Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1872-01-23

examine may be seen at the office of Mcssrs. j.
A. Holiday 4 Son, Webster street, Centre
Wheeling We refer to Il slab Of common
white American marble, thirty nine inches
long, seventeen inches wide, and two inches in
thickness. which is as flexible as piece Of soft
rubber of the same size. Ii was cut Tor and
used as hearthstone in the Moundsville Semi
nary building which, it will be remembered.
was destroyed by fire about three years ago.
Since the date Of that occurrence to within the
last six mouths, when it Was first discovered
and laid aside, it was covered up in the ruins
and now the question arises what strange cheul-
cal action took place. Or in what manner pre-
clSey the intense heat to which the slab was
subjected without its calclnation at the time OF
the burning OF the building, and its subsequent
burial among the debris for the period above
named, produced so remarkable d change IN
the character Of the stone? This mystery no
one has yet been able to answer or explain.
Surely if this knowledge were given to uiortals
there is no telling the amount of valuable aid
that art would derive theretrom. The same
chemical process. if understood, might give us
texile glass the real value OF which could never
be told The slab was brought to the city
several days ago by Mr.. John Holiday, and
since that lime it has been Skadcn by many
hands to prove its plant character The oldest
worklne in stone and marble in this commuui
Is declare that they have never before seen
anything like it, and We doubt if a similar
specimen was ever before discovered In all
the ruins Of Chicago nothing Of the kind has
yet been found or reported. Since the slab has
been taken doors and placed near the stove
it has daily become more and more texlbe-a
TACT which all the more mysiiles ITS character.
We hope our scientists will give MIR. Holiday L
II, ba nj
osty. and that at least some one OF them shall
be able and willing to tell us all about the pro-
cess of making marble slab as yielding as Il
sheet of bonnet pasteboard = )h"~Iing MfcN
g"n'TT.
IIRGlNIASs ~ Lick. MIR. Alexander Tor
man, who died the other day in Baltimore.
left property-thc most Of it personalty-val.
ucl at $ ,2tmUD0. Some $500, 900 was douat-
ed in his will to the different benevolent soce-
ties of Baltimore ami the remainder OF the es-
tate was divided into TWO equal parts--one hall
to 90 to his relatives in Maryland Fullords,
&c-and the other half he bcqueathed to his
relatives in Eirginia-the Chanceors, OF
charlottesville in this county.
From the best information We have, the
amount left to the Chaucellors is in the neigh
borhood Of $5OOOO0, and it may exceed that
amount. besides an annuity Of 5000 to the Wi
dow of the late Geo Chancellor, who We be-
eve is the mother Of the Chancellor family.
There are said to be seven who will share
equally in the portion left to the Virginia rela
lives. which will, according to this calculation,
be q little ov''r$1O,O0' piece. We c0ngratu-
late our friends on their good luck. -Fi~d
Lm}wr.
RAILROADS.. Illinois is now the banner rail
| hn lprup lfpr n
miles of completed road in the Union. Last
year she made 500 miles Of road, raising her
aggregate to 5,7:,5 Pennsylvania stands next.
with :,.O2u miles ;;ti4 otwhch were constructed
in 1871. New York ranks third. with 4,2IG
miles of road As Of which were built last year
Ohio has ;.1lo miles Of which a were built
last year The largest relative increase WAS in
Minnesota, which, during 1871, raised her rail
road mileage from l. 012 to .j23. IN Increase
Of II per cent Missouri Increased her aggre
gate - per cent. from 2.ts,n to 2.5l'S miles.
The New England States. during 1871, con-
Structed $50 miles; the middle Atlantic States
So miles the south Atlantic States, Mary
land to Georgia, 4222 mile: the Gulf States, Il
miles; the Southern Central States, ARKANSAS
Tennessee and kentuckyl 10 miles; the
Northern Central States. (Ol.io Indiana, and
Michiganl 992 miles: the other States east of
rics, 225 miles the Pacific States, 40 miles
TIE MYTHS Of geography, AZ well as hsto-
ry are dissolving before the reinorseless cri-
ticisrn OF our age The school boys OF thirty
years ago remember well the pictures Of the
; terrible maelsirom of the coast OF Norway,
said to be fatal to all ships coming within its
fatal whirl. The school boy 5 faith in this
phenomenon was as strong as the sailors faith
! in the Flying Dutchman. But the poetry has
turned to prose in this scientific age, and the
whirlpool has lost all it horrors. like the ScyIa
and Charybdis Of Virgil. A recent traveller
says There is no such whirlpool as Pontippi
dan and Purchas described, and it is only when
the tide, current, and wind are at ''logger-
heads in the narrow strait between Alosken-
aessoc and the lofty isolated rock of Mosken
that any agitation is visible. Some snch cir
cumsance as this. observed from the shore,
and exaggerated by the horror otthe beholder,
doubtless gave rise to the prodigous legends OF
the nlaclsrom.
A PROFITABLE ISDUsrRY.-The chief Of
the bureau of statistics has received a letter
from gentleman at Dover, Tenn, giving an
account Of his success in making the kind of
Of cheese known rs switZer case. lie says II
have averaged about two pounds Of cheese per
COW. anu SOlu Ill ID CcHlS pnullu IL 10 luC
best paying business know Of to embark in in
this country. \ person having one hundred
COWS. averaging two pounds Il day per head,
would make at - cents per pound, $50 per
day; or SIS, $50 year. Cows can be purchased
at S25 head, and land at $l5 an acre. Upon
such terms there is no business will pay better
than dairyng German and Swiss immigration
is pouring in rapidly, and the old worn out
| fields are bringing forth fine grass and clover.
| am expecting about thirty families from
Switzerland within short time. - Wash. Rep.
4 PROPER TRIBUTE THE first engine that
wa, used in bringing the passenger train over
the Chesapeake aud Ohio railroad from Hunt
ington to Charleston, has inscribed on it,
Edmund Fontaine, First President of the
Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad Company.
| sn.9RREEU.
| In Washington city, on the 10th instant, by
| -. T.