Huntsville gazette., 1888-09-01
OF GENERAL INTEREST.

- +---Olt VI blltf Od(l ltttttftS VI our utJ-
uralization4aws is that an army officer
need not be a citizen, but a naval Off
Ger must be. ...t
A Connecticut colt is said to have
been found getting pears to eat by rub
bing himself against pear tree until
the shaking brought down the fruit,
which he would eat, and then return
and shake the tree again.
Russian soldiers have lately suf-
fered from night-blindness (hemeralo-
pia9, an affection generally due to lack
of proper food. An epidemic of this
disease at time When bread was the
chief diet has been known to disap-
pear on a~return to animal food.
Some of the handsomest old man
sions in the country MAY be seen in
Annapolis, Md, where they have stood
with but little alteration since the
early colonial days. a. few Of the
houses date back to the. seventeenth
century, but the more imposing OF
them were built just prior to the Revo-
luton, when Annapolis was the seat of
refined and wealthy community.
America is a great country.
Twenty years ago q c6# that would
give 5000 pounds of milk Il year
was a very good sort Of an animal,
but now comes q gentleman Of Cuba.
n. Y, with Holstein COW lPieterge
2d) which has y tested record Of 80, 5183
pounds for year. A brief study of
how much a. COW must eat to produce
such a yield as this is interesting
Washtngtoa Critic
Something new in the line Of di-
rectory Information is included in the
list Of names Of the inhabitantsiOf Plym-
outh. Octogenarians and older peo-
pie generally have their age stated as
well as their calling and residence.
Presumably this is done "by consent
Of partics.n In fact, they probably
like it, for it is q weakness Of man
(and sometimes Of wornan) when he
reaches d certain age to brag Of his
years.
in tracing the gradual opening up
Of the African continent, during the
last hundred years, geologists find that
the days of pioneer exploration are
not yet over. A few patches of the
! surface have been surveyed with some
care, of others we have a general
knowledge, and in others lines Of travel
| have been run through, but there are
! still great regiOns-as in parts of the
| long travelled Sahara cyen-that are
an absolute blank to civilized man.
The West End Horse Railroad Of
Boston is now the largest street rail-
way combination in the world, having
about PIP miles Of track, and over
5000 horses; ten per cent, of the
| horses are counted as being of duty
| from illness, sprains, shoeing or other
causes, and the balance Of the horses
average about twelve miles day. a
| car day is estimated at ten to eleven
hours, and from fOrty-tve to fifty
miles, and eight horses are allowed as
the active force.
Under the name of porcelain shot,
small white globules Of porcelain are
made in Munich. They are made to
take the place Of ordinary lead shot
used for cleaning wine and medicine
bottles, as porcelain is entirely free
from the objection o.. producing lead
contamination, which is often the re-
suit when ordinary shot il used.
Their hardness and rough surface pro-
ducing, when shaken, greater friction,
adapt the porcelain shot well for
quickly cleaning dirty and greasy bot
ties, and as they are not acted upon
by acids or oralkalies, almost any liquid
can be used. .-a
"A California paper relates that as
a train was pulling out from Salida q
wild steer rushed upon the engine and
! moment later was lifted by the cow
catcher and landed squarely on the
platform. The steer hooked the head
light into pieces and then climbed on
top of the locomotive. 1t fooled
awhile with the bell, and then tried to
butt loose the whistle. The engineer
had enough presence, OF mind to stop
the train quickly, and the shock
tumbled the steer off into ditch. BY
the time the train was started the
maddened animal had regained his
feet and was following with the evil
dent intent of trying an attack in the
rear, but the train was too fast for him.
An Albany physician says Amer
leans suffer more generally from
Bright's disease and nervousness than
any other people because they sit down
so persistently at their work. While
Englishmen, Germans and Frenchmen
walk and exercise, an American busi-
ness man will 60 to his office, take his
seat in his chair, and sit there all day
without giving any relief to the
i tension Of the muscles of the back.
The result is that the muscles sur
rounding the kidneys become soft and
fabby. They lose their vitality. The
kidneys themselves become weak and
debilitated. If business men woGld
| of, ,i+