The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-07-20
OUT OF THE ORDINARY.

What was probably the hrst PUBIC IL,
Charleston, S. g., in 1749.
The biggest average farm in the world
is IN South Australia. where the average
squatter holds 5000 acres.
The highest mountains in Cuba reach
greater heights than any peaks in the
Eastern ranges Of the United States.
The income tax in India is levied on all
incomes OF s115 and upward. and then only
one man in 700 comes within its scope.
The bamboo holds the record among
plants for quick growth. 1t has been
known to grow two feet in twenty-four
hours.
Liverpool boasts of having one OF the
best street-railroad systems not only in
Great Britain. but in Europe. The city
owns the system.
In Portugal if the wife Publishes literary
works without the husbands consent the
law frees him at once from all his matri-
mOnial obligations.
There are in Great Britain 931 munich
palities owning water works, 80 owning
street railways, 24O owning gas works and
Isl supplying electricity.
AS many of the Paris hospitals are put up
to modern requirements, 1t is proposed TO
pull them down and build new ones. The
cost would be SIS, 900, 600.
Dusseldorf, Germany, WINS its own cleo
trio street railway, water, gas, light, heat
and power plants, The city also controls
the harbor and runs a theater.
It is probable that the temperature of the
moons surface at it's midday is $50 de-
grees Fahrenheit. The drop at night is
probably 1000 degrees to go degrees below.
The School Board Of Newport, r. l.. has
elected a colOred woman as teacher in the
public schools. She is the first negress TO
be so honored in the New England States.
In Moscow a money lender, the owner of
several houses and stables, was sentenced
recently to four months Imprisonment for
lending money at the enormous rate of Isl
per cent
With a view to facilitating the delivery
OF mails, the Swedish postal authorities
suggest that all school children in the
country be instructed in the correct meth
cd Of directing letters.
The bands of elk that wintered in Jack
son Hole country, Wyoming, four years
ago were estimated to number $1,000. They
now number less than 10000, according TO
the estimate of the ranchers.
The largest library in the world is the
National Library of Paris. which contains
forty miles of shelves. holding 100000
books. There are also 175,000 manuscripts,
10000 maps and charts and 10000 coins and
medals.
A dispatch to the New York Sun states
that thousands of irregulars who fought
under the British flag in South Africa are
Offering their services to the American
consul at johannesburg TO fight in the
Philippines.
Warrensburg, Mo, has three licensed ya-
looms, each of which pays 5000 annually
into the treasury. They comply with al
the laws requirements and aid in its en-
forcement, keeping out ~jOintists and boot
leggers of all kinds.
Henry Poost, of Gilman, ILL.,, recently
purchased a tract of land in Stone county,
Missouri, and obtained an abstract of title
dated Jun 49,, 1893. A favorable opinion
was attached as TO the validity of the title
signed by Daniel Webster and Rufus
Choate.
The smallest State in Brazil is Sergpipe,
with an area of 15,135 square miles and a
population Of 100000 mostly a mixture of
Portuguese, negroes and Indians. 1t is
purely an agricultural State, yet there is
an almost entire lack of agricultural i'm
PIGMENTS.
A treatment highly recommended by a
scientific magazine for poisoning from ivy
is to wet a slice of bread with water. dust
IT with common washing soda and apply
to eruption, keeping the bread wet from
the outside. Half an hour of this treat
ment is said to be a sure cure.
The kissar is one of the most ancient of
Egyptian Instruments. 1t is found repre-
sented in monuments antedating the date
of Christ by 1000 years. 1t consists of a
circular body, with a large triangular
frame above, from the cross-bar of which
I'VE strings pass to the bottom of the
frame. 1t is tuned to the pentatonic scale.
Probably the most expensive book known
is that which the Ameer of ~Afghanistan
has presented to the Shah of Persia. 1t
is a manuscript copy of the Koran, the
binding CT which is worth $4,000. This
binding is of solid gold, two and three
quarters inches thick. The carvings,
which are the work of an Afghan gold
smith, are encrusted with precious stones
167 pearls, 10 rubies and 100 diamonds Of
the purest water.
The French consul at Batavia lays stress
on the Importance of bamboo as "A nate
rial for constructing builders scaffoldihg,
and he states that in Java even a light
house has been built with it's help. the
power Of resistance of a bamboo cane
measuring eight TO ten inches in diameter,
even with a length of sixty-hve feet, is
Moreover, bamboo is said not
to rot either when in the ground or in
water. while the drier and older 1t grows
the frmer it becomes.