Part 1

Transcriber’s Note Italic text displayed as: _italic_

THE INTER OCEAN

CURIOSITY SHOP

FOR THE YEAR 1883.

EDITED BY

WILLIAM P. JONES, A. M.

SEVENTH EDITION.

CHICAGO: THE INTER OCEAN PUBLISHING COMPANY, MADISON AND DEARBORN STREETS.

1891.

PREFACE

So well known now is this little annual cyclopedia of facts in agriculture, manufactures, commerce, politics, literature, science and the arts, that this sixth volume of OUR CURIOSITY SHOP needs no preface, except to make due acknowledgments to the many who have aided the editor with information, and to explain to such of its readers as are not yet fully advised of this fact, that these pages constitute but a part of the several columns of questions and answers published every week in the DAILY, SEMI-WEEKLY and WEEKLY editions of THE INTER OCEAN. To have all such answers for the year, one must be a regular subscriber to, and reader of, the paper. Hundreds of disputes, raised in political gatherings, in debating societies, in Sunday schools, in social and sporting circles, at the village postoffice when waiting for the mail, on railway cars, in club rooms, around pioneer camp-fires, and in all kinds of places are referred to THE INTER OCEAN for amicable settlement. When none of the several thousand books on the shelves of THE INTER OCEAN and the Chicago Public Library give response to such questions, original sources of information are appealed to; and, again therefore, the grateful acknowledgments of the editor of OUR CURIOSITY SHOP are very heartily made to the Heads of the several executive departments at Washington and many of their chiefs of bureaus, to State and city officials, to his obliging associates of THE INTER OCEAN staff, and to that daily companion and efficient assistant, his daughter.

Every answer given here is in response to at least one person enough interested to call it forth. Not one started up at the editor’s own bidding, but each of them might use the speech put into the mouth of King Philip of Pokanoket, when summoned to meet the General Court of New Plymouth: “You sent for me, and I am here.” So, being here in response to popular call, the editor hopes this volume will have as cordial a welcome as the public has accorded to its predecessor of last year, of which, already, the second edition is nearly exhausted, and to the still earlier volumes of 1878 to 1882, inclusive. It is now a matter of regret that the volumes of 1878 and 1879 were not stereotyped, as all succeeding volumes have been; since that fact renders it impossible for the Publishers to supply the repeated calls for the entire series of six volumes. Readers will take note that the first two are out of print, but all the others will be supplied as fast as called for.

THE EDITOR.

OUR CURIOSITY SHOP.

NATURE’S STORM SIGNALS.

Recent questions and answers in Our Curiosity Shop about the aurora borealis and the Government Signal Service have moved S. H. Ruple, M., M. D., of Oquawka, Ill., to give the result of his observations as follows:

