Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 16 Mar 1881, p. 3

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cffotttg flhratlealtt J. VAN SLYKE. E4M»r and PUMWMT. McHENBY, ILLINOIS. TRICHINJB. kicrwtlBf facta Abtmt IheM*- Trichina oonaist of a male and female. "When mature the male is about otie- twenty-fifth of an inch long by one-six- hundredth of an ineh in thickness • the female of at least twice this length' and thickness. The eggs measure about 1-1,200 of an inch in diameter, and each female, though so small, contains from 300 to 2,000 ova. These, after fertilize taon and six or eight days of gestation, are devejpped into embryos, which, when ^ extruded within the intestines of an animal, commence at once their mi­ gration. Finding their way through the intestinal walls, they travel on until they locate themselves in or between the fibers of some of the muscles. There they coil into a spiral form, and become gradually surrounded by a calcareous •sac or cyst. When incysted, if left alone, they soon change into so many specks of lime; but, if ingested into the body •of an animal, they burst out and infest the system. The sao has an ovoid or lemou-like shape, and is visible some­ times to the naked eye as a whitish or gray speck. The muscles mostly affected are dif­ ferently Btated by the various authors; but, generally, the insects migrate to the muscles of the back, the chest, neck and limbs, also to the muscles of the eyeball and throat. For examination during life, the muscular tissue of the under part of the tongue is preferable; ® fragment is obtained, and, when placed under the lens of the microscope, the free worm may be seen. The hog is especially liable to trichi­ na, but they have also been found in the horse, sheep, dog, cat, mole, pigeon, eel, and, some assert, in the ox. Ex­ perimentally, by feeding the animals upon infected meat, they have been communicated to the rabbit, guinea pig, and other creatures. Sometimes death follows, but it is as­ tonishing how little disturbance of health occurs in a large number of instances. -Stiffness of movements and hoarseness of the voice show the affection in the swine in a large number ot cases. Much more often, however, they appear to be,, during life, in as good condition as oth­ er animals not HO affected. The number of parasites in the muscles of an animal may be immense. As many as 10,000 to 18,000 have been found in a cubic inch -of hog's flesh. Prof. Dalton estimates the number of them in a human subject at 85,000 to the cubic inch, and Prof. Flint found in a piece of a human mus­ cle one-twelfth of an inch square and one-fiftieth of an inch thick twenty-nine trichinie, thus giving a little over 208,-, 000 to the cubic inch, and l,000,000to 10,000,000 of them may exist in a single human body, according to examinations made in several cases. It is said that •enough trichinae may be present in half -a pound of meat to give birth in a few -days to a brood numbering over 30,000 - 000. It was not until 1860 that the morbid effects of the parasite, when inhabiting the body of man, were distinctly recog­ nized. Zenker, of Dresden, then found trichinae in ham and sausages eaten by those affected by the insects. VVunder- lich saw two cases in Leipsic in 1862, and several persons died from this cause the same year in Plowen, in Saxony. In 1863 occurred the most startling exam- before her face, even when returning the greetings of her royal admirers. She seldom attends the theater or opera, but when the circus comes to town is then seen in her box every night. She knows only one passion, and that is her love of horses and equestrianship. She has her own especial riding establishment, and here she reigns supreme. She will drive a tandem team before her at a re­ lentless paoe around the ring, having fresh relays of horses every few minutes. She has a place fitted up in the stable of her favorite charger where she can sleep if she feels so disposed, and where she frequently dictates her letters to her private secretary, while her favorite horse looks«over from his stall and is patted fondly by his imperial mistress. Rich People of the Olden Times. That we have some very rich people in this country there is no doubt, but where are they, asks the Cincinnati Star, as compared with the Roman aristocrats ? Vanderbilt may be able to give his check for $50,000,000, but when Cyrus returned from the conquest of Asia he was rated at $500,000,000. Mrs. As tor may give an entertainment at the expense of $25,- 000, and Mrs. Mackay may give dinner parties that cost $50*000, but a festival given by Ptolemy Philadelphus cost $2,- 239,000. Alexander's daily meal, frugal as it was, cost $1,700; and money wais of so little account to Claudius that he once swallowed a pearl thatwas worth $40,000. James Gordon Bennett; has been known to give many thousands of dollars to people for whom he had acquired a fancy, but according to Tacitus, more than $97,000,000 was given away in a similar manner by Nero. Queens of fashion in New York and San Francisco have ap­ peared at balls wearing jewels estimated to have cost $200,000, which pales into insignificance when compared with the alleged fact that Lollia Taulina wore jewels valued at $1,662,500, and that when she wore these it was only on the the occasion of a plain citizen's supper. Over $50,000 was spent in providing a funeral for an eccentric New Yorker who left directions how the money should be spent, but the obsequies of Hepliaes- tion cost $1,500,000. Americans have died and left millions to their sons who have squandered it all iu a score of years, but Antony "got away with" $735,000,- 000, and Tiberus left the snug little sum of $118,000,000, which Caligula squan­ dered, to the last penny, iu less than one year. The late lamented Sothern is said to have epent $100,000 in