The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1868-12-12
Foreign Selections.


\ DEAF TELmRAPu OrEFAToR.-S. J. Hoffman,
n telegraph operator in ~. Louis, j. 4 curiosity.
lie lost his hearing some years ago. and then
learned the art of telegTaPhy, IN which lie has
become n remarkable adept. His method OF re-
ceiving 4 report i exceedingly interesting Good
operators receive by the ear. the clickings Of the
instrument being 10 them like audible reading,
each letter and word being licked off a. distinctly
a though spelled out by the human voice. Not
hearing a single sound, he places his hand upon
the working instrument, OF placing his knee
against the operating table. by hi- peculiar and
sensitive nerves feels every vibration - distinctly
that he i able u surIass ordinary receivers IN
the accuracy Of his reports. lie hears nothing
about him, j. never disturbed, and consequently
works in a silent world Of his own. In this con-
ditiOn his memory has become wonderfully rctcnt-
I've, and, a. a consequence. his manuscript -
exceedingly correct, while his clirOS1phy u ex-
ccllcnt. Mr.. Hoffman can sp=ak. and answers
QUESTIONS put 10 him audibly. The mode Of COM
muuication tire telegraph boys have with him i
% tick of, n on IN instrument. upon ms hand.
or tine back Of hi neck. such things a. they desire
O. say 10 him. This i by no means tedious, a.
tie process J. quite ~ rapid - an ordinary drum
beat. To sec him taking the report Is really in
te~resting.
TIE WoNDEE- OF NATURE-This world Of ours
j. filed with wonders. The microscope reveals
them not les than the telescope. each II either
extreme Of creation. In the insect creation par
ticularly. there l. much to know that has never
been dreamed Of-whccis within wheels, without
computation or number. Let III take n rapid
glance at the proofs of this statement. The poly
pus. il j. said. like the iablcd hydra, receives new
fife from the knife which l. lifted 10 destroy it.
The l~y-spIier lays an egg as large n itself.
There are four thousand and i~urty-One muscles in
the caterpillar. HoOkc discovered fourteen thou
sand mirrors in the eye Of n drone and 10 effect
the respiration Of Il carp, thirteen thousand three
hundred arteries, vessels, veins, bones, &c, are
necessary. The body Of every spider contains
four little masses pierced with Il multitude of i'm
pcrccptiblc holes. each hole permitting the pas
SAGE of Il single thread all the threads, TO the
amount of n thousand To each mass, Join together
when they come out, and make the single thread
with which the spider spins its web, 50 that what
we call a spiders thread consists of more than
four thousand united. Lenwhenock, by means of
microscopes, observed spiders no bigger than u
grain of sand, and which spun threads so fine that
IL took four thousand Of them To equal IN magni-
tude a single hair.
And thus we might 90 on until the mind would
almost weary of the details of the wonders OF ma
turc.
y BOYS COMPOSITION on CORNs.-COrns are of
two kinds. Vegetable and animal. Vegetable corns
grows in rows, and animal cOrns grows ON toes.
There are several kinds of corn there is unicorn,
capricorn, corn dodgers, field corn and toe corn,
which is the corn that you feel most. 1t is said,
l believe, that gOphcrs like corn, but n person
having cOrns does not like to - 20 fur" if hc can
help it. COrns have kernels, and many colonies
have cOrns. Vegetable corn grows ON the ear,
but animal corn grows on the feet, Mt the other
end OF the body. Another kind of corn is acorn,
these grow on oaks, but there is no hoax about
the corn. The acorn Is corn with an indefinite
article, but the toe corn l. n very definite article
indeed. Try IT and sec. Many a man when lc
has a corn, he wishes 1t was an acorn. Folks
that have cOrns sometimes send for n doctor, and
If the doctor himself is corned, lie won't do us
well as if he isn't. Doctors say that cOrns are
produced by tight boots, or shoes, which is prob
ably the reason why when Il man is tight they say
Inc II cOrned. Ii II farmer manages well he can
get n good deal of com ON an acre, but | know n
farmer that has one corn. that makes the biggest
acher ON his farm. The bigger the crop OF ycgc-
table corn a man raises tine better he likes it, but
the bigger the crop of animal corn lie raises, the
better he don't like 1t.
~ ESCLIsu LAvENDER-F1ELD.-Therc is one
sight in old England that l. pleasant beyond
measure, and that L. n lavender field; il plcdscs
from Its intrinsic beauty. The lovely color of it's
G2wcrs all the -ilk-dyers are trying TO "match."
but caI.t exactly hit ON the shade. Then its fra
grancci-hai nov inimi;ablc, as the sprays wave
with the breeze. IL plcaFcs a patriotic English
man, simply because it cannot be matched in
all the world and lac is proud or it accordingly.
In this little island, me- less than about go
acres of its precious land i devoted to lavender
farming. Each acre yields say 600 pounds of
flowers. Every hundred pounds OF flowers give
up, by distiilation, about one pound of the otto
VI lavender and thus we learn that there il an
average production Of . 900 pounds OF lavender
otto annually. IL requires six ounces TO make n
gallon Of lavender water, - that Britannia and
her childrcn-you know their names, Jamaica,
Canada, Austrilia-tOscthcr with "a lcw visitors,
America, Germany and Russia, Use, and take
home with them, the enormous quantity Of H.
600 gallons of this iayOritc spirit.
The lavender farms Of England are siinnted at
Mitcfnm in Surrey, and ut Kitchen in llcrtiurd-
shire. The lavender when in blossom is ~rcsortei
to by all tine bees for miles around. The sound
OF their hum in such vast numbers is quite en-
chanting; nor do the butterflies neglect to visit 81
luxurious a feast, the taste of which appears To
be particularly grateful To- them. The bees love
for lavender Is so excessive that nj the harvest
time. as the sprays fall before the sickle and are
tied up into sheavcs, they will follow it even ut Il
sacrifice of life into the boiling still.