St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-01-23
Our Boston Letter.

BOSTON, Jan. ~, lSSU.
Editor of the Cdled0nian: Boston is
enjoying quite warm and moist wealth
er, and we are in doubt whether to style
it our January thaw," or not, for there
does not appear to be any frost and but
little snow to merit the name. Yet old
and young are still indulging in the
epidemic cold which prevails, in some
instances, the second and third edition.
Diphtheria is somewhat prevalent in
and around the suburbs of the city,
which has led the city authorities to
look more carefully into the sewerage
question, and as all Doctors are
obliged to report any cases of the dis
ease to the health department, many
people in brown stone houses have been
surprised to find their arrangements so
defective and faulty. In conversation
with a successful homeopathic doctor
recently, he stated they had found after
many experiments, that the vegetable
fungus, which composed or constituted
this false membrane, could only he
killed by alcohol and it is the alcohol
in whiskey and spirits of campher which
kills it. An argument for temperance,
not against it.
The question of closing the public
schools is still agitated at a regular
meeting of the school committee Jan. 6,
it was proposed to close the schools
Feb. 81 for the residue of the year, as
the amount appropriated had been ex-
hausted. The City Government last
year had cut down the amount s liz, I33
and ordered the schools should be dis
continued when the money was all ex-
pended. What the issue will be remains
to be seen.
Last week Friday, the 10Th, we were
again startled not only by the fire
alarm, but by the luminous appearance
of the horizon in the west, which in
creased in intensity, while bright flames
at intervals, flashing athwart tue even
ing sky, showed to fine advantage the
noble structures Oh Back Bay. 1t proved
to be the destruction of the Riverside
Oil Works in Cambridge. Two hundred
thousand gallons of kerosene were
burned, with all the machinery. The
loss was estimated at $4,000, of which
100000 is reported insured. 1t is sur
missed that it was the work of an incen-
diary, and if so, he certainly did not
realize that "making light of cereous
things was very wicked"
This city was favored with a visit
from the noted English astronomer,
Prof. Richard A. Proctor, who delivered
five lectures in Horticultural Hall to
interested audiences. "The Poetry of
Space" ''The Vastness of Tine" GOTH
er Worlds and Other Suns" and by
special request, one upon the moon,
with many fine stereOpticon illustra-
tons. He considered the moon as de-
void of all animal and vegetable life,
but favored the idea that it was once a
part of our earth, when in a gaseous or
incandescent state; assigning many
reasons for that belief. This is his third
visit to this country.
DR.. Freeman Clark has delivered two
of series of twelve lectures to be Civ
en- in the Lowell Institute course in
Huntington Hall. Although he lacks
animation in delivery, the subject
matter, and the lectures themselves are
full OF study, thought and research.
The general subject is "Epochs and
Events in Religious History; )" and the
first two lectures were entitled 1.-THE
Christian Church in the Catacombs.n
10 the question, What are Catacombs 2
They are cemeteries, which surround
the city Of Rome, and if stretched out
would extend from 800 to 400 miles in