shires or counties, representatives of cities, and representatives
of boroughs. For representatives of boroughs every man is entitled
to vote who is of full age and not subject to any legal incapacity,
provided he is on the last day of July in any year, and has during
the whole of the preceding twelve months been an “inhabitant
occupier,” as owner or tenant, of any dwelling-house within the
borough; has during the time of such occupation been rated (or taxed)
“as an ordinary occupier in respect of the premises so occupied by
him within the borough to all rates made for the relief of the poor
in respect of such premises,” and has paid the said rate; or has
occupied as a lodger in the same borough separately, and as sole
tenant for the time above designated, “a part of one and the same
dwelling house, of a clear yearly value, if let unfurnished, of £10
or upward.” For representatives of counties any man may be registered
as a voter who is of full age, and not subject to any legal
incapacity, who shall be in possession at law or in equity of any
lands or tenements, of copyhold, or any other tenure whatever, except
freehold, for his own lifetime or for the life of another or for any
larger estate of the clear yearly value of not less than £5 over and
above all rents and charges, who is on the last day of July of any
year (and has been during the preceding twelve months) the occupier
as owner or tenant of lands or tenements within the county of the
ratable value of £12 or upward, and has paid all poor rates rated to
him. The qualifications of city electors are not materially different
from those above given. Of the 487 members for England and Wales,
187 represent counties, 295 cities and boroughs, and 5 represent the
three universities.
The qualifications of electors in Scotland and Ireland are somewhat
different. In Scotland, the burgher franchise is given to every man
of full age who has been for twelve months an occupier, as owner
or tenant, of any dwelling, and has paid his poor rates, and not
been in receipt of parochial relief during that time. The lodger
franchise consists in the permission of any lodger to vote who has
occupied in the same burgh separately, and as sole tenant for twelve
months, a lodging worth £10. In the counties the ownership franchise
requires the property to be worth an annual net rental of £5, and
a residential qualification of six months. In Ireland the borough
franchise requires a lodging of the value of £4, where in England it
must be at least £10, the other qualifications being similar to those
required in England.
TYPE-WRITERS.
CHAPIN, Iowa.
What are the advantages gained by the use of type-writers? By whom
were they invented, and where?
G. W. ADAMS.
_Answer._—Perhaps the earliest form of a type-writer is a rude
machine invented in England in 1714, without any practical fruits.
M. Foucault, sent to the Paris Exposition of 1855 a writing machine
for the blind; but the first of what are now popularly known as
type-writers was patented in 1868, by C. L. Sholes, of Wisconsin.
This has been improved until now it is possible to attain a speed
of seventy-five to eighty words a minute in writing with this
machine, which is fast enough for reporting speeches. The principal
advantages gained are rapidity of execution and legibility. A
type-writer can write with both hands and several fingers in instant
succession, every letter being made with a single light touch instead
of requiring from three to seven distinct strokes and dots, as in
ordinary script.
NOT ONE CENT FOR TRIBUTE.
EAU CLAIRE, Wis.
By whom and when was the remark used: “Millions for defense, but
not one cent for tribute”?
JOHN J. MAGINNIS.
_Answer._.—An ill-feeling grew up between the United States and
France soon after the breaking out of the great French revolution,
near the close of the last century. France seemed determined that our
government should take active part with it in hostilities against
Great Britain. Washington and the Federal party insisted on strict
neutrality. The French Minister, Citizen Genet, encouraged by the
strong French sympathies of the Republicans of those days and the
almost universal ill-feeling toward Great Britain, undertook to set
President Washington’s proclamation of neutrality at defiance by an
appeal to the people, encouraged the organization of secret political
societies opposed to the administration, and even instituted
recruiting for the French army on American soil. His course became so
obnoxious that Washington demanded his recall. M. Fauchet was sent to
succeed him, but the ill-feeling rather increased than diminished. In
1796 Charles C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, one of our revolutionary
heroes, was sent to France as United States Minister, charged, among
other matters, to negotiate a settlement of all differences, on the
basis of American neutrality. The French Directory treated him with
an incivility almost unbearable, and finally ordered him to quit the
country. He withdrew to Amsterdam for a time, but, on some change
of affairs in France, returned in the early part of 1797, when
Talleyrand, the French Minister of Foreign Affairs, declined to treat
further until his government had received a payment from the United
States in the nature of a present or tribute, and threatened war as
the consequence of a refusal. Thereupon Pinckney gave utterance to
the patriotic exclamation, “War be it then; millions for defense,
sir, but not a cent for tribute.” These words were caught up by the
administration party at home and echoed and re-echoed throughout the
land until, in 1798, Congress was nerved to provide a strong naval
armament. Later Washington, who had been succeeded in the Presidency
by John Adams, was called to the chief command of the army, several
French vessels were captured in reprisal for damages inflicted
on American citizens, and an open declaration of war was daily
looked for, when Napoleon I. came into power, and France, satisfied
that the United States was in stern earnest, made overtures for
reconciliation, which resulted in the treaty of 1800, honorable to
all concerned.
