father died in 1782, and ten years later his mother married again
and moved to Kentucky, leaving Henry as a clerk in Richmond. In 1797
Henry followed her, and opened a law office in Lexington. He took an
active part in the framing of a new constitution for Kentucky, upon
her separation from Virginia when he strongly urged some provision
for the abolition of slavery, but in vain. From this time he became
prominent in politics. In 1803 a State Senator, a United States
Senator in 1806, one of the negotiators of peace in the war of 1812,
and twice a Speaker of the House, he was no stranger to statesmanship
when in 1824 he appeared as a candidate for the presidency. He was
defeated, however, as was also the case in 1832 and 1844 when he was
the candidate of the Whig party. As an orator he stands among the
very first that this country has produced. As a statesman he was
far-seeing, a wise political economist, a devoted lover of the Union,
and absolutely incorruptible. “I would rather be right than be the
President,” is one of his utterances, made under circumstances that
tested his sincerity. He did what he believed was right, offended
the slave oligarchy thereby, as he foresaw he should do, and barely
failed of election to the presidency in the ensuing campaign as the
consequence. Knowing the desperate measures to which the champions
of slavery would resort to preserve and extend that institution,
he averted threatened secession in 1821 by bringing forward the
“Missouri Compromise;” again in 1850 by another compromise known
as the “Omnibus bill.” The effect of these pacific measures was to
defer the inevitable final appeal to arms until the strength of the
free States had outgrown the slave power, and the Union was able to
grapple with secession and throttle it. As one of the commissioners
who negotiated the treaty of Ghent, at the close of the second war
with England, he caused the erasure of the clause granting free
navigation of the Mississippi to British vessels. Protection to
American industry through a wise adjustment of the tariff, found
in him one of the ablest of its early champions. Mr. Clay married
Lucretia Hart, in 1799, who bore him six daughters and five sons. The
last of the daughters died in 1835. Of the sons, the most promising,
Henry, born in 1811, fell at the battle of Buena Vesta, Feb. 23,
1847. James B., born in 1817, was a representative in Congress from
his father’s old district, 1857-9. He was a member of the Peace
Commission of 1861; died at Montreal, Jan. 26, 1864. Thomas Hart,
born in 1803, took office under President Lincoln as minister to
Nicaragua, and, later, to Honduras. He died at Lexington, Ky., March
18, 1871.
FOUNDING OF YALE AND DARTMOUTH.
MELVIN, Ill.
Please state when and by whom Yale, Harvard, and Dartmouth colleges
were founded.
A. BUCKHOLZ.
_Answer._—Yale College was founded in 1700, by the Connecticut
Colony, under the trusteeship of the ten principal ministers of
the colony. Harvard University was founded at Cambridge in 1636,
and named for the Rev. John Harvard, who gave $3,500 toward its
endowment fund. Dartmouth College was chartered in 1769, and named
for Lord Dartmouth, because of his interest and benefactions. These
institutions were chartered by corporations, and not by single
individuals.
SWARMING OF BEES.
KEWANEE, Ill.
In swarming, do the old or the young bees leave the hive?
“TOPSY.”
_Answer._—The first swarm of a season leaves the hive under the
guidance of the old queen, before the new brood is hatched. This
swarm consists of most of the old workers and drones. As soon as the
new brood is five or six days old, young queens lead forth other
swarms, composed for the most part of young bees, until only one
queen remains in the old hive with a swarm.
MARTIN LUTHER.
URBANA, Ill.
Will you please give me a short biography of Martin Luther?
NETTIE AYRES.
