first of the colonies to declare itself “free from all dependence
on the crown of Great Britain.” This she did on May 4, 1776. The
Assembly of Virginia in the same month instructed her delegates
to the Continental Congress to present to that body a proposition
“affirming the independence of the colonies from Great Britain.” In
compliance with these instructions Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, on
June 7, 1776, introduced his famous resolutions: “That these united
colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States;
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown; and
that all political connection between them and the State of Great
Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved. That it is expedient
forthwith to take the most effectual measures for forming foreign
alliances. That a plan of confederation be prepared and transmitted
to the respective colonies for their consideration and approbation.”
John Adams seconded these resolutions, and an animated discussion
ensued. On June 8 a committee, consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John
Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston,
was appointed to draw up a declaration of independence embodying
the sense of Lee’s resolutions. On July 2 Lee’s resolutions were
passed by the vote of twelve of the thirteen colonies, the New York
delegates refraining from voting for want of instructions from their
province. On July 3 the formal declaration, almost precisely as
written by Thomas Jefferson, was presented by the committee above
named, and was debated with great spirit, John Adams being the chief
speaker on the part of the committee. The discussion was resumed on
the morning of the 4th, and at 2 o’clock in the afternoon, after one
or two slight modifications, it was adopted. The announcement was
hailed with the liveliest enthusiasm. “Ring! ring!” shouted the lad
stationed below to give the signal to the old bellman in the State
House tower; and he did ring until the whole city shouted for joy.
The King’s arms were wrenched from the Court House and burned in
the streets; bonfires were lighted, the city illuminated, and the
exultation was prolonged far into the night. In New York City the
populace hurled the leaden statue of George III. from its pedestal
and molded it into bullets, and in all the great cities similar
demonstrations of enthusiasm were exhibited. Washington had the
declaration read at the head of every brigade of the army, and the
soldiers pledged fealty to the cause of independence.
INVENTOR OF THE LIFE-BOAT.
JOLIET, Ill.
Who invented the life-boat, and when did he do it?
JAMES.
_Answer._—It is not easy to determine this question. Many writers
give the credit to Mr. Henry Greathead, of Shields, Eng.; others give
it to Lionel Lukin, a coach-builder, of London; others to William
Wouldhave, parish clerk of St. Hilda’s Church, South Shields, Eng.
Now that the Royal National Life-boat Institution of Great Britain
alone has 271 life-boats in its service, and more than 900 lives
annually, on the average, are saved, mainly by these boats, when
the life-saving institutions of other countries are using them with
most gratifying results, it is not strange that the honor of this
invention is zealously contested. The facts seem to be these: The
first patent for a life-boat was granted in England, in 1785, to
Lionel Lukin. It was not satisfactory for several reasons, but was
improved by Admiral Graves, of the Royal Navy, and Henry Greathead, a
boatbuilder of Shields. This was improved by George Palmer, a member
of the National Life-boat Institution, and remained the favorite boat
in the service until 1851, when in response to the offer by the Duke
of Northumberland of a prize of 100 guineas, about 100 models of
improved life-boats were exhibited, and the prize was awarded to Mr.
James Beeching, of Yarmouth. This boat, improved by Mr. R. Peake, of
the Royal Dockyard, Woolwich, was adopted by the National Life-boat
Institution, and is still its favorite model. Undoubtedly Greathead
has received more credit for this invention than any one else. He
received the gold medals of the Society of Arts and the Royal Humane
Society. He received £1,200 from Parliament in 1802, and a purse of
100 guineas from Lloyd’s. He obtained patents and honorable awards
in foreign countries and made large sums by furnishing boats for
life-saving service for Great Britain and other lands. Nevertheless,
the honor of inventing the self-righting life-boat is strenuously
claimed for William Wouldhave, particularly by his fellow-townsmen
and parishioners of South Shields. The story is that soon after a
wreck, accompanied with a terrible loss of life, which occurred at
Tynemouth in September, 1789, Mr. Wouldhave noticed a wooden dish
floating on the surface of a well, which, on being accidentally
struck by his finger, when he was assisting a woman to raise a skeel
of water, turned bottom upward, and instantly righted itself again.
