The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-08-18
NUBs OF KNOWLEDGE.


The height of the rock Of Gibraltar is
about 1,i37 feet.
Mormon missions have been established
In the Philippines.
Six San Domingo dollars are equivalent
to one American dollar.
Lnad in England is 500 times as valua-
BILE now as It was 200 years ago.
More than 10000 Americans have gone
to Europe since the first of May.
The finest shops in Chinese city are
those devoted to the sale of collins.
In Manitoba there are 25OO,OOO acres un-
der crops, Of which 100000 is wheat
Music boxes for bicycles are now man
ufnctured by a firm in Hamburg. GER
many.
At Wardbury. Norway the longest day
lasts from May 21 to July 22 without in
terruption.
Metallic furniture is to be pleced on our
men of war as an additional safeguard
against fire.
A suit to recover 2j cents occupied the
attention of the court In Geneva, N. Y,
for two days
There are 7O,g2T people in Iceland. and
they are so free from crime that but one
policeman is kept.
~
present In Germany. there being no cx-
press law against It,
There are 2,2A foreign students at the
German universities this summer, i'm
Guiding 800 Americans.
1t Is estimated that the consumption
OF beer I'm the entire world amounts to
S1OSO 100000 per annum.
In Prussia 413 school children under Is
years of age have committed suicide
within the space Of ten years.
In the last $50 years 100000 unfortun-
ates have been condemned to exile in ST.
beria by the Russian government.
over one hundred volumes of the Re
bellon Records have been published by
the government at a cost Of S2,600,OO0
Half the ships in the world are Brit
ish. The best of them can he converted
into ships Of war in forty-eight hours.
An artificial rubber. as good as the real
thing, is now made of glucose and gly-
cerine. mixed with sulphur oil. such as
ichthyol.
At Asti, in California, a cistern fOi feet
long by "a feet wide and "a feet deep has
been made in a hillside for the storage
of wine.
Japanese workmen are obliged to wear
on their caps and backs an inscription
stating their business and their employ
ers name.
A clock is being constructed for Liver
pool station in London. The interior Of
its case could allow five persons to dine
comfortably.
An electric lamp for use under water
consummation that has bafIled cleo
tricians for years-has been produced by
a German firm.
Twelve years ago one sailor out Of
every 106, on an average, lost his life by
accident. Now the proportion has been
reduced to one in 25G.
Eight thousand men are engaged in
mining lead and zinc in Missouri. The
total output for 1898 was 1900 tons Of
lead and 10000 tons OF zinc.
The last of the thirteen trees planted
by Alexander Hamilton to typify the
thirteen original states in New y ork city
are to be torn up by the roots and swept
away
The nails OF two fingers never grow
with the same degree of rapidity. The
nail of the middle finger grows with the
greatest rapidly, and that Of the thumb
the least.
The famous Blue Grotto Of Capri has
now n rival i'm the state of Minnesota.
1t occurs in a lake, on the shore of which
is a cavern of white limestone flooded
with water
Extremes seem to meet in liquid air.
Applied in one way 1t can be made to
freeze mercury solid. while in another it
is proposed to use it for the cremation
of bodies so that not even trace of them
shall be left.
In new Indian club frame is formed
Of spring wire, with covering of leather
or other material, the handle consisting
of a Coiled spring, which imparts fieXi-
bility to the grip and allows the club to
be swung with greater>ease.
A western paper notes that the ship
ments of pianos to farming communities
in that section have never been greater
than during the last few months, ard it
pertinently says: Farmers do not buy
pianos when mortgages cover their
lands"
The American Agriculturist has gath
cred and compiled statistics which show
that of $1,000 students in nearly 200 col
legcs and universities in this country,
nearly 2l0O0 are from the agricultural
classes. The farmers boy still has
thirst for education.
Penholders can be held in position for
writing without gripping them with the
FL gers by the use of an Illinois mans
attachment, consisting of piece of thin
metal bent to fit the portion of the hand
between the ball of the thumb and the
base of the first finger.
a Massachusetts man has patented an
anti-fouling coating for ships, consisting
of layer of paint, a layer of comminut-
ed soft metal, second layer Of paint and
an outer coat of comminuted copper, pre-
scnting smooth surface closely studded
with bare particles of copper.
In Cuba the kitchers are always on
the roof or in the cOurtyards back of tho
house. Only twice a day does the Gu
ban housewife or servant prepare meals
at 10 O'Clock, when she enters the kltch-
en- to make ready II o'clock breakfast,
and at o'clock to cook the dinner which
Is served at 6