The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-08-31
GENERAL NOTES.


In ten years the screw has entirely re-
placed the paddle in transatlantic navi.
CATION, the weight of marine engines has
diminished one-half, the steam pressure
has quadrupled, and the consumption OF
coal has decreased two-thirds.
A MAD skunk recently bit M. ID. Camp.
bell, of McLennon County, Texas. Af
ter riding four days with high fever, he
ound maidstone which stuck nine
Zines and relieved him. A duck wounded
by the skunk went to the water to drink,
and fell over in fit and died.
In Jefferson County, Fla, is found q
black mineral which resembles graphite
bu. which, under the blowpipe, gives of
strong smell of petroleum. The in.
habitants black their boots with this
substance, and claim that in suscepti.
bility to polish it is not inferior to Day
q Martins best.
THE chocolate exhibit in the French
Agricultural Department is an attrac-
tive feature. 1t contains plan of the
celebrated plantation of M. Menier al
Nicaragua, which contains 250, 900 trees
The annual production of manufactured
chocolate in France amounts to 16,700,.
600 pounds.
THOMAS Cox, longshoreman in New
Orleans, has saved eleven persons from
drowning during the last two years
His latest exploit was the rescue of q
woman aud two boys who had been up
set in skif some distance from the
shore, and was effected at the imminent
peril of his life. The local papers refer
to him as hero of the noblest type
The Midsummer Holiday Number OF
Scr1bner's Monttiy has been decided sue
cess. Its reception by the press has been
enthusiastic, and the demand on the part
of the public is said to have been greater
than for any other single number of the
monthly. The first issue of $4,000 copies
is exhausted, and the publishers are pre-,
pairing to print new edition.
SINCE 1870 several lighthouses have
been established on the southeast and
southwest coasts of Japan and in the Is.
land Sea; in each lighthouse a meteoro.
logical register is kept. At the end oil
each month these registers are trans.
mitted to Yokohama, and from these q
valuable contribution to meteorological
science has been drawn up.
LIGHTNING played a curious f'eak in
Stow, Massachusetts,, lately. Entering
by The ceiling. aloom twelve feet squs.e,
where six young women were seated
about The wall, it dropped on the center
of the floor in ball, and exploded with
lold report and volumes of sulphulo Gus
smore, but iDjuring nobody, and not even
bufuiog The carpet.
GENERAL CUsTER's "War Memoirs "
will be continued in several numbers of
the GALAXY, the publishers having large
supply of manuscript on hand. The next
number of the magazine will also con-
tain biographical sketch of Custer by
Captain Whitaker, U. S. A., and an
article by Ex-Secretary Welles on " The
Nomination and Election of Abraham
Lincoln"
YACHTING is comparatively new
feature in American amusements. 1t
was introduced not many years ago by
Robert l.. Stephens, a New York mil
lionaire. A great impulse was given TO
this interest by the success Of the yacht
America, which some years ago carried
off the prize at the British regatta at the
Isle Of Wight. Since then yachting has
been on the increase, until more than
one million dollars have been invested in
such vessels, whose running expenses are
not less than half that sum annually.
MAJOR THOMAS MoRToN's great stall
lion, wilkins Micawber, of the Wood
lawn stock farm, New Windsor, Orange
County, New York, died Gently of
congestion of the lungs. Micawber was
valued at fifty thousand dollars. He
took the first premium at the New York
State Fair last fall for himself and colts.
Mr.. Moron was then offered thirty-five
thousand dollars for him. Micawber
was sired by old Hambletonisn, dam
Lady Brown, Star mare. He was bred
by Charles BackmaD, of Stony Ford,
Orange County, and when two years old
was bought by Major Morton for seven
thousand dollars. He was very fast, b ut
untrained. He has several fine colts.
M y wber was eight years old.
A wATER-sPoUT struck the line of I've
Virginia Midland Railroad, six miles
north of Lynchburg, Virginia, not long
ago. The food extended for five miles,
swelling the smallest creeks into rivers,
and submerging portion of the country
never under water before. A culvert
was carried away, leaving gap ninety
feet broad and fifty deep, into which a
freight train was precipitated, killing
Keyes, the. engineer, and Ande-s !, the
brakeman. The storm lasted only few
minutes.