The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1897-06-03
Scientific and Curious Facts.

A million dollars in silver weighs
56,931 pounds.
From Germany we get the GUS
tom of celebrating gold and silver
weddings.
Each square inch of the human
skin contains no less than $500
perspiration pores.
Nearly seventy round towers,
from thirty to 1875 feet high, are
found in various parts OF Ireland.
They are believed to have been
used in the ceremonies Of fire wor-
ship.
The city of Bantam, in Great
Bucharia. is cut in the side OF a
mountain. There are twelve thou
sand artificial caves, some very
large, and two statues, one ninety
and the other twenty feet high,
each hewn from a single stone
The region between the first
and second cataracts Of the Nile
is the hottest on the globe. 1t
never rains there, and the natives
do not believe foreigners who tell
them that water can descend from
the sky.
The State capitol Of Texas is
the largest state building in the
United States, and the seventh in
size among the buildings of the
world. It was paid for with three
million acres of public land,
decided to the Chicago capitalists
who executed the work.
A Danish professor has discov-
cred that plants are susceptible to
the influence of ether or chloro-
form, the effect being to awaken
them instead of putting them to
sleep. The plants are also made
to grow with greater rapidity, in
or out of season, a fact Of the
greatest Importance to gardeners
and florists.
A French scientific writerpoints
out that a mere gain in weight
should not, in itself, be taken as
an indication of improved bodily
condition. It is, according to him,
rather a question Of the density
than of the quantity of tissue that
covers the bones. When increase
of weight results from increased
density, then the health is really
improved.
A man in Washington who has
for years been collecting newspa-
per accounts Of railway accidents
declares that no locomotive engi-
neer ever came out alive from his
third disaster. He does not insist
that engineers are never killed in
their first or second accident,
but he maintains that after man
has had two ''close calls he will,
If wise, abandon railroading.
The most remarkable gold bee
ties in the world are found in Gen.
trail America. The head and wing
cases are brilliantly polished with
lustre as of gold itself. To sight
and touch they have all the ap-
pearance of metal Oddly enough
another species from the same re-
gion has the appearance Of being
wrought in solid silver, freely bur-
nished. These gold and silver
beetles have a market value. They
are worth from S25 to $50 apiece
The legs of insects are pecul-
iarly adapted to their modes of
life. The water beetles leg is
provided with suction disks, which
enable him to cling to anything
he touches and to walk upside
down. Ants, beetles and other
insects have small. fine combs on
their legs. which they use simply
to brush off their antenna. This
is what the common house-fy is
doing when you see him rub his
legs over the fore part of his head
The caterpillar is supplied with
abdominal legs, which disappear
when he becomes moth or but
terhy.
Pretty soon after the cricket
frog appears the cry Of the pepper
is heard. Much erroneous infor-
nation has been published about
this tiny fellow. Many persons
believe the cry to be made by the
young of other frogs. AS a matter