OUR CURIOSITY SHOP. (continued 5)

H. E. T.

Answer.—The ordinary means of lighting and warming Esquimaux igloos, or winter huts, is a large basin of oil furnished with moss wick. These basins are scolloped from soapstone or similar material. The oil is the product of the whale, seal, or other fish, or of the white bear, but usually the former. Igloos are huts usually a half or more underground, and finished above ground with stones, bones, turf, and moss, and finally with ice and snow. Sometimes they are constructed of blocks of ice and compact snow, with transparent ice windows. The igloo is reached by a long tunnel-like entrance, is unventilated, and soon after the great lamp is lit the heat from this and the warmth from the bodies of the inmates render the mephitic air almost suffocating. These people, generally, eat their food raw or but half cooked.

GOTHAM.

Chicago, Ill.

Why is New York City called “Gotham?” What is the origin and meaning of Gotham?

J. C. Starr.

Answer.—In “Salmagundi,” a humorous work written by Washington Irving, his brother William, and James K. Paulding, this name is applied to New York, to suit the purpose of the authors in representing the inhabitants as given to undue pretensions to wisdom. Of course, the allusion is to the inhabitants of Gotham, a parish in Nottinghamshire, England, who were as remarkable for their stupidity as for their conceit. All the follies of English wiseacres were attributed to them. Fuller says: “The proverb of ‘as wise as a man of Gotham’ passeth publicly for the periphrasis of a fool; and a hundred fopperies are forged and fathered on the townsfolk of Gotham.” It was said that when King John was about to pass through Gotham toward Nottingham he was prevented by the inhabitants, who thought that the ground over which a king passed became forever a public road. When the King sent to punish them they resorted to an expedient to avert their sovereign’s wrath. According to this, when the avengers arrived they found the people each engaged in some foolish occupation or other, so that the King’s messengers returned to court and reported that Gotham was a village of fools. In time a book appeared, entitled “Certain Merry Tales of the Mad Men of Gotham,” compiled in the reign of Henry VIII., by Andrew Borde, a sort of traveling quack, from whom the occupation of the “Merry Andrew” is said to be derived. Among these tales is the story of “The Three Wise Men of Gotham,” who went to sea in a bowl. The book had a wonderful sale. Walpole attributed it to Lucas de Heere, a Flemish painter, resident in England in the time of Queen Elizabeth, but the weight of evidence is in favor of Borde’s being the author, or compiler, it being mostly a compilation of popular legends even then from four to five hundred years old.

ST. PETER’S AND COLOGNE CATHEDRAL.

Fox Lake, Wis.

Which is larger, St. Peter’s Cathedral or the cathedral at Cologne? Please give the dimensions of both.

Ella Lyle.

Answer.—The dimensions of St. Peter’s at Rome, the largest cathedral in the world, are as follows: Length of the interior, 613½ English feet; of transept, 446½ feet; height of nave, 152½ feet; and the diameter of cupola, 193 feet. The height of the dome from the pavement to the top of the cross is 448 feet. Cologne cathedral is 511 feet long, and 231 feet broad. The towers are 511 feet high. This famous building, founded by Archbishop Conrad, designed by Architect Gerhard von Riehl, and commenced Aug. 15, 1248, was not completed until Aug. 14, 1880. It was solemnly opened with august ceremonies, Oct. 15, of the same year.

ORIGIN OF CHESS.

Farmington, Minn.

Please state the origin of the game of chess.

O. H. Baker.

Answer.—Chess is such an ancient game that its origin is unknown. Many of the most learned Oriental scholars have written upon the subject, appealing to history and philology to support their theories. It has been ascribed to a Chinese mandarin by the name of Han-Sing, who, it is said, invented it as an amusement for his soldiers when in winter quarters, about 174 B. C. They call it “the play of the science of war.” Sir William Jones, the great Sanscrit scholar, claimed that Hindu traditions, the names of the pieces, and other particulars indicate that chess was played in India in the earliest times. He writes that a learned Brahmin assured him that it was mentioned in several of the oldest books of India, where it was declared that it was invented by the wife of one of the most ancient kings of Ceylon to amuse that monarch while Rama was besieging his metropolis. This, by their reckoning, was 2,000 to 3,000 years before the commencement of our era. On the other hand, several later scholars of Sanscrit think it was invented in India by Buddhists some time between the third and ninth centuries, A. D., a theory inconsistent with the unwarlike nature of Buddhism and the fact that the Hindu name of the game, “chaturanga,” is a military name, signifying the game of armies, corresponding with the Chinese name for chess, given above. Others have ascribed this game to the Babylonians, Persians, Scythians, Egyptians, Jews, Greeks, or Romans, according to their several theories, but the weight of evidence is in favor of its being of Indian or Chinese origin, and this is now the generally accepted belief.

STATE SECRETARIES.

Chicago, Ill.

Oblige us with a list of the names of Secretaries of State for the principal Western States.

B.

Answer.—Since the names of the Secretaries of State for Texas, Oregon, and Washington Territory are called for by another correspondent, and such information is not within convenient reach of most persons, we give below a full list of Secretaries of all the States and Territories. Persons wishing information in regard to State inducements to immigration, State resources, taxation, etc., can usually obtain it by writing to the Secretary of State, who will transmit the question to the proper officer for the reply called for.

Alabama—Ellis Phelan. Arkansas—Jacob Frolich. California—T. L. Thompson. Colorado—Melvin Edwards. Connecticut—D. Ward Northrop. Delaware—William F. Cansey. Florida—John L. Crawford. Georgia—N. C. Barrett. Illinois—Henry D. Dement. Indiana—William R. Meyers. Iowa—John A. T. Hull. Kansas—James Smith. Kentucky—James Blackburn. Louisiana—William A. Strong. Maine—Joseph O. Smith. Maryland—James T. Briscoe. Massachusetts—Henry B. Pierce. Michigan—Henry A. Conant. Minnesota—F. Von Baumbach. Mississippi—Henry C. Meyers. Missouri—Michael K. McGrath. Nebraska—Edward P. Roggen. Nevada—J. M. Dormer. New Hampshire—A. B. Thompson. New Jersey—Henry C. Kelsey. New York—Joseph B. Carr. North Carolina—Wm. L. Saunders. Ohio—Sames W. Newman. Oregon—R. P. Earhart. Pennsylvania—Wm. S. Stenger. Rhode Island—J. M. Addeman. South Carolina—R. M. Sims. Tennessee— ——. Texas—Thomas H. Bowman. Vermont—George Nichols. Virginia—Wm. C. Elam. West Virginia—Randolph Stalkner, Jr. Wisconsin—Ernst G. Trimme. Arizona—George H. Hand. Idaho—Thomas F. Singiser. Montana—L. D. McCutcheon. New Mexico—Wm. G. Ritch. Utah—Arthur L. Thomas. Washington—N. H. Owings. Wyoming—Elliott S. N. Morgan.

CONGRESSMEN-AT-LARGE.

Newton, Iowa.

Explain what is to be understood by “Congressmen-at-large.”

Inquirer.

Answer.—The act of Congress of February, 1882, provided for a reapportionment of the membership of the House of Representatives, based on the census of 1880, provided that in the cases of States entitled under this apportionment to additional representation, the additional members in the Forty-eighth Congress might be elected on a general State ticket; also, that in all cases where the number of representatives was reduced, as in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, the whole number for such State should be elected at large, “unless the Legislatures of said States have provided or shall provide before the time fixed by law for the next election of Representatives therein.” Kansas, for example, which is entitled by this act to four additional representatives, did not redistrict before the last Congressional election, and so she elected four Congressmen at large, viz., Edmund W. Morrill, Lewis Hanback, Samuel R. Peters, and Bishop W. Perkins. Maine did not redistrict, so all her representatives were elected at large, instead of by districts.

CONTESTANTS OF SEATS IN CONGRESS.

Bloomington, Iowa.

To settle a dispute between me and a Greenbacker, who claims that when a seat is contested in Congress the contestant doesn’t draw any pay if he fails to get the seat, except his expenses, while I contend that both draw pay until the contest is decided, state which is right.

John Taylor.

Answer.—Section 2 of chapter 182 of “Supplement to the Revised Statutes of the United States,” par. 15, says: “That hereafter no contestee or contestant for a seat in the House of Representatives shall be paid exceeding $2,000 for expenses in election contests; and before any sum whatever shall be paid to a contestant or contestee for expenses of election contests he shall file with the clerk of the Committee on Elections a full and detailed account of his expenses, accompanied by the vouchers and receipts of each item, which shall be sworn to by the party presenting the same.” Nevertheless it is customary for Congress to vote compensation to contestants by appropriations in the nature of “relief bills,” where each case is presumed to stand on its own merits.

BALLOONS AND THEIR PERFORMANCES.

Auburn, D. T.

Please give some facts as to the capacity of balloons; what is used to fill them, and what are some of the greatest balloon performances?

L. J. Swartz.

Answer.—The buoyancy of a balloon depends on the weight of the gas with which it is inflated compared with the weight of common air, bulk for bulk. Hydrogen is the lightest of all known substances. A cubic foot of atmospheric air at a temperature of 34 degrees weighs 527.04 troy grains, while a cubic foot of hydrogen is about fourteen and a half times lighter than this. Coal gas is about two and a half times lighter than air. If a balloon would contain 1,000 pounds of atmospheric air at temperature of 34 degrees Fahrenheit, but filled with coal gas would weigh, all told—covering, gas, and appendages—600 pounds, it would rise with a force equal to the difference of these two numbers, or 400 pounds. Mr. Glaisher, not long since, constructed a balloon containing 90,000 cubic feet of coal gas, that carried 600 pounds, and rose to the unsurpassed height of 7½ miles, where the barometer, which stands at about 30 at sea level, sank to only 7 inches, showing an atmosphere of only about 22 per cent of the weight at sea level. The longest balloon trip on record is that of the late Professor J. Wise and Mr. La Mountain. Starting from St. Louis for New York City, they traveled 1,150 miles in a little less than twenty hours, when, being caught in a contrary current, they were compelled to desist. Mr. Lowe’s mammoth balloon was said to contain 700,000 cubic feet of coal gas and have a lifting power of 22½ tons; but it was badly constructed and accomplished nothing remarkable. In some 10,000 recorded ascents made since the Montgolfiers invented their famous balloons, just 100 years ago this year, there have been but fifteen deaths among 1,500 aeronauts; which indicates less danger in this business than is generally supposed.

