The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-06-23
FOREIGN GOSSIP

-''St. Patrick's blue" is new tint
worn by Wing girls in England.
Easter Monday and Whit Monday
have been made legal holidays in Paris
1t is proposed to celebrate in Lon
don next year the tercentenary of the
invention of shorthand.
"A Bombay physician expresses the
the opinion that civilization in India is
gradully having the effect of increasing
the size of the human skull among the
natives.
"A japanese paper says a vein OF
coal has been discovered on one of the
islands of the Riu Kin group, which, it
is expected, will yield 100000 tons of
coal annually.
A man in London has been arrested
for Systematically starving his aunt to
death. For years it has been his custom
to lock her in a room every other day
without food.
"A steamer for Australia recently
passed through the Suez canal by night,
being furnished with electric lights, re-
ducing the passage by several hours, as
the steamers usually tie up at night.
Two members of Parliament have
fallen heirs to $4,000 apiece, bequeathed
to them by lady with whom neither
had an acquaintance, and who did not
even state the grounds of her apprecia-
ton.
"A piece of iron rolled in the new
Falcon mill, at Niles, the other day is
as thin as sheet of ordinary paper. 1t
would take $50 sheets to constitute one
inch in thickness. The mill made this
piece just to see how thin they could
roll.
The French Senate offers prize of
from $4,000 to $4,000 francs to any
chemist who shall discover the best
practical method of making researches
with the view of ascertaining the tonic
principles and impurities contained in
"vinic alcohol"
The British Government have be-
gun to construct at Castries, on the
Island of st. Lucia, the dock-yards and
other works ncedful to turn that OBJ
scure port into a naval station. This
harbor is the only one in the British
West Indies Except that of Kingston
{Jama!ca), where steamers can 60 to
the wlinrves to coal.
Teak wood is said to be the most
valuable of all the woods grown in the
Fast. 1t is neither too heavy nor too
hard. 1t does not warp or split under
exposure to heat or dampness. 1t con-
tains an essential oil which prevents its
rotting under wet conditions, and at the
same time acts as preservative of iron
and repels white ants. There are vast
forests of teak in Burman.
Several kinds of quadrupeds in the
London zoo suffer from corns on their
feet, due to the hard floors, and these
produce boring ulcers, which may ex-
tend clear through the foot. Hernia
occasionally afflicts the monkeys, and a
tiger has lately been killed by an accu-
mutation in his intestines of sawdust,
swallowed with his food. These are
new diseases in menageries.
The following are the latest figures
of the strength of the. French army.
They are taken from the book "Avant
la Bataille" which was published a
week or two ago by the Patriotic
League" and has been sort of nine
days wonder in Paris. There are eighteen
corps d'armee, comprising $50 battalions
of infantry, 1853 squadrons of cavalry,
and 324 batteries. The total effective
force is said to be: Officers, 10, 73S; men,
GIL, 292i horses, 100000; guns, 1914;
carriages, 1854.