Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1878-07-19
NEWS ITEMS.

-Fifty-one metals are now known to ex-
ist, so of which have been discovered within
the present century. Four hundred years
ago but seven were known.
One of the most powerful ironclads in
the world was launched last week at Laspez-
zia, Italy. She is $40 feet long and G5 broad,
and her armor is % inches thick She will
b. armed with 1OO-ton Armstrong guns.
In a recent address before the New York
Historical Society it was stated that the S24
paid originally to the Dutch for the Island of
Manhattan, if placed at compound interest till
May, 1878, would have reached the pleasant
total of SGO9, 80, 600.
An Auburn On. Y. } terrier was so attach
ed to his big Newfoundland mate that since
the latter has been poisoned and buried, the
terrier is inconsolable and invariably buries
his dinner in the Rewfoundlands grave, be-
fore he will touch the additional morsels the
family give him.
The town of Anderson, Ind, has just
passed through an experience absolutely un-
paralleled in the history of American munich
palities. A retrenchment council came to
tie vote on proposition to. reduce the may
or's salary by 500; he gave the casting vote
in its favor. Then the clerk was asked to
show cause why his salary should not be re-
duced 5000; he failed, and it was The mar
Hllhl anu lItuSuItI lOlONtt bull anu lutl tue
Spartan councillors cut down their own salar-
les 30 per cent.
-Gilmores band has had very apprecia-
tive reception III Great Britain, where in a
tour of six weeks it has given 6j concerts in
20 of the principal cities. The most popular
music played by the band has been the ma
tional anthems and patriotic melodies of the
two countries. The enthusiasm that Yankee
Doodle" the Star Spangled Banner" God
Save the Queen" Rule Britannia" and
"Auld Lang Syne, produced among the aud
fence being nothing less than public furore.
The band is now doing the Paris exposition,
and will shortly sail up the Rhine, giving
concerts by the way, returning home through
England in October.
The famous marble quarries of Carrara,
although they have been worked since the
reign of Augustus, and have furnished a
steady and enormous supply to the whole civ
ilized globe, seem to be inexhaustible. They
compose an entire mountain range, and en-
brace every variety and quality of marble,
from the coarse, common kind to the statuary
marble, Monte Crestola and Monte Sagre
yielding the largest and finest blocks. The
quarries number some 500 only about 20 of
them furnishing the marble used by sculp-
tors, and some G0OO persons are employed in
them. The marble taken out year before
last was IN the vicinity OF l2O,OOO tons, val
ued at 81 400 600, of which 40, 600 tons came
to the United States The export of marble
to this country has increased immensely with
in - to II years, the third largest marble
firm now at Carrara being American.
The Smithsonian Institution is prepar-
ing to thoroughly investigate the soap-stone
quarries which have been discovered in Anne
liza county, Va, 80 miles south of Richmond,
from which the aboriginal inhabitants of the
county procured their various domestic YES
sells. The quarries were abandoned at least
400 years ago, and there are trees in the pine
and oak forests now growing above them
nearly two feet in diameter. The researches
already made show that the quarymen first
used stone axes and afterward flint adZes,
which are still strewn everywhere about.
The pots that were made were carved from
the bottom upward and then broken from the
rock, as is shown by those found in every
stage of completion at the bottom of the
quarry A great number of specimens have
already been secured here and taken TO Wash
ngton, and it is hoped that further explora-
tion will prove as valuable as interesting.