for his invention or discovery, he shall make application therefor, in
writing, to the Commissioner of Patents, and shall file in the Patent
Office a written description of the same, and of the manner and process
of making, constructing, compounding, and using it, in such full,
clear, concise and exact terms, as to enable any person skilled in the
art or science to which it appertains, or with which it is most nearly
connected, to make, construct, compound, and use the same; and in case
of a machine, he shall explain the principle thereof and the best mode
in which he has contemplated applying that principle, so as to
distinguish it from other inventions; and he shall particularly point
out and distinctly claim that part, improvement or combination which he
claims as his invention or discovery. The specification and claim shall
be signed by the inventor and attested by two witnesses.
It is also required by law that when "The case admits of drawings," it
shall be properly illustrated; and also, if the Commissioner requires
it, that a model shall be furnished in cases capable of such
demonstration.
The cost of obtaining Letters Patent in ordinary cases is: First,
Government fees, $15; counsel fees, including drawings, $25; second, or
final Government fees, to be paid within six months from date of
allowance, $20; total, $60.
DESIGNS.--A design patent can be obtained for novelties in the shape of
configuration of articles, or impressions by any means whatever. These
patents are of great value to the trade.
The Government fees for a design patent are:
On filing every application for a design patent $10.00
On issuing a design patent for 3-1/2 years no further charge.
On issuing a design patent for 7 years 5.00
On issuing a design patent for 14 years 20.00
CAVEATS.--A caveat is a confidential communication used in the Patent
Office, and it consists of a specification, drawings, oath and
petition. The specification must contain a clear description of the
intended invention.
HOW A COPYRIGHT IS SECURED.--The method by which a copyright is
obtained under the revised acts of Congress is as simple and
inexpensive as can be reasonably asked. All unnecessary red tape is
dispensed with, and the cost to the author who is seeking thus to
protect himself in the enjoyment of the profits of his work, is so
small as to be scarcely appreciable. This is an example of cheapness
and directness toward which all branches of public administration
should tend, if a government is to fulfill its proper mission of
serving the people without needlessly taxing them. Directions have
lately been issued for the guidance of persons wishing to obtain
copyrights; and, as many of our readers may not be conversant with the
subject, we give a brief abstract of the process.
The first thing necessary is to send a printed copy of the title of the
work, plainly directed to "Librarian of Congress, Washington, D.C."
The copyright law applies not only to books, pamphlets and newspapers,
but also to maps, charts, photographs, paintings, drawings, music,
statuary, etc. If there is a title page, send that; if not, a title
must be printed expressly for the purpose, and in both cases the name
of the author or claimant of copyright must accompany the title. Use no
smaller paper than commercial note.
A remittance of one dollar must be made along with the application.
This is the whole charge--half of it being for the entry on the record,
and the other half for your certificate, which the Librarian will send
you promptly by mail. You will of course prepay your postage.
Within ten days after your book, or other article, is published, you
are required to send two complete copies of the best edition to the
Librarian, addressed as before, prepaying postage; or the Librarian
will furnish "penalty labels," under which they can be sent free of
postage. If this deposit of copies is neglected, the copyright is void,
and you are liable to fine of $25.
The law requires that on the title page of a copyrighted work, or some
part of the drawing, painting, statue, or whatever it may be, there
shall be printed these words: "Entered according to act of Congress, in
the year ----, by ----, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at
Washington;" or, if preferred, this briefer form may be used:
"Copyright, 18--, by ----." To this may be added, "Right of translation
reserved," or "All rights reserved;" but in that case the Librarian
must have been duly notified, so that he may include it in the record.
Any person who prints the copyright notice on his work without having
obtained a copyright, is liable to a penalty of $1.00. The original
term of a copyright runs for twenty-eight years, and it may then be
renewed for a further term of fourteen years, either by the author or
by his widow or children, application being made not less than six
months before the expiration of the right. Trade marks and labels
cannot be copyrighted under this law, but are provided for by a
separate act, relating to matters of detail, which cannot here be
recited, but in regard to which, the Librarian at Washington will give
the needed information whenever required.
TRADE MARKS, LABELS, PRINTS, ETC.--Copyrights cannot be granted upon
trade marks, nor upon mere names of companies or articles, nor upon
prints or labels intended to be used with any article of manufacture.
If protection for such names or labels is desired, application must be
made to the Patent Office, where they are registered at a fee of $6 for
labels, and $25 for trade marks.
By the word "print" is meant any device, word, or figures (not a trade
mark) impressed directly upon the article, to denote the name of the
manufacturer, etc.
By the word "label" is meant a slip of paper, or other material, to be
attached to manufactured articles, or to packages containing them, and
bearing the name of the manufacturer, directions for use, etc.
WATER ICES.--Some make these with acid, water, flavor, and the whites
of eggs. _No good._
The best rules for the amount of sugar is to suit your taste.
FRANGIPANNA.--Spirits one gallon, Oil Bergamot one ounce, Oil of Lemon
one ounce; macerate for four days, frequently shaking; then add Water
one gallon, Orange Flower Water one pint, Essence of Vanilla two
ounces. Mix.
SILVERING POWDER.--Nitrate of Silver and common Salt, of each thirty
grains, Cream of Tartar three and one-half drachms. Pulverize finely,
mix thoroughly, and bottle for use. Unequaled for polishing copper and
plated goods.
EXTRACT OF LEMON.--Three ounces Oil Lemon; cut with 95 proof Alcohol;
add one gallon 80 proof Alcohol, and filter through cotton or felt. Put
up in two ounce bottles. Sells for 25 cents; jobs at $1.00 and $1.50
according to quality and style of package.
BALM OF A THOUSAND FLOWERS.--Deodorized Alcohol one pint, nice white
Bar Soap four ounces; shave the soap when put in, stand in a warm place
till dissolved, then add Oil of Citronella one drachm, and Oils of
Neroli and Rosemary, of each one-half drachm.
TIN CANS.--Size of sheet for from 1 to 100 gallons:
For 1 gallon 7 by 20 ins.
For 3-1/2 gallons 10 by 28 ins.
For 5 gallons 12 by 40 ins.
For 6 gallons 14 by 40 ins.
For 10 gallons 20 by 42 ins.
For 15 gallons 30 to 42 ins.
For 25 gallons 30 by 56 ins.
For 40 gallons 36 by 63 ins.
For 50 gallons 40 by 70 ins.
For 75 gallons 40 by 84 ins.
For 100 gallons 40 by 98 ins.
This includes all laps, seams, etc., which will be found sufficiently
correct for all practical purposes.
MOULDS AND DIES.--Copper, Zinc and Silver in equal proportions, melt
together under a coat of powdered charcoal, and mould into the form you
desire. Bring them to nearly a white heat, and lay on the thing you
would take an impression of, press with sufficient force, and you will
get a perfect and beautiful impression.
INDESTRUCTIBLE LAMP WICKS.--Steep common wicks in a concentrated
aqueous solution of Tungstate of Soda, and then dry thoroughly in an
oven.
A GOLD PLATE FOR SMALL ARTICLES, WITHOUT A BATTERY.--Digest a small
fragment of gold with about ten times its weight of mercury until it is
dissolved, shake the amalgam together in a bottle, and after cleansing
the articles, coat them uniformly with the amalgam. Then expose them on
an iron tray heated to low redness for a few minutes. The mercury
volatilizes, leaving the gold attached as a thin coating to the
article. The heating should be done in a stove, so that the poisonous
mercurial fumes may pass up the chimney.
A GELATINE MOULD FOR CASTING PLASTER ORNAMENTS.--Allow twelve ounces of
Gelatine to soak for a few hours in water, until it has absorbed as
much as it can, then apply heat, by which it will liquify. If the mould
is required to be elastic, add three ounces of Treacle, and mix well
with the Gelatine. If a little Chrome Alum (precise proportions are
immaterial) be added to the Gelatine, it causes it to lose its property
of being again dissolved in water. A saturated solution of Bichromate
of Potash brushed over the surface of the mould, allowed to become dry
and afterwards exposed to sunlight for a few minutes, renders the
surface so hard as to be unaffected by moisture.
IMITATION OF GROUND GLASS.--The following is from an Antwerp scientific
journal. Paint the glass with the following varnishes: Sandarac
eighteen drachms, Mastic four drachms, Ether twenty-four ounces,
Benzine six to eighteen ounces. The more Benzine the coarser the grain
of imitation glass will be.
UNSHRINKABLE PATTERNS.--The best mixture for small patterns, that does
not shrink in casting, is sixty-nine parts Lead, fifteen and one-half
parts Antimony, fifteen and one-half parts Bismuth, by weight. A cheap
kind for finished patterns can be made of ten parts Zinc, one part
Antimony, one part Tin.
TO MAKE ARTIFICIAL MARBLE FOR PAPER WEIGHTS OR OTHER FANCY
ARTICLES.--Soak Plaster of Paris in a solution of Alum, bake it in an
over, and then grind it to a powder. In using mix it with water, and to
produce the clouds and veins stir in any dry color you wish; this will
become very hard, and is susceptible of a very high polish.
MOLDS OF GLUE AND MOLASSES, SUCH AS RODGERS USES FOR MAKING HIS
STATUETTES.--The flexible moulds referred to are prepared as follows:
Glue eight pounds, Molasses (New Orleans) seven pounds. Soak the Glue
over night in a small quantity of cold water, then melt it by heat over
a salt water bath, stir until froth begins to rise, then add and stir
in briskly the Molasses previously heated. Continue to heat and stir
the mixture for about half an hour; then pour.
TO CLARIFY LIQUIDS.--The following composition is said to bleach all
colored liquids, and to render bone-black perfectly unnecessary:
Albumen three hundred, Neutral Tartrate of Potash two, Alum five, Sal
Ammoniac seven hundred parts. The Albumen must of course not be
coagulated. The ingredients are first dissolved in a little water and
then added to the liquid to be clarified.
TO PREVENT STORE WINDOWS FROM STEAMING.--J. F. writes: I am about to
have the front show windows of my store inclosed with inside windows.
Can you tell any way to prevent the outside windows frosting in cold
weather? A. Clean the glass occasionally with a cloth moistened with
pure Glycerine, wiping it so as to leave only a trace of the Glycerine
adhering to the surface--this on the inside.
ARTIFICIAL INDIA RUBBER.--A cheap and useful substitute for Indian
rubber is prepared by mixing a thick solution of Glue with Tungstate of
Soda and Hydrochloric Acid. A compound of Tungstic Acid and Glue is
precipitated, which at a temperature of 86 degrees to 104 degrees F. is
sufficiently elastic to admit of being drawn out into very thin sheets.
On cooling this mass becomes solid and brittle, but on being heated is
again soft and plastic. This new compound can be used for many of the
purposes to which rubber is adapted.
RUBBER STAMPS FOR PHOTOGRAPHS.--Many photographers employ a rubber
stamp for imprinting the backs of mounts, and in these circumstances a
good ink is very essential. Here is the recipe for making one quoted
from the _Engineer_, and said to yield an excellent ink which, while
not drying on the pad, will yet not readily smear when impressed upon
paper: Aniline Red (Violet) one hundred and eighty grains, distilled
Water two ounces, Glycerine one teaspoonful, Treacle one-half
teaspoonful. The crystals of Aniline are powdered and dissolved in the
boiling distilled water, and the other ingredients then added.
A GOOD IDEA.--_How to Remove Pain and Soreness from Wounds._ The value
of the smoke from burned wool to remove the pain and soreness from
wounds of all kinds, or from sores, is great, and it will give
immediately relief from the intense pain caused by a gathering. The
easiest way to prepare this is to cut all-wool flannel--if you haven't
the wool--into narrow strips, take some hot ashes with a few small live
coals on a shovel, sprinkle some of the flannel strips on it, and hold
the injured member in the smoke for five or ten minutes, using plenty
of flannel to make a thick smoke. Repeat as often as seems necessary,
though one smoking is usually enough.
CHILBLAINS.--We glean two prescriptions from the _British Medical
Journal_. They are now being used in this country, and with good
results. Lin. Belladonnae two drachms, Lin. Aconita one drachm, Acid
Carbolici six minims, Collod. Flexil one ounce.
Mix and apply every night with a camel's hair pencil, Collod. Flexil
four drachms, Oleiricini four drachms, Spt. Tereb, four drachms. Use
three times daily with camel's hair brush.