JEFFERSON DAVIS.

Ferry, Mich.

1. Give a short biography of Jefferson Davis.

G. F. Page.

Answer.—Jefferson Davis was born in Kentucky in 1808; first became prominent in politics as a member of the House of Representatives, and later as Senator from Mississippi. He served in the Mexican war, having been educated at West Point. During President Pierce’s administration Davis was Secretary of War, and was said to rule both President and Cabinet. In 1857 he was returned to the Senate, where he remained until chosen President of the Confederacy in 1861. This office he held for four years. In 1865, after the fall of Richmond, Davis was captured and imprisoned in Fortress Monroe for two years; was released on bail in 1867, and finally liberated by the general amnesty, Dec. 25, 1868. He is still disqualified from holding any office of honor or emolument under the General Government.

GOVERNMENT PUBLIC LAND SALES.

Sheldon, Iowa.

I have heard on good authority of the sale, by officers of public land offices, of timber claims at public auction to the highest bidder for cash. Is there any authority of law for such a proceeding?

C. H. Cottle.

Answer.—Where large bodies of land are to be sold, a proclamation is issued in the name of the President, describing the tracts, and specifying the time and place of sale. When only a few isolated tracts of land, not embraced in the regular proclamations, are to be disposed of, notice is given in a local newspaper. The land is then sold to the highest bidder for cash only. Purchasers are not compelled to reside on or cultivate such lands. As the present policy of the government is to encourage pre-emption and homestead settlement and timber culture there are now few public land sales. Lands that have been offered at public sale but not sold may be bought at any time thereafter at the local land office if not withdrawn from market. This is called a private sale or entry.

MAGGIE MITCHELL.

Vicksburg, Mich.

Please give a short biography of Maggie Mitchell. What is her present age?

S. C. Van Antwerp.

Answer.—Maggie Mitchell, one of the best-known of American actresses, was born in New York City in 1832 of Scotch parents, in very humble circumstances. When very young she was employed in simple child parts in the old Bowery Theater, for a pittance, which went to help support the family. When not more than 19 years of age, she had advanced to playing parts of some importance, and about this time, 1851, she made her first appearance at Burton’s Theater as Julia, in the “Soldier’s Daughter,” which was her first capital success. Soon after this she went on a “starring tour” that proved profitable and widely extended her reputation. She made her first appearance in Philadelphia at the Chestnut Street Theater on March 20, 1854, as Constance in “The Love Chase.” Up to 1862 Miss Mitchell was content to appear in amusing characters, earning the reputation of a clever comedienne, but about this time she got hold of a clumsy, heavy dramatization of George Sand’s popular novelette, “La Petite Fadette.” She applied herself to the animating and popularizing of this play, and the result is her now famous drama “Fanchon,” many of the most charming and pathetic parts being entirely of her own creation. Since June 9, 1862, when she first produced “Fanchon” on the stage at Laura Keene’s Theater, New York, it has maintained a living interest which never fails to draw a house. Other plays of her composition or dramatization have followed, including “Jane Eyre,” “The Pearl of Savoy,” and “Mignon,” a stage rendering of an episode in Goethe’s “Wilhelm Meister,” but none have equaled, in popular esteem, Fanchon. Miss Mitchell was married Oct. 15, 1868, to Henry Paddock, of Cleveland, her present popular stage manager. Although she is now 51 years of age, she impersonates the girlish characters of her repertory with all the sprightliness and youthful vivacity that won the hearts of her auditors twenty years ago.

ARCHBISHOP LAUD—WHY BEHEADED.

Please give an account of the life, character, and death of Archbishop Laud.

C. P. B.

Answer.—William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury, the son of a Berkshire clothier, was born in 1573. He was ordained priest in 1601, and became vicar of Stanford in 1607. From this position he rose rapidly in power, by his executive ability and manifestation of hatred of Puritanism, until in 1628 he was appointed Bishop of London. Early in his career he had won the favor of the King, who thought he saw in him a powerful advocate of the doctrine of the divine right of kings, though Laud was really more interested in maintaining the divine right of Episcopacy. In 1617 he attempted, with the aid of King James, to establish the Episcopacy in Scotland, but in vain. In 1630 he was made Chancellor of Oxford, the center of high-church loyalty, and, according to the wish of his sovereign, attempted to repress Puritanism by slitting noses, clipping ears, fines, branding, and imprisonment. In the high-commission and star-chamber courts his power was almost absolute. But gradually he won the bitterest hatred of the English people, until in March, 1640, seven years after his appointment to the Archbishopric of Canterbury, he was imprisoned in the Tower by order of the House of Commons. He was brought to trial in the House of Lords, Nov. 13, 1693, on charge of treason and other crimes, of which they acquitted him; but they soon afterward gave their assent to the ordinance for his execution, passed by the Commons. He had lived until the Puritans, whom he had despised and persecuted, had come into power, he had made the Scots his implacable foes, and nothing less than his blood would satisfy them. Despite of a royal pardon, by an act of arbitrary power on the part of Parliament, overriding all constitutional precedents, he was beheaded Jan. 10, 1644.

VICTORIA’S CHILDREN AND CHILDREN-IN-LAW.

Battle Creek, Mich.

Please name Queen Victoria’s children and their husbands and wives, and stations in life.

Belle Shipman.

Answer.—The eldest child of Queen Victoria is Victoria Adelaide Maria Louise, Princess Royal, married to the Crown Prince, Frederick William, of Germany, Jan. 25, 1858. Her eldest son, the second child, is the Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, heir-apparent to the throne; married to the Princess Alexandra, eldest daughter of the King of Denmark, March 10, 1863. Her third child was Alice Maud Mary, married to Louis IV., Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, July 1, 1862; died Nov. 15, 1878. Her fourth child is Alfred Ernest Albert, Duke of Edinburgh, married Jan. 23, 1874, to the Grand Duchess Maria of Russia. Her fifth is Helena Augusta Victoria, married July 5, 1866, to Prince Frederick Christian, of Schleswig-Holstein. Her sixth is Louise Caroline Alberta, married March 21, 1871, to John, Marquis of Lorne, present Governor General of Canada. Her seventh is Arthur William Patrick Albert, Duke of Connaught, married March 13, 1879, to Princess Louise Margaret, daughter of Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia. Her eighth is Leopold George Duncan Albert, Duke of Albany, married April 27, 1882, to the Princess Helen, daughter of the Prince of Waldeck. Her ninth is Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodora, still unmarried. We are not prepared to publish their pictures.

ROUTE TO SINALOA, MEXICO.

Baldwin, La.

What is the route from here to Sinaloa, Mexico? Is the Northern part of that State good for the culture of sugar cane? To what market would one ship from there?

M. D. G.

Answer.—The most direct route from New Orleans would be via the Southern Pacific and Sonora Railways to Guaymas, 353 miles southwest of Benson, on the Southern Pacific, where one can take steamer about the 15th or 16th of each month for Mazatlan, the principal port of Sinaloa, on the Gulf of California. Sugar cane, oranges, figs, and other semi-tropical and tropical fruits flourish in Sinaloa; particularly in the Valley of the Rio del Fuerte. Mazatlan furnishes a market for the products of the country, or one can ship to San Francisco or New York direct, via the California and Panama steamers.

FUSIBILITY OF ALLOYS.

Hudson, M. T.

Why does it takes a hotter fire to melt pewter than lead?

J. B. L.

Answer.—Pewter is an alloy, composed of tin and lead, sometimes with a little copper or antimony or bismuth, combined in different proportions, according to the purposes it is to serve. Plateware, which has a bright, silvery luster when polished, is composed of 100 parts of tin, 8 parts of antimony, 2 parts of bismuth, and 2 of copper. Brittannia ware is said to be an alloy of equal parts of brass, tin, antimony, and bismuth. Now it is characteristic of alloys that they are always more easily fusible than the least fusible metal entering into their composition, and some of them, strange to say, are more fusible than the least fusible of their constituents. For instance, although bismuth alone requires a heat of 476 degrees Fahrenheit to fuse it, lead 600 degrees, and tin 442 degrees, an alloy of these metals composed of five or eight parts of bismuth, two or five parts of lead, and three of tin, melts at 198 to 200 degrees; and an alloy of sodium composed of sodium and potassium in certain proportions melts at 80 degrees, although sodium alone requires 194 degrees and potassium 124 degrees to fuse them. The explanation is not fully determined, but it is to be found in the laws of chemical affinity. Different metals expand at different rates in the same degree of heat, which tends to separate the atoms; and electrical currents are produced which magnify the heat applied externally.

AUTHOR OF SCHONBERG-COTTA FAMILY.

Lake City, Iowa.

Who is the author of “Schonberg-Cotta Family?” Give a short sketch of the same, and tell the correct pronunciation of Schonberg-Cotta.

Aggie.

Answer.—The authoress of “Schonberg-Cotta Family” is Mrs. Elizabeth Rundle Charles, only child of the late Hon. John Rundle, member of Parliament for Tavistock. She was born about 1826; received a liberal English education; was encouraged in literary work by her father; and has written a number of works of fiction of high moral tone, including the two historical fictions “Schonberg-Cotta Family” and the “Diary of Kitty Trevylyan,” intended to recall the early struggles of the two great reformers, Luther and Wesley. Among her other works are “The Martyrs of Spain and Liberators of Holland.” It is almost impossible to denote the German pronunciation of “o” in Schonberg without oral illustrations. Webster says that to utter this sound one must place the organs in the position for o long and then try to utter the sound of e in met. All the other syllables in the compound word, Schonberg-Cotta, are to be pronounced nearly as in English, except that the e in berg is almost like a long.

GOLD AND SILVER IN THE SEA.

Peoria, Ill.

Is the expression, “There is gold in the sea,” only a poetic fiction or is it true? As a friend says that there is gold and silver in some kinds of sea water?

A Constant Reader.