Capsizing it again several times, he noted that it always righted
itself. He discovered the self-righting principle then and there, and
soon after made a model life-boat of tin, which he offered to exhibit
to the ship-owners and mariners of South Shields as a suitable boat
for rescuing persons from wrecks. The affair was greatly talked
about, and a committee consisting of gentlemen connected with the
merchant marine was appointed to test the model and any others
that might be offered for inspection. Greathead, the boatbuilder
above mentioned, exhibited a model at this time, and upon testing
the merits of the boats Wouldhave’s proved to be self-righting and
unsinkable by any water it might ship. Greathead’s model failed in
these respects, though in others it was pronounced a good sea-boat.
Mr. Greathead, however, was what Mr. Wouldhave was not, a shrewd
business man. He made improvements in his model, adopting some of the
features of Lukin’s patent above mentioned and some of Wouldhave’s,
and it was not long before he had introduced it into actual service,
not only in Great Britain, but elsewhere. Hence his name has become
famous as the inventor of the life-boat, while Wouldhave’s name was
known to few but his townsmen as the actual and original inventor.
The first model made by Wouldhave is now in the Free Library Museum
at South Shields. His tombstone, in St. Hilda’s Church-yard, bears a
life-boat carved on it, and above the gaselier in the church a model
life-boat is suspended in memory of him.
“BULLS” AND “BEARS.”
JONESBORO, Ark.
Explain how “bulls” and “bears” operate to affect the prices of
stocks and provisions.
S. W. MOREHEAD.
_Answer._—The means used to “bull” and “bear,” or raise and depress,
the prices of stocks, grain, provisions, etc., are innumerable,
varying with the needs of the times, but influenced much more by
the combinations of capitalists and brokers. The “bulls” magnify
every circumstance favorable to the appreciation of the stocks they
hold or have agreed to take at a given time, while those who have
contracted to deliver such stocks, or who for any reason wish to buy,
do all in their power to depreciate them, and are therefore nicknamed
“bears.” Any one who has ever witnessed a bull and bear fight will
not question the appropriateness of these terms as applied to the
combatants in the exciting wars among the kings of the stock board.
The bulls struggle to toss the stocks higher; the bears squeeze and
tug to force the prices down. The former resort to all kinds of
expedients to induce small holders to cling fast to their stocks
instead of putting them on the market. They persuade them by direct
appeals, or by circulating encouraging reports, that these stocks
are bound to rise rapidly in value; and they often combine to buy
up the stock of the few who persist in selling, so as to “corner”
the market. Not content with fair means, they sometimes enter into
combinations with one another, and employ third parties to buy and
sell stocks of the same description on ’Change, in such a way as to
create the impression that there is a greater demand for them than
there really is, when in fact the sales are never consummated, or
merely amount to an exchange among themselves. Often, when neither
the foreign nor home news was favorable to their purposes, false
reports have been telegraphed through the country by interested
parties, to affect the stock board. Similar methods are pursued on
boards of trade.
ORIGIN OF POSTOFFICES.
WAUKESHA, Wis.
What country first established a postal system for transmitting the
mail? When was postal communication established in America? Give us
a few facts on this subject.
J. J. S.
_Answer._—Couriers for carrying royal or government dispatches
are mentioned in histories of the earliest times. Royal posts
existed in Assyria, Persia, Greece, and Rome. The name postoffice
originated in the posts, or stations, at intervals along the roads
of the Roman Empire, where couriers were kept in readiness to start
on the instant. But such posts were not used for transmitting
private letters. The first postal system for commercial and private
correspondence appears to have been established between the Hanse
Towns early in the thirteenth century. In the reign of the Emperor
Maximilian I., of Germany, letter posts were established by the
Princes of Thurn and Taxis, connecting the chief cities of Austria
and Lombardy, and later, 1516, the same princes connected Vienna
and Brussels in the same way. Maximilian’s successor, Charles V.,
encouraged still further extension of this private postal system by
repeated enfeoffments or special franchises, until all the great
commercial centers of his vast empire, from Vienna to Madrid,
from the Adriatic to the North Sea, and intervening places, were
brought into regular postal communication. Far back in the twelfth
century the University of Paris, whose students, gathered from
all civilized nations, numbered not long after this over 25,000,
employed foot-runners to carry letters for its members to all parts
of Europe. But not until 1524 was permission granted to the royal
French posts to carry other letters than those for the government and
the nobility. London merchants established a postal communication of
their own with France and other continental countries as early as the
fifteenth century, and it is evident that, although the royal post of
England established in the thirteenth century was intended and long
restricted to the transmission of government dispatches only, it had
gradually become a vehicle for private correspondence. In 1581 Thomas
Randolph was appointed the “Chief Postmaster” for England, with
authority to establish and supervise post-houses and regulate the
fees charged by postmen, but apparently without authority to receive
and handle mail matter, which was left largely to the discretion of
the postmen themselves. Not until the time of James I. of England
was a postmaster for foreign parts appointed, and steps taken by the
government to establish regular running posts, going day and night,
for the transmission of letters for the general public. In 1635 such
a mail was established to run weekly between London and Edinburgh,
and soon eight other lines were instituted.