RAINFALL OF THE UNITED STATES.
MASON, Ill.
Please give the rainfall in different portions of the United States.
T. M. TRIPLETT.
_Answer._—There is a small circle in Central Florida where the
annual rainfall ranges from sixty to seventy inches. There is a
belt covering Western Alabama, Eastern Mississippi, also Southern
Louisiana for fifty to sixty miles on either side of the Mississippi
River, where it measures from sixty to sixty-four inches. But the
heaviest rainfall in the United States is in Alaska, where it is over
eighty inches, and along the western coast of Oregon and Washington
Territory, between the Cascade Range and the Pacific, increasing
from sixty-eight inches south of the Columbia River to eighty
inches on Puget Sound. In Central Georgia and South Carolina it is
fifty-two to forty-eight; in Central North Carolina and Virginia,
diminishing northward, it is forty-eight to thirty-six. Along the
Atlantic coast, for about seventy-five miles inward, it ranges from
forty-four inches at Savannah to forty in Connecticut, and thence
increases to forty-four in Northern Maine. Along both flanks of the
Alleghanies and Blue Ridge it is nearly uniform at 40. In most of
the region south of the Ohio and Missouri, from Eastern Tennessee to
Eastern Texas, it ranges from 48 inches in the south to 44 in the
north, and the latter is about the average for Southern Indiana and
Southwestern Ohio. The average for Illinois and Northern Indiana
and Pennsylvania is about 40. For Western New York, Northern Ohio,
lower Michigan, Wisconsin, Southeastern Minnesota, and most of Iowa
it ranges from 40 to 32, diminishing toward the great lakes. West
of the Missouri it ranges from 30 inches in Eastern Kansas to 26
in Dakota, and diminishes toward the Rocky Mountains. In Southern
Texas it ranges from 48 near the southeastern corner to 28 on the
Rio Grande, and diminishes to 34 in the northeastern, and 29 in the
northwestern corners. In California the rainfall ranges from 60
inches on the northern coast to 9 or 10 in the south, and diminishes
inland to 8 or 10 in the mountain districts, and still less in the
desert regions. As for the greater part of the region embracing all
the Territories except Alaska, Washington, and Southeastern Dakota,
all of Colorado and Nevada, the western parts of Kansas, Nebraska
and Dakota, and the eastern portion of Oregon, the rainfall varies
between 10 inches and 22. Here and there within this region there are
districts almost rainless. This is most common in Northern Arizona
and Utah.
PESTALOZZI AND FROEBEL.
DUNLAP, Iowa.
Please give a short sketch of the lives of the three noted
educational reformers, Pestalozzi, F. Froebel, and Horace Mann.
JOHN KEITGES.
