The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1893-05-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A gallon of water weighs 101 pounds.
There are 1900 churches and chapels in
London.
Boiling meat is the least wastetul way of
cooking ii.
There are estimated to be 1854 languages
and dialects spoken.
Butchers wear blue garments in London
because bloodstains do not show on that
color.
The whitest and largest ivory is obtained
from the elephants of the east coast OF At
RIGA,
The only two animals whose brains are
heavier than that OF man are the whale and
the elephant.
The death rate is said to be lower among
clergymen than among any other class of
workers.
The wine crop of Germany last year was
little more than bali the production of the
previous ten years.
Australia is not only larger than any
six islands OF the world. but than all the
Islands OF the world together.
cabbage stalk. with six perfectly
formed heads, Is the latest vegetable mon
slrosity reported from Florida.
London con tains $4,000 paupers-known
as such and receiving relief-costing the
taxpayers on an average $50 d head per
year
The soldiers in many garrison towns in
Germany were trained in the use of snow
shoes during the past winter aud in recent
tests they proved very successful
Where the telegraph wires are overland
the speed of transmission is at the rate of
about 10000 miles second; where the wires
are through cables under the sea the speed
is not more than 602O miles a second.
Underneath Pembroke Castle is cavern
remarkable for its acoustic property of the
prolangation OF sound. II several differeut
sounds. in harmonic relation. are sung, one
after another, the whole are afterward
heard together as beautifully sustained
chord.
Ten miles south of the Sabine River and
mile off shore is natural phenomenon
known to sailors as 'The Oil Spot" No
visible boundary divides it from the open
sea around, but even during a storm,
though the waters become red and turbid,
they remain comparatively calm.
George 0te. who lives pear South
Haven, Mich, has a peculiar well on his
farm. 1t is said that for at least half day
before an approaching storm the water in
the well begins to be agltated, which
keeps increasing in violence until q roaring
sound Is heard just previous to the storm.
Perhaps the earliest Columbus monument
in the United States was that erected ct
Baltimore by a French resident in 1892.
Many persons believed, in accordance with
current tradition, that it was erected 10
tho memory of favorite horse, but the
monument bears this inscription: "Chrs.
Columbus, Octr. r. MDCCVIuC."
A quaint Illustration Of French prudence
and delcacy and OF prevailing or approach
ing French fashions is contained in the
notice recently Issued to the police who
patrol the bathing beach at Dieppe for their
guidance In the coming season. II reads:
The bathing police are requested when
lady is Ia danger OF drowning to seize her
by the dress, and not by the hair, which
ottentlmeS remains in their grasp"
Fire is an essential in some wedding cele-
brations. In Persia the service is read in
front OF a fire. Ia Nicaragua the priest, tax.
Ing the couple each by the little fingers,
leads them to an apartment where a fire is
lighted. and there instruets the blide in her
duties, eXtinguishing 1t by way OF couclu-
sion. In Japan the woman kindles torch,
and the bridegroom lights one from il. the
playthings of the wife being burnt then and
there.
The earliest notice OF artificial eyes &C.
ours In very rare work by the FRENCH sur
geOn Ambrose Pare, entitled LA Methode
Curative des Playes ct Fractures de la Teste
Humaine," Paris. 1861. At page 226 Pare
gives description and figures OF artificial
eyes to be worn in cases where the eyeball
has given way and all the humors have es-
capped. They are to be segments of hollow
sphere, made of gold, coated with enamel
painted in natural cOlors
An artist" at Moulin Rouge is delightipr
Partisan audiences by his performances Of
drinking eighty books OF beer, about five
gallons, nightly. An eating man is doing
turns with him in Viennese music hall, and
his ordinary nightly meal is eight eggs,
several loaves of bread, some pounds OF
meal, raw cabbage and several side dishes
London managers are trying to secure the
couple, and expect they will be a great at
traction after the gut of fasting men,.
1t is we'll known that opaque globes alb
sorb a very large amount OF the light of
arc-lamps, and whatever present style of
globe is used dark shadow is cast directly
below the lamp. To avoid these difficulties
new style of globe has been brought out
in France made of transparent glass, with
circular depIessions having such faces as
TO form lenses similar to the well-known
lighthouse lenses, the curvatures of which
are 80 calculated that they refract and
reflect so as to diffuse the light.