SAID TO BE GOOD FOR GRIP.--Anything that affords hope of relief from
Grip is of interest. Pauline Crayson writes from Cranford, N.J., to
_New York Tribune_, saying: "I have found Peroxide of Hydrogen
(medicinal) a marvelous remedy in the treatment of grip and influenza.
This medicine should be diluted with water and administered internally,
and by snuffing through the nostrils or by spraying the nostrils and
throat. I believe the good results from this treatment, which I have
never known to fail of producing a speedy cure, are due to the
destruction of the microbe upon which this disease depends." The remedy
is simple and within the reach of everybody, and can easily be tested.
STICKS LIKE A BROTHER.--A paste that will adhere to anything.--Prof.
Alex. Winchell is credited with the invention of a cement that will
stick to anything (_Nat. Drug_). Take two ounces of clear Gum Arabic,
one and one-half ounces of fine Starch and one-half ounce of White
Sugar. Pulverize the Gum Arabic, and dissolve it in as much water as
the laundress would use for the quality of starch indicated. Dissolve
the starch and sugar in the gum solution. Then cook the mixture in a
vessel suspended in boiling water until the starch becomes clear. The
cement should be as thick as tar and keep so. It can be kept from
spoiling by dropping in a lump of Gum Camphor, or a little Oil of
Cloves or Sassafras. This cement is very strong indeed, and will stick
perfectly to glazed surfaces, and is good to repair broken rocks,
minerals or fossils. The addition of a small amount or Sulphate of
Aluminum will increase the effectiveness of the paste, besides helping
to prevent decomposition.
DIRECTIONS FOR MAKING ALL KINDS OF CANDY.
MOLASSES TAFFY.--New Orleans Molasses one pint, Sugar one and one-half
pounds, Water one-half pint (no doctor). Stir all the time to a good
light snap. Lemon flavor. Work as above.
CREAM TAFFY.--Same as above. When to the ball degree have ready half
cup cider vinegar, one-fourth pipe Cream Tartar, dissolve in the
Vinegar, four ounces Butter. Add, stir, and work as you do the white
taffy.
NUT TAFFY.--Use the cream taffy recipe. Just before the candy is done
cooking stir in any kind of nut goodies, pour out, and when cool enough
not to run, form it into a block, cut or break it with a hammer.
GOOD BROWN BUTTER-SCOTCH.--C Sugar, three pounds; Water, one and
one-fourth pint; Cream Tartar, one full pipe dissolved in one cup Cider
Vinegar; Molasses, one-half pint; Butter, eight ounces (no flavor). Add
all except the Vinegar, Cream Tartar and Butter. Boil to medium ball,
then add the Cream Tartar in the Vinegar and Butter. Stir all the time
carefully. Boil to light snap finish as before in cheap Butter-Scotch.
SOUR LEMON DROPS.--Make a batch of barley squares. Just as soon as you
pour it on the slab sprinkle over it three-fourths ounce dry Tartaric
Acid, two tablespoons Lemon flavor; turn the cold edges in to the
center of the batch, work it like bread dough; place this before a hot
stove on your table and cut into little pieces with your scissors, or
run the batch through a drop machine.
All goods that you want to spin out or run through a machine or cut
with scissors should be kept warm by a sheet iron stove, on a brick
foundation, fitted in the table evenly, and the candy placed in front
to keep warm.
Should the candy slab, after it is greased, act sticky, not allowing
the candy to come up freely, throw a dust of flour over the sticky
place after it has been greased.
STICK CANDY.--Stick candy is made precisely the same as peppermint
clips, by keeping the batch round, and a second person to twist them
and keep them rolling until cold. This can be done only by practice.
The sticks are then chopped in the desired length by heavy shears.
STRAWBERRY.--Same, only flavor with strawberry; color with liquid
coloring slightly.
MAPLE CARAMELS.--Use one-half Maple Sugar with C Sugar. No flavor.
WALNUT CARAMELS.--Same as the first. When done, stir in sufficient nuts
to suit.
A better caramel can be made with white sugar, and milk instead of
water.
Still better, by using cream one quart, and when cream cannot be had,
condensed milk dissolved in milk works fine.
ALMOND BARS.--Same as peanut, only add the Almond nuts in time to allow
them to roast a little in the boiling sugar. One-fourth of a pint of
New Orleans syrup added to the boiling sugar improves the flavor and
color.
CHOCOLATE COATING.--Can use sweet confectioners', or confectioners'
plain (never use the quarter and one-pound grocery packages, as it
contains too much sugar to melt good). Place a small piece of paraffine
the size of a hickory-nut and one small teaspoon of lard in a rice
cooker, melt, add one-half pound of chocolate, stir until dissolved;
dip balls of cream in this chocolate, drop on wax paper to cool, and
you have fine hand made chocolate drops.
COLD SUGAR ICING.--For dipping cream drops. Confectioners' sugar with
the white of eggs and a small amount of dissolved Gum Arabic in water.
Make this into a batter. If thick, the drops will be rough; if thin,
the drops will be smooth.
COCOANUT CREAM ICE.--Two pounds granulated sugar, three-fourths pint
water, boil to a light crack; set off, add four ounces glucose (or the
amount of cream tartar you can hold on the point of a penknife); set
back on the fire, just let come to a boil to dissolve the glucose; set
off again, add immediately one-fourth ounce shaved paraffine, six
ounces cream dough cut up fine, one grated cocoanut. Stir all until it
creams, pour out into a frame on brown paper dusted with flour, mark
and cut with a knife when cold.
OPERA CREAMS.--Two pounds white sugar, three-fourths pint cow's cream,
boil to a soft ball; set off; add two ounces glucose; set on, stir easy
until it commences to boil, then pour out, let get three-fourths cold,
and stir it until it turns into a cream. Then work into two tablespoons
vanilla, line a pan with wax paper, flatten the batch in it, and mark
it in squares. Set aside two hours to harden.
ITALIAN CREAM OPERAS.--Melt four ounces butter with four ounces plain
chocolate. Take a batch of the opera cream; when cooked, add the above,
stir it in the kettle until it creams, then pan and work it as you do
the operas.
BUTTER CREAMS.--One and one-half pounds white sugar, and one-half pound
C. sugar, three-fourths pound glucose, one-fourth pint molasses, one
and one-fourth pint water; boil to the hard snap, add six ounces
butter, set off until it melts; set on and let boil, to well mix the
butter; pour out. Have one pound hard cream dough thoroughly warmed,
just so you can handle it. When the batch is cold enough on the stove
to handle, place the warm cream lengthwise on the center of it and
completely wrap the cream up in it. Place this on your table before
your heater, spin out in long strips, have some one to mark them heavy
or good. When cold, break where marked.
BOSTON CHIPS.--Three pounds of white sugar, one-half pipe cream tartar,
one and one-fourth pints water; boil with a lid over it to the hard
snap; pour; pull this only half as much as any other candy; for too
much pulling takes out all the gloss when done; flavor it on the hook;
wear your gloves, place it before your heater on the table, flatten out
and spin out into thin ribbons, break off and curl them up in little
piles.
Strawberry chips can be made the same way, adding a pinch of cochineal
paste.
DATE OR FIG SQUARES.--Can be made by cutting them fine, scatter them
thick over the greased stone, and pour over them a batch of barley
square candy. Mark and cut with a knife.
PINE TREE TAR COUGH CANDY.--First have one tablespoon oil of tar
dissolved in two tablespoons of alcohol.
Cook to a hard snap twenty pounds sugar (white), three quarts water,
three pounds glucose; pour out; scatter over (while cooling) twenty
drops of tar, two tablespoons oil of capsicum, three tablespoons oil of
wintergreen; work all well into the batch (do not pull this on the
hook).
Place before your heater on the table and spin it out in large round
sticks. Have some one to keep them rolling until cold. Cut into sticks
about three and one-half inches long. Wrap them in printed labels.
DATE AND FIG CREAMS.--Seed dates, cut a piece out of the end V shape,
insert a white or pink cream ball, press it in, and stick a clove in
the end; it looks like a pear.
Cut figs in strips, place the seedy side around a piece of cream dough.
The hand made cream can be made into various varieties of candy to suit
your fancy.
FACTORY CREAM DOUGH.--This recipe is worth twenty-five dollars to any
candy maker. When the cream is first done it appears flaky and coarse;
but the next morning it is fine, and the longer it sets the better it
is. When made up it never gets stale or hard. Never use flour to roll
out cream with when you can get the XXX lozenge sugar. Forty pounds
granulated sugar, five quarts water; boil to a stiff ball; set off; add
quickly twelve pounds of glucose. Do not stir. Set on the fire, let it
come to a boil until you see even the scum boiled in (do not allow the
glucose to cook in the sugar). Pour out, wait only until you can lay
the back of your hand on the top of batch. (Never let it get colder, it
is better to cream while hot than cold like other goods). Cream it with
two garden hoes, or cream scrapers. Add while creaming one-fourth pint
scant measure of glycerine. No need of kneading it, scrape into your
tub for use. (If A sugar is used the cream is sticky.)
IMITATION HAND-MADE CHOCOLATE.--Take a suitable hand made. Make your
plaster paris prints. Take a quantity of the above cream, melt in a
bath, flavor and mould. Dip.
A NUMBER ONE CHOCOLATE DROP.--Moulding cream; granulated sugar, twenty
pounds; water, three quarts. Boiled to a thread, set off, add three
pounds of glucose dissolved; pour, let get cold. Cream, melt, add pinch
of glucose to one pint simple syrup; four tablespoonfuls of glycerine.
Stir. Mould.
CHEAP CHOCOLATES.--Quick work. Make a batch of the above number one.
Exactly the same process. After the glucose is dissolved in the batch
do not pour out, but add five pounds of the hard factory cream in
pieces. Stir, flavor, melt. Set this kettle in a kettle of boiling
water, have a boy to stir and watch it; do not allow it to get so thin
as to simmer, only thin enough to run into your starch prints. This
cream saves time and labor.
TO WORK OVER SCRAPS OF CANDY.--To thirty pounds of scraps use one
gallon water; stir until it boils; set off, for it would never melt any
more by boiling; continue stirring until all is dissolved. Set aside
until cold. Skim off the top. This can be worked into hoar-hound or
dark penny goods, pop-corn bricks, etc.
TO COOK OVER MAPLE SUGAR.--To sixty pounds broken up maple, add water
(according to the hard or soft grain of the sugar) enough to dissolve.
Stir until melted. If the grain was soft, add fifteen pounds granulated
sugar; if the hard grain, only add that amount of C. sugar. Boil to 244
degrees by thermometer, or good ball. Take out some in porcelain sauce
pan, grain until cloudy (to make quick work always have a small portion
in the same sauce pan for the next stirring). Pour in moulds greased,
or put in a tub of cold water.
ARTIFICIAL MAPLE SUGAR.--Dark C. sugar (driest), two pounds; water,
one-third pint; butter, two ounces, melted; flavor with maple flavor;
boil to a ball, cream in the pan. Pour before it gets too stiff.
MOLASSES POP-CORN BALLS.--Always sift your corn after it is popped. For
home use, add butter and lemon flavor to your syrup. This is too
expensive for retail and factory use, though some use lard sparingly.
Boil molasses to a stiff ball, wet your tub, put in your corn; now with
a dipper pour over your candy and stir with a paddle through the corn,
wet your hands in cold water, make your balls and wrap in wax paper,
twisting the ends close to the balls.
FOR WHITE OR RED.--Sugar and glucose half and half, water, to melt and
boil as above. Work the same.
To make six hundred bricks a day and pop this corn, put a coarse sieve
in a box or barrel bottom, instead of the natural bottom. Sift your
corn. Have your popper made with a swinging wire, hanging from the
ceiling down over the furnace to save labor. Have a stout, thick, wide
board for the floor of your press; make a stout frame the width that
two brick will measure in length; as long as twelve bricks are thick,
and have your boards six or eight inches wide. Put your frame together;
now make a stout lid of one-inch lumber to fit in your frame; have four
cleats nailed crosswise to make it stout, and a 2x4 piece nailed
lengthwise across the top of these (shorter than the lid is); now for a
lever get a hard 2x4, six to eight feet long; fasten the ends of this
lever to the floor, giving it six inches of the rope to play in.
Now you are ready; wet your flour board and dust it with flour; do the
lid and frame the same. To every thirty pounds melted scraps of candy
use two pounds of butter. (You can't cut the bricks without it.) Cook
to a hard ball.
