Boston, who studied in Denmark, introduced homeopathy into the United
States in the year 1825. There are now twelve colleges of this school
of medicine in this country, graduating from 300 to 400 students a
year—380 in 1880—45 homeopathic dispensaries; over 30 hospitals; 15
periodicals devoted to this practice; and about 7,500 physicians and
surgeons.
NEBRASKA AND LINCOLN’S MONUMENT.
FREMONT, Neb.
To settle a dispute, state whether Nebraska voted $500 toward the
National Lincoln Monument at Springfield, Ill., and then took it
back, or refused to pay it over to the Monument Association.
A. C. F.
_Answer._—By an act approved Feb. 15, 1869, the Legislature of
Nebraska appropriated $500 “to aid in the construction of the
National Lincoln Monument at or near Springfield, Ill.” In September,
1882, when visiting the monument, the Hon. Isham Reavis, of Falls
City, Neb., who voted for this appropriation, learned incidentally
from Mr. J. C. Power, the custodian, that the Association had never
received the money. On his return to Nebraska he went to Lincoln, and
by examination of the Auditor’s books found that the $500 had never
been remitted, and that in due time it had by operation of law been
covered back into the treasury with other unexpended balances. With
the hearty co-operation of the Hon. C. H. Gere, of the _Nebraska
State Journal_, who as a member of the Senate had participated in
the act of appropriation, Judge Reavis induced leading members of
the last Legislature to revive the appropriation. The Legislature of
New York had set an example some time before by the reappropriation
of the $10,000 which it had voted to the monument, but which had
been permitted to lapse before it had been called for. Having
been informed that the monument was then about complete, that the
association was not in debt, and that the receipts from visitors for
admission to the monument pay all current expenses, but that if the
Nebraska appropriation was paid over it would be used in embellishing
the nine acres of ground surrounding the monument, the Legislature,
on or about Feb. 23, 1883, reappropriated the original amount of
$500. After all, therefore, Nebraska has a share in this splendid
memorial to the immortal Lincoln.
LOW TARIFF AND FIAT MONEY.
EMPORIA, Kan.
Your reply to J. R. Thompson has awakened in my mind a desire to
know more about the Japanese currency and financial conditions.
What led to the issue of the Japanese “fiat money,” as you call
it? Was this paper money “convertible?” What was it based on? When
was it redeemable, and how? What was the financial standing of the
government at the time, and what is it now?
E. D. HUMPHREY.
_Answer._—The treaties made with Japan by foreign nations when that
country was wholly unsophisticated in treaty-making and inexperienced
in the laws of international commerce, provided for the admission
of foreign products on what is practically a free-trade basis.
As a consequence, the balance of trade has for years past been
against Japan, her exports being considerably less in value than
her imports. For example, in 1880 the exports from Japan to Great
Britain (which country gets two-thirds of the whole Japanese foreign
trade) amounted to only £531,621, while the British “home produce”
alone imported into Japan amounted to £3,290,906. Again and again
Japan, seeing the ruinous effects on home industry resulting from
the too moderate tariff fixed by the foreign treaties, has sought to
get a modification of those treaties permitting her to increase the
tariff, but thus far with little effect. Of course the difference
between the value of the imports and exports has to be paid in the
precious metals. The country was already suffering from this drain of
bullion, when a civil war broke out in 1868, and the government was
forced to issue paper currency to meet its ordinary and extraordinary
expenses. This first issue bore a promise of redemption at the end
of thirteen years; but, though the rebellion had been put down and a
peaceful and, in many respects, a strong, progressive government had
been established, this government was not in a condition to keep its
promises, and the old currency issue was replaced with a new one,
without any stipulation as to when it should be redeemed. The people
looked upon it with distrust, and, although it was a legal tender, it
was not long before it dropped to 50 cents on the dollar as compared
with specie. The government took warning, entered upon a contraction
of expenditures, strove to inspire confidence in the currency, and by
contracting the volume somewhat, it has raised the value of its paper
money to about 75 cents on the dollar.
When Japan opened its ports to foreign commerce it was substantially
without debt. It is not even now heavily burdened, and could it once
check the influx of foreign goods and so develop its home productions
as to bring exports and imports to something like an equilibrium,
its financial condition would be superior to that of most other
countries. Its foreign debt in January, 1875, amounted to no more
than £3,400,000, which had been reduced by the action of the sinking
fund to £2,134,700 at the end of 1881; and its home debt in July,
1880, stood at £69,406,919—a total of about $357,700,000; of which
$108,000,000 was the “fiat money,” or irredeemable paper currency
above described.
