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About The Albany register. (Albany, Or.) 1868-18?? | View Entire Issue (April 16, 1875)
COLL. VAN CLKVK. ALBANY. OREGON. THE WOML& OF SCIENCE. XxdaAirzcs jurD EzraiyrEEitixa. i s 1 MECHANICAL VIBRATION. The tendency of mechanical vibration to retard rusting is exemplified in the condition of two lines of railway leading cut of Burrachee, an important port of . British India, on the Arabian sea. One of these lines, the Scinde railway, has been worked daily since its construction, fifteen years ago, and has rusted away bat little; the other, a line about two miles long leading to the mouth of the Biver Indus, was built at the same time, but has hardly ever been used, and the oxidation of the rails has been ex tremely rapid. BOILER EXPIXJSIONS. The theories of steam boiler explosions ; are thoroughly discussed in an able pa per on the subject recently published by Ir. Ferdinand Fischer in Germany. After careful consideration of the various Causea of AYrilruairhn V a . x -f m tuuuiuiun boiler deposits and incrustations the worst enemies of steam industry. THE KSGLISH CHANNEL TUNNEI It really seems possible that the much talked of tunnel between England and France may become a reality. At least the thing is to be tried. Two companies are to be formed one French, one En glish, each -with a capital of 400,000 for the purpose- of maVing an experi ment. Th English company is to start utw uu in W UlXUkG a email TUH- across the channel. The French com pany, starting from Calais, is to do th aame thing, meeting their English con- zreresintlie centre of the channel: and then, if this - X wuvwvuo, UU.C3. sunnei is to be enlarged so as to admit v oi tne passage of railway trains. The depth of the water in the channel is no where greater, than 180 feet;- it is be lieved that the ground underneath is a smooth, unbroken bed of chalk. Should this bed be broken by any very deep fissure, it might be impossible to make the tunnel. But very careful soundings have made it almost certain that no such fissure exists. The boring of the experi mental tunnel is to be done by a machine invented by Mr. Bruton, which will cut through the chalk at the rate of a yard an hour. Thus, in two years, the experi mental tunnel could be completed and in four more years trains would be running through it. The tunnel will be twenty eight miles long, for its approaches on each side must be four miles from the shores of the channel, in order to obtain a xracticablfl crraAc Tf mil O UAfcJT yards below the bottom of the sea; that is to say, it will be 330 feet below the sur face of the earth. A NEW AKD POWEBFDIi EXEXOEtVE. The account of trials of vumrnt. . newly discovered explosive, at Stock ' holm, states that a charge of about eight ounces, made up in five cartridges, and oepositea in an excavation, raised a block of stone of 163 cubic feet. It would have taken over fourteen ounces of dynamite to have produced the same effect. DANGERS OF BtTBY-OOIiORED MERINO. A case of poisoning by arsenious acid vnfoinAl a -.1 1 a - xu.uy-w.iurei merino irocK has recently occurred in England. The poison was associated with the coloring matter, which was ' believed to be coral- lino O finWanna .7 I t 1 . mm Duwowtuw uciiY iium coai-tar, and perfectly harmless when thoroughly freed frora impurities. This coloring matter should not be used a dye-stuff ex cept when the absence of poisonous properties- has been demonstrated by manppacture of arsenic. The quantity of arsenic annually pro duced in England is upward of five thousand tons, and more than one-third of the entire product comes from a sin gle localitythe Devon, Great Consols Mine. The white arsenic of commerce is manufactured by roasting in a current . of hot air, the arsenical minerals taken from the mine, At the time of the re cent inspection by the official oommis- of this mine a quantity of the poison be lieved to lMsnffiraentln till - . w -J mi i ZOal on the fsWA nf fhn AOT-tn arA nunA uuu- buj wthi tAfLX 10 ueetroy hundreds of thousands of hu , man beings is sold there every month. It is very difficult to prevent the poison-: ing of the streams in the neighborhood of such mines and manufactories. r TA AS THtESSIRO FO WOUNDS. ' ' A memoir on the use of Norwegian tar as a dressing for wounds, has been pre sented to the French Academv bv TW Barazin, who mentions a number of cases an which the treatment has been success fully adopted. A dressing of fine pow dered charcoal is also said to have been used with favorable results. FRESH AIR IN TYPHOID FEVEB. Dr. . Hampton, of Paris, has lateW issued a pamphlet containing a history of (several