The Brunswick times. [volume], June 27, 1897, Page 6, Image 6

About The Brunswick times. [volume] (Brunswick, Ga.) 188?-1900

Image provided by: Digital Library of Georgia, a project of GALILEO located at the University of Georgia Libraries

                
6
A WONDERFUL PLANT
IT BEARS INSECTS AND WAS SENT
TO THE SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTE.
The Donor Said He Found It Growing; In
Venezuela— It Is Apparently a Genuine
Phenomenon, Though an Entomologist
Attempts to Disprove This.
Recently the Smithsonian institution
at Washington reoeived the most re
markable specimen of plant life, or of
plant and insect life, in existence. This
specimen is, to all appearances, an in
sect bearing plant. It comes from Ven
ezuela, and the natives there say that
it is not uncommon. Unfortunately,
both plant and insect are dead, but they
are well preserved, having been care
fully packed for transportation. The
specimen was brought to New York by
Captain Chambers of the Red D line
steamship Philadelphia, and was sent
on to Washington the following day.
Q. T. McMillan, superintendent of
the Venezuelan Great Western railroad,
is the man who sends this gift to the
Smithsonian. When Captain Chumbers
saw him on this trip to Venezuela, he
said to the captain:
“I’ve got something that I want you
to take to the Smithsonian institution
for me.”
“What is it,” asked the captain, who
has had other experiences of this sort,
"a three tailed monkey or a conversa
tional parrot? Will you warrant it not
to bite?”
“I will,” Mr. McMillan said. "It’s
dead. It’s a bug growing upon a plant. ”
Thereupon Captain Chambers broke
into derisive mirth and asked his friend
if he, the captain, looked particularly
simple.
“All right,” retorted the superin
tendent. “Wait till you see it. I've
been hearing about this thing from the
natives for some years, and have al
ways regarded it as a fairy tale, but
having found uud picked the plant my
self I’ve had to change my mind. I
tell you this is the most wonderful
thing in the*plant line thatever grew.”
He produced the plant, which was
dead and dried, for Captain Chambers’
examination. The captain said that he
would be very glad to bring it here and
forward it to Washington. Thus it
became part of his personal cargo. This
Captain Chambers told a reporter in
his cabin soon after his arrival.
“You will think it’s a fake, too,” he
said; “so I will show you the thing
and let yon judge for youiself. ”
Undoing a small cardboard box packed
with bran, he carefully took out the ex
hibit. It appeared to he just what he
had said. There was a dead stem about
6 or 7 inches long, with a little branch
and a small bunch of roots. On the end
of the main stem was a perfect insect
an inch long, body, legs, head and eyes
complete. Plant and insect were joined
at the middle of the insect's head. The
brittle shell of the head had not been
pierced by the stem, and tho insect
seemed to iiave been growing there as
naturally as a flower.
“There you have it,” said Captain
Chambers. “It’s a plain combination
of plant life and insect life. All that I
know about the thing is what Mr. Mc-
Millan told me. He found it in the
woods at New Site, Tucucas, Vunezue-
J..1 V about an milcH from Porto Oahcllo.
The plant, he says, is a wildwood flow
er, growing to a height of a foot. It
bears from two to four flowers, of a
blue color, und in shape much like the
bowl uf a clay pipe, but a little larger.
As the flower expands the insect, which
is the fruit of the plant, begins to form,
und with the falling of the petals is
full grown. ”
A number of gentlemen saw tho spec
imen, one of whom is something of an
entomologist. He was particularly in
terested in it and examined it with
great care.
“It is a most curious phenomenon,”
he said, “and extremely interesting
from a scientific point of view, but I
can say with assurance that the appar
ent combination of vegetable and ani
mal life is nothing more than the result
of ohanoe or accident—an accident, I
should guess, in which the unfortunate
insect lost its life. It is so well pre
served that there will be little difficulty
with a good magnifying glass in deter
mining its exact species, and even with
out that aid I feel pretty confident in
saying that this is the pupa of a species
of cicada allied to our dog duy harvest
fly and so called 17 year locust. The
cicada comes up out of the ground in
the form in which you see this speci
men, a wingless grub covered with a
horny shell. It is extremely destructive
and will eat nearly anything in the
line of vegetuliou that it can reach.