MEANING OF A AND AP IN SURNAMES.
GREENVILLE, Ill.
What do the abbreviations _a_ and _ap_ before a surname denote?
SEA.
_Answer._—These particles, “a” and “ap,” are abbreviations of Latin
prepositions meaning “of” and “at” or “from.” Generally, when
connected with names, they refer to the town or place where one was
born, or the family estate. In the case, for example, of Thomas _a_
Kempis, author of that famous work entitled “Imitation of Christ,”
which has been translated into more languages than any other book,
save the Bible, the “a” denotes “from.” His family name was Thomas
Hammerken. He was born in 1379 or 1380 in the town of Kempen, near
Cologne. He was educated first at Deventer, then at Zwolle, and in
the Convent of St. Agnes. After the custom of the times at these
schools, he was known as “Thomas from Kempen,” and, finally, as
happened in many other such cases, the school name pushed aside the
family name.
TROPICAL PLANTS IN LABRADOR.
TINGLEY, Iowa.
Have any tropical plants been discovered in the rocks of Labrador?
If so, where and by whom?
JAMES S. WILLIAMS.
_Answer._.—Tropical vegetation once existed far north of Labrador,
as is shown by fossil remains discovered in Greenland, Iceland and
Spitzbergen; but we do not know whether similar discoveries have been
made in Labrador. We must refer you to Hind’s “Explorations of the
Labrador Peninsula,” and Bell’s “Report of the Geological Survey of
Canada,” 1879.
CURING BASKET WILLOW.
WINNECONNE, Wis.
In your edition of July 26 is an inquiry on the basket willow from
T. H. Davis, of Loveland, Col. I think the answer right all but the
directions for curing. In England I have seen them set the willows,
after they are cut, in bundles, standing in a pond or stream of
water, butts down, with stakes and poles to keep them in position.
In the spring, when the sap rises, peel them by drawing through a
crotched stake set firm in the ground and faced in the crotch with
iron. If the willow is allowed to dry before peeling it will be hard
to get the bark off and the wood will be discolored.
F. LIGHTFOOT.
JEAN PAUL RICHTER.
OCONOMOWOC, Wis.
Will you oblige me with a short sketch of Jean Paul Richter. How is
Richter pronounced?
A READER.
_Answer._—Jean Paul Friedrick Richter was one of the most original
characters in the literary world. He was a man of much general
information, but of erratic genius. It has been said that he wrote in
“gems,” so filled are his works with beautiful ideas. But his style
is too careless and his thoughts too rambling to place him among
classical writers. He was born at Wunsiedel, in Bavaria, March 21,
1763. Though, when quite young, his father’s death left the family
in poverty, Jean Paul resolved to go to Leipsic, and by the greatest
self-sacrifice he accomplished his resolve. At the end of four
years, however, he was obliged to leave the town secretly to escape
being arrested for debt. He now abandoned the idea of entering the
church and taught for a few years, writing meanwhile. When, in 1794,
he began his visits to German literary centers, he found himself
the idol of the ladies, who treasured even the shorn locks of his
poodle, and sometimes ventured to propose to the eccentric author
himself. But he rejected them all, and in 1801 chose for himself
the brilliant Caroline Mayer, of Berlin. Ever afterward the King of
Bavaria gave him an annual pension of 1,000 florins and he received
the degree of doctor from the University of Heidelberg. In his later
years his mental strength failed and in 1824 he became totally blind.
He died at Bayreuth Nov. 14, 1825, surrounded by loving friends.
His character, though eccentric, was beautiful in its gentleness
and philanthropy. The poor were his chief mourners. Carlyle has
translated some of his writings and found in him a theme for two of
his best essays. The ch in Richter’s name has the same sound as in
the German word for book. It can be learned properly only by oral
instruction.
INVENTOR OF COTTON GIN-WHITNEY.
WINDSOR, Ill.
Please give some items connected with the life of Eli Whitney.
SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—Eli Whitney, a graduate of Yale College in 1792, was
induced to invent a machine for cleaning cotton by the widow of
Nathaniel Greene, with whom he boarded while studying law. He
patented the cotton-gin, but the idea was stolen by other parties,
and it was only after years of litigation that he obtained the
$50,000 which had been voted him for the invention by the Legislature
of Georgia. In 1793 he established a manufactory for the machine near
Washington, Ga., but five years later he turned his attention to the
improvement of firearms, reaping a fortune therefrom.
ISINGLASS.
GLENALLIN, D. T.
Please tell me how isinglass is made, and whether the raw material
is valuable.
A. H. CHASE.
_Answer._—The raw material of isinglass is the air bladders or sounds
of fish, and is invaluable except for this one purpose. In Russia,
where the finest isinglass is made, the sounds of the sturgeon are
cut open and steeped in water until the outer membrane separates from
the inner; then the latter is washed and dried in the sun. The sounds
of the common cod, the hake, and other gadidae are also used for
isinglass.
MOCHA ISLAND.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Is there an island by the name of Mocha? If so, please describe it.
Also tell where Mocha coffee grows.
HENRY COLLINS.
_Answer._.—There is an Island named Mocha off the coast of Auracania,
belonging to Chili. It is about eight miles long, very broken, and
at the north end mountainous, rising to 1,230 feet above the sea.
Whalers occasionally resort to it for wood and water, both of which
are scarce, while the landing is bad. There is a portion of Southwest
Abyssinia called Mocha. But the place by this name that is of most
importance is a fortified port on the Arabian side of the Red Sea.
It gives its name to the finest variety of coffee known to commerce,
most of which is produced in the interior of Arabia, in the province
of Yemen.
A SPORTING TERM—HIGH-BINDER.
ALEDO, Ill.
What is the meaning of “high-binder,” an old sporting term, I think?
JOSEPH WHITTAUS.
_Answer._—The high-binder is an athlete, such as a circus tumbler and
jumper. The term is sometimes applied to horses that jump hurdles and
ditches, or steeple-chasers.
UNITED BRETHREN.
KINGMAN, Kan.
What is the date of the founding of the sect known as the United
Brethren in Christ; what are the present statistics of the church,
and how does it differ from the Methodist Episcopal Church?
A SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—This sect was founded among the Germans in Pennsylvania
by Philip William Otterbein and Martin Boehm in 1760. In 1875 they
numbered 4,010 churches, 1,967 ministers, 136,076 members, and their
church property was valued at more than $2,500,000. The church
has ten educational institutions in Western States, and a large
printing establishment at Dayton, Ohio. The members are sometimes
called German Methodists, as their faith is Arminian; but their
church polity is a mixture of Methodism, Congregationalism, and
Presbyterianism. Like the Methodists, they have quarterly, annual,
and general conferences, but their bishops are elected for only four
years. They are very severe in the requirements of candidates for
membership, admitting none who are members of secret societies or
sanction slavery and the use of alcoholic liquors.
EMBER DAYS.
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.
What is understood by the ember days?
N. ZEIGLER.
_Answer._—The ember days are days set apart in the calendar of the
Romish and Episcopal Churches for the purpose of fasting and prayer,
imploring a divine blessing upon the fruits of the earth, and upon
the ordinations performed at that time. Wednesday, Friday, and
Saturday, in the week following the first Sunday in Lent, Whitsunday,
the 14th of September, and the 13th of December, are called ember
days, and the weeks in which they occur are called ember weeks.
VICTOR HUGO’S WORKS.
VIENNA, Iowa.
Please give a sketch of the life of Victor Hugo, the poet and
novelist. Name some of his most noted writings, and where they may
be found?
H. S. ELLWANGER.
_Answer._—A brief biographical sketch of Victor Hugo may be found in
Our Curiosity shop for 1880. His earlier novels are “Han d’Islande,”
“Bug-Jargal,” and “Notre Dame de Paris;” his dramas, “Cromwell,”
“Marion Delorme,” “Le Roi s’amuse,” “Lucrèce Borgia,” “Ruy Blas,”
and “Hernani;” his poems, “Les Feuilles d’Automne,” “Les Chants du
Crépuscule,” and while an exile upon the island of Guernsey he added
“Les Misérables,” “Les Travailleurs de la Mer,” “L’Homme qui Rit,”
and “Quatrevingt-Treize.” Since then he has published his “Speeches,”
the “Légende des Siècles,” “L’Histoire d’un Crime,” and a poem, “Le
Pape.” He is one of the most original and perhaps the most popular
writer of fiction and lyric verse France has ever produced.