_Answer._—Martin Luther was born of poor parents, at Eisleben, in
1483. After studying at Erfurt and being confirmed priest, Luther
accepted a professorship at the University of Wittemberg in 1508. In
1510 he was sent on a mission to Rome, where he had an insight into
the corruptions of the papacy, and upon his return he immediately
entered upon his work of reform, especially attacking the sale
of indulgences. One of his first acts was to nail on the door of
Wittemberg Church ninety-five theses, in which he denied the power
of the Pope to forgive sins. Great excitement followed, and Luther
was summoned by Pope Leo X. to appear at Rome. The university and
electors interfered, and a legate from Rome came to Germany to hear
Luther’s defense. Soon Luther’s books and papers gained a wide
circulation, and in 1520 came a papal bull of excommunication, which
Luther burned in the gate of Wittemberg in the presence of a large
company. The next year Charles V. convened the Diet of Worms, which
ordered the destruction of Luther’s books and the arrest of the
heretic. He was now imprisoned by friends in the Castle of Wartburg
for his protection, and soon after his release married the gifted
Katharine Von Bora, a nun whom he had converted to Protestantism.
His later life was spent in writing and controversy, though, on the
whole, very quiet. He died in 1546.
FALL OF WESTERN RIVERS.
1. What is the elevation of Rock Island, St. Louis, and Cairo above
the Gulf of Mexico? 2. What is the fall per mile required to give a
river a current of two miles an hour? 3. State average fall of the
Mississippi River and its tributaries.
J. H. RHODES.
_Answer._—1. Rock Island is about 536 feet, St. Louis 408 feet,
and Cairo about 322 feet above tide-water. 2. The number of inches
fall per mile required to give a current of two miles depends very
greatly upon the volume of the stream, the character of the bed, and
the directness of the channel. The same stream is sluggish at low
water and a rushing torrent at high flood. The current of the Lower
Mississippi, with a fall of nearly three inches per mile, has an
annual average of three miles an hour in midstream. 3. The slope of
rivers falling into the Mississippi from the west is about six inches
per mile, and that of those from the east is about three inches per
mile, except in the case of the Ohio River, whose mean descent from
Pittsburg to Cairo, including the falls and rapids at Louisville, is
about 5⅙ inches. The mean descent of the Mississippi from the mouth
of the Ohio to the gulf is a little over 2⅘ inches a mile. Between
Lake Itasca and the mouth of the Ohio the descent of the Mississippi
is much more rapid. From its source to the Falls of Pecogama, 270
miles, the total descent is 324 feet; thence to Pine River, 200
miles, the fall is 165 feet; thence to Crow Wing, 47 miles, it is 49
feet. Below this are the Sauk Rapids, then the Rapids and Falls of
St. Anthony, 18 feet at a leap and 66 feet in a single mile; then the
Rock Island Rapids, 22 feet; and the Des Moines Rapids, 24 feet. The
total descent between Lake Itasca and the mouth of the Ohio is 1,285
feet.
PRINCIPAL BATTLES OF THE REBELLION.
YORK, Neb.
Please give the dates of the principal battles of the rebellion,
who commanded in each, and the number killed on both sides.
J. I. MOSBARGER.
_Answer._—Bull Run (first), July 21, 1861: North, General McDowell;
killed, 481: South, General Beauregard; killed, unknown. Shiloh,
April 7, 1862: North, General Grant; killed, 1,735; South General A.
S. Johnston; killed, 1,728. Seven Pines and Fair Oaks, May 31 and
June 1, 1862: North, General McClellan; killed, 890; South, General
J. E. Johnston; killed, 2,800. Antietam, Sept. 16 and 17, 1862;
North, General McClellan; killed, 2,010; South, General Lee; killed,
3,500. Chancellorsville, May 2 and 3, 1863: North, General Hooker;
killed, 1,512: South, General Jackson; killed, 1,581. Gettysburg,
July 1, 2, and 3, 1863; North, General Meade; killed, 2,834; South,
General Lee; killed, 3,500. Vicksburg, July 3 and 4, 1863: North,
General Grant; killed, 545: South, General Pemberton; killed,
unknown. Chickamauga, Sept. 19-23, 1863: North, General Thomas;
killed, 1,644; South, General Bragg; killed, 2,389. Wilderness,
May 5, 6, and 7, 1864: North, General Grant; killed, 5,597; South,
General Lee; killed, 2,000. Spottsylvania, May 8-21, 1864: North,
General Grant; killed, 4,177; South, General Lee; killed, 1,000. The
above figures are based on medical official returns, and do not agree
with returns of Adjutant General. No two reports agree. Adjutant
General makes killed at Wilderness 2,261, and at Spottsylvania 2,270;
while General Meade’s report, based on reports immediately after the
battle, states killed at Wilderness at 3,288; at Spottsylvania 2,146.
