The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1909-11-25

distances.
The coal bill of the United States
navy during 1908 amounted to So,54o,-
600.
South America has not yet a trans
continental railroad, but soon will have a
line reaching from the Atlantic to the
Pacific.
1t has been reported that the disease
known as trachoma, or granular eyelids,
has been spreading rapidly among the
Indians.
In the China inland mission, which
was opened forty-four years ago, there
are 92S foreign missionaries residing at
21O stations.
The Japanese system of licensing in
dividual opium smokers has greatly re-
duced the number of drug fiends in Jap
an, and especially in Formosa.
An Austrian journal tells of a plant
called Parkid biglobosa, recently discoy.-
cred in Africa, which produces a fruit
containing 20 per cent. reducing sugar.
There is a very common idea that
the Malay is a race that is dying out,
killed in it's own country by the enter
prise of Chinese, Tamils and Tavanese
Nearly 600 a year, the city engineer
reports, is received from selling waste
paper collected in London, and last year
f141 was derived from the sale of tins
found in the city's refuse.
No fewer than 1900 towns and vii
lagos in Germany still own. and have
owned, down from the middle ages, so
much common land that their inhabitants
pay neither rates nor taxes.
Niagara county farmers are ,.'post-
ing'' their lands for the purpose of pro-
tecting their crops from the reckless
hunters who violate the game laws and
trespass on private property.
While there is an abundance of suit
able timber in Brazil, it is difficult to
find many districts where the trees suit
able for lumber are close enough to-
gether for profitable work.
Tradition asserts, according to a
writer in the Scientific American, that
the first to sacrifice himself to the prob
lem of flying was Wang Tu, a Chinese
mandarin of about the year 1000 B. c.
Miss Constantine Elizabeth Maxwell
is the first woman to become a member
of the teaching staff of Trinity college,
Dublin. She has just been elected an
assistant to the professor of modern his
tory.
Miss Clara M. Howard has been APP
pointed to the international fellowship
founded by the Society of American
Women in London. She is instructor in
rhetoric and composition at Wellesley
college.
Experiments and Investigations
made both in Europe and in America
indicate that fully one-half of the deaths
from consumption occur among people
who are compelled to breathe dust in its
various forms.
Out of 1858 begging letters received
in London by charitable association,
81 per cent. were found to have come
from sxrriu11orc apd IF fho rams inin0 z
per cent. only per cent. were found to
be really destitute.
In the seven years, 1901 to 1908,
China's postal service expanded remark
ably. The postal routes now cover S.
600 miles and the postofficeS number
3493. as against 176 in 1901, an increase
of 1917 in the seven years.
Fear has arisen in the breast of a
New Zealander in England caused by
the announcement that the Dreadnought
which his native country is to give to
the empire will be the thirteenth ship
presented to the British navy.
Edward B. Sterling of Trenton, N.
J.. has discovered in the outskirts of the
town the largest specimen of polyporus
ON record. The mushroom weighs 43
pounds, is Is inches in height and meas
ures 105 inches in circumference.
The production of mica In this coun-
try for the last year was valued at a
little more than a quarter of million
dollars. Nearly all of this is used in
the electrical industry, as mica is one OF
the best insulating materials known.
The volcanic islands known as the
Bogeslof islands of the Aleutian archi-
pelago, Alaska, have been ordered set
department of agriculture as a preserve
and breeding ground for native birds.
Sing Sing prison is to be moved
across the Hudson river fifteen or TWEEN
ty miles northward, just eight miles
south of West Point, where large tract
of land has been purchased and gang
of several hundred conyicts has been
working for two years.
The term electricity" was derived
from the Greek word meaning amber.
Electricity itself is earliest described by
Theophrastus (321 B. CO. and Pliny (70
A. d., who mention the power of amber
to attract straw and dry leaves.
The largest grapevine in the world
is 120 years old, and is at San Gabriel,
CAL, planted by Franciscan friars. The
stalk is az feet in diameter, feet high,
and the branches and foliage cover an
area Of 5000 square feet. Its average
crop of grapes is 212 tons yearly.
According to Messrs. Henriet and
Bonyssy ozone is produced by the ultra
violet rays of the sun in the upper at
mosphere and the amount contained in
the air near the ground increases when
air currents descend from the upper re-
gions.
The duties Of a military attache are
to make himself thoroughly acquainted
with every change that takes. place N
military affairs and to report from time
to time on the mobilization. armament
is accredited.
A Bohemian tailor at Prague has in
vented a bullet proof shield for use of
the skirmisher while lying on the ground.
This shield, which only weighs 5 pounds,
is made of composition of wax and felt
in which the striking bullets are said to
stick without piercing.