The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1872-10-17
SCIENTIFIC AND CURIOUS FACTS,

While ali the world has been doing honor to the
memory of Professor Morse, photographic tame,
ta,e mind naturally reverts from the great facih
ties for communication we now have to those or
+he .eood old times" wehear SO much about 1t
ia not very long time since there were no post
offices even in England. Government carriers
were the only bearers of letters, except the com
mon carriers, whose rincipal business was the
conveyance of parcels. These couriers were IN
der martial law and in the time OF Henry WIN.
were subject to the penalty of hanging for delay
upon the road with their dispatches. The letters
OF the sixteenth century were consequently SEINE
times ornamented with cheerful sketch of
gallows, with "a courier thereon suspended. UD-
derneath was the admOnition 'Hastel Post
Haste Haste for thy life - Postmasters and re-
lays of horses were then established in the princ
nal towns along the high roads; and the post
masters endorsed on the government dispatches
the day and hour of their arrival in transit.l
letter dispatched from Plymouth to London in
1928, "For His Majesty's special Service bears
nine endorsements. The distance, about 214 miles
blythe route taken, was accomplishe in fifty
seven hours-a rate of about three miles and three
quarters per hour. On part of the route the speed
was greater, though six miles was the highest
speed made and, on the heavy portions Of the
road, the rate was only two Males. and even less.
From the penalty attached to slow riding, or
hauling, came the proverbial saying of Riding
for your life" which saying IL usually supposed
to refer to flying from q n enemy. From the taking
oHprivate letters by the bearers of government
dispatches, arose the wonderful conveniences OF
the modern postal arrangements. 1t was from
this circumstance that the transmission of the
20 bo Al 4ha duE; Of
governments. Gso 3ea
The members of the Australian Eclipse Expe
5itlon if they were unsuccesaful in the primary OF
their voyage. saw some strange things along the
shores to the north of the great continent of Aus
tralia. Mr.. Ftood tell a wonderful story, ''euply
attested by Witnesses" of fish with fourfhands
The extraordinary creature was found crawling
on piece OF coral drsdged up fromsthe bottom O.
the sea. "The body was that of fish," says Mr.
Frood, "but wonderful to rslate, it had in the
place OF fms tour legs, terminated by what you
might call four hands, by means of which it made
its way rapidly over the coral reef When placed
on the skylight of the steamer the fish stood uI
on its four legs, sight to behold 1t was sraal
and something like a lizard, but with the body o.
fish," 1t is to be hoped that'a full and scientific
description OF this marvel Of deep sea dredging
may soon be published, as the specimen appears
to have been brought back to Melbourne. Mr.
White, too, OF the same expedition, tells strangt
tales Of the rats 1.-THE little island he said, "upor
whice we pitched our tent was overrun with
them, and what was most extraordinary, they were
of every color, from black to yellow, and some
tortoise shellt''
The facts may not be generally known that Thu
considerable quantity Of nickel, from which ou
smaller coins are made, comes from a single mine
which is the only one in the country that is nov
being worked. This mine is situated in Lancaste
county, Penn. 1t has been worked for seventeen
years and developed to a depth OF 200 feet Tht
length Of this lode IL between two and three
thousand feet and 1t produces from 400 TO 600 tons
per month, employing the working OF the mine
force of IT'S men In the arts, nickel is raridl,
growing into favor as a substitute for silver il
plating steel, iron, and other metals It's con
fnercial demand Is rapidly Increasing, and as it /
much cheaper than silver, 1t viii undoubtedly b
adopted in the manufacture of many articles, as
substitute for that more precious metal. On
nickel mine GA the Hne-a-Motte tract Missouri
was worked from 1850 to 1855. The ore was til
sulphuret, associated with lead and copper
About 100000 was realized from the Groupings Q
the vein. Groupings Of nickel ore are found ais
in Madison, Iron, and Wayne counties, Missouri
The refined metal is worth about So per pound
Jewish rabbi in Richmond writes that tn
Ightning-rod Of times was known in tn
thirteenth century, aud quotes from work, ex
tant in 1891, the following: "If you want to pre-
vent the thunders from des troying your castle
then pnt on the roofa metal wire, and it will b
saved" But more remarkable Is this about tn
telegraph, which Jewish exll from Spain in l49
wrote: 1--WE have good proof (for an inylsibl
connection)in the magnetslone. If you breaI
this stone into two parts positive and negatiyel
and you lay ons part on side and one on tn
other side, even that they are separated thousand
oil miles, but connected by "a wire of iron, the
every movement which you make on one side viii
be visible on the other in the same moment
Several officers OF the Australian naval servic
have united in experiments which have resulte,
In an invention promising to be or the creates
Importance to war steamers and to steam vessel
generally. 1t Is a method of conveying away ur
ger water the smoke from the steam engine, thu
dispensing with the use OF funnel. They max
use OF double ventilators, which COMPRESS tb
smoke and force it overheard For nroraI,,n,
these Ventilators they employ in LARGE sbins n,
pressure OF the water between It's surface and ~,
place swhere this apparatus is fixed ;gfor smaIio
vessels, Estear1 'power. One great advsutaoa =
this invention is the additional security its s,or
tion Will give to ironclad ships of war through tb
absence of what 10 now their most ynlnerebl
part. the fnnnel. Other advantages claimed for =
are the saving of space now occupied ny the pass
age Of the funnel through every deck, less DANCE
from fire, complete regulation Of the draft a saw