The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-03-31
FACTS IN a FEW LINES.

Natives of the island of Bourbon CON
slider bats tho finest eating.
Policemen in Vienna must DO ablo to
swim, row boat aud understand tcleg-
raphy.
All tho civilized" nations arc at
present unusually active in building up
their navies.
An English medical journal says that
fish and other phosphoric foods do not
improve the brain.
While drunkenness is regarded with
greater severity in England and France,
1t as still uncondemned in Germany
By popular subscription Italians vii;
build meteorological station OH the
top of Monte Rosa, at an elevation of
1900 feet.
The grave of Robin Hood is in for
est not far from Huddersfield, York
shire. 1t is surrounded by modern
iron railing.
Freshets i'll the Seine have driven
hordes of rats into the houses and
streets. In outlying districts they scour
the streets i'll bodies.
Tho first whalcback built on tho Pa
clfic coast is now, i'll its tenth year, be-
ing remodcled into Al steamer of the reg
ular pattern ut Oakland, Cal.
1t is said that posts planted i'll the
earth upper end down will last longer
than those which arc set irfthc natural
position Ill which the tree grew
The Chinese skin cats before cooking
them, but dogs arc simply souscd i'll
boiling water to remove the hair a lit
tie hair being left on the end of the tail
to show the color.
According to the Rev. DR.. IIardcrn,
traces of the birth of pantomimc are
found 5000 years before the BIRTH OF
Christ, not only i'll the Egyptian race,
but also among eastern nations.
The native police i'll the foreign set
Element ut Yokohama, having mastered
the English language, are now studying
the Russian, Chinese and Korean
tongues as part of their police duty.
Berlin pays salary to professional
bird catcher, who keeps scientific and
educational institutions supplied with
birds, birds nests and eggs, and he is
the only man III the empire permitted
to do SO.
1t is estimated that tho profits of Ital-
ian ice cream vendors who sell their
wares mt street corners of London are at
the rate of 700 per cent Several of
these foreign counts are owners of large
estates i'll their native country.
~ party of scientists from Dublin
have visited the scene of the bog slip
near Baltimore and made numerous
measurements and observations. The
quantity of DOGGY matter dislodgcd is
estimated at 10, 900, 600 cubic yards.
The first chemical factory opened i'll
this country WAS in Salem, Mass, in
1911 At first great objection was made
to the establishment of the fuctory, the
persons living near claiming that the
fumes of the chemicals poisoned the air
and made life intolerable.
Between the ordinary harmless snake
and such species rs the cobra and viper
there Is great structural difference in
the formation of the head In highly
poisonous snakes the lower jawbone is
shortened, while the transverse or inner
iawbono is cOrrespondingly heightened.
Inc doinSS OF tie sultan'S court ut
Constantinoplc are least known of those
of any royal court. The first reason for
this is that the sultan is i'll constant ter
ror of assassination owing to the inter
necine discords Of his kingdom. The con
sequence is that when he goes out he
never lets it be known till the last mo-
ment where he is going to.
The most speedy mode of procuring
relief after receiving bruise is to
plunge the finger into water as hot as
can be borne. By so doing the nail is
softcned and yields so as to accommo-
date itself to the blood poured ont be-
meath it, and the agony is soon dimin-
ishcd. The finger may then be wrapped
i'll 4 bread and water poulticc.
There arc many plants whose digest
I've process is strikinsly similar to our
own. In the grains Of the maize and
the tubcrs of the potato there is secret
ed, when growth begins. Il fer,ment that
attacks the starch and converts tinto
sugar. Another feiMcnt is generated
which dis.olvcs ccllulCse, or woody
fiber, producing an effect similar TO the
pcptonizirS OF feed in tic human body
BY far the most remarkable imitation
III our method Of digcstirg food is fur
nished by tine Sundew and Venus fly
trap. When fl or other insect alights
upon the leaf OF either of these plants,
1t Is seized by tile curving over Of hairs
or the sudden closing of the two halves
OF the leaf Then Il glutinous fiuid is
poured ont. which dissolves all the soft
tissues Of the insect, leaving only the
wings ana Lard integurlents
The "BayouX Tapestry, which takes
its name from the place whore it is
kept, is :, nccdlcw0rI history on canvas
1t illustrates the invasion OF ENGLAND in