The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1899-11-13
NUBS OF KNOWLEDGE.

Lake Victoria NyanZa, in Africa, is
over 1906 feet above the level of the sea.
Factory work occupies one woman out
of every twenty-seven in the German en-
plrc.
Bremen took 17O5,OOO Of the 11,joOOOO
bales of cotton raised in the United States
last year
1t has been decided by the Municipal
club Of New York to offer prizes for the
cultivation ana Improvement Of uninvit-
ing sections Of the city
The British military authorities ate so
well convinced of the practicablitY Of
the wireless telegraph that they viii use
it on a large scale in South African york
Business in South Africa, including
Cape Town. is absolutely stagnant. Food
stuffs have doubled III price, and thou
sands are without work or money to buy
the necessities of life,
The United States court OF appeals las
decided that suicide does not invulidate
life insurance policy unless it can be
proved that the insurer contemplated sui
eide at the time of taking out the policy.
Below the waters Of :ionterey Bay,
cal, lies a sunFen craft that once helped
to make history. Site is the Natalie,
which, in 1873, carried Napoleon hack to
! France frcm Flba, and set the kings Of
| II Europe trembling again upon their
| thrones.
IN the SCudan the horses are shod with
socks made of Camel's hair. In Australia
| horseshoes have been tried of cowhide. A
! German not long ago invented a horse
shoe made of paper, which had been sat,
| uratCd with oil, turpentinc and other in
| gradients.
| Realistic snowstOrms for theaters are
produced by a new machine, which has
| two revolving perforated cylinders to
drop faxed and granulated substances
respectively, with electric fans under
each cylinder to drive the "snow" aCloss
the stage as it falls.
A horse can draw on the worst kind of
road about four times as much rs he can
| carry on his back Or a good macada-
| mi2ed road he can pull ten times as
much, on a wooden road twenty-five
times as much, and on a tramllne fifty
eClght times as much.
The origin of the phrase ito give the
cold shoulder Is said To have been Gus.
tom in France of serving "A cold shoulder
instead Of a hot roast iint 20 guests who
hal outstaycd their welcome. In some
districts of ireland seed cake was Uset
to convey the same nint.
The New York papers figure up Z
l'us Vanderbilt of over Sl,20O,,O0 and {
Federal Inheritance tax, under the wa
revenue act, of over 81, 700 600. The 20
tai sum Is three times the amount Of Mr.
Vandcrbilt's public bequests.
From Mexico comes Information de
scribiug a particular nerb, ''yerba de |;
VibOrd," which Is used with success ii
srake- bite cases One Mexican has u fox
terrier, a bloodhound and three horses
all of which, bitten by rattlesnakcs, hav
been cured by the herb and are now well
Moths ny against the candle lame be
cause their eyes can bear only smal
amount of light. When therefore the
come within the light of a candle the!
sight is overpowered and their vts!o
confused, and as they cannot dlstngus
objects they pursue the light Itself an
fly against the fame.
1t is interesting TO observe that in
disposition of the Japanese is apparent
to look almost exclusively to the Unite
States in educational matters as tn
total number of Japanese students resid
ing abroad as shown by the census fia
ures, was 2,465, and of this number Eli
were in the United States
The navy department has issued o
order 70 place metal furniture ON tn
cruiser Atlanta. Il was found that IN
presence nf the wooden furniture aboar
, | the waTship during the late war was
, most serious menace TO the men. Nor
injury was done by the flying splinter
than was done directly by the shells 1
| | the enemy
The Duchess of Northumberland po'
, sesses a shawl given her by Charles y {
| France, which cost a fabulous sum II
manufactured from the fur Of a specie
? ot Persian cat, the hair of which is 5
lne tl'at on' strand Is hardly visible
, | he naked eye. The spinning. weavin
and fashiCning OF the material require
several years of labor and thousands
2 cat skins.