Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-07
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
Arabs never eat fish.


Only three kinds of reptiles exist in
Ireland.
Ten per cent of India's population ara
widows.
The ayerage,size of an American farm
is $40 acres.
I'm 26O years the earth's population will
be doubled
The correspondence of the Pope is car
ried on in Latin.
The Salvation Army has 5000 brass
bands in is ranks.
All the trees of the tropics except those
imported from the colder climes are ever
greens.
The Empress Eugenie paid I, 200 francs
(s2oO) per ounce for braid of hair that ex-
actly matched her own.
"A company of women is running two
canning and preserving factories in Michi.
gan. Not man is allowed to work in either
place.
1t is reported that Lake Iamonis, in
Florida, which few weeks ago ran dry in
such mysterious manner, is filling again
from some unknown cause.
-Three-quarters of the entire manufac-
turing capital of the United States, or six
indirectly based upon patents.
Steel caskets for the bodies of those
who die suddenly on shipboard are being
carried on many of the transatlantic liners.
The remains are placed in them and hermet-
ically sealed.
Connecticut is such a plous State that
it refuses to permit Sunday night e1hi-
bition of stereopticon views of the Holy
Land or to allow the grating of a wooden
nutmeg for hospital Cruel.
The shepherd dog-called collie in
Scotland, from the Gaelic cuilean, or puppy
gains its title from the fact of its being
used to watch sheep and protect them from
marauders of every description
When amber is rubbed it develops cleo
tricaI properties and attracts light bodies,
and doubtless it was this fact that early
drew attention to it and invested it with
the romantic interest that attached to it in
ancient times.
The chapel car, ''Evangel," is travelling
through the Northwest in the service of the
Gospel Army. 1t has been turned over to
the American Baptist Sunday School Asso-
citation, under whose charge it will be while
on the Pacific Coast.
In the scholastic year 1S90-91 st.
Petersburg had 259 primary schools, with
12,760 pupils. Last year the number of
ing pupils 13,042 This includes l20 female
schools, with an attendance OF ), ,703.
The Manx cat is not the only tailless
variety. In the Crimea is found another
kind of cat which has no tail. The domesti-
Gated Malay cat has q tail that is only about
one-half the usual length, and very often it
is tied by nature in a sort of knot which can
not be Strengthened out.
The English glow-worm is the wingless
female of a winged beetle. Some suppose
that the light she bears is bestowed for her
protection to scare away the nightingale
and other nocturnal birds. Others, how
ever believe that the gift of brightness is
the very lure by which her foes are assisted
to discover and devour her.
The late Colonel Burnaby says that
when Turcoman belle is to be settled in
life the whole tribe turns out and the young
lady, being allowed the choice of horses,
gallops away from her suitors. She avoids
those she dislikes, and seeks to throw her.
self in the way of the object of her affec-
tions. The moment she is caught she be-
comes the wife of her captor, who, dispens-
ing with further ceremony, takes her to his
tent.
-Pepys, in the reign of Charles IL, SAYS
that he paid ES for a periwig," equal to Els
now, so that Queen EliZabeth's wigs prob
ably cost in reality over El,2Oo. Much con-
fusion, caused by the portraits of Mary
Queen of Scots, has arisen from her variety
of wigs. In the reign of Queen Anne their
patroness, they reached their maximum of
size, fulI-bottomed wigs, which covered the
head and shoulders and foated down over
the chest.
The horn of the rhinoceros is nothing
more than q protuberance composed of
agglutinated hair. Cut it in two, and, eI-
amining it's structure under the microscope.
it will be found that it is made up entirely of
little tubes, resembling hair tubes. OF
course, these are not themselves hair. but
the structure is the same. The horns of the
African rhinoceros sometimes grow to the
length of four feet. From them the Dutch
Beers makes ramrods and other articles.
"A Belgian nobleman once managed to
catch 200 storks and labeled every one of
them with piece of pasteboard, giving the
address of the experimenter and requesting
to inform him where the bird had been
caught or killed during the winter season.
These curious passports were attached in
conspicuous manner to the neck or leg of
the birds. and one of them returned next
spring with message to the effect that he
had been caught in meadow near Sidi Bel
beZ, in Western Algeria.
The conveying of information by fire.
giving smoke by day and illumination at
night, is one of the very Oldest methods
adopted for this purpose. No one knows
when the semaphore was first invented, but
the origin of this device for signaling with
arms at different angles is most ancient.
for communicating in secret
language, are nearly as old as the art of
writing, and invisible inks, which could be
rendered visible by heat OF the action of
chemicals, were used by the Egyptians IS
centuries ago.
in 26S B. c. Archimedes devised
marvellous ship for Hero of Syracuse. Her
three lofty masts had been brought from
Britain, whereas our ships masts are of
iron or obtained from New Zealand or from
Vancouver Island. Luxuriously fitted Sleep
ing apartments abouuded, and one of her
banuueting halls was paved with agate and
costly Sicillan stone. Other floors were cum
ninoIy inlaid with scenes from the Iliad.
Stables for many horses, ponds stocked with
live fish gardens watered by artificial rlvu-
lets and hot baths were provided for use or
Ptolemy Philopater possessed
a nuptial Yacht, the Thalamegon, 3l2 feet
long and 40 feet deep. A graceful gallery,
supported by curiously carved columns, ran
round the vessel, and within were temples
of Venus and of Baccnus. Her masts were
100 feet high, her sails and cordage OF royal