remarkable cures of typhoid f e wr. ' The doctor regards the disease as a sort of paralysis 'or asphyxia of all the vital functions, occasioned by breathing :, poisonous . atmosphere, emanating Eher from a .typhoid .patient or from eome other morbid source. By his " ex priments he . has . iractically demon lateated that great advantage is to be de rived, from the .use of open air in treat 13.3 the fever. Moreover, he declares that there is absolute immunity from con teuton in the open air. The cures which he reports are ascribed mainly to the free admission of out-door air to the patient's bed-room. II argues that the patient esanet suffer from the application of this ansaaedy, either in. dangers from other Clsses, or from the temperature of the feiitorpliere. ' If the patient is kept warm in bed by artificial means, the free breathing of pure, fresh air will at all times keep up the natural mai heat. in typhus fever, complications of all kinds, of the lungs or other oreans. si mi ply render the access of fresh air more urgent and essential. It also enables the patient to take stimulants more easily, when essential. ASTROlfOMT. SOLAR RADIATION. A series of valuable observations on solar radiation in Great Britain has been made during the past five years by Mr. F. W. Stow and a number of his friends, The results show a difference in the power of the sun's rays inland and on the sea-shore. Near the ocean their power seems to be diminished by the ex cess of vapor in the atmosphere. VENUS' ATMOSPHERE. The atmosphere of the planet Venus was distinctly visible during the recent transit, and was seen by the astronomi cal party stationed near Thebes, in Egypt, as a pale white circle around a part of the planet's edge, totally differ ent from the brilliant Bunlight. "The general remark," says one of the. ob servers, "was that it reminded us of moonlight." It is the opinion of many astronomers that the atmosphere sur rounding Venus is much deeper than the atmosphere of the earth. IS THE EARTH APPROACHING THE SCN j Mr. R. A. Proctor, writing to the Lon don Times respecting a letter addressed by Dr. Phipson to a French journal, ex pressing the opinion that the recent trans it of observations are useless beranaA the earth is continually drawing nearer to the sun, observes that it would be something beyond a joke if Dr. Phipson were right, and therefore it may be as well to point out that, while during the last century there has been uncertainty aoous tne sun s distance, even to the ex tent of millions of miles, astronomers are absolutely certain that the distance had not varied by a hundred, or even by ten miles, during that time. If the earth had, as has been stated, drawn nearer by one-thirtieth of her former distance, the length of the year would have changed by one-twentieth of its former length, or by eighteen days. A change of onlv ten miles in the last 100 years would corre spond to a change of more than ann miles since the length of the year was nrst determined very exactly. This would be about a three hundred sandth of the sun's distant length of the year would have been changed by about a two hundred thou sandth part that is by about two min utes ana a naif . Now, it is known that the Chaldean sidereal vear. nrobablv far more ancient than the above return ing assumes, contained 365 davs 6 hmirs and 11 minutes, being not quite two min utes too great. The sun's distance might, therefore, be diminished by about eight miles per century. But in reality we have no evidence in sutroort of tmnl. a theory, seeing that the Chaldeans pro- lesseoiy selected such a value for the year as would make their "saros" con tarn an exact number of hours. Consid ering that astronomers will be well satis- nea if they can determine the sun's dis tance witnin 100,000 miles, it is clear . ... . an. jrroctor says, that the maximum. change of distance we can admit, by which 1,000,000 years would be required to bring the earth 100,000 miles nearer to the sun, is not a very important point in tne inquiry. HISTOXT JJTB ij:OaitAl'HY. THE ORIGIN OF INDIAN NAJtES. A member of Major Powell's expe dition, which has been engaged in the government survey of the Territories, lurmshes some interesting notes of the discoveries made in the origin of Indian names. It seems that each tribe or primary organization of Indians, rarely including two hundred souls, is, in obedience to the traditional laws of these people, attached to some well-defined territory or district, and the moe taxes the name of such district Xhus the U-in-tats, known to white men as a branch of the Utes. belonged in fh Uintah Valley. U-imp is the name for pine ; too-meap, for