The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-10-14
MINOR TOPICS.

." Piohisc WHiCH Hc HAS ust IulHlleu, Dv
presenting to the library of the India of.
ffioe in London set of the Chinese version
of the Buddhist Scriptures. The work
isa fair-sized library in ITSELF in weight
at acast, weighing three and half tons,
and will require room alone.
Mr.. KEITH JOHNSTON, WHO visited
Paraguay in 1874, as memb or of the Sci.
entifc Commission engage. by tbe Para.
guayan Government, d declarcs that the
present number of ivilized inhabitants
did not exceed one hundred thousand.
according to o careful estimate made by
him. In 1860 the population was esti.
mated at sir, hundred thousand. The
country was utterly ruined and almost
depopuf Ated, by the disastrous rule of
the la q Dictator Lopez.
AN Emglish traveller, Mr.. Hartshorne,
: ave the British Association the other
day an account of the Weddas, wild
tribe which live in the interior of Ce ylon.
These Weddas are about five feet high,
live on water and roast monkey, and are,
he reports, ircapable of laughter. After
trying every way to make the chief laugh,
and failing, he asked in emazement,
whether they ever laughed. "No," re-
piled the Weddas; "why should we
What is there to laugh at?" Sure
enough!
Tr was an accidental discovery by
Goodyear, that birthstone would vul-
esnize India rubber, and certainly one
softhe most important to the industrial in
iterests of the world. A casual discovery,
'of recent date, it is said, makes it posi-
bic to enamel car axles, and, indeed, all
the various descriptions of bearing, and
by this means to prevent the friction
and heat which prove SO expensive, dan.
gerous, and oftentimes disastrous, in the
running of cars and machinery. 1t is
stated that it can be applied like lubri-
cant, and just as readily, which, if practi-
cally demonstrated by continuous use,
must insure its universal introduction.
NOTWITHSTANDING the over supply of
petroleum in Pennsylvania, new wells
:are constantly being put in operation. In
June, forty-seven wells with daily pro-
duction OF one thousand two hundred
and sixty-two barrels, were flushed, and
July added to the list ninety-eight wells,
with an aggregate daily produ ction of
two thousand five hundred and seventy
three barrels. August 1, one hundred
and fourteen wells we're in process of bs-
ing drilled. One two hundred barrel
well, another yielding seventy-five bar
rels, and five others fifty barrels each,
have been struck since the first of the
present month. 1t is an established fact,
however, that new wells fall off in their
yield about one-third within the first
thirty days.
In 1863 it was estimated that the an
nual increase in the consumption of coal
in England was two and half millions
of tons, and at that rate the coal of the
country, as they estimated, would last
only two hundred and twelve years.
Recent calculations, however, prove that
the average additions to the output is
now nearly three and half millions of
tons, and that the true law of increase is
far more alarming than was originally
assumed. The recent coal famine, there
fore, may be taken as the first fringe OF
the scarcity that is to come. In America
we can afford to read these estimates
with great equanimity. Here we have
coal beds extending for thousands of
square miles, whose contents absolutely
defy calculation. The day is, perhaps,
not far distant when England will be-
come our best customer for coal, as she
now IT, for cereals.
FROM recent returns it appears that
there are in Ireland four million one hun
dred and fifty thousand Roman Catho-
lies, six hundred and sixty-eight thou
sand members of the Anglican Church,
four hundred and ninety-seven thousand
Presbyterians, forty-three thousand
Methodists, ,one thousand five hundred and
thirty-eight Covenanters two thousand
six hundred Brethren and Christian
Brethren, of whom the majority are wo-
men, forty Non-sectarians, forty-four
"Christian Israelities," thirty.three
Mormons, ten Latter Day Saints, six
Exclusive Brethren, five Humanitarians,
ten Darbyites, nine Puseyites, six
Walkerites, FIVE Christadelphians, five
Morrisonians, sixty Free Thinkers, eight
Secularists, sixteen Deists, six THESIS
and one Atheist. There is one disciple
of Positivism, one Buddhist, one Mussul
man, one Confucian and one Pagan
-Four men and woman are set down a.
undetermined or undecided" ant
there is residuum of about one thou
sand and fifty men and women who's
form ofreligion is unspecified."
THE latest discovered preventive o
boiler incrustation is zinc. 1t appear
that an engineer on board the Frencl
steamer st. Laurent, after making som'
repairs in the boilers, left accidental.
therein an ingot of zinc. Some time al
ter, in searching for the bar in the gen
orator, in which, meanwhile, steam hat
been maintained, he found to his SUI
prise, that the metal had disappeared
and also that the incrustation left by tn
water, instead of being hard and firm
was mere mud, easily washed out. Re
peating the experiment, during anothe
voyage, the same result was reached. i
is also stated that NJ. Lcscur, Frencl
chemist, after examining into this re
markable circumstance, concludes tina
the zinc forms voltaic couple with th
iron Of the boiler, zinc being the negs