The herald., 1898-02-04
OFFICE OF THE HERALD,
Los Angeles, Feb. 3, 1898.
at is more easy to pretend than to con
Ceal knowledge"

1T is more easy TO pretend tnaI 10 con-
ceal knowledge"
The heirs of n person who commits sui
eide while in n sane mind cannot recover
on an insurance policy, according to the
decision of the Supreme Court of the
United States in the case of Ritter VS.. the
Mutual Life Insurance Company of New
York. 1t appeared that the plaintiffs tes-
tator, a resident of Philadelphia, commit
ted suicide within less than a year after
increasing his insurance to the extent of
100000. making an aggregate insurance on
his life of 100000 or the 5000 900 increase,
the New York company carried SIS 900.
which 1t declined to pay on the ground
that the insurer was sane when he took
his life. 1t was shown ON the trial that
he had written a letter the day before his
death declaring that it was his purpose
to put an end to his life so that the insur-
ance money could be collected for the pay
ment of his debts Judge Harlan said that
when an insurance company entered into n
contract to insure II mans life neither
party to the contract could be supposed to
nave suicide in contemplation, and that it
was not intended in entering into such a
contract that the life of the person in
sured should be at the option of either
party. In fixing the premium the COM
pany would naturally take into consdera-
tion the circumstances bearing on the
duration of life, and no company would
undertake to insure against suicide; or, If
any should make such an attempt, 1t
would he against public policy and would
not be lawful.
Official returns recently issued show the
imports of France for 1897 to have been
1000 ,l26,00o francs, as compared with 3.79S-
$4,000 francs in 1896. The exports for 1897
were 3,61o 900 francs, compared with
3,iO0 900 francs during the previous year
O o o
The Pullman's Palace Car Company has
declared a quarterly dividend of 2 per cent
payable Feb. 18th.
An exporting firm in New York is re-
ported as having received an order for
10000 bicycles for shipment to Europe
q These shipments are to be made monthly
during 1895
AS yet no effect has been felt in the dry
S'''' ti"'' VA NEW i olh DtCduSt VI lnt
shutdown of some of the New England
cotton mills In all probability the effect
may be noticed first in the market for
better grades of cotton goods.
Anthracite coal is iirmer and prices are
reported more settled than for Il long time
past The market for bituminous coal in
some parts of the country is said to be
devoid of activity. although the New
York harbor trade is fairly brisk.
The output of coke in the Pennsylvania
coke region last year amounted to 6.9l5.-
054 tons, of an average value of $l.65 a
ton, making total value of $1l ,409, ,S35
o o o
According to the Engineer. a new pro-
cess for producing artificial diamonds has
been experimental on successfully by DIR.
Quirino Majorana. The present method
consists fundamentally in heating a piece
of c;nbon by the electric arc and then sub
mitting 1t to violent pressure by means
of a small plunger actuated by piston,
on which n pressure of 5000 atmospheres
was suddenly developed by explosion
When sufficiently strong cylinder had
been constructed to withstand this enorm-
Gus pressure. the experiment produced
black mass consisting largely of graphite
ana amorphouS carbon. On EMPLOYING
Berthelots method to isolate the diamonds
If they existed, small microscopic crystals
We're obtained. mostly black and opaque
but which exhibited all the properties of
true diamonds. notably in their manner of
burning at a high temperature. The con-
clusion drawn from these experiments,
says Nature, is that pressure and heat are
alone sufficient to transform amorphous
carbon into the crystalline or diamond
form, and that the pressure of Il metallic
solvent, as in Moissan's experiments is
not essential to the transformations
Consul Schumann at Manz Germany.
informs the State Department in a report
that the German Rhine wine crop of this
year is all in and will be only one-third
to one-half an average crop. The quality
however is better than was expected in
September, when it was feared that the in
clement weather had utterly ruined the
grapes. In commenting on the conditions
in each province the consul states that on
the whole the vintage of 1897 promises to
produce quite a palatable and saleable
middle wine" Rational treatment will
however. be necessary. Besides a moder-
ate addition of sugar thorough ferment-
ing of the grape juice will, above all things,
be necessary on account of the quantity
of half-decayed grapes among the crop.