The record-union., 1892-04-22
OUR INFORMATION BUREAU.
Responses to Correspondents Seeking
Substantial Information.

Responses to Correspondents Seeking
Substantial Information.
For responses to questions of practical
value Mere puzzles, and the curious and
common, answers to which ought TO be found
in the ordinary home library, viii receive
no attention. Queries published without re-
sponses are invitations to furnish answers,
TO make this department an information
exchange also. Communications must he
brief and signed with name and address
H. G. L.-,No Englishman was ever
named by the Chinese Government as
Envoy. The only foreigner upon whom
China conferred that honor was Burlin-
game, the American. But China has fre-
quently named foreigners as Consular
Agents-out of that fact probably arises
your misapprehension.
b. H.-Not Mcclellan, nor vet Grant.
1t was General Butler who appointed
cara barton and conferred upon her the
tltle Lady in Charge of the hospitals.
She never signed her name with that
title, however.
no were the "Biddenden Maids?"
hnd them referred to in a magazine, but
without explanation as to who they
were. SADIE.
They were two sisters Chulkhurst of
Blddenden, Kent, Eng. They were said
10 nave been united by a ligament, as
were the Siamese twins. They died in
the twelfth century. A bequest of these
maids, 1t is said, laid the foundation for a
fund for distribution of bread and cheese
to the poor of Biddenden on Easter Mon
days. 1t comes from the rental of twenty
acres OF land, yielding about Sl0O year
for the lease.
). S.-The question as to what is the
cause of earthquakes is not settled. The
most generally received opinion is that
that they result from internal explosions
and breakings off of the internal side of
the earth's crust. But the contrary is
stoutly maintained in favor of other
theories.
BooNE-No, clark and bloody ground'
is not the meaning of Kentucky. The
term has been applied, but incorrectly,
for the word means Land at the head OF
the river" and the Indian word was pro-
nounced kaln-tuk-ee.
MoTHER-A heating diet will cause ap-
parent skin disC2se-but consult phy-
Sician, and ascertain the cause beyond
doubt.
c. Las to the relation between me-
teorology and la grippe we are not pos
sessed OF accurate knowledge. 1t IS not
new question, but technical one. 1t is
held by some men Of scientific standing
that solar disturbances early precede or
accompany the influenza epidemic. Dr..
Mccarthy of Rochester, y. Y, claims
that Consular reports at Washington
show that solar disturbances are deter
mining factors at the bottom of the un-
usual development Of ordinarily inert
germs during la grippe epidemics.
STEwART-Professor Frank Stewart of
California was the most prominent ex-
ponent of the theory that earthquakes are
due to electrical discharges to and from
the surface of the earth. Y on will prob
ably ind something of his writing on the
subject III the State Library.
c. S. H.-There is no warrant for the
addresses you quote. Good usage does
not sanction them. Women do not take
the titles Of their husbands. 1t is there
fore improper to write Mrs. General
Brown, Mrs. Colonel Smith, Mrs. Judge
Jones. No, never address any one below
the rank of Captain or Commander by
his military title.
PRINT-Yes, sir, woodtype casting is
not only proposed, but has been patented
in France by NJ. Bizouard and NJ. Le-
noir. Their process substitutes wood for
lead. The type is said to take the ink
well, to wash well even with strong
chemicals. If the claim is all contended
for, it will revolutioniZe letter-cutting,
wood-engraving and electrotyping and
work great changes in cabinet making.
The composition is sawdust worked with
some chemicals that gives a result as
ductile as lead and in a few moments
presents cast as fine as anything by
electrotyping. The process is a secret.
Mrs. S.-We adhere to the former state
ment, that in addressing a stranger you
should sign Mrs. s." Otherwise he or
she must reply to you thus awkwardly,
MADAM or Miss and likewise in that
form address the envelope. Why you
object to the honorable title of Mrs. we
cannot understand.
ED.-Mr. Edison has long been ex-
perImenting with what he calls a
olar-telephone, by which he hopes
10 receive sounds from the sun, when
it is in an apparent spasm of dis
turbance, as indicated by breaks in its
envelope, called sun spots. He expresses
confidence in his experiments. He erectS
poles with a copper wire thereon, en-
circling a small mountain of iron ore as
his magnet. His theory is that the dis
turbances affect and transmit cleo
trical waves, which reach the earth in a
very short time, and that he can change
them into sound.
AMY-"Is there planet between Mer-
there is excellent reason for so believing,
from mathematical analysis of the per-
tubations of Mercury.
DoUBTER-The telegraphic dispatch is
correct. Gladstone was a few years ago
an advocate of woman suffrage; he has
changed 10 an opponent, from conviction
that it is not best for woman Gladstone
is not alone in this change of belief; some
of the most prominent sociologists Of the
age hold with him, though earlier believ-
ing in comforting the ballot privilege
upon woman.