a year in good living, but it is said that Pegellus, the singer, spent money at the rate of $40,000 a week. And then there was a Darius and Heliogabalus and Lucullus and Lentalus and--well, this will do for to-day. Not a Captions Man. A Detroit policeman was aceosted by a colored man with the remark: " I doan' want to seems capshus, sah --'deed I doan', bat dor's trouble in my house ober dar." " Wh&t sort of trouble ? " "Why, sah, a-_£ullld pusson called Williams sits darwid his feet ou de stove covarsin' wid my wife. I'se or­ dered him to vacate, sah, but he re­ fused. What am de proper course in sich a case ? " "Go and order him out once more." In about ten minutes the man re­ turned and reported: " I doan* want to seem capshus, sah, but I dun ordered him out, just as you said." " And he didn't go ? " " " No, sah. He said he'd see me in Texas fust. What would be your ad­ vice under sich circumstances?" If a man was in my house pie of tliedisease toTto^hTPiLsia^ | °ut' Fd PuUum out called Hesttadt Of 103 persons there and Would it seem capshus, sah ? " " I don't think so." "Jist as you say, sah--jist so, sah. I feel sartin dat I kiteli de ideah." He retired into his house, and the officer remained to see the end. It came in about two minutes. Three or four yells were heard, somebody's feet seemed to strike the wall, and then the door opened and Williams flew into the street like a half-filled straw bed. He was scarcely on his feet before he bolted up the walk, and the owner of the house cair.e down the steps to explain: " I doan' like to seem capshus, sah, but now dat I've got my ban in I'd like your advice about cuflin' de ole won^iu up to a peak ! 'Pears to me dat she sor­ ter incouraged Williams to believe dat I couldn't iioK one side of him ! " dining together on a festive occasion, twenty died and eighty others were for some time veiy ill. A part of their din­ ner consisted of sausages smoked and warmed, but not cooked. Some of the sausages left were examined, and found to be swarming with triehinro. The -same was ascertained to be the case with the muscles of those who had eaten of them. Since that occurrence a number of other instances have been reported throughout Germany. Iu another vil­ lage, called Hadersieben, of 2,000 "in­ habitants, 300 were affected, of whom •eighty died. All of those affected had eaten raw or but slightly cooked meat, mostly ham or sausage. The first cases of trichinosis recorded in America were seen by Dr. Schuetler, of New York, in 1864. About the same time Dr. Yoss, of the same city, saw four persons so affected on a steamer from Bremen. Afterward cases were reported from various parts of the coun­ try ; and a number of cases occurred in •Canada. Do not forget to have your meats well cooked before eating them, for, by so -doing, you need never fear to become viotims of trichinae,--Dr, Lagori, ot Chicago. A Mockery of Justice. An amateur casual has been experi­ menting on the jury system, or rather its working iu New York. He proposes making an exhaustive study of the ques­ tion, and meanwhile makes known his impressions thus far. He caused him­ self to be impanelled for the Court of General Sessions, and his fortnight's ex­ perience warrants him in the assertion that 25 per cent of the oonvictions ob­ tained in that Court are innocent per­ sons. The rush of business is so great and the expedition so rapid that verdicts of years in the Penitentiary are given without the formality of leaving the box. Policemen are for the most part the ac­ cusers in the Court in question, and the persons charged are generally the ob­ jects of personal grudge or spite. Their leanings are in countless sinister and nameless ways oonveyed to and shared 1>y the jurors, and the victim, no matter how shaky or trivial the evidence is, sen­ tenced out of hand to some severe and „ , , . ... „ , odious penalty for a crime of which he I . 1an(Lf., ir"3, Sin most cases innocent. In one case V *»thsuch awf ly good old deaws, that I One Hundred and Twenty Miles a 8eeonG. When speaking of the spots on the sun, in his lecture, Professor Bees stated that many of them were noticed to revolve with great velocity, some at the rate of 120 miles per second. These rotations the hero, and the polychromatic orna- FACTS FOB THE CVBI0U8. SOKE of the nerves of the human body are so fine and small that six oi them are only equal to one ^"r of the head in size. EVERY one should know thata prompt shock of electricity will restore a person ' to consciousness, who is dying from *JIA effects of chloroform. IN the manufacture of lead pencils, the lead is ground to almost impalpable powder, mixed in a paste with water, made into a long coil-like wire, by being forced through a small hole (just as water issues from a syringe), straight­ ened, and cut in lengths ana baked like pottery. The " hardness" is due to an admixture of clay. The pencil is made in two halves by machinery, at a cheap and rapid rate. THE origin of the word "Canada" is very curious. The Spaniards visited that country previous to the French, and made particular search for gold and silver, and, finding none, they often san^ among themselves " Aca nada "-- there is nothing here. The Indians, who watched closely, learned the sen­ tence and its meaning. The French ar­ rived, and the Indians (who wanted none of their company, and supposed they were also Spaniards on the same errand), were anxious to inform them, in the Spanish sentence, "Aca nada." The French, who knew as little of Span­ ish as the Indians, supposed this inces­ santly-recurring sound was the name of the country, and gave it the name of Obnada. THE history of bells is one of the most interesting in the record of inventions. They were first heard of about the year 400, before which date rattles were used. In the year 610 we hear of bells in the city of