THE INTEROCEAN

CURIOSITY SHOP

FOR 1883.

EDITED BY

WILLIAM P. JONES, A. M.

SEVENTH EDITION.

CHICAGO:
THE INTER OCEAN PUBLISHING COMPANY,
MADISON AND DEARBORN STREETS.
1891.

So well known now is this little annual cyclopedia of facts in agriculture, manufactures, commerce, politics, literature, science and the arts, that this sixth volume of Our Curiosity Shop needs no preface, except to make due acknowledgments to the many who have aided the editor with information, and to explain to such of its readers as are not yet fully advised of this fact, that these pages constitute but a part of the several columns of questions and answers published every week in the Daily, Semi-Weekly and Weekly editions of The Inter Ocean. To have all such answers for the year, one must be a regular subscriber to, and reader of, the paper. Hundreds of disputes, raised in political gatherings, in debating societies, in Sunday schools, in social and sporting circles, at the village postoffice when waiting for the mail, on railway cars, in club rooms, around pioneer camp-fires, and in all kinds of places are referred to The Inter Ocean for amicable settlement. When none of the several thousand books on the shelves of The Inter Ocean and the Chicago Public Library give response to such questions, original sources of information are appealed to; and, again therefore, the grateful acknowledgments of the editor of Our Curiosity Shop are very heartily made to the Heads of the several executive departments at Washington and many of their chiefs of bureaus, to State and city officials, to his obliging associates of The Inter Ocean staff, and to that daily companion and efficient assistant, his daughter.

Every answer given here is in response to at least one person enough interested to call it forth. Not one started up at the editor’s own bidding, but each of them might use the speech put into the mouth of King Philip of Pokanoket, when summoned to meet the General Court of New Plymouth: “You sent for me, and I am here.” So, being here in response to popular call, the editor hopes this volume will have as cordial a welcome as the public has accorded to its predecessor of last year, of which, already, the second edition is nearly exhausted, and to the still earlier volumes of 1878 to 1882, inclusive. It is now a matter of regret that the volumes of 1878 and 1879 were not stereotyped, as all succeeding volumes have been; since that fact renders it impossible for the Publishers to supply the repeated calls for the entire series of six volumes. Readers will take note that the first two are out of print, but all the others will be supplied as fast as called for.

The Editor.

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NATURE’S STORM SIGNALS.

Recent questions and answers in Our Curiosity Shop about the aurora borealis and the Government Signal Service have moved S. H. Ruple, M., M. D., of Oquawka, Ill., to give the result of his observations as follows:

Falling weather follows the aurora borealis, because the lower stratum of the atmosphere at such a time is sufficiently rarified for the manifestation of aqueous vapor, as is indicated by the evolution or liberation of so great a quantity of electricity as is necessary to produce conspicuous and extensive “northern lights.” A continuous south wind, in most localities, will in a few days cause rain, because by its warmth it rarifies the cooler and denser atmosphere of more northern or elevated localities, and reduces its capability of sustaining moisture. A continuous north wind dispels all rain signs for the time being. This is no new theory. Solomon, 3,000 years ago, put it on record in Western Asia. (Prov. xxv., 23.) And a careful observation during twenty-five years has convinced me that it is true for this age and country as well as for his. Flaky clouds, or low-running ones, from any direction but the north, denote rain or snow. Salmon, leaden, or silvery colored clouds denote falling weather; bright red, clear. When the sunset is followed by bright lances or streaks of light of various hues radiating from the point where the sun disappeared, continuing across the heavens and converging to a common point in the opposite horizon, there exists a storm-cloud in line with the sun, though it may be so distant as to be for awhile entirely hidden from view by the rotundity of the earth. If the rays of light are evenly divided north and south of the line between the observer and the radiating point, and continue so till they have faded out, the cloud is approaching. A few years since the writer, becoming interested in an exhibition of this phenomena, sat up to watch the results of his calculations. About 1 a. m. the storm (a moderate cyclone) reached the Mississippi River, about five miles north of his residence, having, according to telegraphic reports, crossed the State of Iowa in five hours and a half. When “heat lightning” is visible you may be sure that there is a storm-cloud in the same direction, though you may neither see it nor hear the thunder. When the lightning is continuous and very brilliant the storm may be regarded as a violent one. In this event the track of the destructive elements may be from 100 to 200 miles away. Some five years ago the writer’s attention was called, a little after dark, to an extraordinary display of heat lightning in the southern horizon, and he ventured the opinion that a devastating cyclone was traveling eastwardly, probably in the vicinity of St. Louis. Though residing in Oquawka, Ill., fourteen miles above Burlington, Iowa, within twenty-four hours The Inter Ocean, ever watchful and intelligent, was in his hands with telegraphic reports corroborating his theory and predictions. Jefferson Barracks were reported damaged by the cyclone, and across in Illinois a whole village was laid waste and several lives lost. This was, to say the least, pretty accurate guessing.[Pg 6] If the old pioneers of Colorado, traveling at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, had to toil from five to seven days after catching their first view of the snow-cap of Pike’s Peak before gaining the mountain foot hills, how far off may not one see the intensely white, dazzling, and flashing illumination capping a cloud that is from three to five miles above the earth.

LEPROSY.

Answer.—There is no other malady so loathsome and so dreaded among mankind as the terrible disease of leprosy. A little blotch appears, often on the face of the victim, which gradually extending covers the whole body. Scales drop from the sufferer; his limbs become frightfully swollen, his voice grows hoarse, his eyes almost burst from their sockets, as the irresistible decay saps his life’s blood. While thus afflicted the victim suffers no physical inconvenience, except the gradual loss of his limbs. His body is numb and he does not feel the hand of the destroyer; his appetite is as good as ever, and he sleeps with as much relish as he did when he was in health. But in Eastern countries that which is almost as unbearable as the disease itself is the leper’s exclusion from society, even from that of his nearest relatives. In most countries leprosy operates as a divorce of husband and wife. Although it does not fill the air with contagion, yet the possible inoculation by personal contact or by handling the same objects, has led to the banishment of lepers not only from communities but from their homes. Whatever discussion may still be maintained as to the contagiousness of leprosy there exists no reasonable doubt of its transmission by heredity or licentiousness. During the past twenty years and more the Hawaiian Islands have received a large influx of Chinese coolies of the basest sort through the coolie traffic. Many of these associated in the loosest manner with the lower classes of natives, and in 1868 the authorities awakened to the fact that leprosy was spreading at an alarming rate. They determined on the Asiatic remedy of isolation. The western portion of the island of Molokai was selected for this purpose, and here to-day are found over 2,000 lepers shut out from all hope of ever seeing their friends, unless the latter become similarly afflicted. Three times a week a steamer visits the island, carrying provisions and mail, and the latest victims. Among these sufferers is William Ragsdale, the first Governor of the colony. In California a few of the Chinese have been afflicted with the disease, but it is not considered prevalent among them. In Salem, Mass., there is a pitiable case. Charles Derby was living in the Hawaiian Islands, when a slight blotch on his left temple revealed to the experienced islanders the fact that they had among them another leper. To escape banishment, Mr. Derby sailed for San Francisco; but was offered no refuse there, that city following the example of Honolulu. He then went to Salem, where they knew nothing of the disease, and there remained until discovered by two medical students from the Hawaiian Islands. His swollen and decaying face presents a frightful appearance. What is to be done with him is a question which the Salem authorities have not yet decided upon.

THE MILITARY ROAD, ARKANSAS.

Answer.—When the Creeks and Cherokees were being transferred to lands west of the Mississippi, under the command of General Jackson, this military road was constructed to facilitate the movement. The road terminates at Little Rock, Ark.

AURORA BOREALIS NOT A MODERN DISCOVERY.

Answer.—The aurora borealis is not a phenomenon peculiar to modern times. The ancients used to call it chasmata, bolides and trabes, names which expressed the different colors of the lights. The scarlet aurora was looked upon by the superstitious barbarians as an omen of direful slaughter; so it is not unusual for descriptions of bloody battles to contain allusions to northern lights. In the annuls of Cloon-mac-noise it is recorded that in 688 A. D., accompanying a terrible battle between Leinster and Munster, Ireland, a purple aurora lit the northern skies, foretelling the slaughter. To the Latins and Greeks of Southern Europe the phenomenon rarely appeared, and therefore their writings are almost, if not entirely, silent concerning it, yet it was not unknown to them.

WHERE WAS EDEN.

Answer.—This is still a matter of dispute among Biblical scholars of the highest reputation. Some have endeavored to locate it by means of the fruits and mineral productions named in the description given in the second chapter of Genesis, verses 8-17. But the main question in the opinion of most investigators is, What are the four rivers mentioned? The weight of tradition and scholarly study inclines to an agreement that the Tigris and Euphrates, which, after flowing in a southeasterly direction, unite and empty into the Persian Gulf, are the third and fourth rivers mentioned in the sacred word. But those who agree so far differ widely as to what rivers should be regarded as the Pison and Gihon. Some affirm that the River Pison is the Ganges, and the Gihon the sacred river of Egypt: others that the Garden of Eden was located on the high table-lands of Armenia, from which rise the Tigris and Euphrates. By choosing two rivers which flow into the Caspian Sea,[Pg 7] or by giving the name Gihon to one river, and the name Pison to the sea, and extending the boundaries of Eden so as to take in these waters and the head-waters of the Euphrates and Tigris, they consider that they have solved the mystery that veils the cradle of our race. The fact that all the European races of the Aryan family, and also the Semitic races, trace back their origin to this region gives color to this solution. A few scholars of some distinction have argued that the Adamic paradise was in the vicinity of the mountains of the Moon in Africa, regarding the Nile as the Pison, and the Niger as the Gihon, and reconciling it with the views of former scholars by affirming that the Assyrian rivers at that time had their source in the mountains of the Moon, but flowed underneath the ground to their apparent source in the continent of Asia. Others locate Eden in the vicinity of the ancient city of Babylon, considering the doubtful rivers as the two channels by which the united Tigris and Euphrates empty into the Persian Gulf. But two things have not been explained by any of these theories. The four rivers flow from one river, and the River Pison “compasseth the whole land of Havilah.” Until these questions are solved the location of the Garden of Eden will continue to remain a mystery.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

Answer.—The loose soil which covers so large a part of the surface of the northern continents to a depth varying from 30 to 100 feet, over which lie the vegetable deposits of later ages, is considered by geologists the effect of glaciers that in the quaternary, or latest geological age, slowly moved southward across the country. Upon examination it is found that the erratic boulders scattered over the Western prairies and other northern regions are unlike the native rock of the same region, being entirely foreign to the localities where they now appear. Sometimes the nativity of the rock is traced hundreds of miles north of where it now rests showing that some powerful agency has carried it southward. Again, if the native rock be uncovered and closely examined, it will be observed to be polished and grooved with parallel marks, running north and south, as if chiseled out by some coarse and heavy instrument. These marks are attributed to sharp, hard rocks projecting through the lower surfaces of the moving glaciers. That glaciers do produce such markings is proven by examination of the rocks which the moving ice fields of Switzerland and other glacial regions have worn and are marking to-day; also, the general appearance of the loose, unstratified, heterogeneous deposit is similar to that of the moraines that the modern glaciers leave as they slowly melt away. Geologists are generally agreed that long before the advent of man parts of the northern hemisphere were elevated several thousand feet higher than they are at present, causing the cold of the arctic zone to extend far southward into the present temperate regions, and that a vast glacier rising in the vicinity of Hudson Bay covered our whole continent north of the 40th parallel. In New York and other Eastern States the rocks are scratched from a northwesterly direction, in Ohio from a northerly, and in Iowa from a northeasterly direction, showing in each State the direction of the origin of the glacier. Afterward there followed a subsidence to a few hundred feet below the existing level, followed by a gradual elevation to the situation of the present era. These elevations and subsidences are evidenced by stratification and fossil remains.

MAYORS OF NEW YORK.

Answer.—The lower portion of Manhattan Island was incorporated as a city under the original Dutch regime, in 1652. Charles II. of England, claiming all the country from the French possessions south to Florida and west to the Pacific as belonging to the English crown, granted a charter covering New York to his brother, the Duke of York, who suddenly appeared before New Amsterdam and took unopposed possession in August, 1664. The name of the city was changed to New York. The Dutch recovered the place in August, 1673, and changed its name to New Orange. The next year it was restored by treaty to the English, and ever since it has kept the name of the city of New York. Since the office of mayor was created there have been seventy-two mayors, of whom the first one elected by the people was Cornelius W. Lawrence. Since Oakey Hall’s administration the following persons have held this office: Wm. F. Havemeyer, Wm. H. Wickham, Smith Ely, Edward Cooper, Wm. R. Grace, and the present Mayor, Franklin Edson.

TENDENCY OF DUTIES TO INCREASE.

Answer.—The first United States tariff law on imported goods was approved July 4, 1798. A small tax was then imposed, according to the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, upon sugar, coffee, tea, salt, manufactured iron, glass and wool, silk goods, and several articles of minor importance. While the rate of duty has fluctuated, the general tendency has been toward an increase. This is shown by the different enactments from 1832 to the present time. In the latter year the duty on sugar was made 2½ cents per pound; in 1841, 20 per cent; in 1842, 2½ cents per pound; in 1846, 30 per cent; in 1857, 24 per cent; in March, 1861, ¾ cent per pound; in August, 1861, 2 cents per pound; in December, 1861, 2½ cents per pound; in 1862, 3 cents per pound; while the present rate ranges, according to grade, from 57½ to 61¾ per cent. In 1832 the duty on woolen manufactures was 50 per cent; in 1841, 20 per cent ad valorem; in 1842, 40 per cent; in 1857, 24 per cent;[Pg 8] in March, 1861, 25 per cent and 12 cents per pound; in 1862, 30 per cent and 18 cents per pound; in 1864, 40 per cent and 24 cents per pound; in 1867, 35 per cent and 50 cents per pound, while the present duty upon woolen imports ranges, according to value, between 41 and 80 per cent. The same gradual increase is observable in silks, which in 1832 were admitted on an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent; in 1841, 20 per cent; in 1842, $2.50 per pound, changing in the same year to 25 per cent. In 1857 it was 19 per cent; in March, 1861, 30 per cent; in August, 1861, 30 per cent; in 1864, 60 per cent, and in 1881, 58 to 70 per cent. With the exception of a few years when Andrew Jackson was President, the different Congresses, Democratic as well as Republican, have sustained the duties upon the imports of this country. While the Republicans are mainly responsible for whatever is good or bad in our present tariff laws, Democratic Representatives from manufacturing districts have of late years, as a rule, given cheerful aid to the maintenance of a protective tariff.

WHAT IS A CARAT.

Answer.—It is used by jewelers to express both. A carat weighs 4 grains, or the 120th part of an ounce, troy. In determining the fineness of a precious metal 24 carats is considered the standard of purity; hence an 18-carat gold ring would be a ring containing 18 parts in 24 of pure gold.

INSTITUTIONS FOR FEEBLE-MINDED.

Answer.—The State of Ohio supports such an institution at Columbus, and the State of Illinois at Lincoln. Several other States have similar asylums.

DUTY ON GUNS.

Answer.—The rate of duty on guns is 35 per cent; gun barrels, wholly iron, 35 per cent; gun blocks, wooden, rough-hewn, or sawed only, 20 per cent; gun locks, steel, 45 per cent; plugs and nipples, for guns of iron and steel, 45 per cent.

HENRY JAMES, SENIOR AND JUNIOR.

Answer.—Henry James, concerning whose death an interesting article recently appeared in this paper, was the author of “Moralism and Christianity;” “Lectures and Miscellanies;” “The Church of Christ not an Ecclesiasticism;” “The Nature of Evil;” “Christianity, the Logic of Creation;” “Substance and Shadow;” “The Secret of Swedenborg,” and “Reminiscences of Carlyle.” He was a clergyman and not a writer of romance; but his son, Henry James, Jr., is a novelist, and has written the following popular works in this line: “Watch and Ward;” “The American;” “Daisy Miller;” “An International Episode;” “The Diary of a Man of Fifty;” “Washington Square;” “A Bundle of Letters,” and other works of fiction; also, “Transatlantic Sketches,” a volume of travel; “Hawthorne,” one of the series entitled “English Men of Letters,” and “French Poets and Novelists,” a book in the nature of a criticism.

THE LANGUAGE OF GEMS.

Answer.—The language of the various precious stones is as follows:

Moss Agate—Health, prosperity, and long life.

Amethyst—Prevents violent passions.

Bloodstone—Courage, wisdom, and firmness in affection.

Chrysolite—Frees from evil passions and sadness.

Emerald—Insures true love, discovers false.

Diamond—Innocence, faith, and virgin purity, friends.

Garnet—Constancy and fidelity in every engagement.

Opal—Sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor.

Pearl—Purity; gives clearness to physical and mental sight.

Ruby—Corrects evils resulting from mistaken friendship.

Sapphire—Repentance; frees from enchantment.

Sardonyx—Insures conjugal felicity.

Topaz—Fidelity and friendship; prevents bad dreams.

Turquoise—Insures prosperity in love.

PHRENOLOGY.

Answer.—The history of phrenology is embodied in the lives of its expounders. Although the prominent thinkers of mediæval Europe acknowledged many of its principles, it was not until 1796 that phrenology found an able and persistent advocate. Franz Joseph Gall, who in 1758 was born in Baden, began in his childhood to study the human face and head, and connect the various dispositions of men with certain prominences noticeable in the shape of their skulls. He studied medicine at various colleges, receiving his degree at Vienna. Eleven years after his graduation he delivered a lecture in that city, expounding his views on the subject which had been his constant study. It was not well received, and his subsequent writings and lectures were subjected to considerable censure and ridicule. They were, indeed, to such an extent unpopular that in 1805 the Austrian Government interdicted them, and he was compelled to refrain from further advancing his views in that country. With Kasper Spurzheim, a talented young man, who had embraced his doctrines while attending the school of medicine in Vienna, Dr. Gall changed his abode to Paris. In that city, with the aid of his pupil, he succeeded in making a considerable impression. He afterward became a citizen of France, and[Pg 9] died in 1828, near Paris, leaving several works valuable to the student of phrenology. In the meantime Dr. Spurzheim visited England. His lectures were listened to with considerable interest and many in that country adopted his views. In 1832 he came to the United States; but soon after his first lecture, which had created quite a sensation, he died in Boston. His efforts in England and Scotland were continued by George Combe, a lawyer, who wrote and lectured in those countries, and who also visited the United States. But he to whom most credit is due for extending the tenets of phrenology in this country is Oscar Squire Fowler, who was born at Cohocton, N. Y., Oct. 11, 1809, was educated at Amherst College, and has spent most of his life in advocating his views. In 1876 he made his home at Boston, although much of his time was spent in lecturing in various parts of the land. Although one of the fundamental principles of phrenology is that the mind is material and inseparable from the body, yet many who deny such a conclusion accept some of its inferences.

THE CAPITOL OF NEW YORK.

Answer.—In 1880 a report presented to the State Legislature of New York in reference to the State House declared that $13,000,000 had already been expended and that the ultimate cost of the building would be fully $20,000,000. With all this lavish expenditure the State House is said to be inadequate; its lower rooms are dark and unwholesome; the acoustics of the Senate Chamber render it difficult to hear a debate; and considerable complaint is made because the building, which covers three acres, is three-fifths halls and corridors.

SILVER POLISH.

Answer.—To clean and polish silver, silver-plate, and alloys, the following method is often employed: To 1 quart of water is added 1 ounce of carbonate of potash and ¼ pound of whiting. This is heated, and the silver immersed. When the liquid has boiled for twenty minutes it is removed from the fire and permitted to cool. Each piece is then taken out and polished with soft leather.

THE FAMOUS BURLEIGH.

Answer.—William Cecil Burleigh, who, Hume declares, was the “most vigilant, active and prudent Minister ever known in England,” was born in Lincolnshire in 1520. He studied law and graduated at Cambridge. When only 28 years old, he became Secretary of State, but at the accession of the Catholic Queen Mary he resigned. Although he was a stanch supporter of the Protestant cause, he was one of the few who was not persecuted. When Queen Elizabeth in 1558 succeeded her sister, Burleigh again assumed control of the state and became virtually the Prime Minister. For forty years he retained this office, until his death. To his ability much of the credit of Elizabeth’s wise and prosperous reign is due. He was a man in whom “the Virgin Queen” could place entire confidence. He was rewarded in 1571 with a barony and in the following year was made Lord Treasurer. His rule has been severely criticised in some particulars, and especially as regards his treatment of Mary, Queen of Scots; but his integrity and statesmanship have never been called in question by well-informed, impartial historians.

STATISTICS OF RELIGIOUS SECTS.

Answer.—The denominational statistics of the census if compiled are not available. The Rand-McNally Index of the World gives the following data for Jan. 1, 1881, which may be considered a fair estimate:

THE ITALIAN POET TASSO.

Answer.—Torquato Tasso, the unfortunate Italian poet, was born in 1544. With the intention of practicing law he studied at Naples, Rome, and afterward at Bergamo. The wonderful popularity of his first poem, “Rinaldo,” written when only 18 years old, led him to abandon jurisprudence and devote himself entirely to literary pursuits. This production was a lively epic composed of twelve cantos, full of the romance of mediæval times. Soon after he began to labor on his “Gerusalemme[Pg 10] Liberata,” or Jerusalem liberated, his chief work, which he completed in 1575. He was for a time in great favor at court and in the Vatican, and the Pope bestowed many favors upon him, and King Alfonso II. gave him a pension. The Duke of Ferrara became his especial patron, and treated him as a member of his household, until Tasso conceived an uncontrollable affection for the Duke’s daughter, which she did not reciprocate, while the Duke was offended. In despair he yielded to melancholy, which soon grew into a species of insanity, so that it became necessary to remove him to the home of his sister. Here he partially recovered, but he would not be satisfied until again admitted to the Duke of Ferrara’s household, where his malady returned, and the Duke, in 1579, removed him to an insane asylum. There he remained seven years, while all Italy was singing his praises. After his release he resided at Mantua, and then at Naples. In 1594, the Pope, Clement VIII., invited him to come to Rome and be crowned; but before he could go to receive the promised honors, he died, April 25, 1595. Two of his dramatic poems “Aminta” and “Torrismondo,” were received with great favor; but that which contributed most to his fame was the “Gerusalemme Liberata,” translated into the English by Edward Fairfax as early as 1600 and by J. K. James as late as 1865. Tasso takes rank among Italian poets next after Dante.

THE GUITEAU JURY.

Answer.—After three days’ labor the following jury was selected for the Guiteau trial: John P. Harlin, Fred W. Brandenburg, Charles G. Stewart, Henry J. Bright, Thomas H. Langley, Michael Sheehan, Samuel F. Hobbs, G. W. Gates, Ralph Wormley, William H. Browner, T. Heinlein, and Joseph Prather.

THE ERIE AND MICHIGAN CANAL.

Answer.—There is no prospect of an early union of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan by a canal. The length of such waterway would be about 200 miles. The distance around the lakes, from the eastern mouth of the proposed canal to the western mouth is about 700 miles.

A RETIRED CONGRESSMAN.

Answer.—Warren P. Noble, who represented the Ninth District of Ohio in Congress from 1861 to 1865, was born in Pennsylvania, June 14, 1821. He received a common school education, and in his youth moved to Ohio, where he studied law. He began to practice at Tiffin, where his abilities were soon recognized, and he became a member of the Legislature of his State, serving in that capacity from 1856 to 1860. He was elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-seventh Congress in 1860, re-elected in 1862, serving in both Congresses on the Committee on Patents. Being defeated by the Republican nominee in 1864, and this party having grown powerful by the success of its wise and patriotic policy before another biennial election came around, Mr. Noble retired permanently from politics.

SAMUEL J. RANDALL.