To three-fourths tub of corn, pour three small dippers of syrup; pour
this when mixed in your frame on the flour board, put on the lid, with
the lever press once the center, once each end, and once more the
center; take out the lid, lift the frame, dump out on the table. When
two-thirds cool, cut lengthwise with a sharp, thin knife, then cut your
bricks off crosswise.
Penny pop-corn bricks are made the same way.
CANDY PENNY POP-CORN PIECES.--Cook a batch of glucose to a light snap,
flavor well, pour thin. While hot place your pop-corn sheet hard down
on the candy, mark deep cut and wrap. I have put boys on this work in
the shop at five dollars a week pay, and knew them to clear for the
proprietor from five to twenty dollars daily for several months; one to
pop corn, one to cook syrup, one to press, and one to cut them, girls
to wrap and box.
TO SHELL COCOANUTS.--Take the nut in the left hand with the three eyes
up; strike from the nut down with your hatchet; peel with a knife or
spoke shave, cut them into four pieces, cover them with water, set on
the furnace, and let come to a good boil. If the nuts are sour, strain
and add fresh cold water quickly so as the heat will not darken them,
and repeat. If very sour scrape the insides out. Grate them, taking out
one pieces at a time, as the air does them no good.
RED CENTER.--Take two-thirds, pour thin; color the remaining one-third
red with the liquor color; place this on the half of the two-thirds,
and turn the other up over on top, roll out flat with a roller, cool,
cut.
The same goods cooked to a soft ball may be made into balls to be
coated in red sugar after throwing them in hot sugar syrup; also to be
dipped in melted cream, or brown the cocoanut balls on top with burnt
sugar. Chocolate glaze cream coating eats well over these goods, or dip
the balls as you like.
FLAVORINGS.--To any kind of oils take eight times in bulk the amount of
Alcohol: stir, let set in a warm place a short time; can be used if
needed immediately.
HOME MADE MAPLE SUGAR.--To two pounds of maple (bricks, not cakes) 1
pint water, one-third pipe cream of tartar (or four ounces of glucose
is best); boil slow to a smooth degree, cool, skim. White sugar can be
used.
To keep molasses from sugaring in the barrel; when making the molasses,
to every barrel add twenty pounds of glucose, stir it in.
To lighten the color and aid the flavor of rank, dark molasses, do the
same as above. To allow molasses to cool slowly makes it dark. It
should be stirred lively until cool.
Also to improve sour, rank molasses, take the molasses, for instance,
ten gallons; take five pounds dry C sugar, five pounds glucose, water
two quarts. Boil the sugar and glucose until thoroughly dissolved; add
the molasses, boil five minutes. You can make fine syrup this way.
TO MAKE A CANDY HOUSE.--House for a show window. Take any design you
fancy, of card board. Cut out the windows; place this on your candy
slab. Now with a lead pencil mark out your design, and as many of each
piece as you need (it is a good idea to make an extra piece so if you
break one you can go ahead). Now take of the icing sugar and fill your
paper funnel as if for cake icing, and overline the pencil marks you
made on the stone. When done you find you have a frame that will hold
hot candy. Boil a batch of Barley Square goods (mentioned in this
book), and pour on some in a dipper; take this and pour in your icing
sugar frame or patterns you made on the stone, when half cold, so as
not to run; run a thin knife under them carefully, lift them and lay
them in a different place on the stone; when you have moulded all cut
off the icing sugar that sticks to the candy. Then put your candy house
together, sides first, and take pieces of lemon stick candy, dip them
in the hot candy, and stick in the bottom and top corners of your
house; hold them a few seconds to cool, then finish likewise. When
done, take your icing sugar and funnel paper and on the outside corners
of the candy house put icing sugar and the windows finish the same.
Candies, if desired, can be stuck on with the icing sugar, etc. The
icing sugar should be stiff for a nice job, and will hide the corners.
Candy pyramids can be made this way also.
TO MAKE A DELICIOUS CANDY COCOANUT CAKE.--Have your cake layers cold.
Place in your rice steamer one-half grated cocoanut and a chunk of
hand-made cream the size of your fist; stir until mixed and you can
spread it; do not melt it more than necessary. This cake will not dry
out if made with factory cream. I gave this recipe to two London
practical cake bakers; they said it beat any cake recipe they had ever
received.
Put your mind to work and with a little practice you will get up
candies of your own invention, from the knowledge you derive here in
this book.
ICE CREAM.--I will give only the best recipe, my own improvement, as
workmen will find all my private recipes in this book to be different
from others, as well as first-class. Two quarts thick cream, one pound
A sugar, one-fourth ounce French gelatine, yolks of three eggs; add one
quart of the cream and gelatine, set on the fire; stir; do not let
boil; melt; set off, add the eggs and sugar stirred up together with a
little of the cream, stirring all the time; set on, let get hot; set
off, add the other quart of cream; stir, strain, freeze. Break your ice
fine; use salt from one pint to one quart. Flavor after it is frozen.
FAIR GROUND LEMONADE.--Take one barrel water; dissolve in one quart of
warm water twenty-five cents worth citric acid; dissolve two dollars'
worth A sugar in one gallon water. Stir all together. A few cut up
pieces of lemon can be added for appearance sake.
JAP COCOANUT.--One pound XXX confectioner's sugar, dampened a little;
one and one-half pounds glucose; stir when cooked to a soft ball; add
all the grated cocoanut it will stick together; boil, stir to the
lightest crack.
LEMON ICE.--Seven lemons, the juice only, juice of three oranges. Take
one pint water, dissolve in one-half ounce of French sheet gelatine;
then add whites of two eggs, one and one-fourth pounds A sugar,
dissolved; add all together with three pints cold water; freeze as for
ice cream. Keep machine running briskly until finished.
ORANGE ICE.--The same by changing the fruit proportionately.
THE ADULTERATIONS USED BY CERTAIN FACTORIES.--(Please never try to make
use of the following, for I never would print it for that purpose, only
to expose the stuff.)
Grape sugar, which looks like cheap suet melted, and is so hard as to
be chopped with an ax, though it dissolves readily. Terra alba, white
clay, which is fine as sugar, and is sieved into cream work or on
candy, and worked into it. Rice flour, ground rice mixed into cocoanut
goods; cerealine, ground, prepared corn mixed into cocoanut. Glucose
has the name of being an adulteration, though I fail, from seventeen
years' experience, to find it such; it contains nothing outside of the
acid to make it so, and that is in so small a portion as to be
harmless. It is an article that is of greater value to man than the
inexperienced give it credit for. If I had time I could argue this
question satisfactorily to any unprejudiced person. Gamboge is a bad
article for candy, yellow, cheap, hurtful color. Ground cocoanut shells
are used mostly in adulterating pepper, etc. "Who is to blame for
adulterating goods?" I claim three parties--first, the proprietor;
next, candy makers; and next, the ignorant class of people that want
sixteen cents' worth of boiled sugar for eight cents, when they do not
stop to think it could not possibly be made for less than eight cents,
all told.
Germany and France have strong laws against all adulterations. Soon
America will prohibit the same, and bless God when the day and law we
so much need will come.
HOW TO ORNAMENT CAKES.--You need four cups of confectioners' finest
sugar, whites of two eggs. Beat the eggs just a little, add the sugar
gradually, juice one lemon; beat this stiff, until the sugar will bend
when you hold the paddle up. Now take a sheet of thick writing paper,
fold it into a funnel shape, hold it in your left hand; fill this with
the icing, prepared as above, about two-thirds full, fold in the top
and place both thumbs on it, cut off a little of the small end of the
funnel to allow the icing to come out when you press with your thumbs.
Next, with a knife, cover your cake with icing sugar smoothly; if it
sticks to the knife, wet it a little. Let dry half hour; then with a
lead pencil make leaves or designs, and with your paper funnel ice your
pencil designs. Colored icing looks well.
TAKING LEAF PHOTOGRAPHS--A very pretty amusement, especially for those
who have just completed the study of botany, is the taking of leaf
photographs. One very simple process is this: At any druggist's get an
ounce of Bichromate of Potassium. Put this into a pint bottle of water.
When the solution becomes saturated--that is, the water is dissolved as
much as it will--pour off some of the clear liquid into a shallow dish;
on this float a piece of ordinary writing paper till it is thoroughly
moistened, let it dry in the dark. It should be a bright yellow. On
this put the leaf, under a piece of black soft cloth and several sheets
of newspaper. Put these between two pieces of glass (all the pieces
should be of the same size) and with spring clothespins fasten them
together. Expose to a bright sun, placing the leaf so that the rays
will fall upon it as nearly perpendicular as possible. In a few moments
it will begin to turn brown; but it requires from half an hour to
several hours to produce a perfect print. When it has become dark
enough, take it from the frame, and put it into clear water, which must
be changed every few minutes until the yellow part becomes white.
Sometimes the leaf veinings will be quite distinct. By following these
directions it is scarcely possible to fail, and a little practice will
make perfect.
CURIOUS THINGS.--1. To apparently burn water, fill a glass lamp with
water, and put into it for a wick a piece of Gum Camphor. The lamp
should not be quite full, and the camphor may be left to float upon the
surface of the water. On touching a lighted match to the Camphor, up
shoots a clear, steady flame, and seems to sink below the surface of
the water, so that the flame is surrounded by the liquid. It will burn
a long time. If the Camphor be ignited in a large dish of water it will
commonly float about while burning.
2. To change the faces of a group to a livid, deathly whiteness, and to
destroy colors, wet a half teacupful of common salt in Alcohol and burn
it on a plate in a dark room. Let the salt soak a few minutes before
igniting. The flame will deaden the brightest colors in the room, and
the dresses of the company will seem to be changed. Let each one put
his face behind the flame, and it will present a most ghastly spectacle
to those who stand before it. This is serviceable in tableau where
terror of death is to be represented. The change wrought by the flame,
when the materials are properly prepared, is very surprising.
3. Wet a piece of thick wrapping paper, then dry near the stove. While
dry, lay it down upon a varnished table or dry woolen cloth, and rub it
briskly with a piece of India rubber. It will soon become electrified,
and if tossed against the wall or the looking glass will stick some
time. Tear tissue-paper into bits, one-eighth of an inch square, and
this piece of electrified paper will draw them. Or take a tea-tray and
put it on three tumblers. Lay the electric paper on it, and on touching
the tray you will get a little spark. Let the paper lay on the tray,
and on touching the tray again you will get another spark, but of the
opposite kind of electricity. Replace the paper and you will get
another, and so on.
4. To produce a spectrum, burn magnesium wire in a dark room, and as
soon as the flame is extinguished, let each one try to look into the
other's faces. The spectrum of the extinguished light is clearly seen.
MURIATE OF TIN. TIN LIQUOR.--If druggists keep it, it is best to
purchase of them already made, but if you prefer, proceed as follows:
Get at a tinner's shop block tin, put it into a shovel and melt it.
After it is melted, pour it from the height of four or five feet into a
pail of clear water. The object of this is to have the tin in small
particles, so that the Acid can dissolve it. Take it out of the water
and dry it; then put it in a strong brass bottle. Pour over it Muriatic
Acid twelve ounces, then slowly add sulphuric acid eight ounces. The
Acid should be added about a tablespoonful at a time, at intervals of
five or eight minutes, for if you add it too rapidly you run the risk
of breaking the bottle by heat. After you have all the Acid in, let the
bottle stand until the ebullition subsides; then stop it up with
beeswax or glass stopper, and set it away; and it will keep good for a
year or more, or it will be fit for use in twenty-four hours.
THE CENTENNIAL ILLUMINATING OIL.--_Recipe for Making One Gallon._--Take
seven-eighths gallon Benzine or crude Petroleum, add to it one-half
ounce Gum Camphor, one-half ounce Alcohol, one-half pint common Salt,
one-half ounce Oil of Sassafras. Stir and mix it well for about five
minutes. Let is stand for twenty-four hours and it is ready for use. It
is better to buy the Benzine from Pittsburgh, Pa., as the druggists
usually charge two or three times the wholesale price.
CHAPTER X.
COIN DEPARTMENT.
Complete and standard list of American silver and copper coins which
command a premium:
UNITED STATES SILVER DOLLARS.