Sens, the army of Clothaire, King of France, having been frightened away by the ring of them. In 960 the first peal of bells was hung in England, at Croyland Abbey. Many years ago it was estimated that there were at least 2,262 peals of bells, great and small, in • England. It has been thought that the custom of ringing bells was peculiar to England ; but, in fact, the Cathedral of Antwerp, celebrated for its magnificent spire, has a peal of bells ninety in num­ ber, on which is played every half hour the most elaborate music. A CORRESPONDENT, writing trom Put­ ney, says : " Having occasion to go into my garden about half past 10 o'clock at night, I found there was a thick white fog, through which, however, a star could be seen here and there. I had an ordinary bedroom candlestick in my hand, with the candle lighted, in order to find the object I wanted. To my great surprise, I found that the lighted candle projected a fantastic image of myself on the fog, the shadow being about twelve feet high, and of an oddly distorted character, just as the specter of the Brocken is said to be. May not the gigantic spirits of the Ossianic heroes, whose form is composed of mist, through which the stars can be seen, he derived from the fantastio images thrown upon the mountain fogs from tho camp fires of the ancient Gauls? In a land where mists abound a superstitious people might very readily come to con­ sider a mocking cloud-speoter to be supernatural, though it was really their own image magnified. The Office of a French Newspaper. Imagine, if you can, an English news­ paper office being converted into a fenc­ ing-saloon, and if you are able to stretch your fancy thus far you will nevertheless fail to form any idea of the scene pre­ sented last night in the house of the Rue Drouot, built for the printing and pub­ lishing of Le Figaro. It was announced a short time ago that a certain Baron di San Malato.the most redoubtable swords­ man of Italy, and who had acquired a notoriety as a fast man about Florence, intended to exhibit his prowess in Paris. The Figaro accordingly offered to him the hospitality of the house, for the pur­ pose of giving a private assault of arms, to which an exceedingly small number of invitations were issued, these being re­ stricted to the best swordsmen of the metropolis and the writers on the paper. The publishing office is of itself worth a visit, and it is especially interesting to English journalists by reason of its being unlike any estalishment of the kind in Britain. It consists of a large and lofty hall open to the roof, and surrounded by a gallery running round the first floor, similar to that which is to be seen in many an English country house. The walls are adorned by admirably-printed frescoes, depicting episodes of the plays of Beaumarchais, of which Figaro is had, however, in that time lost over two- thirds of ita weight, dwindling from 140 pounds to less than fifty pounds. This remarkable state of preservation in our hot, dry climate and soil is ny no means uncommon, as many present could cite similar instances of it." are explained by the facts that there are on the surface of the Bun cyclones which drift along those large masses of volcanic matter at an indescribable swift rate. It must be remembered that the smallest one of the spots would be oovered only by about eighteen earths. When speak­ ing of solar cyclones we must not imag­ ine that they are like the ones we have here on earth. Should a solar cyclone strike tho United States, in thirty sec­ onds all the country between New York and San Francisco would be floating away into space in the shape of a vaporous cloud. The terrible friction would ignite everything. One of our cyclones may traverse 50 or 100 miles in an hour but a solar cyclone at the rate of 120 miles in a second would do infinitely more dam­ age than one hundred cyclones could do. --St. Louis Jicpubliean. Responsibilities of Heredity. SoN and heir (suddenly dissatisfied with his stature, his personal appearance, and the quality of his intellect)--"Aw-- what on earth evah could have induced you two people to mawwy ?" Sir Robert and Lady Mawiah--"The old, old stohwy, my dear boy ! We fell in love with one auothah is in most fine, honest-faced lad was brought before the Court while the casual was on duty, charged with stealing a handkerchief from a lady. His very attitude was con­ vincing of his guiltlessness, but the jury, incited thereto by the evident pro- forgive you. But you weally should have had bettah taste, you know, and each have fallen in lovo with a diffewent kind of person altogethah, and given a fellow a chanoe ? You see, it is all owin* to your joint intorfeawence in my affaaws can't jury, wereW that I'm under five foot one, and ca i say boh to a goose, p, aid declaring that h e wonM '<" the cut in the »li stick a week of Sundays before giving in. The boy, it was afterward proven, had picked up the handkerchief on the street. The Judges, who are indolent and over­ paid, rather encourage this shameless mockery of justice. It is clear a reform is necessary, and when the casual's broadside comes out, possibly the work may be set going, not only in New York but elsewhere, for this glimpse of the evil in that city is undoubtedly but a re­ flex of what exists in other cities.