The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-07-13
NUBs OF KNOWLEDGE.

Pins have been made for 45O years, but
needles have been used for forty CEN
turtles.
Something like 1,S5O,OO0 square yards Of
looking glass are manufactured in Europe
annually.
More than 70, 100000 acres Of the Sahara
| desert have been made useful for raising
crops with the aid of artesian wells.
Russia, with a population of 127,OOO,OOO.
has only 49, 3S4 physicians. III the United
States, with a population of about $1,000, =
900, there are 10000 physicians.
There are in this country 500 umbrella
factories having an invested capital of
S,OO0,000 of which more than s., 900 is
| in the city of Philadelphia alone.
Dried orange peel allowed to shoulder
on piece of red-hot iron or an old shovel
Will kill any bad smell in existence and
leave fragrant one behind instead.
In the United States 20 per cent. Of
| the population, larger proportion than
| in any other country, is enrolled at
| schools, the average attendance at which
exceeds 100000
There are 10000 locomotives in use on
American railroads, representing an in
vestment of S50O0O,OOO The average
weight of an American railroad locomo-
| tlNe Is IV,UOO pOuHuS'
Our exports of manufactures have
more than doubled in the last six years,
more than trebled since 1850, more than
Quadrupled since 1870. are more than
eight times as large as they were in 1860.
and in 1898 and 1899. for the first in our
| history, exceeded the importation of
manufactures. The expectation of man.
| ufactures in the fiscal year just ended
| averages more than S1,O00OO0 for each
| business day of the year.
The great nutritive powers Of choco-
| late are now so generally recognized that
| it has been adopted for campaign use
in the armies and navies of almost every
| European government. The increased
consumption in Europe within four years
is 35 per cent, and although American
consumption has during the same period
| increased 50 per cent, France alone con-
| sumes seven times the quantity used
in the United States.
The Usage Indians are the richest COM
munity in the world They number but
1,729 souls, all told--men, women ant
children; they own 100000 acres of valu-
able land, have $1,000, COO in trust with the
government which pays per cent. in
terest and have leases with cattlemer
for the use of their pasture lands which
bring them between $4,000 and $4,000 q
year, without counting the rent from the
| agricultural lands and the proceeds OF
| their labor.
In Luthunia, a prov vince of Russia Il
is customary that the brides ears SHOULD
he boxed before the marriage ceremony
No matter how tender hearted the moth
cr may be, she always makes it a poin
of administering a hearty smack to hal
daughter in the presence of witnesses
and a note Is made of the fact The
mothers Intention is kind one, though
the custom itself is had. The reason ful
ii is to protect the bride should her mar
riage prove an unhappy one. In tha
case she will sue for a divorce, ana hrl
plea will be that she was forced into
that score the verdict of the judge will
be in her favor
Probably the longest beard in the worlt
is that Of a metal worker at Vandonene
near Nicvrc, France. The man is =
years old and in perfect health. Whcl
II wears old he had a beard six inchc.
long. 1t grew from year to year, anC
now his hirsute attachment, when un
rolled, has reached the respeCtabl,
length of ten feet and ten inches, Whcl
this man goes out walking he carries hi
beard rolled up in n big skoin under his
arm, as the old Roman senators carried
their togas. In winter time he wind;
his beard several times around the neck
using it as a boa Since the man =
rathor small in size, measuring but nv,
feet three inches, the beard Is more than
twice the mans height.