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1794]
1794 Flowing Hair $ 20 00
1794 Flowing Hair, Fine 30 00
1795 Flowing Hair 1 25
1796 Fillet Head 1 25
1796 Fillet Head 1 60
1797 Fillet Head, 6 Stars Facing 1 60
1797 Fillet Head, 7 Stars Facing 1 60
1798 Fillet Head, 13 Stars, Small Eagle 1 50
1798 Fillet Head, 15 Stars, Small Eagle 2 00
1798 13 Stars, Large Eagle 1 10
1799 5 Stars Facing 1 40
1799 6 " " 1 10
1800 Spread Eagle 1 15
1801 Spread Eagle 1 30
1802 Spread Eagle 1 30
1802 over 1801, Spread Eagle 1 35
1803 Spread Eagle 1 35
1804 DOLLAR.
[Illustration: Obverse]
[Illustration: Reverse]
1804 Excessively Rare $500 00
1840 Liberty Seated 1 05
1841 Liberty Seated 1 05
1844 Liberty Seated 1 05
1845 Liberty Seated 1 05
1848 Liberty Seated 1 15
1849 Liberty Seated 1 05
1851 Liberty Seated 23 00
1852 Liberty Seated 23 00
1853 Liberty Seated 1 10
1854 Liberty Seated 2 50
1855 Liberty Seated 1 60
1856 Liberty Seated 1 50
1857 Liberty Seated 1 50
1858 Liberty Seated 23 00
1861 Liberty Seated 1 05
1862 Liberty Seated 1 05
1863 Liberty Seated 1 05
1864 Liberty Seated 1 05
1865 Liberty Seated 1 05
1866 Liberty Seated 1 05
1867 Liberty Seated 1 05
1868 Liberty Seated 1 05
1869 Liberty Seated 1 05
1879 Trade Dollar 1 05
1880 Trade Dollar 1 05
1881 Trade Dollar 1 05
1882 Trade Dollar 1 05
1883 Trade Dollar 1 05
1884 Trade Dollar 1 05
UNITED STATES PATTERN DOLLARS.
[Illustration: 1836]
1836 C. Gobrecht's Name in Field $ 9 00
1836 Flying Eagle 4 00
1838 Flying Eagle 17 00
1839 Flying Eagle 13 50
HALF DOLLARS.
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1794]
1794 Flowing Hair, Fair $ 2 00
1794 Flowing Hair, Good 3 00
1795 Flowing Hair 60
1796 Fillet Head, 15 Stars 17 50
1796 Fillet Head, 16 Stars 20 00
1797 Fillet Head, 15 Stars 18 00
1801 Fillet Head 2 00
1802 Fillet Head 2 00
1803 Fillet Head 55
1804 Fillet Head 7 50
1805 Fillet Head 55
1805 over 1804, Fillet Head 60
1806 Fillet Head, if Extra Fine 55
1807 Fillet Head, if Extra Fine 55
1807 Head to Left, if Extra Fine 55
1815 Head to Left, Fair 1 50
1815 Head to Left, Good 2 00
1815 Head to Left, Fine 2 50
1820 over 1819 55
1836 Liberty Cap, Milled Edge 1 50
1836 Liberty Cap, Milled Edge, Fine 1 75
1838 Liberty Cap 12 00
(Having "O" mark underneath bust, and meaning New Orleans Mint, under
head like above cut. Ordinary 1838 half dollars without this mint mark
are not wanted.)
1851 Liberty Seated $ 55
1851 Liberty Seated, Fine 65
1852 Liberty Seated, Fair 1 40
1852 Liberty Seated, Good 1 75
1852 Liberty Seated, Fine 2 00
1879 Liberty Seated, Fine 55
QUARTER DOLLARS.
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1796]
1796 Fillet Head, Fair $ 1 50
1796 Fillet Head, Good 2 00
1804 Fillet Head, Fair 1 50
1804 Fillet Head, Good 2 00
1805 Fillet Head, Good 30
1806 Fillet Head, Good 30
1807 Head to Left 30
1815 Head to Left, Fine 35
1818 Head to Left, Fine 30
1819 Head to Left, Fine 30
1820 Head to Left, Fine 30
1821 Head to Left, Fine 30
1822 Head to Left, Fine 30
1823 Head to Left, Fair 16 00
1823 Head to Left, Good 21 00
1824 Head to Left, Fair 35
1824 Head to Left, Good 60
1824 Head to Left, Fine 1 00
1827 Head to Left, Fair 17 50
1827 Head to Left, Good 22 00
1853 (without Arrows and Rays) 2 50
TWENTY CENT PIECES.
1876 $ 25
1877 1 75
1878 1 75
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1796]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA]
DIMES.
1796 Fillet Head, Fair $ 75
1796 Fillet Head, Good 1 50
1797 13 Stars, Fair 1 10
1797 13 Stars, Good 2 00
1797 16 Stars, Fair 1 25
1796 16 Stars, Good 2 00
1798 Fillet Head, Fair 90
1798 Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1800 Fillet Head, Fair 1 00
1800 Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1801 Fillet Head, Fair 1 00
1801 Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1802 Fillet Head, Fair 1 25
1802 Fillet Head, Good 2 00
1803 Fillet Head, Fair 75
1803 Fillet Head, Good 1 25
1804 Fillet Head, Fair 1 25
1804 Filled Head, Good 2 22
1805 Filled Head, Good 20
1807 Filled Head, Good 25
1809 Head to Left, Fair 20
1809 Head to Left, Good 50
1809 Head to Left, Fine 75
1811 Head to Left, Fair 25
1811 Head to Left, Good 50
1811 Head to Left, Fine 75
1814 Head to Left, Fine 15
1820 Head to Left, Fine 15
1821 Head to Left, Small Date, Fine 15
1822 Head to Left, Fair 50
1822 Head to Left, Good 75
1822 Head to Left, Fine 1 00
1824 Head to Left, Fine 15
1828 Head to Left, Fine 15
[Illustration: 1846]
[Illustration: ONE DIME]
1846 Liberty Seated $ 25
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1794]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA]
HALF DIMES.
1794 Flowing Hair, Fair $ 1 10
1794 Flowing Hair, Good 2 00
1794 Flowing Hair, Fine 3 00
1795 Flowing Hair, Fair 30
1795 Flowing Hair, Good 60
1796 15 Stars, Fillet Head, Fair 1 50
1796 15 Stars, Fillet Head, Good 2 00
1797 15 Stars, Fillet Head, Fair 1 10
1797 15 Stars, Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1797 16 Stars, Fillet Head, Fair 1 00
1797 16 Stars, Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1800 Fillet Head, Fair 40
1800 Fillet Head, Good 75
1801 Fillet Head, Fair 1 00
1801 Fillet Head, Good 2 00
1802 Fillet Head, Fair 20 00
1802 Fillet Head, Good 40 00
1802 Fillet Head, Fine 75 00
1803 Fillet Head, Fair 1 00
1803 Fillet Head, Good 1 75
1805 Fillet Head, Fair 1 60
1805 Fillet Head, Good 2 25
1838 Liberty Seated, without stars, Fair 08
1838 Liberty Seated, without stars, Good 20
1838 Liberty Seated, without stars, Fine 30
1846 Liberty Seated, Fair 75
1846 Liberty Seated, Good 1 00
1846 Liberty Seated, Fine 1 50
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1873]
SILVER THREE CENT PIECES.
1855 Large Star in Center $ 10
1863 Large Star in Center 40
1864 Large Star in Center 50
1865 Large Star in Center 30
1866 Large Star in Center 30
1867 Large Star in Center 30
1868 Large Star in Center 30
1869 Large Star in Center 25
1870 Large Star in Center 20
1871 Large Star in Center 20
1872 Large Star in Center 20
1873 Large Star in Center 75
NICKEL, FIVE CENT PIECES.
1877 $ 25
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1877]
NICKEL, THREE CENT PIECES.
1877 $ 40
COPPER TWO CENT PIECES.
1872 $ 05
1873 90
COPPER CENTS.
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1793]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE CENT 1/100]
1793 Liberty Cap $ 1 25
1794 15
1795 Liberty Cap 10
1796 Liberty Cap 15
1796 Fillet Head 15
1797 Fillet Head 08
1798 Fillet Head 05
1799 Fillet Head 3 00
1799 Fillet Head 6 00
1800 Fillet Head 05
1801 Fillet Head 05
1804 Fillet Head 2 00
1804 Fillet Head, Fine 2 75
1805 Fillet Head 08
1806 Fillet Head 06
1807 Fillet Head 03
[Illustration: 1808]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ONE CENT]
1808 Head to Left $ 10
1809 Head to Left 40
1809 Head to Left, Fine 75
1810 Head to Left 05
1811 Head to Left 25
1812 Head to Left 03
1813 Head to Left 15
1814 Head to Left 05
1817 Head to Left, 15 Stars 05
1821 Head to Left 08
1823 Head to Left 12
1857 Head to Left, Large Date 06
1857 Head to Left 06
1857 Head to Left, Small Date 06
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1856]
EAGLE NICKEL CENTS.
1856 Fair $ 55
1856 Good 80
1856 Fine 1 10
HALF CENTS.
[Illustration: LIBERTY 1795]
[Illustration: UNITED STATES OF AMERICA HALF CENT]
1793 Liberty Cap $ 1 00
1794 Liberty Cap 25
1795 Lettered Edge 20
1795 Thin Die 20
1796 Liberty Cap 7 50
1797 Liberty Cap 25
1797 Lettered Edge 85
1800 Fillet Head 05
1802 Fillet Head 60
1803 Fillet Head 05
1805 Fillet Head 06
1806 Fillet Head 06
1807 Fillet Head 06
1808 Fillet Head 06
1810 Head to Left 18
1811 Head to Left 60
1831 Head to Left 2 00
1836 Head to Left 3 00
1840 Head to Left 1 75
1841 Head to Left 1 75
1842 Head to Left 2 50
1843 Head to Left 3 00
1844 Head to Left 2 00
1845 Head to Left 1 75
1846 Head to Left 1 75
1847 Head to Left 2 50
1848 Head to Left 3 00
1849 Head to Left, Small Date 3 00
1849 Head to Left, Large Date 06
1850 Head to Left 05
1852 Head to Left 2 50
1854 Head to Left 05
1856 Head to Left 15
1857 Head to Left 08
AMERICAN SILVER AND COPPER COINS NOT ISSUED BY THE UNITED STATES MINT.
SILVER COINAGE.
DOLLARS.--First coinage, 1794; none issued 1805 to 1835, inclusive, and
1837.
HALF-DOLLARS.--First coinage, 1794; none issued 1798, 1799, 1816.
QUARTER-DOLLARS.--First coinage, 1796; none issued 1794, 1795, 1797 to
1804, 1808 to 1814, inclusive, 1816, 1817, 1826, 1829, 1830.
DIMES.--First coinage, 1796; none issued 1794, 1795, 1799, 1806, 1808,
1810, 1812, 1813, 1815 to 1819, inclusive, 1826.
HALF-DIMES.--First coinage, 1794; none issued 1798, 1799, 1801, 1806 to
1828, inclusive. The coinage of half-dimes was discontinued in 1873 by
Act of Congress.
THREE-CENT PIECES (SILVER).--First coinage, 1851; and then the dates
follow in succession until 1873, when the coinage of them was
discontinued.
COPPER CENTS.
COPPER CENTS.--First coinage, 1793, none issued 1815; they then follow
to 1857, when the coinage was changed to nickel. The nickel cent of
1856 was only a pattern, which continued during this year up to 1864,
inclusive. The bronze cent was introduced in this year. In 1865 the
nickel cent was discontinued, and up to date the bronze cents are
issued.
HALF-CENTS.--First coinage, 1793; none issued 1798, 1799, 1801, 1812 to
1824, inclusive; 1827, 1837, 1838, 1839; in 1857 the issue of
half-cents was discontinued.
In 1864 the two-cent piece in bronze was introduced, and discontinued
in 1873, by Act of Congress.
In 1865 the three-cent nickel piece was first issued.
In 1866 the five-cent piece was first issued; a very few were struck in
1865 as pattern. In 1883 the die was changed to that of the current
issue with liberty head. Although upwards of five million coins of the
1883 nickels without the words "cents" were issued, they will in the
course of a few years command a premium. At present they are still
quite common.
LOISETTE'S SYSTEM OF MEMORY.
So much has been said about Loisette's memory system, the art has been
so widely advertised, and so carefully guarded from all the profane who
do not send five or many dollars to the professor, that a few pages
showing how every man may be his own Loisette, may be both interesting
and valuable.
