The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-05-23
CURIOUS CONVERSATIONS.


In Old England 10 was called the
devils Dozen" but exactly why is not
known.
Agriculturists IN the Isle of Man are
| just now graphing with the problem
of the rock pest.
The deepest British coal mine is the
Ashton Moss colliery, which goes down
$3.50 feet
Whooping cough in a fatal form has
lately been distinctly increasing
among London children.
If well could be dug to the depth
of 46 miles the air at the bottom would
be as dense as quicksilver.
The word "hairbreadth," now used
for an infinitesimal space, was once a
regular measure. 1t was the width of
| sixteen hairs laid side by side.
A passenger through the Mont Gents
tunnel is at one point 1854 metres be-
meath the summit; in the st. Gothard
tunnel he is still deeper, LOO metres.
1t was the custom in Leicester and
its shire, yet continued, to place a
dish or plate of salt on corpse to
prevent its swelling and purging, as
the term is
Not long since, in a mine in the
Flenu, Belgium district, called est.
Henriette des Produits,'' a rich vein
Of coal was struck at the extraordinary
depth of 41SS feet.
Some of the Relgian coal mines are
wonderfully deep. In a pit at F'lenu
coal is now being 'got" 300 feet below
the surface. In another pit, at Mon
tigny- surSambre, a coal seam is
worked 5000 feet down.
The loss of stock in New South
| Wales during the recent drought is es-
timated at 100000 900 sheep, valued at As.
each; 100000 cattle, valued at 40s., and
10000 horses, valued at Cos, amounting
in the aggregate to total value of
e., 666 900.
The tri-centenary of the Introduction
of the potato is to be celebrated in
Britain this year, for it was in 1896.
exactly three centuries ago, that Sir
Walter Raleigh planted the first Irish
potato in his estate at Youghal, near
Cork.
The largest tunnel in the world is at
Schemnitz, in Hungary, being nearly
ten and one-half miles from end TO
end. 1t was undertaken to avoid the
necessity for pumping the water sup
ply of the district to an unusually
high level.
The sites of many cities of antiquity
are literally honeycombed with tun-
nels, and the Greeks and the Romans
have left numerous traces of similar
activity, which show that they con-
stantly brought their water and car
ried their drainage long distances.
One explanation of the origin of the
| Order of the Garter ascribes the foun-
dation of the order to the fact that
Edward. at the battle of Crecy, issued
his garter as a signal for battle, which
proving successful determined him to
! institute the order in memory of the
event.
Porter, as a drink, was known orig
inally by the name of Three Strings or
| Tuppenny. 1t was drawn from three
casks, each of different quality, and
drunk principally by porters. Hence
the name was given to a beer having
all the qualities of the three liquors
combined
In 1900 letters patent were issued
definitely granting the peninsula of
Sierra Leone. so far as was in the
power of the crown, to the Sierra
Leone company" The French war,
however, seriously affected the for
tunes of this corporation, and heavy
subsidies were granted from imperial
funds to sustain it.
The origin of summersaults must be
sought for in the early history of the
Middle Ages. The word is corrup-
ton of the old French "soubresault"
or "soubresaut;;" Italian, "sopra salto;"
| Spanish. "sobre salto"-all form the
Latin super" or supra" above or
over, and "saltum,' accusative of
'saltus,' jump. vault, leap, or bound.
About the year 1919 a great outcry
was raised against the Bank of Eng
land for not adopting style of note
which could not be initiated. so as to
prevent forgery. The subject at last
| became so pressing that the govern
ment appointed commissioners to in
vestigate. The. result of this investiga-
ton was the bank note of the present
day.
Aqueducts constituted the greatest
engineering feats performed by the ma
lions of antiquity. The remains of
many of these works are still extant.
! One and perhaps not the least re-
markable, described by Herodotus in
terms of admiration as having been
! constructed in the tenth century 3. c.,
was discovered only a few years since
in the Island of Samos.
Humboldt describes a remarkable
tunnel in the Andes, known as the
/ Desague Real, which was driven
! through a mountain by a Flemish en-
miles long, eleven feet in width. and
fourteen feet high. 1t was designed
/ to carry off the threatening waters of
a deep mountain lake, and was exc
cuted with pickaxe and spade in one
year by the incessant labor of $1,000
Indians.
Pennant, in his "Tour of Scotland, y
tells that on the death of High
lander the corpse, being stretched on a
board and covered with coarse linen
wrapper, the friends placed a wooden
platter on the breast of the deceased,
containing small quantity of salt
and earth, separate and unmixed; the
earth an emblem of the corruptible
body the salt an emblem of the i'm
mortal spirit.
In 1870 Charles II granted a charter
to the Hudson Bay company, giving
to that association the whole and sole
trade and commerce on the waters ly-
ing within the entrance of the Hud-
sons Straits and on the islands adj
joining. After the cession of Canada
to Great Britain in 1853 the Northwest
Fur company of Montreal sprang into
existence, and by it's competition with
the older corporation, compelled an
amalgamation in 1921.
The first, and perhaps the greatest,
chartered company that ever existed
was the East India company, created
by a charter of Elizabeth in 1900, with
a capital of f72,O00. Deprived of its
charter by Cromwell in 1854, it OBJ
toiued q Te-Uraut of the same from