Answer.—Sea water is impregnated with certain chemical salts, including chlorides, sulphates, bromides, iodides, and carbonates, some of which have the power of dissolving gold and silver or holding them in solution. The chemist Sonstadt has recently shown that sea water contains nearly one grain of gold to the ton of water, held in solution by iodide of calcium; and it has been known for some years that the old copper stripped from the bottoms of ships is often so rich in silver taken from the sea that it pays a profit on the cost of smelting it. It is estimated that the ocean holds in solution at least 2,000,000 tons of silver. Assuming this to be the metric ton of 2,204.6 pounds, the above total is equivalent in weight to 77,448,000,000 American standard dollars—nearly seven times the total silver product of the world from the earliest times to the close of 1879, or $11,315,000, as estimated by that eminent statistician, the Russian councillor, Otreschkoff. A large discount might be made from these estimates, and yet there would be enough left, aside from all the treasures of sunken Spanish galleons and oriental argosies, to demonstrate that the saying, “There is gold in the sea,” is not merely a poetic fancy.

FRENCH POOLS—PARIS MUTUALS.

Chicago, Ill.

Kindly explain “French pools,” or “Paris mutuals,” as used in horse-racing circles.

R. L. K.

Answer.—“French pools” are sometimes called “Paris mutuals.” This system of betting consists of selling tickets on each horse at a certain price. On the race-courses of this country the “mutuals” are $5 each. When the race is started the tickets are all added up in one large pool, and those who hold tickets on the winning horse divide the total pool, less 5 per cent to the pool-seller. For example, in a Paris mutual, tickets in the pool were sold as follows:

Horse. Tickets. Price. Total.

No. 1 10 $5 $50.00

No. 2 9 5 45.00

No. 3 4 5 20.00

No. 4 7 5 35.00

No. 5 8 5 40.00

Total $190.00

Less 5 per cent 9.50

Net amount for winners $180.50

Here there is a net amount of $180.50 to be divided equally between holders of tickets on the winning horse. In this case, if horse No. 3 wins, each of the four ticket-holders receives $45.12.

THE WIVES OF COLUMBUS.

Cortland, N. Y.

When was Columbus married and whom did he marry?

B. S.

Answer.—Christopher Columbus was twice married. His first wife was Felipa Munnis Perestrelle, daughter of an able Captain of Prince Henry of Portugal, called the “Navigator.” He married her in 1471. His father-in-law’s charts, globes, etc., helped to mature his plans of discovery. Diego, who accompanied his father on the occasion when they were reduced to such straits that Columbus begged at the monastery of La Rabida for bread and water for the child, was the only issue of this marriage. This wife died in 1483 or thereabout. He next married Beatriz Enriquez, at Cordova, in 1487. She was the mother of his second son, Fernando Columbus, who in time became his father’s biographer.

POSTAGE ON MANUSCRIPT.

Cooksville, Wis.

What is the postage rate on manuscript for books or newspapers?

Inquirer.

Answer.—Ruling 264, page 683 of the Postal Guide for 1883 says: “All manuscript matter designed for publication in books, magazines, periodicals, or newspapers is subject to letter postage, unless accompanied by proof-sheets or corrected proof-sheets of such manuscript, or of which such manuscript is a correction or addition.” Ruling 508, page 711, says: “‘Book manuscript’ is a term no longer used in the postal law. Manuscript accompanied by proof-sheets, and corrected proof-sheets relating to it, may pass in the mails as third-class matter in unsealed packages.” The rate for third-class matter is “1 cent for each two ounces or fractional part thereof.”

PERPETUAL ALMANACS.

Bloomington, Ill.

Please give a rule for finding the day of the week on which any historical event occurred when only the day of the month is given.

Chronologist.

Answer.—This is too much like a question in arithmetic for these columns, from which all arithmetical problems are ruled out. Several distinct classes of questions might come up under “Chronologist’s” query. One of the first considerations is to determine whether the historical date is given in “old style” reckoning or “new style,” as a separate rule must be applied in each of these cases. Another rule applies to dates before the Christian era. Leap years are taken into account in all these rules. Every example involves an arithmetical computation. There are “perpetual almanacs” that contain tables and rules for all such computations. There is a chart published in this city entitled “Almanac for All Time, Past and Future,” which answers all queries of this nature.

CHICAGO FLOWER MISSION.

Canton, Ill.

What is the Flower Mission of Chicago? State the nature of its work, and how to reach it by letter or express.

Mrs. J. D.

Answer.—The object of the Chicago Flower Mission is to collect and distribute flowers among the charitable institutions of the city; chiefly through the wards of hospitals. The influence of these cheery tokens of loving sympathy is believed to be most wholesome. The condition of the mind has, in most cases of disease, a great effect on the body. Nothing does more to recuperate the sick than a hopeful, cheerful spirit, and a lively love of life and earnest wish to recover. Flowers and their associations are delightful reminders of the world in its fairest phases, and woo the sick back to life with a tender eloquence akin to love. Letters or offerings of flowers addressed to the “President of the Chicago Flower Mission, Atheneum Building, Chicago,” will reach the mission.

LAND ENTRIES BY MARRIED WOMEN.

Rochelle, Ill.

Please tell whether a married woman can take up government land in place of her husband, and oblige at least one of your readers,

C. A. Reynolds.

Answer.—Under the pre-emption laws, which restrict the pre-emption privilege to heads of families, widows, or single persons over the age of 21, who are citizens of the United States or who have declared their intention to become such, it has been judicially decided: 1. That if a single woman marry after filing her declaratory statement, she thereby abandons her right as a pre-emptor, although it is not so in the case of timber-culture claim or homestead entry; 2. The “head of a family” means the actual, living head of a family; hence, that “a deserted wife or one whose husband is a confirmed drunkard may be the head of a family;” also, that “a married woman who has minor children and has been abandoned by her husband without cause and left to support and maintain herself and children, is the head of a family and entitled to pre-empt in her own name.” Under like circumstances married women may make homestead and timber-culture entries. Otherwise a married woman cannot pre-empt government land or make a homestead or timber-culture entry.

CASUALTIES OF THE CIVIL WAR.

Chicago, Ill.

Will you please settle a dispute by telling how many lives were lost in our civil war; and how many were so wounded as to seriously cripple them for life?

A Reader.

Answer.—According to the Provost-Marshal General’s report, the casualties in the Union army from the commencement of the late civil war to its close, or say until Aug. 1, 1865, were as follows:

Killed—

Volunteer officers, white 3,357

Volunteer enlisted men, white 54,350

Officers of colored troops 124

Enlisted men of colored troops 1,790

Regulars 1,355

Total 60,976

Died of Wounds—

Volunteer officers 1,595

Volunteer enlisted men 32,095

Officers of colored troops 46

Enlisted men of colored troops 1,037

Regulars 1,174

Total 35,959

Died of Disease—

Volunteer officers 2,141

Volunteer enlisted men 152,013

Officers of colored troops 90

Enlisted men of colored troops 26,211

Regulars 3,009

Total 183,467

Discharged for Disability—

Volunteer officers 3,058

Volunteer enlisted men 209,102

Officers of colored troops 166

Enlisted men 6,889

Regulars 5,091

Total 224,306

The report of the Adjutant General of the army about five years later, Oct. 25, 1870, puts the total number of deaths in the Union army during the rebellion at 303,504, while the Surgeon General of the army reports the number at 282,955. The Adjutant General reports the total number killed in battle as 44,238; the Surgeon General reports 35,408; the former reports the total number who died of wounds as 33,993; and the latter as 49,205; the former reports the number who died of disease as 149,043; the latter as 186,216. The Quartermaster General reports the total number of graves under his supervision as 315,555; only 172,309 of which have been identified. Taking all things into consideration, the differences, according to these several reports from officers of different departments, are, in most instances, readily accounted for.

According to the only data at hand, the total Confederate losses in action are estimated as follows: Killed, 51,525; wounded, 227,871. The number who died of wounds and disease is not stated; according to a “partial statement” in the American Almanac for 1883, was 133,821. It is not clearly stated whether this includes those killed on the field.

To the above should be added the losses in the Union and Confederate navies, amounting in the case of the former to 4,030 killed and wounded in action; 2,532 died of disease; and 2,070 other casualties.

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND.

Independence, Iowa.

Will the Curiosity Shop please to give the origin of the Church of England, and an outline of its history?

H. N. Baker.

Answer.—The history of the Church of England previous to the Reformation is closely connected with that of the Roman Catholic Church. Tradition states that some of the Apostles first carried Christianity to Britain, and the later work was carried on by Sts. Augustine, Aidan and Chad. From the eighth till the sixteenth century the English Church was subject to Rome, and the final separation was due to the extreme measures adopted at the Council of Trent. But for 200 years the seed sown by Wycliffe had been bearing fruit and preparing the people for the great work of Luther. From 1066 to 1356 there was a constant struggle between the civil and ecclesiastical powers. Then came Wycliffe’s translation into English of the Bible, and his continued war against some of the leading doctrines of the Romish Church, which led to the formation of a new sect called the Lollards, holding views similar to those of the present church. Despite persecution the new doctrines spread, encouraged by Cranmer, and later by Queen Elizabeth, until in 1562 the thirty-nine articles of faith were finally reviewed and adopted, and Protestantism was recognized as the religion of England. In 1801, by the “Act of Union,” the Episcopal churches in England and Ireland were united but the latter church was disestablished and disendowed in 1869.

WILLIAM WALLACE—ROBERT BRUCE.

Valley, Wis.

1. Will you please give a few of the principal facts in the life of Sir William Wallace? 2. Where and when did Robert Bruce die?