land or country ; U-im-too-meap, pine land : but this has been contracted to U-in-tah, and the tribe inhabiting the valley were called U-in-tats. The origin of the term Ute is as fol lows: U is the term signifying arrow ; U-too-meap, arrow land. The recion of country bordering on Utah Lake is called u-too-meap because of the great number of reeds growing there, from which their arrow-shafts were made. The tribe for merly inhabiting Utah Valley was called U-tah-ats, which has been corrupted into the term Ute by the white people of the country. The name U-ta-ats belonged only to a small tribe living in the vicinity of the lake, but it has been extended so as to include the greater part of the In dians of Utah and Colorado. Another general name used by : white men is Piutes.. A tribe of U-tabn&ts being de feated and driven away by a stronger tribe, who occupied their country and took their name, were obliged to take a new name corresponding to the hew home in which they settled themselves. But they also colled themselves Pai U- tah-ats, or true U-tah-ats. The corrupted name Piutes is now applied to the Indians of a large section of country. -Several of these tribes have numerous names, and in this way the number of individual tribes has probably been much over estimated. THE CONGO NEGROES. A paper recently communicated by Mr. Watson Smith to the Literary and Philosophical Society of Manchester gives some interesting particulars respecting file egroes of 5 the neighborhood of Congo; obtained from letters sent home from the west coast of Africa by Mr. B. u. JfhUiips. These extracts afford infor mation on the trade of the coast, on the character of the natives, and on tllk' language, which belongs to the Bantu group. It is notable that! the chiltbfen are placed under atod mother, but of the mother's eldest orotner. ,, ! THE T.TRT1V npoui.1. ' I'mrmi, - At a recent meeting of the Muni cmjr w ocaence, it was stated the desert of Lybia would prove a v a Die health resnrt ty.,-; i AiuAJUg tl5 ZX1U1111U of January, February and March. PrS Zittel made a series of experiments 1 y which he found that the air of this loo 1 ity contains more ozone than that of tie oases of the Nile valley. GEOZOGT. EARTHQUAKES AND MAGNETIC DISTURB anges. - ; . j . ; Mr. Lamont, Director of the Observ -tory at Munich, says that many cases ai a known where magnetic disturbanci s coincde with earthquakes,! and stafcs that, on April 18, he by chance saw to s ' heedle of the declination instrument r - ; ceive a sudden jerk, the oscillations coa tinuing for some time. After some days he received news that violent oscillations1 of the needle had been ; observed in Parma, and subsequent computations showed that the movement had5egun at the same moment in Parma and in Munich'; while, later still, reports were received violent earthquake occur ing simul umeoumj in ureece. COAIt IN THE STRAITS OF MAGELLAN. An important discovery, if correctly represented, has lately been made in the opening of a rich coal mine in the south ern part of Patagonia, near Brunswick Island, in the Straits of Magellan, in the locality Known as Uapt Corey's Ranch, near the Chilian colony of Punta Arenas, in latitude 53 degrees 9 minutes south and longitude 73 degrees 13 miautes west. The property referred to has been granted by the Chilian government to three French explorers, i Messrs. Bou quet, Derue and Su2innecourt. There are three distinct beds of coal, of which one is about 300 above the level of the sea, of a minimum thickness of about 6i feet. The second is from five to six feet in thickness, and is about 170 feet above the first. The third is 130 feet above the second, with a thickness of 16 feet, di vided into three nearly square layers, and separated by thin strata1 of nlt ; Tr. view of the large number !of steam 'ves- I-. it. . i auuuauy traversing the Straits of Magellan, an unlimited mmli e j. j - a - I L'J (JUUU coal m that locality is a matter of very AN INTERESTING DISCOVERY. ! M. Ram. 7 w . utuc; txAauufguisne'i Prof. Michael Sara, has racentlyj cp, uiuuum an interesting discovery Vy5" logicaf science. It is the occurC a dimorphic form, with altf"J generation, in a fresh-water f tomostracan, a species 'pjt The young born froffa thJ' mer-eggs attain their full, any metamorphis : but served that the young winter-eggs are in the s ; are provided with a J organs wholly wanting I simple cyclopean eye i young persists, hAvev CXjOCKS STOPPER The details of the err Hong Kong in Septenbe. many facts of scientific iniere them is the simultaneous soppt or seven pendulum clocks a yi cjock. m tne morning, the time the storm was at its ihmo-ht tt,; .; -F" UtO