In the first place, the system is a good one, and well worth the labor
of mastering, and if the directions are implicitly followed there can
be no doubt that the memory will be greatly strengthened and improved,
and that mnemonic feats, otherwise impossible, may be easily performed.
Loisette, however, is not an inventor, but an introducer. He stands in
the same relation to Dr. Pick that the retail dealer holds to the
manufacturer; the one produced the article; the other brings it to the
public. Even this statement is not quite fair to Loisette, for he has
brought much practical common sense to bear upon Pick's system, and in
preparing the new art of mnemonics for the market, in many ways he has
made it his own.
If each man would reflect upon the method by which he himself remembers
things, he would find his hand upon the key of the whole mystery. For
instance, the author was once trying to remember the word _blythe_.
There occurred to my mind the words "Bellman," "Belle," and then the
verse
--the peasant upward climbing
Hears the bells of _Buloss_ chiming.
"Barcarole," "Barrack," and so on, until the word "blythe" presented
itself with a strange insistence, long after I had ceased trying to
recall it.
On another occasion, when trying to recall the name "Richardson," I got
the words "hay-rick," "Robertson," "Randallstown," and finally "wealthy,"
from which naturally I got "rich" and "Richardson" almost in a breath.
Still another example: trying to recall the name of an old schoolmate,
"Grady," I got "Brady," "grave," "gaseous," "gastronome," "gracious,"
and I finally abandoned the attempt, simply saying to myself that it
began with a "G," and there was an "a" sound after it. The next
morning, when thinking of something entirely different, this name
"Grady" came up in my mind with as much distinctness as though some one
had whispered it in my ear. This remembering was done without any
conscious effort on my part, and was evidently the result of the
exertion made the day before, when mnemonic processes were put to work.
Every reader must have had similar experience, which he can recall, and
which will fall in line with the examples given.
It follows, then, that when we endeavor, without the aid of any system,
to recall a forgotten fact or name, our memory presents to us words of
a similar sound or meaning in its journey toward the goal to which we
have started it. This goes to show that our ideas are arranged in
groups in whatever secret cavity or recess of the brain they occupy,
and that the arrangement is one not alphabetical exactly and not
entirely by meaning, but after some fashion partaking of both.
If you are looking for the word "meadow" you may reach "middle" before
you come to it, or "Mexico," or many words beginning with the "m"
sound, or containing the "dow," as "window" or "dough," or you may get
"field" or "farm"--but you are on the right track, and if you do not
interfere with your intellectual process you will finally come to the
idea which you are seeking.
How often have you heard people say: "I forget his name; it is
something like Beadle or Beagle--at any rate it begins with a B." Each
and all of these were unconscious Loisettians, and they were practicing
blindly, and without proper method or direction, the excellent system
which he teaches. The thing, then, to do--and it is the final and
simple truth which Loisette teaches--is to travel over this ground in
the other direction--to cement the fact which you wish to remember to
some other fact or word which you know will be brought out by the
implied conditions--and thus you will always be able to travel from
your given starting point to the thing which you wish to call to mind.
[Illustration: _a_ _b_ _c_ _d_ _e_]
To illustrate: let the broken line in the annexed diagram represent a
train of thought. If we connect the idea "_a_" with "_e_" through the
steps _b_, _c_ and _d_, the tendency of the mind ever afterward will be
to get to _e_ from _a_ that way, or from any of the intermediates that
way. It seems as though a channel were cut in our mindstuff along which
the memory flows. How to make it flow this way will be seen later on.
Loisette, in common with all mnemonic teachers, uses the old devise of
representing numbers by letter--and as this is the first and easiest
step in the art, this seems to be the most logical place to introduce
the accepted equivalents of the Arabic numerals:
0 is always represented by _s_, _z_ or _c_ soft.
1 is always represented by _t_, _th_ or _d_.
2 is always represented by _n_.
3 is always represented by _m_.
4 is always represented by _r_.
5 is always represented by _l_.
6 is always represented by _sh, j, ch_ soft or _g_ soft.
7 is always represented by _g_ hard, _kc_ hard, _q_ or final _ng_.
8 is always represented by _f_ or _v_.
9 is always represented by _p_ or _b_.
All the other letters are used simply to fill up. Double letters in a
word count only as one. In fact, the system goes by sound, not by
spelling--for instance, "this" or "dizzy" would stand for _ten_;
"catch" or "gush" would stand for 76, and the only difficulty is to
make some word or phrase which will contain only the significant
letters in the proper order, filled out with non-significants into some
guise of meaning or intelligibility.[2] Suppose you wish to get some
phrase or word that would express the number 3,685, you arrange the
letters this way:
+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | 3 | ^ | 6 | ^ | 8 | ^ | 5 |
+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
| a | m | a | sh | a | f | a | l |
| e | | e | j | e | v | e | |
| i | | i | ch | i | | i | |
| o | | o | g | o | | o | |
| u | | u | | u | | u | |
| h | | h | | h | | h | |
| w | | w | | w | | w | |
| x | | x | | x | | x | |
| y | | y | | y | | y | |
+-----+-----+-----+------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
You can make out "image of law," "my shuffle," "matchville," etc.,
etc., as far as you like to work it out.
[2] You can remember the equivalents by noting the fact that _z_
is the first letter of "zero" and _c_ of "cipher;" _t_ has but
one stroke, _n_ has two, _m_ has three. The script _f_ is very
like 8, the script _p_ like 9; _r_ is the last letter of four,
_l_ is the Roman numeral for _fifty_, which suggests _five_. The
others may be retained as memorizing these two nonsense lines:
Six _shy_ _J_ewesses c_h_ase _G_eorge
Seven great _k_ings _c_ame _q_uarreli_ng_.
Now, suppose you wish to memorize the fact that $1,000,000 in gold
weighs 3,685 pounds, you go about it in this way, and here is the
kernel and crux of Loisette's system:
"How much does $1,000,000 in gold weigh?"
"Weigh--scales."
"Scales--statue of Justice."
"Statue of Justice--_image of law_."
The process is simplicity itself. The thing you wish to recall, and
that you fear to forget, is the weight; consequently you cement your
chain of suggestion to the idea which is most prominent to your mental
question. What do you weigh with? Scales. What does the mental picture
of scales suggest? The statue of Justice, blindfolded and weighing out
award and punishment to man. Finally, what is this statue of Justice
but the image of law? And the words "image of law," translated back
from the significant letters _m_, _g_ soft, _f_ and _l_, give you
3--6--8--5, the number of pounds in $1,000,000 in gold. You bind
together in your mind each separate step in the journey, the one
suggests the other, and you will find a year from now that the fact
will be as fresh in your memory as it is to-day. You cannot lose it. It
is chained to you by an unbreakable mnemonic tie. Mark, that it is not
claimed that "weight" will of itself suggest "scales" and "scales"
"statue of Justice," etc., but that, once having passed your attention
up and down the ladder of ideas, your mental tendency will be to take
the same route, and get to the same goal again and again. Indeed,
beginning with the weight of $1,000,000, "image of law" will turn up in
your mind without your consciousness of any intermediate station on the
way, after some iteration and reiteration of the original chain.
Again, so as to fasten the process in the reader's mind even more
firmly, suppose that it were desired to fix the date of the battle of
Hastings (A.D. 1066) in the memory; 1066 may be represented by the
words "the wise judge" (_th_ equals 1, _s_ equals 0, _j_ equals 6, _dg_
equals 6; the others are non-significants); a chain might be made thus:
Battle of Hastings--arbitrament of war.
Arbitrament of war--arbitration.
Arbitration--judgment.
Judgment--the wise judge.
Make mental pictures, connect ideas, repeat words and sounds, go about
it in any way you please, so that you will form a mental habit of
connecting the "battle of Hastings" with the idea of "arbitrament of
war," and so on for the other links in the chain, and the work is done.
Loisette makes the beginning of his system unnecessarily difficult, to
say nothing of his illogical arrangement in the grammar of the art of
memory, which he makes the first of his lessons. He analyzes suggestion
thus:
1. Inclusion. 2. Exclusion. 3. Concurrence.
All of which looks very scientific and orderly, but is really
misleading and badly named. The truth is that one idea will suggest
another.
1. By likeness or opposition of meaning, as "house" suggests "room" or
"door," etc., or "white" suggests "blacks," "cruel," "kind," etc.
2. By likeness of sound, as "harrow" and "barrow;" "Henry" and
"Hennepin."
3. By mental juxtaposition, a peculiarity different in each person and
depending upon each one's own experiences. Thus "St. Charles" suggests
"railway bridge" to me, because I was vividly impressed by the breaking
of the Wabash bridge at that point. "Stable" and "broken leg" come near
each other in my experience, so do "cow" and "shot-gun" and "licking."
Out of these three sorts of suggestions it is possible to get from any
one fact to any other in a chain certain and safe, along which the mind
may be depended upon afterward always to follow.
The chain is, of course, by no means all. Its making and its binding
must be accompanied by a vivid, methodically directed attention, which
turns all the mental light gettable in a focus upon the subject passing
across the mind's screen. Before Loisette was thought of this was
known. In the old times in England, in order to impress upon the minds
of the rising generation the parish boundaries in the rural districts,
the boys were taken to each of the landmarks in succession, the
position and bearings of each pointed out carefully, and, in order to
deepen the impression, the young people were then and there vigorously
thrashed, a mechanical method of attracting the attention which was
said never to have failed. This system has had its supporters in many
of the old-fashioned schools, and there are men who will read these
lines who can recall, with an itching sense of vivid expression, the
144 lickings which were said to go with the multiplication table.
In default of a thrashing, however, the student must cultivate as best
he can an intense fixity of perception upon every fact or word or date
that he wishes to make permanently his own. It is easy. It is a matter
of habit. If you will you can photograph an idea upon your cerebral
gelatine so that neither years nor events will blot it out or overlay
it. You must be clearly and distinctly aware of the thing you are
putting into your mental treasure-house, and drastically certain of the
cord by which you have tied it to some other thing of which you are
sure. Unless it is worth your while to do this, you might as well
abandon any hopes of mnemonic improvement, which will not come without
the hardest kind of hard work, although it is work that will grow
constantly easier with practice and reiteration.
You need, then:
1. Methodic suggestion.
2. Methodic attention.
3. Methodic reiteration.
And this is all there is to Loisette, and a great deal it is. Two of
them will not do without the third. You do not know how many steps
there are from your hall-door to your bed-room, though you have
attended to and often reiterated the journey. But if there are twenty
of them, and you have once bound the word "nice," or "nose," or "news,"
or "hyenas," to the fact of the stairway, you could never forget it.
The Professor makes a point, and very wisely, of the importance of
working through some established chain, so that the whole may be
carried away in the mind--not alone for the value of the facts so bound
together, but for the mental discipline so afforded.
Here, then, is the "President Series," which contains the name and the
date of inauguration of each President from Washington to Cleveland.
The manner in which it is to be mastered is this: Beginning at the top,
try to find in your mind some connection between each word and the one
following it. See how you can at some future time make one suggest the
next, either by suggestion of sound or sense, or by mental
juxtaposition. When you have found this dwell on it attentively for a
moment or two. Pass it backward and forward before you, and then go on
to the next step.
The chain runs thus, the names of the Presidents being in small caps,
the date word in italics:
President Chosen as the first word as the one most apt to occur
to the mind of any one wishing to repeat the names
of the Presidents.
Dentist Presi_dent_ and _dent_ist.
Draw What does a dentist do?
_To give up_ When something is drawn from one it is given up.
This is a date phrase meaning 1789.
Self-sacrifice There is an association of thought between giving
and self-sacrifice.
WASHINGTON Associate the quality of self-sacrifice with
Washington's character.
Morning wash _Wash_ington and _wash_.
Dew Early witness and dew.
Flower beds Dew and flowers.
_Took a bouquet_ Flowers and bouquet. Date phrase (1707.)
Garden Bouquet and garden.
Eden The first garden.
Adam Juxtaposition of thought.
ADAMS Suggestion by sound.
Fall Juxtaposition by thought.
Failure Fall and failure.
_Deficit_ Upon a failure there is usually a deficit. Date
word (1801.)
Debt The consequence of a deficit.
Bonds Debt and bonds.
Confederate bonds Suggestion by meaning.
Jefferson Davis Juxtaposition of thought.
JEFFERSON.
Now, follow out the rest for yourself, taking about ten at a time, and
binding those you do last to those you have done before each time,
before attacking the next bunch.
