Handy Facts To Settle Many Arguments
London plague in 1665.
Telephone invented 1861.
There are 2,750 languages.
Two persons die every second.
Sound moves 743 miles per hour.
Chinese invented paper 170 B.C.
A square mile contains 640 acres.
A barrel of pork weighs 200 pounds.
Hawks can fly 150 miles in one hour.
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Watches were first constructed in 1476.
Chinese in United States in 1880, 105,613.
Rome was founded by Romulus, 752 B.C.
Gold was discovered in California in 1848.
Phonograph invented by T. A. Edison, 1877.
The first balloon ascended from Lyons, France, 1783.
The first fire insurance office in America, Boston, 1724.
Jet is found along the coast of Yorkshire, Eng., near Whitby.
Napoleon I. crowned emperor 1804; died at St. Helena, 1820.
Electric light invented by Lodyguin and Kossloff, at London, 1874.
Harvard is the oldest college in the United States: established 1638.
War declared with Great Britain, June 19, 1812; peace Feb. 18, 1815.
Until 1776 cotton spinning was performed by the hand spinning-wheel.
Measure 209 feet on each side and you will have a square acre within an
inch.
Postage stamps first came into use in England in the year 1840; in the
United States in 1847.
The highest range of mountains are the Himalayas, the mean elevation
being from 16,000 to 18,000 feet.
Envelopes were first used in 1839.
Telescopes were invented in 1590.
Iron horseshoes were made in 481.
A barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds.
A hand (horse measure) is four inches.
A rifle ball moves 1,000 miles per hour.
First steamer crossed the Atlantic, 1819.
Assassination of Lincoln, April 14, 1865.
German empire re-established, Jan. 18, 1871.
Storm clouds move thirty-six miles an hour.
First subscription library, Philadelphia, 1731.
Dark Ages, from the 6th to the 14th century.
The Latin tongue became obsolete about 580.
The great London fire occurred Sept. 26, 1666.
The value of a ton of pure gold is $602,799.21.
Ether was first used for surgical purposes in 1844.
Ignatius Loyola founded the order of Jesuits, 1541.
First authentic use of organs, 755; in England, 951.
The first newspaper advertisement appeared in 1652.
Cork is the bark taken from a species of the oak tree.
Benjamin Franklin used the first lightning rods, 1752.
Glass windows (colored) were used in the 8th century.
Authentic history of China commenced 3,000 years B.C.
Introduction of homoepathy into the United States, 1825.
Spectacles were invented by an Italian in the 13th century.
Medicine was introduced into Rome from Greece, 200 B.C.
First electric telegraph, Paddington to Brayton, Eng., 1835.
The Chaldeans were the first people who worked in metals.
First life insurance, in London, 1772; in America, Philadelphia, 1812.
Egyptian pottery is the oldest known; dates from 2,000 B.C.
Julius Caesar invaded Britain, 55 B.C.; assassinated, 44 B.C.
Soap was first manufactured in England in the 16th century.
The largest free territorial government is the United States.
First photographs produced in England, 1802; perfected, 1841.
First marine insurance, A.D. 533; England, 1598; America, 1721.
Professor Oersted, Copenhagen, discovered electro-magnetism, in 1819.
First American express, New York to Boston--W. F. Harnden.
Glass windows were first introduced into England in the 8th century.
Chicago is little more than fifty years old, and is the eighteenth city
of the world.
Glass was made in Egypt, 3000 B.C.; earliest date of transparent
glass, 719 B.C.
First public schools in America were established in the New England
States about 1642.
The largest inland sea is the Caspian, between Europe and Asia, being
700 miles long and 270 miles wide.
The term "Almighty Dollar" originated with Washington Irving, as a
satire on the American love for gain.
The highest natural bridge in the world is at Rockbridge, Virginia,
being 200 feet high to the bottom of the arch.
The largest circulation of paper money is that of the United States,
being 700 millions, while Russia has 670 millions.
The largest insurance company in the world is the Mutual Life of New
York City, having cash assets of $108,000,000.
The largest empire in the world is that of Great Britain, being
8,557,658 square miles, and more than a sixth part of the globe.
The first electrical signal ever transmitted between Europe and America
passed over the Field submarine cable on Aug. 5, 1858.
The longest tunnel in the world is St. Gothard, on the line of the
railroad between Luzerne and Milan, being nine and one-half miles in
length.
The loftiest active volcano is Popocatapetl. It is 17,784 feet high,
and has a crater three miles in circumference and 1,000 feet deep.
Burnt brick was known to have been used in building the Tower of Babel.
They were introduced into England by the Romans.
The most remarkable echo known is that in the castle of Simonetta, two
miles from Milan. It repeats the echo of a pistol sixty times.
The largest volcano in the world is Etna. Its base is 90 miles in
circumference; its cone 11,000 feet high. Its first eruption occurred
474 B.C.
The largest tree in the world, as yet discovered, is in Tulare County,
California. It is 275 feet high and 106 feet in circumference at its
base.
The largest desert is Sahara, in Northern Africa. Its length is 3,000
miles and breadth 900 miles; having an area of 2,000,000 square miles.
The largest suspension bridge is in Brooklyn. The length of the main
span is 1,595 feet 6 inches. The entire length of the bridge is 5,989
feet.
The first deaf and dumb asylum was founded in England by Thomas
Braidwood, 1760; and the first in the United States was at Hartford,
1817.
The largest diamond in the world is the Braganza, being a part of the
Portuguese jewels. It weighs 1,880 carats. It was found in Brazil in
1741.
The grade of titles in Great Britain stands in the following order from
the highest: A Prince, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Baronet,
Knight.