Answer.—Samuel J. Randall is undoubtedly one of the leading spirits in his party. He is a shrewd, sagacious politician rather than a great statesman, but in statesmanship he is one of the prominent figures on the Democratic side of the House. He is shrewd enough to know that a Democrat of out-and-out free-trade professions would have no encouragement to aspire to any office in the gift of Pennsylvania, but besides this it is only fair to grant him credit for knowing that it would be ruinous to the enormous mining, manufacturing, and farming interests of his State for this country to practice free trade. So he has been instrumental in keeping a considerable following of Democrats who will vote with him against violent reductions in the present tariff. Mr. Randall is a Philadelphian by birth. He was born Oct. 10, 1828; received a fair academic education; was for a time engaged in mercantile business; was for four years a member of the City Council; then a member of the State Senate for a year; was elected to the Thirty-eighth Congress, and has held membership in the House ever since. In the election of 1880 he carried his district by 13,661 votes, against 9,880 for B. L. Berry, Republican, and he was re-elected last November by a still larger majority. He has sat on several of the most important committees in the House; was Speaker for the last session of the Forty-fourth Congress, for the Forty-fifth and the Forty-sixth Congresses, and has a fair prospect of being Speaker of the next Congress.

CAN A JEW BE A GERMAN?

Answer.—A German may be a Jew, or a Jew a German, Englishman, Frenchman, Italian, American, or of any nationality under the sun. As a Jew his nationality embraces the world; in many respects he still observes the laws of Moses, and by marriage and other peculiar institutions he maintains his race distinctions and national feelings. At the same time he is now in most Christian states a citizen of the land he happens to be born in, and in most such lands is permitted to enjoy all the rights of other citizens, as is the case with American Jews. It was not always so. It is only since the establishment of the German Empire, in 1871, that the Jew has enjoyed full civil equality in Germany. France granted it in 1790, and confirmed this grant in the constitution of[Pg 11] 1795. In all but a few petty, contemptible particulars, since 1858 English Jews have enjoyed all the privileges of other British subjects. In Russia and some other European countries the Jew is still denied the rights of citizenship.

DUTIES ON FARM PRODUCTS AND COAL.

Answer.—The following are the import duties on some of the principal farm products and coal:

The import duty on potatoes, seed or otherwise, is 14 cents per bushel; on butter, 4 cents per pound; on cheese of all kinds, 4 cents per pound; on salt in bulk, 8 cents per 100 pounds; in bags, sacks, barrels, or other packages or in brown earthenware jars, 12 cents per 100 pounds; on bituminous coal, 75 cents per ton of 28 bushels of 80 pounds each; on dust coal, 40 cents per ton; on cannel coal, 75 cents per ton.

ST. HELENA.

Answer.—The island of St. Helena, whose name always recalls the gloomy downfall of Napoleon I., contains an area of about forty-seven miles. It supports a population of 6,241 souls. It was discovered in 1501 by Juan de Nova Castella, a bold Portugese navigator, who gave it the name St. Helena, because he first saw it on the day sacred to that saint in the Romish calendar. In the following century the Dutch took possession and retained it until England seized it in 1673. When Napoleon Bonaparte was first banished to this island and held here as a political prisoner under British surveillance, the population was but about 800,200 of whom were soldiers and 300 slaves. The importance to a maratime nation like Great Britain of St. Helena, lying as it does in the path of European, South African, Australian, and India and China trade, developed as years passed: its value as a naval station and its other strategic advantages have become more and more apparent, and now it is looked upon as one of the strong keys of English power in the South Atlantic.

HOW SLAVERY AFFECTED CONGRESSIONAL APPORTIONMENTS.

Answer.—In Congressional apportionments before the war, five negroes were counted as equal to three whites. Of course the slaves were not permitted to vote, but the voting power of the whites was plainly magnified over that of an equal number of whites in the free States. For example, the first Congressional apportionment allowed one representative for every 30,000 inhabitants; but in the South 21,000 whites owning 15,000 slaves counted the same as 30,000 whites in the North where there were no slaves, or 15,000 whites holding 25,000 slaves were granted the same representation in Congress and the electoral college as double the number of Northern whites.

JEFFERSON AND JEFFERSONIANISM.

Answer.—“Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of American Independence, of the statute of Virginia for religious freedom, and father of the University of Virginia,” is the inscription upon Jefferson’s tombstone. He was born April 2, 1743, in the county of Albemarle, in the interior of Virginia, then a desolate forest. His diligence and study was encouraged by his parents, who placed him under the care of a talented Scottish clergyman. When he was 17 he entered William and Mary College, and after graduation studied law. In 1759 he was chosen to represent his county in the House of Burgesses, where he continued with but little interruption until the days of the revolution. Like George Washington, disappointed in his first love, he married a widow, in 1772. Three years later he was sent as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress. As Chairman of the committee to draft the Declaration of Independence, he is said to have written the whole of that document, which, with a few minor amendments, was adopted by Congress and sent to the King of England. In October he resigned and retired to his farm, but only again to be forced into civil life by his election to the State Legislature. During the war he was not only busy in originating and advocating measures to aid the cause of liberty but also he began a thorough revision of the statutes of Virginia. From 1779 to 1781 he served as Governor. After a short term in the House of Burgesses he was sent to the Confederate Congress, which, in 1784, thought fit to appoint him as one of the three commissioners to negotiate treaties with European nations. Upon Franklin’s return Jefferson was made Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of Louis XVI. He watched with eager interest the progress of the French Revolution, and when given a leave of absence in 1789 returned filled with democratic ideas from the new republic. Upon his landing he was immediately tendered by Washington a position in his Cabinet as Secretary of State. Soon it became evident to Jefferson that among the President’s advisers there existed a radical difference of opinion on nearly every important subject. Hamilton was regarded by the Secretary of State as a man in favor of a constitutional monarchy, and the latter’s ideas of centralization were construed to mean the destruction[Pg 12] of the existing Constitution and the formation of a government like that of England. The Secretary of the Treasury, on the other hand, believed Jefferson to be infused with the socialistic democracy of France, and one whose principles if put in practice would overthrow the Constitution and produce anarchy. To Jefferson the financial policy of Hamilton was very aggravating. The recommendations of the Treasurer to Congress he believed to be in the interest of the speculators and the moneyed classes. On New Year’s Day, 1794, he resigned his office, greatly to the annoyance of Washington, who was reluctantly compelled to acquiesce, and returned to his farm. The position occupied by the first President was a peculiarly embarrassing one. He had in his Cabinet Jefferson and Randolph, the leaders of the Republican, or Anti-Federal party, and Hamilton and Knox prominent Federalists. With such associations the administration as a whole was comparatively little criticised, although Hamilton and Jefferson were the targets for the denunciations of their respective opponents. In 1800 Jefferson and Burr each received 73 electoral votes to Adams’ 65, which threw the election into the House. According to the decision of that body Jefferson was inaugurated March 4, 1801. His frugal administration increased the popularity of his party, which continued to remain in power twenty-four years. After having served two terms he again retired to his farm, a poor man, considerably burdened with debt. Congress purchased his library, which their committee valued at $23,000, although its cost had been nearly double that sum. Mr. Bacon, who had charge of the removal, says that there were sixteen wagon loads, each wagon being required to carry at least 3,000 pounds. The remainder of his life he spent in endeavoring to introduce schools and colleges, and in general, the New England system of local government into his native State. After witnessing the establishment of the University of Virginia, he died July 4, 1826, upon the same day that John Adams passed away. In politics Jefferson was considered by the Federalists as a theorist. Speaking of his administration, Gouverneur Morris says: “There is just now so much philosophy among our rulers that we must not be surprised at the charge of pusillanimity.” In religion he was very bitter against the Calvinists, and held Unitarian views.

WHAT IS MICA—WHERE OBTAINED?

Answer.—Mica consists of a silicate of alumina, combined, according to species, with small proportions of potash, soda, lithia, oxide of iron, oxide of manganese, etc. The most common and serviceable variety is known as potash mica. It is a constituent of granite, gneiss, mica slate, and several other kindred rocks. It is found both disseminated and in veins. It is very widely distributed, especially in composition with other minerals; but there are comparatively few localities where it is known to exist in such quantities and form as to be mined with profit. Its most valuable form is that of muscovite, in which it appears in translucent lamina or plates. The larger and clearer these plates the greater the value of the mine or quarry. In Siberia they have been found more than three feet across, and they have been obtained of great size in Sweden and Norway. This is also the case at Acworth, Grafton, and Alstead, N. H., and mica has been found large enough for economic use in Canada. Mica is used largely for the doors of stoves and the sides of lanterns. It is employed in some countries as a substitute for window glass, and its toughness recommends it for this purpose on board vessels of war. It has also been used for spectacles. When ground it makes a cheap bronzing powder. There are some mica factories in North Carolina, near Mitchell County mica mines. In the state of a fine powder it is used to give a brilliant appearance to walls, and as a sand for drying ink on manuscripts. Lithia mica contains a small proportion of lithia, which gives it in many cases a fine rose or peachblow color, so that it is used for ornamental purposes.

WHY THE GREAT DIPPER SPINS AROUND THE POLE.

Answer.—The Great Dipper only appears to revolve, owing to the revolution of the earth. Of course, it makes an apparent revolution every twenty-four hours, the same as the sun. It is visible throughout the entire night because it is within what is called the circle of perpetual apparition, or that part of the heavens which is always in sight to the observer. This circle enlarges as one travels from the equator, where it is nothing, to the pole, where it takes in the whole northern hemisphere.

THE OLD UNITED STATES BANK.

Answer.—The act establishing the old United States Bank, although opposed by the Secretary of State, Thomas Jefferson, and by Edmund Randolph, the Attorney General, on the ground of its unconstitutionality, was approved by President Washington, July 25, 1791. The bank was organized at Philadelphia. The different clauses declared that the capital should be $10,000,000, which should be divided into 25,000 shares of $400 each; that any person, copartnership or body politic might subscribe for any number of shares not exceeding 1,000—only the United States could subscribe for more than this number of shares; that, with the exception of the United States, the subscriptions should be payable one-fourth in gold and silver, and the remaining three-fourths in certain 6 per cent bonds of the United States; that the subscribers should be incorporated under the name of “The President, Directors, and company of the Bank of the United States,” and the organization should continue until March 4, 1811; that the bank could hold property of all[Pg 13] kinds, inclusive of its capital, to the amount of $15,000,000; that twenty-five directors should be chosen, who in turn should choose from their number a President; that as soon as $400,000 in gold and silver was received on subscription the bank could organize, after giving a notice of its intention. The general effect of this institution was very salutary. The credit of the United States became firmly established. The bank notes stood at par with gold and silver. The large deposits made the money available for the use of the Treasury, and the State bank currency, which had flooded the country, with no prospects of redemption, was greatly reduced. But with all its recognized advantages the act to re-charter was defeated in 1811, by the casting vote of the Vice President, George Clinton. Its loss, however, was immediately felt in the sudden and rapid increase of the currency of the State banks. To ward off an impending crisis, the second bank was established by an act approved by President Madison, April 10, 1816, at Philadelphia. A capital of $35,000,000 was required, which was to be equally divided into 350,000 shares, of which the United States took 70,000. The charter extended to March 3, 1836. It was prohibited from lending on account of the United States more than $500,000, or to any prince or foreign power any sum whatever, without the sanction of law first obtained. The bank was also prohibited from issuing bills of less denomination than $5. In time, to facilitate business, branch offices were established in every State. In December, 1829, however, the bank met strenuous opposition in the message of President Jackson, who argued, like Jefferson, against the constitutionality of its charter. When Congress, in 1832, passed a bill to re-charter the institution, Jackson imposed his veto, and soon after removed from the bank the United States’ deposits. The bank corporation, however, continued to exist, hoping that succeeding elections would change the complexion of affairs before their charter expired; but in this they were disappointed. In 1836 the charter terminated, and a few months afterward the business interests of the country were overwhelmed in a most disastrous financial revulsion.

JAMES FENIMORE COOPER.

Answer.—J. Fenimore Cooper, the pioneer of American novelists, was born in Burlington, N. J., Sept. 15, 1789. Reared in the wild country surrounding Otsego Lake, he early became acquainted with the natural scenery which he afterward so vividly described. His father, who was a member of Congress, sent him when but 13 to Yale College, where he remained two years. At the age of 16 he joined the United States navy, and made two extended cruises, which gave him all the information he desired concerning the sea. Resigning, he married, and settled at Westchester, N. Y., where he began to write his novels. The first, “Precaution,” appeared in 1819, and from that time he continued to write until his death, in 1851. In 1826 he visited Europe, returning in 1833. The novels of Cooper are considered remarkable for their descriptions; but in the general finish of his stories he has many superiors. His histories, while they are fascinating in interest, are not considered altogether reliable. His principal works are “The Pioneers,” “The Spy,” “The Pilot,” “The Prairie,” “Naval History of the United States,” and “The Pathfinder.”

MACKINAC.

Answer.—The island of Mackinac, famed in Indian legends and the early French and English history of the West, was first visited by white men in 1634, when John Nicollet and a few Hurons and French voyageurs came to Green Bay to make a treaty with the Indians of that region. In 1670 that devout Jesuit missionary, Jean Marquette, lived on this island for about two years while building a chapel and dwelling on a point opposite on the site of the present Mackinac City. While here he wrote the following description: “Missili-Mackinac is an island, famous in these regions. It is of more than a league in diameter, and elevated in some places into such high cliffs as to be seen more than twelve leagues off. It is situated just in the strait forming the communication between Lakes Huron and Illinois (Michigan). It is the key and, as it were, the gate for all the tribes from the south.” “This place is the most noted in these regions for the abundance of its fisheries; for, according to the Indian saying, this is the home of the fishes.” The history of this gem of the lakes is intertwined with that of the old Mackinac town. This ancient village was for many centuries the headquarters of the Ottawa, Objibwa, and other Indian nations, and when Marquette succeeded in winning their friendship and in constructing his chapel, it became the great trading post of the French-Canadians. Soon a fort was constructed, and the white foreigners lived here and traded in peace. But when in 1759 Quebec was taken by the English, Mackinac fell to the conquerors. These new masters were very unpopular with the suspicious inhabitants, who soon found an opportunity to avenge their previous wrongs and defeats by a complete massacre of the garrison. In order to retain a post in that locality and prevent a repetition of such slaughter, the English constructed in 1780 a fort on the island, which in 1793 was surrendered to the United States. In the war of 1812 it was surprised before its garrison was aware of the declaration of war and surrendered to the English besiegers. Upon the close of the struggle it was returned to the jurisdiction of the United States. For many years the island was the outfitting and furnishing place of John Jacob Astors’ Indian traffic, under the name of the Northwestern Fur Company, but when that gentleman sold out in 1834 to Ramsey Crooks, of New York,[Pg 14] the trade of the post gradually decreased. The island is one of the most beautiful localities, in its natural scenery and surroundings, of which our country can boast. The clear water, the imposing rocks, and the old fort, all add luster to its many charms. One of its chief natural attractions is Arch Rock, which, projecting from the precipice on the northeastern side of the island, forms a natural bridge 140 feet in height. The bridge, the Indians say, was constructed by the giant fairies, who formerly made the island their abode, but the unpoetical scientist declares that at one time the water was much higher than in this age, and that its continuous action wore away the calcareous rock, and left this arch.

METALS AND THEIR USES.

Answer.—There is a difference of opinion among practical chemists as to the number of existing metals. Professor Youmans affirms that there are at least fifty simple metals, nearly one-half of which are of little importance. Other scientists make the number considerably less. The greater number of metals are rarely or never found in nature in a simple state. They exist in compound forms, and are useful only in such conditions. For example, sodium, the basis of our common salt, cannot be exposed to any moisture, and therefore in its simple state is comparatively useless. Aluminum, as it is found in the ordinary clay, or the alum of commerce, is of great utility, but when separated from its associated elements its use is confined almost exclusively to the laboratory. Of the more important metals iron is the king. In its production Great Britain leads the world. From her furnaces and mills in 1879 were taken 5,995,337 tons of cast and pig iron, and 1,344,297 tons of steel, a ton consisting of 2,240 lbs. During the same year the United States produced 2,741,853 tons of iron, and 1,440,121 tons of steel; Germany, 2,161,192 tons of iron and 800,000 tons of steel, and France, 1,344,759 tons of iron and 561,691 tons of steel. Of the production in the United States, Pennsylvania furnaces yielded about one-half, and those of Ohio about one-seventh. Copper has been in use from early times. Often among the bones of primitive man are found utensils beaten out of this malleable metal. At present it is mined extensively in Wales, Germany, Australia, Upper Michigan, Northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and to a small degree in various other localities. Tin is found either as rock-tin, in veins with rock and other ores, or as stream-tin in alluvial deposits. The principal mines are in Cornwall, Germany, Hungary, Bohemia, Mexico and China. Not only is it used in the manufacture of tin-plate, but also in the composition of various valuable alloys. Zinc, in the form of a carbonate or selicate, is obtained from mines in Silesia and Belgium, and also in small quantities in Wales, France, and this country. Like tin, it is used in the composition of various alloys, as well as in the ordinary form of zinc plate. Until a recent date, the value of nickel was not known. The Germans, who, out of derision, gave it its name, were accustomed to cast it aside as a spurious or base copper. The mines of Germany and Wales produce nearly the entire amount, although a little has been obtained from mines in Pennsylvania. Its use is mainly confined to its alloys, such as German silver, white metal, and a few minor coins. Platinum, which, owing to its high fusive point and its lack of affinity for acids is peculiarly adapted for the manufacture of chemical vessels, is found in Brazil, and also in Russia. In the production of gold the United States leads all other countries. The yield of our gold mines in 1881 was valued at $36,500,000, while the total yield from 1845 to 1880 amounted to $1,523,678,301. Between the years 1493 and 1875 Austria produced in gold $889,963,800, New Granada $596,501,675, and Russia $590,629,944. The silver of the world for the last four centuries has been produced mainly in Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia. Since the discovery of America Mexican mines have yielded over $2,600,280,659; Peruvian, $1,065,357,084; and Bolivian, $1,286,999,947. The mines of the United States have yielded since their first discovery about $540,000,000. Mercury is obtained either in the fluid state, inclosed in the rocky receptacles of the earth, or is derived by roasting its sulphate. In Southern California and Mexico, and also in Austria and Spain, productive mines are worked. It is valuable in the construction of thermometers, barometers, pendulums, etc., manufactures, and also in refining metals by amalgamation.

A SHORT HISTORY OF SUFFRAGE.

Answer.—The history of suffrage has been a record of progress and extension. The most limited form is observed in the first election of the Virginia colony in 1607, and the most extensive to-day is in Wyoming Territory. By the charter granted to the Virginia Company the members of a council of settlers, chosen by a higher council resident in England, were privileged to choose annually a President from their own number. In accordance with this the first right of suffrage that existed in any permanent American colony was exercised by six members of the council, who, in May, 1607, chose Edward Maria Wingfield as the first President. In 1619 the different towns of Virginia elected, by general suffrage, twenty-two burgesses, who, assembling at Jamestown, constituted the first legislative body convened in America. In the following year, a few hundred miles north, the Plymouth Fathers gathered on the deck of the Mayflower, and exercised a still more extended right of suffrage in the choice of John Carver as the first Governor of the colony. These privileges continued, with only a few changes in Virginia, until the American revolution, excepting that eighteen years after the election of Carver, in Massachusetts, their mass assemblies were deemed too large, and a representative government[Pg 15] was established. Although democratic in principle, a few laws passed by the New England colonists restricted the privilege of suffrage. No person who had not become a freeman by taking the oath of allegiance was permitted to vote. No man, according to a law of 1631, was admitted to the freedom of the body politic who was not a member of some of the churches within the limits of the same. No Quaker was permitted to become a freeman. The two latter restrictions, however, were soon removed. The power of the people was greatly increased through the results of the revolution, yet in several of the original thirteen States the right of suffrage was restricted to property-holders or rate-payers, and otherwise limited for periods extending in some cases through one or more decades of the present century. The tendency was constantly to the wide limits of manhood suffrage, which was then prevailing rule, but only as regards white citizens, until the fifteenth amendment in March, 1870, extended the same right to colored citizens. The present movement toward the extension of the right to women has been successful in Wyoming Territory and to a certain extent in Massachusetts, which permits women to vote for members of the Board of Education. The agitation, also, of the educational qualification of electors has resulted in late years in a slight limitation of the right of suffrage in a few of the States, notably Massachusetts.

ELIZA COOK.

Answer.—Eliza Cook, who is now residing in the village of Merton in Surrey, England, was born in Southwark in 1817. In early life she established a considerable reputation through the poems which she contributed to several of the leading magazines of London. In 1840 these poems were collected and with others published in one volume, since which time she has issued several editions of her lyrics that are read with as much interest in our country as in England. In 1849 she published a magazine entitled Eliza Cook’s Journal, which was quite successful for many years. Although the effects of age are beginning to be noticeable, she still contributes to various magazines.

A HISTORY OF OUR FLAG.

Answer.—In June, 1777, a committee having been appointed by Congress to confer with General Washington concerning a design for a National flag, reported in favor of a flag containing thirteen stripes, alternately red and white, and a blue field adorned with thirteen white stars. This was adopted June 14, and the design was carried to the upholstering shop of Mrs. Ross, No. 239 Arch street, Philadelphia, where the first National flag was made. The original design required six-pointed stars, but, upon Mrs. Ross’ suggestion that five-pointed stars would be more symmetrical, the pattern was changed. This lady was afterward given the position of manufacturer of government flags, which occupation upon her death was retained by her children. The stars and stripes were first unfurled at the battle of Saratoga upon the occasion of the surrender of Burgoyne. By an act of Congress, Jan. 13, 1794, the design was changed so as to incorporate fifteen stripes and fifteen stars, and one star was to be added for every subsequent State admitted. This, however, was repealed in 1818, when the original number of stripes were established, the stars continuing to increase as new States were admitted. In designing a flag the field should be one-third the length and cover the width of seven stripes. Of the colors, red represents courage, white, integrity, and blue steadfastness, faith and love.

INDIA, BROWN, AND YELLOW INKS.

Answer.—Pure India ink, or sepia, is made only in China, but a good imitation and common substitute is made as follows: Ivory black, ground to an impalpable powder, is made into a paste with weak gum arabic water, perfumed with a few drops of essence of musk and half as much essence of ambergris. This is pressed into cakes, ready for use. Brown ink may be made with a strong decoction of catechu. The shade can be varied by cautiously adding a little weak solution of bichromate of potash. A yellow ink may be made with a strong decoction of yellow dyeing ingredient with alum and gum arabic.

ONE OF OUR NEW BRIGADIER GENERAL.

Answer.—Ranal S. Mackenzie was born in New York in August, 1840. Graduating from West Point in 1862, he was made Second Lieutenant of Engineers. He immediately entered active service in the Ninth Corps, and was wounded at the second battle of Bull Run. When Lee, in 1863, advanced into Maryland, Mackenzie was very busily employed in constructing bridges for the Union forces which followed in the rear of the rebel army. He took part in the various battles of the Army of the Potomac in Maryland and in West Virginia, and in May, 1864, had charge of a company before Richmond. He passed through the battle of the Wilderness, and in June was wounded before Petersburg. For his gallantry he was appointed Brigadier General of Volunteers. Resuming the command of his company, he continued his efforts against Petersburg. At the battle of Five Forks he commanded a division of cavalry with so much skill that he was brevetted Major General. After the close of the war he retained the command of a company in his old corps. In March, 1867, he was promoted to the Colonelcy, and in 1870 he was transferred to the cavalry and sent to the Mexican frontier. In quelling the depredations on the Texas border and in putting down the Indian insurrections in New Mexico and Arizona[Pg 16] he has since displayed considerable military ability. Previous to his present promotion he had charge of the army in New Mexico, Santa Fe being his headquarters.

SOUND AND SENSE.

Answer.—The word sound is used in different senses. In the sense defined in the first definition given by Webster and Worcester, the answer to your question is “no;” but in the sense of his second definition, it is “yes.” This second definition, as given in the last edition of his Unabridged Dictionary, is as follows: “Sound—The occasion of sound: the impulse or vibration which would occasion sound to a percipient if present with unimpaired organs.” This use of the word is strikingly illustrated in the expression “inaudible sounds,” i.e., such as can only be heard by the help of instruments.