UllU- cates that the most violent burst; of wind which occurred m the whole course of the typhoon was accompanied by a slight shock of earthquake. If the conjecture Miwuxa oe venned, and it becomes cer tain mat such a shock actually took place, the fact will strongly tend to con firm the. opinion of . Sir , Charles Lyell that; physical disturbances within the crust of the earth are largely influenced by the atmospheric pressure above it. SEA AND MOUNTAIN AIR. Prof. Bereke. of ' r 6i wu- otuded, from investigations with regard mo comparative mhuenoe of sea and mountain air on the system, I that irri table, nervous, excitable people will derive benefit from the mountain air; while persons with good digestion, who are suffering from overwork, -krill h im proved by a sojourn at the sea-side. Bodies part with their hen. on -the sea-coast than on the- mountain- " o kimj ; f ruxessor s conclu sions. - ; I THE EQUINOCTIAIi.' To an observer at the VrrV. T1 t) DUO equinoctial would be a great circle in the heavens, exactly coincident with the horizon. To an observer in 45 decrees north latitude thn pear an arch in the heavens, 45 degrees uuuve ma nonzon directly south, and coincident with his horizon at the . and west points. ; To an observer at the equator the eauinoctial wonld straight line, cutting the east and west points of the horizon, and passing through the zenith. i .V . , i James Dodgauj. a boatman &nl lum berman in Wisconsin, while sawing the trunk of an oak tree into lengths for staves, was attacked by a panther, which sprang upon him. ' Dougall was alone his assistant being temporarily absent but his strength and pluck were emul tn the occasion. H He seized the panther by tne throat, and, thought fearfully torn by the animal's claws, he crashed it down iri the1 snow, broke its back, and choked it trj rteafh TTo woo an IKKUjT hurt that he had to be carried home, but his wounds were not dangerous. The DanbtirOin. '. iamaA nn. i v iii. t.i imv auspices of G. E. A. McGready, bite edi tor of the Newt, is out, and is an admira ble paper, bright and lewey, and with s flavor of real journalism. . Twa. always was s lucky town. j XA.MES. jThe ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, As syrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, all used one name for each individual. Nor did the rich recesses of the name mine yield its treasures till broken into by the numerous hosts of increasing population, all clamoring for a name, j The Romans made some advancement in names, and gave to their common wealth a division into clans or gen tea. The gens were then divided into families, tod the families into individuals, each of whom had three names : the preno men, or first name, which marked the individual ; the nomen, or middle name, j which marked the gens, and the cogno jmen, the family. Military successes added an agnomen, in honor of con quest. The ninth day after a child's birth was celebrated by name and a feast which the Romans called Nomin alia. The Greeks used the tenth day, and offered sacrifices to their gods. Pythagoras noted the success of men ac cording to fate, genius, and name. Plato and Tacitus also believed in a prosperous name. Our surnames are modern. The pa gan converts to Christianity dropped their Pagan for Bible names, and whole companies of Marys, Marthas, Johns and Peters were baptized at once. From this we can readily see the confusion of generality when one particular John felt a very particular preference for his par ticular lady Mary love, and called to see her at the house of many other Marys. The distinction necessary was found in a nickname suggested by the occupation of the individual. For several centuries little is known about surnames. Some date their origin from the Norman conquest, a plausibil ity to American aristocrats, who seem satisfied if their stock and " family " goes as far back as William the Con queror, or even a taint and discolor of "blood" be traced in that English channel which William crossed. Cam den dates surnames in France A. D. 1000 ; in England, 1066, a little before Edward the Confessor. In Wales sur names were used some time after that Surname is from the French sur nom, and Latin super, because at first the surname was written over the given name. The Saxons made their surnames by adding "ing " to the father's name, as Whiting, Browning ; also .from place of residence, occupation hence, Lee, Moore, HilL Weaver, Cooper, etc In the eleventh century the Normans began to tTRTtajsjiB i i. ,, . ..w.wcendaats. r vscor- he daoiy S? id born, buried, married, hung, day after day. Oh, why did he escape that celebrated Indian litnl.t 5 