Presently the shell splits up the hack,
and the full fledged cieada emerges,
spreads his gaudy wings and seeks the
top of a tree, where, clinging to some
branch, he heats his long, whirring heat
tattoo.
“My guess as to this particular speci
men is thut it preserves an insect trag
edy. Our locust emerges from the ground
at the foot of a tree upon the roots of
which she, as a grub, lias been feeding.
I say ‘she,’ because the male locust in
his final forms is unprovided with an
appetite. Up she comes from the ground,
possessed of a powerful hunger. Near
her nods this blue flower on its supple
stem. The stem bends and sways under
the weight as she climbs, but she keeps
on until presently she is ensconced in
the soft calyx, eating away at its heart
Now comes tho flower’s revenge. Prom
the lacerated stem exudes a sticky sap.
before the voracious invader knows it
she is bemired. Struggle us she will
she can get no foothold to pull away
from her victim, now become her ex
ecutioner. The plant sways and trem
bles under her struggles, then becomes
still. Presently the petals drop away,
and'u here tlie blue flower bloomed is
disclosed tlie skeleton of the destroyer. ”
Another man suggested the theory of
insect eating plants, hut these are differ
ent in construction from this plant, and
their ptey is small insects —New Yolk
Sun.
FROM A MOSQUITO BITE.
An Italian Hit ten by One of Them Bo>
ooines In Kant).
The Jersey mosquito has many things
to answer for, but the strangest of the
accusations against him came to light
recently when Carmine Lepre, an Ital
ian bootblack, was taken to Bellevue
hospital, New York, violently insane.
His insanity was caused by a mosquito’s
bite, and his particular delusion is that
he thinks he is a mosquito.
He persists in rocking himself to and
fro and incessantly droning an imita
tion of the mosquito’s hum.
A week previous to his attack he took
his family for an outing to Union Hill,
N. J., and visited a friend there.
While sitting in the garden Lepre
was bitten by a mosquito. He slapped
the iusect and killed it, and thought
no more about tho incident. Presently
the puncture began to itch and he
scratched it. Dirt found its way into
the sore, and in a few days he had de
veloped a bad case of blood poisoning.
His left arm began to swell, and
finally, when the swelling hud spread
to his breast, he went to a dispensary
to have his arm treated. A physician
cut it and relieved him of a large quan
tity of poisonous matter, but the poison
ing had gone so far that the case was a
difficult one to treat.
He became nervous and restless, and
finally became violently insane.
He tried to bite every one who ap
proached him, and when she realized
that he was beyond control his wife
sent for a policeman and had him taken
to Bellevue. He fought the ambulance
attendants and did not quiet down un
til he was placed in a cell. Then he
took his position at the open window
and began his monotonous droning like
a mosquito.
Dr. Robertson, who is in charge of
the insane pavilion, says that Lepre
will probably recover from the blood
poisoning, but that he will undoubtedly
be adjudged insane. —New York Herald.
THE USES OF BACTERIA.
The Delicate Flavor of Butter and C'lieeee
Owing to Them.
An American scientist, Professor
Conn of Wesleyan university, Middle
town, Conn., and Simon C. Keith of
Boston ure demonstrating by experi
ments thut bacteria serve a useful pur
pose in uuture and contribute as much
to one’s pleasure as to one’s discomfort.
The outcome of their investigations is
that it is to the development of bacteria
in milk that the delicate flavor of but
ter and cheese is due, und that the rea
son some kinds of butter and cheese
have better flavors than others is that
different species of bacteria have been
developed. They huve succeeded in iso
lating these different species.