--Phil­ adelphia. Timta. In Royal Lire. The Emperor and Empress of Ger­ many see cach other as lit*le as possible. It is somewhat curious how few mon­ arch s do get on with their wives and the • wives with the husbands, for they sel­ dom adore each other. The Empress of Austria is seldom seen iu society, and when oat riding or driving carries a fan being the gweatest guy in the whole country--aw ! just look at me, confound it." [They look at him and then at eaoh other--ana haven't a word to say.] Fifteen Hundred Miles a Mlnnte. A recent cable message to Australia concerning an important event proved to be an extraordinarv achievement in tele­ graphy. The total extent of lines-- namely, 12,000 miles--was traveled in one hour and twenty minutes. The greater portion of this time was occu­ pied in transmitting the message through India. From Singapore to Sidney, 5,070 miles, the message occupied only thirty- five seconds iu transmission. The mes­ sage was repeated fourteen times from station to station between London and Sidney. JOHN CALVTH has said. "I have not so great a struggle with my vioes, groat and numerous as they axe, as I have with my imiiatiauoe." mentation is gorgeous in the extreme. Rich panoplies of arms are fixed against the walls of the ante-rooms, and on the stair-cases are big vases containing hand­ some plants. The decoration of the cen­ tral hall is completed by pictures of the royal personages who have been guests of the staff of the Figaro, the Prince of Wales occupying the place of honor in the middle. A low platform was put down along the center of this hall, and here the Baron di San Malato pitted him­ self against M. Merignac, the first Pro­ fessor of Paris. The Italian appeared with a foil of a peculiar description, the handle of which he held between the first and second linger, and he wore boots, which are here never donned in the fencing-room, but are reserved for dueling purposes. He exhibited extra­ ordinary supleness in his movements, and assumed attitudes which, effective though they would be on the stage, would be dangerous "upon the ground." It was amusing to contrast the wild gest­ ures, the foot-stamping and the defiant cries of the Italian, with the calm, quiet, unassuming bearing of his French antag­ onist. But it soon became evident in whose hands the mastery would remain, and after a bout which lasted more than half an hour, M. Merignac scored eleven " palpable hits" against one doubtful touch of the Bardon di San Malo to. One of the most curious aspects of the even­ ing was the intense excitement exhibited by tho few spectators, who were almost ail adepts in the brilliant art.--Pari* Oor. London Telegraph. • The Transvaal, (South Africa. Transvaal (that is "across the Veal,") lies between latitude 22 degrees 27 min­ utes S, and longitude 27 degrees 31 min­ utes E. Its northern boundary is the Oori or Limpopo River, which here runs from west to east; the eastern is formed by the continuation of the Dracheuberg Mountains; the southern is the Vaal River, and the western and undefined line separating it from the oountry of the Betjuanas. Tho total area is 114,360 square miles, and the population--ac­ cording to the official returns of 1877--is 300,000. probably a rough estimate, from which little can be known as to the fight­ ing strength of the people who have de­ fied the power of the British Empire. Potsehefstroom, the seat of Government, is by land 960 miles northeast of Cape Town. The region is described as a vast plateau, sloping to the north, supported by the coast line of mountains, whioh, presenting a bold mural buttress, or es­ carpment, to the low country at their j feet, stretch away on their western fUnk J into immense undulating plains. At right angles to the coast range another belt of very high lands, called the Maga- liesberg, funs east and west, forming a water shed between the Vaal and Lim- I popo rivers. The southern face of this I range also presents long and undulating I plains, generally well watered and ! wooded, and abounding in large game. ! To the north, approaching five Limpopo, j high parallel chains of hills appear, | through the openings in which flow i small streams. The average height of i the plateau inhabited bv Europeans is | from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, but many of the J mountain peaks reach an elevation of j 9,000 or 10,000feet, and apart of the year I are covered with snow. The climate is gen- j erally healthy, though in the northern I sections the heat is intense, and during | the summer months hot winds and heavy j thunder storms prevail. The worst fea- j ture is, perhaps, a fly called tseste, the I bite of which is fatal to horses aud oxen, thereby rendering travel very difficult, if not impossible, at certain seasons. The Boers, though originally pure Dutch, are now very considerably mixed by inter­ marriages with European refugees and emigrants from Cape Colony and Natal, as well as the natives. Still the Dutch characteristics largely predominate, and while the standard of education is said to be low, the people know enough to gov­ ern themselves and hate the foreign yoke. In religion they are protestants of the strongest Calviuistio persuasion, and the Bibleaud hymn book are almost their only literature. flow a Woman Identified. A few days ago a man called at a house on Fort street east and asked for a bite | to eat He was refused, aud shortly I after he left a cloak was missiug from tho j hall-tre,e. The police were notified, and ! the otltfer day when they arrested a man on suspicion, they sent for the woman to come down to the City Hall and identify 'him. When she was asked if she was certain that she could identify the man who had called, she somewhat indignant­ ly replied: "Identify him! Why, I could pick him out among ten thousand!" She was then confronted with the prisoner. She gave him a good looking over and called out: "Oh! you can't fool me! You've had your hair dyed from black to red since you asked for cold pancakes, but I'd know you if I saw you in Texas!"