The morning call., 1893-02-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Upon nearly every railroad bridge that
Is built can be found the date Of Its cree
ton.
Early next year a canal across the
1sthmus Of Corinth will be opened for
traffic.
The longest telephone line in the world
is the one between New York and Chicago.
1t is $50 miles long.
A London confectioner says that be is
sometimes called on 10 furnish wedding
cakes weighing 1900 pounds each, and pud-
dings of a size sufficient for 500 hearty APP
petites.
Physicians have at last dec ided that the
small toe Of the human foot must go-that
civilization tends gradually TO crowd il out
of existence. and 10 depend more than ever
Tor l0comOtion on the big toe.
There are in existence. it is claimed,
specimens OF paper made from rags as early
as the fourteenth century, the Oldest eXtant
being, IL is reported, a letter from J0inville
to Louis y OF France, dated A. ID. 1915.
In the manufactures of Great Britain
alone, the power which steam exerts is esti-
mated to be equal to the manual labor of
1900, G00,O 600 men. or more than double the
number OF males supposed TO inhabit the
globe.
A new law has just been passed in Aus
tria relative 20 dueIling. A principal will
in future be incarcernted for a term of
six months. Seconds. doctors. and all others
Concerned, will be exempt from punish
ment.
Bavaria continues TO take the lead In Ger
many in beer drinking, the consumption
during 1S90-91 having been over 200 quarts
per inhabitant. Posen heads the list in
Scbnapps drinking - about twenty-five
quarts per Dhabitant.
Among the superstitious natives of Bull
garia the prophet Elijah is believed to CON-
troll the elements. During heavy thunder
storms the women fall on their faces and
pray: Dear Lord Elijah, do not drive so
fast with your fiery horses"
A resident of Dayton, Pa, was surprised
the other morning when he went to milk his
COW to find pacard attached to her horns
which bore the following inscription: go
down and pay for the cabbage devoured
last night"
Vanilla is an orchid which in the West
Indies ereeps over trees and walls like ivy.
A substance called ''salep," somewhat re-
semblng arrowroOt or sage. is obtained
from the tubPrs of a variety that grows in
Turkey and Persia, where it Is highly es-
teemed.
Tanned tripe is likely to become very
fashionable for all sorts of pretty things for
women, such as purses, belts and handbags.
In the process of tanning, tripe becomes as
black as ebony, with beautiful gloss on its
surface. 1t is thinner and softer than kid or
channels skin, and is altogether preferable to
both.
The most famous of ancient houses was
the Golden House, erected by Nero. It's
whole interior Is said 10 have been covered
with gold and gems, and ii was adorned with
the finest paintings and statues that the
world could furnish; it had triple porticces
a mile in length and banQuet-hall which
perpetually revolyed in imitation of the mo-
ton of the sun.
The Rothschonberger Stolen mine Of Ger
many Will, when the work Is completed,
have the longest tunnel in the world. 1t
will drain the water from all the Freberg
silver mines and carry it to the Elba. The
main tunnel is nearly nine miles long, but
its branches add twenty-one miles TO its
length, making the total extent about thirty
miles. This tunnel was begun in 1874.
The largest steam shovel in the world is
digging phosphate in the mines at St. Johns
Island. near Charleston, s. c. lis weight
is fifty-siX tons. 1t can dig ten feet below
its track and TO distance Of thirty-five feet
on either side. The Upper, which can
swing through two-thirds of circle, has
capacity of one and three-Quarters cubic
yards, aud about two dipperfulls can be
handled in minute.
The limestone caves of Malta contain the
bones Of various extinct species of elephant,
hippop0tamus, stag, tortoise and other ami
mails. From the fact that many of the bones
were gnawed it was inferred that some
carniverOus brutes were contemporaries.
finding in the Har Dolan Cave on the east
ern side of the Malta remains of the brown
bear and a species of wolf.
An electric generator weighing $1,000
pounds is TO be installed in a railway power
house in Ottawa, Canada. 1t is to furnish
current to heat the entire premises, as we'll
as help operate the trolley line. and is the
largest generator ever taken into Canada.
The power-house will be the first building
Ia that country ever heated throughout by
electricity, and probably the first power
station heated in this manner in the world.
The Brazilian forestmen initiate the ant
bear Lying down by an ant hill they poke
a stick into it and place the free end in the
mouth. The ants run uD the stick. and
when his mouth is full of them the forest
man sets 10 work TO chew and swallow. AS
for insects generally and the like many are
eaten. The Australians and other half
starved desert wanderers greedily devour
certain beetles and grnbs cut of rotten
wood. Englishmen eat cheese mites.