SILVER COINS AT A PREMIUM.
HEBRON, Ind.
Can you give a list of the United States silver coins that are at a
premium?
FRANK RICHARDS.
_Answer._—There is a considerable demand for United States silver
coins of rare issues to complete collections for coin cabinets. The
following are quotations for a few of the rarer coins, taken from two
coin price lists, one published in Chicago and the other in Reading,
Pa.:
UNITED STATES DOLLARS.
Reading. Chicago.
1794, flowing hair $30.30 $12.50
1795, flowing hair 1.50 1.25
1795, fillet head 1.65 1.25
1796, fillet head 1.65 1.25
1797, fillet head, 6 stars facing 1.75 1.75
1797, fillet head, 7 stars facing 2.00 1.25
1798, fillet head, 13 stars, small eagle 4.75 1.25
1798, fillet head, 15 stars, small eagle 6.00 2.00
1798, 13 stars, large eagle 1.35 1.15
1799, 5 stars facing 2.25 1.40
1799, 6 stars facing 1.25 1.15
1800, spread eagle 1.45 1.25
1801, spread eagle 1.75 1.50
1802, spread eagle 1.45 1.35
1802 over 1801, spread eagle 1.50 1.35
1803, spread eagle 1.50 1.25
1804, excessively rare, “boss dollar” 500.00 200.00
1836, C. Gobrecht’s name in field 6.00
1836, flying eagle 3.00
1838, flying eagle 12.00 15.00
1839, flying eagle 18.00 15.00
1851, liberty seated 18.00 15.00
1852, liberty seated 18.00 15.00
1854, liberty seated 5.50 2.25
1855, liberty seated 3.25 2.00
1856, liberty seated 2.25 1.50
1857, liberty seated 2.75 1.50
1858, liberty seated 20.00 15.00
U. S. HALF DOLLARS.
1794, flowing hair, fair 3.50 2.00
1794, flowing hair, good 5.00 3.25
1796, fillet head, 15 stars 20.00 15.00
1796, fillet head, 16 stars 20.00 16.00
1797, fillet head, 15 stars 20.00 12.50
1801, fillet head 3.50 2.00
1802, fillet head 3.50 2.75
1815, head to left, good 3.50 2.60
1815, head to left, fine 5.00 3.50
1836, liberty cap, milled edge 2.00 2.00
1836, liberty cap, milled fine 2.50 2.50
1838, liberty cap, having “O” mark underhead 7.00 3.00
1852, liberty seated 2.50 1.50
1852, liberty seated, fine 3.50 2.00
QUARTER DOLLARS.
1796, fillet head, fair 2.00 1.75
1796, fillet head, good 3.50 2.00
1804, fillet head, fair 1.50 1.25
1804, fillet head, good 2.00 1.50
1823, head to left, fair 15.00 13.50
1823, head to left, good 25.00 20.00
1827, head to left, fair 15.00 17.50
1827, head to left, good 25.00 20.00
1853, liberty seated, without arrows 5.00 2.50
TWENTY-CENT PIECES.
1877 1.25
1878 1.50
DIMES.
