The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-03-05
Foreign Notes.

The following account of Mr.. Samuel Nilliston, OF
Easthampton, Mass, the first manufacturer OF but
tons, possesses interest to our readers, from The fact
that he adopted two of the children Of the late kev'
VIM. Richards of these islands, who changed theR
names from Richards to Willston. If we remember
rightly he has No children of his own. While Mr..
WillistOn was dragging along as a country store
keeper-his eyes having failed him while studying
for the ministry-his good wife betbought her that
she could cover by hand the wooden buttons OF the
time, and thus earn an honest penny. From this
time the couple advanced in their ambition until
they had perfected machinery for covering buttons,
the first employed for the purpose IN America.
From this sprang an immense factory, and then
others, until Samuel Williston made half the buttons
Of the world. His factories are still running at
Easthampton, coming wealth for the proprIetors, and
known to every dealer in buttons the world over.
He is now between seventy and eighty years Of age,
is worth five or six million dollars, and has given
four hundred thousand dollars to Easthampton for II
seminary and for churches, two hundred thousand
dollars to South Hadley Female Seminary, and two
hundred thousand dollars to Amherst College, be-
sides lesser gifts. -
a French chemist, Prof Reinsch, having been re-
quested by an insurance company to report upon the
best means Of protecting timber against fire, expert
mented with various salts, and at last came TO the
conclusion that common salt answers the purpose as
well rs anything that can be found. Timber i'm
p~regnated with a concentrated solution of rock salt
will not burst into a fame, any more than if coated
with silicate of soda. The salt is of course much
cheaper than the silicate, besides being also a pre-
servative against dry rot and noxious insects. Reinsch
suggests that salt water would be far more effective
than fresh for use in fire engines ; but il would be
likely to injure the machinery. May not the fact
! that NJ most fires which nccur i'm this citv calf unfair
is used, wholly or in part, be one reason why our
fires are so quickly cxtinguished Whether it be 50
or not, the fact is worthy of note in this connection.
AS an evidence of the accuracy Of scientific in
vestigatiou, when properly conducted, il is stated
that during the celebrated French Egyptian cam
paign Of 1898, the difference Of level between these
two seas was calculated by the French engineers,
and found to be .65 of a metre. The result obtained
in making the survey for the construction Of the
Suez Canal, in 1866, was sc Of q metre. The accu-
racy of the earlier survey is very strikingIy con-
frmed by the close coincidence of these results.
They differ by less than 1-25th Of an inch.
The venerable Rev. Albert Barnes, Of Philadelphia,
uttered a good thought in an address on New Years
day, when he said that '' the world is becoming bet
ter every year, every month, every day. In its
progress society takes bold of all that is valuable, or
that constitutes real. Improvement, and will not let it
die. That which is worthless is superseded by that
which is useful ; that which is injurious and wrong
is dropped by the way that which goes permanently
into the good order of the world alone is maintained
and Christianity never had so firm n hold on the in
telligent faith Of mankind as it has now"
The London .aMeneum states that copies Of photo
graphic pictures are now made in England by print
ing on ordinary paper with printers ink, and that
they can be done at the rate Of 1000 n day. The
editor has seen some of these " mechanical photo
~graphs,'' as they are called, and pronounces them
excellent. This is simply a step in this wonderful
art, which is being yearly improved, 80 that the time
may come when not only choice engrayings, but
costly books may be printed by photograph as rapidly
as is now done by the press.
Another step in making the same art of practical
use is noticed in a German paper which states that
the important problem of measuring distances and
constructing plans and maps by means Of photo
graphy has at length been solved by a Berlin photo
~grapher. He has surveyed a Prussian fertilization
for the government with complete success, and has
constructed a photogrammetric instrument Of such
simplicity that a workman quite unacquainted with
the art was able to draw up a special plan Of q
fortress on the scale of l to $500 after q few short
instructions. -
1t is cheering to observe that elevation TO power
does not demoralize all in this age Of selGshness.
The Right Hon. John Bright, who belongs TO the
Society of Friends, has appeared in so many cnpa-
cities that one is not surprised to hear Of him in the
new role of Bible-reader. 1t is told by an English
contemporary that when Mr.. Bright is at home in
Rochdale he goes round visiting the sick in his
neighborhood and reads for them the Bible. One Of
the visited tells Of him that " he reads the Bible
quite nicely. Just as nicely MS any minister ;"
which induced some Jocose cleric to remark that
" this must be true, since he was a minister-the
greatest minister of England.'
Those who think that cultivators at these islands
suffer more from the ravages Of insects, than
cultivators in other countries, may be interested
to learn that it is estimated by good author
tiles that on an average the United States suffer nm
annual loss of $500, 900, 900 from the depreciation of
insect tribes. This estimate, though at first thought
it appear impossible, may not be so far out Of the
way, when we consider how vast is the throng of in
sects which prey upon vegetation. Locusts, grass
hoppers, Hessian flies, cut, cotton, and army worms,
yearly make sad inroads upon the products Of the
soil. And who ever can invent means and appliances
for checking their ravages will indeed prove q public
benefactor. -
A French writer sums up the effects Of civilization
in the Sandwich Islands, as follows " Heathenism
has surrendered to the soldier Of Christ. Supersti-
ton has been banished by the Gospel. The people
go to church, are married, wear paper collars, carry
colored umbrellas, and use sewing machines" The
umbrella, he claims, is the modern type of civiliza-
ton, which most readers will concede to be the case.
A correspondent of the Scientific American be-
lieyes that the Pacific Railroad is to have an effect in
changing the meteorological character Of the plains.
and that it has already had such an effect. His
theory is that the bands Of iron furnish sYch n
means Of establishing an electrical equilibrium that
the climate is rendered more equable and the rain
fall over the country is sensibly equalized. If this
be so, would it not pay to construct railroads around
the lee sides of the islands in our group, which suffer
30 much from droughtsH