Wr 1- .1 l , Tr . hatchet? Who does not know John Smith t No one better than that man in a crowded house who, wanting a seat, cried out " John Smith's house is on fire," and was the recipient of two-thirds of the emptied seats ! Smith is from Anglo-Saxon Smiian, to smite. Among the Highland clans' the Smith ranked third from the chief, because his employ included wood, metals, and all mechani cal work, hence the importance and fre quency of the Smiths. Some derive it from Shorn Shem-it, Shemidt, Smith quite an easy declension of the very proper and most common noun Smith. On the Egyptian temple of Osiris is that name Smith. Pharioh Smithosis, of Thebon Kings, built the celebrated tem ple Smithopolis Magna. S OMXA MIt VLISM EX Til AO It It Iff A R Y. Somnambulists have performed many curious feats and have accomplished dangerous acts at times without fatal re sults ; but it remained for a small boy traveling from Milwaukee to Minneapo lis to do, sleeping, what no one ever did before. The boy was a son of a Mrs. Wright, and, in company with his mother, was on a train going at the usual rate of twenty miles an hour. After the train had left a place known as Weaver Station, the boy fell asleep and walked out on the platform, stepped carelessly off. No sooner had he accomplished this feat ; than his mother, noticing his absence from the train and remembering also his peculiarity, surmised the canoe of his departure, and through her en- 1 . . . . uratues tne train was Dacxea up. lhe missing boy was not discovered, how ever, and the-mother was left at the sta tion. She had not long to wait in sor row. A figure was - seen coming up the track, and its nearer approach showed the missing boy. The search for hi had proved unavailing simply because, at the time it was made, he was not visible. As he stepped off the train in his sleep he had been hurled into a snow bank and had actually only awakened when the cold had called him to his senses. He could remember nothing rf the affair save that he fell asleep in the car and awoke buried four or fir ft drift, sad beiig vouncr. he did nnt analyze his sensations when awakening, which must have been somewhat queer. The incident is one of the most remark able in the history of somnambulism; and if that boy is not always thankful that he struck a show drift instead of a rail fence, he'll be an irreligious indi vidual. EA.TIXG STRA.XGE FOOD. Man is unfortunate enough to be an omniverous animal, and has at various penoos ana in various countries con sumed almost everything that grows, swims, flies, runs, or crawls. More than this, he has eaten, under certain condi tions, mineral matter the clay eaters, of South America having found great com fort in the consumption of an unctuous earth. He has ransacked the sea for ali ment. The whale has yielded up his uigmy carbonized carcass to the Esqui maux, as the o "huwto AUtro furnished forth bacon for him who dwefls under the equator. The Gaucho of the pampas finds that life in the saddle can best be sustained by the consumption of vast quantities of beef, without bread or green vegetables, and only occasionally supplemented by a few beans ; while in similar latitudes the South Sea Islander has maintained a healthy and happy ex istence on fish, roots and vegetables, varied only by an occasional treat of that famous viand known to the Maori as "long pig" a dish requiring especial steaming and most careful cookery on account of its extraordinary toughness. The inhabitants of the Mai dive Islands, making cocoanuts and fish the base of most of their dishes, live well upon that simple diet ; while the primeval Sand wich Islander imcontaminated,' by the civilizing influence of runaway tailors ate his bread fruit, drank his " sva' and was happy. The North Americln Indian of the prairies rejoices in buffalo hump, the trapper enjoys his beaver' tail, the Mexican revels in tortillas and frijoles, and the humble " Digger" midies his meal on acorns, roots, and the grubs of various insects. On the opposite side of the Pacific the Celestial race, abundantly provided with wholesome and excellent food, consume rats and hairless dogs carefully fed and fattened like turkevs sea slugs and sharks' fins. Birds'-nest soup is good enough in its way, but the merit of stewed rat is less easv to com prehend. A prejudice has prevailed in favor of plain, wholesome food fish, fowl, or the flesh of oxen, sheen, deer and pigs ; but sieges have developed a curious elasticity in the European palate. As at the famous siege of Vienna the " harmless, necessary cat" was consigned io uie Kitcnen as a " roof hare," so did the jaded omnibus horse and patient donkey