Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-01-16
CURIOUS, USEFUL AND SCIENTIFIC.
AN ENORMOUS HAWK.

hOuo uaWh Oh Ills IaCner s place lew
days since. 1t must have been one of the
largest birds of that species that has
ever been seen in this region, as it meas
Ured feet and inches from tip to tip,
and weighed two pounds and half. It
IS to be regretted that it could not be
placed III the hands of some sk1llful tax
1dermist for preservation. Catoosa
(GeO.) Courier.
RETRIBUTION.
A correspondent, who has recently
made visit to the Massachusetts states
prison at Concord, says: "I was stand
ing IN the main hall, engaged in CONVEX
sation with the deputy warden, when I
observed an old man advancing through
the corridor, who was dragging his right
leg behind him. 1t was perfectly use
less, and hung like a mass of lead. /
asked the warden about his history, and
he told me that he bad been sentenced
for life for kicking his wife to death,
and that soon after he entered the prison
the leg which he had used for thet pur-
pose began to grow useless, until now it
was entirely devoid of life."
STEALING A TRUNK,
A robbery under extraordinary cir
cumstances was committed few nights
ago in the streets of Paris. M. Soriano,
Spanish project, was being driven in
cab from the hotel where he had been
staying to the railway station. Among
his baggage on the cab was trunk con-
tanning important papers, 5000 francs
IN gold and jewels, and objects of art to
| the value of $4,000 francs. About half
way to the station the driver was startled
| by one of the trunks falling upon him.
He stopped and was replacing it, when he
saw that the strap had been cut and that
large trunk was missing. This proved
to be the one In which the treasure was
packed. So dexterously had it been alb
stracted that neither the driver nor his
fare had remarked anything until one of
the other trunks had fallen as described.
A GoosE-EATING MULE.
Mr.. Robert Bonner, of Warm Springs
District, has been losing his geese for
long time. He attributed his losses to
the foxes which have their haunts in his
neighborhood, though he was astonished
to find the geese eaten entirely, nothing
but few feathers being left. One night
recently, hearing disturbance among
his geese In the horse lot, he seized his
gun and rushed to the lot to investigate
the cause of the commotion. Getting as
close as caution allowed, he fired in the
direction of the noise made by the strug-
Cling geese. At the report of the gun
his ears wear greeted with a most ter
rife squalling from one of the mules. A
light being procured it was discovered
that the mule had received q part of the
load IN his nose, stray shot or two pas
sing through the animals ear. It was
the mule that had been eating the geese
and bloody nose was the result of his
detection. No serious damage was done
to the equine lover of goose fesh.-
MeTT5Uether (Ga.) V5ndicatOr.
A LEATHER-BACK TURTLE.
A few days since one of the vessels
lying at anchor off Mayport was OBJ
served to move back and forth in a very
restless manner. It was soon discovered
that the disturbance came from some
thing foul Of the anchor chain. A har-
pooh was thrust down and struck live
something, which, on being hauled on
boar}, proved to be huge leather-back
turtle. 1t was brought to town and dis
posed of to J. I. Mackey, the curiosity
man, who had it hauled to his place of
business yesterday. A large crowd as
sembled at his shop, on Bay Street,
as the monster was being moved in.
The following are it's dimensions: Seven
feet In length, 3 feet across the back.
1t weighed $40 pounds. It is rare
species, and seldom met with along our
coast. Its color is very dark, almost
| black. There are five lengthwise ridges
| along its back, one in the center and
two on each side, and these are slightly
serrated. Its mouth, though shaped like
that of a green turtle, has a peculiar
formation similar in r2earance to the
tusks of the walrus.
EGYPTIAN MECHANICAL METHODS.
Petrie, who is the author of treat
Use on ancient neurology, has lately
turned his attention to ancient Egyp-
tian processes. Though much labor
has been bestowed on the literary re-
mains of Egypt and the description of
monuments, little attention has been
given to finding out the tools and meth
DDS by which their results were reached,
The first conclusion to which Mr., Pet
RE comes is that the stone-cutting was
performed by means of craving points
far harder than the material to be cut.
These points were bedded in basis of
bronze; and in boring, the cutting ac-
tion was not by grinding with a powder,
as in lapidary's wheel, but by craving
with fixed point, as in planning ma
chine. From discovering spiral grooves
in diorite and granite, at least, 1-1OOth
of an inch in depth, the author sup
poses that an instrument was used of
sufficient hardness to penetrate the ma
terial that far at single turn. In this,
however, he was corrected by Mr.. Ev-
ans. The simplest tool used was a
straight bronze saw set with Jewels; but
there is proof of one circular saw which
must have been 81 inches in diameter.
For following the insldes of stone OBJ
jects, the inventive genius of the fourth
dynasty exactly anticipated modern de-
vices by adopting tubular drills varying
from 24-1O0ths of an inch in diameter
and 2100ths of an inch in thickness to
Is inches In diameter. Other drills, not
tubular, were used for small holes, one
measuring 2-10th inches long and
8100th of an inch in diameter. Butthisis