- "The eaptaili hert observed that he never heard of black hair being dyed red, and after a brief examination he as­ serted that the prisoner's hair had not been dyed at all. "Well, I may possibly be mistaken about his hair," said the woman, "but I'll swear to that overcoat. I took a good look at it as he went off the steps, and I know it'B the coat aud the man. I particularly noticed that the third but­ ton from the top was missing." The captain informed her that it was an overcoat he had borrowed within the hour and asked the prisoner to slip on. The woman wouldn't give in for some ' time, but finally said: "Well, I might have been mistaken, but I looked square iuto his eyes, and I know this is the man." "What color did voa say his eyes were!" "Blue, sir, light blue." "But this man's eyes are black--cool black!" So they were. The Woman was dumb with asionisliment for a time, but finally rallied and said: "Didn't this man wear a slouch hat when arrested ?" "No, ma'am--he wore a cap." "And don't you think he is the man ?" "I don't think anything about it, as I never saw him until an hour ago." "Is it positively necessary that I identify him as the man ?" "No, ma'am." "Then I guess I won't. The fact is, I was a little flurried that morning, aud 1 don't think I got a fair sight of the fellow. Besides that, I think the cloak was stolen the day before I missed it, by an old woman who was selling notions. Detroit Free Press. SCRAPS OF SCIENCE. Nature Making Mummies. Savs the Phnaux (Arizona Territory) Gazette: "The remark so often made and heard in Arizona about dead bodies drying up and blowing away, received a pretty strong verification at the re inter­ ment of Dan Dietrich. Although death had occurred nearly eight months ago, and the body had been buried only in blankets, every feature was distinct and perfect, and any one who had known Dan during his lifetime would <*t once recognize them. The hair appeared to have grown since his death, and still retained its natural color. No unpleas­ ant odor was perceptible, one might easily have supposed he was examining a well-preserved mummy. Since the first interment the body only shrunk and dried up, and no sign of decay could be found save in the region of the Btom- ach, and that was due more to the fact of that portion of the body having been opened during the post-mortem exami­ nation than to natural causes. The body A New Boston Notion. The purpose of the "Institute of Heredity" is sufficiently shown in a four- page circular which has been sei»t out from Boston. It-is intended "to recon­ struct and establish the foundations of social order upon the natural laws of human life and relations." We are told that "the causes" of a great many social disorders and misfortunes, indeed almost all of them, "are congenital. People who are born with theft and murder in their blood will steal and kill." Further it is insisted that "the public good re­ quires, as essential conditions of its peace; safety and welfare that the citizens of the future shall not come to their so­ cial tasks burdened iu advance with in­ herited tendencies to disease or vice or crime; for, on becoming public burdens, such citizens only reaot the wrong first committed against them." This is suffi­ ciently specific. The difficulty in the case is that, adopting the premises and conceding the conclusions, it is one thing to put the remedy for these great aud growing ills upon paper and it is quite another thing to put them into practice.--New Yorh Evening Post. Egyptian Obelisks. There are thirty of them at the pres­ ent time scattered over Europe. Rome has eleven, four of which are higher than our New York obelisk. The high­ est of the Roman ol>elisks, which is also the highest in Europe, stands before the Church of St. John Lateran. The obe­ lisk in the piazza of St. Peter's is 82 feet 9 inches high. Both of these were mounted on high pedestals. The ped­ estal of the St. Jolm Lateran obelisk is 44 feet high, making the entire height of obeAsk and pedestal 150 feet. The pedestal of the St. Peter'a obelisk is a trifle less than 50 feet high, making the whole height of the monument 132 feet 2 inches.--Scientific American. Com* has been detected in the soil of a churchyard, and in portions of ex­ humed bodies. AT Thebes an ancient Egyptian papy­ rus roll containing a tseatiae on medicine has been found. A NEW scientific instrument is the "pulviometer," which registers the quan­ tity of rain falling within a certain period, and the duration and the hour of the fall. IT has been discovered that a minute fungus will cause fermentation in a solu­ tion of glucose, while it does not affect that of cane sugar. Advantage has been taken of this fact to separate cane sugar from molasses, the glucose undergoing fermentation, and thus allowing the cane sugar to crystalize out. A PAPER said to be proof against fire and water is prepaid in this way. After a mixture of two-thirds ordinary paper pulp and one-third asbestos has been thoroughly incorporated, it is steeped in a solution of common salt and alum. It is then made into paper, which is finally coated with shellac varnish. THE new invention, the photophone, a modification of the telephone with silen- ium, by means of which light is made durable, has had a new and practicable application. It has been employed in the study of the solar eruptions and the effect of these great convulsions in the sun has been perceived audibly by the ear of the observer. A MEMCATJ missionary has learned the curious fact that Mongol doctors are not entirely unacquainted with the proper­ ties of galvanism. It is said that they are in the habit of prescribing pulver­ ized loadstone ore for sores, and a man hard of hearing was, in one case, recom­ mended to put a pieoe of loadstone into each ear and chew a piece of iron in his mouth! MB. C. J. KXNTNER, of the United States Patent Office, believed that, judg­ ing from what has already been done in. various applications of electricity, with­ in the next decade we shall find our large telegraphic corporations operating their elevators, supplying motive power, heat, and light throughout their buildings, and electricity for their