Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1873-08-14
MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS.

MILITARY authorities are to be found
everywhere, but cipH authorities are not
to be found anywhere.
ALL sorts of notes from watering places
are current, but the only notes that are
taken at the watering places are green
backs.
THE great balloon excitement now pre-
vailing has one good thing about it. at
least it turns attention from things ter
restrial to things celestial.
A PIN manufacturer in Connecticut is
said to have made, this last year, over
100000. At this rate, he will soon reach
the pinnacle Of fortune. But where do
the pins go.
PLAYING cards with black borders is a
late nobby convenience to people who
have lost friends and think they know
something about euchre.
A CONTEMPORARY asserts that ''half the
married women in the world wonder who
their husbands will marry next" The
other half more sensibly wonder whom
they will marry next.
ONE ofthe great luxuries of riches is that
they enable You to escape so much good
advice. The rich are always advising the
poor, but the poor seldom venture to re
turn the compliment.--Helps.
IT is estimated that the increase of sill
yer in the United States has been about 20
per cent. over 1871 for the last wear, and
that the net silver product of Utah and
Colorado will, during the coming season,
fully reach that figure; but the statistics
fail to show any increase in the gold pro-
duct.
IN the opinion of Professor Wyman, the
i 1
cannibals. This conclusion is based on
the fact that many of the bone heaps con-
tanned human bones, which were broken
in the same manner as those of certain
animals that were killed for food. The
splitting of the bones had been resorted
to as a means Of obtaining the inclosed
marrow.
THE Boston Journal Of Chemistry de-
clares that zinc is at least as virulent and
fatal poison as lead, its salts, when taken
in small quantities, producing nausea;
larger doses causes vomiting, with violent
retching and cerebral distress. Some
painters are poisoned by zinc paint, and
suffer collie similar to that caused by lead
Water in contact with zinc or galvanized"
iron pipe, is charged to greater or less
extent with the chloride, the protoXide
and the carbonate of Zinc-all poisonous
to those who use the water.
AMERICAN society is comparatively new
We have little among US that is tradition
al The national style of manners is a
formative state; but we certainly possess
the basis for good manners in a pre-emi-
nent degree. We are a good-natured,
facile people, not ungraceful, and certain
ly not lacking in self-possession. Wehave
need only to respect ourselves a little
more, cease looking across the water for
models, and give as graceful an expression
as we can to our sentiments toward uni
versal man and woman, to become the &C
knowledged possessors of good manners
j. G. Holland.
IT is estimated that 400, 100000 shooting
stars daily traverse the atmosphere, adding
perhaps, a thousand pounds to the earth's
mass. These bodies move in space as
dust clouds or nebul9. When they come
within the suns attraction, the nebuln as
sumes the form of a comet, under the in
fuence of gravitation, and the comet is
gradually drawn out by the same force
into ring revolving round the sun in the
same orbit and periodic time as the orig
inal comet.
THOSE victims of the hay fever who
can't afford trip to Fire Island the gen
ial climate of which greatly alleviates the
| disease, may take hint from a gentleman
who describes himself as a sufferer from
''hay fever" for twenty years, but who is
now entirely relieved from the malady.
His cure is to get saturated solution of
sulphate of quinine in water, in the pro-
portion of one part Of quinine to 740 of
water, lie down upon his back, dip a
small camel's hair brush into the
solution, apply the brush to the
inside of the nostrils, moving the
head about gently so as to make sure
that the fluid reaches all parts of the nos
trils until it is felt in the throat He de
scribes the relief as immediate, and says
that three applications day, when threat
ened by a return of the disease, is suffic-
lent to prevent a return.
Dew is the result of the precipitation
of moisture from the air on its meeting
the colder substance on the surface of the
earth or within few feet of it. This cold
ness depends on the radiation of heat by
the surface ground during the night, in
return for the heat radiated to it by the
sun during the day, which, if suffered to
accumulate, would destroy the present
constitution of our globe. The surface Of
the earth thus rendered colder than the
neighboring air condenses a part of the
watery vapor into dew. This condensa
ton is, of course, more perceptible on
those bodies which sooner become cold
by the radiation Of their heat For this
reason we find that the quantity of dew on
grass is much greater than on gravel
walk, the former being usually ten or
twelve degrees colder than the latter
How TO MEASURE THE HEIGHT OF TREES.
When tree stands so that the length of
its shadow can be measured, its height
may be readily ascertained as follows:
Set stick upright Oct it be perpendicu-
lar by the plumb line) Measure the
length of the shadow of the stick. As the
length of its shadow is to the height Of the
stick, so is the length Of the shadow Of
the tree to its height For instance: if the
stick is four feet above the ground, and its
shadow is six feet in length, and the shad-
ow of the tree is ninety feet, the height of
the tree will be sixty feet Is A. 80 :6O). In
other words, multiply the length of the
shadow of the tree by the height of the
stick, and divide by the shadow of the
stick
AT the present time the miles of rail
roads in operation aggregate 67, ,104,
against % miles in 1880. In the distribu-
ton of mileage the New England States
have 5,053 miles; the middle States 49,
499: the Western States 80 ,303 the South
ern States 14,112, and the Pacific States
2,137. OF the separate States Illinois
leads the list, the number Of miles of road
being stated at 6361. Pennsylvania, with
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