during the siege of Paris find k ueir way to the table of the epicure. t this latter movement in favor of un- J viands was not due entirely to the v ties oi the ran co-German war, rament had long been nourished lands of advanced philosophic s much flesh which had been to tne catsmeat barrow might usly have been eaten by mas- WSI'J.JPEB WKITKRS p Itcporler says : Every city irable size contains a large num- rfiters who depend mainly upon mvjub ij uu) uiuiy press lor SUD- rhe inner hves of these per- re, to the mass of people, mere ira of conjecture, as opportunities social enjoyment with the outside world, with many of them, are limited. and they are rarely intimate with nv except their fellows. It. posed that the Mfe they lead is one of severe labor, and by no means inviting. Ihey work perseveringly while others I oep their work being by no means IpnnflT. ii.l -n-ilin 1. . 1 . 1 1 1 confined within the circumscribed ortho dox rule of eight hours. Their minds are busy from getting up to lying down, with the details of their prof ession. On the other hand, regulated by the laws of demand and supply, their pay is far from commensurate with the labor they per form. As a class, they are no better or worse than other people. They are not all stereotyped in the same mold, nor do they all run in the same groove, there being among them those whose tempera ments run from grave to gay, from lively to severe. As might be naturally ex pected, there being much competition, there is also much professional pique and jealousy. Pulpit orators, actors, singers, and politicians suffer more or less from these caustic critics, whom partisan and conflicting interests buy over to raise a " whoop " of unpopulari ty. This, unfortunately, is a too well grounded charge against the fraternity. It is the way of the world, no doubt, but it is a weighty matter when such loose principles govern newspaper . writers. The columns of the press influence, in these days, the public mind for good or for evil more than the pulpit or stage ; for, be it said, everybody reads newspa pers, but everybody does not go to church or attend the theater. Probably no class of men ought to be more careful in maintaining the equity of their moral consciousness than newsnamr writers but, unfortunately, extraneous influences . m . are oiten too great for them to resist the temptation to deviate from that eauitv. To sum up, the paths of journalism are ruu oi thorns, and success, with even the better class, is rare : few ever ac quire more than a decent competency, and many not even that But so long as the chances for success am in anv mv probable, fresh recruits will be found to occupy the place of the deserters and superannuated. SmTTHB was tellintr some friAndn fthnnt a wonderful parrot, hanging in a cage in the door Of a 8tora nn ftfoto awat Why," said he. "thai namt rfin thief ' so naturally that every time I hear it I always stop. Now, hang it, what ass ony all laughing about t" A. T. Stbwabt paid ft&nn nnn n last week. BMASSER'S SON CLAUDIUS. The Fun. He Xade for s ITnghbor'a Soy IUtnrbig the Old JFoOvh-A. Good, Shot Smmahlng a lass ana AroUing a. Follee- From the Detroit Free Press. Mr. Brasser, who lives on Ninth avenue, has a eon about twelve years old named Claudius, and the other even ing this boy received permission to allow a neighbor's boy to stay all night with him. The old people sleep 'down stairs in the sitting-room, and the boys were put into a room directly above. When they went up to the bed Claudius had the clothes-line under his coat, and the neighbor's boy had a mask in his pocket. They didn't kneel down and say their prayers like good boys and then jump into bed and tell bear stories, but as soon as the door was locked the Brasser boy remarked : . " You'll see more fun around here to night than would lie on a ten-acre lot I" From a closet they brought out a cast off suit of Brasser's clothes, stuffed them with whatever came handy, tied the mask and an old straw-hat on for a head, and while one boy was carefully raising the window the other was' tying the clothes-line around the " man." The image was lowered down in front of the sitting-room window, lifted up and down once or twice, and old Brasser was heard to leap out of bed with a great jar. He was just beginning to doze when he heard sounds under his window, and his wife suggested that it was a cow in the yard. He got up, pulled the curtain away, and as he beheld a man standing there he shouted out : ' "Great bottles! but it's a robber I" and he jumped into bed. ' Theodoriu8 Brasser, are you a fool 1" screamed the wife as he monopolized all the bedclothes to cover up his