lines from one common source of power. THE researches of Professor Quincke indicate that the change of volume of solid and liquid bodies under electrical influence is not due to heat, for the change produced in the volume of fatty oils is on« of contraction. The same in­ vestigator has shown that electricity di­ minishes the elasticity of flint and Ger­ man glass, which is also said to be the case with India rubber, while the elas­ ticity of mica and gutta perclia is in­ creased. A DAIRYING company of London have a laboratory at which samples of milk received from farmers are subjected to chemical analysis. Prizes have been of­ fered by the company, whioh are to be given those farmers whose milk supply stands highest in quality during a stated period of time. The samples of milk are oarefully examined by tbe company's analyst, whose analyses and reports will decide the competition for the prizes. It is expected that much valuable informa­ tion respecting methods for producing the richest possible milk will be pro­ duced in this way. IF elastic gum is warmed, then ex­ panded and wound in a spiral upon a glass tube or wire, and cooled for a short time in a cooling mixture, it shows no tendency to contract; but wlien it is sub­ mitted to hot water it returns quickly to its original length. The phenomenon can also be made to appear without the use of the cooling mixture. If one holds heated gum a second iu an expanded condition it shows no disposition to re­ turn to its original length, but if one im­ merses it in hot water it contracts to one- fourth or oue-lifth of its original length. Maxwell has found that similar phenom­ ena are produced in gutta percha. FOR the purpose of determining the capacity of a horse to undergo the priva­ tions incident to a state of siecfe. a series of experiments have been made in Paris. The results show: That a horse inay hold out for twenty-five days without any solid nourishment, provided it is supplied with sufficient good drinking water; that a horse can subsist on barley five days without water; and, thirdly, that if a horse is well fed for ten days, but insuf­ ficiently supplied with water throughout this period, it will not outlive the eleventh day. A horse which had received no solid nourishment for twelve days Was nevertheless in a condition to draw a load of six hundred pounds on the twelfth day of its fast. Spoiling His Logic. Here is a ludicrous instance of "speak­ ing out in meeting," which transpired in a small parish in the South of Scotland : The good old preacher--an earnest, simple-minded man, who regarded bis flock as a gathering of children of larger growth--was holding forth upon the story of Jonah ; and, in approaching tho climax, he indulged in a bit of rhetorical flourish, to the following effect: "And what kind of a fish was it, my brethren, that God had appointed thus to execute His holy will? Was it a shark, my brethren ? No, it could not be a shark, for God would never have given the tender flesh of His beloved prophet to be torn by the horrible teeth of that voracious monster. What fish was it then, my brethren? Was it a salmon, think ^ou? Ah, no. That were not possible. There's no salmon i' the deepest pool of the Tweed could swallow a man. Besides, you ken, 'it's mair natural for a man to swallow sal­ mon than for salmon to swallow man. What, then, was it? Was it a sea-lion, or a sea-horse ? Or was it a sea dog, or a great rhinoceros ? Ah, no. Those are not Scripture beasts, ava. Ye're as far aff*t as ever. Which of the monsters o* the great deep was it, can you tell me, that swallowed himj" At this point an aged dame, who had been sitting on nettles, believing her minister to be really at a loss--thinking he had forgotten the name of the fish-- as he raised his hand and took a survey of his audienoe, previous to capping the climax, knocked him from his bias by crying out: " Hoot, sir ! it was a whale, jou ken!" The minister gasped for breath, and looked daggers. " Out upon ye, for the graceless old wife that you are, thus to tak' the words out o' the mouth o' God's minister 1 You've just cat in and tumbled the beau­ tiful fabric o' logical sequence all to pieces!" " Aweel," muttered the ancient dame, with a firm closing of her jaws, " I dinna keer for that. It wer' a whale ony way I" State of Man Before Death. A Danish physician, E. Hornemann, has written an interesting essay on the state of man just before death. Much experience and fine insight have led the author to conclusions which cannot but be grateful to those who stand at a death­ bed, to thoea who mourn over a loss, aud to those who fear death. Here is one statement out of manv : " Tbe feeling of death's approach changes and purifies the inner sense, while the outer Sense, including that of bodily pain, ia made dull by the gradual decrease of the vital functions." The experience of others corroborates this. A slow death usually prepares the mind of the patient for the final step, and often makes the latter welcome. Hence, so few people who are mortally ill are really afraid to die. Persons who have for a time lost the Use of their senses by drowning or suffocation confirm .this experience^ while persons in perfect health shrink from death as they do from eating aa unknown drug or from playing with un­ known animals. Death seem hard chiefly to surviving friends. Large Game In the Northwert. Elks are abundant here, just as they used to be everywhere throughout the Red River Valley. They like to browse by the river side, where they find the swamp willows and the succulent varie­ ties of the poplar and basswood, altern­ ating to the prairie grass when they wish a change of diet. Sefferal were killed within a few miles of Hallock last win­ ter. Up to ten years ago they were common all over western and south­ western Minnesota; by no means con­ fined to