Falling weather follows the aurora borealis, because the lower stratum of the atmosphere at such a time is sufficiently rarified for the manifestation of aqueous vapor, as is indicated by the evolution or liberation of so great a quantity of electricity as is necessary to produce conspicuous and extensive “northern lights.” A continuous south wind, in most localities, will in a few days cause rain, because by its warmth it rarifies the cooler and denser atmosphere of more northern or elevated localities, and reduces its capability of sustaining moisture. A continuous north wind dispels all rain signs for the time being. This is no new theory. Solomon, 3,000 years ago, put it on record in Western Asia. (Prov. xxv., 23.) And a careful observation during twenty-five years has convinced me that it is true for this age and country as well as for his. Flaky clouds, or low-running ones, from any direction but the north, denote rain or snow. Salmon, leaden, or silvery colored clouds denote falling weather; bright red, clear. When the sunset is followed by bright lances or streaks of light of various hues radiating from the point where the sun disappeared, continuing across the heavens and converging to a common point in the opposite horizon, there exists a storm-cloud in line with the sun, though it may be so distant as to be for awhile entirely hidden from view by the rotundity of the earth. If the rays of light are evenly divided north and south of the line between the observer and the radiating point, and continue so till they have faded out, the cloud is approaching. A few years since the writer, becoming interested in an exhibition of this phenomena, sat up to watch the results of his calculations. About 1 a. m. the storm (a moderate cyclone) reached the Mississippi River, about five miles north of his residence, having, according to telegraphic reports, crossed the State of Iowa in five hours and a half. When “heat lightning” is visible you may be sure that there is a storm-cloud in the same direction, though you may neither see it nor hear the thunder. When the lightning is continuous and very brilliant the storm may be regarded as a violent one. In this event the track of the destructive elements may be from 100 to 200 miles away. Some five years ago the writer’s attention was called, a little after dark, to an extraordinary display of heat lightning in the southern horizon, and he ventured the opinion that a devastating cyclone was traveling eastwardly, probably in the vicinity of St. Louis. Though residing in Oquawka, Ill., fourteen miles above Burlington, Iowa, within twenty-four hours THE INTER OCEAN, ever watchful and intelligent, was in his hands with telegraphic reports corroborating his theory and predictions. Jefferson Barracks were reported damaged by the cyclone, and across in Illinois a whole village was laid waste and several lives lost. This was, to say the least, pretty accurate guessing. If the old pioneers of Colorado, traveling at the rate of twenty-five miles a day, had to toil from five to seven days after catching their first view of the snow-cap of Pike’s Peak before gaining the mountain foot hills, how far off may not one see the intensely white, dazzling, and flashing illumination capping a cloud that is from three to five miles above the earth.

LEPROSY.

LIDELL’S GROVE, Ill.

Please state some facts regarding leprosy and the leper settlement on the Hawaiian Islands. Is the same disease prevalent among the Chinese in California? Are Caucasians liable to contract the disease?

S. GRAY.

_Answer._—There is no other malady so loathsome and so dreaded among mankind as the terrible disease of leprosy. A little blotch appears, often on the face of the victim, which gradually extending covers the whole body. Scales drop from the sufferer; his limbs become frightfully swollen, his voice grows hoarse, his eyes almost burst from their sockets, as the irresistible decay saps his life’s blood. While thus afflicted the victim suffers no physical inconvenience, except the gradual loss of his limbs. His body is numb and he does not feel the hand of the destroyer; his appetite is as good as ever, and he sleeps with as much relish as he did when he was in health. But in Eastern countries that which is almost as unbearable as the disease itself is the leper’s exclusion from society, even from that of his nearest relatives. In most countries leprosy operates as a divorce of husband and wife. Although it does not fill the air with contagion, yet the possible inoculation by personal contact or by handling the same objects, has led to the banishment of lepers not only from communities but from their homes. Whatever discussion may still be maintained as to the contagiousness of leprosy there exists no reasonable doubt of its transmission by heredity or licentiousness. During the past twenty years and more the Hawaiian Islands have received a large influx of Chinese coolies of the basest sort through the coolie traffic. Many of these associated in the loosest manner with the lower classes of natives, and in 1868 the authorities awakened to the fact that leprosy was spreading at an alarming rate. They determined on the Asiatic remedy of isolation. The western portion of the island of Molokai was selected for this purpose, and here to-day are found over 2,000 lepers shut out from all hope of ever seeing their friends, unless the latter become similarly afflicted. Three times a week a steamer visits the island, carrying provisions and mail, and the latest victims. Among these sufferers is William Ragsdale, the first Governor of the colony. In California a few of the Chinese have been afflicted with the disease, but it is not considered prevalent among them. In Salem, Mass., there is a pitiable case. Charles Derby was living in the Hawaiian Islands, when a slight blotch on his left temple revealed to the experienced islanders the fact that they had among them another leper. To escape banishment, Mr. Derby sailed for San Francisco; but was offered no refuse there, that city following the example of Honolulu. He then went to Salem, where they knew nothing of the disease, and there remained until discovered by two medical students from the Hawaiian Islands. His swollen and decaying face presents a frightful appearance. What is to be done with him is a question which the Salem authorities have not yet decided upon.