E. F. Marshall.

Answer.—1. Wallace was the younger son of a Scottish knight of good family in the southwest of Scotland. Neither the date nor the place of his birth is definitely known, but the former must have been about 1270. There is nothing certain known of his early life. He first comes into notice as the leader of an insurrectionary movement against Edward I. who had usurped the regal rights of John Baliol, King of Scotland, and held him a prisoner in the Tower of London. In 1297 the rebellion against Edward had become general, and Wallace, resolved to force the liberation of Baliol and the independence of Scotland, made preparations to invade England. On the 11th of September he defeated the English forces under the Earl of Surrey at Sterling Castle with great slaughter, and, pursuing them into Cumberland and Northumberland, ravaged that portion of England. On his return he was made Governor of Scotland, or Regent, in the name of the imprisoned monarch. This elevation of a man of comparatively humble birth over the nobility of Scotland excited fierce jealousy among the latter, which undoubtedly had much to do with the defeat of the Scots the subsequent year by the English King and an overwhelming army at Falkirk, July 22. The war was continued with varying fortunes for seven years, but in 1304 Edward compelled the Scots to submit, granting amnesty to all the insurgent nobles. Wallace, however, was excepted from amnesty, and, having been betrayed into the hands of Edward by his own countrymen, he was carried to London, where, after a mock trial on the charge of treason, and the endurance of barbarities of the most savage nature, he was executed Aug. 23, 1305. His name is held in reverence by all true Scots, who now concede to him the glory of having roused the Scotch love of country, and led the way to that sturdy resistance of English oppression which finally resulted in averting the fate that overtook Ireland. A monument to Wallace was erected at Abbey Craig, near Stirling, at a cost of £13,000, and inaugurated Aug. 27, 1869. 2. Robert Bruce, King of Scots, died at Cardross Castle, on the firth of Clyde, June 7, 1329.

ANNUAL EXPENDITURES OF THE UNITED STATES.

Dixon, Ill.

What has been the least expenditure of the United States Government in any single year since it was established; also what has been the greatest, and what has been the annual expenditure of each year since the war?

A Subscriber.

Answer.—The gross expenditures of the United States Government in 1791 amounted to $3,797,436.78. This is the lowest sum, and the next lowest was in 1793, $6,479,977.97. The greatest amount any year before the great rebellion was in 1859, during Buchanan’s administration, when his Secretary of War was so busy arming the South, $83,678,642.92. The largest amount expended by the government in any single year was in 1865. Beginning with that year the table below shows the gross expenditures of the government year by year down to June 30, 1882:

1865 $1,906,443,331.37

1866 1,139,344,081.95

1867 1,093,079,655.27

1868 1,069,889,970.74

1869 584,777,996.11

1870 702,907,842.88

1871 691,680,858.90

1872 682,525,270.21

1873 524,044,597.91

1874 724,698,933.99

1875 682,000,885.32

1876 714,446,357.39

1877 565,299,898.91

1878 590,641,271.70

1879 966,393.692.69

1880 700,233,238.19

1881 425,865,222.64

1882 529,627,739.12

TRUMAN HENRY SAFFORD.

Aurora, Ill.

What has become of that wonderful mathematician, T. H. Safford? Does he still retain those remarkable powers which distinguished him as a boy? Oblige several readers with a few facts as to his life.

F. Stringer.

Answer.—Truman Henry Safford, once widely noticed as “the remarkable boy mathematician,” was born at Royalton, Vt., Jan. 6, 1836, and graduated at Harvard in 1854. He compiled an almanac when he was 9 years old, making all the astronomical and other calculations. When he was but about 14 he calculated the elliptic elements of the first comet of 1849. He was appointed in 1863 Adjunct Observer in the Cambridge University, and two years later made Acting Director. While at this observatory he determined the right ascension of 1,700 stars and the declination of 450, and made 6,000 transit observations, besides completing Professor Bond’s report of discoveries in the constellation Orion. On Dec. 28, 1865, he accepted the post of director of the Chicago Observatory, where he remained until 1878, making many observations of similar nature to the last above named. He is now connected with Williams College.

HERO AND LEANDER.

Chicago, Ill.

Please tell the story of Hero and Leander, illustrated in the picture displayed in a window on State street, corner of Adams.

Ignoramus.

Answer.—Hero was a priestess of Venus. Leander was a youth of Abydos, a famous city on the Asiatic side of the strait of the Hellespont, nearly opposite the city of Sestos on the European coast, where he first saw Hero. It appears to have been a case of love at first sight, and an intensely ardent case at that. Hero’s office as priestess, and the resolute opposition of her parents stood in the way of their union, cold and strong as the swift current of the Hellespont, which at this its narrowest point, is swift and deep, and about one and a quarter miles wide. Undaunted by all these obstacles, Leander swam across the strait every night to visit his beloved, who directed his course by holding a torch from the upper window of a tower on the shore. After many delightful meetings, the dauntless lover was drowned one stormy night, and his body was washed ashore at the foot of the tower where Hero stood, expecting him. Heartbroken at the sight, she flung herself from the tower into the sea, and passed with her lover into the immortality of art and song.

XENOPHON AND GROTE.

Petersburg, Ill.

1. Please give a sketch of the lives of the historians, Xenophon and Grote. 2. Describe the scythed chariots of the Greeks and Persians.

Constant Reader.

Answer.—Xenophon, son of the Athenian, Gryllus, was born B. C. 445-4. He was a pupil of Socrates. He joined the expedition of Cyrus against Artaxerxes, King of Persia, and in the retreat of the ten thousand, following the battle of Cunaxa, became the leader of the Greeks, after the treacherous execution of their former generals. A full account of the expedition and retreat is given in his “Anabasis.” Being banished from Athens soon after his return, he joined the Spartan army, in which he fought against his own countrymen at Coronea. He lived at Scillus, in Elis, for more than twenty years (until driven thence by the Eleans), hunting, farming, and writing. It was there that he wrote the “Anabasis” and the “Hellenica.” The last years of his life were passed at Corinth, where he died about 356 B. C. George Grote, politician, historian, and philosopher, was born at Clay Hill, Beckenham, Kent, Eng., in 1794. As a statesman he was in sympathy with the leading reforms of his time, and made several effective speeches in their behalf. His first work as an author was upon parliamentary reform. The preparation of his history of Greece occupied thirteen years, and the last two volumes were published in 1856. In 1865 appeared his work on Plato. Thereafter he devoted himself to the study of Aristotle. 2. The scythed chariot was used by the Britons and Persians. It had two wheels connected by an axle, upon which rested, without springs, the body of the chariot, consisting of a floor with a semi-circular guard in front about three feet high. It had no seat, and was open at the back. In it stood the warrior and his charioteer. Attached to the rims of the wheels projecting on each side and bristling from the axle were scythes or blades of swords for cutting down those who came in the way.

FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE.

Roberts, Ill.

Tell us something of the birth, education, and work of Florence Nightingale, the famous hospital nurse.

James Bond.

Answer.—She was born at Florence, Italy, in 1823, being the daughter of William Shore Nightingale, Embly Park, Hampshire; she was educated with great care, and was rather notable for her brilliant accomplishments. Very early she showed great interest in all institutions for the alleviation of suffering, and later visited and inspected hospitals throughout Europe. She studied with Sisters of Charity in Paris their system of nursing in the hospitals of that city, and was trained also in the institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserwerthen, on the Rhine. Later she organized the Sanitarium for Governesses in London. Soon after the breaking out of the Crimean war she offered to organize a nursing department at Scutari, and with the consent of Lord Herbert left England Oct. 21, 1854, reaching Constantinople in time to take charge of the wounded from the battle of Inkerman. In 1855 she was prostrated by a fever, the result of overwork, but refused to rest, and remained in Scutari until the English evacuated Turkey, July 28, 1856. The British army almost idolized her. For some years Miss Nightingale has been an invalid, but she has never ceased to plan and work for the welfare of soldiers. At the close of the Crimean war a fund of $250,000 was subscribed to enable her to establish a school for the training of nurses, which is doing a noble work. She has published several books bearing upon the work to which her life has been devoted.

ARTIFICIAL POULTRY BROODERS.

Wichita, Kan.

What is an “artificial mother” or chicken brooder? Please tell us what it looks like and how to use it?

An Old Subscriber.

Answer.—There are two or three illustrations and descriptions of chicken brooders, but they are all essentially the same thing. Of course the nearer it comes to being a good substitute for the hen mother the better it will be. Make a box about three or four feet square and five or six inches deep, with a board top and a sheet-iron, or, still better, a zinc bottom. Some tack a lamb skin, drooping nearly to the bottom, to the top of this box and do not use artificial heat; but the generally approved plan is to use one lamp and tin flue like those used in the artificial incubator, hitherto described, for warming a brooder of this size. Bore several small auger holes through the top as escape flues for the heat; or, still better, arrange three or four tin escape pipes of an inch diameter, as was done in the “heater” of the incubator, dropping them down to within a couple of inches of the bottom of the box. Next cut a strip from some old blanket, or other coarse, soft woolen stuff, and tack it around the lower edge of the box so that it will hang down about four inches all round. Slash this at intervals of three or four inches, so that the chicks can push through it. Now set blocks two inches thick under two corners and three inches thick under the other two corners, and your brooder is ready for use. Keep the temperature up to 80 or 90 deg. Keep the box thoroughly clean, and move it from one dry place to another every day or so. Dust the chicks occasionally with sulphur or pyrethrum, to keep off vermin, and smear their feathers here and there with paraffine. On one side of the brooder there should be a “run” for the chicks to exercise in, which may be a box covered with laths on top and sides, but with space next the ground to allow them to run out. For protection against rats at night cover the whole brooder with a close box perforated with small auger-holes for ventilation.

RELIGIOUS STATISTICS OF CHICAGO.

Rockford, Ill.

What is the present number of churches in Chicago? Does the increase of churches and church membership keep pace with the increase of population?

Mrs. W.

Answer..—Mr. E. F. Cragin, one of the officers of the Congregational Club of this city, has given some attention to this subject, and at the last meeting of the club presented the following figures, based on the census and the number of churches and church members, computed from the best data at hand:

Year. Churches and Missions. Year. Population. Ratio of Members to Pop.

1840 6 1840 4,479 1 to 747

1851 28 1850 28,269 1 to 1,009

1862 84 1860 109,260 1 to 1,301

1870 187 1870 298,977 1 to 1,599

1880 242 1880 503,185 1 to 2,079

These figures include Protestant and Roman Catholic churches, Jewish synagogues, two Mormon churches, several Spiritualists societies, and indeed, every society listed in our city directory as religious organizations. There are 188 of the 242 churches given for 1880, which are classed by Mr. Cragin as Evangelical Protestants, of which 38 have services conducted in foreign languages. The population between 6 and 21 years is given as 155,000, while the total membership of Sunday schools is but 81,289. By way of postscript Mr. Cragin remarks that the number of arrests in 1882 was over 33,000, or 1 to 18 of the population.

BRUNO, THE PANTHEIST.

Northwood, Iowa.

Who was “the Philosopher Bruno?”

