Part 38

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.

Suppose it were universally agreed that this correction of the navigator’s reckoning should be made at the 180th degree of longitude west and east from Greenwich, Eng., then this would be the international date line. Unfortunately, now, there is no such universally accepted line, although most merchant vessels of all nations do make the correction at the meridian above named. So it often happens that sailors in the Pacific Ocean, because their vessels reach the 180th meridian coming eastward on Sunday enjoy two Sundays together, and going westward have two weeks without any intervening Sunday. It has been proposed to fix by international agreement upon this or some other line for this correction of dates so as to make all ship calendars agree, but thus far a silly national pride and other insufficient reasons have prevented such an agreement. The meridian of Rome, as the center from which Christian civilization was disseminated both towards the East and West, has been proposed by some. It has the advantage of being nearly upon the meridian of the most of the great observatories of Europe—those of Modena, Verona, Naples, Palermo, Padua, Venice, Munich, Leipsic, Prague, Berlin, Gotha, Copenhagen, Uraniburg, and Christiana. This would locate the 180th degree of longitude in Behring Straits.

If such a line could be determined, and local calendars the world over be made to correspond, it would dispose of such absurdities in reckoning as exist now, when it is a fact that during five hours of every day there are three different dates in use in different parts of the world. For example: From 5:10 o’clock a. m. to 10:10 o’clock a. m. of to-day, Sept. 17, 1883, at Chicago, the inhabitants of the Navigator Islands, in the Pacific, are in the early part of their Sept. 18, while those of the Philippine Islands, about sixty degrees further west, adhering to their old calendar, are finishing Sept. 16. That is to say, from the time any given day of the week and month begins at the earliest place of reckoning to the time it ends at the latest place is about fifty-three hours. This is accounted for by the fact that places discovered and receiving civilization by Eastern communication from Europe, and those receiving it by Western communication, took their dates from opposite directions without allowing for the day lost in circumnavigating the globe in the one direction and the day gained in circumnavigating it in the other. The Philippine Islands were discovered by Magellan, sailing westward, and conquered by a Spanish expedition dispatched from the west coast of Mexico, which accounts for the use there of a dating later by a day than that of the neighboring island of Hong Kong, on the China coast, and the Japanese islands; in fact, the latest dating of any place on the globe.

CERTAIN RIGHTS OF MARRIED WOMEN.

FORT WORTH, Texas.

Is there any State in the Union where a man is not compelled to divide his property with his wife in case they separate? 2. What is the proper pronunciation of “dude?”

E. G. HOWARD.

_Answer._—All States, except California and Indiana, give the wife a dower right in her husband’s property. In case of voluntary separation, she may agree to waive a part, or all, of her right; or the husband may concede more than her dower right, and in case the agreement is reduced to writing and properly acknowledged, it is binding upon both parties, the separation being in other respects in conformity with law. In case of a divorce for the wife’s fault, she loses her dower right. If it is for the husband’s fault, the court will maintain her dower rights and also award her alimony proportioned to her husband’s income, to be paid by him at stated periods. 2. Pronounce it dood.

QUERIES ABOUT NEBRASKA.

TABOR, Iowa,

Please inform one of your readers what portion of Nebraska is open to homesteaders. Please give some facts in regard to water and drought. I am told there are valuable lands, well watered, in Custer County. Any facts concerning the lands of Central and Western Nebraska will be gladly received.

HOME-SEEKER.

_Answer._—Most of Nebraska between Ft. Kearney and the western State line is open to homesteaders, but perhaps the greatest immigration at this time is to the Niobrara Valley. The Platte Valley is also very fertile. The agricultural country extends 180 miles west of the Missouri River, and produces great harvests of grain, flax, hemp, and all vegetables: while south of latitude 42 degrees the common small fruits grow in abundance. When Central Kansas and Nebraska are settled, what is now generally regarded as the “great corn belt” will be under cultivation. The portion of the State devoted to grazing comprises 23,000,000 acres, generally well watered, with Ogallala as a center. Except in the valleys, the water lies from 100 to 200 feet below the surface of the ground, and is obtained by boring. The sandy tracts are subject to drought, but where the subsoil is dry clay the ground is usually moist. Custer County is settling rapidly, although it has the reputation of being sandy, and adapted for the most part only to grazing. The mean temperature of the State is in winter from 22 to 30 degrees, and in summer from 70 to 74 degrees. The rainfall (greatest in May and June) averages about thirty inches in all but the extreme northwestern corner of the State.

FEUDALISM.

TOLONO, Ill.

Please give the definition of feudalism?

H. B. HASKELL.

_Answer._—Feudalism is the state of society in which all landed property is considered as belonging to the crown. It is apportioned by the Kings to the nobles, as feudatories, upon condition that they render annually a certain amount of military service. These proprietors may, in turn, partition their lands to sub-tenants in consideration of like military service.

Feudal proprietors at first held their lands from a superior for life; later as an inheritance. The great feudatories lived in fortified castles, surrounded by villages of peasants who tilled their lands. In all matters of jurisprudence they exercised supreme authority over their dependents. To other feudatory lords each might stand in the relation of friend or foe, though he met with them as peers in the periodical councils of the realm. Among the services required from their dependents or vassals, were military service, when called upon, contribution toward the expenses of war, toward ransom of their lord if taken captive, toward marriage expenses of his son, and dowry of his daughter.

ADELINA PATTI.

KANKAKEE, ILL.

Decide whether Adelina Patti is a native of this country, and settle a dispute. Also, please tell her true maiden name and the main facts of her life.

