News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1885-10-08
THE MYSTERIES OF A DAY.

THE MYSTERIES OF A DAY.
| STRANGE, CURIOUS AND STARTLING
THINGS OCCURRING ABOUT Us.
The California SeaIs-How to Plank Fish
Monster Devil Fish-A Surprised Dog
TOiling the Bell, &c. &c.
The custom of tolling the bell on boats
passing the tomb of Washington origi-
mated, said DR.. Toner, at meeting of
the Washington Literary Society, on a
French merchant vessel which had been
to Alexandria for cargo, and going
down the river after General Washing
tons death, but before his interment,
placed its colors at half-mast and tolled
its bell continuously while passing the
house of mourning. This special testi-
mony of respect impressed every person
as becoming and.appropriate, and it was
at once taken up. and practised by all
river craft. Ever since then the bell is
tolled on vessels of every character and
nation which pass the tomb of Washing
ton. 1t may, then, be claimed to have
entail respect, observed by all vessels
sailing up and down the Potomac river
coal was obtained. Many of the spec
linens of wood are encrusted with layers
of crystallized chalcedony of an opales-
cent tint, so beautiful that sections have
been mounted and worn as jewelry. In
Wyoming there have been found sec
lions of trees twenty inches in diameter
and several feet in length, like hollow
tubes, with the interior surface entirely
studded with pure quartz crystals, pre-
senting most beautiful appearance.
A DOG was blown to pieces lately at
Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, under the
following circumstances: Several scien-
lists were making experiments of dyra-
mite in barn among the Welsh hills.
The charge of dynamite, with five
minutes fuse attached, was thrown into
the water; and the power of the explo-
siye was judged by the volume of water
forced up by the conclusion. While
the operations were proceeding, sports
man, accompanied by his dog, appeared
on the scene; and as another dynamite
charge was thrown into the lake, the
animal instantly sprang into the water
and seized the explosive, which it quick
ly brought ashore. The sportsman
shouted to his dog to drop the substance,
but the animal ran in the direction of
its master and the experimentalists who
Immediately fed, and the dog was only
kept at bay by continuous shower of
stones. The charge ultimately exploded,
and the poor animal was shattered to
atoms, its master and friends narrowly
escaping with their lives.
THE investigation of a commission re-
garding the seals on the California coast
lead to the belief that there are about
4, 900 seals in the harbor of San Fran
cisco. 1t is estimated that they con-
sumo 1870 tons of fish every twenty-four
hours, which is a far greater amount
than that required for 800, 900 people,
and greater than the entire supply
brought into the San Francisco market.
The seals prey exclusively upon salmon,
smelts, shad, herring and other shoal
water fish. The creature respires above
water, and can stay under only a short
time. Deep water fish therefore escape
him. He feeds at night, and lies on the
rocks and suns himself in the day time
The skins of the seals on the California
coast are of very little mercantile value,
and they do not yield oil enough to make
their capture profitable. In view of
their depredations upon the fish supply
the question of their determination is
discussed, but how it is to be accomp-
lished is difficult problem, as they are
exceedingly prolific.
IT is related that once when Nine.
Patti returned from her daily drive she
was exceedingly thirsty, and asked NJ
Nicolini to request some one of their
long retinue to bring her a glass of
water. "Whatl" shrieked Nicolini, in
high B fiat, 'tMa mignonne, you know
that you are going to sing tomorrow
night, and that water will chill your
blood. Oh, no; I forbid any water
g Then give me taste of wine" pleaded
thirsty Patti. "Wine?" roared Nicoiini
in his highest G. ma mignonne, you
are going to sing tomorrow night, and
you know that wine will heat the blood
can't have something wet 2' begged
Patti, as her palate clicked dryly in her |
throat. Nicolini pOndered long and |
deeply, and at length, with his own
hands carefully prepared for the great
singer soothing draught of dissolved
nagnesia. So much for being print
donna.
An interesting paper has been COM
inundated to one of the California
scientific societies ON the fossil wood
which is found in different localities
throughout that State. This silicifed
wood Is stated to be a variety of quartz;
The wood fiber is gradually replaced by
quartz, leaving the form of the wood in
tact, so much so that sections cut and
placed under a microscope show the
grain of the wood, by
which the genera may often be de-
termined, and sometimes the species
In what is known as the petrified forest
IN Colorado, where are stumps of trees
several feet in height and some twelve
or fifteen feet in diameter, one stump
seemed to have been fossilized while in
a charred state. and from it fossil char
SHAD, founders, sunfish or any other
flat fish may be ''planked. Cut off
the head and tail, split open the back,
but do not cut clean through the belly,
leaving the fish so that it may be opened
wide like book and tackled on plank
or piece of bark. Tack some thin slices
Of bacon or pork to the end of the fish
hat will be uppermost when before the
ire, and, if you like, a few slices of
Jaw onion sprinkled with pepper and
,alt. Sharpen one end of the plank and
rive 1t into the ground before a bed of
lot Goals. Catch the drippings in tin
up or large spoon and haste the fish
till it smells SO good you
ant wait another instant to eat it. 1t
S then done
A monster devil fish has been caught
n the Gulf of Mexico, off Galveston.
'exas. These creatures are rarely seen .
n the neighborhod, but lately a shoal +
anne in shore, and after much trouble !
ne was caught in seine. 1t had to be +
ragged ashore by horses, as it weighed
ally two tons. The catch proved to be !
true specimen of the "Cephaloptera 9
'ampyrus, " the vampire of the ocean. i
nd as it lay dead on the beach it exact h
resembled an enormous bat or vampire. =
he fish was sixteen feet wide from the 4
Itreme edge of the pectoral fins and a
'urteen feet long, while the mouth was q
'ur feet wide, and was protected on
Ich side by curious appendages like
Orns, with which it seized its prey.
A CORRESPONDENT of the Toronto
lobe, writing from Manitoba, saws that