Morning journal and courier., 1890-09-08

that country, according to Sir James Caird, an eminent authority, the purchasing ability of the farmer has been impaired by unrestricted foreign competition to the ex- tent of $200, ,000, 900 year, and the same cause has driven more than 600, ,000 farm laborers into the towns, to compete with the half employed labor already there. It has forced out of cultivation more than 1,700, ,000 acres of arabic land, and in the county of Kent, the very garden of the realm, there are more vacant holdings than have been known for century.
 The fraudulent practice of manufactur- ing mineral waters sold as natural mineral waters has been for some time complained of by medical men. Now that Seine water has in many districts replaced spring wa ter, mineral waters are more largely used than before, and their Justification, which is carried out on large scale, is matter of public importance. Specimens of diff ferent mineral waters in all parts of Paris have been examined at the municipal lab oratory, and it has Been discovered that the same water is used for twenty-four different preparations. In Germany and Austria this trade is carried on extensive ly, but not fraudulently; manufactured mineral waters are sold as such, and at a lower price than the natural waters. It is estimated that half of the mineral waters drunk in Paris are manufactured with Seine water.
 The planting of eucalyptus trees for the purpose of drawing the soil in malaria districts has met with some success. The Trefontane convent at Rome had become positively uninhabitable, owing to the malaria which attacked-in many instances with fatal results-its inmates. Senator Torrelli presented a bill proposing that the estate annexed to the convent should be planted with eucalyptus as an experiment against malaria. The bill was passed and the Trappist monks planted thousand of eucalyptus plants of all species on the es- tate. But still the malaria ragged, and sew eral monks suffered severely. It was, however, remarked that it was only the monks who had their cells looking on the central cloiater who fell victims to the malaria. This suggested the idea of planting four eucalyptus trees at the four corners of the cloister. The plants, shel- tered from the winds, soon grew to great height. The immediate result was the 1.0o i,,f o1n ar and the disappearance of malaria fever from the convent.
 Some kings have as much sense as ordi- nary men. King Humbert's hair has be- come snow white, much to the distress of Queen Marguerite, who is most anxious that her husband should follow the exam pie of his father and the fashion common among elderly Piedmontese officers, and dye his hair. Her pleadings were, how ever, of no avail. Humbert's is an honest nature, that does not love these subter- fuges. Seeing petition was in vain, the queen had recourse to stratagem. She caused quantity of fine hair dye to be sent from Paris and put into the kings dressing room, together with directions for its use, making, however, no allusion to the subject. The king, too, said noth- ing, though he could not fail to see the pigments Now the queen has a large white poodle of which she is very fond. What was her horror, a few days later, tc see her pet come running into her room with his snowy locks dyed the very deep est black hue King Humbert had ex. pended the dyes in changing the color of the poodle's hair From that day forth the subject of hair-dyeing was dropped be- tween the royal couple.
 The London Electrician calls attention to some curious coincidences between the names of inventors and mechanical appli- ances which have given rise to absurd mistakes. It was commonly supposed years ago that the Brush machine was SC called on account of some special kind of brushes, and that the Lever arc lamp de rived its name from two peculiar levers in its mechanism. 'The Ball dynamo has nc | spherical armature, as might be supposed. The Short electric railway system is moi specially adapted for lines of limited length. Bright shackles are never polish ed, and the Siemens galvanometer has nothing to do with the mariners compass, with which beginners sometimes confound | it. The Parsons engine is not a clerical device, and the Upward battery has noth,
 ing in common with Excelsior cartoons
 Such popular errors may be excused, how
 ever, when we find recognized text bool
 explaining the Daniels cell as being SC
 called because of its constancy." In thii
 country large number of people have al
 ways thought that the Bell telephone wa
 80 called because of ssthe bell which is at
 tached to it, and so widespread was thi
 belief that the Long Distance Telephon l Company made it serve a commercial pur
 pose by adopting the bell as their trad
 mark.