In 1891 Professor Vilhelm Storch of
Copenhagen succeeded in isolating cer
tain acid bacteria from ripeded cream
and was able to cultivate and utilize
them in the creameries for accomplish
ing an artificial ripening in the cream
and consequent fermentation, in order
that a more uniform and better flavor
ed butter might be produced.
But it was not until two years ago,
when Professor Conn discovered a germ
for the ripening of creum which was
radically different from any heretofore
used, that the subject, began to be stud
ied in this country with the view of de
veloping its commercial possibilities.
Since then a laboratory has been fitted
up in Boston by Orrin Douglass for the
separation cultivation and investiga
tion of bacteria from a commercial
standpoint. Mr. Douglass has associated
with him Air. Keith, who is a graduate
of the Institute of Technology.—. E
xchange.
Letter Rftfulvnd After Thirty-two Years.
John 11. Hughes of Cedar Grove,
Orange county, Va., recently mailed a
letter which was given him in 1805 to
mail, when he was a prisoner at Point
Lookout. In looking over some papers
he found the letter and wrote to the
sheriff of Anson county to know if the
man to whom it was addressed was
alive. The sheriff replied yes, and that,
strange to relate, he was in his office
when the letter of inquiry came. The
letter was sent in tho original envelope.
—Norfolk Landmark.
Flew Swifter Than tho Wind.
Eleven of 13 carrier pigeons released
by Mr. r A. L. Fogg of the Adams Ex
press company, Cincinnati, on a recent
morning at 7 o’clock reached their des
tination, Oil City, Pa., at 6:20 p. m. on
the same day, making their average
speed while on the flight 945 yards per
minute, or at the rate of one mile in
1.80 minutes. The distance by air line
is 800 miles. Another of the birds ar
rived some time later, but the thirteenth
has not yet been heard from.
Song uf the Season*.
In the summer, when the gentle southern
breezes blandly blow
And tho troes nod joyous welcome with a
bending to and fro,
When the budding things of life leap forth to
greet the summer's sun
And in splendid suit of r&zzlu dazzle green the
year’s begun,
Then we feel a budding pleasure staging up
■within the soul
As we view the sad demeanor of the man who
sold us coal.
In the winter when the blizzards from the
northward fiercely blow'
And the mercury finds zero and then scuds an
inch below.
When Juck Frost is glinting gayly, nipping
noses, nipping ears.
And no longer we find pleasure in encircling
our beers,
Still there is a full grown glory in our souls
beyond a price
As we view the joyless countenance of him
who sold us ice.
Yet there comes a sad depression every season
of the year
And tlie same is not to he subdued w ith mighty
mugs of beer.
Neither can the joys of winter, nor of autumn,
nor of spring
All combined o’ereast the damper of that soul
depressing sting
That we feel whene’er we hear the sound of
happy, gurgling croons
That ever surge from out the face of him who
sells us prunes. ,
—Chicago News.
THE TIMES: BRUNSWICK, GA„ SUNDAY MORNING, JUNE 27, 1897.
PEERESS AS WAITER.
SHE MAY SUCCEED TO ESTATES VAL
UED AT $250,000 A YEAR.
f
Is the Only Direct Descendant of the Earl
of l'erth and Duke of Melfort —A Stir
ring Romance of the Scottish and the
French Peerage.
While the Hou. Mary Harriet Geral
dine Drummond of Brooklyn is look
ing for a position her great-grand
father, George Drummond, earl of
Perth and Melfort and duke of Mel
fort in France, is said to be looking for
her. She is ready to he found by tho
earl’s attorneys and expects eventually
to como into possession of his great
estate.
May, as she calls herself, is 18 years
old and worked until recently as a wait
ress in an ice cream parlor in Brooklyn.
She is striving to make her own living
and said recently that she would not
cease looking for another situation be
cause of tho news that her great-grand
father had begun a search for her. She
said she was the only direot descendant
of the Scottish earl, whose income
amounts to $250,000 a year.