head. "Be quite, you old jade, you J" he whispered ; " perhaps he'll go away I" "Don't you call me a jade 1" she re plied, reaching over and trying to find his hair. " Git up and git the gun and blow his head off 1" " Oh, you do it !" " Git up, you old coward," she snapped. "I'll never live with you an other day if you don't do it 1" Brasser turned up the lamp, sat up in bed, and cried out : " Is that you, boys?" " Mercy on me ! git up 1" veiled the wife as the straw man was knocked against the window. "Ill blow his head off as clean as milk !" said Brasser in a loud voice as he got up. He struck the stove three or four times, upset a chair, and reached behind the foot of the bed and drew out an old army musket. "Now, then, for blood 1" he contin ued, as he advanced to the window and lifted the curtain. The man was there, face close to the glass, and he had such a malignant ex pression of countenance that Brasser jumped back with a cry of alarm. " Kill him I Shoot him down, you old noodle-head !" screamed the wife. " I willby thunder 1 I will 1" replied Brasser, and he blazed away, and tore out nearly all the lower sash. The boys up stairs uttered a yell and a groan, and .Brasser jumped for the window to see if the man-was down. He wasn't. He stood right there, and he made a leap at Brasser. " He's coming in I perlice ! boys ho ! perlice !" roared the old man. The tattered curtain permitted Mrs. Brasser to catch sight of a man jumping up and down, and she yelled : "Theodorius, I'm going to faint!" "Faint and be darned ! Boys ! per lice !" he replied, wolloping the sheet iron stove with the poker. " Don't you dare talk that way tome!" i . ... . - simetea the old woman, recovering from her desire to faint. "Po-leece! Po-leece!" now came from the boys up stairs, and while one continued to shout, the other drew" the man up, tore him limb from limb, and secreted the pieces. Several neighbors were aroused, an officer came up from the station, and a search of tha premises was made. Not so much as a track in the snow was found, and the officer put on an injured look and. said to Mr. Brasser : "A guilty conscience needs no ac cuser." " That's so !" chorused the indignant neighbors as they departed. As Mr. Brasser hung a quilt before the shattered window he remarked to his wife : "Now see what an old cundurango you made of yourself !" " Don't fling any insults at me, or in choke the attenuated life out of you t" she replied. And the boys kicked around on the bed, chucked each other in the ribs, and cried : "I'd rather be a boy than be Presi dent I" XMPOSTA.XT X.FGAX, DECISION, An important decision, concerning the liability of railroad companies for valua bles intrusted to their care as personal haggage, has been rendered by the Su preme Court of Illinois in the case of W. J. Carrow vs. the Michigan Central Bailroad Company. In this case a trunk containing jewelry and valuables to the amount of about $30,000 was destroyed by the burning of the baggage car. Suit to recover the value of the property was brought in the lower court, and judg ment given against the company. An appeal was taken to the Supreme Court, and the judgment reversed. The court held that the company's contract was for the carrying of the passenger and the ordinary amount of personal baggage, and that, as no notice had been friven for the passenger of the valuable nature of tne contents of the trunk, the company's was not bound to exercise any extra dili gence in the care of the property. If the noancauon had been given, it would have been the duty of the eomnanv agent to refuse to accept the trunk as nviltnara kii.MM. .3 Zi. 1.1 11 1 V wv""..j i wuiu wen dc carriea either by express or as valuable freight. The action of the passenger in delivering it to the company as ordinary personal baggage was in effect a species: of legal fraud, and for this reason the. company was relieved from all responsi bility in the matter. COMVULSOMX Eli u cat Joy. England approves the compulsory education she has recently attained, al though many among the parents and employers of the children endeavor to evade it. France" is contemplating a similar step ; Italy has moved toward it : C " 1.1 A 3 i . .1 y". " . opaiu ueuunju i. , uiu VTennany sought to perfect a system that was very com plete before. In this country Pennsyl vania insists more ' strenuously on the education of all ; New York has made education compulsory, and found the need for new school-houses, and some of the Southern States are introducing the precedent. The Legislature of Illinois and Indiana are debating the same ques tion, and those formerly unaware of the arguments in its behalf are