The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1878-01-27

Chambers' journal Many of oul
most important inventions and dis
coycries owe their origin to The most
trivial circumstances from the sim'
pIest causes the most important effect,
have eusucd. The following are Il few
culed Mt random for the amusement Of
our readers;
During the thirty years war in Ger
many the little village Of Coscrow, in
the island of Uscdom, on the Prussian
border Of the Baltic, was sacked by the
contending armies, the villagers escap
ing to the hills to save their lives
Among them were Il simple pastor,
named Schwcrdler, and his pretty
daughter Mary, When the DANCE: was
over, the villagers found themselves
without houses, food, or money. Ono
day, we are told, Mary went up the
Sueclielberg to gather blpckberrles, but
soon after she ran back joyous and
breothless to her father with two
shining pieces Of amber, each Of very
great size She told her father that
near the shore the wind had blown
away the sand from a vein OF amber
that she straightway broke off these
prices with n sick; that there was an
ample store of the precious substance,
and that she had covered it over to
conceal her secret. The amber brought
money, food, clothing and comfort; but
those were superstitous times, and a
legend goes that poor Mary was burned
for whichcraft At the village Of Stu
men amber was first accidentally found
by rustic, who was fortunate enough
to turn some up with his pillow.
Accidents have prevented as well as
caused the working of mines. At the
moment that workmen were about to
commence operations on n rich gold
mine in the japanese province of Tsk'
ungO, II violent storm Of thunder and
lightning burst over them, and the
miners were obliged to seek shelter else
where. These supershtious people i'm
agining that the tutelar god and protec'
tor of the spot, unwilling to have the
bowels of the earth thus rliled, had
raised the storm to make them sensible
Of his displeGsure, desisted from all fur
Their attempts to work the mine,
a cooper in Carnolt having one even
ing placed a new tub under dropping
spring, in order to try il it would hold
water, when he came in the morning
found it so heavy that he could hardly
move it, At first, the superstltlous no.
tons that are apt to possess the minds
of the ignorant, made him suspect thai
his tub was bewitched but ut last per
celying a shining fluid at the bottom
be went to Laubach and showed 1t to al
0pothecary, who Immediately dismissed
him with small gratuity, and bid hin
bring some more ofthe same stuff when
ever he could meet with it. This the
poor cooper frequently did, being high
" pleased with his good fortune till a
length the affair being made public, sew
erai persons formed themselves into
society in order to search further into
the quicksilver deposits, thus so unex'
pectedly discovered, aud which were
destined to become the richest of theli
kind in Europe.
Curious discoveries by plowmen
quarrymen and others OF caves, COINS
urns and other interesting things
would fill volumes. Many valuable
literary relics have been preserved 10y
curious accidents, often turning up JUS
in time to save them from crumbling tt
pieces. Not only mineral but Literary
treasures have been brought to hgh
when eXcaving mother earth. Fol
Instance, in the foundations of an ole
house, Luthers Table Talk was dis
covered lying in a deep obscure hole
which vas waxed all over with beeswaA
within and without" There 1t hac
remained hidden ever since its suppress
sion by Pope Gregory XIII. The poems
OF Propertius, q Roman poet, long TURK
ed unsupported in the darkness OF
wine cellar, from whence they were a
length unearthcd by accident, just II
Time to preserve them from destruction
by rats and mildew. Not only from
beneath our feet, but from above on
heads, mere chance reveal the hidini
pace OF tire sure tiove. The sudde1
hliing in Of a ceiling, for example, o
some chambers in Lincon, Inn REVEALED
Tie secret depository OF the Thurlo
state papers. Other literary treasure
have turned up in an equally curiou
manner. Millions essay on the DOC
trines of Christianity" was discovere,
In bundle of old dispatches; a monl
found the only manuscript of Taci
tus accidently in Westphalia; th
letters Of Lady Mary Montague wer
brought to light from the recess OF Al
OLD trunk the manuscripts of-Dr. De
from the secret drawer of an old chest
aud it Is said that one Of the cantos {
Dante's great poem was found, afte