The romance that finds its climax in
the straitened circumstances of an
apparent heir to an estate worth mil
lions of dollars has been told hereto
fore, but it will he news to most Amer
icans, as it was to Miss Drummond,
that her great-grandfather, now 90
years old, is seeking information about
her, probably with a view to the dispo
sition of his estate. There are other
claimants to the property, but it seems
likely that the title will disappear upon
the death of the present earl, as it iias
done before during the seven centuries
since it was created.
George Drummond is tho sixth earl
of Perth and the fourteenth duke of
Melfort. He was born in London, May
6, 1807. His lordship, in 1841, estab
lished before the eon.-eil d’etat of France
and the tribunal de la Seine iiis descent
from the earls and dukes of Perth and
Melfort and his right of succession to
the French honors of Duke of Melfort
and Perth. The earldom of Perth was
revived in 1853 by the special command
and recommendation of Queen Vic
toria, through an act of parliament
unanimously passed by both houses.
George Henry Charles Francis Mal
colm, Viscount Forth, the only son of
the Earl of Perth, died eight years later,
leaving one son, George Essex Montifex,
Lord Drummond. It was He who while
yet a boy married his grandmother’s
maid, a number of years his senior,
came to this country and preferred men
ial employment and poor surroundings
to deserting his wife for the old earl’s
favor. Lord Drummond died in New
York city in 1887 and was buried in
Trinity churchyard, tho expense of the
funeral being defrayed by several of the
Scottish residents of that city. He left
one child, a daughter, who for a num
ber of years past has supported herself
by her labor.
Miss Drummond remarked recently
that she was making no plans on what
she would do in case she inherited tho
vast estates of her great-grandfather.
“He knows where I am,” she said,
"and will have no difficulty in reach
ing me. Meanwhile i am nut, mak
ing any plans. I never have seen my
great-grandfather and never have been
on the other side. I have seen pictures
of his estate, aud they show.that it is
very beautiful. But lam most inter
ested just now in earning my living.”
Miss Drummond is a bright girl,
rather good looking, aud keen to keep in
touch with the affairs of the aged Earl
of Perth. She lives with her mother,
Mrs. Henry Masters, in Prospect avenue,
Brooklyn. Their home is neatly fur
nished, hut Mrs. Masters, with a 4 year
old daughter to care for, shares Miss
Drummond’s anxiety that she may ob
tain a position. The heiress of tho Earl
of Perth, after a partial education in
the Booklyn grammar and high schools,
decided to be a trained nurse, but she
found this work too trying for one of
her age.—New York Herald.
Negro Help In Cotton Milla.
For the first time in the history of
the south the experiment of employing
negro help in a cotton mill is to be
tried, says the Atlanta Journal. Charles
ton, tlie most conservative of southern
cities aud the last place where such a
radical departure might be expected, is
to furnish the trial. Sometime ago the
Charleston cotton mills hud to be closed
on account of tho dull markets, and
since then the 800 men, women and
children have been out of employment.
The mills have one of tlie largest plants
in the south. A large part of the stock
is owned by O. H. Sampson of Boston
aud other northern capitalists, aud they
contend that had negro labor been se
cured months ago the mill would not
have Iveen compelled to stop. It is
through northern influence that it hus
been settled that negroes alone shall be
employed when the factory resumes.
A postoffloe clock in Sydney, N. S.
W., emits an electric flash light lasting
five seconds every hour during the
night, thus enabling those living miles
away to ascertain the exact time.
Switzerland has issued anew 2 frano
gftldpiece, Helvetia being represented
on its face, a realistic peasant girl’s
head. Around it arc 22 stars for the 22
cantons.
l'he Cincinnati members of the Soci
ety of Western Artists have formed a
local chapter.
The personalty of the late Due d’An
male in England is valued at £840,000.
The legislature of Delaware granted
99 divorces during the lust session, be
ing double aud probably quadruple the
number ever granted by any previous
legislature. The new constitution of the
state, soon to go into operation, tekes
from the legislature the power to giant
divorces.