shaken by finding how strong they are. It cannot be said that there has ever been any want of interest in the subject in the older States. . They have realized the necessity of general education for politi cal, industrial, moral and every use. The interest has not extended as it should, have done in some new States, and has been balked in not a few of the older. Facts show that the remedy is being ap plied on no mean scale, and we may well wjjjv wait uur revuiuu oi illiteracy will ; be reduced everywhere, and' that the benefits of this reduction will be as wide ly Til 1-2 HII AII'S STltOXG HOI. The strong box of the Shah of Persia consists of a small room 20x14 feet. Here, spread upon carpets, lie jewels valued at 7,000,000. Chief among them is the Kaianian crown, shaped like & flower pot, and topped by an uncut ruby as large as a hen's egg, and supposed to have come from Siam. Near the crown are two lambskin caps adorned with splendid aigrettes of diamonds, and be fore them lie trays of pearl, ruby and emerald necklaces, and hundreds of rings. A Mr. Eastwick, who is reported to have been allowed to examine the col lection, states that conspicuous among the gauntlets and belts covered with pearls and diamonds is the Kaianian belt, about a foot deep, weighing perhapa eighteen pounds, and one complete mass, of pearls, diamonds, emeralds and rubies. One or two scabbards of swords are said to be worth a quarter of a million each. There is also the finest turquoise in the world, three or four inches long, and without a flaw ; and an emerald as big as a walnut, covered with the names of Kings who have possessed it. CA TTLj; JJS- CELTIC A I, A lit I CA . The Baris of Central Africa own im mense herds of cattle, but will suffer pro longed abstinence from meat rather than sacrifice one of their animnla for the sake of its flesh. "The sustenance which they derive from their herds is limited to millr from the cows, blood from the bullocks and steaks cut from the hump and hind quarters of living cattle. Both cows gd oxen are bled periodically, and the blo!f thus obtained is made into a dish resem- hlinc thn WaV-nrifIHn Antan 1.- 1. out Europe. Bruce describes, in hia African travels, a cruel operation which he once witnessed, by which a steak was. cut from the hind-quarters of a cow driven by the natives. The Baris are in the habit of practicing vivisection upon their cattle, removing, the hump which grows upon their backs, and which is the most delicate portion of the hoove. After each removal a new hump grows again. Thus the operation may be several times repeated upon the same creature, and thereby ite owner enjoys an occasional feast of juicy steak, and still retain a hy ing spring to draw from. Mb. F. Seymour Hayden, in a letter to the London Times, meets the objec tions to burial in wooden coffins and to cremation, by suggesting that burial should be made without coffins, or that, if cases of any kind are used, they should, be constructed eo as not to seclude the body from the action of the earth. The process of change which, under the influ-, ence of the air or of liquids of the body is putrefaction, becomes in dry earth an inoffensive resolution of the body into its. component parts. He suggests that if coffins are used, " they should be made, of some light, permeable material, such as wicker-work, open at the top, and. filled in with any fragrant herbaceous, matters that happen to be in season. A. layer of ferns or mosses for a bed, a bundle of sweet herbs for a pillow, and as much as the coffin would still contain after the body had been placed in it of any aromatic or flowering plant for a coverlet, such a covering, in short, as while it protected the body from the im mediate pressure of the earth as effectu ally as the stoutest oak, would yet not prevent its resolution." In 1849 Mr. James F. Stuart, of Jfew buryport, Mass., went to San Francisco CaL. and embarked in business, ami v mm' very successful till the great fire of 1852 i . . i ... wuen ne lost nearly everything. He. came East, called a meeting of hia itors, stated his ease and proposed his. aisenarge. The- creditors were pleased, with his appearance, and not nnW him a full discharge, but furnished him witn a new stock of goods. In less than six months he was able to krr n u old and his new indebtedness. In 1853. he entered into a, land speculation which, absorbed all his business mWt.i crippled his resources. He made a fall statement to his creditors, and promised, if he was ever suooessful he would tv -r m jibs arnved, and last, week he remitted the tereet of hu indebtedness in gold. Such i, , , this one is not even un paralleled. r