The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-01-20
is done by dipping it in a zinc bath con-

| is done by dipping 1t III emo bath con-
tanning muriatic acid.
Burgundy pitch is not pitch, nor is it
manufactured at or exported from Bur-
gundy. The best is resinous substance
prepared for common frankincense, and
brought from Hamburg; but by far the
larger quality is a mixture of resin and
palm oil.
Prussian blue does not come from
Prussia, but it is the precipitate of the
salt of protoxide of iron with red
prussiate of potass.
Salt is no salt at all, and has long been
wholly excluded from the class OF bodies
denominated as salts.
Whalebone is no bone at all, nor does
it possess any properties of bone. 1t is
substance attached to the upper jaw of
the whale and serves to strain the water
which the creature takes up in large
mouthfuls.
Speaking of whales reminds me OF
sperm oil, which properly means "seed
oil" Latin, sperma) from the notion
that it was spermaceti the spawn or
melt of whale The spermaectl
whale is the one that gives this "seed
OIL" which isataken chiefly, but not
wholly, from the neau
Longitude and latitude, the great
dimension and the little or broad dimen-
sion of the earth. According to the an
cient notion, the world was bounded on
the west by the Atlantic, but extended
an indefinite length eastward. II was
similarly terminated on the south by the
tropic of Cancer, whence it extended
northward, but this extent being much
less than that east and west, was called
the breadth or latitude.
Kensington Palace is not in Kensing-
ton at all, but in the parish of st. Mar
garet, Westminster
Jerusalem artichoke has no cOnnec-
ton with Jerusalem, but with the sun
flower, giracole, which it resembles.
Louis de Bourbon, Bishop of Liege, is
made by Sir Walter Scott, in "Quentin
Durward," an "old man," whereas he
was only eighteen years of age, and q
scholar at Louvain. He made his entry
into his see in scarlet jerkin and cap
set jauntily on one side A. Dumas,
Charles the Bold.
Philip VI, of France, was called lie
bien fortune, but never was name more
inappropriate. He was defeated at
Sluys, and again on the field of Greasy;
he lost Calais; and fourth of all his
subjects were carried off by the "black
death"
Louis XIV. was styled the Well Be-
loved, which was certainly most singu-
lar and inappropriate title for this most
detestible and verify detested OF all
Kings.
Absalom means "Fathers Peace, u
fatal name for David's rebellious son.
Did YOU ever think, when reading that
beautiful poem, Son the Shores of Ten
nessee," of the age of Ralph Nervair?
If not, Just consider the lapse OF time
between "wLen he fought by Marion S
side" and the day when the flag went up
the river" and you will find it was about
time for him to give Pompey his lib
erty.
The much discussed question. Who
wrote the Declaration of independence?
has been so differently decided, and each
claim so we'll supported that the author.
ship of the grand old document is yet
considered as "a misnomer by many. Let
us give the honor to the signers and be
content that the deed was done.
Among the many mistakes prevalent IN
regard to the habits of animals and in
sects is the notion that ants In general
gather food in harvest for a winters
store. This is quite an error; in the
first place, they are torpid in winter and
do not require food. Col. Sykes, how
ever, says there is in Poonah, grain
feeding species which stores up millet
seed, but certainly our ants have no
claim to Jane Taylor's stanza;
Who taught the little ant the way
narrow hole to bore,
And labor all the summer day
To gather winter store?