Cymbeline.

_Answer._—Adelina Patti’s real name before her marriage was Adele Juana Maria Patti. She is a native of Spain, being born at Madrid April 9, 1843. She inherited her talent to some degree from her mother, Mme. Barilli Patti, a prima donna of no mean reputation. It is stated that she sang “Norma” at the Grand Theater, Madrid, on the evening before Adele’s birth, and, as she lost much of the power and sweetness of her voice after that event, she always maintained that it had gone from her into the child. Adele has been claimed as an American, because the family came to this country the next year after her birth, and her brilliant fame dawned upon her in New York City. At the age of 9 she made her first appearance before the public, and made the tour of Canada with Strakosch and Ole Bull. She made her debut in New York City March 3, 1854, at Paul Jullien’s concert, in the City Assembly rooms. Then she accompanied Gottschalk, the great pianist, to the West Indies. It was at this time that she sung in costume with Signor Barilli at Havana the duet in the “Barber of Seville” with such effect that the audience became excited to such a pitch and clamored so wildly for her to reappear that she ran away in a fright, and nothing could persuade her to return. Returning to New York she was more popular than ever. It was in November of 1859 that the managers of the Academy of Music, New York, after a long period of unprofitable engagements which threatened to end in financial ruin, brought forward Adelina Patti as Lucia. The result was an immense success. From that time she was the pet of the metropolis.

She made her debut in London as Amina in “La Somnambula” in 1861. In England and on the Continent she soon won her way to the first rank among prima donnas. Devotees of the opera, of all ranks, showered favors upon her. The Emperor of Russia, in 1870, conferred on her the Order of Merit. Her voice is an unusually high soprano of rich, bell-like quality, and remarkable evenness of tone, to which qualities she adds purity of style and high artistic finish. Equally at home in the tenderness of deep passion and the sprightly vivacity of light comedy, she has also sung with success in oratorio. She was married in London July 29, 1868, to the Marquis de Caux, an almost impecunious scion of the old French nobility. It was an unhappy alliance and has ended in a divorce granted by the French courts to the Marquis, in 1876. According to French law she is not entitled to marry, but, nevertheless, she now claims to be legally married to Nicolini.

VOTING—RIGHTS AND RESTRICTIONS.

MOUND, La.

1. Are there not States where citizens over 21 years of age are not permitted to vote without a property qualification? 2. If so, has the representation of such States in Congress been reduced in proportion, as would seem to be required by the United States Constitution? 3. Do the peeresses entitled to seats in the English House of Lords ever occupy them and vote as members of that body?

W. R. JOHNSTON.

_Answer._—1. Yes, and we gave their names in these columns recently. Rhode Island is the most exacting one of them. 2. No. 3. Yes.

COLUMBIA RIVER.

ONARGA, Ill.

To settle a dispute, please state the precise place where the Columbia River rises. Also give its length, and tell how far it is navigable.

HUGH E. SUTTON.

_Answer._—The Columbia River rises in a trivial lake on the Western slope of the Rocky Mountains, in latitude 50 deg. 31 min. north, and longitude 116 deg. west of Greenwich. It is a swift, tortuous stream, cutting its way through many wild, deep gorges, or canons, and obstructed by numerous rapids and falls, until it reaches the foot of the Cascades, a series of rapids where it makes its way through the Cascade Mountains. Here the scene on either hand is most impressive, rising in places to the height of sublimity. From where the Clarke River fork enters to the sea the Columbia forms the boundary between Oregon and Washington Territory. Its total length is variously estimated, the best authorities making it between 1,400 and 1,450 miles. It is navigable for sea-going vessels of 300 tons burden to the head of tide water, at the foot of the Cascades, 160 miles, and steamboats ply on it above this, both below and above the narrow known as the Dalles, in all 485 miles more.

THE POET LOWELL.

POPLAR CREEK, Ill.

Please give an account of the life of James Russell Lowell.

H. L. WILSON.

_Answer._—During the war with Mexico there appeared a series of humorous poems by Hosea Biglow, aimed against the war and slavery, which made not a little stir, not only in literary circles but in all classes of society. The real author was James Russell Lowell, a native of Boston, and already known as a poet through his “Legend of Brittany,” published in 1844. In 1854 he succeeded Longfellow as Professor of Modern Languages at Harvard. During 1857-62 he was editor of the “Atlantic Monthly,” and 1863-72 of the “North American Review.” In 1869 he published a volume of poems and in 1870 a second volume, followed in 1871 by “My Study Windows.” Four years ago he became United States Minister to the Court of St. James. In literature Mr. Lowell has attained to well-deserved distinction on both sides of the Atlantic, and as a diplomatist he has acquitted himself with honor.

HALLOWEEN.

LANSING, Mich.

Give the origin and history of Halloween and describe some of the sports.

A READER.

_Answer._—For the origin and history of Halloween see Our Curiosity Shop for 1880, page 31. Some of the most common of the sports connected with it are these: If you go down the cellar stairs backwards or into a dark room, holding a lighted candle in one hand and a looking-glass in the other, the face of your “destiny” will appear over your left shoulder. Walk around the house three times with a broom over your right shoulder, and you will see the same person, or go down cellar backwards combing your hair and carrying a candle. These things must be done at exactly midnight. Let some one of a company “name” a number of apples, and drop them in a pail of water. Let each of the others try to take one out with the teeth alone, and so decide his or her fate. For other sports and superstitions associated with Halloween see “Chambers’ Book of Days.”

MARINE HISTORY—“OLD-TIMERS.”

FRANKFORT, Mich.