1796, fillet head, fair .75 1.00
1796, fillet head, good 1.50 1.25
1797, 13 stars, fair 1.00 1.25
1897, 13 stars, good 1.75 1.75
1797, 16 stars, fair 1.00 1.25
1797, 16 stars, good 1.75 1.75
1798, fillet head, fair .75 1.00
1798, fillet head, good 1.00 1.50
1800, fillet head, fair .50 1.00
1800, fillet head, good .75 1.50
1801, fillet head, fair .75 1.00
1801, fillet head, good 1.00 1.50
1802, fillet head, fair 1.50 1.25
1802, fillet head, good 2.50 2.00
1803, fillet head, fair 1.25 .75
1803, fillet head, good 1.75 1.25
1804, fillet head, fair 4.00 1.75
1804, fillet head, good 5.50 2.00
1800, head to left 1.25 .60
1811, head to left .70 .60
1822, head to left, fair 1.50 1.50
1822, head to left, fine 2.00 2.00
1846, liberty seated 1.00 .50
HALF DIMES.
1794, flowing hair, fair 2.00 1.25
1794, flowing hair, good 3.00 2.00
1795, flowing hair, good .70 .50
1796, 15 stars, fillet head, fair 1.50 1.00
1796, 15 stars, fillet head, good 2.00 1.50
1797, 15 stars, fillet head, fair 2.50 .75
1797, 15 stars, fillet head, good 2.50 1.25
1797, 16 stars, fillet head, fair 1.50 .75
1797, 16 stars, fillet head, good 2.50 1.25
1800, fillet head, fair .40 .25
1800, fillet head, good .60 .50
1801, fillet head, fair 1.25 .75
1801, fillet head, good 2.00 1.25
1802, fillet head, fair 25.00 10.00
1802, fillet head, fine 40.00 30.00
1803, fillet head, fair 1.25 .75
1803, fillet head, good 2.25 1.25
1805, fillet head, fair 1.50 1.00
1805, fillet head, good 2.50 1.50
1846, liberty seated, without stars, fair 1.50 .50
1846, liberty seated, good 2.00 .75
1846, liberty seated, fine 2.00 1.00
SILVER THREE-CENT PIECES.
1863 .60 .25
1864 to 1869, inclusive .25
1870, large star in center .20
1871, large star in center .20
1872, large star in center .20
1873, large star in center .90 .60
Such quotations are subject to frequent fluctuations, but New York
auction sales of old United States coins, reported from time to time,
indicate that coin purchasers can make a fair profit on the above
prices.
THE SALVATION ARMY.
BELLE RIVER, Wis.
Will the Curiosity Shop please to give some information regarding
the “Salvation Army,” its origin, object, and modes of work?
W.
_Answer._—Eighteen years ago, when General Booth began his work
in London as a Methodist minister to the artisan classes, he was
confronted by the great question, how to bring the gospel to the
hearts of the ignorant and degraded so as to make it a vital power.
After many trials and failures he began the organization of what is
now known as the Salvation Army numbering at present 320 corps, with
760 officers who give their entire time to the work, having over all
a “general.” Their creed is the literal gospel, and it is preached
by them in no less than 6,200 meetings a week. Their territory is
divided into thirteen districts, each under the care of a “major,”
who inspects and controls all the corps in his district. To each
corps is assigned a “captain,” assisted by one or two “lieutenants,”
who devote all their time to conducting meetings, visiting those
enlisted, and organizing work among the unconverted. The system of
promotion is slow and guarded. When a person professes a change
of heart he must at once rise and confess it before his former
associates. He is then placed under the supervision of the sergeant
of the district in which he resides, whose duty it is to report him
to the captain if he fails in the proper performance of any religious
duty. He must always wear the letter S in some conspicuous place,
and is soon given the charge of a part or the whole of a street. If
faithful in these duties, godly in character, and of good general
ability, he may be recommended by his captain for promotion. The
major refers him to the general, and if he answers satisfactorily
a long list of questions asked him by the latter he is sent to the
“training barracks” at Clapton, whence, after from six weeks to three
months, he is dispatched to some distant field as lieutenant. Each
officer is expected to lead from nineteen to twenty-five meetings
a week, and spend eighteen hours in visiting families. The army
has become so large that the management of affairs devolves upon
the majors. Its property is held by an attorney in the name of
the general. All who are able must contribute toward the general
expenses, and most of the corps are now self-supporting. The salaries
are met by general subscription.
