The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-03-25
GENERAL NEWS ITEMS.

| apply them to the public qnares OF the c'ty'
Mr.. Calling. inventor of the gnn OF .ha'
| name, has brought ont new mitraiIienee 1t on i
| which three hundred rounds minute can Ut
| 6red. ,..tola.,
In six years of rebellion, according 10 me ias,
| Cuban dispatches, that island has Iost "i.p,o
| thirty five Thousand of half the slaves IL heiu
when the war began, and now retains nav orc
hundred and ninety nine Thousand "u' IN ''
| tipually losing from them.
An effort TO navigate the st. Lawrence RIVER
at ell seasons IL to be made under the
| of the Canadian Government An exec
| powerful propeller iron sheatbed anu sanpeo
some W hat like q wedge. has been butt tor use
| as an ice breaker. In u trial TINS se-sei lSue
| good head way through ice foot tnick.
| TIL. nopIar forests in the region of country
north Of Lewiston, Me-, have been cut down
| for timber for the m anu faoturs of paper. These
forests have been considered by the farmers as
almost worthless, great deal OF the ~ooo o,
lumbe hardly paying Tor TIE cntt'ng anu
bnulipR, but now it brings "a high price.
The .tfective strength of the British army by
| arms on the LIST Of December last was lS3 10,
the average in 1875 being ls4 669. Dnring
| the year 1875 the army was thus distr1nnted
EuR land, CO as; Scotland, 5.173 Ireland
90 Sal. The net loss from deaertion was 429,
OF percentage of24. 10 1874 the percentage
was q.
While the Government is shipping granite
from Maine to build Post Office in Atlanta,
Ga and marble from Vermont tor headstones
in the national cemetery IN Marietta, there Is
within sight of the new Post Office an uncoV-
cred mount ain of granite, and not { ~enty mites
from Marietta there are InexhaustlOie iuerrles
of the finest marble.
The Cardinal Arch bishop of Paris in his Len
ten Pastoral states that marriages with nieces
and sstersn law, formerly almost or quite
unknown, have lately increased i'll melancholy
proportion. His anxiety has been aroused by
the demands for dispensatioDs for very near de-
gress of consanguiuiiy or afioty, and be sx'
horts the faithful to a strict Observance OF the
LAYS of the Church on marriage.
A man was arrested fifteen days ago in
London for chalkiDg on street pavement the
words: The power of prayer" The police
sergeant asked him what he was doing, and
the artist said: II am doing good" The
m sgistrate before whom be was taken had the
good sense to discharge him, with the remark
that there was no law to prevent any man from
writing The power OF prayer" on the pave
ment, If he thought be was doing good.
The cruelty OF German military officers to
their subordInates is matter of notoriety, but
an officer in an artillery regiment has lately
gone beyond precedent, and is likely to get in
serious trouble because of his trucnlent in
genuity. Some of his men were insu bordin ate
and SO he set about to cure their distemper by
means of q "spurring process" which con-
sisted in jabbing spurs persistently and bru-
tally into their legs. Two csnnoniers we're re-
Gently 40 severely injured by this process that
they had to go to tho hospital.
The eighty seven persons now living on PIT
CAIRNS Island have just been heard from.
About two years ago a crew of shipwrecked
sailors were succored by the inhabitants. and
on the arrival of these grateful mariners in
California q quantity of money, clothing, and
other things were sent back. A little girl who
sent some books has received letter from a
child into whose hands they fell. me mother
adds, in a postscript, an apology for tie ap
pearance of the letter, explaining rnat the ut
tie girl had never before written on paper
which is q scaIce article on the island.
In the opinion Of the London Telegraph there
| is no more bitter or precarious bread than tina
which is earned in catering to the caprices o
fashion. Zach prev ailing whim develops cen
tres of population which the Eexs oapric,
| leaves to starve Nearly 10000 poor creatures
| persisted of arSnin on the disappearance o
crinolines ten years ago. The frilling ant
| bouncing sty 10 born of the sewing machine ha
reduced for more than three years the tull
factories of the north of France to the harhes
straits Where 900 hands were employed
| there are now 200. Mixed fabrcs, again, hav
had q long run but their success WAS famin
to Lyons.
NJ Denarouze, whose diving bells aud gu b
marine lamps are the most perfect in use, b q
invented respirator for enabling fremen Q
others TO enter and remain in places filled wit
smoke or gas, and where, under Ordinary Gil
oumstances, q human being could not live. Tn
rSspirator consiHts of q tnbe of muCh lightnes
combined with great strength, having lnserte
near one end small tin containing tw
peculiar India rubber vAlveE-:he one tor IL
baibR and the other for exhaiing air The en-
Of this tube. which has e monthpiece, is cas
} over the freman's shoulder, the other bein
left in the open air; and An 1ndla-rubbe
spectacle mack, capable of being moulded I
tit any features, having been placed over tn
, eyes 30 AZ to compress The nostrils, the hcem a
, may enter without fear the most vitisted a
mos phere. The LDndon, Glasgow, Dundee
Paisley and Aberdeen fire. brigades have bee
, supplied with this respirator
AS has already been noted, the proposition
seriously made to form sea of the desert
Sahara by cutting a channel to let in til
waters OF the Aediterranesn-an enterprise II
garded as entirely feasible, more SO, in fac
= than the cutting of tho isthmus of DarieI
o which may be said to be an assured project.
Q German scientific writer however, goes 40 f.
as to assert that the Sahara prof set, if carrie
o out, would eventually turn Europe into al
, other Greenland. He alleges that the diversiC
of the Gulf Stream, by the cutting of the SUI
canal, has already begun to have an iuhueuC
on the climate of Europe, and that tho cove
ing of the burning sAnds OF the great Africa
desert with water would destroy the hot wind
= which are necessary for the melting of Il
= Alpine snow and ice, and would finally resu
II in glacial formation that would overwhel
Q Italy. He instances the changes in climate
q Australia and New Guinea by the deviation
d q warm current of water which formerly II
n,Nh llnat -