L. O. Harmon.

Answer.—Giordano Bruno, the leader of the modern school of pantheistic philosophy, was born at Nola, Naples, about the middle of the sixteenth century. He joined the order of the Dominican Monks, but becoming dissatisfied with some of their doctrines, was expelled. He fled first to Geneva, thence to Paris, and finally to England, meeting with opposition and persecution. In 1585 he returned to Paris, and in the next year went to Germany, where he studied and taught. Becoming dissatisfied there, he settled in Padua, Italy, but was soon after arrested in Venice by officers of the Inquisition, and burned at Rome in 1600. 2. A sketch of Socrates has rarely been given. 3. The Credit Mobilier is also fully explained in the bound volume of “The Curiosity Shop” for 1880.

CITIZENS’ LEAGUE—TEMPERANCE ARGUMENTS.

Mount Morris, Ill.

Favor us with a statement of the precise objects and scope of the Citizens’ League of Illinois, and the chief provisions of its constitution and by-laws: as we may conclude to form a branch organization here.

W. P. J.

Answer.—The organization is called “The Citizens’ League of the State of Illinois.” Its objects are the suppression of the sale of liquors to minors and drunkards, and the enforcement of the liquor laws. These objects it aims to effect (1) by enforcing all existing laws and ordinances, prohibiting the selling or giving of intoxicating liquors to minors or drunkards, and prohibiting minors from playing games in places where liquors are sold, (2) by adopting from time to time such other means as may be deemed necessary, or as may in experience be found advisable for the accomplishment of the general purposes of the organization, which is the saving of our youth from habits of dissipation and vice, and, (3) by organizing and fostering, especially in every county seat in Illinois, local leagues, having the same object in view.

Any local league in Illinois, the name of which contains the words “The Citizens’ League” in addition to words of distinction, and the constitution of which is in harmony with the object of the above association, as expressed in section 2 of article 1 of its constitution, may become a constitutional branch of this league on the payment of $10 per annum, with power to send three delegates to each league meeting.

This organization was founded Nov. 25, 1877, immediately after the riots that were so prevalent throughout the country, commencing with the terrible outbreak at Pittsburg, Pa., in July of that year. Prominent citizens of Chicago observed that nearly all the actors in the gangs of rowdies and loafers that entered manufactories and other business places, commanding employes to stop work, were youths under 20 years of age. An investigation of the causes of juvenile depravity was instituted. They learned that of the 28,035 persons arrested for crime in Chicago in the year 1877 no less than 6,818 were under 20 years of age, and that 1,782 of these were committed to the Bridewell. They also learned that in that year the arrests of minors had increased 720, and the commitments of minors to the Bridewell had increased 200 over the number in the preceding year. With a view of verifying these figures and learning the causes of this wholesale demoralization of the young, they made extensive tours of observation through the city by day and by night, and they soon satisfied themselves that it was the liquor and beer saloons that were transforming the youth of Chicago into vagrants and desperadoes. They found scarcely a saloon in which there were no juvenile customers, while in one of them they found 78, in another 93, and in another 147 children, patronizing the bar like adults. Subsequently detectives were posted at the doors of six prominent concert saloons on the same evening, with instructions to count all the people who entered them between 7 p. m. and midnight. At one door there were counted 1,680 males, 290 females, total, 1,979; at another, 1,423 males, 58 females, total, 1,741; at another, 2,609 males, 254 females, total, 2,863; at another, 2,658 males, 148 females, total, 2,806; at another, 1,657 males, 163 females, total, 1,820, and at another, 1,591 males, 94 females, total, 1,685. It was found impracticable to make a separate count of the minors who entered these places on that evening, but it was plainly seen that of these 11,618 male and 1,007 female customers an astonishingly large proportion were boys and girls. And as there were at that time about 3,000 saloons in the city, it was estimated that not less than 30,000 of the children of Chicago were their regular patrons. The police confirmed this estimate and asserted that, in face of State laws and city ordinances positively prohibiting the sale of beer and liquor to minors, which were regarded as dead-letter laws, there were saloon keepers who made a practice of tempting children into saloons and making them drunk. The first overt act of the league was the arrest of one of these monsters named Baker Born, who had been guilty of enticing into his saloon nine little boys, who were on their way home from Sunday school, and making them drunk. He was arraigned before Justice Daniel Scully and promptly fined $25 and costs. The league drew great inspiration from the public indignation which Born’s crime excited, and from the promptness with which he was punished; and from that time to the present it has gone steadily forward, increasing every year in activity, influence and popularity. The following table contains a succinct statement of its operations (prosecutions and outlay) for the first four years of its existence;

1878. 1879. 1880. 1881. Total.

Saloon-keepers 241 166 96 233 736

To Grand Jury 81 90 50 60 281

Fined by Justice 83 85 13 83 264

Annual Outlay $1,400 $1,600 $1,240 $1,542 $5,781

During the first five months of 1882, 500 saloon-keepers were prosecuted. Of this number, 40 were sent to the Grand Jury, 294 were fined by justices, and 35 held for trial.

The effect of the operations of the league on the morals of the youth of Chicago was instantaneous and permanent. In 1876 the arrests of minors increased 960, and in 1877 they increased 720; but in 1878, the first year of the league’s existence, they decreased 1,418, and in 1879 they decreased 139. And although they have increased slightly in the last two years, the increase is amply accounted for by the policy of the city government and the increase of the population, which increased 204,208 in the last decade, against 188,004 in the previous decade. But notwithstanding both of these adverse influences, there have never been as many minors arrested in Chicago in any year since 1877 as there were in that year. The reduction in the commitments of minors to the Bridewell was even more marked. In 1876 these commitments increased 192, and in 1877 they increased 255. But ever since the league was organized they have constantly decreased. They decreased 211 in 1878; 324 in 1879; 23 in 1880; and 17 in 1881.

For a pamphlet containing an address detailing the origin, operations, and successes of this league, and a copy of its constitution and by-law, address the Citizens’ League of Illinois, 127 LaSalle street, Chicago.

HOW TO SECURE A COPYRIGHT.

Chicago, Ill.

I desire to copyright a play. How shall I proceed? What length of time will it require, and what will it cost? State any other particulars that are important.

U. R. Akerstrom.

Answer.—Every applicant for a copyright must state distinctly the name and residence of the claimant, and whether right is claimed as author, designer, or proprietor. A printed copy of the title of the book, map, chart, dramatic or musical composition, engraving, cut, print, or photograph, or a description of the painting, drawing, chromo, statue, statuary, or model or design for work of the fine arts, for which copyright is desired, must be sent by mail or otherwise, prepaid, addressed, “Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C.” This must be done before publication of the book or other article. Publication in this connection means the giving to the public or vending of the article. A fee of 50 cents for recording the title of the book, dramatic composition, or other article must be inclosed with the title and application, and 50 cents in addition for each certificate of copyright under seal of the Librarian of Congress, which will be transmitted by early mail. One certificate being all that is usually needed, $1 is the total necessary inclosure. Within ten days after publication of the book or other article, two complete copies must be sent prepaid to the Librarian of Congress, to perfect the copyright. Without the deposit of these copies, not only is the copyright void, but a penalty of $25 is incurred. No copyright is valid unless notice is given by inserting in every copy published the following words: “Entered according to act of Congress in the year 18—, by ——, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington;” or else the words: “Copyright, 18—, by ——.” The law imposes a penalty of $100 upon any person who inserts the above words or others of the same import, in or upon any book or other article before he has obtained copyright. Each copyright secures the exclusive right of publishing the book or article for twenty-eight years. Six months before the end of that time, the author or designer, or his widow or children, may secure a renewal for the further term of fourteen years.

NIHILISM.

Athens, Tenn.

What is the true meaning of Nihilism?

S. C. Bruner.

Answer.—There is no authoritative definition of Nihilism. Certain of their leaders define it very differently from others. All of them seem to be pretty well agreed that society as now constituted is utterly wrong from foundation to turret, and most of them are in favor of overturning existing governments, casting to the winds the prevailing conceptions of individual, family, and social rights, and returning to a state of anarchy, if need be, to begin the work of reconstruction anew. Nihil is a Latin word signifying nothing, and the name Nihilists is applied to these radical revolutionists by the world at large as indicative of the tendency of their doctrines and political operations, including as they do the assassination of rulers, the springing of mines, and the firing of palaces, government offices, and even towns and cities, in the effort to annihilate all existing doctrines and systems of government. Communism and Socialism were defined in these columns but a week or two ago.

CLYDESDALES AND NORMANS.

Oskaloosa, Iowa.

State the origin of the Clydesdale and Norman breeds of horses, and whether it is proper to call them thoroughbreds?

T. J. Casto.

Answer.—The Norman horses are named from Normandy, France, and, although distinguished by different names, are probably all of one blood, the names only being of local origin. James M. Hiatt, in the “National Register of Norman Horses,” maintains that the Percherons are derived from the Boulonnais and the Breton horses, the former of Bourbourg, France, and the latter of Bretagne. The Clydesdale horse takes its name from a district on the Clyde, in Scotland, where it was introduced by one of the dukes of Hamilton, who crossed the native Lanark mares with fine heavy Flemish stallions. It is proper to speak of “thoroughbred Norman horses,” or “thoroughbred Clydesdales,” but when the term thoroughbred is used without any qualifying word it is understood to refer to horses bred for speed, with undisputed pedigree in the Stud-book.

DESERT LAND ACT.

Rapid City, D. T.

Is there a “Desert Land Act” under which our government disposes of public lands? If so, please explain it.

A. F. Coffey.

Answer.—Desert lands are such as will not produce crops without artificial irrigation. The act of March 3, 1877, provides that persons may make entry of such lands in the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, and the Territories. The applicant for such land must file a declaration that he is a citizen, that he intends within three years to reclaim the said tract of desert land by conducting water thereon. It must be shown by two witnesses, in writing, that the tract comes within the statutory description of desert lands. At the end of three years, on proof that the land has been reclaimed by irrigation, a patent will issue for it on payment of 25 cents an acre.

REDUCTION OF THE NATIONAL DEBT.

Valley Center, Kan.

At the present rate of reduction how long will it take to extinguish the public debt?

