Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1900-08-30
BITS OF INFORMATION.

A pet Maltese cat belonging to an
English woman has been successfully
provided with spectacles to counterfeit
failing eyesight. A picture of a
mouse was used by the oculist to test
the cats eyes.
Free lectures given under the aus
pices of the New York City depart
ment of education show an increase in
attendance of 1858 during the last
winter and spring, as compared with
the same period Of year before.
Damages of $4,000 are asked by
Kansas City baker from a woman who
spread report that he kneaded his
bread with his feet. The defendant
says she will put in evidence a loaf OF
bread with footprints on it.
Carrots, eaten early in the morning,
are said to produce most astonishing
effect upon the skin, hair and eyes. 1t
is asserted that in six months the
most faded and elderly complexion
will have become fresh and youthful
Cypress telegraph poles along a
Georgia railroad which must have
been planted with their roots, have
begun sprouting at the top. They serve
as shade trees as well as a support for
the wires,
Professor Gotch says the electric
fish of the Nile have battery"
power equal to 200 volts. The electri-
cal organ is situated in the skin, in
closing the whole body in micro
scopic sections
Cyclones or general storms may be
1000 miles in diameter Hurricanes
operate on path averaging 600 to
500 miles wide. Tornadoes may be
only mile wide at the top and but a
few feet at the bottom, but they are
much more dangerous than either a
cyclone or hurricane.
Philadelphia genius has invented a
hat for horses to wear during hot
weather. 1t resembles poke bonnet
and is made of braided straw. There
are holes in the side of the headgear
for the ears of the animal, and in the
top of the device is a receptacle for
ice or wet sponge.
Ginseng is parsnip-shaped, and when
freshly dug is of white, creamy color.
The root is bitter to the taste, but not
unpleasant, and is highly valued in
China for it's supposed medicinal prop
critics in combating fatigue and old
age In that country it can only be
gathered by permission of the ruler.
Scotch collies are used in ambulance
and bearer work on German battle
fields. They wear a saddle bearing a
large red cross, and attached to this is
flask and dressing for wounds. The
dogs are so well schooled they will
scent a man who in the ordinary
course would have been overlooked by
the bearers and perhaps left to die.
The Muir glacier in Alaska was
named after Professor Muir of Cali
fornia, who first explored it some
twenty Years ago. 1t is about thirty
five miles in its front portion to fifteen
miles further back. 1t rises from 100
to 250 feet above the surface of the sea,
and extends under it at least three
times as far.
What is believed to be a viking
corpse has been dug up in peat bog
at Damendorf, in Schleswig, and
placed in the Kiel Museum 1t was
well preserved, had red hair and was
clothed in coarse wooden clothing,
with sandals on the feet. Kiel experts
think that it was buried 1,5OO years
ago.
The tail feathers of the feriwah, a
rare member of the family of para
disae, or birds of paradise, are the
most expensive known. The only tuft
existing in England-probably in any
civilized land-Was procured with such
difficulty that it is considered to be
worth $4,000. 1t now adorns the apex
of the coronet worn on state occasions
by the Prince of Wales.