In this country, Massachusetts provided by legislation for the postal
system as early as 1639, and Virginia in 1657. A monthly post between
Boston and New York was instituted in 1672. In the beginning, letters
arriving in this country from beyond the seas were delivered on
board the ship. Letters not called for were left by the captain at
a coffee-house near the wharf, where they were spread on a table or
shelf, awaiting call. Persons calling not only took charge of their
own letters, but of those of acquaintances in their neighborhood,
either delivering them in person or leaving them at the minister’s
or some magistrate’s office to be inquired for, or announced in
church. These coffee-houses gradually grew into common use for
letters between cities and the interiors, until regular posts were
instituted. One of the first acts of the Continental Congress was the
establishment of a general postoffice department, and the appointment
of Benjamin Franklin, who had enjoyed large experience in the British
colonial postal service, as the first Postmaster General.
FINANCIAL CONDITION OF FRANCE.
HAMILTON, N. M.
What is the financial condition of France as compared with other
European countries? Is she prepared to cope with Great Britain in
case of a war between them?
E. L. EASDALE.
_Answer._—France is carrying a larger national debt than any
other nation. It amounted at the close of the fiscal year 1882 to
$4,683,840,000—nearly a billion dollars more than that of Great
Britain. Besides this, like our own States and minor political
divisions, the departments and municipalities of France are carrying
local debts amounting in the aggregate to an immense sum. The debt
of Paris in September, 1880, was 2,295,000,000 francs, or about
$450,000,000. The national debt is well distributed among the
people, there being in 1881 as many as 4,617,900 holders, receiving
851,909,901 francs annually for interest. So long as this interest,
or “rente,” is paid promptly these holders are, for the most part,
content with the government; but should the latter plunge the country
into a costly war, rendering it necessary to suspend payment of the
interest, and jeopardizing resumption of such payments, a popular
revolution would in all probability ensue. This enormous national
debt will indisputably prove a source of weakness to the government
and the nation In the event of a foreign war. The imperial debt of
Germany in 1882 was only $120,197,528. Add to this the debt proper
of Prussia, $493,821,812, and that of the other constituent states
of the empire, $735,608,892, and the total was $1,349,728,232. The
imperial debt of Austro-Hungary the same year was $1,107,978,118,
which, added to the Austrian debt proper, $176,914,016, and the
Hungarian debt proper, $400,532,142, made a total of $1,685,424,276.
The public debt of Italy in 1882 was $2,042,000,000; of Spain,
$1,826,613,093; of Great Britain, $3,814,500,000; of Russia,
$4,314,607,500; of the United States, $1,918,312,294.
Undoubtedly the industrial condition of France is better than that
of any other European country, except Great Britain, Belgium, and
Holland. The French people have been accumulating wealth at a
remarkable rate since the Franco-German war, and in this respect
France is stronger than her great continental neighbors.
The following table, compiled from Mulhall’s “Balance Sheet of
the World,” shows the estimated capital or wealth of a few of the
principal nations of Europe in 1880:
Nations— Total wealth.
Great Britain $44,800,000,000
France 37,085,000,000
Germany 30,375,000,000
Russia 17,700,000,000
Austria 15,250,000,000
Italy 9,300,000,000
Spain 6,865,000,000
Holland 5,650,000,000
The next table gives the per capita, or rate of wealth for each
inhabitant, less the per capita of the public debt:
Per capita of
Nations— wealth.