W. W. Turner.

Answer.—There never has been any uniform rate of reduction of the National debt. It varies with the changes in the revenue laws, the business of the country, and appropriations from the Treasury for other purposes. The pension arrears act has already retarded the payment of the debt by over $100,000,000, and will continue to be a heavy drain for years to come. The recent reduction of the tariff and internal revenue taxes will reduce the National income greatly. The total debt at the highest point, Aug. 31, 1865, was $2,844,649,626; on Aug. 31, 1880, fifteen years later, it was $2,105,386,267. This shows an average reduction of nearly $50,000,000 a year. For the two years ending June 30, 1882, the reduction was $202,103,376, or over $101,000,000 per annum. With the recent reductions of the tariff and internal revenue and the heavy drafts for pensions it is not likely that this rate of debt reduction will be maintained, a rate which would extinguish the whole debt by the year 1900. It is proper to add that, deducting cash in the Treasury August 31, 1865, amounting to $88,218,055, the net debt at the highest point was $2,756,431,571.

ELECTRIC TELEGRAPHING.

Kankakee, Ill.

When, where, and by whom was the first electric telegraphing done?

A. B. Dale.

Answer.—Professor Morse sent the first message by the electric telegraph, from Washington to Baltimore, May 27, 1844. The printing telegraph was suggested in 1837 by Alfred Vail, and a model was made by Wheatstone four years later, but this process of telegraphy has never gone into general use.

NORDENSKJOLD, THE DISCOVERER.

Holland City, Mich.

Please give a short sketch of Professor Nordenskjold, giving date of his discoveries in the Arctic regions.

Subscriber.

Answer.—Adolph Eric Nordenskjold (born 1832), was educated at the University of Borgo, and afterward studied at Helsingfors, an important naval station on the Baltic. After teaching mathematics for two years, he was cashiered for his political opinions in 1855, but returned in the following year only to be again driven from the country. In 1858, however, he was appointed State Mineralogist at Stockholm, and in 1867 he married Countess Anna Mannerheim, a Finnish lady—an event that led him to seek an appointment to the chair of Mineralogy and Geology at Helsingfors, but the government again refused for political reasons. Nordenskjold now obtained naturalization papers as a Swedish citizen, and entered Swedish politics. He sailed in the Vega, to find a northeast passage, July 4, 1878, and reached Yokohama, via the discovered passage, in September, 1879.

COMMUNISM AND SOCIALISM.

Athens, Tenn.

What is the meaning of communism and socialism as used in the newspapers?

A Reader.

Answer..—Communism is the doctrine that society should be reorganized on the basis of abolishing individual ownership of property and control of wages, and most of the now generally admitted rights of individuals in their private and domestic relations, and substituting therefor community ownership and control of every person and everything. Socialism is a sort of limited communism. It would not entirely abolish individual rights of property and personal self-control, but seeks to force a more equitable distribution of property, and level the present extreme distinctions between men of various classes. To effect their purpose radical socialists have rendered themselves obnoxious to many who would accept most of the principles laid down by their great leader, Saint Simon, by advocating resort to revolutionary methods of the most reprehensible kinds, including in some places the use of dynamite and the assassin’s dagger.

BISHOP FALLOWS.

Earlville, Ill.

Please give a brief outline of the life of Bishop Fallows.

S. C. Hilton.

Answer.—Samuel Fallows, D. D., born in England in 1835, was in 1859 ordained to the ministry of the M. E. Church. During the civil war he was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. He was for seven years Regent of Wisconsin University; later President of Illinois Wesleyan University, and, while editor of the Appeal, was chosen Bishop of the Reformed Episcopal Church, July 1, 1876, of which he is now recognized as one of the ablest prelates and most eloquent orators.

MUSHROOM AND TOADSTOOL.

Ravanna, Mo.

What is a mushroom, and what is the difference between it and a frogstool? Give a description of each.

A Reader.

Answer.—A mushroom is a genus of fungi, including many species, edible and poisonous. It grows in marshy places during the warm months. Often the name is restricted to the species used as food, which is regularly convex, fleshy, dry, and white, with a tinge of brown or yellow. It is smooth or scaly on the upper surface, never warty; on the under side the gills are pink when young, and later turn brown. Toward the top of the fleshy stem is a white, membraneous ring. The plant is best for food when young, being then in the form of a ball, covered with a thin membrane. The toadstool (“frogstool”) resembles the mushroom, but the top is shiny, white, or dark red, and the gills are perpendicular. This species is poisonous.

STATE SECURITY FOR UNITED STATES LOANS.

Moultrie, Ohio.

Was there a time in the history of our General Government when its credit was so low that it was necessary for one or more States to go security for a loan made by it?

S. R. Roose.

Answer.—There has been no such time since the adoption of the present Constitution. The nearest the Federal Government ever came to such a humiliation was in 1860, when, through the cutting down of the tariff in 1857 and the outrageous expenditures during President Buchanan’s administration, the National debt had swelled to over $64,000,000, and money could not be raised on United States Treasury notes at less than 10, 11, and finally 12 per cent interest. Then John A. Dix, who succeeded Cobb as Secretary of the Treasury, about the close of 1860, found the public credit so low that, in desperation, he recommended to the Committee of Ways and Means that the States be asked to secure the repayment of money which the government should borrow, by pledging the repayment for this purpose of the public deposits received by them in the distribution of the surplus in the United States Treasury in 1836. However, Congress did not adopt this recommendation.

During the revolutionary times, before and under the old Articles of Confederation, Congress had no authority to levy and collect taxes and customs dues, as it has now. Various plans for raising money were discussed, all dependent on the sanction of the several colonial or State Legislatures. The first plan resorted to for using the credit of the General Government was to issue paper money. Three modes of doing this were considered: First, “That every colony should strike for itself the sum apportioned by the Continental Congress; secondly, that the Continental Congress should strike the whole sum necessary, and each colony become bound to sink its proportionable part; thirdly, that the Continental Congress should strike the whole sum, and apportion the several shares to the different Colonies,” every Colony becoming bound to discharge its own particular part, and all the Colonies to discharge the portion which any particular Colony should be unable to pay. The views of the delegates were widely divergent, but Congress decided, June 22, 1775—more than a year before the Declaration of Independence—to issue bills of credit, not exceeding 2,000,000 Spanish milled dollars, pledging the faith of the twelve Confederate Colonies for their redemption. The sum was subsequently increased to $3,000,000, and apportioned, on the basis of population, among the Colonies that had joined the confederation—not then including Georgia—as follows:

Colonies. Amount.

New Hampshire $124,069.50

Massachusetts Bay 434,244.00

Rhode Island 71,959.50

Connecticut 48,139.00

New York 245,139.00

New Jersey 161,290.50

Pennsylvania 372,208.50

Delaware 37,219.50

Maryland 310,174.50

Virginia 496,278.00

North Carolina 248,139.00

South Carolina 248,139.00

Each Colony was to pay its respective quota in four equal annual installments, commencing on the last day of November, 1779; and for this purpose each was to levy and collect taxes. But, though from first to last the States insisted upon retaining the power to tax, and Congress was obliged to trust wholly to them for funds raised in this manner, they did not tax themselves, as they were in duty bound to do, and neither contributed as they should have done to sustain the National Government, nor raised much to sustain their own organizations, civil and military. “Throughout the entire period from 1774 to 1789,” says Bolles, “only very small sums flowed into the general treasury from the State treasuries.”

In the spring of 1780 Congress resolved, after a great many whereases, “to receive silver and gold in payment of the quotas assigned to the States, at the rate of one Spanish milled dollar in lieu of $40 of the bills then in circulation.” Subsequent loans were made, and the debt apportioned among the several States; but the latter paid but a trifling part of their assessments, as shown by the following table, giving the assessment on each State on account of the requisition of Congress for $8,000,000 in November, 1781, and the amount actually paid to the end of 1783, as given in “Bolles’ Financial History of the United States,” vol. I.:

State. Assessment. Am’t paid.

New Hampshire $373,598 $3,000.00

Massachusetts 1,307,596 247,676.66

Rhode Island 216,684 67,847.95

Connecticut 747,196 131,577.83

New York 373,598 39,064.01

New Jersey 485,679 102,004.95

Pennsylvania 1,120,794 346,632.98

Delaware 112,085

Maryland 993,996 89,302.11

Virginia 1,307,594 116,103.53

North Carolina 622,677

South Carolina 373,598 344,301.57

Georgia 24,905

$8,000,000 $1,486,154.71

On the other hand, in justice to the “Fathers,” it should be stated that the several States expended large sums on their individual accounts, for sustaining the common cause against Great Britain, aggregating, it was estimated, about $25,000,000; $18,271,786,47 of which Congress assumed in 1790, after the States had surrendered to the Federal Government the right to levy and collect all tariffs on foreign imports. The indebtedness incurred by the States for the Revolutionary cause and thus assumed by the United States is shown in the following table:

New Hampshire $282,595.51

Rhode Island 200,000.00

Massachusetts 3,981,733.05

Connecticut 1,600,000.00

New York 1,183,716.69

New Jersey 695,202.70

Pennsylvania 777,983.48

Delaware 59,161.65

Maryland 517,491.08

Virginia, including Kentucky 2,934,416.00

North Carolina 1,793,803.85

South Carolina 3,999,651.73

Georgia 246,030.73

$18,271,786.47

The foreign loans made by the United States during the revolutionary war pledged the faith of all the States. These amounted in toto to $150,000 from the Spanish Government; about 8,000,000 guilders by subscription in Holland, and 18,000,000 livres from the French Government, besides the free gifts of the French King, “forming an object,” wrote Franklin, “of at least 12,000,000 livres, from which no returns but that of gratitude and friendship are expected. These, I hope, may be everlasting.”

ORIGIN OF JOURNALISM.

Paris, Texas.

1. Were any newspapers or periodicals published before the invention of printing? 2. Give a short sketch of the advancement of journalism.

Frank Lee.

