The weekly herald. [volume] (Cleveland, Tenn.) 1876-1888, 1880-11-05
TIMELY TOPICS.

TIMELY TOPICS.
An old English miser named Rhodes,
who began making money as a rubbish
gatherer and died ia squalor, has be.
queathed 100000 between the Royal
Free hospital, London, and the National
Lifeboat institution. leaving his relations
penniless. The will stands, bet the
charities have given the five next Of kin
$3.50.
King Louis, Of Bavaria, has induced
his people to consent TO spending the
money they are willing to contribute to
celebrate the seven hundredth aniver.
sary OF the Wittelsbach family to the
Bavarian throne, in laying the founda-
ton for a grand general fund to be en-
ployed in the development and promo
ton of Bavarian industries, and espe-
cially the hand-avt manufactures Of his
country. The contribution to this fund
already amount TO 2,OOO,O 600 marks, and
is still growing.
Two stalwart men were working at
night in a Chicago freight yard. Each
had a large kerosene lamp. A quarrel
arose between them which ended in q
fight. The lamps were used as weapons,
and were speedily broken over the
heads of the contestants. The oil ran
over them and caught fire, but neither
would let go his hold, and they con-
tinued the struggle with their bodies
enveloped in a flame, until both were
disabled by burning. One died imme-
diately, and the other lived only a few
hours.
Three enormous steamers intended for
the Atlantic trade are now building on
the river C~lyde-one each for the Gu.
nard, the Inman, and the Guion lines.
The Cunard liner will have a tonnage OF
$500, and an indicated horsepower Of
10000. The Guion liner will be $500
tons and 10000 horsepower. The In
man liner, the City of Rome, will be the
largest and most powerful steamer
afloat, excepting the Great Eastern, her
tonnage being $500, with engines OF
$4,000 horsepower. II is expected that
these three steamers will be capable Of
attaining a speed o. seventeen knots an
hour under favorable circumstances,
thus rendering the voyage between Liv-
erpool and New York, or vice versa,
under seven days.
Recently complaints have been made
10 the French authorities that oleomar.
garine butter has been substituted for
the genuine article in the asylums OF
Paris. The Paris Academy of Medicine
has made vigorous investigation, under
an order from the government. The
report of the committee is against the
use Of margarine in the asylums, and
is also adverse to its general use as a
substitute for butter. The margarine
as originally prepared is no longer an
object of commerce, being too dear.
That which is actually in use is an in.
dustrial product open to various frauds.
Vegetable oils are especially introduced,
and if it is easy to decide by chemical
analysis whether a given product ON
sists of butter or margarine, it is very
difficult to affirm whether this mar
garine is pure or mixed with oils, and
vegetable oils are known to be more
difficult of digestion than animal fats.
1t was found to be a miserable con-
glomerate Of peanut oil, diluted milk,
and beef.
In Europe and Hindostan, according
to DR.. James Law, varioiai is so common
in pigeons and poultry as to constitute
a veritable plague. Thus, Guersent
records that out of a dovecot of n
thousand scarce one hundred could be
found that did not bear marks of the
disease, while Tyler says the poultry
yards in India were habitually depopu-
lated by the plague. Bechstein and
others claim that this is the true small
pox, derived from the human being and
conveyable back TO man. That this
affection has not been recognized among
usmay, perhaps, be due to the fact that
men and pigeons do not live so much in
common here as in Italy and India.
Cremation has found a champion in
Mr.. w. Robinson, F. L. S. ,who assumes
to discuss the subject from an esthetic
point of view, in his book, Goods Acre
Made Beautiful; or, the Cemeteries OF
the Future" He urges that the present
form of burial is painful to the feelings
and p~rejudicial to public health, and
that urn burial would afford ample
scope for the art of. the landscape gar
dener, and more securely %perpetuate the
memory of the dead.
Curious Facts.
Iron ia rolled sn thin ot the pittshuro