timber, but roaming the prairies in considerable bands. These horns which you see in so many houses and bar-rooms, and on stables and pilot­ houses of steamboats, are chiefly trophies of this recent period. * In Dakota they are still numerous enough, but they are far to reach, and not easily killed when found. Probably there is no place anvwlieie at present where the splendid animal can be reached with such facility as by the wagon road from Hallock. You have only to provide yourself with a camp stove, cooking utensils, and the ordinary outfit of blank­ ets and provisions, take a good Indian saddle-pony that will stand tire, a guide and a wagon, and " light out." I forgot to say that you want a warm hunting- suit of a dead grass or yellowish brown color; be particular about this. The best method of hunting elks is by stalk­ ing. By elks I mean the wapti, or Cercus canadensis, aud not the moose, although the moose are found here, too, as are also an occasional specimen of the mule deer, C. viatrolis. There is the skin of a mule deer now hanging in the carpen­ ter's shop at Hallock. One of the most interesting facts re­ lating to the distribution of our large fauna is the discovery of an abundance of moose, Aire Americana, in northern Minnesota. They are smaller than the moose of Maine and the Provinces of Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Sco­ tia, but are as numerous, perhaps, as in the eastern ranges. The Indiaus fre­ quently bring the meat to market, and withiu two years heads aud antlers have become a valuable commodity for natural history specimens. Although in the early part of the cen­ tury the moose was almost universally distributed throughout the swamps and forests of North America, north of the forty-third parallel of latitude, it has been believed that his present habitat had l>ecome restricted to the Canadian Provinces on tho east, and to the country west of the Rocky Mountains, which lie north of Wyoming. That there is an extensive intermediate tract over which he roams is now evident, but whether his range is still unbroken and continuous from the Atlantic to the Pacific may well be questioned. The moose is not strictly a migratory animal, for it never leaves its native ground for strange lands and woods. It is probably local in northern Minnesota and the adjoining province of Kewatin. Those hunters who are in quest of big game will rejoice that a new and untried field for their prowess has been fonnd. No better region adapted to the wants, of the moose than this can be imagined, for the forest is in­ terspersed with swamps and open marshes. Water is quite abundant, and tho deciduous trees affords the kind of browse upon which he delights to feed. Snows do not hill to a depth to reduce him to the dernier resort of "yarding." Tho leaves fall early in October, and thus afibrd a great advantage for calling in the best of the season. Stalking is also a favorite method of hunting the moose, and often a good dog may be em­ ployed to advantago.--Hallock (Minn.) Letter to the Chicago Field. Senators' Wives. In Washington there is no more im­ portant personage than ybur Senator. Congressmen are useful, to be sure, when one needs their aid; Cabinet offi­ cers are all very well, and no exalted of­ ficial is to be despised; but the man who outranks them all, whose "influence" is best worth having, whose political and social dignity is the highest, is the Sen­ ator. It is a common saying in Wash­ ington--where they " know the ropes " --"I would rather be a Senator than President." A President can rarely en­ joy more than one term; never, now, more than two, but a .Senator who has his State well in hand can return year after year to the upper chamber till the brief term of a President seems to him like an insignificant episode, marking only the alternations of a fickle popular fancy. Socially, the Senators' wives take the lead, and we who form the great mass of the people are far from suspect­ ing how much these ladies, even more stately and elegant than their dignified husbands, have to do with the ways and means by which we are governed. One of the greatest powers in our' politics for years has been Mrs. Logan, the wife of Senator Logan, of HHuois. Mrs. Logan is an accomplished and fascinating woman of the world, perfectly at home in society and thoroughly aufait in all society's laws aud usages, written and unwritten. Besides this, she is a woman of very decided ab lity, shrewd and adroit, and with a really good heart, which makes and keeps for her hosts of friends. It is easily seen how such a woman as Mrs. Logan may be powerful in Wash-'ngton, where social influences and motives count for so much, and while there is no one who would say that Senator Logan is not a strong man, there are plenty of people who assert positively that a great part of his suc­ cess in politics is due to the skillful man­ agement and strong personal influence of his wife. In short-, the summing up of a great deal of wise experience in our great National lobby, called Washing­ ton, is contained in the advice: "If you want anything down here you must cultivate the Senator's wives."--Boston Courier. Color Notions. An English lady writes: "I think our English color notions are taking a turn for the better. The melancholy, ^saturnine greens and yellows of a season or two past have almost disappeared, and the dark shade of red so much seon now is perfect in its way. Brunettes should be thankful for it, as^ well as for the beautiful gold color, which was sel­ dom seen in dresses until two or tiiree yestrs ago. Bloaies can wear it too if they do not incline to sallownesa. I no­ ticed a superb blundo at a recent dinner venturesomely a»tired in gold brocade a shade d;irker than her hair, and re­ lieved with golden-brown velvet begt>- nia leaves. Thm?ffect justified the has ordous experiment.1' - ***• • taNkteiktrt DMitlih i tho qwrkle «{ «a ejr*r : M* H opM tlM fMM Mid«twitk»aMtchiMtgaaqt etek dimple, all tlx _. «wi t*» hide beh.Bil • amUaf b th# form of serf«ct grac* Bcaatf'« only dweliiBg-plac% •>*. : Or does wealth of gold and Hoid tbe gaddan iu dure*#? 