GENERAL ROBERT E. LEE.

Answer.—The Commander-in-chief of the rebel forces was born at Westmoreland, Va., Jan. 19, 1807. At the age of 18 he entered West Point, from which he graduated, the second in his class, in 1829. Receiving an appointment of Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers, he spent his time at various places, engaged in the government surveys, until the breaking out of the Mexican war. During the greater portion of the war he served under General Scott, who considered him a very capable officer. For his excellent services he was brevetted major, then lieutenant colonel, and soon afterwards he was made colonel. At Chapultepec, he was wounded, but not seriously enough to prevent his entering the City of Mexico. After the war he was engaged on the Atlantic coast until his appointment in 1852 to the superintendency of the Military Academy. In 1855 he was made Lieutenant Colonel of the Second Cavalry, and was transferred to the Texas border. While on leave of absence in Washington in 1859, he was placed in charge of the troops which quelled the raid at Harper’s Ferry. In March, 1861, he was made colonel, but when he learned of Virginia’s secession he resigned and accepted an appointment in the insurrectionary forces of his native State. Repairing to Richmond he was made commander-in-chief of the forces of Virginia, with the title of Major General. Soon after, by an act of the Confederate Congress, he was made third in rank of the entire rebel forces, Samuel Cooper and A. S. Johnston being his superiors. Because of his inactivity before Rosecrans he was transferred in December to North and South Carolina, where he remained until March, 1862, when he returned to accept the position of commander-in-chief of all the Confederate forces. In June he defeated McClellan and began his northward march, routing the forces of Pope and invading the State of Maryland. The bloody battle of Antietam was claimed as a victory by both sides, but Lee thought best immediately to retire into Virginia. Until his next invasion and defeat at Gettysburg in July, 1863, he remained on the defensive. His subsequent retreat, his generalship in the battle of the Wilderness and other engagements following it disclosed great tact and prudence. The ability which he displayed in the defense of Richmond excites the admiration of every impartial reader of history, and does great credit to his military genius. This genius was more than matched at last by that of General Grant, sustained by the greater resources of the North, and he was compelled to surrender his sword at Appomattox Court House. Subsequently he became President of Washington and Lee College, located at Lexington, Va., where he died Oct. 12, 1870.

VARIATIONS OF THE COMPASS.

Answer.—Why the magnetic needle points northward is not positively determined. There are several theories but none of them explain all the phenomena of the needle. That which perplexes scientists most is that in every place the needle is subject to variations. By observations at Paris it was found that in 1681 the magnetic needle varied 2 deg. 30 min. to the west, in 1865 18 deg. 44 min. to the west. At London between 1580 and 1692 the needle varied from 10 deg. 15 min. E. to 6 deg. W. In Dakota Territory the average variation is 12 deg. 30 min. east, in Minnesota 11 deg. east, while in Montana it is 20 deg. east. S. V. Clevenger, United States Deputy Surveyor, says in a work on government surveys: “The needle does not point due north, except in a few localities, and at no place does it continue to point with a given angular distance from the north, for any stated length of time. It changes secularly, annually, diurnally, and hourly, and is further subject to fluctuations reducible to no method of tabulation. In the vicinity of iron in any shape, or magnetic sands, the needle is deflected toward the material attracting it. This perturbation is known as local attraction. The author has known the needle to vary 5 deg. in a distance of one mile, and 1 deg. 30 min. during two hours when stationed at one place.” The variation in the magnetic needle of Columbus’ compass was probably caused by some local attraction of which he knew nothing.

DISCOURAGEMENTS TO ANTARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.

Answer.—Soon after the discovery of America European navigators began to search the arctic zone for a passage to Asiatic countries which would be less dangerous and circuitous than that usually traveled. Although the object of polar expeditions has changed somewhat, yet one of the reasons which actuated them influences the explorers of the present time. The nearness of this pole has rendered it of greater[Pg 17] interest than its southern counterpart. Expeditions are fitted out more easily for the shorter voyage. Relief can be procured with less delay. Other reasons are that from the closer neighborhood of the continents, and from the action of the Gulf Stream on the one side and the Japan current on the other, and from the fact that the earth is in perihelion during the winter season of the Northern hemisphere, and in aphelion during the winter of the Southern hemisphere, the Arctic Sea is more free from ice, which in the Antarctic region is an impregnable barrier in the way of discovery.

WAGES IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

Answer.—The following is a comparison of the wages paid per week in Chicago and Great Britain to various artisans:

THE BANKERS’ CLEARING HOUSE, LONDON.

Answer.—The Bankers’ Clearing House, London, is the medium through which bankers collect the checks and bills in their hands against other banks. Instead of presenting these checks and bills at each bank to which they are addressed, and receiving cash and notes in payment, clearing bankers settle the whole amount delivered during the day at this establishment in Postoffice Court, Lombard street, by receiving or paying the difference in the totals for or against them by a single check on the Bank of England. Every bank in London and the country is represented by clearing bankers, and as their agents send through the Clearing House all drafts payable in the city and in the country, the amount passing through this establishment every year is enormous. The total amount for the year ending April 30, 1882, was £6,382,654,000, or nearly $32,000,000,000. The total clearings of the Bankers’ Clearing House, Chicago, in the year ending Dec. 31, 1882, amounted to $2,366,526,185. This represented only the transactions of banks doing business in Chicago. It is estimated that the new rule as to settlement applied during the past year has reduced the total clearings nearly 25 per cent below what they would have been under the old rule. London is the center of exchange for the world, and the volume of its bank clearings must necessarily be enormously greater than that of any other city. The totals of bills, checks, and drafts passed through the London Clearing House, between 1869 and 1881 inclusive, foot up £68,010,643,000, or over three hundred and forty billion dollars. The rise and fall in trade not only in England, but in large degree the world over is mirrored in the annual records of these clearings for the period mentioned. Whereas in 1869 the total clearings were but 3,626,396,000 pounds sterling, they increased each year until 1873, when they amounted to £6,070,948,000. Then, in consequence of the widespread commercial depression the total trade transactions fell off, and the London bank clearings fell to £5,936,772,000 in 1874, £5,685,793,000 in 1875, and £4,963,480,000 in 1876, the lowest point touched. Not until 1880 did the clearings rise to nearly six billions again. In 1881, for the first time, did they reach and pass the total in 1873, indicating general business prosperity throughout the world.

CHICAGO AND MILWAUKEE COMPARED.

Answer.—The following are the statistics of receipts and shipments at Milwaukee for 1882:

The statistics of Chicago during the same period are:

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.

Answer.—During the year 1880 there were constructed in the United States for ocean traffic 412 sailing vessels, having a tonnage of 53,610, and 166 steam vessels, having a tonnage of 40,617. In addition to this, for the service of the lakes and rivers, were constructed forty-eight sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 5,447 and 182 steamers, with a tonnage of 38,237. In the same period Great Britain constructed 353 sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 57,534, and 474 steamers, with a tonnage of 346,361. The total number of American vessels plying the ocean was, at that time, 17,932, with a tonnage of 2,803,923, while Great Britain boasted of 25,185 vessels and a tonnage of 6,574,513. Including the shipping upon the inland lakes and rivers, the total shipping of the United States was 21,547 vessels, having a tonnage of 3,577,816. The reason for this enormous difference between the two countries is due partly to the greater cost of labor and material in the United States; partly to many more ways of employing[Pg 18] capital profitably in the United States than there are in other countries; partly to the subsidies paid by the British Government to encourage the establishment and maintenance of British ocean lines of transportation; partly to the vastness of the British Empire and the exemption of British vessels and British goods carried in their vessels from heavy port dues and duties in trading to British ports; and partly from the American law forbidding the granting of the American flag to vessels built in other countries, even when owned by American citizens, and forbidding the restoration of our flag to American-built vessels after they have once gone under other colors, whatever the cause. American-built vessels compare in all other respects, except cost, favorably with the same classes of British vessels, and in many particulars American builders have done much to improve all classes of sea-going craft.

CELEBRATED PAINTINGS.

Answer.—By general agreement among art critics, Michael Angelo and Raphael stand at the head of the line of master painters. Conspicuous among the great paintings of the former are “The Last Judgment,” “The Conversion of St. Paul,” and “The Crucifixion of St. Peter;” and among those of the latter, “The Dispute Concerning the Sacrament,” the “Madonna di Foligno,” and the “Madonna del Pesce, or Virgin of the Fish.” The “Last Judgment” is a large fresco painting, sixty feet high by thirty feet wide, occupying the wall opposite the entrance of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican Palace at Rome. Over 300 figures are represented in “the most violent attitudes and most admired disorder.” “The Conversion of St. Paul” is another large fresco painting in the Vatican. “The Crucifixion of Peter,” also in the Vatican, is one of the last from the hands of Angelo. “The Dispute Concerning the Sacrament” is a fresco representing, above, a convocation of the saints around the Almighty, the Savior, and the Virgin, enveloped in heavenly glory, while beneath the ceremony of the consecration of the sacrament is depicted. This is found in the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican, Rome. “The Madonna di Foligno,” in the Vatican gallery, derives its name from the city of Foligno, which is represented in the back-ground. The “Madonna del Pesce,” now in the gallery at Madrid, Spain, represents the Virgin and Child enthroned, with St. Jerome on one side and on the other an archangel with the young Tobit, who carries a fish, from which circumstance the name is derived. “The Madonna di San Sisto” is considered by many critics the best of Raphael’s works. It is located in the gallery of Dresden, Germany, and represents the Madonna standing upon the clouds surrounded with glory, holding in her arms the eternal Son. Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara kneel at the sides. It was originally painted on wood, but has been transferred to canvas. The painting of “The Last Supper,” by Leonardo da Vinci, is recognized as one of the masterpieces. It was originally painted by order of the Duke of Milan on the walls of the refectory in the Dominican Convent of the Madonna delle Grazie. The picture is now in a state of decay, but several very fine copies have been made; one of them, at the Royal Academy, London, is considered almost, if not quite, as good as the original. Rubens’ paintings of the “Descent from the Cross” and “Elevation of the Cross,” at Antwerp, rank high as masterpieces. The “Adoration of the Trinity,” by Albert Durer, at Vienna, and his two pictures containing life-size figures of Peter and John, Mark and Paul, presented to the Council of Nuremberg, Germany, are also very famous. All of the above and many others, the productions of painters barely less noted, are classed as works of the great masters; and artists and amateurs are constantly going on pilgrimages to the temples and art galleries which are so favored as to enshrine them.

THE SCOTTISH POET, WM. KNOX.

Answer.—William Knox, a Scottish poet, familiar to the readers of “Scott’s Diary,” was born at Roxburgh in 1789. Very little has been recorded concerning his life, which terminated at the comparatively early age of 36. He was very industrious, and in addition to his published volumes contributed to the Literary Gazette and to various other magazines. In 1818 he published a collection of poems under the title of “The Lonely Heath,” and in the succeeding year wrote “Mariomne,” “A Visit to Dublin,” “Songs of Israel,” and “The Harp of Zion.”

THE PLANETS IN FEBRUARY.

Answer.—During the month of February, 1883, Mercury will be a morning star after the 10th, and will be found in Capricornus until near the end of the month, when it will enter Aquarius. Venus will also be a morning star while in Sagittarius. Mars can be observed near the sun in Capricornus; Jupiter nearly stationary between Taurus and Gemini, and Saturn nearly stationary between Aries and Taurus.

JOHN PHŒNIX.

Answer.—This noted humorist was an officer in the regular army. His real name was George Henry Derby. He was born in Massachusetts; was appointed to the military academy from that State, and graduated a second lieutenant of ordnance in 1846; same year was transferred to the Topographical Engineer Corps, a branch of the army since abolished. Lieutenant Derby was brevetted for gallantry at Cerro Gordo, Mexico, being wounded in the action. He was the author, over the nom de plume of John Phœnix, of “Phœnixiana” (’56), and the “Squibob Papers.” Many of his most popular[Pg 19] productions were written while he was on the staff of the commanding general of the Military Department of the Pacific, engaged on the improvement of the harbor of San Diego, Cal., which accounts for his being referred to as a Californian writer. Captain Derby died May 15, 1861, in New York City, aged only 38.

ORIGIN OF THE WHIG PARTY.

Answer.—The National Republicans, to whom J. Quincy Adams belonged, dropped that name and took the name of Whigs in 1832. Adams, who was one of the Whig leaders from the first, is usually classed as the first of the Whig Presidents, because the National policy he represented and maintained when President was substantially the policy advocated by the Whigs of 1832. In 1834 there was a State convention held in New York City, which gave organized form to the Whig party in that State, and this organization became National in 1836, when Wm. H. Harrison was first nominated by the Whigs for the Presidency. A still higher degree of organization was effected at the first delegate National convention of the Whig party, held in Harrisburg, Pa., Dec. 4, 1839, when Harrison was nominated for the great campaign of 1840, in which he was elected.

EARLY AMERICAN COINAGE.

Answer.—The earliest coinage that can be called American, in the sense of Anglo-American, was ordered by the original Virginia Company, only five years after the founding of Jamestown. The coin were minted at Somers Islands, now known as the Bermudas. For a long while the standard currency of Virginia was tobacco, as in many of the early settlements of the Northwest it was beaver skins, and other pelts reckoned as worth such a fraction of a beaver skin or so many beaver skins. The accounts of the fur traders and pioneers in their dealings with the Indians were kept in beaver skins instead of coin until some years after the opening of this century, and in some parts of the Dominion of Canada they are still kept so. In 1645 the Assembly of the Virginia Colony, after a preamble reciting that, “It had maturely weighed and considered how advantageous a quoine would be to this colony, and the great wants and miseries which do daily happen unto it by the sole dependency upon tobacco,” provided for the issue of copper coins of the denominations of twopence, threepence, sixpence, and ninepence; but this law was never carried into effect, so the first colonial coinage of this country was that struck off by Massachusetts under the order of the General Court of that colony, passed May 27, 1652, creating a “mint howse” at Boston, and providing for the mintage of “12 pence, 6 pence, and 3 pence pieces, which shall be for forme flatt, and stamped on the one side with N. E., and on the other side with XIId., VId., and IIId., according to the value of each peece.” In 1662, from this same mint appeared the famous “pine tree shillings,” which were two-penny pieces. This mint was maintained for thirty-four years. In the reign of William and Mary copper coins were struck in England for New England and Carolina. Lord Baltimore had silver shillings, sixpences, and fourpences made in England to supply the demands of his province of Maryland. Vermont and Connecticut established mints in 1785 for the issue of copper coin. New Jersey followed a year later. But Congress had the establishment of a mint for the confederated States under advisement, and in this same year agreed upon a plan submitted by Thomas Jefferson, and the act went into operation on a small scale in 1787. After the adoption of the Constitution of the United States in 1789 all the State mints were closed, as the Constitution specifically places the sole power of coining money in the Federal Government.

DIFFERENCE OF TIME.

Answer.—The difference in time between Chicago and Washington is 42 minutes. Keeping this in mind, the reader can easily determine the difference of time between Chicago and other cities named in the following table, which shows the difference of time between Washington City and some of the chief cities of the globe, as calculated at the United States Naval Observatory, Washington:

Time Table.

At 12 o’clock noon, Saturday, at Washington it is—

12:12 p. m. Saturday at New York, U. S.
12:24 p. m. Saturday at Boston, U. S.
4:31 p. m. Saturday at Lisbon, Portugal
4:55 p. m. Saturday at Edinburgh, Scotland.
5:07 p. m. Saturday at London, England.
5:17 p. m. Saturday at Paris, France.
5:58 p. m. Saturday at Rome, Italy.
6:02 p. m. Saturday at Berlin, Prussia.
6:14 p. m. Saturday at Vienna, Austria.
6:22 p. m. Saturday at Cape Town, Africa.
7:04 p. m. Saturday at Constantinople.
11:01 p. m. Saturday at Calcutta, India.
12:54 a. m. Sunday at Pekin, China.
2:48 a. m. Sunday at Melbourne, Australia.
4:51 a. m. Sunday at Auckland, New Zealand.
8:58 a. m. Saturday at San Francisco, U. S.
9:40 a. m. Saturday at Salt Lake, U. S.
11:08 a. m. Saturday at New Orleans, U. S.
11:18 a. m. Saturday at Chicago, U. S.
12 noon Saturday at Lima, Peru.

VALUE OF RARE AMERICAN COINS.

Answer.—It is true that United States silver dollars of certain issues command very high premiums. The silver dollar of 1794, on which the image of Liberty has flowing hair, is quoted at $12.50; the “flying eagle dollars” of 1838 and 1839 are quoted at $15 each; so are the dollars of 1851 and 1852 with “Liberty seated;” so is[Pg 20] that of 1858, with the same figure; while the excessively rare silver dollars of 1804 are quoted at $200 each. The half-dollar of 1796, with a filleted head and fifteen stars, commands $15; and that of the next year, with sixteen stars, commands $16. The value depends entirely on the rarity of these coins, since while the dollar of 1804 is quoted at $200, the “spread-eagle dollar” of 1803 is worth but $1.25. The fifteen and sixteen-star dollars belong to the period when it was the law that an additional stripe should be added to the United States flag whenever a new State was admitted. In the mintage they undertook to add a star for each State, but the flag was restored to the established rule of thirteen stripes, and the Goddess of Liberty on the dollars was relieved of the burden of carrying a star for each new State.

THE VISIBLE ZONES OF THE SUN.

Answer.—The sun’s equator is almost coincident with the plane of the ecliptic, the inclination being only about seven degrees, in consequence of which the equatorial zone of the sun is continually presented to the view of terrestrial observers, and they may see every part of the sun’s surface in the course of each year.

BUTTERINE.

Answer.—This substitute for butter is made from tallow or lard, as the chief component, with cocoanut, olive, and palm oils to give it the necessary flavor and consistency; salt and a little annatto for coloring. If this recipe were always followed and the compound called by its right name it would not be objectionable; but manufacturers do not hesitate to add other ingredients that are unwholesome and injurious, and palm the stuff off for butter.

FINENESS OF UNITED STATES COIN.

Answer.—The gold coins are nine-tenths fine; the silver coins, nine-tenths fine; the copper-nickel coins, such as the 5-cent piece and 3-cent piece, are one-fourth nickel and three-fourths copper; the bronze coins are 95 per cent copper and 5 per cent tin and zinc. The alloy in the gold coins is silver and copper; in the silver coins, copper.

NATIONAL DESCENT OF THE PRESIDENTS.

Answer.—The parents of Washington and Adams were of English origin; those of Jefferson, Welsh; those of Madison, Monroe, and J. Q. Adams, English; those of Jackson, Scotch-Irish; of Van Buren, Dutch; of Harrison and Tyler, English; of Polk, Scotch-Irish; of Taylor, Fillmore, and Pierce, English; of Buchanan, Irish; of Lincoln, English; of Johnson, probably English; of Grant, English; of Hayes, Scotch; of Garfield, English, though his mother was of Huguenot descent; of Arthur, Irish. It seems hardly worth while to give the names of parents on both sides, as few of our readers care particularly for the names of grandfathers and grandmothers of great men unless such ancestors were something more than ordinary.

THE ORDER OF DUMAS’ WORKS.

Answer.—Each of the following works is in one sense complete in itself, yet they also constitute several series, so related that the reader better take them up in the following order: The “Three Guardsmen” series—“The Three Guardsmen,” “Twenty Years After,” “Bragelone,” “The Iron Mask,” “Louise Lavaliere;” the “Memoirs of a Physician” series—“The Memoirs of a Physician,” “The Queen’s Necklace,” “Six Years Later, or The Taking of the Bastile,” “The Countess De Charnay,” “Andre de Travernay,” “The Chevalier.”

BUCHANAN’S CABINET.

Answer.—The Secretaries of State during the administration of James Buchanan were Lewis Cass and Jeremiah S. Black; Secretaries of the Treasury, Howell Cobb, Philip F. Thomas, and John A. Dix; Secretaries of War, John B. Floyd and Joseph Holt; Secretary of the Navy, Isaac Toucey; Secretary of the Interior, Jacob Thompson: Postmasters General, Aaron V. Brown, Joseph Holt, and Horatio King; Attorneys General, Jeremiah S. Black and Edwin M. Stanton.

GOVERNOR COLES, OF ILLINOIS.

Answer.—Edward Coles, an early Governor of Illinois, was born in Albemarle County, Va., the home of Jefferson, in December, 1786. He in his youth became prominent in our country’s politics, and in 1810 was appointed private secretary of President Madison. He served as Minister to Russia in 1817, and, returning the following year, liberated his slaves. From 1823 to 1826 he was Governor of Illinois, which position he filled with considerable executive ability. His death occurred in Philadelphia, July 7, 1868.

WHY WATER FREEZES SOFT.

Answer.—By freezing the mineral substances are precipitated and the water becomes soft, in the same manner as by boiling. For like reason filthy water will produce comparatively clear ice.

HIGHEST RANK IN U. S. ARMY.

Answer.—The highest army officer in the active service of the United States is General; the next inferior, Lieutenant General; then Major General, and finally Brigadier General. Until[Pg 21] George Washington was made Lieutenant General, in July, 1798, the highest office was Major General. After his death, in 1797, the title of the chief army officer continued to be Major General until 1864, when Grant was appointed Lieutenant General. In July, 1866, the office of General was created.

THE FATAL HOMERIAN RIDDLE.

Answer.—The story is that one day Homer, meeting a number of fishermen, asked them: “Fishermen, sprung of Arcadia, have we aught?” And they answered: “What we caught we left behind. What we caught not we bear with us.” Homer could not explain it. He then remembered that the oracle had said “beware of riddles.” In despair he wrote his own epitaph and died within three days. This story comes from a lost work of Aristotle, so it is said, but it is decidedly fishy, and is classed with the numerous other fictions regarding the blind poet.

TABLE FOR MEASURING AN ACRE.

Answer.—To measure an acre in rectangular form is a simple question in arithmetic. One has only to divide the total number of square yards in an acre, 4,840, by the number of yards in the known side or breadth to find the unknown side in yards. By this process it appears that a rectangular strip of ground—

5 yards wide by 968 yards long is 1 acre.
10 yards wide by 484 yards long is 1 acre.
20 yards wide by 242 yards long is 1 acre.
40 yards wide by 121 yards long is 1 acre.
80 yards wide by 60½ yards long is 1 acre.
70 yards wide by 69½ yards long is 1 acre.
60 yards wide by 80⅜ yards long is 1 acre.

NUMBER OF EURO-AMERICAN CABLES.

Answer.—There are three Anglo-American cables, with an aggregate length of 6,450 miles; also, the old French cable, which is 3,329 miles long; the direct United States cable from Ireland, 2,360 miles; the new French cables, 3,461 miles, and the Brazilian cable, extending from Portugal to Brazil.

DISCOVERY OF ELECTRIC LIGHT.

Answer.—It is uncertain when electric light was first produced by artificial agencies. The first successful display occurred in 1810, when Sir Humphrey Davy with a battery of 2,000 elements entertained the Royal Institution by producing an electric light with an arc three inches long between carbon points.

ALTITUDES OF WESTERN CITIES.

Answer.—The city of Buffalo, N. Y., is elevated above the sea level about 580 feet; Chicago about 690 feet. The average altitude of the State of Iowa is about 1,000 feet, varying from 445 feet at the mouth of the Des Moines River to 1,650 feet at Spirit Lake. The average elevation of Minnesota is about 1,000 feet. The eastern part of Dakota is 1,000 feet above the sea level, the central and northern parts are about 2,500 feet, while in the Black Hills the mountains reach the height of 7,000 feet. Omaha is 1,046 feet above the sea level, and Fort Kearney 1,247 feet.

DESCENDANTS OF POCAHONTAS.

Answer.—Among them are the Randolphs and Bollands, of Virginia; John Randolph, of Roanoke, the associate of Thomas Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Adams, and other fathers of the Republic was the most distinguished of these.

366 REVOLUTIONS IN A YEAR.

Answer.—The earth makes 366 rotations in the 365 days composing the year. This is a necessary condition of its making one complete revolution around the sun in a year.

