Evening star., 1918-10-13

his honors and titles by his own abtliA
ties as soldier and statesman"
Owing to the inadequacy Of Come
munication with that region. the de.
tails Of the great
Further Details of earthquake and
the Disaster. tha western
coast of South America were slow in
reaching this country. In The Star OF
October Z, 1868. is a paragraph sum-
marizing the news:
Further details Of the inundations
and earthquakes in South America
have been received via Panama. The
victims in Peru will probably reach
1000. A change has taken place in
the seacoast of Peru. the depth Of the
headland at Samana, near africa, hav-
ing decreased from four to six faith
oms. The loss of life IN Ecuador is
not less than 10000. Several vessels
were damaged at Coquimbo. including
the American ship Black Eagle. At
Coldera the sea drove the inhabitants
to the hills, wrecked sixteen or
eighteen lighters and damaged sew
eral large craft. Twenty lighters
were. wrecked at Corrisal Rejoa, be-
sides the American brig Delfina. with
100000 Kilograms of copper. and many
vessels were damaged severely. The
residents of Valparaiso raised $4,000
for the earthquake sufferers. The
Chilean congress appropriated $4,000
for the same purpose. The govern
ment also sent large supplies of pro-
visions and medicines to Peru"
~
After the civil war inventors sought
to improve weapons, in the hope OF
producing even more
Mauazina deadly and effective in
-, struments of destruction
Alue. than were previously used.
In The Star of October Z, 1868. is this
item:
capt. J. v. Meigs. whose breech-
loading rifle was perfected and noticed
some time since, has invented a new
magazine rifle, which is, doubtless. the
most formidable weapon now in use.
1t is claimed that fifty shots can be
f., ID. without taking the gun from the
shoulder, in forty-five seconds. and
easily in one minute the cartridges
being contained in the stock. The
weight, with its fifty cartridges. is but
twelve pounds, and there is but little
machinery in the gun, excluding the
magazine, there being but four addi-
tional pieces to those in the common
muzzle loader. Capt. Meigs is now en-
gagged in getting up the gun at Lowell.
Mass, and will, within a short time,
have it before the public"
=.
It is interesting to find from an item
in The Star of October 8, 1868, that
until about that. time all
Printing patents issued oy the
1aIeAIs' by hand. That item tells
of a change in the procedure. making
for wider circulation and freer use OF
the patent records:
I'm accordance with a law passed
by Congress at its last session. a sepa-
rate branch has recently been fitted
up at the government printing office
for the purpose of printing the pat
ents issued by the patent office, and
all this work has been transferred
from the private offices of this city.
where it has been done by contract.
to the government office. The first
work done, consisting Of 200 patents.
was sent to the newly established
branch on Friday last. Formerly all
patents and specifications were writ
ten. but they are now printed. with
extra copies sufficient to supply any
future demand. The cases are sent to
the printer Friday and the patents are
ready for delivery on the Tuesday
week following"