ONLY SEEMINGLY DEAD.
Undertaker Found Her Alive When lie
Caine to Embalm Her.
Undertaker William J. Kelly of St.
Louis was summoned recently by a res
ident of the north end to come to his
residence and take charge of his wife’s
remains, she having supposedly died.
Accompanied by one of his men Mr.
Kelly repaired to the place designated,
where, in an upper chamber, he was
shown the body, still reposing on tho
bed. The family present, consisting of
the husband and two women, retired
from the room while Mr. Kelly and his
attendant proceeded to lay out the body
on a cooling board, preparatory to em
balming it. The woman was apparent
ly some 80 years of age, slight of figure
and possessed of refined aud handsome
features, despite the ravages of con
sumption, of which she had fullen a
victim.
"As we laid the body on the cooling
board,” said Mr. Kelly, “I was struck
with the lifelike appearance of the face
of the corpse aud the great warmth of
the body. We hastily and as tenderly
as possible replaced tho body on the
bed, and I called to the family to
come in, telling them that the woman
was not dead. I naturally expected a
scene, but not so. The two women in
attendance merely looked at each other
in a bewildered way and hardly ex
pressed any eurprise. while the husband
seemed as little affected. Gathering up
our traps, we hastily departed, aud I
heard no more of the case until a week
afterward, when I was again summoned
by tho husband to embalm and bury bis
wife’s remains. On this second trip I
found the body still quite warm, but
before proceeding to make an injection
I allowed the body to heeorno quite cold
to make sure that death had taken place.
“The incident has impressed upon
me,” continued Mr. Kelly, “how care
ful undertakers should be not only in
viewing a corpse, but in having reliable,
sober men in their service, especially
for embalming. Had a thoughtless, care
less or half drunken man been sent out
in the first instance on this case the
poor woman would probably have been
cruelly put to death.”—St. Louis Re
public.
MARRIED ON THE TRAMP.
Am Idle Lady and Gentleman Form a Life
Partnership.
Forty-two cents was the declared cap
ital of a couple of tramps who loved
each other after threo hours’ acquaint
ance, and who were married at Custle
ton, N. Y., recently.
Tho Rev. Mr. Thomas was waiting
for a wedding party to assemble when
a seedy looking man and an equally ill
clad woman appeared at his homo and
asked for the “dominie.” They told
Mr. Thomas they wanted to marry.
They were tramping, they said, when
they met each other and loved at first
sight. The only obstacle to their con
tinuing their tramp as a honeymoon
journey was, they added, the price of a
wedding.
The good natured clergyman waived
his fee and spoke the words that made
them one. The couple described them
selves as Frank Williams of Utica, N.
Y., brushmaker, and Anna Nancy Jane
Carley of Sharon, Litchfield county,
Gunn.—-The-bride confessed siib was one
year older than her husband, who said
he was 38.
Husband and wife thanked the clergy
man and, after obtaining a bouquet of
bride’s roses from the parsonage
grounds, started westward, tramps to
gether with but 42 cents as their entire
wealth.—New York World.
Sold Wife aud Children For fsloo.
The transfer of a wife and six chil
dren for u monetary consideration oc
curred on a recent Sunday near Beloit,
a small village a short distance east of
Canton, O. Jacob Zellar and Brecht
Yeuuu, two natives of Switzerland, a
year or so ago rented a farm noar the
village, worked it and shared the prof
its. Oh April 1 they dissolved partner
ship. Zeilar, who hud a wife and six
children, was not otherwise blessed by
fortune aud tired of the burdens he was
obliged to carry. Yenna is about 40
years old, thrifty and well to do. So
the two men made an agreement where
by Zellar leaves for parts unknown, tak
ing with him SIOO of Yenna’s money,
aud tho latter becomes the head of the
family. The compact was arranged in
the presence of witnesses.
Doughnut Stopped a Steamer.
An ordinary doughnut of the lunch
stand variety brought the revenue cue
ter Chandler to a full stop in New York
harbor recently.