WHEN THE FOUR GOSPELS WERE WRITTEN.

Answer.—The time when each of the gospels was written is not positively known. Matthew and Luke are generally conceded to have been written between A. D. 58 and A. D. 60. Mark was written after A. D. 62. It is thought that John was written about A. D. 78; but Biblical critics are not agreed on these matters.

A RAILROAD COMPROMISE.

Answer.—No. The two roads recently came to an agreement not to encroach on what they are pleased to call each other’s territory. They also purchased of each other such branch lines as they had begun which seemed to be at variance with this understanding as to territory.

ORIGIN OF THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT.

Answer.—The total abstinence societies of to-day are the outgrowth of the old temperate or moderate drinking societies of England and America. About 400 years ago an association was formed, the members of which pledged themselves not to drink more than a specified quantity of alcoholic liquors each day. A society somewhat similar was inaugurated in Germany in 1600 called “The Order of Temperance,” whose members were pledged never to become intoxicated and to that end never to imbibe more than fourteen cups of wine per day. In America, also, there were moderate drinkers’ organizations. In 1820 a society was formed in New Jersey, the members of which agreed never to drink more than one-half pint of rum or whisky per day. The first total[Pg 22] abstinence movement of any importance in this country began in Saratoga County, New York, prompted by the Temperance Society of Moreau and Northumberland.

Forty-three persons signed an agreement not to drink “rum, gin, whisky, wine, or any distilled spirits or compositions of the same, or any of them, except by the advice of a physician, or in case of actual disease, also excepting wine at public dinners, under penalty of 25 cents.” In 1813, The Massachusetts Society for the Suppression of Intemperance was formed, but owing to the laxity of its rules it was not very efficient. The American Society for the Promotion of Temperance was inaugurated in Boston in February, 1826, and rapidly grew into an extensive organization, having increased in three years to 11 State associations and 1,000 local societies. About this time the name tee-total came into use, having originated from the vain attempt of a stuttering reformed Englishman to pronounce the word “total.” In 1840 the Washingtonian Society was formed by six drunkards in the city of Baltimore, who resolved to avoid their cups and reform their associates. In five years its pledge had been signed by 650,000 persons, most of whom had been tipplers or downright drunkards. Other societies were soon formed; the Sons of Temperance in New York, in 1842; the Order of Templars of Honor and Temperance in 1845; and the Good Templars in 1851. Since the war many local societies have been formed, and the Murphy movement has extended all over the country.

NEW YORK ELEVATED RAILWAYS.

Answer.—The demand of the people living in the outskirts of New York City for more rapid transit than that furnished by the horse cars began to be answered in 1868, when an elevated railway extending a half-mile was constructed on Greenwich street as an experiment. Three years later the West Side Elevated Railroad Company obtained a charter, but before much could be accomplished it sold its rights to the New York Elevated Railroad Company, in 1872. The new organization proceeded rapidly to erect its roads, extending from the heart of the city to the suburbs. In December, 1879, its rolling stock consisted of 131 locomotives, 292 passenger cars, and 8 service cars. The road was leased to the Manhattan Railway Company in May, 1879. The Metropolitan Elevated Railroad was first called the Gilbert Elevated Railroad, in honor of its projector, Dr. Rufus H. Gilbert. Although the company obtained its charter in 1872, work was not commenced until March, 1876. In two years it expended $10.-300,000 in constructing its lines. In 1879 the road with its rolling stock, consisting of fifty-six locomotives, 180 passenger cars, and two freight cars, was leased to the Manhattan Elevated Railroad Company, which now has a complete monopoly of the elevated railroads of New York. The tracks of the Metropolitan are supported on two rows of columns connected with each other at the top by strong lattice-girders. The rails weigh fifty-six pounds per yard, and rest upon yellow-pine cross-ties, 6 x 7 inches by 8⅜ feet long, separated two feet apart. The engines weigh fifteen tons, and are capable of a speed of forty miles an hour. The stations are about one-half mile apart. The New York Elevated Railroad consists of a single row of columns, supporting a lighter tramway than the Metropolitan. Although at first this system of railways met with considerable opposition, the people of New York now recognize that its convenience far outbalances its unsightliness, noise, and other disagreeable concomitants.

PAUL PRY.

Answer.—The author was John Poole, an English dramatist, born in 1785. He was remarkably successful in the production of light drama, including some roaring farces, of which the most conspicuous was “Paul Pry;” “Hamlet Travestie,” with burlesque annotations; “Deaf as a Post;” “Turning the Tables,” and “The Wife’s Stratagem,” adapted from Shirley. It was long believed that Thomas Hill, the eccentric editor of the Dramatic Mirror, was the original of Poole’s Paul Pry, but Poole himself contradicts this notion in a biographical sketch of himself that appeared a few years before his death, which occurred in London, Feb. 5, 1872. In this sketch he says: “The character of Paul Pry was suggested by the following anecdote, related to me several years ago by a beloved friend: An idle old lady, living in a narrow street, had passed so much of her time in watching the affairs of her neighbors that she at length knew the sound of each particular knocker within hearing, and could tell to which house it belonged. It happened that she fell ill, and was for several days confined to her bed. Unable to observe in person what was going on outside, she stationed her maid at the window as her substitute for the performance of that task. But Betty soon grew weary of the occupation; she became careless in her reports, impatient and tetchy when reprimanded for her negligence. ‘Betty, what are you thinking about? Don’t you hear a double knock at No. 9? Who is it?’ ‘The first floor lodger, ma’am.’ ‘Betty! Betty! I declare I must give you warning. Why don’t you tell me what that knock is at No. 24?’ ‘Why, Lord, ma’am, it is only the baker with pies.’ ‘Pies! Betty? What can they want with pies at No. 24? They had pies yesterday!’ Of this very point I have availed myself. Let me add that Paul Pry was never intended as the representative of any one individual, but of a class. Like the melancholy of Jacques, he ‘is compounded of many samples,’ and I could mention five or six who were unconscious contributors to the character. That it should have been so often, though erroneously, supposed to have been drawn after some particular person is perhaps complimentary to the general truth of the delineation. With respect[Pg 23] to the play generally, I may say that it is original; it is original in structure, plot, character, and dialogue—such as they are. The only imitation I am aware of is to be found in part of the business in which Mrs. Subtle is engaged; while writing those scenes I had strongly in my recollection Collin d’Harleville’s ‘Vieux Celibataire.’ But even the little I have adopted is considerably altered and modified by the necessity of adapting it to the exigencies of a different plot.”

THE VOTE LAST NOVEMBER.

Answer.—The following table, though liable to a few changes, is substantially correct:

To obtain a correct estimate of the Prohibition vote there should be added to the above amounts the Republican vote of Kansas, 4,398 votes cast in favor of a prohibition amendment in North Carolina, and 5,196 votes for prohibition candidates in Pennsylvania, which would swell the number to 141,328.

NATIVITIES OF CHICAGOANS AND NEW YORKERS.

Answer.—The foreign population of New York City, according to the last census, constituted a little over 38 per cent of the whole; the foreign population of Chicago was 40 per cent of the whole. Of the foreign population of New York 198,595 were natives of Ireland, 153,482 of Germany, 23,767 of England, 8,683 of Scotland, and 929 of Wales, 12,223 of Italy, 9,910 of France, 9,020 of Poland. 8,093 of Bohemia, 7,024 of British America, 4,743 of Austria, 4,551 of Russia, 4,545 of Switzerland, 4,101 of Hungary, 3,194 of Sweden, 1,860 of Holland, 1,644 of Cuba, 87 of Africa, 119 of Asia, 175 of Australia, 556 of Belgium, 747 of China. 1,096 of Denmark, 69 of Greece, 7 of Greenland, 20 of Japan, 100, of Luxemburg, 132 of Mexico, 893 of Norway, 66 of Portugal, 59 of Sandwich Islands, 427 of South American Islands, 667 of Spain, 77 of Turkey, 814 of West Indies, exclusive of Cuba; 17 of Central America, 35 of Atlantic Islands, 62 of Europe, nationality not given; 93 born at sea. Of the foreign population of Chicago, 44,411 were natives of Ireland, 32,919 of Prussia, 29,249 of other German States, 13,265 of Canada, 13,045 of England, 12,930 of Sweden, 11,887 of Bohemia, 9,783 of Norway, 5,536 of Poland, 4,152 of Scotland, 2,626 of Bavaria, 2,556 of Denmark, 2,145 of Baden, 2,045 of Holland, 1,356 of Austria, 1,590 of France, 1,919 of Hanover, 1,357 of Italy, 1,923 of Mechlenburg, 1,612 of Saxony, 1,459 of Switzerland, 1,408 of Wurtemburg, 484 of Belgium, 408 of Hamburg, 739 of Hessen, 300 of Hungary, 358 of Luxemburg, 235 of New Brunswick, 243 of Nova Scotia, 722 of Wales, 921 of Russia, 110 of Nassau, 258 of China, 107 of Australasia, 48 born at sea, 41 of South America, 61 of Spain, 59 of West Indies, 87 of Newfoundland, 81 of Oldenburg, 44 of Brunswick, 44 of Great Britain, what part not stated; 330 of countries not specified.

SLAVERY IN CUBA.

Answer.—According to a Cuban law, passed by the Spanish Cortes in 1870, all persons who should be born after June 23, 1870, and all who should attain the age of 60, should be free after June 23, 1870. This enactment, however, was evaded to a considerable extent. The plantations were supplied not only with negro but also with Chinese coolies, who were subjected to even greater servitude. In November, 1879, a new bill was passed by the Spanish Cortes, which provided that all slaves from 55 upward should become free; that slaves from 50 to 55 should be liberated Sept. 17, 1880; from 45 to 50, September, 1882; from 40 to 45, in 1884; from 35 to 40, in 1886; from 30 to 35, in 1888, and those under 30 in 1890. The bill also provided that the sum of 100,000 piastres should be set apart annually for defraying the expenses of the emancipation, the owner to receive 350 piastres for each slave. This bill has gone into effect and is being generally observed, although there is still some complaint of its violation.

WASHINGTON TERRITORY.

Answer.—The Cascade range of mountains extends north and south through Washington Territory, dividing it into two unequal parts, which differ somewhat as to their climate and soil. West of the mountains the climate is very moderate. The inhabitants do not suffer either from extreme heat or extreme cold, the annual range of the thermometer being from zero to 85 degrees. The rainy season lasts three months in winter, during which the inhabitants suffer no great discomfort. The soil on the river bottoms is a very rich alluvium. The uplands have[Pg 24] a clay loam, but considerable tracts are sandy soil. About Puget Sound forests of fir and cedar extend up to the summits of the mountains, while in the river bottoms may be found the vine-maple, alder, and crab tree. Grain of all kinds, nutritious grasses, hops, fruit, and vegetables grow abundantly. East of the Cascades the climate is a little drier, and the summer and winter heat a little more extreme. The soil is whiter than that of the Mississippi Valley, being highly charged with alkaline deposits. Herding now is the chief occupation of the settlers, though it is expected that when the Northern Pacific Railway is completed agriculture will become more prominent. Fruitful orchards, surrounded by fields of wheat, oats, barley, and rye are not at all uncommon.

SACRAMENTO AND SAN JOAQUIN VALLEYS.

Answer.—Between the Coast Ranges and the Sierra Nevada lie the beautiful valleys of the Sacramento and San Joaquin, named from the rivers which drain them. The climate of the country is very uniform, the mean summer temperature of San Francisco, on the bay into which these rivers empty, being 60 degrees, and that of winter 51 degrees. The rainy season commences in November and continues until April, during which period, however, but little inconvenience is occasioned. The dry season is such that crops readily mature and may be harvested, threshed, and sent to market without being placed under shelter. The soil is very productive, and, unless the rain fails in its season, yields abundantly. The grasses are numerous and nutritious. Wheat, oats, corn, and other cereals are grown quite extensively. But in many portions of the valley the most lucrative business is the cultivation of orchards and vineyards. Grapes, apples, pears, plums, and in the southern part apricots, oranges, and other tropical fruits grow in abundance. On the verdant slopes of the mountains sheep-grazing is carried on on a large scale. Although these valleys offer many inducements to settlers, land may still be obtained in some places at moderate prices.

EX-GOVERNOR THROOP, OF NEW YORK.

Answer.—Enos Thompson Throop, at one time very prominent in politics, was born at Johnstown, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1784. Choosing law as his profession, he was admitted to the bar in 1806 and began practice at Auburn. He early established an enviable reputation, and in 1814 was chosen to represent his district in Congress. He was afterward appointed by Governor Yates Circuit Judge of the Seventh District. In 1828 he was elected Lieutenant Governor, along with Governor Van Buren, and when the latter accepted a position in Jackson’s Cabinet he succeeded him. In 1830 he was re-elected, but in 1832 declined a third term. He soon after removed to Michigan, where he again became prominent in political affairs. As age, however, came upon him his health failed and he returned again to his native State. He died in his 91st year at Willow Brook, N.Y., on the shore of Owasco Lake.

CLOCKS AND NOON-MARKS.

Answer.—Four correct “noon-marks” are made in a year, on the following days: Dec. 24, April 15, June 14, and Sept. 1. Owing to the inclination of the earth’s axis and its unequal movement in its orbit, solar days vary in their length. The average solar day corresponds to the twenty-four hours of our clocks, which keep what is called mean time. If a clock were so constructed as to give the real solar time for all periods of the year, it would be observed that sometimes when the solar clock pointed at noon, the ordinary clock, keeping mean time, would be pointing at figures between 11:45 and 12, or at other times between 12 and 12:15. Four times each year, however, upon the days mentioned, the two clocks would coincide, and the shadow of a dial, or noon-mark, would point due south at noon by the clock.

THE FATHER OF THE HUMANE SOCIETY.

Answer.—Henry Bergh, the philanthropist, was born in New York, in 1823. He received his education at Columbia College, where he manifested a considerable love for literature. He afterward obtained some notoriety as an author by writing a drama entitled “Love’s Attractions,” a poem entitled “Married Off,” and several tales and sketches. In 1863 he was made Secretary of the United States Legation to Russia, and subsequently Vice Consul. Returning to this country, he founded the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which was incorporated in 1866. This association has grown into considerable magnitude, having branches in most of the States and receiving the support of the best citizens. The society endeavors to prevent cruelty to all kinds of animals by securing the passage and enforcement of laws to accomplish that object. It also takes into consideration things which pertain to the health of the people, such as purity of meat, milk, etc. As a minor illustration of its good work, a few years ago sportsmen were accustomed to shoot pigeons at shooting matches; but by an effort of the Humane Society glass balls have been substituted. Mr. Bergh continues to preside over the association.

WEATHER SIGNS.

Answer.—The editor of Our Curiosity Shop is neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. The[Pg 25] best he can do to meet this demand is to give the following quotations from a lecture on “Weather Prognostics”, delivered by Mr. William Marriott, before the Meteorological Society of England:

If larks fly high and sing long, expect fine weather.

When sea-birds fly out early and far to seaward, moderate winds and fair weather may be expected.

If rooks go far abroad, it will be fine.

Cranes soaring along and quietly in the air foreshow fair weather.

If kites fly high, fine weather is at hand.

When owls whoop much at night, expect fair weather.

Bats or flying mice, coming out of their holes quickly after sunset, and sporting themselves in the open air, premonstrate fair and calm weather.

Chickweed expands its leaves boldly and fully when fine weather is to follow.

White mist in winter indicates frost.

When fires burn faster than usual and with a blue flame, frosty weather may be expected.

In winter, when the sound of the breakers on the shore is unusually distinct, frost is indicated.

Clear moon,

Frost soon.

In winter, when the moon’s horns are sharp and well-defined, frost is expected.

If wind follow sun’s course, expect fair weather.

All the above prognostics, it may be remarked, are in strict accordance with scientific observation.

FIRST MICHIGAN STATE ELECTION.

Answer.—In the year 1835 Michigan adopted a State constitution and chose Stevens T. Mason, the Territorial Governor, as its first State Governor. It then demanded of Congress a recognition as a State and the rights of representation. This request Congress agreed to grant, providing the petitioning State would accept the boundary line claimed by Ohio. Not until January, 1837, would Michigan accept such terms, and then only on condition that it should receive, in lieu of the disputed strip on the south, the territory on Lake Superior now known as the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Immediately after this the State was formally admitted. By special permission the State was allowed to cast three electoral votes in the Presidential contest of 1836-7. In the same year in which it was admitted, Mr. Mason was re-elected to the position of Governor, which office he continued to hold until 1839.

THE LONGEST THROWS, LEAPS, AND RUNS.

Answer.—The longest throw with a base ball for the year 1882 was 132 yards 1 foot, made by E. N. Williamson, the third baseman of the Chicago league nine. The longest standing jump with artificial aid was made by G. W. Hamilton, at Romeo, Mich., Oct. 3, 1879. With 22 pound weights he jumped 14 feet 5½ inches. The longest standing jump without artificial aid was performed by J. J. Tickle, Sept. 2, 1871, at Manchester, England, who cleared 10 feet 5 inches. The fastest run of 100 yards was made by George Seward, an American, at Hammersmith, England, Sept. 30, 1844, who accomplished the feat in 9¼ seconds. The fastest recorded time ever made by a horse for one mile was 1 minute 39¾ seconds, which was accomplished by Ten Broeck, a running horse, at Louisville, Ky., May 24, 1877. The fastest mile in heat racing was performed by Ada Glenn, in 1 minute 41¼ seconds, running, at Sheepshead Bay, L. I., Sept. 21, 1880.

BOLIVAR, THE LIBERATOR.

Answer.—Bolivar y Ponte, surnamed The Liberator, was a South American patriot, who in July, 1783, was born in Caracas, a town in the then Spanish province of Venezuela. His father, having obtained considerable wealth, like many of the early adventurers, sent his son to Madrid to pursue the study of law. When Venezuela in 1810 endeavored to throw off the yoke of Spanish oppression, Bolivar joined the cause of the patriots and began service under Miranda. Soon his own ability eclipsed that of his senior officer and he was given a separate command. Defeating the Spaniards in August, 1813, he entered Caracas at the head of his victorious army in triumph. He was immediately appointed dictator; but his enjoyment of that office was suddenly terminated by the reappearance of the Spaniards, who in 1814 defeated and drove him from the province. His defeat, however, did not discourage him. In 1817 he led the patriots in a battle against Morillo and again found himself a conqueror. Venezuela chose him to be her President, and in 1819 New Granada did him like honor, the two States uniting to form Colombia. In 1823[Pg 26] his love for liberty and hatred of Spain caused him to lend assistance to the revolting Peruvians. The latter were successful, and as a reward for the excellent service of the Liberator, Bolivia, named in his honor, was erected into a separate State, and Bolivar was made its President for life. For a few years he remained President of both Colombia and Bolivia. He died in December, 1830.

ENGLISH SOVEREIGNS.

Answer.—The following, beginning with John, the grantor of Magna Charta, have been sovereigns of England:

John—Sixth son of Henry II.

Henry III.—Eldest son of John.

Edward I.—Eldest son of Henry III.

Edward II.—Eldest surviving son of Edward I.

Edward III.—Eldest son of Edward II.

Richard II.—Son of the Black Prince, eldest son of Edward III.

Henry IV.—Son of John of Gaunt, fourth son of Edward III.

Henry V.—Eldest son of Henry IV.

Henry VI.—Only son of Henry V.

Edward IV.—Grandson of Richard, son of Edmund, son of Edward III.

Edward V.—Eldest son of Edward IV.

Richard III.—Younger brother of Edward IV.

Henry VII.—Son of Edmund, eldest son of Owen Tudor by Katharine, widow of Henry V.

Henry VIII.-Only surviving son of Henry VII.

Edward VI.—Son of Henry VIII. by Jane Seymour.

Mary I.—Daughter of Henry VIII. by Katherine of Arragon.

Elizabeth—Daughter of Henry VIII. by Anne Boleyn.

James I.—Son of Mary Queen of Scots, granddaughter of James IV. and Margaret, daughter of Henry VII.

Charles I.—Only surviving son of James I.

Charles II.—Eldest son of Charles I.

James II.—Second son of Charles I.

Anne—Second daughter of James II.

George I.—Grandson of Elizabeth, daughter of James I.

George II.—Only son of George I.

George III.—Grandson of George II.

George IV.—Eldest son of George III.

William IV.—Third son of George III.

Victoria—Daughter of Edward, fourth son of George III.

WHO MADE MAXIMILIAN EMPEROR OF MEXICO?

Answer.—Taking advantage of the war which occupied the attention of the United States, Napoleon III., planned the conquest of Mexico. With but little difficulty his army succeeded in this enterprise and occupied the City of Mexico in 1863. He soon discovered the barren nature of his conquest and the certainty of final failure. To rid himself of the consequences of what had proved a most costly enterprise, before he should be forced to a humiliating abandonment of the country, he tempted Maximilian, Archduke of Austria, to accent the crown of Mexico. To give eclat to the affair and the color of popular approval, he ordered an election. This was dominated by French troops and Napoleon’s Mexican accomplices, and the result was an apparent popular vote to adopt an imperial form of government and invite Maximilian to accept the throne. In 1864 he was received with festivities and other marks of distinction planned by the French and their Mexican supporters. The Mexican patriots, however, still maintained an organization. When driven out of the capital President Juarez retired to San Luis Potosi, then to Monterey, and finally to Chihuahua, and with his Cabinet still maintained the form of a central, national head of the republic. The French availed of the excuse that Maximilian was in possession of the government to return to France, and leave him to his own resources. The guerrilla bands of patriots which had kept up the harassment of the imperial troops with more or less persistency from the first, gathered strength, and at last, deserted by Napoleon, attacked on all sides by the rallying militia of the republic, the unhappy Emperor undertook to escape from the country, was captured, and finally executed at Queretaro, June 19, 1867. The French were wholly responsible for placing Maximilian in Mexico and for abandoning him to his unhappy fate.

TRADES UNIONS.

Answer.—The various trade societies are the outgrowth of the old English guilds, which originated in the beginning of the eleventh century, and had for their prime object the relief or support of infirm guild-brothers, the burial of the dead with proper religious services, etc. In time, however, these organizations became better classified and more exclusive. One guild was confined to the merchants, another to the woolen manufacturers, another to the cutlery manufacturers, etc.: the objects, at the same time, becoming more comprehensive. In order to secure skilled workmen and prevent competition with the inexperienced, the craftsmen secured the passage of apprenticeship laws. In the case of woolen and several other trades apprentices were required to serve manufacturers seven years. Employers and employes were then united in these efforts, but, finally, as the manufacturing industries became more profitable and improved, and machinery was introduced, the rich masters withdrew from the craftguilds, and began to hire children and men who had not served a complete apprenticeship. This action on the part of the employers caused the first “trade society” to be formed, in 1796, called the Institution,[Pg 27] which had for its object the protection of its members against the encroachments of capitalists, and to secure the passage of stricter apprenticeship laws. Since that time the trades unions have increased in number and membership, until they include nearly all the craftsmen of England, and from protective associations they have grown into societies for the general improvement of the laboring classes. To its efforts mainly are due the passage of the eight-hour law of Great Britain and the statute granting the Saturday half-holiday. In the United States similar organizations are found, to which, especially in large cities, nearly all the workmen belong.

THE RED SEA.

Answer.—The drowning of Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea had nothing to do with its name. It takes this from a peculiar reddish color remarked at certain seasons of the year in parts of this sea, due to marine plants, or to reddish animalculæ, called by sailors “whale feed,” which float on it like a scum; or to the reefs of red coral which abound in many parts of it; or, possibly, to the fact that its upper coast was one of the boundaries of Edom, “the red.” No Biblical scholar of any repute has ever asserted that the sea took its name from the overthrow of Pharaoh.

DESCRIPTION OF A CREAMERY.

