The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-12-01
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

The microscope has shown yeast cells in
Egyptian bread more than four thousand
years old.
A heather was originally a dweller on
the German heaths the last localities in
Germany TO accept the Christian religion.
A French farmer has made experiments
which show that caterpillars avoid black
objects, but are attracted in numbers by
white.
A curious custom prevails in Corea If
man meets his wife in the street he ignores
her presence and passes her as if she were
a stranger.
valued ten to twenty-fold the price of dia-
monds. The best come from China, Ceylon
and India
Wasps may often be observed detaching
from fences, boards, or any old wood, the
fibers which they afterward manufacture
into papier-mache.
Tolstois books have been translated into
Chinese and Hebrew. In Germany there
are 21S translations of books of his; in
France 159, in England Us.
The Chinese pen from time immemorial
has been a brush made of some soft hair
and used to paint the curiously formed let
ters of the Chinese alphabet.
From Tomsk to Irkutsk, on the Siberian
Railway, a distance Of 932 miles, there Is
only one town deserving the name-Kras-
noairs-with a population of 2s.oo0.
An automobile is being built in New York
that will make seventy miles an hour on
task will be to find a level road seventy
miles in length.
Portugal is the most illiterate country in
Europe; 81 per cent. OF its population can
not write. In Italy the proportion of iilit-
crates is 53 per cent, in Russia 30, in Spain
9, in Britain 315.
The Havana Post estimates that $1,000
immigrants, mostly Americans and Span
ish farm workers have landed in Cuba
in the last three years. The number also
includes about 1000 Chinese
A tribe of peculiar people dwell on the
banks of the Purus. in South America. Men,
| women and children are spotted, with
| brown spots white skin. Their chief
| article of diet is fish
Kansas farmers are feeding wheat to
their cattle: 1t is said that in the absence
| of profitable fields for investment for
grain-sale money they are holding their
| wheat for better prices.
The JORDAN, during its course, falls over
1900 feet At no point is 1t navigable, even
lance, and presents the unique spectacle of
| a river which has never been navigated
| flowing into a sea which contains not one
| living creature
About 10000 passes into the Pan-Ameri-
| can Exposition were issued. Exactly
| S,304073 admissions to the exposition were
recorded and since many Of the passes
| were used several times at least, it is seen
| that the free admissions constituted a con-
| siderable per cent. of the whole.
| Many Cuban shoe dealers are now order
| ing their goods from Haverhill, Mass
| manufacturers One large factory recently
| this footnote: I'VE do not understand well
the English and we supplicate you to dis
| semble us any error you observe"
1t is stated that every year England loses
a tract of land the size Of Gibraltar and
| that on the east coast alone the annual
loss equals in territory the Island of He'll
| goland. In the last one hundred years an
| edge of England equal In to the coun-
ty Of London has been submerged.
A square foot of the best Persian rug
| is worth about $40, and it takes a single
/ weaver twenty-three days to complete it.
| This allows the weaver about a cents a
| day for her wool and her labor, but three
| fourths OF this amount goes to pay for the
wool. Only IL cents day is left for the
| weaver.
In no other country in the world is the
! cigar so popular in Germany, so much
| so that it is impossible to raise enough to-
bacco in the empire to supply the domestic
nearly S22.0OO,O 900 worth of tobacco a little
more than third of it coming from the
| United States.
Mason and Dixon's line, the famous old
historic boundary of the South. is being re-
! surveyed and will not be permitted to drop
J out of existence. The old stone markers
or posts which marked the line are being
reset in solid cement bases and iron posts
| are being substituted in places where the
| old posts have disappeared.
With view TO prevent people Of means
| taxing advantage OF the Tree OlSpe0SarleS,
! meant only for the poor of the community,
| the physicians and druggists of Philadel-
| phia will petition the next Legislature TO
enact law requiring that register. to be
| open for inspection, shall be kept giving the
! names of all persons obtaining medicines.
At Venice when any one dies il is the
| custom to fix placard before the dead per-
sons house, as Well as in adjacent streets,
as a sort OF public notice. stating his name,
| age place OF birth and the illness from
| which he died affirming also that he re-
! ceived the holy sacraments, died a good
! Christian and requesting the prayers of the
! faithful
Hundreds of pounds of honey have been
| discovered in the great equestrian statue
| OF Gen. Robert Z. Lee at Richmond, Va.
| Both the horse and rider are hollow, and
! ii appears that ever since last summer bees
| have been going in and out at the parted
lips and nOstrils Of General Lee and his
| steed. The bees are almost numberless and
| they have been making honey constantly
| There is no wav of settin9 inside the e+"ttle
without damaging ii, and the bees will be
| left alone in their iron home.