1M tor tfcoagfc OM be M As tha bqggar at oor dear--* lafiktng all tbe rasa and guldl <K tbe cultured form and f; Mil] if mind and heart are Therein beauty dweileth mu«t -MM PITH ANB POINT. SON of the kettle--The dnll-oimub TH* beer-drinker often thinks of foam. AN ass--He who assents to EWSgr­ illing. Tm baker's maxim--Whatever ris; It light. Jo* AH was the first whale gave him up. THE man who goes into the devil soon finds that his partner is soul proprietor. ARKANSAS is a poor place to get al«ij in. A young man, on his wedding-day, was taken out and hong for stealing a $6 horse. A HISKRNIAN switchtender, who saw a train coming in on time, sud: "Ton are first at last, and voa were always b»» hind before." JEWELRY ought to be remarkably cheap. You can get any quantity of good gold rings out of a half-eagle by tmming it on the counter. " WHAT plan," said the actor to the author, "shall I adopt to fill the house at my benefit ?" " Invite your creditors," was the surly reply. A MONTANA Indian, who was oonvict- ed of murder, expressed his opinion of the lawyer who defended him with de­ licious frankness : " Lawyer too mueh talk! heap fool!" A CURATE in England, while marrying a couple that came without the parents of the bride, asked: "Who gives the woman away?" when the would-be hus­ band replied: "Nobody; I am taking her myself." "WHAT is the meaning of a bade- biter ?" asked a gentleman at a Sunday- school examination. This was a puzzler. It went down the class uirtil it came to a simple urchin, who said: " Perhaps it is a flea." WHENEVER you find a house with a motto " Welcome!" hung so that it catches every eye, you needn't be sur­ prised at a cold dinner and a . hint that keeping a boarding-house doesn't pay in these times. A MAN who had just learned poker, but who had not sufficiently mastered the intricacies of the game, bet wildly upon a flush, and, upon showing his hand, was told that " the spirit was will­ ing but the flush was weak." AN English magazine discourses on "Cheap Girls." It says : "No young man, not even the worst, wants any­ thing to do with a cheap young lady." This is a mistake. No matter how cheap a girl may be, her young man always thinks she is a " little dear." " Yon old vulture, you!" she OK- claimed when he hinted that seven bon­ nets a year were enough for an ordinary woman. Next day, when he relented and told her to go down and order the eighth, it would have made an angel smile to hear her sweetly call him "Birdie." GRIP'S lexicon : Economy--The art of living on nothing while doing a good business. Political economy--The art of always keeping on the right side of the party in power. Social economy-- The art of living off somebody doing a good business, without doing any busi­ ness yourself. MAY is a blonde and Mad?e is twown. And 'twixt the two I fljr; One lives iu the country, one in town. But jot for both I Figh. Kadge sarg that I'm iu love lritfe Ms/, And pouts a eweet disdain. Yet all the time her brown eyes amy, 441 fear no rival's reign." • Thus 'twixt tbe two my heart latkNwat And shuttle-like 1 fly; For blue-eyed May is all my owa When brown Madge is not by. But loving each, sua loving both, 1 know not how to lie; So here's to l>oth, however loath, Good-by, good-by, good-by I THB reason given by the colored n>»n for not going too near the hind legs of a famous roan mule was so satisfactory that we can afford to adopt it as an ex­ cuse for not doing a great many other things. " De reason," he said, " why I nebber 'proach dat roan mul > from da rear is dat I'm too fond of my family an* don't belong to no church, nudder. "MAKING a call the other day," writes a fair correspondent, "I casually opened a Bible on the drawing-room ta­ ble while waiting for my friend. There was a folded piece of paper inside, and it was marked, I couldn't help seeing it, ' recipe for punches.' My Mend entered at the moment, and I handed it to her. 4 Why, where in the world did you get that ?' she asked, ' I've been looking lor it for six mouths.'" " WHAT good deed have yon done to­ day, Johnny?" said a benevolent father to his heir. " I gave n poor little boy a cent, papa," was the good child's an­ swer. " All, that was right; and why, my son, did you give him the cent r * " I gave it to him, dear papa, for a good 3-cent stamp that he thought was only a piece of green paper." " Let us pi"ey," said the father, and he got a strap and preyed on that boy for fifteen minutes by the watch. Miaee Pie Did IU The court was full. I mean the court-room was fulL Of oourse the court might have been ful also, but it would be libelous to say aoi. (See 2. Ills., p. T7, Nix vs. Stix.) "Silence in the court!" said the bailiff. He did not say this with any idea that anybody would mind, bat because ha got $3 a day for it The case of Boilingstone vs. Bollia^ stone, application for divorce on tho ground of cruelty, was to be heard. Ifee first witness was Beatrice. "What is your name, madame?" asked her lawyer. "Beatrice Rollingsto(MwM "Maiden name?" "Boneset." "Has your husband treated ym cruelly?" "Yes, sir." "In what repect?" "He said I could not make mince pisa like his mother." "What resemblance does the defend­ ant's mother bear to a minoe pie?" in­ quired the court "Oh, 1 meant that he said I oouldnt make as good pies as his mother could." "Let the divorce be grouted," said tbe Judge. Rupert stood like one stunned, but §- nally turned toward the doors in a dajted sort of way, sa iog to himself: "Be­ trayed by rmiww pia. Ha, hat Ha, hat*

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