Answer.—A Chicago inquirer says: “Oblige butter and cheese consumers with a description of a first-class creamery. Some of us have a very vague notion of such an establishment.—E. D. Smith.” Another inquiry comes from Neligh, Neb. So some care has been taken to obtain a description of a thoroughly well-constructed factory of this kind. This is the more important as the dairy business of the West is growing with wonderful rapidity, and nothing has done more to develop this industry than the recent introduction of creameries. The term creamery was formerly applied to an establishment fitted up expressly for the purpose of manufacturing butter, but now the name is given to factories where both butter and cheese are made. Milk is brought in spring wagons from dairy-farms for a distance of six miles or less, and cream is gathered anywhere within a radius of fifteen miles to be manufactured into butter and cheese. This product thus handled in larger quantities, in a scientific manner, with effective labor-saving machinery and proper surroundings, makes it possible to obtain the best results, and such product is always marketable at prices much higher than dairy butter. The factory of the Aurora Creamery Company, built at Aurora, Ill., about a year ago is generally regarded as a model establishment, and will furnish an example for this description. To operate a creamery successfully two things are absolutely necessary, viz., a good spring of living water of low temperature, say 50 to 54 deg., and good drainage; without these features there is no prospect of permanent success in the undertaking. The factory named has a spring located about 200 feet off which discharges, both winter and summer, 750 gallons of pure water per hour, temperature 52 deg., with 5 feet 9 inches fall, while drainage is supplied by a 2-foot square stone sewer which empties into the river, through which a slough is drained, and into which there is a 5-foot fall from the factory. The main building is of brick with a 12-inch wall: size, 32 × 70, 20 feet high; right wing, 20 × 24; left wing, 18 × 24, and rear extension, 18 × 26. The room in which the cheese is manufactured is 30 × 40. It contains a fine upright 9-horse-power engine, a Wir’s self-agitating rotary cheese vat with a capacity for 12,000 pounds of milk and a gang cheese press. The butter room, 30 × 30 feet, contains one churn with a capacity of 400 gallons, and one with a capacity of 150 gallons, a power butter worker, sink with steam pipes to scald, and revolving brush for washing cans, 3 cream vats 300 gallons each, a receiving vat into which the milk is strained, and from which it is drawn into deep pails, or sets, which are placed in three cemented water vats of capacity sufficient to cool 20,000 pounds of milk daily. The left wing of the factory contains a 16-horse power boiler, which furnishes steam to run the machinery and heat the building; a seventy-barrel water tank, which is placed over the boiler; a Davidson steam pump and coal bin which will store fifty tons of coal. An improvement which, it is claimed, is found in no other factory, is an elevated “whey vat” placed over the boiler-room, into which the whey is raised by a rotary pump, and from which the farmers draw their supply of whey to be carried into the country. When all that is wanted has been drawn out a gate is opened, and the balance is run into the river, after which the tank is scalded out and kept sweet and clean. This is a vast improvement over the pestilence breeding arrangement which is sunk in the ground, and is located near the butter and cheese rooms of most other factories. The right wing of the factory contains a driveway, a receiving-room, weighing platform, and stairway to office. The extension holds 150 tons of ice, and contains a refrigerator with a capacity of 30,000 pounds of butter. In the second story is a neat office, store-rooms, and curing room, to which the cheese are raised by an elevator. The lower floors are made of 2 × 6 joists, dressed and matched and imbedded in cement; under which is a four-inch coating of grout, so that there is no possible chance for the milk to leak through the floor and produce the sickening stench which is so common in many factories. Special attention has been given to ventilation in every part of the building and the whole establishment has the appearance in neatness of a tidy farmhouse kitchen. The sum of $10,000 was expended in real estate, buildings, and fixtures of this factory, but a good[Pg 28] creamery with a comfortable outfit of medium capacity could be put up for much less money. The machinery for churning and working the butter is as simple as it is ingenious. The churn is a great square chest revolving on an axis running through its longest diameter; the butter-workers are fluted wooden cones running around a circular disk inclined at an angle to the horizon, so that the buttermilk runs off as fast as it is expressed. The apparatus for stirring the cheese curd and pressing the cheese, and a score of other nicely contrived instruments, operate with the uniformity and precision of clock work.

SPEED OF RAILWAY TRAINS.

Answer.—The fastest recorded railroad speed in the United States is given in the New York Clipper Almanac, as follows: The train which left West Philadelphia for Jersey City over the Pennsylvania Railroad at 7:35 a. m., Sept. 4, 1879 (Edward Osborn, engineer), made 1 mile in 50¼ seconds; 3 miles in 2 m. 36¼ sec., and 5 miles in 4 m. 50 sec. A train on the Lake Shore and Michigan Southern Railroad made the run from Hamburg to Buffalo, N. Y., 10 miles, in 8 minutes. The locomotive Hamilton Davis and six cars, on the New York Central Railroad in 1855, made 14 miles in 11 minutes. A new Fontaine engine and two coaches, carrying W. H. Vanderbilt and party, ran from Amherstburg to St. Thomas, Can., over the Canada Southern Railroad, 111 miles, in 98 minutes—no stop. Probably the fastest run ever made for any considerable distance in England was that of the special train carrying the Duke of Wellington from Paddington to Slough, 18 miles, in 15 minutes. But these are exceptional runs; what is of more importance is to compare regular time-table speed. The London Engineer says, commenting on a series of articles on this subject which have appeared in the German journal, Die Verkehrszeitung, in the American Railroad Gazette, and in other papers, “it appears that railroad speeds in Great Britain, on the Continent, and in the United States are much slower than most people suppose. If we take for instance, the run from London to Edinburgh, a distance of 397 miles via York, this is made in 9 hours by great Northern trains, the average speed being 44.1 miles per hour. From Euston the distance is 401 miles, and London and Northwestern trains make the run in 10 hours, or 40.1 miles an hour. By the Midland Railway the distance is 404 miles, and the time 10 h. 5 min., or very nearly the same speed. Some of the fastest trains in the world are those run between Leeds and London. From King’s Cross the distance by the Great Northern is 186½ miles. From St. Pancras by the Midland is 196 miles. The fastest train on the Great Northern makes the run in 4 h. 5 min., or an average speed of 45.4 miles an hour. The Midland trains traverse the distance in 4 h. 30 min., giving an average velocity of 43.5 miles an hour. The fastest train in the world is the Flying Dutchman, broad gauge, which makes the run to Swindon at 53½ miles an hour. The Great Northern trains run from London to York, 188 miles, at 48 miles an hour, and at least one train runs to Peterborough at 51 miles an hour. The run from London to Grantham has been made repeatedly at 51 miles an hour. On the United States railways the quickest run appears to be that made between Jersey City and Philadelphia, 89 miles, made at the rate of 47⅔ miles an hour. There is not in the world a train timed to run 60 miles an hour, although it is, of course, certain that that velocity is often exceeded. If a speed of 60 miles an hour could be maintained continually between London and Edinburgh, the journey would occupy only 6 hours and 36 minutes; and allowing for three stops of 10 minutes each on the route, the time would be under 7¼ hours, instead of 10 hours. So far as the machinery of a railway is concerned—by which we mean the road, the rolling stock, and the signals—there is nothing to prevent an average speed of 60 miles an hour being maintained. That it is not attained is certain.”

THE UNITED STATES CIVIL LIST.

Answer.—The civil officers of the United States are those employed by the several departments. In 1876, in reply to an inquiry made by order of Congress, the following official statement was made: Department of State, 430; Treasury, 12,482; War Department, 1,489; Navy Department, 131; Postoffice Department, 44,897; Interior, 2,475; Department of Justice, 528. Total number of civil officers, 62,427.

GREAT FIRES.

Answer.—The great fire of London, which occurred in 1666, destroyed about two-thirds of the city; but there is no estimate of the value of the property. The burning of Moscow, in September, 1812, destroyed property which has been valued at $150,000,000. The great Chicago fire of 1871 consumed $192,000,000 worth of property. The area burnt over in the Chicago fire was greater than that covered by either the London or Moscow fire.

PRESIDENT JACKSON’S DOUBLE MARRIAGE.

Answer.—Mrs. Jackson was formerly the wife of Mr. Lewis Robards, of Kentucky. While Mr. Robards and his wife were residing at the home of Mrs. Donelson, the mother of Mrs. Robards, Andrew Jackson became a boarder, and consequently quite intimate with the family. In time, Mr. Robards became intensely jealous of his wife, which culminated in his charging her with adultery and suing for divorce. This charge, however, was neither proven nor generally believed. Through the influence of Jackson, the Legislature in 1791 passed an act legalizing the separation of Mr. and Mrs. Robards, but the legal divorce from the courts was not[Pg 29] obtained until 1793. After the act of the Legislature, Jackson married Mrs. Robards, supposing that she was lawfully divorced; but after the decision of the court, in order to remove everything questionable, he was remarried.

THE BUNKER HILL FLAG.

Answer.—Reference to that standard work, “The Origin and Progress of the Flag of the United States of America,” by George Henry Preble, U. S. N., and other sources of information, shows that it is uncertain what flag, if any, was displayed by the Americans at Bunker Hill, in the famous fight of June 17, 1775. The flag raised on Prospect Hill by General Putnam, a month later, July 18, 1775, was red, with the motto, Qui Transtulit Sustinet , (who transplanted still sustains) on one side, and “An Appeal to Heaven” on the other. This latter motto was emblazoned on the white flag with a green pine tree carried by the privateers commissioned by Massachusetts, soon after this. The first cruisers commissioned by Washington also bore “the pine tree flag.” Before the battle of Bunker Hill, indeed, immediately after the battle of Lexington, on the 19th of the preceding April, the provincial troops of Connecticut carried a standard bearing the arms of that colony and the Latin motto above cited. As General Putnam and his Connecticut troops took a prominent part in the battle of Bunker Hill, it is presumable that this flag was displayed in that action, and by parity of reasoning it may be inferred that the colonial flags of Massachusetts and New Hampshire were carried into the action by the militia of those colonies. Precisely what these were it is almost or quite impossible to determine with certainty. Indeed, there seem to have been several different flags. The “union-flags” so frequently mentioned in the accounts left us of the revolutionary movements of 1774 and the early part of 1775 were, in most instances, the English red ensign, with such mottoes as “Liberty and Union,” “Liberty and Property,” or simply “Liberty.” Peculiar devices were employed by the patriots of different neighborhoods. Not until Jan. 2, 1776, was the first common standard raised. This was the “Great Union,” as it was christened, adopted by General Washington, and first displayed at his headquarters in Cambridge, Mass., on the date above given. It consisted of thirteen stripes, alternately white and red, with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew in the union where the stars now glitter.

ORIGIN OF PORTERHOUSE STEAK.

Answer.—Colonel Thomas F. De Voe, a New York butcher, author of “The Market Book,” “The Market Assistant,” and other works of similar nature, gives the following account of this now popular cut of beef: Martin Morrison kept a favorite porterhouse at No. 327 Pearl street, New York, near the old Walton House. It was a popular resort with many of the New York pilots, because here they were always sure of a pot of ale or porter and “a hot bite,” including one or two substantial dishes. On one occasion, in 1814, Morrison had enjoyed an unusual number of calls for steaks, and when an old pilot, who dropped in at a late hour, called for something substantial to eat, he was forced to cut from a sirloin roasting piece which he had got for the next day’s family dinner. The old pilot relished his steak amazingly and called for another. This disposed of, “he squared himself in front of his host and vociferated, ‘Look ye here, messmate, arter this I want my steaks off the roasting piece! Do you hear that? So mind your weather eye, old boy!’” The old pilot’s companions soon learned to appreciate these cuts, and it was not long before they were all insisting on having them. Accordingly, Morrison’s butcher, Thomas Gibbons, of the Fly Market, asked him why he had ceased to order the large sirloin steaks. Morrison explained that he had found that cuts from the small end of the sirloin of the beef suited his single customers best, both in size and quality, and directed that thereafter, instead of sending him the sirloin roasts uncut, he have them cut into chops or steaks, as he should direct. Gibbons’ daily order, “Cut steaks for the porterhouse,” soon gave these the name of “porterhouse steaks,” by which they became known all through the Fly Market, particularly as this excellent cut rapidly became popular in all the public houses of the city. The name is now familiar to housekeepers on both sides of the Atlantic, at least wherever the English language is spoken.

SOLDIERS’ HOMESTEADS.

Answer.—The following letter from Commissioner McFarland, in answer to a similar inquiry from Mr. A. H. Field, of Indian River, Mich., answers this question officially. Observe that the answer turns upon the important fact that Mr. Field entered his homestead of only eighty acres after the passage of the act approved June 22, 1874, hence the Commissioner holds that he is not entitled to the benefits of the act, whereas if he had made final proof of his claim before June 22, 1874, he would be entitled to an additional eighty acres.

Mr. Field writes to The Inter Ocean, inclosing this letter from the Commissioner of the General Land Office, and complaining that this law inflicts a hardship on him and other soldiers in the late war, who, like himself, deferred their entries until after the passage of the above act. He says: “It seems that it is unfortunate for me, as an old soldier, that I did not locate my land previous to June, 1874. I ought to be entitled to eighty acres of land more as well as any other class of soldiers.” Whether this complaint is or is not well founded, the fact remains that the law is as above stated.

FINDING ONE’S POSITION AT SEA.

Answer.—The mariner determines his latitude by observing the meridian altitude of a celestial star whose declination or distance from the equator is known. In the northern hemisphere for an approximate answer the pole star is generally taken, the altitude of which is nearly the latitude of the place. If an observer were standing upon the equator and looking to the north he would see the pole star on the horizon, with no altitude. If he should move three degrees north the pole star would have an altitude corresponding. At Chicago it is above the horizon about 41 degrees 50 minutes, corresponding to the latitude of this city. Owing to the apparent revolution of the pole star about a central axis, which is the true pole of the heavens, the accurate latitude can only be obtained by observing its least and greatest altitude and taking one-half their sum. The longitude of any place computed from Greenwich, Washington, or other prime meridian, is easily determined by observing the Greenwich or Washington time when the sun passes the zenith meridian. In other words, knowing the difference in time between Greenwich and the place of observation, the longitude of the place may be readily computed. A difference of time amounting to one hour represents 15 degrees of longitude east or west, as the case may be. The difference in time between Chicago and Washington is forty-three minutes, which makes the longitude of Chicago 10 degrees 45 minutes, reckoning from the legal prime meridian of the United States, which is that of Washington. Every ship carries a marine chronometer, which is a time-keeper of the most careful construction, whose accuracy has been tested with the utmost precision—which is plainly a matter of the utmost importance to a vessel when it is remembered that an error of four seconds of time represents about one and one-tenth statute miles, enough to wreck a ship on a lee shore when the captain, following the chronometer, supposed himself at a safe distance from the shoal or shore.

YEARS FOR PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION.

Answer.—Every year divisible by four, without exception, is the year for the election of President and Vice President of the United States.

U. S. BONDED DEBT—WHEN PAYABLE.

Answer.—Several of the later issues of bonds are payable at the pleasure of the government, but the following cannot be redeemed except by purchase in the market until specified dates. Four per cents payable July 1, 1907, $738,829,600; 4½ per cents payable Sept. 1, 1891, $250,000,000; Pacific Railway 6’s payable Sept. 1, 1895, $3,002,000; Pacific Railway 6’s payable Sept. 1, 1896, $8,000,000; Pacific Railway 6’s payable Sept 1, 1897, $9,712,000; Pacific Railway 6’s payable Sept. 1, 1898, $29,383,000; Pacific Railway 6’s payable Sept. 1, 1899, $14,526,512.

THE SIGNS OF THE ZODIAC.

Answer.—Representations of the zodiacal signs are found among the ancient writings of the Hindoos, Persians, and Chinese, and among the carvings on the ruins of Egyptian temples. There is such a degree of similarity in the characters that a common origin must be supposed. The signs of the zodiac embrace the twelve important constellations, which, owing to the motions of the earth, appear to revolve through the heavens within a belt extending nine degrees on each side of the sun’s apparent annual path, and within or near which all the planets revolve. Since the sun appears successively in each of these twelve constellations during the year, the zodiac was divided into twelve equal parts, corresponding to the months. These signs and their subdivisions were used in measuring time and as the basis of astronomical and astrological calculations and predictions. Astronomers now, for convenience, use the same signs, giving to each constellation an extent of thirty degrees, although the constellations vary in size. These signs are Aries representing the ram; Taurus, the bull; Gemini, the twins; Cancer, the crab; Leo, the lion; Virgo, the virgin; Libra, the balance; Scorpio, the scorpion; Sagittarius, the archer; Capricornus, the goat; Aquarius, the water-bearer; and Pisces, the fishes. On the 20th of March the sun enters Aries, and at midnight Virgo, the opposite constellation, will be overhead. During the month of April the sun will pass into Taurus, and at[Pg 31] midnight Libra will be overhead. The early astronomers were astrologers, and claimed to be able to predict the future careers of individuals and nations by observing the positions and movements of the planets, and condition of the weather, at the most important periods of men’s lives. A man born when the sun was in the constellation Scorpio was believed to be naturally bent toward excessive indulgence of the animal passions; one born when the sun was in Aries was destined to be a great scholar or ruler; one born when the sun was in Pisces was predestined to grovel or be a servant, and so on. All this is regarded now as exploded superstition, except by fortune-tellers and their dupes.

AREAS OF ENGLAND, SCOTLAND, AND IRELAND.

Answer.—England has an area of 50,914 square miles, or 32,584,735 acres; Ireland, 32,524 square miles, or 20,815,460 acres; Scotland, 30,462 square miles, or 19,496,132 acres; Wales, 7,397 square miles, or 4,734,486 acres. The county of Cornwall contains 1,390 square miles, or an acreage of 869,898.

TO SELECT HOUDAN FOWLS.

Answer.—Houdans stand and walk erectly; the males weigh from eight to nine pounds; the hens from five to seven pounds. They are lumpy in shape, are evenly speckled white and brown, with large comb, crest, and beard. Refuse any that have not pink-white feet, black and white plumage, and good crests.

THE FIRST CABLE MESSAGE.

Answer.—The first message on the Atlantic cable of 1858, which soon proved a failure, was a congratulatory dispatch from Queen Victoria to President Buchanan. The first message on the successful cable completed in 1866 was the announcement of the treaty of peace between Prussia and Austria.

PRINCE NAPOLEON.

Answer.—Jerome Bonaparte, the father of this Prince Jerome, was the youngest brother of Napoleon I. In 1803, when he was only 18 years of age, he married Miss Elizabeth Patterson, of Baltimore. This act was displeasing to Napoleon, who passed a decree annulling the marriage on the ground that his brother was not of age and the bans were not published in France. Soon after the return of Jerome to his native country he was made King of Westphalia, and at the suggestion of Napoleon, married Catherine, daughter of the King of Wurtemburg. Of this marriage three children were born—Jerome Napoleon, in 1814, who died in 1847; Napoleon Joseph Charles Paul, the subject of this sketch, in 1822, who afterward took his elder brother’s name, and the Princess Mathilde. The Prince first came into prominence by his denunciation of the government of Louis Philippe and his sympathy with the revolutionists, which caused his banishment in 1845. But, in 1848, he returned and participated in the revolution. In 1852 he took his seat in the Senate and Council of State, receiving the title of Prince and being declared by decree of the Senate the heir of his cousin, Napoleon III., in case the latter should die without issue. He took part in the Crimean war, commanding a reserve force at Alma and at Inkerman. Before the close of the war he was recalled, ostensibly on account of his health, and soon entered upon the duties of several important civil offices. In 1859 he was married to Princess Clothilde, daughter of the late Victor Emanuel, King of Italy, by whom he has three children. In 1861 he visited the United States, and, with his suite and the French Minister, accompanied the Army of the Potomac, pushing as far South as Richmond. After his return he sympathized to a certain extent with the democratic feeling arising in France. For this seeming absurdity he was given the name Plon-Plon. In 1876 he was returned to the French Assembly from Corsica, but in the year following he was rejected. On the death of the Prince Imperial, as the son of Napoleon III. is called, in Zululand, in 1879, Jerome became the head of the Bonaparte family. He was not popular with a majority of the leading Bonapartists, many of whom refused to acknowledge him as their chief, and urged the proclamation of the elder of Jerome’s two sons as the heir of Napoleon III. Of late, however, there has been a reconciliation between the ex-Empress Eugenie and Jerome, and the Bonapartists generally seem disposed to acquiesce; so that, in case of the Bonaparte’s coming to the front once more, his title of Prince may become something more than an empty sound.

THE CORN CROP ESTIMATES FOR 1882.

Answer.—According to the report of the Department of Agriculture the corn crop of 1882 amounted to 1,624,917,800 bushels. These figures have been questioned, but they are based on the estimates of about 1,500 agricultural observers and reporters employed by the bureau, and they are generally conceded to be a fair estimate. Of course, all our crop statistics are only estimates.

CEDAR COUNTY, NEBRASKA.

Answer.—This county lies on the northern boundary of the State, being washed by the Missouri River and drained by the several branches of the Bow and Beaver Creeks. In many portions the land is very rich and yields abundantly[Pg 32] wheat, corn, and other cereals. In 1879 the corn crop of Cedar County amounted to 2,826,259 bushels, or 40 bushels per acre, which was the largest yield of any county in the State. Orchards of choice fruit trees have been set out and thrive well. The climate is like that of Southern Dakota and Northwestern Iowa, very warm in summer and cold in winter, which latter, from the dryness of the climate, is rendered more endurable than a higher temperature in some of the more Eastern States. The population in 1880 was 2,899. St. Helena, the county seat, is a thriving little town of 300 inhabitants.

THE SITE OF EDEN.

In Our Curiosity Shop of Jan. 11, C. A. Sharp asks for the location of the Garden of Eden. The Bible tells us that “a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted and became into four heads.” It then proceeds to give them in the order of distance above the mouth of the Euphrates. But one of these rivers is now known by its original name, and that is the Euphrates. Let us, therefore, go down that and see if we can find the other three tributary to it that will agree with the narrative. The first is a large stream from the north. We at once recognize it as the Hiddekel. This is the third river, and its head is far to the north, as is also that of the Euphrates. The text says, “it goeth toward the east of Assyria.” The marginal reading, I think, will be found to explain this. It says “it goeth east to Assyria,” and the great Assyrian Empire was upon it. As we go down these united rivers we find a considerable stream from the northeast, the head of which is in the mountains toward the Caspian Sea. If this is the second river, the Gihon, the text says it “compasseth the whole land of Ethiopia.” This expression has doubtless led to much confusion, as the mind has been turned to Ethiopia, in Africa, and which seemed irreconcilable with the text. But turn to the passage and we find the marginal reading to be Cush, and Cush, or Cutha, was a country east of the Hiddekel, through which this stream flows. We turn again to the narrative and it says the first river is the Pison, and that it compasseth the land of Havilah, where there is gold and precious stones. After leaving the mouth of the second river, the Gihon, we find a stream having its head in the mountains east of the Persian Gulf, and also a place called Havilah. The country abounds in precious stones and valuable minerals, and this, with the other three rivers, seems to fill the conditions of the text. We will now hastily review the above to see more clearly its coincidence with the account as given by Moses 2,500 years afterward, in the second chapter of Genesis. A river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from thence it was parted into four heads. The name of the first is Pison, etc.; this we find in the stream coming from Persia, which fulfills its conditions. The second is the Gihon; it too coming from the land of Cush agrees with the text. The third, the Hiddekel, all admit to be the modern Tigris and its connections with Assyria agree well with the record. The fourth is the Euphrates, which flows as of old. But was there a place called Eden from which these streams flowed? Turn to Isa. xxxvii., 12, in the blasphemous letter sent to King Hezekiah by the commander of the Assyrian army, and among the nations he has destroyed is Eden, which from its connections with the other nations is supposed to have been near the junction of the third and fourth rivers. And in the list of nations trading with Tyre we find Eden connected with the nations in the same vicinity. See Ezekiel xxiii., 23. Here then, at no great distance above the Persian Gulf, near 30 degrees north latitude, in a mild climate on a noble river, we may look for the home of the progenitors of our race.

OVER 2,700 COUNTIES.

Answer.—This is an understatement, since in 1880, according to the census, there were 2,671 counties in the United States, including the fifty-nine in Louisiana, locally called parishes. Here is the full list of States and Territories:

There have been a number of new counties organized since the census year, particularly in Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Texas, and other States and Territories where the settlement of the country is proceeding most rapidly. There are now about 2,730 counties in the United States.