1 | 2 | 3
----------------------+--------------------+------------------
JEFFERSON | _the fraud_ | _the heavy shell_
Judge Jeffreys | painted clay | mollusk
bloody assize | baked clay | unfamiliar word
bereavement | tiles | dictionary
_too heavy a sob_ | TYLER | Johnson's
parental grief | Wat Tyler | JOHNSON
mad son | poll tax | son
MADISON | compulsory | bad son
Madeira | _free will_ | dishonest boy
first-rate wine | free offering | _thievish boy_
frustrating | burnt offering | take
_defeating_ | poker | give
feet | POLK | GRANT
toe the line | end of dance | award
row | termination "ly" | school premium
MUNROE | _adverb_ | examination
row | part of speech | cramming
boat | part of a man | _fagging_
steamer | TAYLOR | laborer
_the funnel_ | measurer | hay field
windpipe | theodolite | HAYES
throat | _Theophilus_ | hazy
quinzy | fill us | clear
QUINZY ADAMS | FILLMORE | _vivid_
quince | more fuel | brightly lighted
fine fruit | _the flame_ | camp fire
_the fine boy_ | flambeau | war field
sailor boy | bow | GARFIELD
sailor | arrow | Guiteau
jack tar | PIERCE | murderer
JACKSON | hurt | prisoner
stone wall | _feeling_ | prison fare
indomitable | wound | _half fed_
_tough make_ | soldier | well fed
oaken furniture | cannon | well read
bureau | BUCHANAN | author
VAN BUREN | rebuke | ARTHUR
rent | official censure | round table
side-splitting | _to officiate_ | tea table
_divert_ | wedding | tea cup
annoy | linked | _half full_
harrassing | LINCOLN | divide
HARRISON | link | cleave
Old Harry | stroll | CLEVELAND
the tempter | sea shore |
----------------------+--------------------+------------------
It will be noted that some of the date words, as "free will," only give
three figures of the date, 845; but it is to be supposed that if the
student knows that many figures in the date of Polk's inauguration he
can guess the other one.
The curious thing about this system will now become apparent. If the
reader has learned the series so that he can say it down from first
President to Cleveland, he can with no effort, and without any further
preparation, say it _backward_, from Cleveland up to the commencement.
There could be no better proof that this is the natural mnemonic
system. It proves itself by its works.
-------------------+------------------+-------------
| 0--hoes |
-------------------+------------------+-------------
1--wheat |34--mare |67--jockey
2--hen |35--mill |68--shave
3--home |36--image |69--ship
4--hair |37--mug |70--eggs
5--oil |38--muff |71--gate
6--shoe |39--mob |72--gun
7--hook |40--race |73--comb
8--off |41--hart |74--hawker
9--bee |42--horn |75--coal
10--daisy |43--army |76--cage
11--tooth |44--warrior |77--cake
12--dine |45--royal |78--coffee
13--time |46--arch |79--cube
14--tower |47--rock |80--vase
15--dell |48--wharf |81--feet
16--ditch |49--rope |82--vein
17--duck |50--wheels |83--fame
18--dove |51--lad |84--fire
19--tabby |52--lion |85--vial
20--hyenas |53--lamb |86--fish
21--hand |54--lair |87--fig
22--nun |55--lily |88--fife
23--name |56--lodge |89--fib
24--owner |57--lake |90--pies
25--nail |58--leaf |91--putty
26--hinge |59--elbow |92--pane
27--ink |60--chess |93--bomb
28--knife |61--cheat |94--bier
29--knob |62--chain |95--bell
30--muse |63--sham |96--peach
31--mayday |64--chair |97--book
32--hymen |65--jail |98--beef
33--mama |66--judge |99--pope
|------------------|
| 100--diocese |
-------------------+------------------+-----------
The series should be repeated backward and forward every day for a
month, and should be supplemented by a series of the reader's own
making, and by this one, which gives the numbers from 0 to 100, and
which must be chained together before they can be learned.
By the use of this table, which should be committed as thoroughly as
the President series, so that it can be repeated backwards and
forwards, any date, figure or number can be at once constructed, and
bound by the usual chain to the fact which you wish it to accompany.
When the student wishes to go farther and attack larger problems than
the simple binding of two facts together, there is little in Loisette's
system that is new, although there is much that is good. If it is a
book that is to be learned, as one would prepare for an examination,
each chapter is to be considered separately. Of each a _precis_ is
to be written in which the writer must exercise all of his ingenuity to
reduce the matter in hand to its final skeleton of fact. This he is to
commit to memory both by the use of the chain and the old system of
interrogation. Suppose after much labor through a wide space of
language one boils a chapter to an event down to the final irreducible
sediment: "Magna Charta was exacted by the barons from King John at
Runnymede."
You must now turn this statement this way and that way, asking yourself
about it every possible and impossible question, gravely considering
the answers, and, if you find any part of it especially difficult to
remember, chaining it to the question which will bring it out. Thus,
"What was exacted by the barons from King John at Runnymede?" "Magna
Charta." "By whom was Magna Charta exacted from King John at Runnymede?"
"By the barons." "From whom was," etc., etc.? "King John." "From
what king," etc., etc.? "King John." "Where was Magna Charta," etc.,
etc.? "At Runnymede."
And so on and so on, as long as your ingenuity can suggest questions to
ask, or points of view from which to consider the statement. Your mind
will be finally saturated with the information and prepared to spill it
out at the first squeeze of the examiner. This, however, is not new. It
was taught in the schools hundreds of years before Loisette was born.
Old newspaper men will recall in connection with it Horace Greeley's
statement that the test of a news item was the clear and satisfactory
manner in which a report answered the interrogatories, "What?" "When?"
"Where?" "Who?" "Why?"
In the same way Loisette advises the learning of poetry, _e.g._,
"The Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold."
"Who came down?"
"How did the Assyrian come down?"
"Like what animal did?" etc.
And so on and so on, until the verses are exhausted of every scrap of
information to be had out of them by the most assiduous cross-examination.
Whatever the reader may think of the availability or value of this part
of the system, there are so many easily applicable tests of the worth
of much that Loisette has done, that it may be taken with the rest.
Few people, to give an easy example, can remember the value of +-- the
ratio between the circumference and the diameter of the circle--beyond
four places of decimals, or at most six--3,141,592+. Here is the value
to 108 decimal places:
3. 14159265.3589793238.4626433832.7950288419.7169399375.1058209749.
4459230781.6406286208.9986280348.2534211706.79 82148086
By a very simple application of the numerical letter values these 108
decimal places can be carried in the mind and recalled about as fast as
you can write them down. All that is to be done is to memorize these
nonsense lines:
Mother Day will buy any shawl.
My love pick up my new muff.
A Russian jeer may move a woman.
Cables enough for Utopia.
Get a cheap ham pie by my cooley.
The slave knows a bigger ape.
I rarely hop on my sick foot.
Cheer a sage in a fashion safe.
A baby fish now views my wharf.
Annually Mary Ann did kiss a jay.
A cabby found a rough savage.
Now translate each significant into its proper value and you have the
task accomplished. "Mother Day," _m_ equals 3, _th_ equals 1, _r_
equals 4, _d_ equals 1, and so on. Learn the lines one at a time by the
method of interrogatories. "Who will buy any shawl?" "Which Mrs. Day
will buy a shawl?" "Is Mother Day particular about the sort of shawl
she will buy?" "Has she bought a shawl?" etc., etc. Then cement the end
of each line to the beginning of the next one, thus, "Shawl"--"warm
garment"--"warmth"--"love"--"my love," and go on as before. Stupid as
the work may seem to you, you can memorize the figures in fifteen
minutes this way so that you will not forget them in fifteen years.
Similarly you can take Haydn's Dictionary of Dates and turn fact after
fact into nonsense lines like these which you cannot lose.
And this ought to be enough to show anybody the whole art. If you look
back across the sands of time and find out that it is that ridiculous
old "Thirty days hath September," which comes to you when you are
trying to think of the length of October--if you can quote your old
prosody,
"O datur ambiguis," etc.
with much more certainty than you can serve up your Horace; if in fine,
jingles and alliterations, wise and otherwise, have stayed with you,
while solid and serviceable information has faded away, you may be
certain that here is the key to the enigma of memory.
You can apply it yourself in a hundred ways. If you wish to clinch in
your mind the fact that Mr. Love lives at 485 Dearborn Street, what is
more easy than to turn 485 into the words "rifle" and chain the ideas
together, say thus: "Love--happiness--good time--picnic--forest--wood
rangers--range--rifle range--_rifle_--fine weapon--costly weapon--dearly
bought--DEARBORN."
Or if you wish to remember Mr. Bowman's name, and you notice he has a
mole on his face which is apt to attract your attention when you next
see him, cement the ideas thus: "Mole, mark, target, archer, Bowman."
FACTS WORTH KNOWING.
HANDY FACTS TO SETTLE MANY ARGUMENTS
London plague in 1665.
Telephone invented 1861.
There are 2,750 languages.
Two persons die every second.
Sound moves 743 miles per hour.
Chinese invented paper 170 B.C.
A square mile contains 640 acres.
A barrel of pork weighs 200 pounds.
Hawks can fly 150 miles in one hour.
Watches were first constructed in 1476.
Chinese in United States in 1880, 105,613.
Rome was founded by Romulus, 752 B.C.
Gold was discovered in California in 1848.
Phonograph invented by T. A. Edison, 1877.
The first balloon ascended from Lyons, France, 1783.
The first fire insurance office in America, Boston, 1724.
Jet is found along the coast of Yorkshire, Eng., near Whitby.
Napoleon I. crowned emperor 1804; died at St. Helena, 1820.
Electric light invented by Lodyguin and Kossloff, at London, 1874.
Harvard is the oldest college in the United States: established 1638.
War declared with Great Britain, June 19, 1812; peace Feb. 18, 1815.
Until 1776 cotton spinning was performed by the hand spinning-wheel.
Measure 209 feet on each side and you will have a square acre within an
inch.
Postage stamps first came into use in England in the year 1840; in the
United States in 1847.
The highest range of mountains are the Himalayas, the mean elevation
being from 16,000 to 18,000 feet.
Envelopes were first used in 1839.
Telescopes were invented in 1590.
Iron horseshoes were made in 481.
A barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds.
A hand (horse measure) is four inches.
A rifle ball moves 1,000 miles per hour.
First steamer crossed the Atlantic, 1819.
Assassination of Lincoln, April 14, 1865.
German empire re-established, Jan. 18, 1871.
Storm clouds move thirty-six miles an hour.
First subscription library, Philadelphia, 1731.
Dark Ages, from the 6th to the 14th century.
The Latin tongue became obsolete about 580.
The great London fire occurred Sept. 26, 1666.
The value of a ton of pure gold is $602,799.21.
Ether was first used for surgical purposes in 1844.
Ignatius Loyola founded the order of Jesuits, 1541.
First authentic use of organs, 755; in England, 951.
The first newspaper advertisement appeared in 1652.
Cork is the bark taken from a species of the oak tree.
Benjamin Franklin used the first lightning rods, 1752.
Glass windows (colored) were used in the 8th century.
Authentic history of China commenced 3,000 years B.C.
Introduction of homoepathy into the United States, 1825.
Spectacles were invented by an Italian in the 13th century.
Medicine was introduced into Rome from Greece, 200 B.C.
First electric telegraph, Paddington to Brayton, Eng., 1835.
The Chaldeans were the first people who worked in metals.
First life insurance, in London, 1772; in America, Philadelphia, 1812.
Egyptian pottery is the oldest known; dates from 2,000 B.C.
Julius Caesar invaded Britain, 55 B.C.; assassinated, 44 B.C.
Soap was first manufactured in England in the 16th century.
The largest free territorial government is the United States.
First photographs produced in England, 1802; perfected, 1841.
First marine insurance, A.D. 533; England, 1598; America, 1721.
Professor Oersted, Copenhagen, discovered electro-magnetism, in 1819.
First American express, New York to Boston--W. F. Harnden.
Glass windows were first introduced into England in the 8th century.
Chicago is little more than fifty years old, and is the eighteenth city
of the world.
Glass was made in Egypt, 3000 B.C.; earliest date of transparent
glass, 719 B.C.
First public schools in America were established in the New England
States about 1642.
The largest inland sea is the Caspian, between Europe and Asia, being
700 miles long and 270 miles wide.
The term "Almighty Dollar" originated with Washington Irving, as a
satire on the American love for gain.
