Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-07-01
TIMELY TOPICS.

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A thorough test of the power, cost and
comparative advantages of the electric
light is to be made in the Capitol build
ing at Washington, and three machines
for the purpose have already been pur-
chased. 1t is also proposed to place a
light at the summit of the dome Of such
power as to illuminate large portion of
the city.
1t is stated that at Christiana and at
Stockholm, Sweden, the police arrest
men who, in the streets and places of
pleasure resorts, indulge in the habit of
pursuing, addressing and annoying wo-
men who freely circulate there. Such
offenders are made to pay a fine of twen-
ty-five kroner equal to about six dol
lars) and their name, residence and pro-
fession are published in all the journals
under the head of "Disturbers of the
Peace of Women. 1t is needless to say
that the public shame thus incurred is
now very much Stunned by men, and
many would willingly pay, if they were
allowed; large sum of money to be per-
mitted to escape. ~ ~
Carlos, an Italian gymnast, we'll known
from his feats with charged wooden
cannon, was lifting it from its stand,
during a recent exhibition in Cervia,
when it fell, mouth downward. The
gymnast, with the rapidity of lightning,
endeavored to break the shock so as to
prevent the weapons exploding, but he
was unsuccessful; the conclusion fired
the piece, and as the charge could not
emerge, the cannon burst. Carlos died
almost Immediately. The CONSERVATION
and horror among the spectators at this
frightful scene were intense; only one of
them was wounded, however, although
the splinters of the cannon were driven
about in every direction. oio
A recent review of Burmese troops is
thus described by an eyewitness I" The
number of men drawn up on the parade
ground was five thousand, including in
fantry and cavalry, in addition to which
there were eighty-fve elephants. The
infantry looked like so many monkeys !;
for size and soldierly bearing they are
utterly contemplate. The cavalry were
mounted upon thin and puny ponies.
The guns of the elephant. battery were of
no greater bore than the common Eng
lish duck gun. The Burmese were i'm
mensely excited over their warlike dis
play; but it would be difficult to imagine
anything more ridiculous than such a
sight to any one with the slightest ac-
quaintance with the armies of Europe .
The dead body of an old man named
Gettings, lying in the filthy yard of a
rear hovel in West Fortieth street,
where he had fallen in fit of beastly in
toxieation the night before and died with
no one near him; a mother, seventy
eight years of age, dying of starvation,
and a son and daughter insensible with
liquor, huddled together like beasts
within the shanty-these were thesights
that met the eyes of a New York police
man who had been summoned to the
spot by the neighbors at an early hour
1t is seldom that a more terrible revela-
tion is made of the misery, degradation
and crime that hide in the heart Of 4
great city than that obtained in the re-
voting story of the Gettings family ~
President Eliot, of Harvard College
at the dinner of the Massachusetts Med
ical Society of Boston, called the atten-
ton of the members of the society to GER
tain peculiar diseases prevalent among
the students of Harvard College He
had found that.in the senior class Of two
hundred young men, forty-two suffer so
severely from diseases Of thenose. throat
and lungs that it is impossible. in the
opinion ofmembers of the Massachusetts,
Medical Society, for them to go to pray
ers; and a peculiar feature of the disease
is that the same members of the society
certify that it would be dangerous for
them to go to prayers for six months to
come. Another peeuliarity is that the
disease apparently increases the longer
the student attends college, for while
only ten per centum of the freshmen are
afflicted, twenty-one per centum of the
seniors are. Still another peculiarity of
the disease is that it exists only few
moments in the day, and always about
the same time; it does not prevent the
patients from going to their meals, even
though the prayer bell is ringing at the
same time; it does not prevent their at
tending recitations; they can even go to
the theater and ride out home in the
horse-car late at night in mid-winter;
they can row in the boats, play base
ball, and even sing in the glee club. 1t
is known that the disease exists, how
ever, for it is certified to by members of
The Massachusetts Medical Society.
A SDendthriff,S Luek.