THE MILITARY ROAD, ARKANSAS.

ORION, Miss.

By whom and for what purpose was the road known as the Military Road, extending west of Memphis, Tenn., laid out? Where does it terminate?

J. F. MC.

_Answer._—When the Creeks and Cherokees were being transferred to lands west of the Mississippi, under the command of General Jackson, this military road was constructed to facilitate the movement. The road terminates at Little Rock, Ark.

AURORA BOREALIS NOT A MODERN DISCOVERY.

LOWELL, Mich.

I am informed, on what appears to be good authority, that the aurora borealis has been seen for only about two hundred years, and that we have no record of its previous appearance. Is such the case?

W. A. D.

_Answer._—The aurora borealis is not a phenomenon peculiar to modern times. The ancients used to call it chasmata, bolides and trabes, names which expressed the different colors of the lights. The scarlet aurora was looked upon by the superstitious barbarians as an omen of direful slaughter; so it is not unusual for descriptions of bloody battles to contain allusions to northern lights. In the annuls of Cloon-mac-noise it is recorded that in 688 A. D., accompanying a terrible battle between Leinster and Munster, Ireland, a purple aurora lit the northern skies, foretelling the slaughter. To the Latins and Greeks of Southern Europe the phenomenon rarely appeared, and therefore their writings are almost, if not entirely, silent concerning it, yet it was not unknown to them.

WHERE WAS EDEN.

VIRGIL CITY, Mo.

In what part of the world was the Garden of Eden located?

C. A. SHARP.

_Answer._—This is still a matter of dispute among Biblical scholars of the highest reputation. Some have endeavored to locate it by means of the fruits and mineral productions named in the description given in the second chapter of Genesis, verses 8-17. But the main question in the opinion of most investigators is, What are the four rivers mentioned? The weight of tradition and scholarly study inclines to an agreement that the Tigris and Euphrates, which, after flowing in a southeasterly direction, unite and empty into the Persian Gulf, are the third and fourth rivers mentioned in the sacred word. But those who agree so far differ widely as to what rivers should be regarded as the Pison and Gihon. Some affirm that the River Pison is the Ganges, and the Gihon the sacred river of Egypt: others that the Garden of Eden was located on the high table-lands of Armenia, from which rise the Tigris and Euphrates. By choosing two rivers which flow into the Caspian Sea, or by giving the name Gihon to one river, and the name Pison to the sea, and extending the boundaries of Eden so as to take in these waters and the head-waters of the Euphrates and Tigris, they consider that they have solved the mystery that veils the cradle of our race. The fact that all the European races of the Aryan family, and also the Semitic races, trace back their origin to this region gives color to this solution. A few scholars of some distinction have argued that the Adamic paradise was in the vicinity of the mountains of the Moon in Africa, regarding the Nile as the Pison, and the Niger as the Gihon, and reconciling it with the views of former scholars by affirming that the Assyrian rivers at that time had their source in the mountains of the Moon, but flowed underneath the ground to their apparent source in the continent of Asia. Others locate Eden in the vicinity of the ancient city of Babylon, considering the doubtful rivers as the two channels by which the united Tigris and Euphrates empty into the Persian Gulf. But two things have not been explained by any of these theories. The four rivers flow from one river, and the River Pison “compasseth the whole land of Havilah.” Until these questions are solved the location of the Garden of Eden will continue to remain a mystery.

THE GLACIAL PERIOD.

HEBRON, Neb.

Please give some information in regard to what geologists term the ice or glacial period. What evidence have they that such a period ever existed?

JAMES KNOX.