Great Britain $1,185
France 900
Germany 650
Russia 180
Austria 335
Italy 235
Spain 255
Holland 1,310
So much for the financial condition of France. As regards her ability
to cope with England in the event of war, it is largely a matter of
opinion. One hazards little in predicting that, if her people stand
united, France is almost impregnable at home to any assault from
Great Britain. So is the latter against any attack from the former,
except in Ireland. On the sea England’s navy is far more than a match
for that of France, whom she would easily strip of all her colonial
possessions; but France, with a few Alabamas, could quite as easily
drive Great Britain’s merchant marine from the high seas, and injure
her commerce even more than the Confederates did ours during the
recent rebellion.
BAROMETRICAL QUERIES.
WILBER, Kan.
1. What causes the mercury to sink in a barometer before a
storm? 2. How do persons foretell the state of the weather from
the movements of the barometer? 3. How far ahead can storms be
predicted?
F. J. ELLIOTT.
_Answer._—The sinking of the mercury in the tube of a barometer is
due to the lightness of the atmosphere, which is indicative, in most
cases, of humidity, or aqueous vapor, in the air. The construction
of a mercurial barometer may be stated in a few words. A glass tube,
about 33 inches in length, open at one end, is filled with mercury,
and while the unsealed end is covered, is inverted in a basin of
mercury. As soon as the cover is removed the mercury in the tube
will flow out until it stands about thirty inches above the mercury
in the basin. At that point the pressure of the air upon the liquid
in the basin is equal to the pressure of the liquid in the tube (the
space in the upper part of the tube being a vacuum) and the flow
ceases. When the air becomes heavier its pressure upon the basin
will be greater and force the mercury in the tube higher; if the air
becomes lighter the mercury in the tube will sink. The barometer
therefore shows directly only the weight of the atmosphere, but
thereby indirectly the future state of the weather is indicated. 2.
This is explained in “Our Curiosity Shop” for 1881, pages 144-5.
3. How far ahead the changes of weather can be predicted depends
upon so many other considerations besides that of the mere weight
of the atmosphere, varying in different seasons of the year and
different localities, that no answer suited to all can be given.
In some instances storms have been predicted from observations of
the barometer alone as much as thirty-six to forty hours before
their arrival. The United States Signal Service bases its weather
predictions not only on barometric phenomena, but on telegraphic
reports from a multitude of stations of the temperature, humidity,
clouds, direction, force and rate of motion of the winds, etc. In
some cases it has given notice of storms starting in the Rocky
Mountains and traveling eastward sixty hours before their arrival on
the Atlantic seaboard.
EXEMPTIONS OF PRE-EMPTIONS AND HOMESTEADS.
PLANKINGTON, D. T.
Can a judgment rendered in Iowa eight or ten years ago attach to
a pre-emption after the latter is proved and title taken from the
government?
C. P. WILTON.
_Answer._—It is expressly declared in the homestead law that “no
lands acquired under the provisions of this chapter shall in any
event become liable to the satisfaction of any debt contracted prior
to the issuing of the patent therefor.” There is no such provision
in the pre-emption law. Lands acquired under the latter law are
protected from previous judgments only by the State or Territorial
homestead and exemption laws.
BEST PEDESTRIAN RECORD FOR 100 MILES.
OREGON. Ill.
Oblige a reader and settle a dispute by stating whether 100 miles
has ever been made by any walker or runner in a day of ten hours.
Also give the quickest time for 100 miles, walking, and the same
distance running.
H. W. FARAGHER.
_Answer._—The best record for 100 miles walking, in this country,
is 18 hours, 53 minutes, 4 seconds, by D. O’Leary, of Chicago; the
best in England is 18 hours, 8 minutes, 15 seconds, by William Howes,
London. The best record for 100 miles running, in this country, is 13
hours, 26 minutes, 30 seconds; the best in England is 13 hours, 47
minutes, and 50 seconds.
AGASSIZ, THE NATURALIST.
SPENCER, Iowa.
Please give a biographical sketch of Professor Agassiz.
R. A. COATS.
_Answer._—Louis John Rudolf Agassiz, the son of a Swiss Protestant
clergyman, was born near Lake Neuchatel, May 28, 1807. After
completing his academical course, he studied medicine at Zurich,
Heidelberg, and Munich, preparatory to becoming a physician.