Answer.—1. At a very early period daily news letters were circulated, concerning public and official acts, in Rome, Venice, and China. 2. The first printed newspaper was the Gazette, published in Nuremberg in 1457, and the oldest paper extant is the Neue Zeitung aus Hispanien und Italien, printed in the same city in 1534. Other countries followed Germany in issuing printed newspapers in the following order: England in 1622; France, 1631; Sweden, 1644; Holland, 1656; Russia, 1703; Turkey, 1827. The progress of journalism has been most rapid in America. The first American newspaper consisting of three pages of two columns each and a blank page, was published in Boston, Sept. 25, 1690, under the name of “Publick Occurences, both Foreign and Domestic,” but it was immediately suppressed. In 1704 the Boston News Letter appeared, printed on one sheet of foolscap paper. It flourished for seventy-two years. The following data will show the advancement in the United States:

First printing office in 1639. First newspaper in 1690. First political newspaper in 1733. First daily paper in 1784. First penny paper in 1833. First illustrated paper in 1853.

In 1880 there were published in America (United States and Canada) 10,131 newspapers and periodicals—899 dailies, 8,428 weeklies, tri-weeklies and semi-weeklies, and 804 monthlies and semi-monthlies. More than 6,000 of this number belong to the United States, and the annual circulation is about 1,500,000,000.

WHO VOTE IN GREAT BRITAIN.

Glenville, Minn.

What class of persons are allowed to vote for members of Parliament in Great Britain?

T. W.

Answer.—The “Commons of England” consists of the representatives of shires or counties, representatives of cities, and representatives of boroughs. For representatives of boroughs every man is entitled to vote who is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity, provided he is on the last day of July in any year, and has during the whole of the preceding twelve months been an “inhabitant occupier,” as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house within the borough; has during the time of such occupation been rated (or taxed) “as an ordinary occupier in respect of the premises so occupied by him within the borough to all rates made for the relief of the poor in respect of such premises,” and has paid the said rate; or has occupied as a lodger in the same borough separately, and as sole tenant for the time above designated, “a part of one and the same dwelling house, of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of £10 or upward.” For representatives of counties any man may be registered as a voter who is of full age, and not subject to any legal incapacity, who shall be in possession at law or in equity of any lands or tenements, of copyhold, or any other tenure whatever, except freehold, for his own lifetime or for the life of another or for any larger estate of the clear yearly value of not less than £5 over and above all rents and charges, who is on the last day of July of any year (and has been during the preceding twelve months) the occupier as owner or tenant of lands or tenements within the county of the ratable value of £12 or upward, and has paid all poor rates rated to him. The qualifications of city electors are not materially different from those above given. Of the 487 members for England and Wales, 187 represent counties, 295 cities and boroughs, and 5 represent the three universities.

The qualifications of electors in Scotland and Ireland are somewhat different. In Scotland, the burgher franchise is given to every man of full age who has been for twelve months an occupier, as owner or tenant, of any dwelling, and has paid his poor rates, and not been in receipt of parochial relief during that time. The lodger franchise consists in the permission of any lodger to vote who has occupied in the same burgh separately, and as sole tenant for twelve months, a lodging worth £10. In the counties the ownership franchise requires the property to be worth an annual net rental of £5, and a residential qualification of six months. In Ireland the borough franchise requires a lodging of the value of £4, where in England it must be at least £10, the other qualifications being similar to those required in England.

TYPE-WRITERS.

Chapin, Iowa.

What are the advantages gained by the use of type-writers? By whom were they invented, and where?

G. W. Adams.

Answer.—Perhaps the earliest form of a type-writer is a rude machine invented in England in 1714, without any practical fruits. M. Foucault, sent to the Paris Exposition of 1855 a writing machine for the blind; but the first of what are now popularly known as type-writers was patented in 1868, by C. L. Sholes, of Wisconsin. This has been improved until now it is possible to attain a speed of seventy-five to eighty words a minute in writing with this machine, which is fast enough for reporting speeches. The principal advantages gained are rapidity of execution and legibility. A type-writer can write with both hands and several fingers in instant succession, every letter being made with a single light touch instead of requiring from three to seven distinct strokes and dots, as in ordinary script.

NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE.

Eau Claire, Wis.

By whom and when was the remark used: “Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute”?

John J. Maginnis.

Answer..—An ill-feeling grew up between the United States and France soon after the breaking out of the great French revolution, near the close of the last century. France seemed determined that our government should take active part with it in hostilities against Great Britain. Washington and the Federal party insisted on strict neutrality. The French Minister, Citizen Genet, encouraged by the strong French sympathies of the Republicans of those days and the almost universal ill-feeling toward Great Britain, undertook to set President Washington’s proclamation of neutrality at defiance by an appeal to the people, encouraged the organization of secret political societies opposed to the administration, and even instituted recruiting for the French army on American soil. His course became so obnoxious that Washington demanded his recall. M. Fauchet was sent to succeed him, but the ill-feeling rather increased than diminished. In 1796 Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, one of our revolutionary heroes, was sent to France as United States Minister, charged, among other matters, to negotiate a settlement of all differences, on the basis of American neutrality. The French Directory treated him with an incivility almost unbearable, and finally ordered him to quit the country. He withdrew to Amsterdam for a time, but, on some change of affairs in France, returned in the early part of 1797, when Talleyrand, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, declined to treat further until his government had received a payment from the United States in the nature of a present or tribute, and threatened war as the consequence of a refusal. Thereupon Pinckney gave utterance to the patriotic exclamation, “War be it then; millions for defense, sir, but not a cent for tribute.” These words were caught up by the administration party at home and echoed and re-echoed throughout the land until, in 1798, Congress was nerved to provide a strong naval armament. Later Washington, who had been succeeded in the Presidency by John Adams, was called to the chief command of the army, several French vessels were captured in reprisal for damages inflicted on American citizens, and an open declaration of war was daily looked for, when Napoleon I. came into power, and France, satisfied that the United States was in stern earnest, made overtures for reconciliation, which resulted in the treaty of 1800, honorable to all concerned.

RAINFALL OF THE UNITED STATES.

Mason, Ill.

Please give the rainfall in different portions of the United States.

T. M. Triplett.

Answer.—There is a small circle in Central Florida where the annual rainfall ranges from sixty to seventy inches. There is a belt covering Western Alabama, Eastern Mississippi, also Southern Louisiana for fifty to sixty miles on either side of the Mississippi River, where it measures from sixty to sixty-four inches. But the heaviest rainfall in the United States is in Alaska, where it is over eighty inches, and along the western coast of Oregon and Washington Territory, between the Cascade Range and the Pacific, increasing from sixty-eight inches south of the Columbia River to eighty inches on Puget Sound. In Central Georgia and South Carolina it is fifty-two to forty-eight; in Central North Carolina and Virginia, diminishing northward, it is forty-eight to thirty-six. Along the Atlantic coast, for about seventy-five miles inward, it ranges from forty-four inches at Savannah to forty in Connecticut, and thence increases to forty-four in Northern Maine. Along both flanks of the Alleghanies and Blue Ridge it is nearly uniform at 40. In most of the region south of the Ohio and Missouri, from Eastern Tennessee to Eastern Texas, it ranges from 48 inches in the south to 44 in the north, and the latter is about the average for Southern Indiana and Southwestern Ohio. The average for Illinois and Northern Indiana and Pennsylvania is about 40. For Western New York, Northern Ohio, lower Michigan, Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and most of Iowa it ranges from 40 to 32, diminishing toward the great lakes. West of the Missouri it ranges from 30 inches in Eastern Kansas to 26 in Dakota, and diminishes toward the Rocky Mountains. In Southern Texas it ranges from 48 near the southeastern corner to 28 on the Rio Grande, and diminishes to 34 in the northeastern, and 29 in the northwestern corners. In California the rainfall ranges from 60 inches on the northern coast to 9 or 10 in the south, and diminishes inland to 8 or 10 in the mountain districts, and still less in the desert regions. As for the greater part of the region embracing all the Territories except Alaska, Washington, and Southeastern Dakota, all of Colorado and Nevada, the western parts of Kansas, Nebraska and Dakota, and the eastern portion of Oregon, the rainfall varies between 10 inches and 22. Here and there within this region there are districts almost rainless. This is most common in Northern Arizona and Utah.

PESTALOZZI AND FROEBEL.

Dunlap, Iowa.

Please give a short sketch of the lives of the three noted educational reformers, Pestalozzi, F. Froebel, and Horace Mann.

John Keitges.

Answer.—Pestalozzi, the famous Swiss educator, was born at Zurich Jan. 12, 1746. In his youth he was evidently undecided as to what profession to follow. He was first a theological student and then a law student. Having purchased some waste land, he turned from the law to farming, where he became interested in the welfare of the masses and devoted himself, during the intervals of his work, to promoting their elevation. Convinced that a rational system of education would remedy many of the evils of society, he converted his own house into an orphan asylum, and strove, by judicious blending of industrial, intellectual, and moral training, to illustrate his theory of a sound system of national education. The great idea at the basis of his system of instruction was the necessity of teaching by object lessons. Objects themselves, and not lessons about objects, were the means that he used to develop the observing and reasoning powers. He gave special attention to the moral and religious training of children, as something distinct from mere instruction in morals and religion. For two years Froebel, the father of the kindergarten system, was his pupil and assistant teacher. He died at Brugg, Switzerland, in 1827. Friedrich Wilhelm A. Froebel, to whom reference has just been made, was born at Ober-Weissbach, Germany, April 21, 1782. When sent to school he was so dull that his father, growing discouraged, took him from study and sent him to work among the wood-cutters in the forest. Here he became a student of nature and advanced, as Pestalozzi, upon his farm, to the idea of teaching from nature. In 1799 he went to school again, but falling into debt, was imprisoned by his creditors. Soon after his release he became a pupil and assistant of Pestalozzi, remaining with this great master from 1807 to 1809. He then began the study of the natural sciences, but was interrupted by the German and French war of 1813, in which he enlisted for fatherland. On the restoration of peace he became curator of the Museum of Mineralogy, under Professor Weiss, at Berlin. A few years later he began his life as a teacher, which, in 1826, the year previous to the death of Pestalozzi, he varied by publishing a work entitled “The Education of Man.” In this book he declared that man’s life was a succession of stages, each of which should be progressive. He was especially impressed with the importance of the first years of childhood as the period in which to give shape to all their after development. In 1837 he established the first kindergarten school, at Blankenburg. Having noticed the restlessness of children, and tendency to finger everything, he took advantage of these traits to arouse in them a spirit of intelligent inquiry and investigation. Much of his time was given, in schools of Germany and Switzerland, to training primary teachers. In the latter part of his life he gave special attention to the training of young female teachers, believing them to be best calculated by nature for the care and management of young children. During the revolutionary period of 1848, at a time when, through the influence of the great Middendorff, who had become interested in his kindergarten work, he hoped to enlist the support of the German Parliament in his system of teaching, he and his brother Karl were charged with socialistic tendencies, and an edict was issued forbidding the establishment of schools “after Friedrich and Karl Froebel’s principles” in Prussia. This blow utterly disheartened the veteran educator, and he died in June, 1852, at Marienthal.