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF OF BRITISH ARMIES.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Who is the present Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-chief of the
British armies? Please give an outline of his career.
INQUIRER.
_Answer._—He is first cousin to Queen Victoria; being the son of
Adolphus Frederick, Duke of Cambridge, tenth child of George III.,
of whom Edward Augustus, Duke of Kent, the Queen’s father, was fifth
child. He succeeded to the title of his father, July 8, 1850. In
1837 he was promoted to a colonelcy in the British army. In 1854 he
was Lieutenant General commanding the first division sent to aid
Turkey against Russia in what is known as the Crimean war. He led the
troops at Alma and Inkerman. There was a good deal of dissatisfaction
expressed at the slow progress of the war, and under the plea of
ill-health he returned to England, where, in 1856, he succeeded
Viscount Hardinge as Commander-in-chief. In 1862 he was raised to
the rank of Field Marshal. He has never married, but—like his Uncle
William IV., who lived for many years with Mrs. Jordan, the actress,
rearing a numerous illegitimate family by her, and his Uncle Augustus
Frederick, Duke of Sussex, who, in violation of the royal marriage
act, married a subject, the Lady Augusta Murray, who bore him two
illegitimate children—he has persistently lived for many years with
Miss Fairbrother, once known as a beautiful actress, by whom he has
several illegitimate children, well provided for out of his large
income.
THE ANTIQUITY OF MAN.
BRUSHY PRAIRIE, Md.
Please give a synopsis of the observations and opinions of the best
geologists of the present time as to the antiquity of man upon the
earth.
R. ASHLEY.
_Answer._—To summarize the earliest recorded geological evidences of
man’s life as briefly as possible it may be said: 1. In the words of
Professor Archibald Geikie, of Edinburgh University, “The geological
deposits which contain the history of the human period are cavern
loam, river alluvia, lake bottoms, peat mosses, and other superficial
accumulations.” Human remains are not found imbedded in stratified
rock, as in the cases of the fossilized plants and animals of the
lower orders. The entire period in which any supposed evidences of
the existence of man have been discovered is the Miocene or middle
epoch of the Tertiary period. They consist of a few flint flakes,
fancied to have been used, possibly, as human implements, but so
roughly shaped that it is admitted they may be simply natural; and
some bones of animals, scratched as if scraped by men, but more
probably by the teeth of wild animals. No geologist of high repute
acknowledges any of these crude objects and marks as proof of the
existence of man in the Miocene period. It has been claimed that
traces of man were found in California, in Calaveras County, and
on Table Mountain, in the next later formation, the Pliocene. But
M. Favre, reviewing the whole subject up to 1870, and Mr. Evans,
President of the Geological Society of London, still later, in 1875,
declare that the existence of man in any epoch of the Tertiary period
is unproved. 2. The next period is the Quaternary, which immediately
precedes the geological epoch in which we are living, known as the
“recent epoch.” The Quaternary period is subdivided into three
epochs, of which the earliest was the “glacial,” the second the
“champlain,” and the third the “terrace.” During the first of these
the northern regions of Europe, Asia, and America appear to have
been capped with ice down to about the latitude of 40 degrees north.
