Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-12-17
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


The four great ocean routes employ
| 100 steamships.
The average German soldier is on duty
about ten hours day.
"A letter written by Oliver Cromwell
changed hands recently for guineas.
There was a greater consumption of tea
in the United Kingdom in 1891 than in any
previous year.
There are II different railroad gauges in
this country, varying from feet to 5 feet
inches in width.
The annual tobacco report for Virginia
shows a falling OFF from the transactions OF
the previous year.
The Metropolitan Tabernacle has sit.
tfngs for l. 4sO persons without including ex-
ira seats placed in the aisles.
Paper teeth are now manufactured BY
a Lubbock dentist One set has been in uss
13 years and is as good as ever.
Castor oil has not failed in any case to
remove warts to which it is applied once q
day for from two to SIX weeks.
"A trial of speed between English and
American locomotives will be an interest
ing and novel feature of the Worlds Fair
Owing to the heavy gales which have
prevailed this fall, it is reported that the
catch of whitefsh in Lake Huron has been
very small.
In the British army last year there
were on the average 147 in each 1000 men
fined for drunkenness. In 1890 the proper.
tion was l67 per 1000
p The salaries of the Queens maids Of
honor are $500 per annum, and should one of
them be married it is customary for the
Queen to make her present of $1,000.
The only vote the late Lord Tennyson
gave in the House of Lords is said to have
been IN support of the county franchise
bill. lie paired in favor of the deceased
wite's sister bill
I'm the belfrey at the Unitarian Church,
at Plymouth, Mass. which was burned toe
the ground few nights ago, a bell cast by
Paul Revere in 1901 and which rang the cur
few for many years, was destroyed.
The daphne blossom is one of the sweet
est and most delightful known. But few
people are aware that its red and pulpy
fruit is deadly poison to human beings al
though birds, it is said, may eat the berry
with tmpunitY.
Vienna papers are comment ing proudly
upon the extraordinary healthfuIness of
Olmutz, city of g, 900 inhabitants, but one
OF whom died in the "a days following Octo-
Der II. The undertakers are not joining in
the jubilee to any extent
Electricity, where unretarded by atmos-
pheric influences, travels at the rate of 2ss,-
COO miles a second Along a wire it is, of
course, vastly slower; a perceptible period
of time is occupied by the electric current
in sending telegrams over long distances.
"A Cincinnati judge was about to re-
lease young "scrapper" on the assumption
that it was his first offense, when the prison
er proudly claimed that he had been sent
up" four times already. For thus having
the courage of his convictions he went up q
fifth time.
AN unusual kind of double wedding
came off at Newport a short time ago. The
only occupants of the church were two
curates four young ladies and the registrar.
One of the curates married his friend to one
of the ladies, and then he in turn was mar
ried to another.
Since the reduction of the tobacco duty,
five years ago, there has been in the United
Kingdom an increased consumption in that
period of 9, 800 900 pounds. The consumption
is now equal to pound lO3 ounces per head
of the population, whereas in 1S4l it was
only l32 ounces.
The Queen has given orders for ex-
tensive decorative repairs to be carried out
in HoIyrood palace, and the office of works
is now engaged in cleaning and restoring
the ceilings and walls OF Queen Mary's audi
ence chamber and supper room and the adj
joining corridor.
The women of Zurich, Switzerland,
have secured the suppression of the Thier-
buch, a publication revealing their ages, oc-
cupations, descendants, ETC. 1t was issued
annually and was moro frequently con-
suited at cafes and other public resorts than
the city directory.
"A resident of Athens, Ga, has curios-
ity il. his possession in the way of oysters
and artificial teeth. Some time ago a dredg-
tached. The oysters had, according to the
authority, formed around the teeth, and the
formation is perfect.
According to the best and most recent
calculations 1OO.000,0OO tons of water pour
over Niagara every hour. This represents
16, ,OOO, 900 horse power. The total coal pro-
duction Of the world, either daily, weekly,
or yearly, would not furnish steam
sufficient to pump it back again.
The phonograph is being put to an ex-
cellent use by the Queen of Italy, who,
while she often improvises charming little
is unable afterward to repeat
them. a monograph is, therefore, placed
on the piano when she plays, and thus her
impromptus are saved from oblivion.
Three years before the invention of
enter-fire cartridges the idea was hit upon
by a nomad Indian. He had collected the
shells thrown away by our troops and fitted
bored in the top. These shells, which he in
urn discarded, testified to his ingenuity.
"A Roman has offered King Humbert
novel instrument of warfare. This is q
)rojectile which on being shot from a can
ION and striking an object will produce a
luminous disc of 100000 candle power, and
hereby expose toview an enemy's position
" night at a distance of from three to four
niles.
An eminent authority has it that he
eath rate OF the world is calculated to be
per minute, 403O per hour, 96, ,72O per day,
While the rate of births, slightly exceeding
he death rate, is calculated TO be 20 per min
tie. 4, 100 per hour 1OOsOO per day, 36, ,742, ,OOOG
ear. The estimated increase per annum IS
therefore, a little over 100000.
Very few boots and shoes are imported
nto Mexico. There are many tanneries in
Iexico, and a superabundance OF shoe
makers making to measure. The shoe
lmost universally worn in Mexico by men,
7omen and children, and even babies, has
very high, sloping heel and long, pointed
oe.
"A flea can jump straight upward and
ault over barrier 500 times its own height.
a man could display as much agility he
ould clear a wall q mile high at single
ound. Ii he could jump as far forward
ccOrding to his weight as flea can, he
ould make two and half trips arou nd tho
oTld at one leap.
The greatest work of antiquity on
ngling is said to be the Halleutica of Opian,
Greek poet who fiourished in the time Of
everus, A. d. 1913. from which we learn that
lanv articles in fishing thought to be mod
rn were known to the sncients. We also
arm from AtheneuS that several other
tra mr. m