CARDINAL WOLSEY.

Answer.—Thomas Wolsey, the wily, skillful statesman and ambitious Cardinal, whose life was so intimately associated with that of the profligate king, Henry VIII., studied theology at Oxford, and in 1500, at the age of 29, took holy orders and became the rector at Lymington. He was introduced into the royal court of Henry VII. as chaplain, in which office he obtained the confidence of the king, and was[Pg 33] often consulted in important state affairs. His successful diplomacy at the court of the Emperor Maximilian secured for him, as a reward, the deanery of Lincoln. When Henry VIII. ascended the throne he employed Wolsey as his almoner. With the talents of a skillful diplomat, the ambitious priest obtained an influence over this monarch even greater than he had previously held over his royal father. In 1514 he was appointed Archbishop of York, and in the following year became Lord Chancellor of England. The Pope was not unmindful of his able supporter, who in the same year that he became Chancellor was clothed in the resplendent robes of a cardinal. Four years after he became legate. In the height of his power he was the virtual sovereign of the kingdom, and in addition he exercised throughout England and its dependencies, and to some extent beyond these boundaries, nearly all the prerogatives of the sovereign pontiff. His income was scarcely surpassed by that of the king himself. Princes and even monarchs were among the suppliants for his favor and influential offices. He aspired to sit on the papal throne, and twice it seemed as if he would realize this aspiration, but he was defeated through the intrigues and power of Charles V., whose elevation to the imperial throne, left vacant by the death of the Emperor Maximilian, he had opposed in behalf of Henry VIII. His almost regal power continued until Henry desired to put away his wife, Catharine, aunt of Charles V., when Wolsey’s dilatoriness in securing the divorce exasperated the king, and upon his refusing to sanction Henry’s marriage with Anne Boleyn, he was soon dismissed in disgrace. He was stripped of all his honors and estates, but was suffered to retain his episcopal see of Winchester until the following year, 1530, when a conspiracy against the king’s life having been discovered, Wolsey was arrested us an abettor. He was on his way to London to undergo trial on a charge of treason, when he fell ill and died Nov. 29, 1530, at the Monastery of Leicester. Among his last words were the following addressed to the Lord Lieutenant of the Tower: “Master Kyngston, if I had served my God as diligently as I have done the king, He would not have given me over in my gray hairs.” As paraphrased by Shakespeare, these last words of the fallen Cardinal are now immortal.

ALASKA.

Answer.—Alaska, according to the report of Ivan Petroff, special agent of the census of 1880, contains 531,400 square miles. This is as large as all New England, together with New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, and the following seven grand States west of the Alleghanies: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It is a vast region, 2,200 miles in length from east to west (measuring to the farthest of the Aleutian Islands), and 1,400 miles broad. It has a remarkable coast line of 25,000 miles in extent, which is about two and a half times as much as the sea coast of all the rest of the United States. The islands of Alaska alone, according to the estimate quoted by Dr. Jackson, comprise an area of over 31,000 miles, or twice as much as the total area of Maine. The highest mountains in the United States are in Alaska: Mount Fairweather, 15,500; Mount Crillon, 15,900: Mount Cook, 16,000, and Mount St. Elias, 19,500. It is remarkable for the number and stupendous proportions of its glaciers. Says Dr. Jackson: “From Bute Inlet to Unimak Pass nearly every gulch has its glacier, some of which are vastly greater and grander than any glacier in the Alps.” Hot and mineral springs abound. The Yukon River is one of the largest in the United States, being for the first 1,000 miles from one to five miles wide with five mouths, forming a delta seventy miles across. According to Mr. Robert Campbell, of the Hudson’s Bay Fur Company, including its chief tributary, the Pelly, it is navigable at certain seasons for nearly 3,000 miles.

Nearly all the sealskins used in the markets of the world come from two little islands belonging to Alaska. The skins of the sea otter are also very valuable, and there are many choice land fur-bearing animals. The waters are wonderfully rich in fish. Besides cod, “Alaska can supply the world,” says Dr. Jackson, “with salmon, herring, and halibut of the best quality.” It is also “the great reserve lumber region of the United States.” There are “thousands of square miles of yellow cedar, white spruce, hemlock, and balsam fir that densely cover the southeastern section of Alaska.” Gold and silver mines of considerable importance have been opened, and there are indications that the Territory is rich not only in the precious metals, but in other minerals, especially in iron, copper, and coal. In the interior the climate along the Yukon is not unlike that of Dakota. At Fort Yukon the thermometer often rises above 100 degrees in summer, and indicates from 50 degrees to 70 degrees below zero in winter. Along the immense southern coast and islands the climate is moist and warm. At Sitka, according to records kept for forty-five years, the mean spring temperature is 41.2 degrees; summer, 54.6 degrees; autumn, 44.9 degrees; winter, 32.5 degrees; for the whole year, 43.3 degrees. “The surprising fact is brought to light,” adds Dr. Jackson, who takes the above figures from the Alaska Coast Pilot, “that the winter climate of Southern Alaska for forty-five years past has been the average winter climate of Kentucky and West Virginia, and the average summer climate of Minnesota.” The mild climate of this region is due to the warm Japan current of the Pacific, the Kuro-Siwo. Generally of Alaska, Mr. William H. Dale, of the Smithsonian Institution, says: “I come back convinced, from personal inspection, that Alaska is a far better country than much of Great Britain and Norway, and even part of Prussia.” The total population in 1880 is given at 33,426, of whom 430 were white, 1,756 Creole or mixed races, and the rest Indians—Innuits, 17,617; Aleuts, 2,145;[Pg 34] Thlinkets, 6,763; Hyda, 788, distributed as follows: The whites and creoles are nearly all in Southeastern Alaska, the Aleutian Islands, and Kadiak, which is the division including the south coast of the Alaska Peninsula down to Zakharof Bay, with the adjacent islands, the Kadiah group, the coast and islands of Cook’s Inlet, the Kenai Peninsula, the coast of Prince William’s Sound, and valleys of rivers running into the waters of these coasts. Since the census was taken the white population has been greatly increased by the influx of gold miners and speculators. This Territory is still without a regularly constituted civil government. The laws of the United States “relating to customs, lumber, and navigation” are extended over it, and the Collector and Deputy Collectors have authority to arrest persons violating these laws and send them to Oregon or California to be tried in United States courts. Otherwise the government is mainly a provisional one, organized by the people and enforced by general consent. It is high time that this state of things was ended.

THE AGE OF BENEDICT ARNOLD.

Answer.—It is true that authors differ as to the age of Benedict Arnold. Appleton’s Cyclopedia says he was born Jan. 3, 1740. Lossing’s Cyclopedia of History gives the time as Jan. 3, 1741, and other authorities do not agree. We prefer to adopt the facts given by the Hon. Isaac N. Arnold, of this city, who has just written and published what there is good reason to believe is the most carefully prepared and impartial history of the American arch traitor of Revolutionary times that has ever appeared. This historian fixes Arnold’s birth on Jan. 14, 1741, and his death on June 14, 1801, in London.

METROPOLITAN POLICE.

Answer.—Metropolitan police are appointed and supported by the State or central government, while city police receive their appointments from the city magistrates. The city of London is guarded by 11,667 metropolitan policemen and 842 city policemen. At one time the city of New York was protected by metropolitan police, but for various reasons, one of which was because it restricted the free exercise of the spoils system so common with city governments, the act authorizing the appointment of such police was repealed.

WAS CHRIST BORN IN B. C. 4.

Answer.—All investigations prove conclusively that it is impossible to determine to the satisfaction of chronologists in general either the day, month, or year of Christ’s birth. It is almost universally admitted that this event preceded the commencement of the Christian era as now reckoned. St. Clement, the earliest of the “church fathers,” fixes it on Nov. 18 in the twenty-eighth year of the Emperor Augustus, a little more than two years before the beginning of our era. Since the death of Herod the Great, according to Josephus, must have occurred before Easter of B. C. 4, modern scholars are generally agreed that Christ’s birth could not have been later than B. C. 4; and there is strong reason to believe that it was in B. C. 6 or 7. See McClintock and Strong’s “Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature,” under “Jesus Christ.” As to the day and month of Christ’s birth the differences are still more difficult to overcome. Modern investigation is strongly against Christmas, or any day in mid-winter, as unseasonable either for the shepherds to be watching their flocks in the fields, or for the congregating of the people from all parts of the kingdom to be registered and taxed, which was the occasion of Mary and Joseph’s being at Bethlehem. These two arguments are used, along with others, by the Biblical scholars who hold severally to the opinions that the nativity was not earlier in the year than March, and, one party says, in March, another in April or May, another in June, and still others in July or August.

GROWTH OF ENGLISH INTEMPERANCE.

Answer.—Whatever the explanation, and whether or not it constitutes an additional argument for the temperance movement, it is declared to be a fact that the number of persons charged with drunkenness in 1881 was 1,622 more than the number charged in 1880, being 174,481 to 172,859. Furthermore, according to the excise reports there was 7½ per cent more beer drunk in 1881 than in 1880, the total quantity being 970,785,564 gallons in a population of 26,000,000, or about 31 gallons for each man, woman, and child. The increase in the population during the decade of 1871-1881 was 3,256,020, which is about 1.43 per cent a year, while the increase in drunkenness was nearly 1 per cent in the last year.

TEMPERANCE IN COMMON SCHOOLS.

Answer.—The following is the bill introduced Jan. 31 in the General Assembly of this State, by the Hon. Jesse D. Jennings, of Fayette County: “Be it enacted,” etc., “that they (the directors) shall direct that elementary instruction be given in physiology and hygiene, which shall give special prominence to the effects of alcoholic drinks, stimulants and narcotics upon the human system. The certificate of qualification held by any person who desires to teach shall show that satisfactory examination has been passed upon the effect of alcoholic drinks, stimulants, and narcotics upon the human system.” The advocates of the bill maintain that, in view of the admitted evils of intemperance, and particularly the moral and physical[Pg 35] injuries to individuals and society resulting from the use of alcoholic drinks, stimulants, and narcotics, it is of the highest practical importance that the youth of the public schools be properly instructed as to the effects of these insanity engendering poisons. They say that since the State, for purposes of revenue, and also professedly with the desire of preventing abuses, has authorized men and women to publicly offer these poisons for sale, it is morally bound to warn the youth of the land not to use them except as medicine, or in the arts, as other poisons are sometimes used. They hold that those who admit the iniquities of intemperance, but are opposed to sumptuary legislation, cannot reasonably oppose this recourse to educational remedies for these appalling evils. If the law requires road commissioners, when repairing the highways, to hang out danger lights wherever they open cess-pools and sewers, or make other perilous chasms in the road, the advocates of this bill argue that it is the duty of the State licensing the opening of liquor shops to throw enough light on the traffic to prevent young people from falling into drunkenness in the dark.

CANADIAN DENOMINATIONAL STATISTICS.

Herewith I hand you the denominational statistics of Canada, as given in the government returns for 1881. Those recently given in Our Curiosity Shop, on the authority of Rand, McNally & Co.’s Atlas of the World, are out of date:

TWO INDIANA TEMPERANCE RESOLUTIONS.

Answer.—The Indiana Democracy met in convention last August: after wrestling with the few prohibition delegates for a brief moment, they adopted the following resolution:

“The Democratic party is now, as it has always been, opposed to all sumptuary legislation, and it is especially opposed to the proposed amendment to the constitution of Indiana known as the prohibitory amendment, and we are in favor of the submission of the proposed amendment, as well as other proposed amendments, to the people, according to the provisions of the constitution for its own amendment: and the people have the right to oppose or favor the adoption of any or all the amendments at all stages of their consideration, and any submission of constitutional amendment to a vote of the people should be at a time and under circumstances most favorable to a full vote, and therefore should be at a general election.” The Republicans, several days later, on Aug. 9, adopted this resolution: “The Republican party resolves that reposing trust in the people as the fountain of power, we demand that the pending amendments to the constitution shall be agreed to and submitted by the next Legislature to the voters of the State for their decision thereon. These amendments were not partisan in their origin, and are not so in character, and should not be made so in voting upon them. Recognising the fact that the people are divided in sentiment in regard to the propriety of their adoption or rejection, and cherishing the right of private judgment, we favor the submission of these amendments to a special election, so that there may be an intelligent decision thereon, uninfluenced by partisan issues.”

PASSION PLAYS.

Answer.—This recent dramatical representation of the passion of Christ claims its origin and justification in sentiments akin to those which it is said inspired the old religious dramas, known as “Moralities,” or “Miracle Plays.” The first composition of this nature is ascribed to Ezekiel, a Jew, who, in the third century, adapted the story of Israel’s exodus from Egypt to the Grecian stage. His object was to arouse the patriotism of his exiled and despondent countrymen and excite in them a hope for the re-establishment of their kingdom in Palestine. In the fourth century, St. Gregory Nazianzen, the Bishop of Constantinople, having noticed the effect of the Grecian drama upon the people, concluded that the readiest method of extending the church of Christ was the dramatic presentation of the sufferings of its author, which he accomplished in the drama entitled “The Passion of Christ.” When the barbarians made their inroads into Southern Europe, and the church began to extend its influence northward into the lands of the Germans, Normans, and Saxons, it found great difficulty in coping with the fascination which the heathen festivals and performances exercised over the uneducated minds of the people. In order to obviate this trouble, miracle plays were introduced. Adapting the drama to the surrounding circumstances, many of the heathen characters, slightly changed, were retained. The play was supplied with humor by the artful caprices of the impersonated devil. In one representation “Judas, assisted by the devil, who sits upon the scaffold, hangs himself. When the hanging is complete both slide down to hell on a slanting rope.” Soon after the Reformation the miracle plays began to decline, and now they are performed in only a few places, mostly in Southern Bavaria and the Tyrol. The passion play of Oberammergau is famed the world over, and attracts an immense concourse of visitors from all lands whenever it is presented. In 1633 the flax in that neighborhood became diseased and unfit for the spindle. To prevent the recurrence of any such calamity the Oberammergau peasants made a vow to God that every ten years they would present the sufferings of Christ upon the stage in this way.[Pg 36] This vow was kept until the beginning of the present century, when the further performance of the play was prohibited. Thereupon the peasants appealed to King Maximilian, who granted them permission to continue their celebrations, providing certain objectionable features were removed. This was agreed to, and in 1811 the drama, written by Pastor Weise, was first presented devoid of the devil and comic personages. The gospel story commences with Christ’s triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and closes with a scene previous to the ascension. In a practical manner, the plot is developed. The money changers are driven from the temple in anger. Judas smarts under the rebuke which he received at the home of Lazarus. They meet and plan the betrayal resulting in the crucifixion. The part of Christ is impersonated by a peasant. The ignorant inhabitants still regard these plays as the most impressive and effective method of teaching the gospel and various moralities. The claim that the passion play now occupying so much of the public attention was inspired by religious motives is rejected by the public generally, and is ridiculed by the press. There is an all but unanimous feeling of opposition in England and in this country to having the passion of the Savior, the solemn tragedy of Calvary, mimicked on the stage by ordinary stage performers. This feeling led the late Mayor Grace, of New York City, to refuse to license the presentation of the play in that city, and his successor, Mayor Edson, has taken the same stand. Salmi Morse, the manager, threatens to test the legality of this interdiction. Such is the attitude of this matter at present.

RATIO OF BEEF TO LIVE WEIGHT.

Answer.—Sixty pounds of dressed beef for each 100 pounds of live weight is considered a fair average, and indicates that the animal was of good stock in first-rate marketable condition. Of course the choice cuts, consisting of the ribs, sirloin and rump steak, constitute only about half of this. So that an animal which weighs 1,000 pounds live weight will produce but about 600 pounds of dressed meat, of which the choice cuts will amount to about 310 pounds and the “coarse meat” to 290 pounds.

NAMES OF CERTAIN BLOOD RELATIVES.

Answer.—The children of first cousins are second cousins. A’s child is “first cousin removed” to A’s first cousin, while he is second cousin to the son or daughter of A’s first cousin.

FINDING LATITUDE AT SEA.

Referring to the explanation of the method of determining latitude by observations on the pole star, given in a recent issue of Our Curiosity Shop, I venture to submit the following indication of the common method by which sailors ascertain their latitude at sea. It is true that latitude may be determined by means of a carefully observed altitude of the polar star, providing the apparent time of observation can be ascertained within a few minutes. This method might frequently be used at sea when the horizon is well defined if the star were of the first magnitude; but being only of the second or third it is difficult to determine the altitude with certainty. For this reason the usual method of finding the latitude at sea is by taking the altitude of the sun when on the meridian. The latitude of a place, being its distance from the equator, is measured by the arc of the meridian contained between the zenith and the equator; hence, if the distance of the sun from the zenith when on the meridian and the declination be given the latitude is easily determined.

AUTHORS, EDITORS, AND MANUSCRIPTS.

Answer.—There is no definite general rule for these matters beyond the common understanding that the editor must attend first of all to the regular routine of his office, and manuscript must wait, until he has time to read it. In the case of contributions to a periodical, it is understood unless contributors specifically request the return of their contributions and inclose postage stamps for this purpose, that the editor, if he does not use them, is at liberty to consign them to the waste basket. It is not unusual for contributions to literary magazines and standard reviews to lie on the editors’ tables for a month or six weeks before the verdict “accepted” or “rejected” is pronounced. A glance at a contribution, even the mere subject, indicates to the editor whether the article is likely to suffer by delay. Stories and many other contributions will keep; current news and kindred matters will not. These manuscripts must be read at once; those must wait; and how long, only the editor is in the position to determine. Even after articles are accepted the same law prevails, and the circumstances of each particular issue determine what is to be used and what “held over.” It frequently happens that editorials which have cost the editor serious labor, and are actually in type, are crowded out by unexpected events which must take precedence, and are held back by a succession of such events until too stale to be used, and the writer is forced to write “kill” over against the children of his own heart and brain. Many a disgusted contributor would feel less mortified and indignant at the rejection of his offering if he could understand all the circumstances of the case. The contribution rejected to-day might have been gladly accepted had it come a day sooner. An article accepted yesterday and paid for, perhaps never appears; why, only the editor can explain.[Pg 37] Even champagne tastes flat after it has stood a few moments; witticisms are still-born if not ushered in at the right instant. The book-publisher is subject to similar influences, but not in the same degree as the editor of a newspaper or review. But many a book manuscript has been rejected because out of season. Many another has been rejected because the writer was impatient and the editor, rather than keep him in such a mood and unwilling to take the responsibility of publishing what he had not read with critical care, has relieved himself by returning it “with thanks.” It is no slight matter for an editor to read and so digest a book, in which the publisher is asked to invest from $1,000 to $5,000, as to enable him to pronounce a favorable judgment with confidence. Of course long and carefully prepared manuscripts, especially books, are entitled to more consideration than ordinary newspaper contributions; and should never be destroyed until the authors have been courteously notified that they are not wanted, and have had ample time to send for them. In the supposed case of the above question, acknowledgment of receipt of the book manuscript should have been mailed as soon as it came to hand, unless it was received by express or as registered mail matter, and from thirty to sixty days, according to the length and nature of the book would not be too long to grant the editor or publisher before expecting a decision. Except in special cases, editors of newspapers do not receipt by mail for contributions sent to them.

RAILROAD MILEAGE.

Answer.—The number of miles of railroad in the world constructed prior to Jan. 1, 1881, was 226,442, of which sum 93,671 miles were within the United States. Germany had built 21,037 miles; Great Britain and Ireland, 17,696; France, 15,287; Russia, 13,571; Austria-Hungary, 11,471; British India, 8,615; Canada, 6,891; Italy, 4,999, and Spain, 4,264. During the year 1881 the railway mileage of this country increased to 104,813 miles, to which the year 1882 added 10,821 miles, making a grand total of 115,634 miles. To build these great highways and properly equip them about $5,750,000,000 have been expended. Iowa during the past year took the lead, having constructed 953.37 miles, and Texas followed close after with 817 miles of new road.

A FEW AMERICAN WORTHIES.

Answer.—Any answer to such a question is largely a matter of personal opinion. Among political orators Patrick Henry, James Otis, Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, Thomas Pike, Sergeant Smith Prentiss, John C. Calhoun stand among the most illustrious. As to pulpit orators, it would be invidious to name one without designating at least fifty who are evidently of the same rank. Our great poets have not been many. First among them have been and still are, as regards fame, William Cullen Bryant, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, George Denison Prentice, and Nathaniel P. Willis. Whittier, T. Buchanan Read, Holmes. Lowell, Miller, Holland, Saxe, Morris, Mrs. Sigourney, are poets not soon to be forgotten. Irving, Sparks, Prescott, Bancroft, are among our most eminent historians. Fulton, inventor of the steamboat; Morse, inventor of the first practical electric telegraph; Whitney, inventor of the cotton-gin, and Howe, inventor of the first successful sewing machine, are among the first of the ten thousand American inventors who have done the world noteworthy service. Edison and several hundred other inventors, who have improved upon the inventions of their predecessors until they have doubled, trebled, and in some instances quadrupled their value to the world, are quite as worthy to be remembered.

RAILROAD LAND GRANTS.

Answer.—The table below shows the total land grants made by the United States down to 1880, as given in “The West in 1880.”

These grants, amounting in the aggregate to 215,203,807 acres, or over 355,000 square miles, are only about 6,000 miles less in area than all the original thirteen States of the Union taken together, and is more than 60 per cent greater than the total area of the German Empire. Fortunately for the country, a number of these grants have been forfeited; yet, as above shown, 42,847,403 acres, or more than the total area of England and Wales together, had been actually certified to the States and roads named before June 30, 1879; and many acres have been certified since that time. The exact amount down to date is not yet published. To avoid taxation, the railroads entitled to public lands delay taking their certificates until the settlement of the country and opportunity for selling make it to their interest to do so. A large amount of the land covered by the above grants will be certified to the grantees on demand.

POPULATION OF THE GLOBE.

Answer.—The population of the entire globe is still far from being definitely determined. Hardly two original investigators agree. In this country the estimates of Drs. Behm and[Pg 38] Wagner are generally accepted as the most reliable, yet their latest figures differ from those of two years before by upward of 22,000,000. Then they stated the population of the entire globe at 1,455,923,500, whereas now they state it at 1,433,887,500, distributed as follows:

One might infer from this that instead of increasing, as would be naturally expected, the human race is dying out: but closer inspection shows that the estimate of the population of China has been reduced about 55,000,000. Accepting this and all the other estimates, there seems to be an increase in other countries of about 33,000,000; part of which is due to the fact that the geographers had the benefit of the census takers in different countries in 1880 and 1881, showing the growth of five to ten years. The total population of the United States in 1880, according to the revised census, is 50,155,783.

DRINKING FROM SKULLS.

Answer.—Thomas Middleton was a dramatic writer who flourished in the early part of the seventeenth century. In “The Witch,” one of his most celebrated plays, when “the Duke” takes a bowl and is told that it is a skull, he exclaims:

The barbarous custom of converting the skulls of enemies into drinking cups was a common one in ancient times among the fierce tribes of Northern Europe; and was not unknown to the more civilized regions of the South. The Italian poet, Marino, makes a conclave of friends in Pandemonium quaff wine from the skull of Minerva. In his “Wonder of a Kingdom,” Torrent makes Dakker say:

The old Scandinavian sagas represent as among the delights of the immortals the felicity of feasting and drinking to drunkenness from the skulls of the foes they had vanquished on earth. Mandeville goes further, and represents the Guebres as exposing the dead bodies of their parents to the fowls of the air until nothing but the skeletons remained, and preserving the skulls to be used in a spirit of devotion as drinking cups.

GENERAL WILLIAM W. AVERELL.