Pilot Bradley had rung the bell to
start down tlie bay with Boarding
Officer Walter Stiles to clear the steam
ship Mobile at quarantine. The cutter
had just passed the end of the Staten
Island ferry slip when lierengiuo began
to act queerly. The engineer said that
something had happened to the old fash
ioned jet condenser, and that ho could
not go on.
She camo back to the slip. The en
gineer took the condenser apart and
found what the doughnut had been
baked for. He broke it up. It had been
sucked into the condenser from tho wa
ter of the slip. The Chandler was ready
for business again in about an hour.
All Mt*n Are Barred.
The West park board of Chicago have
decreed that some of the largest grass
plots in the West Side park shall be re
served as “common” for women and
children only aud that men must not
occupy them.
Asa result of this somewhat high
handed action, as it was considered by
those who had to endure it, there has
come overwhelming protest. Aud amid
all this protest the West park board
stand cold and firm.
The warm weather has not served to
warm their hearts, aud, iudeed, not
even the hot anger of the complaining
people has bad that effect The men are
getting ready to begin a lawsuit übout
it —Exchange.
TALK ABOUT EUROPE.
Highly Intomliiiff Notes ITpon Various
Topics Social, Political and Military.
At the request of the nizaui or king
of Ilaidarabad tho British government
at Calcutta has officially denied the
widely circulated story with regard to
the alleged disappearance from the Hai
darabad treasury of the famous Moun
tain of Light diamond. The gem in
question, which is of the purest water,
weighs 180 carats and was a few years
ago the subject of a celebrated lawsuit
between Mr. Jacobs, tlie original of
Marion Crawford’s “Mr. Isaacs, ” and
the nizam and is still safe in the keep
ing of the latter, which it has never left
since the conclusion of the trial.
The plan of the grand manuvers of
the French army, which are to take
place in September next, was recently
officially announced. The field of oper
ations will he confined to the north,
Arras and Douai forming the base on
one side, while on the other Soissous
and Villers-Cotteret mark tho farthest
limit. Thus the ground covered is that
by way of which Paris has more than
once been approached by a real invader,
and the movements will reproduce in
some degree those of Generals Faidherbe
and Farre in 1871.
It is comforting for Americans to
learn from the returns lately published
by the Journal Officiel at Paris that
not a single citizen of the United States
has abandoned his country in order to
secure naturalization as a Frenchman
during the last 12 mouths. France ac
quired no less than 8,037 new citizens
by means of naturalization last year.
Belgians, Germans, Spaniards, Poles,
Russians, Moors, Chinamen and Britons
figure among the number, but not a sin
gle soil of Uncle Sam.
Anew use. has been found by the mil
itary authorities in Germany for the
dogs of war, aud Great Danes are now
being trained in the various garrisons
to attack military cyclists. Wheelmen
clad in various uniforms and so protect
ed by padding that they are safe against
bites, lido past the dogs, who instantly
rush at the men, if costumed as French
or Russians, and throw tl.im to the
giouud. If by any chance the dog should
attack a representative of the triple al
liance, bo is severely whipped, while a
reward is given to iiim when he assails
tho man who personates an enemy.
Speculation is rife in Europe as to the
cause of the astounding percentage of
suicides among the medical profession
in Russia, in the Muscovite empire the
rate of suicide for ordinary mortals is
30 in 1,000,000. But the rate lor doc
tors is no less than 831 in 1,000,000,
according to recent official returns. This
is all the more a matter for concern, as
! Russia suffers more than any other na
tiou in Europe from a scarcity of med
ical men.
The libraiy of the Vatican has just
received as a gift from the University
i of Oxford the 49 volumes of the “Sacred
Books of the East,” which are the Eng
lish translations by Professor Max Mul
ler of the liturgical works used by tho
followers of Buddha and Confucius.
