Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-09-18
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.
-Pittsburp has a s35, 600 saw.

Uncle Sam employs 81, 900 women tele-
graphers.
There are oak trees in existence 1000
years old.
Every fifth bov in India is at school,
but only every fifteenth girl.
-Faraday first practically used gutta-
percha as an insulator for wires in 1s4I
-Plautus is said to have written the
old.
The offices and workrooms of the LON
don Times were lighted by electricity In
1878.
-Toldeo and Damascus blades were pop
ular in the Middle Ages, and sold for their
weight in gold.
-Tbe cost of a one-man sea diving sp-
paratus for depth of 200 feet is estimated
only to be about s575.
The first elevated road ir Great Britain
will be in Liverpool. The road is already in
the course of construction.
I'm 1890 there were 260 electric railways
with 900 cars going 1,7Ss miles, and carry
ing ,2OO 900 passengers daily.
The longest canal in the world is the
one extending from the frontier Of China
to st. Petersburg, 1t measures in all 4,47s
miles.
huuLAHS HOiu III 4JlLuOSCS ChoAb
made in 1880, and believed to have formerly
belonged to Horace Walpole. was sold 70
Gently for S31, 500
The Australian wumnera is a straight
stick with tube in the end in which tho
handle of a dart is placed, the throw-stick
remaining in the hand.
If the atmospheric pressure is IL pounds
to the square inch, as usually reckoned the
man of average size Is constantly subjected
to pressure OF % 900 pounds.
1t has only been 81 years since the frst
tomatoes were introduced into America
The original plant was cultivated as a vegs-
table curiosity at Salem, Mass.
According to the new British postal
regulations, a foreign letter may be of any
weight, but must not exceed feet in length
or one foot in breadth or depth.
In speaking of the soiidifeation of Q
body by cooling, Prof. Dewar says that
water can be made to become solid by the
evaporation OF a quarter OF its weight.
DIR Hammond, of Washington, has col
lected 70 cases which have occurred in that
city during the last ten years of men dying
suddenly from running after street cars.
The proposed underground electric rail-
ways for London, if sanctioned, will be Is
feet under the Thames, So feet beneath Re-
gents Park and So leet below Oxford street.
The impact water wheel, so much used
for furnishing power for mines metallurgi-
cal works and electric plants, has lately been
improved by new arrangement of multiple
nozzles.
There is in China secret society called
the "Triad.H 1t is capital crime to belong
to it, yet it has more than 5O,OOO.OOO of men,
bers. Its object is the overthrow of the
present dynasty.
The editor of El-Ahram, an Egyptian
journal, is favorite with the Khedive, who
has, as his latest means OF showing his ap-
proval, conferred the order of the ChefakaS
upon the editors wife.
The perils of the sea do not seem to be
so very terrible when it is shown that out of
Zoo passengers carried last year on
American waters and from American ports,
Only 65 lives were lost
The latest form of steamship propeller
is English invention. 1t is designed so
that when in motion there is no weight of
water on the blades on the rise and fall OF
the propeller, due to the pitching of the yes
sci.
Forty thousand pounds was the cost Of
the armchair presented by the city of Augs-
burg to the Emperor Rudolphus II. of Ger
many, about the year 1875 The chair, which
is of steel, took the artist about 80 years to
make.
An eminent physician believes that
savage races have better color perception
than civilized. OF 100 Indian boys he found
none color blind; another group of $50 had
but two. while none OF the girls was found
to be color blind.
The tramways in London consists of III
miles OF line; but these are shared bp sew
eral coIl panies, ths North Metropolitan
owning II miles, the London nearly p, the
London street about l3, and live other COM
panies Al miles between them.
&C.
South Italian Railway has to pierce through
the Apennin es. and one of the tunnels,
which is now in progress, is ll,066 feet in
length. At the close OF March this tunnel
had been pierced for a length OF 1888 feet.
Some progress has also been made with the
approaches in the tunnel.
Aluminium, or an alloy of that metal,
has been used for the construction OF life
boat at Stralsund. As is well known, the
metal is remarkably light for it's strength;
but it remains to be seen how the boat will
stand sea water, as the air of the seems
to exercise corroding effect upon alum
inium and aluminium alloys.
"A curious incident occurred at Heceta
Head, Ore, the other day. One of the work
men on the lighthouse accidentally let go of
his wheelbarrow, which rolled down the
cliff, over rocks, q distance of 250 feet, into
the ocean, and was Il few days later picked
up on the beach, ten miles this side of
Heceta, in perfect good order.
"A complete suit of knightly armor con-
tanned the helmet. the cuirass for breast,
epaulieres for shoulders, brassarts, upper
arms; coudieres, elbows: avant-bras. lower
arms; gauntlets, gloves; faudes for fianks;
haubergeon, II quilted surcOat; cuissarts,
thigh pieces: genouillieres, knee guards;
grevieres, leg pieces; solerets, shoes and
spurs.
"A very widely-known clergyman in
town near to New York had the mis- fortune
lately TO lose his wife while the in valid was
absent to the seashore on vain quest for
health. His grief did not cloud his Intellect.
He went to the local railroad office and en-
deavored TO persuade the agent to send his
wife's body back to the city on her return
excursion ticket.
"A French perfumer has been making
tests of California roses, and discovered that
they possess 20 per cent more of the volatile
oil than the French roses. This means the
development of u new industry for Califor-
mia. The French perfume factories of the
town of Grasse alone give employment to
), 600 persons. 1t is said that 80 cents per
pound is paid for some flowers.