The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-02-19

IN having 1T growing near dwellings Is the fact
that it wards off malaria and disease. In
paper read lately before the Therapeutic Society
of France, distinguished physician states as
proved fact that the common sunfower possesses
the faculty of freeing the atmosphere from the
animal and vegetable germs supposed to consti-
tute the miasms productive of fever and ague.
He says the experiment has proved successful in
the low districts, Rochefort, and that the
Dutch have proved its value in neutralizing the
noxious effects of marshy exhalations. He also
adds that the sunhower has long been appreciated
fattener of poultry, and supplying food for
bees, &C., and many people in Europe cultivate
them chiefly for that purpose.
Can anything be more perfect than the follow
ing description of babies by Tommy Taft, the old
sailor in - Norwood?"
Parson Buell., it's the unaccountabiest thing
what the Lord sends children into this world for,
considern' what sort Of place its, and what a
time folks have in gettin' thro' it. Lord They die
off like apple blossoms, half 'em, afore they're
bigger'n mice And the rest of 'em have hard
time gettin' grown and when you've got 'em
growed, half the folks padding round as if they
didn't exactly know what they came airth for
and nobody tell 'em, for that matter. l never
see babies but l think how used to have birds
come aboard ship, way out to sea-land birds, and
go up to 'em, and take 'em in your hand and they
turned up their bright eyes with such pteous look
at you, as if they had come from ever so far, and
lost their way, and didn't know where they were.
Wall, that's about what l think of babies. What
do they come of to this ere world for?''
Here is n problem for young mathematicians to
solve. No young man should ever think of
marrying till lie can solve it correctly:
A gentleman " daughters had,
And both very fairs
To each he gave piece of land,
One round, the other squares
At twenty pounds per acre, just,
Each piece value had,
The shilings that encompassed each
If cross shilling be an inch
And IL : very
Which was the hetter portion,
r Ie zQua
Ana what the size Of real estate
That fell TO each sweet darling pet,
Lest, however, there should be any misconcep-
ton in regard to the meaning of the problem as
now proposed, we will state it in plain prose as
follows: There are two tracts of land-one
perfect square ana the other perfect eircle-re-
spectively worth twenty pounds per acre, and of
such size that If line drawn around either were
stretched out in a straight line it would be ex-
actly, in either case, of such length as at one
shilling per inch would pay for the land of which
it is the perimeter. What is the size of the re-
spective tracts?
An editor who rode four miles in four minutes
on locomotive engine, describes his feat as
follows:
cat exactly II o'clock midnight the throttle valve
/ was opened the wheels moved, and in ten seconds
thereafter were under fearful headway. The
Meeting rods the wheels fairly sung as the
wheels revolved with lightning rapidity, emitting
flashes of fire the tires ground against the rails
The entire of iron composing the locomotive
swayed to and fro with hdeous clatter. while the
Kissing steam and at times binding smoke impressed
with ideas of pandemonium. We passed the
cemetery like shot out of Il gun and rushed through
the rock cut beyond, though devils ncarnate
after us. The engineer winked, the fremen laughed
we clutched the window sash and the coroner looked
askance. No use trying to talk. hundred thun-
derbots could not have made noise than did
the locomotive. Another jerk at the throttle valve
and still speed obtained. 1t seemed as
though the engine would leap into the river. In all
experience never had ride like that before,
nor do want similar again.