One of the most eminent naval ex
perts in France describes in the Paris
Temps tlie French fleet as a “museum
of specimens, ” owing to the fact that
no two vessels are alike. Those now in
process of construction represent no less
than 21 different types, and it is need
less to point out the tactical disadvan
tages that must inevitably result from
dissimilarity in the fighting units of a
squadron. The expert likewise points
out that if France had received the same
value for the money which she has
spent on her ships during the last 20
years as England the tonnage of her
fleet today would be greater than it is
by over 200,000 tons. This conveys a
faint idea of the extravagance and mis
management of tlie French department
of the navy.
China is decidedly getting on and in a
vein of progress and of enlightenment,
for, according to news received in Lon
don from Peking, an imperial edict hus
recently been issued making the teach
ing of English compulsory in all the
higher schools of the leading provinces.
This is a reform which has not even
been attempted as yet by the Japanese
government, although frequently recom
mended. Japan, indeed, is sadly back
ward in educational matters. While she
! is spending colossal sums of money on
her army and navy, official returns show
that there are close upon 2,000,000 chil
i. dren of school ago who are without
1 schools or any educational facilities
i whatsoever.
Tlie present activity of Vesuvius has
been much exaggerated, the volcano be
ing merely in what is known to scieu
j tints as a condition of “mild eruption.”
The lava issuing from the various
| mouths of the Atrio del Oavallo forms
j a torrent flowing down the steep side
of the new cone formed in that portion
of the mountain by recent eruptions
and has interrupted the funicular rail
road. The main crater, however, shows
no signs of activity, and the openings
from which the lava issues are relative
ly small and situated at its base.
Much comment is excited in London
by the extraordinarily slow progress
made in tlie construction of the Uganda
railroad, which, connecting the great
I equatorial plateau of Africa and the
lake districts with the eastern seacoast,
is destined to open up to civilization
and to the commerce of the world tho
whole of the interior of the dark conti
nent. Owing to - red tape and lack of
energy of the British foreign office,
which has the mattc-r in hand, barely
50 miles of track have been laid, where
as during the same period General
[ Kitchener’s men on the upper Nile
1 have managed to lay some 300 miles of
track across the desert in the direction
of Abu-Haiued.—New York Tribune.
THE BASE-BALE CRANK.
It ought to interest a great many peo
ple besides base-ball cranks to know that
when a ball “curves” through the air
first one way and then another after leav
ing the pitcher’s hand, it does what sci
entific men once declared was imposible.
They made fig
ures an and di a
-and proved
that “curve”
/ ) pitching couldn’t
£ J '”T~ fhe done; then
f'yZ' j J the pitchers did
/j/ )-/ it; and the scien
/pf / tists Concluded
tl/ -- that something
was wrong with
the diagrams. In face of facts some sci
entific “certainties” become mighty un
certain.
Consumption, scientists once declared,
was incurable; now they see it cured every
day by Dr. Pierce’s Golden Medical Dis
covery. It purifies and vitalizes the blood;
drives out the poisonous elements; sup
plies the life-giving red corpuscles; stops
the accumulation of morbid deposits;
heals and builds up the lung tissues; puts
good solid muscular flesh ou to the frame;
aud imparts fresh nerve-force and vital
energy. It is the most perfect cure ever
discovered for throat and bronchial af
fections, wasted, run-down conditions;
and all diseases due to impoverished
blood.
It is the invention of an educated and
experienced physician. Dr. Pierce has
been for nearly thirty years chief consult
ing physician of the Invalids’ Hotel and
Surgical Institute, Buffalo, N. Y., and
his medicines are recognized standard
remedies.
“Some five or six years ago I bad a bad
cough and got so low with it that I could
not sit up long at a titri*, ” writes Mrs. Mit
tie Gray, of New London, Union Cos., Ark.
“We called our family physician, and he
told my husband that I had consumption.
All of our neighbors thought so too. I had
pains through my chest and spit up blood.
