Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-02-18

uranium, osmium and iridium-mo.
valuable than gold. oie
One hundred women engaged IN
rubber mandatory in New Jersey haua
struck against reduction of WAGE
They don't propose that even a rnbba.
manufacturer shall stretch his preroga
tives too far.
"A couple of Bangor men have organ
lied quite business in the manufactnra
Of boot heels from scraps of leather mr..
chased at the shoe factories About Ok
600 pairs of heels are made annually. fnr
which four cents per pair are obtained.
1t is estimated that the granite linz
and slate quarries of Maine, if they were
fully worked, would sustain population
| equal to the whole present population Of
the State. There is enough slate to roof
| over the whole State and have some lef,
Foreign Gossip.
The Emperor of Russia was not over
pleased with his visit to England to SEE
his daughter, the Duchess of Edinburgh
The imperial family rather look upon
| the English treatment of their offspring
as cold and ever SO little snubby. The
Russian aristocrats are peculiarly bitter
in the sentiments they entertain for
John Bull. The Crimea is sore point
and, besides, old Bulls ways don't in.
spire them with sympathetic feelings.
! The French say that calendar" for
Almanac is an improper term. 1t was
| first applied to express the yearbook.
| according to the old Romans, from their
word Calendes," which signifed Sc.
ries of days recurring each month In the
nones and ides. The substituted appel
| lation, yearbook, under the Revolution
| of 1889, was very much Tidiculed, then
| and since. Charles TX. was the sovereign
| after the fall of the Roman Empire, who
| took up notion to fix the beginning of
| the year on the 1st of January--it pre-.
viously fell at Easter. The Revolution.
lists fixed 1t in the spring, dropping from
their almanac the entire nomenclature
of Roman Catholic saints and festivals.
Many Jews have purchased houses
in Rome confscated from the church
| and sold by Government at auction.
These houses have sold very cheap, as
| the idea prevails that their tenure in
| such manner from the Government, in
spite of the protest of the ecclesiastical
| authorities, would be liable to contesta-
ton in the long run, in view of the ups
| and downs to which the city has been
subject. The Israelites have never har.
bored any scruples and fears in the prem
Uses, and accordingly have invested their
moneys largely in the contiscated prop
erty. Like true Romans they have al.
ready placarded their names and owner.
ship in marble slabs ON the purchased
dwellings.
| "A short time ago an extensive heap
of refuse shells was discovered near
Athens, and supposed to be a kitchen
hidden. Subsequent investigation proved
that the heap consisted almost entirely
of species of murex and other shells
which yield the famous dye known as
the Tyrian purple. This fact induced
the conclusion that here was the site of
| an ancient dyeing establishment. A sim
/ gle shell of the murex gives but dimin-
utive drop of the secretion, consequently
large numbers were consumed in the pro-
duction of but a small amount OF dye,
which made it very precious. In Cicero's
time pound of wool colored with this,
the only purple known to the ancients,
cost about $175. Because of its great
beauty and high cost purple came to be
the symbol of imperial power. Otranto,
the ancient Tarentum, was one OF the great
murex- fisheries of the Romans, and a
| large number of dyeing establishments
were located there. For several centuries
after the fall of the Roman Empire and
the decline of the murex-ti fisheries purple
was an unknown color in Europe.