PRESIDENTS OF THE SENATE.
WAUSAU, Wis.
Please give the names of the Presidents of the United States
Senate up to date. How long do the Presidents pro tempore retain
that position? Give the names of Speakers of the House of
Representatives, beginning with the Forty-second Congress.
N. A. S.
_Answer._—The Vice President of the United States is President of the
Senate when sitting in that body, but in his absence a President pro
tempore is proposed and chosen by ballot. “His office is understood
to be determined on the Vice President appearing and taking the
chair, or at the meeting of the Senate after the first recess.” (See
Jefferson’s Manual.) The persons who have presided over the Senate
are: John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Aaron Burr, George Clinton,
William H. Crawford, Elbridge Gerry, John Gaillard, Daniel D.
Tompkins, John C. Calhoun, Hugh L. White, Martin Van Buren, Richard
M. Johnson, John Tyler, Samuel L. Southard, Willie P. Mangum, George
M. Dallas, Millard Fillmore, William R. King, David R. Atkinson,
Jesse D. Bright, John C. Breckinridge, Hannibal Hamlin, Andrew
Johnson, Lafayette S. Foster, Benjamin F. Wade, Schuyler Colfax,
Henry Wilson, Thomas W. Ferry, William A. Wheeler, Chester A. Arthur,
David Davis, and the present incumbent, George F. Edmunds. It is not
worth while to mention those who have filled the chair only for a
few hours at a time. The Speakers since the Forty-second Congress
have been James G. Blaine, Michael C. Kerr, Samuel J. Randall, and J.
Warren Keifer.
DAVID H. STROTHER—“PORTE CRAYON.”
CHICAGO, Ill.
Kindly give the right name of the author of “Virginian
Illustrated,” “Life in the Old Dominion,” “Virginian Canaan,” etc.,
which appeared in _Harper’s Monthly_, vols. 6 to 12, under the nom
de plume of “Porte Crayon.” What became of him? Is he still living?
JAMES BUTCHER.
_Answer._—The real name of this author is David Hunter Strother. He
was born in Virginia, in 1816, studied art in New York; first became
known to the public as “Porte Crayon” in 1853; entered the Union army
as Captain in 1864, resigned, and in 1867 was brevetted Brigadier
General; after the war, published in _Harper’s Monthly_ a series of
“Personal Reminiscences of the War;” and in 1879 went to Mexico as
Consul General, an office he still holds.
THE GUINEA PIG.
WATERVILLE, Kan.
Will you please tell me, through your department, the nature and
origin of the Guinea pigs? Where do they come from, and how often
in a year do they breed?
“MAGNOLIA.”
_Answer._—Properly speaking, the “Guinea pig” (cava caboya) is not a
pig, but a rodent closely related to the restless cavy of Uraguay and
Brazil, belonging to the same natural order as the rat and beaver.
Like the cavidae, it burrows in the ground, and feeds upon fruits
and herbs. Its chief value consists in its beauty, which may be
described thus: A white fur, patched with red and black, covering a
little animal a foot long and weighing from a pound to a pound and a
half—a creature inoffensive and helpless in the extreme, exceedingly
restless, and not remarkably intelligent. It is supposed that this
cavy was carried from South America to Europe in the fifteenth or
sixteenth century, and there domesticated; and that its name is a
corruption of Guiana pig. It is very prolific, beginning to breed at
the age of two months, and rearing a brood of four to twelve three
times a year.
DARIUS AND THE SCYTHIANS.
GENEVA, Ill.
In “Gibbon’s Rome,” Vol. III., chap. 26, page 13, we find the
following foot-note: “When Darius advanced into the Moldavian
desert, between the Danube and the Niester, the King of the
Scythians sent him a mouse, a frog, a bird, and five arrows; a
tremendous allegory!” What did this allegory signify?