During the second the glaciers melted, the ice cap receded toward
the pole, and the greater part of the now cultivable regions of the
northern hemisphere were flooded with seas and lakes, underneath
which heavy sedimentary deposits were found. During the third epoch
land continued to rise; the lakes were drained off; mighty rivers
took the place of many of the lakes, cutting deep channels through
the old flood plain-deposits left by glaciers and lakes, and leaving
terraces or bluffs, such as are seen along the Mississippi, Missouri,
and other great rivers. In this formation, in the terraces of the
river Somme, near Abbeville, M. Boucher de Perthes discovered, about
1858, chipped flints, associated with the bones of the mammoth,
rhinoceros, hyena, horse, etc., which are generally regarded as human
implements. Similar discoveries were made at Hoxne, England, in
strata underlying the higher level river-gravels, but overlying the
glacier deposit, which seems to fix this discovery in the champlain
epoch. A well-shaped human skull was found in a cave at Engis, near
Liege, Belgium, associated with bones of extinct and living species,
beneath a crust of stalagmite, which are believed to belong to the
middle or latter part of the Quaternary period. Near Nice, in a
cave at Mentone, a few years ago, was found the skeleton of a man,
associated with the bones of the cave-bear and the cave-lion—long
extinct in that region—and the bones of living species, such as the
reindeer and stag, with twenty-two perforated teeth of the stag lying
around his head as if they had been worn as a necklace. In what
is called the Aurignac cave in France were found seventeen human
skeletons of both sexes and all sizes, along with entire bones of
extinct animals, and human implements and ornaments. The cave was
closed up with a slab, and outside of it was a deposit of ashes and
cinders, with burnt and split and knawed bones of extinct animals,
covered with talus, or a sloping heap of broken rock and earth.
Coming down from these discoveries to those of apparently later
times, the habitations of more civilized men have been discovered
in what are called the “lake dwellings” of Switzerland, of New
Guinea, South America, and in some parts of Africa. Such are the
chief indications of the antiquity of man, reckoned by geological
periods and epochs; but how to reduce these latter to years is still
an unsolved problem; so much so that some geologists claim that the
beginning of the terrace epoch, which, as above shown, contains the
earliest well-defined human remains, does not extend back more than
7,000 to 10,000 years, while others date it back from 50,000 to
60,000 years. Professor Le Conte sums up his review of this question
by saying: “In conclusion, we may say that we have as yet no certain
knowledge of man’s time on the earth. It may be 100,000 years, or it
may be only 10,000, but more probably the former than the latter.”
The fact that the deposits in which human remains and implements have
been discovered are all confessedly “superficial” gives opportunity
for unending disputations as to the origin of such remains, the
date of their deposit, and the time requisite to produce subsequent
physical changes.
PALACE OF THE CÆSARS.
MULBERRY, Ind.
Please give a description of the Palace of the Cæsars and the
“Golden House” of Nero. How far were they apart, and how much did
they cost?
J. J. R.
_Answer._—The Palace of the Cæsars, if we judge from the Latin
authors, was of all palaces of its time the most magnificent. The
palace of Augustus, built upon the site of the houses of Cicero and
Catiline, was its beginning, and each succeeding Emperor altered
and improved it. Tiberius and Caligula enlarged it, Nero added his
Golden House, and Titus used the portion on the Esquiline Hill for
his famous baths. It is now a mass of shapeless ruins, extending
over three hills of Rome, and covering an area 1,500 feet in length
and 1,300 feet in width, giving no hint of what it once was in
architecture or embellishment. All is left to the imagination of the
poet except the beauty of the Golden House, which soon outrivaled
the splendor of the older palace of which it was a part. It is
said to have been the houses of Augustus and Maecenas connected by
arches and columns, and it extended over the Palatine, Esquiline,
and Cælian Hills of Rome. The interior was covered with gold and
precious stones, and adorned with the finest paintings and statuary
that the world afforded. The circular banquet hall, perpetually
revolving in imitation of the apparent motion of the sun about the
earth, had vaulted iron ceilings, which, opening, scattered flowers
upon the guests, and golden pipes through which ran sweet perfumes.
In the vestibule stood Nero’s statue, 120 feet in height. The palace
was surrounded by a triple portico a mile in length, and supported
by a thousand columns, and within this lay an immense lake, whose
banks were bordered by great buildings, each representing a little
city, about which lay green pastures and groves, where sported “all
animals, both tame and wild.” It is impossible to learn how much
these palaces cost. They were not far apart, but reference to Tacitus
Annals shows that they were distinct structures.
HOMEOPATHY IN THE UNITED STATES.
CAMBRIDGE, Ill.
Please inform me, if you can, who was the first teacher of
homeopathy in this country, and the extent to which the practice of
it has spread.
W. N. BOYER, M. D.