Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-02-04
NEWS AND NOTES.

The Winfarthing oak, Norfolk, and
the Bentley oak were 700 years old at the
time Of the Norman conquest.
The eight olive trees on the Mount of
Olives were fiourishing 500 years ago
when the Turks took Jerusalem.
There is a yew tree in East Layant
churehyard in England thirty-one feet
in girth just below the spring OF the
branches
The baobab tree of Senegal is estimated
to be $50 years old, and Humboldt con-
siders the dragon tree of Orotaya, in
Teneriffe, to be quite as old.
It is the prediction of the Eastman
Georgia. Journal that 1.-THE idea of
teaching every girl to thump a piano and
every boy to be boolkeeper, will make
potatoes 81 a bushel in twenty years
The Monroe doctrine can be interpre-
ted to cover Samoa. It is as follows:
Z" We declare that we consider any at
tempt (of the allied powers of Europe) to
extend their system to any portion Of this
hemisphere as dangerous to our peace and
safety"
A new scheme of card kilograms is be-
ing tried in Hungary for use in districts
having a postefice. but without n teIe-
postoffice at the price of 50 kreu zers for
FIVE words, excess to be paid for by
additional postage stamps, to be affixed
at the corner. The telegram can be put
in any letter box, and is forwarded to
the nearest telegraph Office, and from
there it is dispatched without further
delay or charge.
Belgium still maintains the distinction
hafY n 10,
Europe. On an average, each man,
woman and child consumes yearly 24O
quarts of beer and thirteen quarts of
spirits. The government is at last aroused
to a sense of the evils of the situation,
and some restrictive laws are to be put in
force. The right to collect by legal pro-
cess debts incurred in drinking houses has
been abolished; it is forbidden TO sell
drink to persons under sixteen years of
age, and to sell liquor to anyone until he
is drunk is made a crime.
One of the questions in the exatnina-
ton papers of the Boston high school
was: SIS there an antidote for hydro
cyanic acid?'' One of the pupils,
young woman q graduate from the gram
mar school, gave this answer: eyes;
the antidote for hYdrocyanic acid is the
tongue OF a large dog cautiously in
hailed. By what mental process she
arrived at this remarkable answer will
never be known The only clue is the
fact that in the text book used is a state
ment that a small drop of prussic acid
placed ''upon the tongue of large dog
would kill it instantly.
The planet of the month that will
attract the greatest attention Is Venus,
as she shines even before the setting of
the sun. She is rapidly approaching the
earth and increasing in size and
brilliancy. She viii not set before 8
0 CLOCK, and will be q most beautiful
object in the western sky throughout the
month The constellation of Pisces has
the honor of containing this queen of the
planets. After February Saturn be-
comes an evening star, and he is in OPP
position with the sun and offers the best
conditions for observation on that day.
He rises in the early evening. He shines
with a steady pale yellow light that
makes him easily distinguished
from his setting of small twinkling stars,
as well as from Regulus, the bright star
IN the sickle. Mercury, with accustomed
passes the first portion of the
month as evening star, and the latter
half as one of the morning stars. He is
visible to the naked eye in the western
ky about three quarters of an hour after j
sunset for the first week of the month
The moon fulls on the 18th inst. The
sun, which is coming northward, will in
crease the length of the day one hour and
line minutes during the month.