_Answer._—Pestalozzi, the famous Swiss educator, was born at Zurich
Jan. 12, 1746. In his youth he was evidently undecided as to what
profession to follow. He was first a theological student and then
a law student. Having purchased some waste land, he turned from
the law to farming, where he became interested in the welfare of
the masses and devoted himself, during the intervals of his work,
to promoting their elevation. Convinced that a rational system of
education would remedy many of the evils of society, he converted his
own house into an orphan asylum, and strove, by judicious blending
of industrial, intellectual, and moral training, to illustrate his
theory of a sound system of national education. The great idea at the
basis of his system of instruction was the necessity of teaching by
object lessons. Objects themselves, and not lessons about objects,
were the means that he used to develop the observing and reasoning
powers. He gave special attention to the moral and religious
training of children, as something distinct from mere instruction
in morals and religion. For two years Froebel, the father of the
kindergarten system, was his pupil and assistant teacher. He died at
Brugg, Switzerland, in 1827. Friedrich Wilhelm A. Froebel, to whom
reference has just been made, was born at Ober-Weissbach, Germany,
April 21, 1782. When sent to school he was so dull that his father,
growing discouraged, took him from study and sent him to work among
the wood-cutters in the forest. Here he became a student of nature
and advanced, as Pestalozzi, upon his farm, to the idea of teaching
from nature. In 1799 he went to school again, but falling into debt,
was imprisoned by his creditors. Soon after his release he became a
pupil and assistant of Pestalozzi, remaining with this great master
from 1807 to 1809. He then began the study of the natural sciences,
but was interrupted by the German and French war of 1813, in which
he enlisted for fatherland. On the restoration of peace he became
curator of the Museum of Mineralogy, under Professor Weiss, at
Berlin. A few years later he began his life as a teacher, which,
in 1826, the year previous to the death of Pestalozzi, he varied
by publishing a work entitled “The Education of Man.” In this book
he declared that man’s life was a succession of stages, each of
which should be progressive. He was especially impressed with the
importance of the first years of childhood as the period in which
to give shape to all their after development. In 1837 he established
the first kindergarten school, at Blankenburg. Having noticed the
restlessness of children, and tendency to finger everything, he took
advantage of these traits to arouse in them a spirit of intelligent
inquiry and investigation. Much of his time was given, in schools of
Germany and Switzerland, to training primary teachers. In the latter
part of his life he gave special attention to the training of young
female teachers, believing them to be best calculated by nature for
the care and management of young children. During the revolutionary
period of 1848, at a time when, through the influence of the great
Middendorff, who had become interested in his kindergarten work, he
hoped to enlist the support of the German Parliament in his system
of teaching, he and his brother Karl were charged with socialistic
tendencies, and an edict was issued forbidding the establishment of
schools “after Friedrich and Karl Froebel’s principles” in Prussia.
This blow utterly disheartened the veteran educator, and he died in
June, 1852, at Marienthal.
A sketch of the life of Horace Mann will be found in Our Curiosity
Shop for 1882.
GENERALS A. S. AND JOSEPH E. JOHNSTON.
BLAINE, Iowa.
Please give a brief outline of the lives of General A. S. Johnston
and Joseph E. Johnston.
READER.
_Answer._—Albert Sydney Johnston served honorably in the United
States army in Mexico and Utah, and at the outbreak of the civil war
was appointed General in the Confederate army. He was killed in the
battle of Shiloh, April 6, 1862, at the age of 59. His native State
was Kentucky. General Joe Johnston was born in Virginia in 1807, and,
after completing the course of study at West Point, fought in the
Seminole and Mexican wars. Receiving the position of Major General
in the Confederate army, he proved himself a dangerous foe in the
Peninsular campaign, in Tennessee, and Carolina. He surrendered to
General Sherman April 26, 1865.
COLD IN DAKOTA.
CHICAGO, Ill.
In the interview with Mr. Geo. B. Armstrong, Register of the
Government land office at Huron, D. T., recently published in
THE INTER OCEAN, he asserts, substantially, that it is colder in
Chicago with the mercury 5 deg. below zero than it is in Huron with
the mercury 35 to 38 deg. below. A number of us, who swear by the
Curiosity Shop, have got into a dispute over this statement and all
agree to leave it to the editor of “the shop” to decide the matter.
The question is: Is it as cold in Huron, D. T., as in this city, on
the average?
G. H.
_Answer._—In one sense of the word, it is unquestionably colder in
Huron than in Chicago. But Mr. Armstrong has not left our readers in
doubt as to his meaning. He distinctly says: “With the mercury in
the thermometer as low as 35 and 38 degrees below zero, we do not
suffer so much as the people in Chicago with the thermometer at 5
degrees below zero. The air is dry and comfortable.” Here he clearly
discriminates between the cold of the atmosphere and the sense of
cold experienced by human beings. There is no ground for dispute as
to the comparative average winter cold of the climate of Southern
Dakota in and about Huron, and the same at Chicago. The thermometer
shows that the former is several degrees greater than the latter. But
taking cold in the second sense of the word, “the sensation produced
by the escape of heat” from the body; “chilliness or chillness”—see
Webster’s second definition—every one knows by actual experience that
this depends to a considerable degree upon the dryness and stillness
of the atmosphere and the state of the body. Exposed to a high wind
in humid atmosphere not more than 5 or 6 degrees below zero, a person
may freeze to death, when he would endure 35 or 40 degrees below
zero in a dry, still air without serious suffering. Such air is
classed among the poorest of all heat conductors; it belongs rather
to non-conductors. The sensation of cold is due to the conduction of
heat from the body more rapidly than the vital forces can replace
it. Moist air in rapid motion carries off heat with great rapidity.