A sketch of the life of Horace Mann will be found in Our Curiosity Shop for 1882.

GENERALS A. S. AND JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.

Blaine, Iowa.

Please give a brief outline of the lives of General A. S. Johnston and Joseph E. Johnston.

Reader.

Answer.—Albert Sydney Johnston served honorably in the United States army in Mexico and Utah, and at the outbreak of the civil war was appointed General in the Confederate army. He was killed in the battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, at the age of 59. His native State was Kentucky. General Joe Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807, and, after completing the course of study at West Point, fought in the Seminole and Mexican wars. Receiving the position of Major General in the Confederate army, he proved himself a dangerous foe in the Peninsular campaign, in Tennessee, and Carolina. He surrendered to General Sherman April 26, 1865.

COLD IN DAKOTA.

Chicago, Ill.

In the interview with Mr. Geo. B. Armstrong, Register of the Government land office at Huron, D. T., recently published in The Inter Ocean, he asserts, substantially, that it is colder in Chicago with the mercury 5 deg. below zero than it is in Huron with the mercury 35 to 38 deg. below. A number of us, who swear by the Curiosity Shop, have got into a dispute over this statement and all agree to leave it to the editor of “the shop” to decide the matter. The question is: Is it as cold in Huron, D. T., as in this city, on the average?

G. H.

Answer.—In one sense of the word, it is unquestionably colder in Huron than in Chicago. But Mr. Armstrong has not left our readers in doubt as to his meaning. He distinctly says: “With the mercury in the thermometer as low as 35 and 38 degrees below zero, we do not suffer so much as the people in Chicago with the thermometer at 5 degrees below zero. The air is dry and comfortable.” Here he clearly discriminates between the cold of the atmosphere and the sense of cold experienced by human beings. There is no ground for dispute as to the comparative average winter cold of the climate of Southern Dakota in and about Huron, and the same at Chicago. The thermometer shows that the former is several degrees greater than the latter. But taking cold in the second sense of the word, “the sensation produced by the escape of heat” from the body; “chilliness or chillness”—see Webster’s second definition—every one knows by actual experience that this depends to a considerable degree upon the dryness and stillness of the atmosphere and the state of the body. Exposed to a high wind in humid atmosphere not more than 5 or 6 degrees below zero, a person may freeze to death, when he would endure 35 or 40 degrees below zero in a dry, still air without serious suffering. Such air is classed among the poorest of all heat conductors; it belongs rather to non-conductors. The sensation of cold is due to the conduction of heat from the body more rapidly than the vital forces can replace it. Moist air in rapid motion carries off heat with great rapidity. When the skin pores are open a considerable part of the fluids of the body exudes through them, dampens the garments, and so renders them better conductors. The cold and wind evaporate this moisture in the garments. Evaporation is a cooling process; so when the pores are not kept almost sealed up by steady cold the body suffers loss of temperature both by increased conduction and evaporation. Observations of the United States Signal Service denote that the atmosphere of the region of Dakota under consideration is dryer, stiller, and less subject to extreme changes than that of Chicago; so that it is possible that, while in one sense of the word cold, it is certainly colder in Huron than it is in Chicago, in the other sense it may be no colder or not so cold there as here. This is plainly a question of personal experience, and the best that Our Curiosity Shop can do to settle this dispute is to give the above facts, and add that the testimony of many credible witnesses who have tried both climates is to the effect that, taking the winter through, one feels the cold there no more, or not so much as here. If a wager turns on our decision, taking the word cold in its first sense, the answer given above is definite and positive; taking it in the second sense, it is indecisive; a case for “a draw.”

ANCHOR ICE.

Laporte City, Iowa.—In the Curiosity Shop for June 14 I see a correspondent asks an explanation of ice forming at the bottom of rivers and remaining there. I saw this ice for the first time three years ago the past winter, at Waterloo, in this State, where business kept me most of the time. It excited my curiosity, and I studied it until satisfied of its origin. The Cedar River runs through the city, and a dam is built across it giving a power of about eight feet fall. A short distance below this is a bridge over 600 feet long. The space between the dam and the bridge is a rock-bottom rapids. Having occasion to cross the bridge frequently I noticed this ice attached to the rocks under water after the weather became cold, but not cold enough to form a solid sheet of ice on the pond. It disappeared and came again as the weather changed to warm or cold, but ceased to be formed after the pond was covered with a solid cake of ice, always forming at the beginning of cold weather. I concluded it was caused by the formation of fine crystals of ice on the pond not yet frozen together, which, as they were carried over the dam, were mixed in the surf below and driven against and stuck fast in the fine moss covering the rocks, always attached to the side of the rock facing the fall, the first crystals presenting points to catch the next, and so the mass, which appeared like water-soaked snow, grew under the water by accretion, the water being as cold as the ice itself could not thaw it. I think if the correspondent will examine he will find anchor ice is formed in rapids or at the foot of falls draining a smooth expanse of water before the water becomes covered with a solid sheet of ice, and always on the up-stream side of the rocks in the bottom.

T. A. Kellett.

CHIEF RULERS OF THE WORLD.

Windsor, Ill.

Please give in “Our Curiosity Shop” the names of the principal rulers of the world, with the countries over which they rule.

M. J. S.

Answer.—The following table embraces the chief rulers of the world:

Crowned or

Countries. Rulers. inaugurated

Great Britain Queen Victoria 1837

Germany Emperor William I 1871

France President Grevy 1879

Denmark Christian IX 1863

Sweden Oscar II 1872

Spain Alphonso XI 1875

Portugal Luis II 1861

Russia Alexander III 1881

Turkey Abdul Hamid 1876

Austria-Hungary Francis Joseph 1848

United States Chester A. Arthur 1881

PASSION FLOWER.

Burlington, Iowa.

Why is the passion flower so called?

Flora.

Answer.—It was called by this name by the Spanish settlers of the West Indies and South America, its native region, because they fancied it to be a representative of Christ’s passion or sacrificial death. According to this fancy, the leaf symbolizes the spear that pierced the Savior’s side; the anthers, the marks of the five wounds made by the spear; the tendrils, the cords or whips with which He was secured; the column of the ovary, the upright of the cross; the stamens, the hammers; the three styles, the nails; the filamentous processes, the crown of thorns; the calyx, the glory or halo; the white tinge, purity; the blue tint, heaven; and the fact that it remains open three days typifies his three years’ ministry.

ASBESTOS.

Aberdeen, D. T.

What is asbestos, where is it found, and what valuable properties has it?

H. T. McLane.

Answer.—Asbestos is a fibrous, white, gray, or green mineral, not easily fusible. The most beautiful specimens come from Corsica and Savoy, though some are found in the Alps, Pyrenees, and Ural Mountains, and in North America and New South Wales, while commoner varieties, such as mountain cork and mountain wood, are found in Lanarkshire, Tyrol, Dauphiny and parts of Scotland. Its chief value is its infusibility, and though it possesses little consistency, it was by the ancients woven into garments, towels, and handkerchiefs, and has in later times become useful as fireproof roofing, flooring, and packing in safes, journal boxes, and around steam pipes. Paper has been made of it, but though at red heat the paper remains uninjured, the writing disappears. As cloth it is desirable, needing only to be thrown into the fire to be cleansed. It is said that Charlemagne had a table cloth of asbestos, which he was wont to throw into the fire at the close of the meal for the amusement of his guests.

HOW TO USE AN INCUBATOR.

Elk Grove, Wis.

Our Curiosity Shop has explained how to make an artificial incubator; how do you use one after it is made?

“I.”

Answer.—Mrs. P. G. Gilman, Paola, Kan.; Mrs. L. R. Stanley, Cameron, Neb.; C. D., Kalamazoo, Mich., make substantially the same inquiry.

In the first place be sure to get fresh eggs, which have not been chilled to death in the nest, and sort out all unfertile ones. After the eggs have been in the incubator two, or at most three days, you can tell every egg that is not fertile. By placing the small end to the eye, looking toward the sun, and moving the head up and down, you will see a dark spot floating on the top of every fertile egg. Any egg that remains perfectly clear after being in the incubator until the fourth day may as well be taken out for use or for market, since it will never hatch. Some persons recommend the use of a cheap egg-tester, which can be got by writing to the Secretary of the National American Poultry Association, New Concord, Ohio, but others think this is not needed. The eggs must be kept at a regular heat of between 102 and 105 degs. After the third day take out the egg-drawer once a day and let the eggs cool down to about 70 or 80 degs., but not below 65 degs. Turn the eggs every four or five hours during the day, by moving the muslin frame on which the eggs rest backward or forward a couple of inches, as indicated in the instructions for making the incubator. It is all done in a trice; it will be well to do this once during the night, and see that the temperature is up to proper grade. Be careful that it does not rise above 105 degs., as there is even more danger of killing the eggs by over-heating than by letting the temperature run a little low. After the third day set two or more soup-plates or tin pie-pans on the sawdust in the ventilator, under the eggs to moisten them; and from the ninth to the twelfth day sprinkle a little tepid water on the eggs by hand, in addition to the evaporation from the water in the pans. From the twelfth to the fifteenth day hand-sprinkle them twice a day, and thereafter three times a day until they hatch. The water acts on the lime of the shells to make it brittle. Perhaps it is best not to have any fire in the incubator-room, which may be a cellar, wood shed, or unoccupied room in the house. A writer in the American Agriculturist says: “If any one doubts that pine sawdust in an incubator will kill his eggs let him try it.” There may be something in this warning, but it is doubtful. Study your lamps to learn about how high to turn the wicks, in order to keep the temperature just right, and observe the thermometers in the front and back of your egg drawer frequently. See that the escape pipes in the heater do not slip down so close to the zinc as to check the draft. Better keep them from one to two inches above the zinc. Keep the ventilators open.