The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-06-26

he has the power to attract a wave that
will overwhelm the country.
Appalling destruction was caused by re-
cent snowst9rm IN Uah h, In addido 20
horses, nearly $4,000 cattle and IA, 900 sheep,
goats, etc, were destroyed.
Samuel Stout, of Newcomb. ILL.,, who has
just been granted patent for farm gate,
is said to be the oldest person TO whom
patent right has ever been extended. Mr..
Stout is over eighty years Of age.
1t is computed that the death rate Of the
world is 81 and the birth-rate 20 a minute,
and this seemingly light per centage of gain
is sufficient to give net increase in popu-
lation each year of almost 100000 souls.
In Europe physicians no longer prescribe
medicines for their patients in the form of
pills All medicines which are not liquid
are compounded into tablets or cachets.
Capsules are also out OF cate on the contt-
nent
At a congress in India, where nine lam
guages are spoken by delegates, the dis
cussions were carried on in English. A prop
osition has been brought forward to make
English the missionary language of the
world.
The meanest burglar on record has been
at work in Montreal He broke into
bakers shop, and finding only 81 cents as
plumber, took a single bite of every pie and
cake in the place, thus rendering them un-
salable.
The largest of the Egyptian pyramids is
543 feet high. 693 feet on the sides, and has
a base covering eleven acres. The layers of
stone number 20S and many of the stones
are over thirty feet long, four feet broad
and three feet thick.
The native Andamanese women have a
curious custom. When one of them becomes
widow she prepares the skull of her de-
ceased husband and carries it about sus-
pended at her side. There it answers the
purpose of treasure box.
Some of the wooden churches of Norway
are fully seven hundred years old and are
still in an excellent state of preservation.
Their timbers have successfully resisted the
frosty and almost Arctic winters because
they have been repeatedly coated with tar.
The municipal authorities of st. Peters
burg have issued orders forbidding women
bicyclists to wear skirts. They must wear
boomers, or the rational dress" as the
wind blows too capriciously. in Russia's
capital for skirts to be worn with decency.
A state law of New Hampshire enacted a
few years ago requires the trustees of saw
ings banks and savings institutions to call
in the books of depositorS every thind year
for examination and verfication by some
persons other than the banks treasurer or
his clerk.
Ireland might be made to prosper. There
are two thousand parishes, which ought to
turn out fty PIGS we eek ao TINS would give
at a fair average price, would bring in an
income of &143G0,OO0. e"s s1.E
An eccentric character of Jersey City
whose will was recently probated directed in
the document that 500 Should be expended
for his burial, $50 for headstone, $50 for
band, $50 for a casket. SIG for beer and SIS
for tobacco and pipes for the mournerS, $40
for carriages and 81 for opening the grave.
In Waldeck a little German ~principalty,
a decree has been proclaimed that a License
to marry will not be granted to any indiVid-
ual who has been in the habit of getting
drunk. If anyone who has been drunkard
applies for such alicense he must produce
sufficient proof of reformation to warrant
his receiving it,
The longest plants in the world are sea-
weed. One tropical and suotropical variety
is known. which, when it reaches it's full
development, is at least six hundred feet in
length Seaweeds do not receive any nour-
ishment from the sediment at the bottom
or borders of the sea, but only from air
and mineral matter held in solution in the
sea water.
The municipal hospital of Moscow, which
was founded in 1854, has accommodations
for 1000 persons, and in the course of year
it receives 1900 patients The institution
has on its staff twenty-SX physicians and
over 5000 nurses. In 1872, when Napoleon
was retreating from Moscow, he gave spe-
cial orders that this hospital should be
spared.
There is now pending in the Louisiana
Legislature a bill to provide separate street
cars for whites and blacks in the cities of
the State, and to forbid persons of either
race to ride in the cars set apart for the
other. The lawmakers are now worried to
know how to arrange it that white children
in the care of negro nurses shall have street
oar dot