_Answer._—The loose soil which covers so large a part of the surface of the northern continents to a depth varying from 30 to 100 feet, over which lie the vegetable deposits of later ages, is considered by geologists the effect of glaciers that in the quaternary, or latest geological age, slowly moved southward across the country. Upon examination it is found that the erratic boulders scattered over the Western prairies and other northern regions are unlike the native rock of the same region, being entirely foreign to the localities where they now appear. Sometimes the nativity of the rock is traced hundreds of miles north of where it now rests showing that some powerful agency has carried it southward. Again, if the native rock be uncovered and closely examined, it will be observed to be polished and grooved with parallel marks, running north and south, as if chiseled out by some coarse and heavy instrument. These marks are attributed to sharp, hard rocks projecting through the lower surfaces of the moving glaciers. That glaciers do produce such markings is proven by examination of the rocks which the moving ice fields of Switzerland and other glacial regions have worn and are marking to-day; also, the general appearance of the loose, unstratified, heterogeneous deposit is similar to that of the moraines that the modern glaciers leave as they slowly melt away. Geologists are generally agreed that long before the advent of man parts of the northern hemisphere were elevated several thousand feet higher than they are at present, causing the cold of the arctic zone to extend far southward into the present temperate regions, and that a vast glacier rising in the vicinity of Hudson Bay covered our whole continent north of the 40th parallel. In New York and other Eastern States the rocks are scratched from a northwesterly direction, in Ohio from a northerly, and in Iowa from a northeasterly direction, showing in each State the direction of the origin of the glacier. Afterward there followed a subsidence to a few hundred feet below the existing level, followed by a gradual elevation to the situation of the present era. These elevations and subsidences are evidenced by stratification and fossil remains.

MAYORS OF NEW YORK.

CHICAGO, Ill.

How long has New York City enjoyed a city charter? How many mayors has it had, and who have held this office since the villainous Oakey Hall, under whom Boss Tweed flourished?

E. D. WALKER.

_Answer._—The lower portion of Manhattan Island was incorporated as a city under the original Dutch regime, in 1652. Charles II. of England, claiming all the country from the French possessions south to Florida and west to the Pacific as belonging to the English crown, granted a charter covering New York to his brother, the Duke of York, who suddenly appeared before New Amsterdam and took unopposed possession in August, 1664. The name of the city was changed to New York. The Dutch recovered the place in August, 1673, and changed its name to New Orange. The next year it was restored by treaty to the English, and ever since it has kept the name of the city of New York. Since the office of mayor was created there have been seventy-two mayors, of whom the first one elected by the people was Cornelius W. Lawrence. Since Oakey Hall’s administration the following persons have held this office: Wm. F. Havemeyer, Wm. H. Wickham, Smith Ely, Edward Cooper, Wm. R. Grace, and the present Mayor, Franklin Edson.

TENDENCY OF DUTIES TO INCREASE.

DOW CITY, Iowa.

When were the present tariff duties passed? Was it not when Congress was Democratic? Are the duties now greater or less than formerly?

_Answer._—The first United States tariff law on imported goods was approved July 4, 1798. A small tax was then imposed, according to the suggestion of Alexander Hamilton, Secretary of the Treasury, upon sugar, coffee, tea, salt, manufactured iron, glass and wool, silk goods, and several articles of minor importance. While the rate of duty has fluctuated, the general tendency has been toward an increase. This is shown by the different enactments from 1832 to the present time. In the latter year the duty on sugar was made 2½ cents per pound; in 1841, 20 per cent; in 1842, 2½ cents per pound; in 1846, 30 per cent; in 1857, 24 per cent; in March, 1861, ¾ cent per pound; in August, 1861, 2 cents per pound; in December, 1861, 2½ cents per pound; in 1862, 3 cents per pound; while the present rate ranges, according to grade, from 57½ to 61¾ per cent. In 1832 the duty on woolen manufactures was 50 per cent; in 1841, 20 per cent ad valorem; in 1842, 40 per cent; in 1857, 24 per cent; in March, 1861, 25 per cent and 12 cents per pound; in 1862, 30 per cent and 18 cents per pound; in 1864, 40 per cent and 24 cents per pound; in 1867, 35 per cent and 50 cents per pound, while the present duty upon woolen imports ranges, according to value, between 41 and 80 per cent. The same gradual increase is observable in silks, which in 1832 were admitted on an ad valorem duty of 10 per cent; in 1841, 20 per cent; in 1842, $2.50 per pound, changing in the same year to 25 per cent. In 1857 it was 19 per cent; in March, 1861, 30 per cent; in August, 1861, 30 per cent; in 1864, 60 per cent, and in 1881, 58 to 70 per cent. With the exception of a few years when Andrew Jackson was President, the different Congresses, Democratic as well as Republican, have sustained the duties upon the imports of this country. While the Republicans are mainly responsible for whatever is good or bad in our present tariff laws, Democratic Representatives from manufacturing districts have of late years, as a rule, given cheerful aid to the maintenance of a protective tariff.