I commenced with your ‘Golden Medical
Discovery ’ and had only taken it two or
three days when I felt like a different per
son. I took four bottles of the medicine
and it cured my cough. I have not been
bothered since, until a short time ago X
took cold and commenced to cough again;
I got a bottli of the ‘ Discovery ’ and it re
lieved me at once. I think it is the best
medicine in the world. It saved my life.
I don’t thin, any one would die of eon
sumption if they would take Dr. Pierce’s
Golden Medical Discovery. I recommend
it to all my friends, and tell them what it
did for me.”
“About six years ago my health began to
fail,” writes Miss Mollie Buttry, of Sneeit
ville, Hancock Cos., Tenn. “I was weak
and nervous, had catarrh in tlie head, and
indigestion—everything I ;rte hurt me and
caused me to have palpitation of the heart.
My lungs were weak, was troubled with
asthma a great deal, and was so despondent
I did not take any interest in anything. I
tried several doctors, and every kind of
medicine I could hear of, but nothing
seemed to do me any good only for a little
while at a time. About one year ago I was
almost a skeleton and had almost given up
ever being well again. A friend advised
me to write to Dr. Pierce about my case,
and I did so. and followed the advice lie
gave me. I began at once to use the medi
cines that lie prescribed—‘Golden Medical
Discovery,’ three bottles, and the ‘Favorite
Prescription,’ one bottle, and the little
‘Pleasant Pellets.’ I can truly say they did
me great good. I call now eat anything 1
want, work all day, sleep well, and I weigh
one hundred and twenty-three pounds—
nearly as much as I ever weighed in my
life.”
It would save doctor bills for any fam
ily to have a copy of Dr. Fierce's splen
did thousand-page free book, “ The Peo
ple’s Common Sense Medical Adviser,”
explaining the laws of life and health in
clear and interesting language, with
many valuable suggestions and receipts
for curing common ailments by simple
home-treatment. It has over three hun
dred illustrations and colored plates. A
strong paper-hound copy will he sent ab
solutely free, on receipt of 21 cents in
one-cent stamps to pay the cost of mail
ing only. Address, World’s Dispensary
Medical Association, No. 663 Main St.,
Buffalo, N. Y. A handsome cloth-bound,
beautifully stamped copy will he sent
for 31 cents. This popular work con
tains important information for the
young and old, both male and female,
single and married, not heretofore pub
lished in this country, for the non-pro
fessional reader. 0
A FREAKISH OLD WELL.
Faithful For Twenty-five Years, It Now
Gives Salt Water*
One of tlie .strange caprices of nature
is illustrated in a well on the premises
of Thomas B. Craft of Belle. Plaiue, la.
The well has been oil the family homo
stead and supplying the family with
water for the past 35 years. The supply
of water never diminished, even in the
driest periods of the year, and has sup
plied neighboring families with water
when surrounding wells gavo out.
Recently the water in the old well
commenced to taste salty. It was
pumped dry and thoroughly cleaned
out. The w" ter became worse, and the
well was cl, aued out again. This time
the water became literally a salty brine
and so thick that when placed iu a ves
sel a clear, white salt would settle in
the bottom.
No explanation is advanced for the
remarkable phenomenon. None of the
wells in the neighborhood gives any evi
dence of salt, and, as there are no sa
line lands in the community, the chang
ing of this old homestead well into salt
water has nonplused the people.—Chi
cago Times-Herald.
It is Choice.
A:i Irishman in France was chal
lenged by a Frenchman to fight a duel,
to which lie readily consented, and sug
gested shilhilahs.
“That won’t do,” said the second.
“As the challenged party you have the
right to choose the arms, hut chivalry
demands that you should decide upon a
Weapon with which Frenchmen are fa
miliar. ”
“Js that so?” returned the Irishman.
“Then, befcorra, we’ll foight wid guil
lotines. ” —Luiidon Tit-Bits.
It is said by philologists that there
are lb’ original European languages—
the Greek, Latin, German, Slavonic,
Welsh, Biscayan, Irish, Albanian, Tar
tarian, Illyrian, Jazygiau, Cbauciu and
Finnic.