C. P. DUTTON.
_Answer._—It has been variously interpreted. The following is the
meaning given it by some writers: “You make war (the arrows) on a
people you cannot conquer until you can subsist on roots and wild
grain like the mouse, inhabit either land or water, like the frog,
and flee with the swiftness of a bird.” Another rendering is: “We
subsist in the wild fields like the mouse; live either on land or
water, like the frog; flee like the bird, and slay our pursuers as we
flee, for our right hands are full of arrows for our enemies.” Darius
Hystaspes had demanded an offering of earth and water from them as
a token of submission, and this was the answer of these invincible
barbarians; and they made good their allegory. As Darius pursued them
with an army of 700,000 men they led him farther and farther, through
forests, swamps, and deserts, until his troops died of fatigue,
malaria, and famine, and he was compelled to return, utterly defeated
in his object, leaving all but a mere remnant of his immense army
dead in the wilderness.
THE MISSISSIPPI AND MISSOURI RIVERS.
YELLOWSTONE, Wis.
The “New American Dictionary” says that the Missouri is the longest
river in the world, 4,194 miles, and that the Mississippi is
3,200. “Wilson’s Geography” says the Mississippi is 4,396, and the
Missouri is 3,960 miles long. Please tell us which is right, and
the reasons for these variations.
JAMES LYONS.
_Answer._—The fact is that the precise lengths of the chief rivers
of the globe are not known. They shift their channels and wind to
such a degree as renders it a difficult problem to determine the
exact length of any one of them, and exactness in such cases is not
as yet a matter of sufficient practical importance to justify the
expense of making accurate measurements. If it were, it would be
found that every great river varies in length from time to time by
cutting new channels for itself. As a consequence all statements are
only estimates, and scarcely two original writers precisely agree.
The latest edition of “Lippincott’s Gazetteer of the World” does not
presume to speak positively, but says: “The Mississippi is about
3,000 miles long (or, as some say, 3,160).” Speaking of the Missouri,
it says: “The total length of the stream, from its source to the
Gulf of Mexico, is computed to be 4,300 miles.” “Chambers’ Universal
Knowledge” says the Mississippi River is 2,986 miles long from its
source to its mouth, and that from the latter to the source of the
Missouri is 4,506 miles. Probably Lippincott’s statements are nearest
to the truth, but none of them claim to be absolute measurement.
WHY EASTER IS A MOVABLE FEAST.
CHICAGO, Ill.
Why does Christmas always fall on the same day of the month,
while the days celebrated in commemoration of Christ’s death
and ascension change? I have submitted this question to several
ministers and other learned persons without receiving a
satisfactory answer.
BUSCANDO.
_Answer._—Christ was crucified on Friday, the 14th day of the Jewish
month Nisan, and rose from the dead on the following Sunday. The
14th of Nisan was the Jewish “passover,” the day observed by them in
commemoration of the sprinkling of their door-posts with the blood
of the paschal lamb on the night when the “Destroying Angel” passed
over the dwellings of the Israelites but smote the first-born of the
Egyptians. As the year of the Jews is a lunar year, and the 14th of
Nisan is always a full-moon day, the Christian Church, regarding
the observance of the crucifixion of Christ as a substitute for the
passover of the Jewish Church, determine Good Friday and Easter
Sunday by the rules for reckoning the Jewish ecclesiastical year.
Christmas, intended to commemorate the birth of Christ, had no
connection with the ritual of the old church, and, like some two or
three hundred other immovable feast days of the Church of Rome, many
of them birthdays of saints, it was finally settled that it should be
observed on a given day of the common calendar.
OMAHA INDIAN RESERVATION.
BOONE, Iowa.
Isn’t it about time that the Omaha Indian Reservation was opened
for settlement, under the act of Congress approved Aug. 7, 1882?
GRANGER.
_Answer._—The same question, substantially, comes to THE INTER OCEAN
at least once a week from one part of the country or another. In
reply to an inquiry, the Acting Commissioner of the General Land
Office recently wrote as follows:
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4.—Editor of Inter Ocean: In reply to your inquiry
of the 17th ult., I have to state that this office is unable to
say what time will elapse before the Omaha Indian Reservation,
in Nebraska, will be open to settlement. The requirements of the
act of Aug. 7, 1882, as to appraisement, have not yet been fully
complied with, and these lands are still under the jurisdiction of
the Office of Indian Affairs. Yours respectfully,
LUTHER HARRISON,
Acting Commissioner.
The substance of the act above referred to is given in Our Curiosity
Shop for 1882, pages 113 and 128.
FIRST AMERICAN FREE SCHOOLS.
DOUGLASS, Kan.
Where and in what year were free schools first established in this
country? Who was the first advocate of them? When did they become
general?
HENRY BUTLER.