The highest natural bridge in the world is at Rockbridge, Virginia,
being 200 feet high to the bottom of the arch.
The largest circulation of paper money is that of the United States,
being 700 millions, while Russia has 670 millions.
The largest insurance company in the world is the Mutual Life of New
York City, having cash assets of $108,000,000.
The largest empire in the world is that of Great Britain, being
8,557,658 square miles, and more than a sixth part of the globe.
The first electrical signal ever transmitted between Europe and America
passed over the Field submarine cable on Aug. 5, 1858.
The longest tunnel in the world is St. Gothard, on the line of the
railroad between Luzerne and Milan, being nine and one-half miles in
length.
The loftiest active volcano is Popocatapetl. It is 17,784 feet high,
and has a crater three miles in circumference and 1,000 feet deep.
Burnt brick was known to have been used in building the Tower of Babel.
They were introduced into England by the Romans.
The most remarkable echo known is that in the castle of Simonetta, two
miles from Milan. It repeats the echo of a pistol sixty times.
The largest volcano in the world is Etna. Its base is 90 miles in
circumference; its cone 11,000 feet high. Its first eruption occurred
474 B.C.
The largest tree in the world, as yet discovered, is in Tulare County,
California. It is 275 feet high and 106 feet in circumference at its
base.
The largest desert is Sahara, in Northern Africa. Its length is 3,000
miles and breadth 900 miles; having an area of 2,000,000 square miles.
The largest suspension bridge is in Brooklyn. The length of the main
span is 1,595 feet 6 inches. The entire length of the bridge is 5,989
feet.
The first deaf and dumb asylum was founded in England by Thomas
Braidwood, 1760; and the first in the United States was at Hartford,
1817.
The largest diamond in the world is the Braganza, being a part of the
Portuguese jewels. It weighs 1,880 carats. It was found in Brazil in
1741.
The grade of titles in Great Britain stands in the following order from
the highest: A Prince, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, Baronet,
Knight.
The largest number of cattle ever received in one year was that of
Chicago in the year 1884, being 1,874,984 beeves, 30,223 calves,
5,640,625 hogs, 749,917 sheep and 15,625 horses. It required 9,000
trains of 31 cars each, which, if coupled together, would reach 2,146
miles.
The "Valley of Death," in the island of Java, is simply the crater of
an extinct volcano, filled with carbonic-acid gas. It is half a mile in
circumference.
The city of Amsterdam, Holland, is built upon piles driven into the
ground. It is intersected by numerous canals, crossed by nearly three
hundred bridges.
Coal was used as fuel in England as early as 852, and in 1234 the first
charter to dig for it was granted by Henry III. to the inhabitants of
Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Tobacco was discovered in San Domingo in 1496; afterwards by the
Spaniards in Yucatan in 1520. It was introduced in France in 1560, and
into England in 1583.
The present national colors of the United States were not adopted by
Congress until 1777. The flag was first used by Washington at
Cambridge, January 1, 1776.
Paris was known as Lutetia until 1184, when the name of the great
French capital was changed to that which it has borne ever since.
The longest span of wire in the world is used for a telegraph in India
over the river Ristuah. It is over 6,000 feet, and is stretched between
two hills 1,200 feet high.
The largest library in the world is in Paris, founded by Louis XIV. It
contains 1,400,000 volumes, 175,000 manuscripts, 300,000 maps and
charts, and 150,000 coins and medals.
The tallest man was John Hale, of Lancashire, England, who was nine
feet six inches in height. His hand was seventeen inches long and eight
and one-half inches broad.
In round numbers, the weight of $1,000,000 in standard gold coin is
1-3/4 tons; standard silver coin, 26-3/4 tons; subsidiary silver coin,
25 tons; minor coins, 5-cent nickel, 100 tons.
The largest stationery engine in the world is at the zinc mines at
Friedenville, Pa. The number of gallons of water raised every minute is
17,500. The driving wheels are 35 feet diameter and weigh 40 tons each.
The cylinder is 110 inches in diameter.
The part of United States territory most recently acquired is the
island of San Juan, near Vancouver's Island. It was evacuated by
England at the close of November, 1873.
The highest monument in the world is the Washington monument, being 555
feet. The highest structure of any kind is the Eiffel Tower, Paris,
finished in 1889 and 989 feet high.
It is claimed that crows, eagles, ravens and swans live to be 100 years
old; herons, 59; parrots, 60; pelicans and geese, 50; skylarks, 30;
sparrow hawks, 40; peacocks, canaries and cranes, 24.
The greatest cataract in the world is Niagara, the height of the
American falls being 165 feet. The highest fall of water in the world
is that of the Yosemite in California, being 2,550 feet.
The most ancient catacombs are those of the Theban kings, begun 4,000
years ago. The catacombs of Rome contain the remains of about 6,000,000
human beings; those of Paris, 3,000,000.
The quickest passage ever made across the Atlantic was that of the
steamer Lucania, of the Cunard line, being 5 days 7 hours and 23
minutes from New York to Queenstown; the distance being 2,850 miles.
There has been no irregularity in the recurrence of leap year every
four years since 1800, and will be none until 1900, which will be a
common year, although it will come fourth after the preceding leap
year.
The first English newspaper was the _English Mercury_, issued in the
reign of Queen Elizabeth, and was issued in the shape of a pamphlet.
The _Gazette_ of Venice was the original model of the modern newspaper.
The Mormon Church in Utah shows a membership of 127,294--23,000
families. The church has 12 apostles, 58 patriarchs, 3,885 seventies,
3,153 high priests, 11,000 elders, 1,500 bishops and 4,400 deacons,
being an office for each six persons.
A "monkey wrench" is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey
with, or for any kindred reason. "Monkey" is not its name at all, but
"Moncky." Charles Moncky, the inventor of it, sold his patent for
$2,000, and invested the money in a house in Williamsburg, King's
County, N.Y., where he now lives.
The Union arch of the Washington Aqueduct is the largest in the world,
being 220 feet; 20 feet in excess of the Chester arch across the Dee in
England, 68 feet longer than that of the London bridge; 92 feet longer
than that at Neuilly on the Seine, and 100 feet longer than that of
Waterloo bridge. The height of the Washington arch is 100 feet.
The largest ship ever built, the Great Eastern, recently broken to
pieces and sold to junk dealers, was designed and constructed by Scott
Russell, at Maxwell, on the Thames. Work on the giant vessel was
commenced in May, 1854. She was successfully launched January 13, 1858.
The launching alone occupied the time from November 3, 1857, until the
date above given. Her total length was 600 feet; breadth, 118 feet;
total weight when launched 12,000 tons. Her first trip of any
consequence was made to New York in 1859-60.
The most extensive mines in the world are those of Freiberg, Saxony.
They were begun in the twelfth century, and in 1835 the galleries,
taken collectively, had reached the unprecedented length of 123 miles.
A new gallery, begun in 1838, had reached a length of eight miles at
the time of the census of 1878. The deepest perpendicular mining shaft
in the world is located at Prizilram, Bohemia. It is a lead mine; it
was begun 1832. January, 1880, it was 3,280 feet deep. The deepest coal
mine in the world is near Tourney, Belgium; it is 3,542 feet in depth,
but, unlike the lead mine mentioned above, it is not perpendicular. The
deepest rock-salt bore in the world is near Berlin, Prussia; it is
4,185 feet deep. The deepest hole ever bored into the earth is the
artesian well at Pottsdam, which is 5,500 feet in depth. The deepest
coal mines in England are the Dunkirk colleries of Lancashire, which
are 2,824 feet in depth. The deepest coal shaft in the United States is
located at Pottsville, Pa. In 1885 it had reached a depth of 1,576
feet. From this great depth 400 cars, holding four tons each, are
hoisted daily. The deepest silver mine in the United States is the
Yellow Jacket, one of the great Comstock system at Virginia City,
Nevada; the lower levels are 2,700 feet below the hoisting works.
FATE OF THE APOSTLES.--The following brief history of the fate of the
Apostles may be new to those whose reading has not been evangelical:
St. Matthew is supposed to have suffered martyrdom or was slain with
the sword at the city of Ethiopia.
St. Mark was dragged through the streets of Alexandria, in Egypt, till
he expired.
St. Luke was hanged upon an olive tree in Greece.
St. John was put into a cauldron of boiling oil at Rome and escaped
death. He afterward died a natural death at Ephesus in Asia.
St. James the Great was beheaded at Jerusalem.
St. James the Less was thrown from a pinnacle or wing of the temple and
then beaten to death with a fuller's club.
St. Philip was hanged up against a pillar at Hieropolis, a city of
Phrygia.
St. Bartholomew was flayed alive by the command of a barbarous king.
St. Andrew was bound to a cross, whence he preached unto the people
until he expired.
St. Thomas was run through the body with a lance at Caromandel, in the
East Indias.
St. Jude was shot to death with arrows.
St. Simon Zealot was crucified in Persia.
St. Matthias was first stoned and then beheaded.
St. Barnabas was stoned to death by Jews at Salania.
St. Paul was beheaded at Rome by the tyrant Nero.
The capital of the United States has been located at different times at
the following places: At Philadelphia from September 5, 1774, until
December, 1776; at Baltimore from December 20, 1776, to March, 1777; at
Philadelphia from March 4, 1777, to September, 1777; at Lancaster, Pa.,
from September 27, 1777, to September 30, 1777; at York, Pa., from
September 30, 1777, to July, 1778; at Philadelphia from July 2, 1778,
to June 30, 1783; at Princeton, N.J., June 30, 1783, to November 20,
1783; Annapolis, Md., November 26, 1783, to November 30, 1784; Trenton,
from November, 1784, to January, 1785; New York from January 11, 1785,
to 1790; then the seat of government was removed to Philadelphia, where
it remained until 1800, since which time it has been in Washington.
THE SINGLE TAX.
This idea was first formulated by Mr. Henry George in 1879, and has
grown steadily in favor. Single tax men assert as a fundamental
principle that all men are equally entitled to the use of the earth;
therefore, no one should be allowed to hold valuable land without
paying to the community the value of the privilege. They hold that this
is the only rightful source of public revenue, and they would therefore
abolish all taxation--local, State and National--except a tax upon the
rental value of land exclusive of its improvements, the revenue thus
raised to be divided among local, State and general governments, as the
revenue from certain direct taxes is now divided between local and
State governments.
The single tax would not fall on all land, but only on valuable land,
and on that in proportion to its value. It would thus be a tax, not on
use or improvements, but on ownership of land, taking what would
otherwise go to the landlord as owner.
In accordance with the principle that all men are equally entitled to
the use of the earth, they would solve the transportation problem by
public ownership and control of all highways, including the roadbeds of
railroads, leaving their use equally free to all.
The single tax system would, they claim, dispense with a hoard of
tax-gatherers, simplify government, and greatly reduce its cost; give
us with all the world that absolute free trade which now exists between
the States of the Union; abolish all taxes on private uses of money;
take the weight of taxation from agricultural districts, where land has
little or no value apart from improvements, and put it upon valuable
land, such as city lots and mineral deposits. It would call upon men to
contribute for public expenses in proportion to the natural
opportunities they monopolize, and make it unprofitable for speculators
to hold land unused, or only partly used, thus opening to labor
unlimited fields of employment, solving the labor problem and
abolishing involuntary poverty.
VALUE OF FOREIGN COINS.
Proclaimed by Law, January 1, 1891.
