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Educational. '
The official semi-annual statement
concerning the German universities
furnishes some interesting facts. It
shows that the entire teaching staff in
the twen‘y-one universities within
the limit' of the Empire numbers 1815
persons. In all the universities there
are four faculties, of divinity, law,
medicine and philosophy, including
literature. There ii also a faculty of
social and political sciences at Wurz-
berg and Munich, of economical sci
ence at Munich and Tubingen, of
natural science also at Tubingen, and
a faculty of malkematical and physi
cal sciences at Strasburg. It is also to
be noted, that there is a faculty of
Protestant divinity at seventeen uni
versities and of Catholic divinity at
seven. The total number of divinity
students is 192, of whom 141 belong to
the Protestant faculties and 51 t n the
Catholic. In the strength of the seve
ral faculties Beilin stands pre-emi
nent, except in law. where Munich
has the largest body of professors.
The Nashville Banner takes a cheer
ful view of the educational work be
ing done In Tennessee. It says that
the Vanderbilt University is last as
suming hs proper place at the head of
Southern educational institutions, and
that it is destined to be a tremendous
power iu the S uth and Southwest,
and to ex end its area of influence
throughout Kentucky, Missouri, Kan
sas, Southern Illinois and Indiana.
Respecting the educational system
throughout the State, it says that the
men who are engaged in it are doing
the work well, and that it is becoming
“a compact, solid system from the
bottom to the top.” Before the war
Tennessee w T as the foremost of the
Southern States in educational mat
ters, and it is an encouraging sign of
the times to see her devoting litr at
tention to this vital interest with re
newed vigor.
Worlds Illumined by two Suns.
Agricultural.
Astronomy ha3 shown that many of
the double stars which stud the heav
ens are really systems of worlds lit up
with two suns emitting differently
colored rays of light, and revolving
around their common centre of grav
ity. Referring to the planets which
must be connected with such a svatem,
Mr. W. Doberck remarks in Nature:
When we reflect upon the complicated
nature of the orbits which the planets
and*comets descrbe round our sun,
we get some idea of how remarkable
must be the nature nl those curves
that planets describe around double
suns. Perhaps the same comets that
disappear to our gaze, leaving the
sphere of attraction of the sun, are
attracted, and lor a time become mem
bers of thoee wonderful systems. Our
mathematics do not suffi :e for solving
the problems that are suggested, but it
is not unlikely that unless situated
very close to one or other of the suns—
so close that the other appears not
much larger than a star, though com
parable in brightness to the nearest
sun—the planets are whirled out in
the cold space by the gravitational
influence of the other sun, os very
likely many a minor planet was ejec
ted from the solar system under the
influence of Jupiter.
What must be the nature of those
worlds illuminated by two different
suns, one yellow and another purple ?
Now rises the one, and all is clothed
iu yellow ; now the other, and illu
mined from complementary sources,
every objeot appears in its natural
color. Then sets the yellow sun, and
what must be the diversity of the ef
fects as it approaches the horizon! And
behold nature puts on a purple man
tle. Then also the sun sets, and in
the darkness of night, though there
is seldom night where there are two
suns, the starry heavens are seen
much the same there as here, except
perhaps for moons reflecting light
from the differently colored suns.
Not only the play of color must there
be more varied than here, but pheno
mena of which we have not the
faintest idea, must be produced also
through the action of heat, electricity
and magnetism. Indeed, upon sub
jects like these science gives no infor
mation, and we may therefore give
our fancy free reins.
A fashion writer of the female sex
says: "In dress we are nothing but
monkeys.” The writer may be an ex
ception, but who ever saw a monkey
attired in a corset, a twenty dollar hat
seventeen button gloves, a lot of false
hair and several hundred dollars
worth of dry goods? •
It’s often easier for an actor to bring
down the house than raise the wind
India has nearly 2,000,000 acres of
land sown to wheat.
Hop-growers are happy over the
prospects of a heavy hop crop.
The prospects for good crops iu
Frat ce, Germany and Holland are fa
vorable.
Clover will be a short crop in Michi
gan this season, owing to winter kill
ing and drought.
Apple trees in Bucks county, Pa.,are
said to be dying from the effects of last
year’s drought.
In Georgia insects of all kinds are
abundant, and all kinds of crops are
receiving their attentions.
Cattle valued at $13,500,000 are calm
ly grazing in what was six years ago
absolutely an Indian country.
A total of 35,160,866 fleeces were
shorn in the United States in 1880,
with an average weight of 4.42 pounds.
The army worms, which are abund
ant in Lyons county, Ky., are being
destroyed by myriads of small red
ants.
A fruit-grower in California says
that should the Chinese go the fruit
interest in that State would suffer
seriously.
California takes the lead for heavy
heads of wheat. S mre stalks have
been shown, six feet high, with heads
six inches long.
Two hundred thousand head of
sheep were driven from New Mexico
recently to Texas, and 50,000 wethers
to Nebraska.
The silk trade of Switzerland gives
employment to 70,000 hands. The
yearly products of this industry
amount to 131,000,000 francs.
There are over 150,000 orange trees
in Florida, and the number is rapidly
increasing annually. The product this
year is put at 50,000,000 oranges,
The large bean-raising districts of
New York are jsffl cted by a worm
called the bean weevil, which is doing
great damage to the newly-planted
crops.
The oleomargarine factories of New
York have a producing capacity of
116,000,000 pounds annually, while the
production of dairy butter in the State
is only 111,000,000 pounds.