The largest number of cattle ever received in one year was that of
Chicago in the year 1884, being 1,874,984 beeves, 30,223 calves,
5,640,625 hogs, 749,917 sheep and 15,625 horses. It required 9,000
trains of 31 cars each, which, if coupled together, would reach 2,146
miles.
The "Valley of Death," in the island of Java, is simply the crater of
an extinct volcano, filled with carbonic-acid gas. It is half a mile in
circumference.
The city of Amsterdam, Holland, is built upon piles driven into the
ground. It is intersected by numerous canals, crossed by nearly three
hundred bridges.
Coal was used as fuel in England as early as 852, and in 1234 the first
charter to dig for it was granted by Henry III. to the inhabitants of
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Tobacco was discovered in San Domingo in 1496; afterwards by the
Spaniards in Yucatan in 1520. It was introduced in France in 1560, and
into England in 1583.
The present national colors of the United States were not adopted by
Congress until 1777. The flag was first used by Washington at
Cambridge, January 1, 1776.
Paris was known as Lutetia until 1184, when the name of the great
French capital was changed to that which it has borne ever since.
The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India
over the river Ristuah. It is over 6,000 feet, and is stretched between
two hills 1,200 feet high.
The largest library in the world is in Paris, founded by Louis XIV. It
contains 1,400,000 volumes, 175,000 manuscripts, 300,000 maps and
charts, and 150,000 coins and medals.
The tallest man was John Hale, of Lancashire, England, who was nine
feet six inches in height. His hand was seventeen inches long and eight
and one-half inches broad.
In round numbers, the weight of $1,000,000 in standard gold coin is
1-3/4 tons; standard silver coin, 26-3/4 tons; subsidiary silver coin,
25 tons; minor coins, 5-cent nickel, 100 tons.
The largest stationery engine in the world is at the zinc mines at
Friedenville, Pa. The number of gallons of water raised every minute is
17,500. The driving wheels are 35 feet diameter and weigh 40 tons each.
The cylinder is 110 inches in diameter.
The part of United States territory most recently acquired is the
island of San Juan, near Vancouver's Island. It was evacuated by
England at the close of November, 1873.
The highest monument in the world is the Washington monument, being 555
feet. The highest structure of any kind is the Eiffel Tower, Paris,
finished in 1889 and 989 feet high.
It is claimed that crows, eagles, ravens and swans live to be 100 years
old; herons, 59; parrots, 60; pelicans and geese, 50; skylarks, 30;
sparrow hawks, 40; peacocks, canaries and cranes, 24.
The greatest cataract in the world is Niagara, the height of the
American falls being 165 feet. The highest fall of water in the world
is that of the Yosemite in California, being 2,550 feet.
The most ancient catacombs are those of the Theban kings, begun 4,000
years ago. The catacombs of Rome contain the remains of about 6,000,000
human beings; those of Paris, 3,000,000.
The quickest passage ever made across the Atlantic was that of the
steamer Lucania, of the Cunard line, being 5 days 7 hours and 23
minutes from New York to Queenstown; the distance being 2,850 miles.
There has been no irregularity in the recurrence of leap year every
four years since 1800, and will be none until 1900, which will be a
common year, although it will come fourth after the preceding leap
year.
The first English newspaper was the English Mercury, issued in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet.
The Gazette of Venice was the original model of the modern newspaper.
The Mormon Church in Utah shows a membership of 127,294--23,000
families. The church has 12 apostles, 58 patriarchs, 3,885 seventies,
3,153 high priests, 11,000 elders, 1,500 bishops and 4,400 deacons,
being an office for each six persons.
A "monkey wrench" is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey
with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, but
"Moncky." Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for
$2,000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, King's
County, N.Y., where he now lives.
The Union arch of the Washington Aqueduct is the largest in the world,
being 220 feet; 20 feet in excess of the Chester arch across the Dee in
England, 68 feet longer than that of the London bridge; 92 feet longer
than that at Neuilly on the Seine, and 100 feet longer than that of
Waterloo bridge. The height of the Washington arch is 100 feet.
The largest ship ever built, the Great Eastern, recently broken to
pieces and sold to junk dealers, was designed and constructed by Scott
Russell, at Maxwell, on the Thames. Work on the giant vessel was
commenced in May, 1854. She was successfully launched January 13, 1858.
The launching alone occupied the time from November 3, 1857, until the
date above given. Her total length was 600 feet; breadth, 118 feet;
total weight when launched 12,000 tons. Her first trip of any
consequence was made to New York in 1859-60.
The most extensive mines in the world are those of Freiberg, Saxony.
They were begun in the twelfth century, and in 1835 the galleries,
taken collectively, had reached the unprecedented length of 123 miles.
A new gallery, begun in 1838, had reached a length of eight miles at
the time of the census of 1878. The deepest perpendicular mining shaft
in the world is located at Prizilram, Bohemia. It is a lead mine; it
was begun 1832. January, 1880, it was 3,280 feet deep. The deepest coal
mine in the world is near Tourney, Belgium; it is 3,542 feet in depth,
but, unlike the lead mine mentioned above, it is not perpendicular. The
deepest rock-salt bore in the world is near Berlin, Prussia; it is
4,185 feet deep. The deepest hole ever bored into the earth is the
artesian well at Pottsdam, which is 5,500 feet in depth. The deepest
coal mines in England are the Dunkirk colleries of Lancashire, which
are 2,824 feet in depth. The deepest coal shaft in the United States is
located at Pottsville, Pa. In 1885 it had reached a depth of 1,576
feet. From this great depth 400 cars, holding four tons each, are
hoisted daily. The deepest silver mine in the United States is the
Yellow Jacket, one of the great Comstock system at Virginia City,
Nevada; the lower levels are 2,700 feet below the hoisting works.