--------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------
| COUNTRY. | Monetary | STANDARD. | Value in
| | Units | | U.S. Money
--------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------
Argentine Republic |Peso |Gold and Silver |$ .96 5-10
Austria |Florin |Silver | .38 1-10
Belgium |Franc |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
Bolivia |Boliviano |Silver | .77 1-10
Brazil |Milreis |Gold | .54 6-10
Canada |Dollar |Gold | 1.00
Chili |Peso |Gold and Silver | .91 2-10
China |Tael |Silver | 1.27
Cuba |Peso |Gold and Silver | .92 6-10
Denmark |Crown |Gold | .26 8-10
Ecuador |Peso |Silver | .77 1-10
Egypt |Piaster |Gold | .04 9-10
France |Franc |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
Great Britain |Pound Sterling|Gold | 4.86 6-100
Greece |Drachma |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
German Empire |Mark |Gold | .23 8-10
Hayti |Gourde |Gold and Silver | .96 5-10
India |Rupee |Silver | .36 6-10
Italy |Lira |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
Japan |Yen |Silver | .85 8-10
Liberia |Dollar |Gold | 1.00
Mexico |Dollar |Silver | .83 7-10
Netherlands |Florin |Gold and Silver | .40 2-10
Norway |Crown |Gold | .26 8-10
Peru |Sol |Silver | .77 1-10
Portugal |Milreis |Gold | 1.08
Russia |Rouble |Silver | .61 7-10
Sandwich Islands |Dollar |Gold | 1.00
Spain |Peseta |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
Sweden |Crown |Gold | .26 8-10
Switzerland |Franc |Gold and Silver | .19 3-10
Tripoli |Mahbub |Silver | .69 5-10
Turkey |Piaster |Gold | .04 4-10
U.S. of Columbia |Peso |Silver | .79 5-10
Venezuela |Bolivar |Gold and Silver | .15 4-10
--------------------+--------------+-----------------+------------
The largest producing farm in the world lies in the southwest corner of
Louisiana, owned by a northern syndicate. It runs one hundred miles
north and south. The immense tract is divided into convenient pastures,
with stations of ranches every six miles. The fencing alone cost nearly
$50,000.
The "Seven Wonders of the World" are seven most remarkable objects of
the ancient world. They are: The Pyramids of Egypt, Pharos of
Alexandria, Walls and Hanging Gardens of Babylon, Temple of Diana at
Ephesus, the Statue of the Olympian Jupiter, Mausoleum of Artemisia,
and Colossus of Rhodes.
The seven sages flourished in Greece in the 6th century B.C. They were
renowned for their maxims of life and as the authors of the mottoes
inscribed in the Delphian Temple. Their names are: Solon, Chilo,
Pittacus, Bias, Periander, Clebolus and Thales.
The estimated number of Christians in the world is over 408,000,000; of
Buddhists, 420,000,000; of the followers of Brahma, 180,000,000; of
Mohammedans, 150,000,000; of Jews, 8,000,000; of atheists, deists, and
infidels, 85,000,000; of pagans, 50,000,000, and of the 1,100 other
minor creeds, 123,000,000.
In 1775 there were only 27 newspapers published in the United States.
Ten years later, in 1785, there were seven published in the English
language in Philadelphia alone, of which one was a daily. The oldest
newspaper published in Philadelphia at the time of the Federal
convention was the _Pennsylvania Gazette_, established by Samuel
Keimer, in 1728. The second newspaper in point of age was the
_Pennsylvania Journal_, established in 1742 by William Bradford,
whose uncle, Andrew Bradford, established the first newspaper in
Pennsylvania, the _American Weekly Mercury_, in 1719. The next in age,
but the first in importance, was the _Pennsylvania Packet_, established
by John Dunlop in 1771. In 1784 it became a daily, being the first
daily newspaper printed on this continent.
GEMS OF THOUGHT.
POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC
BY
Benjamin Franklin.
POOR RICHARD'S ALMANAC.
COURTEOUS READER:
I have heard that nothing gives an author so great pleasure as to find
his works respectfully quoted by other learned authors. This pleasure I
have seldom enjoyed. For though I have been, if I may say it without
vanity, an _eminent_ author of _Almanacs_ annually now for a full
quarter of a century, my brother authors in the same way, for what
reason I know not, have ever been very sparing in their applauses; and
no other author has taken the least notice of me; so that did not my
writings produce me some solid pudding, the great deficiency of praise
would have quite discouraged me.
I concluded at length that the people were the best judges of my merit,
for they buy my works; and besides, in my rambles where I am not
personally known, I have frequently heard one or other of my adages
repeated, with _as Poor Richard says_ at the end of it. This gives me
some satisfaction, as it showed, not only that my instructions were
regarded, but discovered likewise some respect for my authority; and I
own that to encourage the practice of remembering and repeating those
sentences, I have sometimes quoted myself with great activity.
Judge, then, how much I must have been gratified by an incident I am
going to relate to you. I stopped my horse lately where a great number
of people were collected at a vendue of merchant's goods. The hour of
sale not being come, they were conversing on the badness of the times;
and one of the company called to a plain, clean old man with white
locks, "Pray, Father Abraham, what think you of the times? Won't these
heavy taxes quite ruin the country? How shall we ever be able to pay
them? What would you advise us to do?" Father Abraham stood up and
replied: "If you would have my advice, I will give it you in short; for
_A word to the wise is enough_, and _Many words won't fill a bushel_,
as Poor Richard says." They all joined, desiring him to speak his mind,
and gathering round him, he proceeded as follows:
Friends, says he, and neighbors, the taxes are indeed very heavy, and
if those laid on by the government were the only ones we had to pay, we
might the more easily discharge them; but we have many others, and much
more grievous to some of us. We are taxed twice as much by our
IDLENESS, three times as much by our PRIDE and four times as much by
our FOLLY; and from these taxes the commissioners cannot ease or
deliver us, by allowing an abatement. However, let us hearken to good
advice, and something may be done for us; _God helps them that help
themselves_, as Poor Richard says in his _Almanac_ of 1733.
It would be thought a hard government that should tax its people
one-tenth part of their TIME, to be employed in its service, but
idleness taxes many of us much more, if we reckon all that is spent in
absolute sloth, or doing of nothing, with that which is spent in idle
employments or amusements that amount to nothing. Sloth, by bringing on
disease, absolutely shortens life. _Sloth, like rust, consumes faster
than labor wears; while the used key is always bright_, as Poor Richard
says. _But dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that's
the stuff life is made of_, as Poor Richard says.
How much more that is necessary do we spend in sleep? Forgetting that
_the sleeping fox catches no poultry_, and that _there will be sleeping
enough in the grave_, as Poor Richard says. If times be of all things
the most precious, _wasting of time must be_, as Poor Richard says,
_the greatest prodigality_; since, as he elsewhere tells us, _lost time
is never found again_; and what we call _time enough! always proves
little enough_. Let us then up and be doing, and doing to the purpose;
so, by diligence, shall we do more with less perplexity. _Sloth makes
all things difficult, but industry all things easy_, as Poor Richard
says; and _He that riseth late must trot all day, and shall scarce
overtake his business at night; while laziness travels so slowly that
Poverty soon overtakes him_, as we read in Poor Richard; who adds,
_Drive thy business! Let not that drive thee!_ and
Early to bed and early to rise
Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise.
So what signifies _wishing_ and _hoping_ for better times? We may make
these times better if we bestir ourselves. _Industry need not wish_, as
Poor Richard says, and _He that lives on hope will die fasting_. _There
are no gains without pains; then help, hands! for I have no lands_; or
if I have they are smartly taxed. And, as Poor Richard likewise
observes, _He that hath a trade hath an estate, and he that hath a
calling hath an honor_; but then the trade must be worked at, and the
calling well followed, or neither the estate nor the office will enable
us to pay our taxes. If we are industrious we shall never starve; for,
as Poor Richard says, _At the working-man's house hunger looks in, but
dares not enter._ Nor will the bailiff or the constable enter, for
_Industry pays debts, while despair increaseth them_.
What though you have found no treasure, nor has any rich relation left
you a legacy, _Diligence is the mother of good luck_, as Poor Richard
says, _and God gives all things to industry_
Then plough deep while the sluggards sleep,
And you shall have corn to sell and to keep,
says Poor Dick. Work while it is called to-day, for you know not how
much you may be hindered to-morrow; which makes Poor Richard say, _One
to-day is worth two to-morrows_; and farther, _Have you somewhat to do
tomorrow? Do it to-day!_
If you were a servant, would you not be ashamed that a good master
should catch you idle? Are you then your own master? _Be ashamed to
catch yourself idle_, as Poor Richard says. When there is so much to be
done for yourself, your family, your country, and your gracious king,
be up by peep of day! _Let not the sun look down and say, "Inglorious
here he lies!"_ Handle your tools without mittens! remember that _The
cat in gloves catches no mice!_ as poor Richard says.
'Tis true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed;
but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects; for _Constant
dropping wears away stones_; and _By diligence and patience the mouse
ate in two the cable_; and _Little strokes fell great oaks_; as Poor
Richard says in his _Almanac_, the year I cannot just now remember.
Methinks I hear some of you say, "Must a man afford himself no
leisure?" I will tell, thee, my friend, what Poor Richard says, _Employ
thy time well, if thou meanest to gain leisure_; and _Since thou are
not sure of a minute, throw not away an hour!_ Leisure is time for
doing something useful; this leisure the diligent man will obtain, but
the lazy man never; so that, as Poor Richard says, _A life of leisure
and a life of laziness are two things._ Do you imagine that sloth will
afford you more comfort than labor? No! for as Poor Richard says,
_Trouble springs from idleness, and grievous toil from needless ease.
Many, without labor, would live by their wits only, but they'll break
for want of stock_ (i.e. capital); whereas industry gives comfort, and
plenty, and respect. _Fly pleasures, and they'll follow you. The
diligent spinner has a large shift_; and
Now I have a sheep and a cow,
Everybody bids me good morrow.
All which is well said by Poor Richard. But with our industry we must
likewise be steady, settled, and careful, and oversee our own affairs
_with our own eyes_, and not trust too much to others; for, as Poor
Richard says,
I never saw an oft removed tree,
Nor yet an oft removed family,
That throve so well as those that settled be.
And again, _Three removes are as bad as a fire_; and again, _Keep thy
shop, and thy shop will keep thee_; and again, _If you would have your
business done, go; if not, send._ And again,
He that by the plough would thrive,
Himself must either hold or drive.
And again, _The eye of the master will do more work than both his
hands_; and again, _Want of care does us more damage than want of
knowledge_; and again, _Not to oversee workmen is to leave them your
purse open._
Trusting too much to others' care is the ruin of many; for, as the
Almanac says, _In the affairs of this world men are saved, not by
faith, but by the want of it_; but a man's own care is profitable; for
saith Poor Dick, _Learning is to the studious and Riches to the
careful_; as well as, _Power to the bold, and Heaven to the virtuous._
And further, _If you would have a faithful servant, and one that you
like, serve yourself._
And again, he adviseth to circumspection and care, even in the smallest
matters; because, sometimes, _A little neglect may breed great
mischief_; adding, _for want of a nail the shoe was lost; for want of a
shoe the horse was lost; and for want of a horse the rider was lost_;
being overtaken and slain by the enemy; all for want of a little care
about a horseshoe nail!
So much for industry, my friends, and attention to one's own business;
but to these we must add frugality, if we would make our industry more
certainly successful. _A man may_, if he knows not how to save as he
gets, _keep his nose all his life to the grindstone, and die not worth
a groat at last. A fat kitchen makes a lean will_, as Poor Richard
says; and
Many estates are spent in the getting,
Since women for tea[3] forsook spinning and knitting,
And men for punch forsook hewing and splitting.
[3] Tea at this time was a costly drink, and was regarded as a
luxury.
If you would be wealthy, says he in another Almanac, _Think of saving
as well as of getting. The Indies have not made Spain rich; because her
outgoes are greater than her incomes._
Away, then, with your expensive follies, and you will not have so much
cause to complain of hard times, heavy taxes, and chargeable families;
for, as Poor Dick says,--
Women and wine, game and deceit,
Make the wealth small and the wants great.
And farther, _What maintains one vice would bring up two children._ You
may think, perhaps, that a _little_ tea, or a _little_ punch now and
then; a diet a _little_ more mostly; clothes a _little_ more finer; and
a _little_ more entertainment now and then, can be no great matter; but
remember what Poor Richard says, _Many a little makes a mickle_; and
further, _Beware of little expenses_; _A small leak will sink a great
ship_; and again,--
Who dainties love, shall beggars prove;
and moreover, _Fools make feasts and wise men eat them_.
Here are you all got together at this vendue of fineries knick-knacks.
You call them _goods_; but if you do not take care, they will prove
evils to some of you. You expect they will be sold cheap, and perhaps
they may for less than they cost; but, if you have no occasion for
them, they must be _dear_ to you. Remember what Poor Richard says:
_Buy what thou hast no need of and ere long thou shalt sell thy
necessaries._ And again, _At a great pennyworth, pause a while._ He
means, that perhaps the cheapness is apparent only, and not real; or
the bargain by straitening thee in thy business, may do thee more harm
than good. For in another place he says, _Many have been ruined by
buying good pennyworths._
Again, Poor Richard says, _'Tis foolish to lay out money in a purchase
of repentance_; and yet this folly is practiced every day at vendues
for want of minding the _Almanac_.