The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1898-05-05


graphed, but that figures have to be
used which correspond to certain
words.
The Goldfish over the speakers desk
in the Massachusetts House of Repre-
sentatives was first placed in position
Jan. IL, 1893.
The eyeball is white because the
blood vessels that feed its substance
are so small that they do not admit the
red corpuscles.
4 swordfish weighing 2O7O pounds
was lately brought into the market at
TAPPING. 1t was thirty feet long, and
the sword weighed thirty catties.
Of the eleven emperOrs and en-
presses that have occupied the throne
of Russia between Peter 1. and Alex
ander ILL.,, four have been assassinated.
In each wing of the ostrich twenty
six long, white plumes grow to matur.
ity in eight months. In the male these
are pure white, while those of the fe-
male shade to ecru or gray.
DR.. Barth says that singers have the
soundest lungs because they exercise
them more than other people. The av-
erage German takes into his lungs
thirty-two hundred cubic centimetres
of air at breath, while professional
singers take in four or five thousand.
According to the statement of the
French government meteorological at
Puy-de-Dome, the least rainy towns
in France are Nismes and Nice; for it
only rains there on one day in six. But
tourists had better avoid Bordeaux,
for there it rains on two days out of
every three.
In exchange for Havana and part
of Cuba which had been captured by
the British in 1862, Florida was coded
TO Great Britain Feb. 10, 1863, France
confirming to Great Britain at the time
all Spanish possessions east of the
Mississippi with the exception of the
disputed Island of Orleans. Great
Britain by treaty Jan. 20, 1883 coded
to Spain east Florida and west Florida
south of the thirty first parallel.
Contrary to widespread belief that
hard woods give more heat in burning
than soft varieties, it has been shown
that the greatest heating power is pos
:sessed by the wood of the linden tree,
which is very soft. Fir stands next to
linden. and is almost equal to it. Then
comes pine, hardly inferior to fir and
linden, while hard oak possesses eight
per cent less heating capacity than
linden and red beech ten per cent less.
Workmen who were deepening the
river Main near Karburg, recently,
discovered the trunks of six great oak
trees buried in the bed of the stream.
The wood is very hard and has turned
TO the color of ebony. 1t proved to be
a valuable discovery, as the wood can
ibe employed for inlaying purposes.
German authorities say the trees have
lain submerged in the river between
sone thousand and fifteen hundred
years.
1t is a remarkable fact, says an Eng
fish paper, that the very means of life
may be the cause of death A whale
may be drowned and now a scientist
tells that there seems to be peculiar
fatality among fishes. After reaching
a certain depth of water, the swimming
bladders become distended by the pres
sure Of air, and the fish literally ex-
plode. Too much of ones native ele-
ment may bring about most disastrous
consequences. A sudden change of air
from one density to another may cause
sudden change of temperature has pro-
duced like results. Extremes of all
sorts are not only very injurious but are
likely to prove fatal, especially to Or
ganisms that are not in the enjoyment
of robust health.
If an inhabitant of another world
should visit our earth he would hardly
fail to notice among its curiosities
worth reporting to his fellow beings
the numerous observatories, some for
studying the stars and others for study.
ing the weather, which, within a few
years past, have been placed upon sc
many lofty peaks in lands so widely
scattered that they may be said to en-
circle the globe. He would probably
lot down in his note book: "The inhab
itants of the earth have placed sentry