Answer.—General William W. Averell was born in the State of New York in 1830. At the age of 25 he graduated at West Point, and began his military career as Lieutenant of mounted riflemen on the Western frontier. In the rebellion he took an active part in the battles of Bull Run, Yorktown, Williamsburg, Fair Oaks, Malvern Hill, Fredericksburg, Kelly’s Ford, Opequan, Fisher’s Hill, and various other engagements in West Virginia, Tennessee, and the Shenandoah Valley, at the same time being successively brevetted Major, Lieutenant Colonel, Colonel, Brigadier General, and Major General, U. S. A. In 1865 he resigned, and in the following year represented the United States as Consul General in Canada. Afterward he retired to accept the Presidency of a manufacturing company in New York.

PRINCE GORTSCHAKOFF AND THE UNION.

Answer.—Prince Alexander M. Gortschakoff, who was at that time the Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs, when invited, at a critical time in the history of our civil war, to associate Russia with England and France in their unfriendly attitude toward the United States, involving, among other things, a proposition to recognize the independence of the Southern Confederacy, positively declined. The following extract from one of his state papers at that juncture shows his disposition toward this country, which he quickly emphasized by dispatching a Russian fleet to New York as a proof of his friendship and sincerity; an act which greatly alarmed and disconcerted both England and France, since many of their politicians jumped to the inference that there was a secret treaty of alliance between the two countries, and that in case of a rupture Russia would openly take sides with the United States. These are the words of the dispatch alluded to, and Americans should not soon forget them:

“The North American Republic not only presents itself to us as an indispensable element of the international balance of power, but, besides that, it is a Nation toward which our most august Emperor and the whole of Russia have always had a most friendly disposition, because both countries are in the ascendant period of their development, and seemed called to a natural unity of interests and sympathies, proofs of which have already been given on both sides.”

WOOD USED AS FUEL.

Answer.—The extent to which wood is used as fuel in the United States, and the estimated value of the same, are among the subjects investigated by the present Census Bureau. The special agent in charge of this investigation estimates that there were 32,375,000 persons in the United States in 1880 using wood as fuel for domestic purposes, consuming 140,537,439 cords, valued at $306,950,040. Besides this,[Pg 39] there were about five and a quarter million cords consumed for other purposes, making a total of nearly three hundred and twenty-two million cords, as follows:

The amount of wood used for domestic purposes is given by States as follows:

From the above data we have prepared the following table showing the average number of cords consumed for domestic purposes only (stated in cords and hundredths of a cord), the average price per cord, and total consumption for each man, woman, and child in each of the States named in the above question:

According to this exhibit the effect of the marvelous coal fields of Pennsylvania and Illinois on the consumption and price of wood is very apparent and significant. The above does not include the wood converted into charcoal, of which there were 74,008,972 bushels, valued at $5,276,736, consumed in the production of iron and the precious metals in the twenty largest cities of the Union; which does not cover probably half the entire amount used in this country.

LARGEST AMERICAN LOCOMOTIVES.

Answer.—This question was referred to Messrs. Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co., of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, and their reply in full is subjoined:

“Replying to your favor of the 8th inst., we may say that there has been considerable activity of late in the construction of very large locomotives, the most approved railroad practice having changed materially within the past few years with respect to the weight of the engines employed. We have recently built some very heavy locomotives for the Northern Pacific Railroad, which weigh, in working order, exclusive of the tender, about 115,000 pounds. The tenders with coal and water weigh about 65,000 pounds each, additional, making the total weight of engine and tender some ninety net tons. These engines have cylinders 20x24 inches.

The Central Pacific Railroad Company have recently built in their Sacramento shops some very heavy locomotives with four pairs of driving wheels coupled and a leading four-wheeled truck, which weigh in working order, exclusive of the tender, about 123,000 pounds. The weight of the tender, with coal and water, is about 65,000 pounds, making the total net weight of the engine and tender some ninety-three net tons. These engines have cylinders nineteen inches in diameter and thirty inches stroke, and are probably at this time the heaviest engines in use in this country.”

BUTTER PRODUCT OF A GOOD COW.

Answer.—Of course the butter product depends on the kind of stock, the pasturage and winter feed, the care of the cattle, and the skill and industry of the butter-maker. The following statement of Mr. Wm. Guinter, of Twin Grove, Wis., shows the average annual product of butter realized by him from six cows, together with the average value of this product: “I have kept a strict account for one year of the income from six cows. I have sold 1,185 pounds of butter, and counting four pounds a week of cream and butter for family use of four persons, increases the total product to 1,393 pounds. The highest price received per pound was 38 cents, and the lowest was 16 cents, making an average of 26 cents. The whole amount realized, then, was $362.18,[Pg 40] or $60.36 a cow. I have my cows come in fresh in the fall on account of making a better quality of butter and getting a better price. I keep them in good condition all winter: feed chopped corn and oats and all the clover hay they want. Feed about three quarts of chop twice a day to each cow. My cows are only the common grade. I have clover pastures, but never turn cattle in till the first or middle of May, so as to let it get a good start, and then the pasture will be good all summer. Some of my neighbors ask: ‘Do you think it pays?’ I do it whether it pays or not: but I think it does. You can’t expect a great yield of milk from straw and dry cornstalks. What stock you keep, keep well. It will pay.” 2. Obviously the value of a good milch cow depends somewhat on the locality. A cow is worth more in the immediate neighborhood of a good market than in a region remote from such a market. With the above average product of a good cow, in pounds, to guide one, every intelligent person can form a judgment as to whether it will be profitable for him, taking the price of butter and feed in his own market, to pay $50, or more or less, for a good cow.

VACCINATING IMMIGRANTS.

Answer.—The best answer to these questions is contained in the reports of the supervising inspectors of the National Board of Health, under whose authority, conferred by an act of Congress, the examination, or inspection, of immigrants entering the United States and traveling therein is conducted. The report of the Supervising Inspector of the Western District, Dr. John H. Rauch, Springfield, Ill., dated Nov. 10, 1882, shows that in this district there were 94,839 immigrants inspected between June 1 and Oct. 31, 1882, of whom 17,195, with or without their consent, were vaccinated, as the case seemed in the judgment of the assistant inspectors to call for:

Cases of small-pox found on the trains by the inspectors are removed to small-pox hospitals. There were seven such cases in October, 1882, in the Western District.

BRIDGES AND RHYTHMIC VIBRATION.

Answer.—Measured vibrations are more trying to any kind of bridges, and particularly to suspension bridges, than irregular agitation. Music alone would not strain a bridge enough to injure it materially; but a regiment of troops keeping step to music when crossing a suspension bridge would subject it to a very severe strain. Consequently it is customary to stop the music before troops reach the bridge, and let the men break step, and march more or less irregularly. The reason of all this is obvious. The structure will naturally suffer least strain when at rest. When in uniform motion the bridge acquires a momentum equal to its entire suspended weight multiplied by the velocity of the motion. It is manifest that, in the case of a heavy structure, a uniform downward vibration, be it ever so small, would develop a momentum of many tons in the direction of a breaking strain. The same disturbing forces acting irregularly, so as to counteract one another, would be far less trying to the structure.

THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR.

Answer.—The Franco-Prussian war was formally declared, on the part of France, July 19, 1870. The South German States, since then incorporated with Prussia and the other North German States in what is now called the German Empire, soon took sides and the Franco-Prussian war became the Franco-German war. On Sept. 1 the Emperor Napoleon surrendered his sword at Sedan. The war was protracted through the winter by the obstinate resistance of Paris, but the German army entered the city on Feb. 28, 1871, and ratifications of the preliminary treaty of peace were exchanged March 3. The severest fighting was over, and France was virtually at the mercy of Germany at the end of the first four months.

NATIONAL DEBTS OF FRANCE AND GREAT BRITAIN.

Answer.—The present national debt of France is considerably larger than the national debt of Great Britain. On Jan. 1, 1879, the former was £794,481,439, and it has increased since then. On March 31, 1881, the latter was £768,703,692.

THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA.

Answer.—You probably refer to what is known as “the leaning tower of Pisa,” in one of the oldest and most famous cities of Italy. It is a campanile, or bell tower, commenced in 1174, by Bonannus of Pisa, and William of Innsbruck. It is cylindrical in shape, 50 feet in diameter, 179 feet high, and leans about 13 feet out of perpendicular. It is divided into eight stories, each having an exterior colonnade, or gallery. The top is reached by 330 steps. It was not purposely built to lean. The foundation settled more on one side than on the other until it reached the present inclination, which it has maintained with scarcely any perceptible increase for hundreds of years. The defect in the foundation was discovered before its completion, and the upper part of the structure was built in a manner to counteract in part the inclination; and the grand chime of bells, seven in number, of which[Pg 41] the largest alone weighs 12,000 pounds, is mounted with reference to counteract this fault still further. This magnificent tower is justly regarded as one of the wonders of the world.

VIRGINIA STATE DEBT.

Answer.—The whole of the Virginia State debt was contracted before the war, for railroads, canals, turnpikes, and public buildings, including penal and charitable institutions. Of course any debts made in aid of the rebellion were wiped out by section 4 of the fourteenth amendment to the Constitution of the United States. On Jan. 1, 1861, the State owed $33,248,141.63. On Jan. 1, 1870, owing to non-payment of interest during the intervening ten years, the debt had accumulated to $45,660,348. The constitutions of Virginia and West Virginia (the latter of which had been constructed out of Virginia during the war) both provided for an equitable apportionment of this joint indebtedness; but the two States have never agreed on a division. In March, 1871, the State of Virginia passed an act to set aside one-third of the debt to West Virginia, which contained about one-fifth of the population and one-third of the territory of the original State and a trifling proportion of the public improvements for which the debt was created, and to give the bondholders new bonds payable in thirty-four years with 6 per cent interest annually, and certificates promising that the payment of the remaining one-third would be provided for in accordance with such settlement as should thereafter be made with West Virginia. This left as the debt of the present State of Virginia $29,614,793 (report of Second Auditor, 1881). The State’s creditors hastened to exchange old evidences of indebtedness for the new bonds, which went forward rapidly until about two-thirds of the whole were refunded, when, a majority of Readjusters having been elected to the Legislature, the process of refunding was stopped. The old bonds left outstanding by this sudden change of policy constitute what is known as the “Peeler debt.” The interest coupons on the new bonds were “receivable for taxes and all dues and demands against the State,” and have been honored, but the interest on the Peeler debt has been paid only in part. In 1879 the creditors proposed the exchange of the bonds then outstanding for new bonds bearing 3 per cent interest for ten years, 4 per cent for twenty years, and 5 per cent for ten years, making an average of 4 per cent. The total principal of the debt at this time was $29,367,958.06. Accordingly the “McCulloch bill” was passed, binding the State to this settlement: and bonds to the amount of $8,000,000 were issued under this law. Senator Johnston, in an article in the North American Review setting forth the above facts, claims that, had the law been faithfully executed, the surplus revenue of 1879, after paying interest on all the State’s indebtedness and all State expenses of the government and the public schools, would have been more than $400,000, which would have gone to pay off so much of the principal.

Senator Riddleberger, in his reply to Mr. Johnston, in the North American Review for April, 1882, declares that instead of there being any surplus in the State Treasury at the close of 1879, the Readjusters found, on their accession to power, Jan. 1, 1880, “a great mass of the proposed McCulloch tax-receivable certificates ready for issue. They were forced to borrow money to run the government. Half a million of money, due by defaulting treasurers, was uncollected and unsued for. Over $1,500,000 had been diverted from the schools. The charitable institutions of the State were on the verge of bankruptcy.” Nevertheless, the boast of the Virginia press, that the mining, manufacturing, and agricultural resources of the State are developing more rapidly than before the war, is generally believed to be true; the crops of the six principal cereals and potatoes, tobacco, and hay in 1881 amounted to $44,280,690, and the live stock to $33,538,877; the taxable value of property, real and personal, even at the low assessment prevailing, is given at $308,455,135: facts which lead the world to believe that Virginia is perfectly able to pay her debt. Taking the total debt under the McCulloch bill at what Senator Mahone placed it at the time of the passage of the bill, the annual interest would have amounted to not quite $990,000, which, added to $565,000 for public schools and arrearages, and $765,000 for current expenses of the State Government, would make but $2,320,000. That same year the net revenue, if faithfully collected, would have amounted to $2,606,425.36, so that there would have been a remainder of $286,500 to apply as a sinking fund. Since then the Riddleberger bill has become a law, and the debt has been scaled down to about $20,000,000, instead of about $33,000,000, which is nearly what it would be had the McCulloch law been carried out. As there is no provision for the payment of the $15,239,370 set over to West Virginia, and which the latter repudiates on the ground that she has offsets to all her proportion of the original debt, it appears that the total loss to the State’s creditors, adding the accrued interest on the latter amount, is over $36,000,000, or fully 80 per cent of the amount conceded by the act of 1871 to be the total sum then due them.

POINTS OF A GOOD SHOT-GUN.

Answer.—The following, in the opinion of skilled manufacturers and practiced sportsmen of this city, are essentials of a first-class shot-gun. The barrel should be of laminated or Damascus steel or stub-twist (the former being generally preferred), and full choke or modified choke bore. A taper bore is also highly esteemed. Length of barrel, 28 to 32 inches; bore, 10 to 12 gauge. The gun should be a breech-loader,[Pg 42] with rebounding lock and extension rib. Pistol grip, patent fore-end are points insisted on by some, although they are hardly to be classed as essentials. The front action or bar lock is a feature of many of the best guns. Among English guns the Greener and Scott stand very high; among Belgian, Charles Daly; among American, Parker, Colt, Remington, Nichols & Lefevre, and Baker; and in the Northwest, the Abby gun, manufactured in this city, is a favorite. Good English guns range from $350 to $400. Good American guns with English barrels may be had at prices ranging from $200 to $300.

WEALTH OF THE UNITED STATES PER CAPITA.

Answer.—The following statistics represent the amount of taxable property, real and personal in each State and Territory, and also the amount per capita.

THE OLDEST HISTORIANS.

Answer.—Herodotus is the oldest of the Greek historians. He was born 484 B. C. He is generally recognized as the father of history. Berosus was an educated priest of Babylon, who lived about 260 B. C., and wrote in Greek three books of Babylonian-Chaldean history, the materials for which he declares he found in the ancient archives of Babylon. Manetho was an Egyptian historian, of the priestly order, who lived in the reign of Ptolemy Soter, in the beginning of the third century B. C. He, too, obtained the materials for his works from the temple records at his command, from which he wrote two works, one on the religion and the other on the history of Egypt. Only fragments of the writings of Berosus and Manetho remain—preserved in the works of Josephus, Eusebius, and other later writers. There are historical records on the ancient monuments of Egypt, Babylon, and Assyria which date back to earlier days, but except the historical books of the Old Testament, beginning with those of Moses (who was born 1738 B. C.), and some of the writings of Confucius (born 551 B. C.), there is nothing antedating the writings of Herodotus that is regarded as history.

FORMS OF LEAD CRYSTALS.

Answer.—The primitive form of galena, or sulphate of lead, crystals is the cube. Whenever left free to crystallize, subject to no extraneous force or pressure, this ore takes that form. At cross veins it takes modified forms, the angles and edges of the cubes being replaced by faces, so as in many cases to form octahedral crystals. Now just why lead seems to have been more free to take its simple primitive form when crystallizing in east and west veins or lodes than in veins running in other directions is still largely a matter of theory or conjecture. Some theorists think that the north and south magnetic currents, to which the polarity of the magnetic needle is attributed, have something to do with this phenomenon, but a great many other wise people think nobody knows.

NATIONS OF THE GLOBE.

Answer.—The following is a full list of the nations of the world, each of which has its own distinctive national colors or flag: The United States of America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, San Salvador, Costa Rica, the United States of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentine Confederation, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Hayti, and San Domingo, which are all the independent nationalities of North and South America and the West India Islands; Great Britain and her dependencies in both hemispheres, France and her dependencies in Asia, Africa, and Oceanica, the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain and her dependencies in both hemispheres; Portugal and her dependencies in Asia and Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and her dependencies in both hemispheres, Denmark and her colonial possessions, Sweden and Norway, Greece, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Turkey or the Ottoman Empire,[Pg 43] Andorra, San Marino, and Monaco; the only independent States of Africa (except those wholly savage), Liberia, Orange River Free State, Transvaal Republic, Morocco, and Abyssinia; the only independent nationalities of all Asia—Persia, Burmah, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Siam, China, and Japan; finally the Sandwich Islands. This makes a total of fifty-seven nations universally recognized and diplomatically treated as such, although several of them, like Afghanistan and Burmah, are little more than nominally independent, and two of them—Monaco, with an area of only 5¾ square miles, or less than a Congressional township in this country, and a population less than 6,000, and San Marino, with an area of barely 23-8/10 square miles and less than 8,000 inhabitants—are so insignificant in comparison with their great neighbors that it seems a mockery of the name to call them nations. Indian tribes, Esquimaux, tribes of Africa, Asia, and Australia, although taken into treaty relations as independent or quasi independent peoples, are never correctly spoken of as nations in the sense in which the term is used in international law.

ENTERING LAND IN DAKOTA.

Nine-tenths of the persons who have inquired of me about Dakota land entries since my brief note in The Inter Ocean did not inclose stamps or postal cards for replies. I have answered all that did observe this plain business rule. I am no land agent, nor have I land to sell, so I ask you to publish the following notes, which will answer nearly all the questions asked me. [A person should not invite a general correspondence through a paper like The Inter Ocean, “whose parish is the world,” unless he is prepared to employ one or two stenographic correspondence clerks. In almost every instance that we have published contributors’ invitations to Farm and Home readers to write to them, these rash friends have sent us word that they were deluged with correspondence.—Ed]. Of course, in the beginning all the government land in Douglas County, D. T., was subject to entry under the pre-emption and homestead or timber-culture acts. But at present there are not more than three hundred vacant quarters in the county, and, since the timber-culture act only allows one such claim in each section, these unentered quarters can be taken only under the homestead and pre-emption acts. A timber-culture claimant is required to plant ten acres of trees and protect and cultivate them for eight years. As no settlement is required, these claims are in good demand, the relinquishments selling for from $200 to $400, owing to location. Under the pre-emption law the settler pays $2 to file his claim. After he has lived upon the land six months final proof can be made by paying $1.25 per acre. Under this entry the claimant is allowed thirty-three months in which to prove up, at the end of which time, if he has not complied with this requirement, the land is again open for settlement. Under the homestead law the settler pays $14 to enter. He has then six months in which to begin his residence on the land, after which time, if he has not complied with the law, it can be contested on the ground of abandonment. Where a settler is unable to begin his residence and settlement within the time allowed by law, he can dispose of the claim by relinquishing to the government and allowing some one else to enter. Nearly all the land throughout the central part of the county has been taken; and what government land there is remaining is mostly in the western part and around the borders of the county. Relinquishments range in price from $50 to $300, owing to location and quality of the land.

RECORDS OF THE BRITISH CELTS.

Answer.—That they had any written records there is great reason to doubt, although there are inscriptions on certain rude stone monuments in parts of Wales, as in the southeastern counties of Munster, Ireland, consisting of long and short lines, known as Ogamic characters, the antiquity of which is not well determined. As far as deciphered, these inscriptions throw no direct light upon the origin of the Celtic race. Their spoken language, reduced to writing after the introduction of Christianity, is the only key of any importance to their origin. This language plainly marks them as an early offshoot of the Aryan family, the common Asiatic stock from which all the ruling races of Europe have descended. The descriptions left by the Romans of the aborigines of Britain at the time of the Roman conquest represent them as fierce, cruel barbarians. Neither Cæsar’s Commentaries nor the writings of Tacitus and other historians of the period of the Roman domination convey evidence that the Britons had any knowledge of letters until the Roman and Greek characters were taught them. Neither do these historians preserve any oral traditions of the British bards or druids calculated to shed much light upon the early history of the Celtic race.

REPUDIATING STATES.

Answer.—Virginia, W. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota have each of them, at one time or another, repudiated a part of their State debts. Illinois repented almost immediately in sackcloth and ashes, and settled with her creditors. Indiana has settled everything but about twenty old internal-improvement bonds, which will no doubt soon be liquidated. Minnesota has recently determined to settle with her creditors, although the railroads, in aid of which the repudiated bonds were issued, were not constructed in conformity with[Pg 44] the law, and the bonds are badly tainted with fraud. In every case but that of Minnesota and South Carolina repudiation came in under Democratic regimes.

THE CAPITAL OF LOUISIANA.

Answer.—The capital of the first colonial government of Louisiana was fixed at Biloxi, in 1699. It was transferred to New Orleans in 1723. New Orleans was the capital of the Territory of Orleans, organized in 1804 out of a part of the vast Louisiana purchase. In 1812 the State of Louisiana was formed with New Orleans as the capital. In 1847 Baton Rouge was made the seat of the State government, and it remained so until after it came into possession of the Union army during the late war. A provisional government was established at New Orleans in 1864, and the State constitution of 1868 made that city the capital; but by the new constitution of Dec. 2, 1879, the honor of being the seat of the State government was restored to Baton Rouge, where it was established in 1880.

ANGORA AND CASHMERE FLEECES.

Answer.—The Angora goat takes its name from the Turkish city and village of Angora, in the interior, mountainous region of Asia Minor (about 220 miles E. S. E. of Constantinople), which exports 2,000,000 lbs of mohair annually. The animals are highly prized, and command from $250 to $1,250 for the finest males and $200 to $900 for females, there being several varieties. The Cashmere goat is named from Cashmere, a province between India proper and Thibet. The animals are most numerous in Thibet, but most of the wool—or mohair, as it is technically termed—is manufactured in Cashmere, the 16,000 or more looms of which turn out about 30,000 shawls every year, worth in London from £100 to £450. There are marked differences in the “staples” of these two species of goats. They both have two coats. In the case of the Angoras there is a coarse, short hair close to the skin, and a long, curly, outer covering of the nature of wool, very soft and silky and, in good varieties, from seven to nine inches long. This is the more bulky and valuable part of the fleece. The Cashmere goat, on the contrary, has a coarse, outer coat of different shades from gray to black and a fine undergrowth of beautifully soft, silky texture, almost downy. It is perfectly straight, of a uniformly grayish color and glossy luster, and is fully double the length of the Angora staple, the best grades measuring eighteen inches. This is combed out of the animal’s coat in the spring, when it begins to be shed, and the product is so light that it has been said that the average yield is but three ounces per goat, which would require the product of ten goats for the manufacture of a shawl a yard and a half square. It is certain, however, that the yield of the finer animals ranges from seven to nine ounces. The value of this mohair in Cashmere is from 30 to 40 cents a pound. It is not exported to this country to such a degree as to establish a market quotation. There is some of the Angora mohair imported for manufacture in our Eastern States, at prices ranging, according to quality, from 60 cents to $1 a pound. The Angora goat has been successfully introduced into the British colonies of South Africa. Cape Colony alone exported in 1878 the sum of 1,300,585 pounds, valued at £105,313, or about 32 cents a pound. It is believed that it can be raised with profit in the mountainous parts of Georgia and Alabama, and still farther north; and in the mountainous districts of California and Oregon.

AN EARLY CALIFORNIAN COIN.

Answer.—It being impossible to find any quotation of the value of the coin referred to, Messrs. Stevens & Co., well-known numismatists of this city, were asked to answer the above questions. The following is their reply: “The $20 gold piece here designated gives a good deal of trouble to curiosity hunters and coin collectors in general; very much as is the case with the silver dollar of 1878 with eight feathers in the eagle’s tail. There is no premium on either of them. There is no certain history of the Moffat & Co. pieces. They were a private coinage and issued under miner’s law; and all ’49 Californians know the potency or persuasive powers of that law. The quality or fineness of the pieces is below standard and their value much below our current $20 piece. The San Francisco mint was established in July, 1852, and very soon after that all private coinages ceased. Most of these pieces find their way into the brokers’ offices and are sold only at bullion prices.”

MOCHA COFFEE.