WHAT IS A CARAT.

CHICAGO.

Is a carat a measure of weight or fineness?

J. A. YOUNG.

_Answer._—It is used by jewelers to express both. A carat weighs 4 grains, or the 120th part of an ounce, troy. In determining the fineness of a precious metal 24 carats is considered the standard of purity; hence an 18-carat gold ring would be a ring containing 18 parts in 24 of pure gold.

INSTITUTIONS FOR FEEBLE-MINDED.

HOWARD CITY, Mich.

Do any of the States support asylums for weak-minded or imbecile persons?

C. J. BURTCH.

_Answer._—The State of Ohio supports such an institution at Columbus, and the State of Illinois at Lincoln. Several other States have similar asylums.

DUTY ON GUNS.

LOWELL, Ind.

Please give the amount of duty on imported guns and gun material.

F. CASTLE.

_Answer._—The rate of duty on guns is 35 per cent; gun barrels, wholly iron, 35 per cent; gun blocks, wooden, rough-hewn, or sawed only, 20 per cent; gun locks, steel, 45 per cent; plugs and nipples, for guns of iron and steel, 45 per cent.

HENRY JAMES, SENIOR AND JUNIOR.

DENVER, Ind.

Will you please mention the titles of the works of Henry James, concerning whom an article recently appeared in THE SEMI-WEEKLY INTER OCEAN.

R. F. OPLINGER.

_Answer._—Henry James, concerning whose death an interesting article recently appeared in this paper, was the author of “Moralism and Christianity;” “Lectures and Miscellanies;” “The Church of Christ not an Ecclesiasticism;” “The Nature of Evil;” “Christianity, the Logic of Creation;” “Substance and Shadow;” “The Secret of Swedenborg,” and “Reminiscences of Carlyle.” He was a clergyman and not a writer of romance; but his son, Henry James, Jr., is a novelist, and has written the following popular works in this line: “Watch and Ward;” “The American;” “Daisy Miller;” “An International Episode;” “The Diary of a Man of Fifty;” “Washington Square;” “A Bundle of Letters,” and other works of fiction; also, “Transatlantic Sketches,” a volume of travel; “Hawthorne,” one of the series entitled “English Men of Letters,” and “French Poets and Novelists,” a book in the nature of a criticism.

THE LANGUAGE OF GEMS.

ALDEN, Iowa.

Please give the language of gems and precious stones.

C. L. F.

_Answer._—The language of the various precious stones is as follows:

Moss Agate—Health, prosperity, and long life.

Amethyst—Prevents violent passions.

Bloodstone—Courage, wisdom, and firmness in affection.

Chrysolite—Frees from evil passions and sadness.

Emerald—Insures true love, discovers false.

Diamond—Innocence, faith, and virgin purity, friends.

Garnet—Constancy and fidelity in every engagement.

Opal—Sharpens the sight and faith of the possessor.

Pearl—Purity; gives clearness to physical and mental sight.

Ruby—Corrects evils resulting from mistaken friendship.

Sapphire—Repentance; frees from enchantment.

Sardonyx—Insures conjugal felicity.

Topaz—Fidelity and friendship; prevents bad dreams.

Turquoise—Insures prosperity in love.

PHRENOLOGY.

MT. AYR, Iowa.

Give a short history of phrenology, mentioning in particular its more prominent advocates.

E. E. DAVIS.