Meanwhile Spix and Martins had returned from Brazil with a valuable
collection of fossil fishes; and when, in 1826, the death of Spix
made it necessary to select some one to continue the classification
of his specimens, the choice fell upon Agassiz, who had already shown
great ability in zoological research. Thus suddenly, at the age
of 18, he began what was to be his life-long study. His next work
was the study of the fresh water fishes of Central Europe, of which
he published a history in 1839. In 1834 he paid his first visit to
England, drawn thither by the tempting field of investigation in the
fossils of the Devonian rocks. At about this time Agassiz commenced a
new classification of fishes, based upon the character of the skin.
Four years later he accepted a professorship at Neuchatel; and while
there published his works on “Fishes of Central Europe.” “Mollusca,”
and “Glaciers.” The last named work was the result of his study with
Charpentier, during the year 1840. In 1847 he came to the United
States, and became Professor of Zoology and Geology in Harvard.
His life in this country was characterized by increased vigor as a
writer. Failing health made a change of climate necessary in 1865,
and with his wife and a company of assistants he visited Brazil.
Later he explored the Southern Atlantic and Pacific shores of North
America, gathering much valuable material for future study. His last
great work was the establishment of a school for the study of marine
zoology, on the island of Penikese, the gift of Mr. John Anderson,
of New York, who also donated $50,000 as a permanent endowment.
Professor Agassiz’s death occurred Dec. 14, 1873.
POSTMASTERS GENERAL AND THE CABINET.
FAIRBURY, Ill.
State who was the first Postmaster General of the United States,
and who was the first Postmaster General admitted to a seat in the
Cabinet.
E. E. MCDOWELL.
_Answer._—From the organization of the Federal Government down
to the year 1829, the Postmasters General were not recognized as
members of the Cabinet. The first Postmaster General under the
present Constitution was Samuel Osgood, of Massachusetts, appointed
by President Washington, Sept. 26, 1789. He was regarded as the head
of a bureau. On the accession of President Jackson he nominated
William T. Barry, of Kentucky, to the office of Postmaster General,
and invited him to a seat in the Cabinet, since when the head of the
Postoffice Department has been considered a member of the Cabinet
TO DISTINGUISH SEX OF FOWLS.
KEARNEY, Neb.
Is it possible to distinguish the sex of fowls by the noises they
make?
SUBSCRIBER.
_Answer._—An experienced poultry-raiser gives the following rules,
which he says a close observer can soon learn to apply without
mistake: The drake wheezes, the duck quacks. The Guinea cock and hen
both have a peculiar, disagreeable chatter, but the hen sometimes
says “buckwheat” or “go back” which the cock never does. The peacock
can be distinguished, even when only a few months old, by the foxy
red pinion feathers of his wings. In the case of turkeys, the
breastbone of the cock is turned out at the front point, while that
of the hen is straight. As to geese, the gabble of the common, the
Embden and the Toulouse ganders is faster, finer, and higher than
that of the goose, which is a slow, low bass; and the screech of
the gander is fine, loud, and clear, while that of the goose is a
rough bass. Both gander and goose of the English gray geese have a
coarse screech and gabble, but the screech of the goose is lazy and
seems to be partly broken, making two sounds, while the gander gives
one clear, loud screech without any break in it. The screech of the
African gander is loud and hoarse, while that of the goose is clear
and stops abruptly, as if bitten off at the end. The Chinese gander
gives one loud, clear screech, but that of the goose seems to be
broken, making two different sounds, as if the first were made by
forcing her breath out and the other by drawing it back.
INTERNATIONAL DATE LINE.
ST. PAUL, Minn.
What is meant by “an international date line?”
CONSTANT READER.
_Answer._—Every person traveling around the world from west to east,
with his watch or chronometer set to the time of the place at which
he started, will note that the sun comes to his meridian, or noon,
four minutes earlier than his chronometer time for every degree
passed over, one hour for every 15 degrees, and twenty-four hours for
360 degrees, the total circuit of the earth. In other words, every
one who completes such a journey gains a day, and to dispose of this
superfluous day so as to make his reckoning correspond with that of
his starting place, he must call the day on which he gets back (or
on which he passes some certain point or meridian line) and the next
following day of the week and month by the same name and date; thus
having two Mondays, for example, together. On the other hand, every
person traveling from east to west loses a day in making a complete
circuit of the earth, and to correct his calendar must skip one day
of some week.