The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1880-05-06
TIMELY TOPICS.

1t seemed that oysters may be arti-
fically propagated by chopping UP the
male and female oysters together. DIR.
w. j. Brook says that the young oys-
ters thereupon Immediately begin
forming. In few hours the embryo
can swim in the water. Its shells, al
first small and apart, soon grow down
over the edges and finally form the
hinge. In twenty-four hours it is able
to take food, and it grows to size suffi-
cient for food in about three years. An
average oyster contains from six to
nine million eggs. A large oyster con-
tains fifty million eggs
The Berliner Zeitung has caused some
sensation in Germany by terrible de-
scription which it has published of the
maltreatment to which a soldier, and
especially young recruit, in the Ger
man army, is liable to be subjected at
the caprice of his superior, and without
any hope of redress. Kicks in the
stomach, boxes on the ear, blows with
a sheathed sword or the butt end of a
musket, are part Of the treatment to
which the soldier must submit. The
number of cases OF suicide in the Ger
man army which is notoriously exceed
ing'y large, is mentioned by the writer
in support of his case. Ill-treated by
his superiors, drilled till he faints from
fatigue, subjected to most cruel tortures,
which compare with those of the In
QUESTION, the soldier, desparing of OBJ
tanning justice or relief, puts an end to
his life.
Prof. Wickersheimer, the celebrated d
taxidermist attached to the Anatomical
Museum of Berlin, has just discovered a
liquid which, injected into the veins of
dead meat, not only preserves it tor
several, weeks from decay, but keeps it
perfectly fresh and in possession of its
natural flavor. Having treated a
slaughtered calf with his new prepar-
alton, and subsequently caused it to be
exposed for a fortnight to the air and
weather changes, hanging in the open
front OF butchers shop, he invited a
select rarty of scientific celebrities to
partake of the meat thus tested. provid-
ing for them, however, other viands in
case the prepared veal should fail to
suit their palates. The professors
guests, however, found his prepared
veal so toothsome and delicate that
they confined their attentions to it ex-
clusively, neglecting all the other solid
| items in his bill OF fare.
Philadelphia is astonished to find that
| it is to have an elevated railroad. The
enterprise was kept a secret until very
| lately, and the first public intimation of
it was the rapid demolition of houses.
Contrary to what has been done in New
York, the line within the city proper is
to run on property owned by the com =
pany, except where it crosses streets.
| The projectors are the Pennsylvania
railroad company, and it is to run from
| their present depot, in West Philadel-
| the heart of the city. The job of pur-
chasing the ground of its $50 owners
| was undertaken a year ago by trusty
| agents, and the buyers were over q
hundred different persons, who resold
to the company at the proper time. B
| this plan the property was all acquired
at reasonable prices. The structure is
| to be of brick and iron, and the Schuyl-
kill is to be crossed by massive
bridge.
The Brazilans have been proud of
their two monitors, the Javary and the
| SolimCes, but recent Developments have
somewhat changed their views. They
started the latter to steam down the
coast for artillery practice the other
| day, and after steam was made it was
found th at the vessel would not start,
and they had to put out the fires,
cool off the boilers and overhaul the
machinery to find out what the trouble
was. The next day they got up steam
and heaved ahead very satisfactorily,
butt the craft wouldn't obey her helm
and bore down with great rapidity
upon another iron-clad, which lay in
her way. The officers and crew were
| paralyzed with fear, and the men on
both crafts were preparing to go over
board, when by flash OF genius it sud-
| denly occurred to somebody to reverse
the engines, and the threatened col
lision was averted. The spectacle of an
unmanageable monitor tearing about
the bay has not convinced the Brazil
ians of their naval supremacy.
In review of the British opium trade
in India and China, Professor Christ
| lieb, of Bonn, gives the following stat
istics showing the magnitude of the
trade and its effects upon Indian agri-
culture: Since the conclusion of the
treaty of Tien sin, in 1860, the quantity
China from the East Indies has in
creased to $4,000 chests. In 1865 as
many as IS, 454 chests, worth $50, ,OOO,-
900, were brought into the Chinese
market, S,943 of which were sent to
Malacca, while the consumption of he
drug for medicinal purposes in Great
Britain in the same year reached only
l65 chests. The progressive growth OF
the trade during the past eighty years
is thus shown: In the year 1900, about
5000 chests; in 1925, $4,000 in 1850,
$4,000; end in 1875, 9O,6i0. Among the
most striking effects caused by the ex-
tension of poppy planting in India are
the diminution of the quantity of land
available for other crops and the con-
sequent curtailment of food products.
In BenGres and Behar, immense tracts
! of the finest and most fertile land in
Northern and Central India have been
gradually covered with poppy plan
tations. Quite recently 1000 acres
of the richest plains in Central
India, and So, 900 acres in the valley OF
the Ganges. which formerly used to pro.
duce corn, sugar and indigo, have, to
the impoverishment of the soil, been
| IauDfad 70 oo;,,,.o -