Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1881-08-26
Scientific MISCELLANY.

ons who has an opportunity OF
knowing, there are 5000 200 ,hilc!l
COWS i'll the United States, and -
DOC, 600 acres of land TO furnish fecs!
for that number. The milk pro-
iiced by t;e COWS annually, tt Il
Cents a gallon, is worth SG95. 100, ;
600.
Why is our hour divided mo siylv
".lnutes? Why not divide our tiuie
as we do Our money, by MS, count
ing ten, or fifty, CT 100 minutes 70
the hour? This questioh was asked
By IN intelligent boy Il few d,y,
since, and the answer given him iii "
both Interest AMI Instruct other
young people. The answer is this ::
We have sixty divisions on the lials
of our clocks and watches, because
the old Greek astronomer. Hip
parchus, who lived III the second
century before Christ, accepted the
Babylonian system of reckoning
time, that system being sexigesimal.
The Babyionians We're acquainted
with the decimal system, but for
common ana practical purposes they
counted by sossi and sdri, the sossoi
representing sixty, and the sa,os
sixty times sixty, 5000. From Hip
paichus, that mode of reckoning
found its way into the works of
Ptolemy, about 100 A. D., and
thence was carried down the stream
of science and civilization, and
found its way to the dial-plates of
our clocks and watches.
From the examination of book
compiled 1000 years B. C. it has
been ascertained, what has long been
supposed, that Chaldea was the
parent land of astronomy; for i. is
found, from this compilation and
from historical bricks, that the Baby
lonians catalogued the stars, and
named the consultations. They
observed the seventh day as day
of rest. They invented the sundia
to mark the movements CT the
heavenly bodies, the water.clock to
measure time, and they speak in this
work of the spots ON tho sun, fact
they could have been known only !
the aid of telescopes, which it is SUP
posed they possessed, from ooser-
vations they have noted down of the
rising of Venus. aud the fact that
Layard found a crystal lens in the
ruins of Nineveh. These bricks"
contain an account of the deluge,
substantially the same as the mar
rative III the Bible. They disclose
that houses and lands were then
sold, leased, aud mortsased; that
money was loaned at .,erest; and
that the market garden y, to use an
American phrase, )rked on
shares; that the fas ier, when
blowing with his oxen, beSuiled his
labor with homely songs, two OF
which have been found, and connect
this very remote civilization with the
usages of our own times.
The General Government coll ects
tax of 81 76 per thousand on Gig
arettes sold in the United States.
During the fiscal year, just past, our
juvenile smokers, assisted by few
of the big boys, have paid an aggre-
gate of over $500 900 into the treas.
ury for the privilege of drawing
smoke through these little paper
rolls.
SINCE April last, the Young Mems
Christian Association of San Fran
cisco have paid off a debt of over
eighty -four thousand dollars. This
relieves the premises from a long
standing mortgage, and places the
institution on a par with the oldest
organizations of this class in the
land.
The King county fair managers are
initiating their brethren Of the Wash
ington Industrial Association. They
have published their premium list,
this year, in pamphlet form, inter
spersed with some snowy advertise
ments.
EVERY purchaser of a railroad lot
in New Tacoma obligates himself to
build thereon a house. This &C
counts for the large number of
" banquet halls deserted" in that
much abused little town.
AND now comes scientist who
says that coffee, after being properly
roasted, should be ground as fine as
-four in order that it may yield its
full supply of nutrition and aroma.
WANTED.-A hundred thousand
men and women to settle upon the
broad acres of valley and plain that
go to make up the basin of the Puget
Sound country.
The hying-machine man is not
dead yet, but was engaged in arrang-
ing his pinions. last week, at the