Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-05-20
TIMELY TOPICS,

The great map of the moon, completed
by DIR. Julius Schmidt, of Athens. after
twelve years of labor, shows -, $50 crat-
ers and ring like formations on the lunar
surface, and 346 rills and clefts. DR..
Schmidt estimates that the number
would be increased to I00,0 600 craters in
q complete chart, showing the moon as
seen with magnifying power Of 600.
The american Journal of Science has
been giving Edison's electric light a
thorough investigation, and its conclu-
sion is as follows: Provided the lamp
can be made either cheap enough or dur
able enough, there is no reasonable
doubt of the practical success of the
light, but this point will evidently re-
quire much further experiment before
the light can be pronounced practicable
That Mr.. Edison will finally overcome
the difficulty, however, no one who
knows him can doubt.
DR.. Carpenter considers it possible
that at some remote geological period
connecting strip of land may have ex-
isted between Europe and America, and
that New Zealand, Tasmania and South
America may have been linked together
by ridges of dry land, while Madagas-
car may have been joined in a similar
manner to the African continent. Geol-
ogists have supposed that great conti-
nent, which they have called Atlantis,
once existed between Africa and Amer
lea, but DIR. Carpenter regards the evil
dence Of itas very unsatisfactory.
M. Lamarre is the originator of an
improved military proiecGiie, a fire ball,
for the purpose of throwing a strong
light on the enemy's position in the night
time, the principal object being TO pre-
vent the digging of trenches or the ac-
complishment of other military opera
tions. Shortly after leaving the cannon.
the Lamarre fire ball discharges a light
sufficiently bright, and lasting. long
enough, to enable guns to be pointed
at the works. The projectile has also q
grenade, which explodes after a certain
time, thus keeping the enemy away,
and preventing their interference with
the light.
A Faith Home has been established
in Springfield, Mass. All persons af-
ficted in body or mind who have faith
to believe that they can receive physical
or spiritual help are welcome there, and
the healing is secured through the prayer
of faith, the laying on of hands, and
sometimes amounting with oil. Patients
are allowed to take their own course
while in the house, and, as Miss War
rinar says: = If they want q season of
prayer while we are in the midst of do
ing our dishes, we stop right there and
have itn Miss Warriner and Mrs.
Riser are better known in Chicopee, as
'' Sisters Orpha and Rosa, having lived
there together for nearly thirty years
Mrs. Riser says she was healed by faith
of grievous disease Of long standing,
some few years since. They depend
wholly on the Lord for their own sup
port and that of the institution, and
they have the impression that they will
shortly be led by him to move nearer
the heart of the city.
The death, probably q suicide, of the
stockbroker, Max A. Plat, whose body
was found in tie East river. New York,
conveys still another moral touching
Wall street. He had been a very bold
and successful speculator on the ex-
change; had counted himself rich; he
was as happy as man can be who lives
on a financial mine that may explode
any moment and blow his fortune and
contentment to pieces. For a year or
more he had, as the phrase is, been on
the wrong G side Of the market, and though
he had not failed, nor lost credit, his
losses so preyed on his mind that it
gradually swung out Of balance. He
disappeared from his home; was seen
aiterward in a strange, bewildered con-
dition, and next his body was taken
from the water. Or course Wall street
killed him directly, as it kills indirectly
scores Of men every year. He was
young-only thirty he had
wife and two children whom he loved;
he was genial and kind hearted; he had
many friends, in and ous of the board,
willing to help him over any rough
places. He had much to live for, but
the unconquerable desire to get moro
money after he had secured handsome
independence drove him to increased
risks, to arrangement, and to destruc-
ton. This distressing sort Of history is
continually repeating itself. The facts
disclosed every day about the stock ex-
change offer such sad lessons that they
need not be enforced. The New York
stockholders are supported by the losses
of outsiders. and yet they have not the
strength to keep out of the specu lations
which they see ruin others. Wall street
is the great gambling hell Of the cont
nent, and draws the whole country by
its mereenary fascination.
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