When the skin pores are open a considerable part of the fluids of
the body exudes through them, dampens the garments, and so renders
them better conductors. The cold and wind evaporate this moisture
in the garments. Evaporation is a cooling process; so when the
pores are not kept almost sealed up by steady cold the body suffers
loss of temperature both by increased conduction and evaporation.
Observations of the United States Signal Service denote that the
atmosphere of the region of Dakota under consideration is dryer,
stiller, and less subject to extreme changes than that of Chicago; so
that it is possible that, while in one sense of the word cold, it is
certainly colder in Huron than it is in Chicago, in the other sense
it may be no colder or not so cold there as here. This is plainly
a question of personal experience, and the best that Our Curiosity
Shop can do to settle this dispute is to give the above facts, and
add that the testimony of many credible witnesses who have tried both
climates is to the effect that, taking the winter through, one feels
the cold there no more, or not so much as here. If a wager turns on
our decision, taking the word cold in its first sense, the answer
given above is definite and positive; taking it in the second sense,
it is indecisive; a case for “a draw.”
ANCHOR ICE.
LAPORTE CITY, Iowa.—In the Curiosity Shop for June 14 I see a
correspondent asks an explanation of ice forming at the bottom of
rivers and remaining there. I saw this ice for the first time three
years ago the past winter, at Waterloo, in this State, where business
kept me most of the time. It excited my curiosity, and I studied
it until satisfied of its origin. The Cedar River runs through the
city, and a dam is built across it giving a power of about eight feet
fall. A short distance below this is a bridge over 600 feet long. The
space between the dam and the bridge is a rock-bottom rapids. Having
occasion to cross the bridge frequently I noticed this ice attached
to the rocks under water after the weather became cold, but not cold
enough to form a solid sheet of ice on the pond. It disappeared and
came again as the weather changed to warm or cold, but ceased to be
formed after the pond was covered with a solid cake of ice, always
forming at the beginning of cold weather. I concluded it was caused
by the formation of fine crystals of ice on the pond not yet frozen
together, which, as they were carried over the dam, were mixed in
the surf below and driven against and stuck fast in the fine moss
covering the rocks, always attached to the side of the rock facing
the fall, the first crystals presenting points to catch the next, and
so the mass, which appeared like water-soaked snow, grew under the
water by accretion, the water being as cold as the ice itself could
not thaw it. I think if the correspondent will examine he will find
anchor ice is formed in rapids or at the foot of falls draining a
smooth expanse of water before the water becomes covered with a solid
sheet of ice, and always on the up-stream side of the rocks in the
bottom.
T. A. KELLETT.
CHIEF RULERS OF THE WORLD.
WINDSOR, Ill.
Please give in “Our Curiosity Shop” the names of the principal
rulers of the world, with the countries over which they rule.
M. J. S.
_Answer._—The following table embraces the chief rulers of the world:
Crowned or
Countries. Rulers. inaugurated
Great Britain Queen Victoria 1837
Germany Emperor William I 1871
France President Grevy 1879
Denmark Christian IX 1863
Sweden Oscar II 1872
Spain Alphonso XI 1875
Portugal Luis II 1861
Russia Alexander III 1881
Turkey Abdul Hamid 1876
Austria-Hungary Francis Joseph 1848
United States Chester A. Arthur 1881
PASSION FLOWER.
BURLINGTON, Iowa.
Why is the passion flower so called?
FLORA.
_Answer._—It was called by this name by the Spanish settlers of
the West Indies and South America, its native region, because they
fancied it to be a representative of Christ’s passion or sacrificial
death. According to this fancy, the leaf symbolizes the spear that
pierced the Savior’s side; the anthers, the marks of the five wounds
made by the spear; the tendrils, the cords or whips with which He
was secured; the column of the ovary, the upright of the cross; the
stamens, the hammers; the three styles, the nails; the filamentous
processes, the crown of thorns; the calyx, the glory or halo; the
white tinge, purity; the blue tint, heaven; and the fact that it
remains open three days typifies his three years’ ministry.
ASBESTOS.