Answer.—The genuine Mocha coffee is produced in the province of Yemen, South Arabia. It takes its name from Mokha, the chief port of exportation, on the Red Sea. Very little of it, and that of inferior quality, is ever seen west of Constantinople. Mr. W. G. Palgrave, the Arabian traveler, says: “Arabia itself, Syria, and Egypt consume fully two-thirds of the annual crop, and the remainder is almost exclusively absorbed by Turkish and Armenian esophagi. Nor do these last get for their share the best or the purest. Before reaching the harbors of Alexandria, Jaffa, Beyrout, etc., for exportation beyond there, the northern bales have been sifted and resifted, grain by grain, and whatever they may have contained of the hard, rounded, half transparent, greenish-brown berry, the only one really worth roasting and pounding, has been carefully picked out by experienced[Pg 45] fingers, and it is the less generous residue of flattened, opaque, and whitish grains which almost alone goes on the shipping. So constant is this selecting process that a gradation regular as the degrees in a map may be observed in the quality of Mokha, that is Yemen, coffee, even within the limits of Arabia itself in proportion as one approaches to or recedes from, Wadi Nejran and the neighborhood of Mecca, the first stages of the radiating mart.” About 10,000 pounds of this coffee are exported annually through the port of Mokha, says another authority; but this seems to be consumed, as Mr. Palgrave says, mainly in Africa and Turkey.

The Mocha sold in the markets of Western Europe and America is from the East Indies. Some of it even never crossed the Atlantic, being produced in the West Indies or Central or South America. The really exquisite flavor of this choice, small berried coffee, together with the almost fanatical prejudice of the Turks for it, because it is raised in Arabia, and the limited production, sufficiently account for the high price it commands.

INDEX OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

Answer.—Happily we do now know where to direct not only this correspondent but other inquirers where to find a complete index of all periodical literature in the English language of any importance, whether upon the above-named subject or any other. It is in “An Index to Periodical Literature,” by William Frederick Poole, LL. D., Librarian of the Chicago Public Library: published by James R. Osgood & Co., Boston. This is the only work of the kind, except Dr. Poole’s first and second indexes, published the one in 1848, and the other in 1853, both of which are out of print and were mere pamphlets in comparison with this noble volume, a royal octavo of 1,442 pages. Fresh from the press, it is brought down to a very recent date. The answers to the above questions and another, from two correspondents who wish to read up on the protective tariff and free trade controversy, may serve to illustrate the advantages of this invaluable index. Under William Shakespeare there are eight and a half columns of references by title to articles in American and English reviews and magazines on Shakespeare and his works, all of which are alphabetically arranged. Running along the “A” column we come to “Authorship of” (Shakespeare), “and Lord Bacon. (Delia Bacon) Putnam, 7:1.—Frazer, 90:164. Same art, Liv. Age, 123:131.—Chamb, J., 18:87—Nat. R. 5:72—Canad. Mo. 16:76—(A. Morgan) Appleton, 21:112, 481. 23:481. 24:14—(M. B. Benton) Appleton 21:336.-Blackw, 80:616.—(C. C. Shackford) No. Am. 85:493.—(A. G. Sedgwick) No. Am. 104:276.—(N. Hawthorne) Astan. 11:43.—(E. O. Vaile) Scrib. 9:743.—(J. F. Clarke) No. Am. 132:163.—(W. H. Smith) Liv. Age, 51:481.—Harper, 34:263.—Nation, 2:402.—Scrib., 9:392.” This answers Mrs. M. B. W.’s question as to where she and her Shakspearean Club are to look for periodical literature on the Baconian theory of the authorship of Shakespeare.

Now turn to “Tariff,” and there are nearly two columns of titles of articles on this subject and where to find them; among them being the following, arranged under the head of “Protective Tariff.”

“Protective, (J. C. Pray) Hunt, 2:119.—(H. J. Burton) Hunt, 11:254.—(M. D. L. Rodet) Hunt, 11:299.—(E. Everett) No. Am., 19:223.—(A. H. Everett) No. Am., 03:160; 32:127.—No. Am., 35:265.—(F. Bowen) No. Am., 73:90.—(H. Greeley) Am. Whig R. 2:111; 4:215; 5:201; 14:81. Ed. R., 72:321. Dem. R., 7:341; 9:329; 10:357; 14:291, 447; 19:163.—Am. Q., 10:444; 11:345.—So. R., 2:582; 6:206; 8:213.—Niles R., 17:87; 19:331; 20:306, 354; 21:121, 147; 22:2, 292; 23:40, 118; 24:99, 116.—So. Lit. Mess., 8:421.”

Turning to the introduction of the book we find all the above abbreviations clearly explained, and the place of publication of each of the several periodicals referred to. For example: “Putnam, 7:1,” stands for Putnam’s Magazine, number 7, page 1; “Blackw. 80:616,” signifies Blackwood’s Magazine, number 80, page 616, and so on. Every public library in the land—city, village, college, high school, whatever its name—needs such a guide as this to periodical literature, and it is easy to see that no private library of any pretensions can do without it.

WHY 1900 WILL NOT BE A LEAP YEAR.

Answer.—The old Roman year contained but 355 days, divided into twelve lunar months, with an intercalary month thrown in at certain intervals, as became necessary, to atone for the fact that it requires more than twelve precise lunar months to make a year. This arrangement led to great confusion, and Julius Cæsar, in the year B. C. 46, remedied the trouble in large degree by the introduction of what is known as the Julian calendar, which regarded the year as composed of 365¼ days. This was a great improvement, but as a matter of fact the natural year contains 11 minutes 10 seconds less than 365¼ days, which difference amounts in a hundred years to 18 hours 36 minutes 40 seconds, or a little more than three-fourths of a day. As a consequence, between the year A. D. 325—when the Council of Nice established the rule for the determination of Easter Sunday—and the year 1582 there was found to be an accumulated error of ten days. Whereas the sun had crossed the equator at the vernal equinox of A. D. 325 on March 21, it crossed it in 1582, according to the Julian calendar, on March 11. Pope Gregory XIII., resolved on ending the confusion attendant upon this imperfection of the generally accepted calendar, ordained[Pg 46] that what according to this mode of reckoning would have been Oct. 5, 1582, be reckoned as Oct. 15; and to prevent a repetition of the error he further ordained that every hundredth year should not be a leap year, excepting the year 2000 and every four hundredth year thereafter. Manifestly the omission of an entire day every four hundredth year would be too much by about one day, since, as above shown, the error in the Julian mode of reckoning amounts only to 18h. 36 min. 40 sec. in a hundred years, or about three days in four hundred years. This correction the Gregorian amendment effects by the rule above stated, which took the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 out of the list of leap years, and left the year 2,000 in that list. This leaves but the small difference of 36 min. and 40 sec. in a hundred years between the civil and natural years: which amounts to no more than twenty-two seconds a year, or about six hours in 1,000 years. In England the change from the old style of reckoning to this new style was not ordered until 1751, by which time the error that was but ten days in Gregory’s time had grown to eleven days. The order took effect in England and the Colonies as regarded all official dates and reckoning, in September, 1752, when eleven days were left out of the calendar by reckoning Sept. 3 as Sept. 14. This explains apparent discrepancies between authors who wrote in the latter half of the last and the early part of this century. For example, some early biographies of Washington say that he was born Feb. 11, others that he was born Feb. 11, O. S., or Feb. 22, N. S. Some biographical sketches of John Adams, Washington’s successor, declare that he was born Oct. 19, 1735, without indicating that this was according to the old reckoning, while others state that he was born Oct. 30.

LEGISLATION FOR THE PEOPLE.

Answer.—It is useless to waste words on men so ignorant or politically mendacious as “elderly Democrat.” The following memorandum is for the benefit of younger and fairer minded men. First of all there is the series of acts ending in the preservation of the Union and the emancipation of 4,000,000 men who were so far from being “monopolists” or holders of corporation shares that they were slaves; as they would be to-day had the Democrats remained in power. It would take columns to enumerate the laws brought forward by Republicans and enacted since they came into power which have immensely benefited the people at large, and not “only monopolies,” as you express it. Among these are the laws which have brought cheap postage and rapid postal transportation; the homestead and timber culture acts; the establishment of the only thoroughly secure national paper currency and general banking system this country has ever enjoyed; the resumption of specie payments in the face of Democratic and Greenbacker opposition; the maintenance of the public credit against rebellion in the South and the Democracy in the North, re-enforced subsequently by the Greenback party, both clamoring for total or partial repudiation; the abolition of all duties on tea and coffee; the establishment of State schools of agriculture and industrial science, endowed by government land grants; the promotion of American inventions, manufactures, and mining, until it is considered that this country leads the world in useful inventions, and the capital invested in its factories is nearly three times as great as it was in 1860, when the Republicans came into power—the number of hands employed being 2,738,885, or more than double as many; the amount paid in wages, more than two and a half times as much; the value of farms, forest, mine and other materials consumed (nearly all American) about three and a third times as much; and the value of the product almost three times as great. As some of the consequences of the above industrial legislation, the public lands are passing into the hands of the people in homesteads and timber culture claims alone at the rate of 8,000,000 acres a year; and the twenty years from 1860 to 1880 added as many farms to the cultivated domain of the country as all its previous history. Gold, notwithstanding all the products of our fields and mines, not only stopped flowing out of the country, as it had done during all our former history, but began to pour in from other lands, millions on millions. While throughout all the vast interior of the country, notwithstanding the marvelous multiplication of farms, farm products are higher than in 1860, and nearly all manufactured goods that enter into general consumption are lower. In the same brief period the assessed taxes on real estate and personal property have mounted from $12,084,560,005 to $16,902,993,543.

EARTHQUAKES.

Answer.—According to that eminent physicist, F. W. Rudler (see his contribution to the Encyclopedia Britannica on “Earthquakes”), “even at the present day, after all that has been written on the subject, but little is known as to the origin of earthquakes.” The general opinion of investigators is that these agitations proceed from within outward, and are not of atmospheric or other external origin. True, Professor Alexis Perry, of Dijon, France, thought he had discovered relations between the ages of the moon and these recurrences, which seemed to sustain the theory of Zantedeschi, that the liquid nucleus of the earth responds to the moon’s attraction in tides, somewhat as the ocean does: but the theory that the earth has a liquid nucleus covered with only a thin, solid crust, is losing adherents continually. The theory of vibration communicated by meteoric impact has been advanced as accounting for some earthquakes. Another theory is that[Pg 47] earthquakes are caused in some instances by steam from water rushing into the bowels of volcanoes, or from explosions of pent-up gases, generated by chemical decomposition of minerals. Others believe that many of these phenomena are due to magnetic disturbances, following eruptions in the sun. The prevailing opinion still is that whatever their origin, whether of one cause, or various causes, the vibrations of every earthquake can be traced to a focus within the earth, and that this lies directly beneath the point of greatest disturbance on the earth’s surface. After the great shock at Naples in 1857, Mr. Mallet, aided by the Royal Society, by determining the wave paths of the shock at twenty-six different stations, was able to locate the focal depth of the earthquake at about five and a half miles; and Dr. Oldham, by observations on the wave effects of the earthquake which occurred at Cachar, India, on Jan. 10, 1869, found that the focus of disturbance must have been about thirty miles below the surface. This is very near the maximum depth at which any earthquake is likely to originate, if we accept the reasoning of that most eminent of all investigators of this class of phenomena, Mr. Mallet, of Dublin, Ireland. There are credible records of between 6,000 and 7,000 earthquakes between 1606 B. C. and 1842 A. D. Professor Fuch’s more careful observations of recent years show that there were probably many times that number of unrecorded ones, since he registered ninety-seven during the year 1875 and 104 during 1876. In view of this fact this subject appears to be one of the most interesting problems of nature and is attracting growing attention, which, it is hoped, will presently lead to definite, satisfactory conclusions.

SOUTHEASTERN DAKOTA.

Having seen questions in The Inter Ocean inquiring about Dakota, and seeing no answers from this county, I concluded to write and tell what I know of it. Aurora is the fourth county from the eastern boundary and the third from the southern. It is considered by all who have traveled over it as one of the finest in Southern Dakota. The county is forty-eight miles long and twenty-four miles wide. In the northwestern portion are situated the “Wessington Hills.” These extend from northeast to southwest as far as the Missouri. Among them are beautiful broad valleys and lakes of clear water. The climate is all that can be desired. Last summer the days were warm and the nights invariably cool, so that after a hard day’s work you could lie down and rest sweetly. The past winter here, as in all other parts of the Northern States, has been very cold and stormy. One month, however, would take in all of the very cold weather. One foot would cover all the snow that we have had this winter. The soil is a black loam, varying in depth from one to six feet. The shallowest we have found on our land is eighteen inches, and the deepest four feet. It is very productive. Last year the crops yielded as follows: Corn from 25 to 60 bushels per acre, wheat from 20 to 40 bushels, oats from 50 to 80 bushels, barley from 30 to 60 bushels, rye from 40 to 60 bushels, flax from 7 to 22 bushels, buckwheat from 10 to 30 bushels, potatoes from 100 to 300 bushels, and all other vegetables yielded enormously. The way this county is filling up is wonderful. One year ago last fall there were only about 150 people in the county, and to-day there are between 450 and 500, and scores more coming on every train. If emigrants continue coming as they have done for the last eighteen months, this county will soon be filled up. Spring has already opened out with us, and farmers are putting in their wheat and barley. Plankington, our county seat, which hardly had a name eighteen months ago, is to-day a fine little village of over 700 inhabitants. With early and deep planting this country will grow almost anything.

INCOME OF THE CZAR.

Answer.—The annual income of the Czar of all the Russias probably averages a great deal more than $25,000 a day. The crown domains comprise more than a million square miles, covering an area exceeding that of all our New England, Middle, and Southern States. These include cultivated lands, pastures, and forests in different parts of this vast empire, which embraces in its despotic arms more than one-sixth the entire land surface of our globe. Besides the revenue from the above estates, the Czar derives a large income from gold, silver, copper, and other mines in Siberia. The actual total of his immense revenue from all these sources is not stated in the government budgets or finance accounts, the crown domains being considered the private property of the imperial family. In a British consular report of 1867 the total income of the imperial family is estimated at £2,450,000 sterling, which is an average of about $33,500 a day. The imperial contributions to charities, schools, theaters, etc., are estimated by the same authority at about £450,000, leaving a net sum of £2,000,000 a year to “keep the family.”

GETTYSBURG AND WATERLOO.

Answer.—The heaviest losses suffered by either side in any single battle of the late war were at Gettysburg. The numbers engaged and the losses are stated differently by different writers. Before the Committee on the Conduct of the War, General Meade, the Union commander, said: “Including all arms of the service, my strength was a little under 100,000—about 95,000.” Understanding this to include General French’s 7,000 men, who were by a blunder kept idle at Frederick, and about 4,000 more of French’s force, who had been detailed for special service—none of whom were brought into this battle—it would appear that Meade’s[Pg 48] force at Gettysburg was about 84,000 men of all arms. This corresponds very nearly with General Humphrey’s statement that the Army of the Potomac in this action comprised 70,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, with an artillery force of 300 guns. Of the Confederate forces, General Humphrey says that General Lee entered Pennsylvania with 85,000 infantry, 8,000 cavalry, and a due proportion of artillery. Greeley’s “American Conflict” says: “Lee’s army, carefully counted by two Union men independently, as it marched through Hagerstown, numbered 91,000 infantry, with 280 guns and 6,000 cavalry, while not less than 5,000 cavalry under Stuart advanced into Pennsylvania without passing through Hagerstown.” The Union loss was 23,190, of whom 2,834 were killed, 13,713 wounded, and 6,643 missing. The Confederate loss is not officially stated. It is estimated by one writer (in the American Cyclopedia) at 5,000 killed, 23,000 wounded, and 8,000 unwounded prisoners—a total of 36,000, which is evidently an exaggeration. Greeley’s “American Conflict” estimates Lee’s loss at 28,000, of whom 18,000 were killed and wounded, and 10,000 were unwounded prisoners; while J. Watts de Peyster, in Johnson’s Cyclopedia, estimates Lee’s loss at 31,600—18,000 killed and wounded, and 13,600 missing, which includes the unwounded prisoners in our hands. In the battle of Waterloo, the French army under Napoleon I. (according to P. Nicholas, in Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates) numbered 71,947 men and 246 guns, and the allies 133,661 men of all arms and 260 guns—English, under Wellington, 67,661; Prussians, 66,000 men. The loss of the allies was 22,976: of whom 4,206 were killed, 14,539 wounded, and 4,231 missing. The French loss was 18,500 killed and wounded, and 7,800 prisoners, total 26,300; but other accounts, including some French writers, make their loss about 30,000, the figures given in most English and American cyclopedias.

FRAUDULENT HOMESTEAD AND TIMBER CLAIMS.

Answer.—Undoubtedly the laws mentioned were enacted for the benefit of actual settlers, and not for the enrichment of speculators. The following communication from Samuel Huckins, Esq., of Hartford, D. T., just received, may be taken as an expose of the actual use made of the laws in thousands of instances: “I have been a reader of your worthy paper from the first year of its publication, and as I live away out here in the far West I take a great interest in the doings of Congress in regard to the public lands, of which The Inter Ocean has so much to say. Now my theory and belief is, and always has been, that the public lands should be given to those who will cultivate and improve them—actual settlers who will make for themselves and their descendants a home—and not throw this munificent gift of the National domain into the hands of land-sharks and speculators. Every person taking a claim, and those now holding claims under any of the different acts of Congress, should occupy and cultivate such lands according to the spirit and intent of the laws granting them the same. I think Congress made a very grave error in giving persons who had filed their entries of land under the homestead act the privilege to pay $1.25 per acre for it instead of residing on the land five years, thus giving those who never occupied the land, and probably never will, a great advantage over the first settlers on homestead land, who, in order to hold their claims, had to make the required improvements and have an actual residence. I believe from my personal knowledge that three-fourths of the land acquired under the above act passed into the hands of capitalists and speculators. The bogus homesteader would go to some money lender and get enough money to prove up on his land—say $200 for 160 acres and $50 or $100 besides—giving a deed or mortgage on the same as security. In this way the poor, honest home-seeker is cheated out of the land. There are a great many claims out here, especially timber claims, held by persons who have not fulfilled the requirements of the law, but as the law is now administered they can hold them with impunity. A great share of the land now covered by timber-culture claims on file is in reality far more effectually covered with rank weeds than with growing timber. Under the present system this law is of little value, and keeps off the sincere home-seeker, who would improve the land and help to build up schools and churches, and make for himself and family a much needed home.”

ASSASSINATED ON GOOD FRIDAY.

Answer.—President Lincoln was assassinated on Friday, April 14, 1865, which was Good Friday.

THE DISCOVERY OF MEXICO.

Answer.—The first knowledge of Mexico that reached the Spaniards otherwise than by vague and uncertain stories of natives of the West Indies came through two expeditions fitted out by Diego Velasquez, who made the first European settlements in Cuba. The first of these, under the command of Cordova, sailed from St. Jago de Cuba, Feb. 8, 1517, and landed on the shores of Yucatan and Campeachy. The second, commanded by Grijalvo, landed at various places on the coast, but returned without penetrating into the interior or making a settlement. It carried back such reports of the high civilization and great wealth of Mexico, learned through the natives, as served to intensify the determination of Velasquez to explore, and, if possible, conquer the country. He fitted up a fleet of eleven small vessels and placed them in command of Fernando Cortez, who set sail from[Pg 49] Cuba, Feb. 10, 1519; landed near the present city of Vera Cruz, on March 4, and became the first actual explorer of the country, and the founder of the Spanish dominion in Mexico.

TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES.

Answer.—1. On the conquest of Wales by Henry III. of England, he bestowed the principality of Wales and earldom of Chester on his son, afterward Edward I., as an office of trust and government. In 1343 Edward III. invested his son Edward, the “Black Prince,” with the principality, and from that time the eldest son of the reigning King has borne the title of Prince of Wales. 2. The President pays the expenses of entertainments given at the Executive Mansion out of his annual allowances, and the amount so expended is a private matter.

J. C. CALHOUN—WHIG PARTY.

Answer.—1. Calhoun aspired to the Presidency at the end of President Jackson’s first term. This led to a personal alienation and final violent rupture between the two. Calhoun was elected Vice President along with Jackson in 1828, but he resigned the office in 1831 for the above reason, and in order to accept the United States Senatorship vacated by Mr. Hayne when the latter was elected Governor of South Carolina. 2. Martin Van Buren, of New York, succeeded Mr. Calhoun. 3. The growth of the Free Soil and Abolition parties in the North killed the old Whig party.

GREAT FIRES OF HISTORY.

Answer.—The loss of life and property in the willful destruction by fire and sword of the principal cities of ancient history—Nineveh, Babylon, Persepolis, Carthage, Palmyra, and many others—is largely a matter of conjecture. The following is a memorandum of the chief conflagrations of the current era:

In 64, A. D., during the reign of Nero, a terrible fire raged in Rome for eight days, destroying ten of the fourteen wards. The loss of life and destruction of property is not known.

In 70, A. D., Jerusalem was taken by the Romans and a large part of it given to the torch, entailing an enormous destruction of life and property.

In 1106 Venice, then a city of immense opulence, was almost wholly consumed by a fire, originating in accident or incendiarism.

In 1212 the greater part of London was burned.

In 1666 what is known as the Great Fire of London raged in the city from Sept. 2 to 6, consuming 13,200 houses, with St. Paul’s Church, 86 parish churches, 6 chapels, the Guild Hall, the Royal Exchange, the Custom House, 52 companies’ halls, many hospitals, libraries, and other public edifices. The total destruction of property was estimated at $53,652,500. Six lives were lost, and 436 acres burnt over.

In 1679 a fire in Boston burned all the warehouses, eighty dwellings, and vessels in the dock-yards; loss estimated at $1,000,000.

In 1700 a large part of Edinburgh was burned; loss unknown.

In 1728 Copenhagen was nearly destroyed; 1,650 houses burned.

In 1736 a fire in St. Petersburg burned 2,000 houses.

In 1729 a fire in Constantinople destroyed 12,000 houses, and 7,000 people perished. The same city suffered a conflagration in 1745, lasting five days; and in 1750 a series of three appalling fires: one in January, consuming 10,000 houses; another in April destroying property to the value of $5,000,000, according to one historian, and according to another, $15,000,000; and in the latter part of the year another, sweeping fully 10,000 houses more out of existence. It seemed as if Constantinople was doomed to utter annihilation.

In 1751 a fire in Stockholm destroyed 1,000 houses; and another fire in the same city in 1759 burned 250 houses with a loss of $2,420,000.

In 1752 a fire in Moscow swept away 18,000 houses, involving an immense loss.

In 1758 Christiana suffered a loss of $1,250,000, by conflagration.

In 1760 the Portsmouth (Eng.) dock-yards were burned, with a loss of $2,000,000.

In 1764 a fire in Konigsburg, Prussia, consumed the public buildings, with a loss of $3,000,000; and in 1769 the city was almost totally destroyed.

In 1763 a fire in Smyrna destroyed 2,600 houses, with a loss of $1,000,000; in 1772 a fire in the same city carried off 3,000 dwellings, and 3,000 to 4,000 shops, entailing a loss of $20,000,000; and in 1796 there were 4,000 shops, mosques, magazines, etc., burned.

In 1776, six days after the British seized the city, a fire swept off all the west side of New York city, from Broadway to the river.

In 1771 a fire in Constantinople burned 2,500 houses; another in 1778 burned 2,000 houses; in 1782 there were 600 houses burned in February, 7,000 in June, and on Aug. 12, during a conflagration that lasted three days, 10,000 houses, 50 mosques, and 100 corn-mills, with a loss of 100 lives. Two years later a fire, on March 13, destroyed two-thirds of Pera, the loveliest suburb of Constantinople, and on Aug. 5 a fire in the main city, lasting twenty-six hours, burned 10,000 houses. In this same fire-scourged city, in 1791, between March and July, there were 32,000 houses burned, and about as many more in 1795; and in 1799 Pera was again swept with fire, with a loss of 13,000 houses, including many buildings of great magnificence.

In 1784 a fire and explosion in the dock-yards, Brest, caused a loss of $5,000,000.

But the greatest destruction of life and property[Pg 50] by conflagrations, of which the world has anything like accurate records, must be looked for within the current century. Of these the following is a partial list of instances in which the loss of property amounted to $3,000,000 and upward: