
and was so deeply buried in the mud that
he had to be dug out with spade.
From e4O, 600, 900 to ESQ, 900, 900 are lost
yearly in the world on the turf, Of which
from s35 900 900 to $50 900 900 are squandered IN
the United Kingdom. Australia is responsi-
BILE for $40 100000 of the amount.
1t is estimated that the 80 long-distance
lines which the American Bell Telephone
Company is putting up between New York
and Chicago will consume S526 tons Of cop
per, while the total length of the wire will
be Sc, 900 miles.
One of the laws of the Constitution Of
Russia enacts that only $4,000 Hebrews
should be allowed to live in st. Petersburg,
and only q prescribed number in different
parts and cities, the quantity to be ruled by
the population of the particular part.
The first ice cream vendors In England
were Neapolitan peasantry of the poorest
type; but the vendors now come from all
parts of Italy, many being natives of the
most remote country districts- Most of the
ice cream trade is appropriated by foreign
erS.
The method of skinning sable is to draw
the skin over the head without any incision
in the body. The feet and tail are left as
part of the fur. Every thirtieth Of an inch
is valuable, for the average length Of the
animal is only II inches and the tail about
inches.
We are familiar with the rush Of the
express train as it flashes past US the rate of
go miles an hour, but light actually travels
H. I79 $50 times as fasti The initial velocity OF
the shot from the R-pound bronze service
gun is only 1,769 feet second. or 1,556, l54
only that Of light.
"A new she'll has lately been invented by
an Austrian for the purpose OF scattering
oil over the waves during a storm. 1t Is
wooden cylinder lined with shellao to
keep the Oil from penetrating the wood,
and it carries in addition a calcium light,
which Eliminates the water for consider.
able distance.
In the reign of Henry VIII the use Of
sable was forbidden to any below a Wis
count. A pelisse of sables. the property of
the late Emperor Nicholas OF Russia, dis
played in the Exhibition of 1851. was valued
at $4,000. coat lined with sables is often
worth from s., 500 to s., 900. A set of sable
tails can hardly be sold Tor less than $3.50
An almost incalculable number of skins
are used in countries where the rigors of the
climate necessitate the wearing OF fur Of
some kind daily. Even the poorest serf has
his sheepskin, the frozen Laplander his REIN
deer coat and fur moccasins, while in tho
same regions the wealthy classes wrap them
selves in the costliest furs and use rugs OF
enormous value
A family has abandoned first-class
farm near English, Ind. which they snapped
for property worth scarcely $500. The Ben
netts claim to have been worried almost to
death by one of their neighbors, who as
sumed the shape of black cat, with white
ring about its neck. The animal haunted
them at most inopportune times, and all ef-
forts to destroy 1t were in vain.
-Remenyi, the well-known violin viz
tuoso. has made application for q space not
less that 400 square feet at the Worlds Fair,
in which to exhibit his great collection Of
rare African chronological specimens. Tho
which comprises over ], 500 care
fully selected specimens, has been formed
during the last 40 years, and is beyond ques-
tion the most perfect of its kind.
Representative Newberry, of Chicago,
Is pressing bill in Congress which appro.
PIRATES $50, ,0C0 to reform the method of SPELL
ing. The words when reformed by the
proposed scheme will look like this: "The
old sistems. sin ov the dan "a sign of the
DAWN. Publik opinyun. Farwel old spelin
book. Cali the trubadar tucht hiz gitar.
Farm langwejez (foreign languages)."
The Channel Islands, as represented by
Jersey, are indisputably the sunniest spots
in the kingdom. The average amount Of
sunshine there during the whole year is 39.9
per cent of the interval the sun is above the
horizon. The nearest approach to this is
,57 per cent at Falmouth, then follow in
order ST. Annes Head, Milford Haven. 3.7;
near Beccles. 54.5; Southampton,
S35 and Southbourne, 33.2.
The German Emperor's resolution last
year to shave of his beard brought about
,he settlement of a law suit. A Berlin agent
lad in June undertaken to supply Munich
irm with $500 busts of the Emperor, which
we're to be delivered by June Is. But as in
he meantime the Emperor had let his beard
yrow, the Munich firm declared that it
could only take them If they looked like the
Emperor. OF course the busts had been
made without q beard, and as both parties
ould not come to an agreement the case
vas brought before a court. Soon after the
ase had been entered for trial the agent
vas informed that the Emperor had shaved
If his beard, the case was settled, and the
Irm accepted the busts without more ado.