ABERDEEN, D. T.
What is asbestos, where is it found, and what valuable properties
has it?
H. T. MCLANE.
_Answer._—Asbestos is a fibrous, white, gray, or green mineral,
not easily fusible. The most beautiful specimens come from Corsica
and Savoy, though some are found in the Alps, Pyrenees, and Ural
Mountains, and in North America and New South Wales, while commoner
varieties, such as mountain cork and mountain wood, are found in
Lanarkshire, Tyrol, Dauphiny and parts of Scotland. Its chief value
is its infusibility, and though it possesses little consistency, it
was by the ancients woven into garments, towels, and handkerchiefs,
and has in later times become useful as fireproof roofing, flooring,
and packing in safes, journal boxes, and around steam pipes. Paper
has been made of it, but though at red heat the paper remains
uninjured, the writing disappears. As cloth it is desirable, needing
only to be thrown into the fire to be cleansed. It is said that
Charlemagne had a table cloth of asbestos, which he was wont to throw
into the fire at the close of the meal for the amusement of his
guests.
HOW TO USE AN INCUBATOR.
ELK GROVE, Wis.
Our Curiosity Shop has explained how to make an artificial
incubator; how do you use one after it is made?
“I.”
_Answer._—Mrs. P. G. Gilman, Paola, Kan.; Mrs. L. R. Stanley,
Cameron, Neb.; C. D., Kalamazoo, Mich., make substantially the same
inquiry.
In the first place be sure to get fresh eggs, which have not been
chilled to death in the nest, and sort out all unfertile ones. After
the eggs have been in the incubator two, or at most three days, you
can tell every egg that is not fertile. By placing the small end to
the eye, looking toward the sun, and moving the head up and down,
you will see a dark spot floating on the top of every fertile egg.
Any egg that remains perfectly clear after being in the incubator
until the fourth day may as well be taken out for use or for market,
since it will never hatch. Some persons recommend the use of a cheap
egg-tester, which can be got by writing to the Secretary of the
National American Poultry Association, New Concord, Ohio, but others
think this is not needed. The eggs must be kept at a regular heat of
between 102 and 105 degs. After the third day take out the egg-drawer
once a day and let the eggs cool down to about 70 or 80 degs., but
not below 65 degs. Turn the eggs every four or five hours during
the day, by moving the muslin frame on which the eggs rest backward
or forward a couple of inches, as indicated in the instructions for
making the incubator. It is all done in a trice; it will be well to
do this once during the night, and see that the temperature is up to
proper grade. Be careful that it does not rise above 105 degs., as
there is even more danger of killing the eggs by over-heating than by
letting the temperature run a little low. After the third day set two
or more soup-plates or tin pie-pans on the sawdust in the ventilator,
under the eggs to moisten them; and from the ninth to the twelfth
day sprinkle a little tepid water on the eggs by hand, in addition
to the evaporation from the water in the pans. From the twelfth to
the fifteenth day hand-sprinkle them twice a day, and thereafter
three times a day until they hatch. The water acts on the lime of the
shells to make it brittle. Perhaps it is best not to have any fire in
the incubator-room, which may be a cellar, wood shed, or unoccupied
room in the house. A writer in the _American Agriculturist_ says:
“If any one doubts that pine sawdust in an incubator will kill his
eggs let him try it.” There may be something in this warning, but it
is doubtful. Study your lamps to learn about how high to turn the
wicks, in order to keep the temperature just right, and observe the
thermometers in the front and back of your egg drawer frequently.
See that the escape pipes in the heater do not slip down so close
to the zinc as to check the draft. Better keep them from one to two
inches above the zinc. Keep the ventilators open.
When the eggs are hatched keep the chicks in the incubator till
dried, anywhere from twelve to eighteen hours, but not longer. Put
them in the brooder, or “artificial mother,” which will be described
hereafter. Give them their first food when they are about 18 or 20
hours old. Use bread crumbs wet with milk, or corn meal thoroughly
soaked, or hard-boiled eggs, and feed regularly at intervals of
three or four hours from 5 o’clock a. m. to 9 o’clock p. m. Do not
over-feed; give them only what they will eat clean. When old enough
give them dry grain.
CERTAIN LUMBER GRADES.
DOWS, Iowa.
Please give the inspection rules for grading flooring,
fence-boards, siding, and six-inch, half-round, live cedar posts.
H. H. OBERTON.