The Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1895-1897, 1896-12-26
FACTS lii a FEW LINES.

NcNu year Will SEQ mo thirteenth con
tenary of Canterbury cathedral.
In tho n?w Hotel Cecil in London
there is Il telephone i'll each room.
Ncwsboys on bicycles are tho latest
form OF newspaper enterprise in London
GRADUATED fresh bone and steamed
cut hay arc recommended by a poultry
man for eggs.
Sunnower cako has been found, cspe-
cially i'll Russia, one Of tho best auxil-
larry cattle foods
American ebony is ono of tho heaviest
woods known, weighing SO. IS pounds
10 the cubic foot.
A metoorite which fell in Australia
recently had u mass of pure copper I'M
bedded i'll ono side.
a dictionary recently published i'll
England devotes ~, columns to the
various meanings of tho word devil "
The highest inhabited building in
Europe is the Alpine clubhouse, OIL
Mount Rosa-12, 600 feet above the sen
level.
Quoits, us y game, arc said to have
originated with the Greeks and TO have
been first played at the Olympic games
1853 b. 9.
Ladies' bicycles are now turned out
i'll England with charming bags, hold
ing many dainty articles, such us mir
ror, powder puff and perfume bottle
Mr.. Lawson TAFT, the we'll known
Birmingham doctor, has designed an
instrument whereby the electric current
is applied for the surgical arrest of
bleeding.
y foreign applicant for patent in
the United States must make tho neces-
sary oaths and affidavits before min
iStcr, consul or commercial agent of the
United States.
The government of South Australia
have contracted with the Orient and the
Peninsular and Oriental companies for
the carriage Of butter for two years at
farthings a pound.
There is Il shrub in Spain called the
toothplck bishop weed. because the rays
Of the main umbel form thorny tooth
picks when dried. y specimen in Kew
gardens has 81 900 rays.
The tooth of il mastodon in I'll al
most complete state Of preservation has
been recently unearthed. 1t weighed If
pounds II ounces and measured 0 inch
es by 4 and is pure ivory.
The first exports of cotton from this
country was i'll 17S5, III which year
bag was sent from Charleston to Liver
pool, while - were sent from Philadel-
phia and from New York.
Every guest at Norwegian wedding
briggs the bride Il present. In many
parts ies of butter is the usual gift
ana If tho marriage takes place i'll win
ter sailed or frozen meat is offered.
From rough calculations lately mado
by the contributors to The Geological
Record, it appears that over 800, 900
species OF animals have been described
by naturalists up to tho present date.
The largest bell i'll France has been
hung in the holfry of the Church of the
Sacred Heart i'll Paris. Ii weighs rs
tons, can nc heard at Il distance of 20
miles, and lis vibration lasts six min
utcs.
The title and position Of cardinal is
the highest dignity i'll the Roman Gath
Ollie church nest TO the pope. Cardinals
are divided into three clnsscs-6 cardi-
nal bishops, 90 cardinal priests and II
cardinal dcacons.
j. Il. Gore, writing of the solar sys-
tenn, says that enormously large as the
solar system absolutely is, compared
with tho size of our own earth, it is,
compared with the size of the visible
universe, merely rs a drop in the ocean. -
The ancient Greeks, to secure rcso-
nance without the use of woodwork,
placed under the seats of their theators
carthcn pots, with the mouth turned to-
ward the stage, the vibrating mass of
air i'll these serving to rc-enforcc tho
sound.
BY the slaughter of elephants in At
RIGA an annual profit Of some 81, 600, 900
is realized If the elephants instead of
being left prey to tho hunter, were
tanned, they would bring an annual
profit of some el35, 900, 600, according
to authorities
Some idea of the vast extent of the
surface of tho earth may be obtained
when it Is noted that if lofty church
steeplc is ascended and the landscape
visible from it looked ut, 800, 600 such
landscapes must be viewed in order
that the whole earth may be seen.
National flowers have been adopted
in various countries, rs follows: Greece,
violet Canada srpn, manila. Eo-nt H.