Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 30, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 February 1910 — SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY [ARTICLE]

SOMETHING FOR EVERYBODY

The palm tree’s life Is 250 years. Nearly 316,000 marriages took place in France last year. In a series of telephonic experiments a German scientist has made magnets, alternating current transformers, and even dynamos talk without the use'of vibrating plates or membranes. Aerial navigation as a Commercial enterprise is bringing with it the solution of various problems by the German engineers. Gne is perfecting for the new company a system of a complete network of signal lights for guidance on the night tripß. For fogs there will be signals by bell and siren. The United States capitol receives its annual bath a short time before Congress convenes, the.toilet articles used consisting of about 2,500 feet of hose in the expert hands of one company of the fire department. Powerful streams of water at high pressure remove dust, spider webs, insects of all kinds, birds nests and other foreign substances from the many crevices. The Archaeological Society has made five excavations around the walls of the amphitheater in King Arthur’s round-table field in Monmouthshire, England, and the searchers found the main entrance, the sand which formed the bed of the arena, and a corner stone. From inscriptions- oil this stone they trace the date of the theater back to 110 A. D., or 1,800 years.—Popular Mechanics. A close study of the water supply for the operation of the locks under present plans shows that the available amount of water on the isthmus is not sufllcient to paaintain, at all times, in the cabal, the forty feet of depth stipulated for by the law. In dry years the modern Dreadnought of the navy, the large carriers of freight and the army transports will not be able to use the canal.—Julio F. Sorzano, in Van Norden Magazine. The University of Pennsylvania was the first academic institution in America to have a professor of German. Even from the earliest days of the college the institution had a professor of modern languages which included German, and this professorship was occupied by Professor Creamer, who was himself of German descent. In 1780 a closer connection was formed between the University of Pennsylvania and the Germans by establishing the German institute.

Sow a large white sponge full of rice, oats or wheat . Then place it for a week or ten days in a shallow dish, and, as the sponge will absorb the moisture, the seeds will begin to sprout before many days. When this has fairly taken place, the sponge may he suspended by means of cords from a hook in the top of the window where a little sun will enter. It will thus become a living mass of green, requiring only a little occasional moisture.— Suburban Life for January. A record was established by the fish commission in the distribution of fish and fish eggs for propagation and hatching -purposes during the fiscal year 1909, when the output aggregated $.117,131,911. This is 240,000,000 more fish and eggs than were distributed during the previous year. Whitefish and several varieties of perch and flatfish were used in greatest numbers. Vast quantities of the fry of the cod and the lobster also went out. Altogether the commission the eggs, fry, flngerlings, yearlings and adults of almost forty kinds of fish. The most luxurious prison in the world is in Japan, about fifteen miles from Tokio. In the midst of gardens, where flourish medlars and cherry trees, where are seen ornamental ponds with water lilies, arises the palatial prison. The cells are spacious and airy. The lighting throughout is by electricity, and the apartments are furnished luxuriously. Bathrooms with marble baths, hot and cold water beihg laid on; dressing rooms and-reading rooms—nothing seems to be wanted to make the sojourn in this prison pleasant. In fact, It seems an Ideal country residence.

In Ireland spiders are largely concerned In the cure of ague; In many localities the sufferer is advised to swallow a living spider. This ought to make one shake nearly as bad as the ague, and no doubt the better way would be to put a large black spider In a box and Wave it to perish, as Is the vogue in Somerset and some of the nearby counties. A lingering faith In this old world superstition must have been alive until quite recently, for the making of spider web pills is not an uncommon industry In New England, and Longfellow tells of a popular cure for the fever “by wearing a spider-hung around one's neck X& tnutshell.” —Chicago Tribune. Alaska contains the only first-class bituminous and anthracite coal oh the Paciflic coast; from the Behring River district railroads can be built to the sea, not more than 110 miles long, over perfectly level country; and, according to a published statement bj Alfred H. Brooks, head of the govern* ment’s geological survey work In AlasRar there are elx bllUoiLtpnß of it in both fields—more than one and a "Salttimes all the coal that has ever been taken out of Pennsylvania. Two-thirds, ~of~tlrtg ~faas-been-flled.. upon by claimants —that is, as much coal as has so far come from the mines of Pennsylvania Mr. Brooks estimates to be worth a dollar a ton as It lies; that Ib, he estimates the coal In the two iMd* at six billion dollars.— McClure’n