Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-01-29
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.

] The entire eoast-line of the globe is
about $4,000 miles.
There are 45O artesian wells in one
| county in California.
A Maine Judge has ruled that Hebrew
children can play baseball on sunday
There are said to be 10000 kinds of but
terfiies, OF which two-thlrds are named.
-Naturalsts have enumerated 657 differ
ent species of reptiles. or this number 100
arc a. harmless as rabbits.
The tastes of bees and butterflies, the
Most important of all fertilizing insects, are
akin to the tastes of the human species
~ Swiss savant has process by which
= x IS reduced to powder, which by the adr
vi uf water turns back TO milk again.
There is only one vessel in the British
~ which in the las. 30 years has been en-
ed in sea fight with a hostile warship,
shah: She is to be sent to Bermuda to
- hulk.
Recent experiments with two straight
edges, separated Mt one end by a sheet OF
per, show that light can be seen through
clean-cut opening of not more than l40, COD
ofan inch.
/ The horses and mules of Oregon, SAYS
the Oregon Ssafesn'on will pay as much taxes
rs the railroad tr ckace OF tho State The
patient mules have been the burden-oearers
i'll all ages.
Two fshhooks made of the pearl oyster
shel! OF the Indo-Paeifc Ocean were recent
ly plowed up on the north shore of Lake
Ontario. They are said TO be identical in
every respect to those of the ancients OF
Polynesia.
There are now nearly 100, 900 Jewish
residents of the little kingdom of Holland
and the Jews in Amsterdam are 10 per cent
OF the city's population. Some of them are
very rich, and the maj ority of them are
ros porous.
1t is believed that shooting stars are
small, solid bodies revolving round the sun,
As they are travelling in contrary direc-
tion to the earth the velocity with
which they enter our atmosphere is very
great, on an average about 80 miles a second
-Bailie MACPHERSON, of Edinburgh, lately
pronounced verdict parallel to the famous
mot guilty, but don't do it again. He said
in n case OF theft: 'T find tine charge not
proven. but remember, if you are brought
back this will stand against you as a con-
yIction."
The fish has one striking though OBJ
vious peculiarity-its pupils are large to
absorb all the light they can; but the eyes
are provided with no lachrymal apparatus,
father ocean himself being so assiduous in
performing for them the washing process
that tears are not necessary.
The first ironclad warship constructed
in Maine was the Wassuc, which was built
by G. W. Lawrence at Portland, in 1854. The
Wassuc was single-turreted monitor of the
Ericsson pattern, 225 feet long, carrying one
$50 pound Parrott rifle. She had an oak
FRAME but was plated with iron.
The ancient Romans considered Feb
runry 90 most critical season, always
reckoning it among their unlucky days.
That this belief has not by any means lost
ground is evidenced by deep-rooted dislike
parents have to child being born on leap
Gay, it being popular notion that to come
into the world at such an odd time is
Ominous as signifying the babes speedy
exit.
Paper quilts are said to be coming into
extensive use abroad for the poorer classes.
They are composed of sheets o; white paper
sewed together and perforated all over at q
distance OF inch or two apart. This is
then covered with chintZ or cretonne on
one side and lined with patchwork. They
make surprisingly warm covers, ana the
manu lecturers find a ready market for all
they can make.
The first full-rigged ship built in Bath
was the Atlantic, 235 tons. She was launched
in 1870 by John Davis, Jr. No vessel ex-
ceeding 500 tons measurement was built at
tile famous Maine port until 1915, when the
Cleopatra, sis tons, was launched. She was
sold soon afterwarc to the spanish Govern
iards pierced her sides for guns they struck
rotten and unseaworthy timbers>
"A lamp may be lit with piece Of ice.
A small piece of metallic potassium is laid
on the wick and touched with the ice when
the water Immediately produces a flame.
This IS due to the property OF this metal to
with water. This curious experiment. is to
be made with great caution, as, if too much
o. the potassium is used an explosion will
take place.
There is no reason whatever for suppos-
ing that there is any difference between the
right and the left limbs of an animal as re-
CARDS their strength. 1t is apparent that the
strength of any given limb will vary with
the amount OF work to which that limb has
been subjeeted; therefore as the right and
left limbs OF animals never act independent
/ " of one another they perform equal work.
and can present no difference in strength.
"A snake moves by means of the ribs
and the scales on the abdomen to which
each rib is attached by a set Of short
muscles. These scales take hold Of the sur
face over which the serpent may be passing,
and in that manner aid the creature TO glide,
often very rapidly, around the trunks Of
trees and along the smaller branches. Some
species climb trees with wonderful agility,
gliding ND the straight trunks with as much
ease as ii they were moving along the level
ground.
"A woman who died in the almshouse at
Biddeford, Me-, recently, aged 100 years, had
passed through some queer experiences.
She came to this country in 1916, and for 30
years she was an inmate of the almshouse.
In that time she had been laid out as dead
three times. but on each occasion she came
to life in time to put u stop to the funeral
Only few days before her
death an undertaken was called to prepare
her remains for burial, but when he arrived
she was sitting up in bed.
There is silver mine near Sarhad, in
Afghan territory, which has a curious his
tory. Three men were sent from that coua-
try to Cabul, the residence of the Ameer, to
be executed for an offense against the State.
They told the Ameer that if he would let
them off they would tell him where he could
find abundant supplies of silver. The
Amecr deferred the execution and sent
them under guard to Irkansham, where they
went TO work digging. They, and the men
who were put to work with them, dug for
20 days, finding nothing. The Ameer's Off
Ger told them at length that they could dig
for seven days more, and If they did not find
I'll lver within that time the sentence of death
would be carried out The next day they
,ame to a very rich vein OF silver, and now
,bont 100 me are arl1rIOva1 the NINA