Connecticut western news., 1885-06-03
NOTES AND COMMENTS.

HE 9htNtC0t hbftd hhgb Alht tue Chinese reptiles which are administered by Chinese doctors in cases of consump. ton and anamia with considerable suc- cess are due to the large amount of azote and phosphorus contained in them.
 PICTURE canvas can be made repellant of water by sleeping it in solution of alum, drying it, and then in a solution of sugar of lead. But it will not be in- pervious to water. To make it water. proof it may be coated with rubber varnish.
 FEATHERS csn be curled after having been dyed by holding them before fire where they can be warmed little, and each fibre is drawn over the edge of an ivory knife, or any other thin, smooth, hard substance. This gives the curl to it. So says an authority.
 A PETTY scandal having been set afloat concerning him, the pastor of an African Methodist church in Des Moines, Iowa, entered upon an explanation of his connection with the affair to his congregation on Sunday from his pulpit He was greatly excited, and in the coarse of his remarks dropped dead.
 BOSTON scoundrels advertise work to do at home, exact two or three dollars for material, promise to pay good prices for the job when finished, and then re- fuse to take the finished work on the ground that it does not suit. The material only costs few cents. The persons swindled are almost always poor.
 ST. HousER, of Helena, Mon., speak. ing of Riel, the Canadian rebel, said: ''I knew Riel very we'll when he was in Montana. He was an extraordinary man. You would not have thought him a half-breed. He was naturalized in Montana, and accumulated some prop erty there. He was man of great nervous force"
 SENATOR EDAruNDs has written letter to an Indian graduate of the Carlisle school, in which he says, 'I shali be glad at the next session to do anything in my power to make general provision that any Indian, who chooses voluntarily and in some formal way to renounce his allegiance to his tribe and assert his desire to become citizen of the United States, with all its rights and responsi. bilities, may do so."
 4 GENTLEMAN visiting in town was mach pleased with the appearance Of a lsdy to whom he was introduced, and asked several questions in regard to her. Upon being told that she kept a shoot ing gallery he was much surprised and shocked. After he had given vent to his astonishment in several interjections his informant told him that she only meant that she was a school teacher and taught "the young idea how to shoot" ,"
 DURING a very tedious ride on a Southern railroad, the passengers, tired, dirty, and thirsty, all berated the com. pany with the exception of one single passenger. His fellow passengers com mented on this, and asked him why he didn't denounce the road too. "It would be hardly fair," he replied, " as I am travelling on free pass; but if they don't do better pretty soon, blame me if don't go out and buy ticket and join you"
 TIE cricket field seems to be becom- ing as dangerous as the football con tests. Only few days since an accident of a shocking character occurred at Hales- owen, England. Two players, in at- tempting to catch bal which had been thrown up in the air. came into violent collision, and one had his jaw and nose broken, his teeth knocked out, and sustained other serious injuries. He was removed from the field in an in- sensible state.
 BEN. PERLEY PooRE in the Boston Buagct says Mir. Lincoln never drark intoxicating liquors or used tobacco in any form. Neither did he know how to play any game we'll. He was not a slovenly man, but he bought cheap clothes, and cared little whether they fitted him or not. Alter he came to Washington, Mrs. Lincoln used to sec that he was always presentable, but he often rebelled and regarded white kid gloves as an unmitigated nuisance.
 THOMAS KAY, President of the Stock. port (Eng.) Natural History Society, read paper "on Making Sea Water Potable" His process is to remove the chlorides by the use of citrate of silver.
 He says that one ounce of citrate of sil.
 yer will convert half pint of sea wntel into drinkable fluid, and q man can keep alive on it day, or seven ounces will serve to sustain life for week. Ht
 proposes that bottles of the citrate o silver should be secured in the hfeboatl l of ships, and used when absolutely re quired. The citrate of soda formed if an important constituent of the human body, aud citrie acid, from its carbon, is almost food.
 PROT. RILEY, chief of the Entomolog ical Division, Agricultural Department receives many letters from the West in
 dicating that the farmers are aarmeC about the seventeen-year locus;s. Prof Riley says the seventeen-y year locusts ar, a harmless to growing crops, and do n' g harm except to the twigs of forest ant
 fruit trees. Wherever young orchard I have been planted on land which ha , been cleared daring the last seventeen s years, the trees are liable to suffer some - what, but it is probable that the use c kerosene emulsion sprayed upon tn . trees will protect them. The ordiRar e locust, which is SO destructive to grow |. ing crops, has jaws which cut, while tll & seventeen-year species, more properl d called the eicada, has only a bea 3 throuph which it sucks its nouriahment