Keep the Stables Clear of Flies.
One of the greatest hindrances to
thrift during hot weather is the annoy
auce caused by flies. This is true both
in field and stable. In the former we
cannot, in any considerable degree,
control them, but in the latter we can.
Tue better class of stables should be
provided with screens. By this mode,
fumigation being practised to drive the
flies out, the stock may be quite well
protected. The placing of small ves
sels of chloride of lime about the ceil
ing will sometimes answer the purpose
of keeping them out of the building.
If a decoction of lycopodium (some
times called wolf’s claw), which is the
largest of the European mosses, be
placed ia a bladder, the neck being
supplied wiih a quill nozzle, by means
of which tue liquid cau be sprinkled
where the fl ee accumulate, early in
the morning, the effect upon the flies
will soon be seen, as it quite promptly
destroys them. This article is also
used to destroy vermiu.
Training Hornr
If it is desirable to straighten a horn
you may frequently scrape with a
piece of glass, or a knife, the hollow
side, which will cause it to grow faster
on that side; but iu that case it must
not be scraped deeply, for then it be
comes weaker on that side, and will
be turned toward the weaker side.
Some scrape the side toward which
they wish to turn the horn quite thin,
and then scrape the opposite side just
enough to make it grow faster, and
that will turn it toward the tflinly
scraped side. If you wish to turn a
horn up, scrape on the under side just
enough to make it grow faster on that
side. A very barbarous way to turn
a horn is sometimes practised, by sear
ing with a hot iron on the side toward
which the horn is to be turned. This
prevents the growth of the horn on
that side and the growth upon tne
other side turns the horn. Tne horns
may be polished by rubbing them
with flue sandpaper, aud then with
pumice-stone, and oiling them. But
this artificial manipulation of horns is
seldom necessary. The horns of well-
fed cattle will generally grow In
comely shape if let alone. The hair is
sometimes oiled to give it a glossy ap
pearance, but the best gloss is put upon
the hair by rich and appropriate feed
ing. Nature, under proper conditions,
does this work best.
Shallow Cultivation for Fruit*.
Fruit growers must be reminded that
their hoes, cultivators and ploughs
may do more damage to plants than
good if not used with discretion. The
small fruits—berries, currauts, grapes,
also dwarf pears, quinces, etc., root
near the surface. Here are found the
best roots, those that provide the most
nourishment. Nature designed these
to be mulched by the dead leaves, and
in our fields mulching would be the
best treatment if it were possible. As
it is, the best we can do is to give fre
quent but shallow cultivation. I have
seen intelligent men ploughing deep
furrows alongside of their raspberries,
currants and grapes, well satisfied that
they were doing thorough work that
would secure au ibundant harvest.
Let such meu dig up one plant before
thus ploughing and one after and see
what butchery they have committed.
There are no tap-roots stietching far
down into the subsoil, but simply a
few laterals branching out, say, from
two to four inches below the surface,
and more than half of these have been
sacrificed by the ploughshare. When
we set green hands hoeirg strawber
ries aud newly set raspberries we
know what they will do if not watch
ed—they will destroy half their roots
and loosen the hold for life that the
struggling pets have secured by chop
ping close about them.
Interesting Statistics.
Scarcity of Healthy Women.
Dr. Adalina 8. Whitney has re
cently delivered a lecture before the
youug lady students at Vassar Col
lege, which contained much whole
some advice and many valuable sug
gestions for her sex. She assigned
many very good reasons for the want
of healthy women, and avowed at the
beginning that the lack of strong
healthy women among American peo
pie is strikingly noticeable. She al
leged that much of constitutional
weakness is inherited, but declared it
is in the power of the majortiy of
young girls to make themselves, phys
ically, what they will. Give to the
muscles as scientflj aud thorough
training as mathematics give to tie
brain, and there will be a correspond
ing increase iu physical capacity.
Life in the open air is of first im
portance. Vigorous and absorbing
games, too, should be encouraged
among girls. Mental and physical
culture should be as inseparaoie as
mind and body.
The principal causes which destroy
health are neglect of proper physical
exercise and recreation during youth;
woman’s incomplete, one-sided meth
ods of education ; a want of steady
employment, and petty forms of in
discretion in rr gard to hygiene onfhe
part of young women themselves.
Dr. Whitney contends that a radical
change will come when popular sen
tlment requires that girls shall grow
up strong and well dtveloped. Tigut
clothing, she urges, should be dis
carded, that the exercise of the organs
of motion may not be impeded. There
should be in every school a system ef
physical education, under the direc
tion of a qualified teacher. Daily
muscular exercise will bring mental
work, and there might be a physical
as well as a mental standard which a
girl must reach before entering col
lege.
It would be difficult, we think, to
find any sensible person disposed to
dispute the Doctor’s assertions. They
are palpably manifest every day, and
the number of healthy women seem to
be growing less with each recurring
week. Cau the decay be remedied?
The Doctor says they can.
Venice and Amsterdam are the
cities of bridges. The first has 450,
the last 800. London has 15, Vieuna
10, and Berlin will Boon have 50.
Altogether the most beautiful and
striking bridge in Europe is that over
the Moldau at Prague.
The resident population of Great
Britain in the middle of 1882 is esti
mated by the Registrar General at
35,280,299 persons; that of England
and Wales at 26,406,820 ; of Scotland
at 3.785,400, and of Ireland at 5,088,079.
it is not generally known that
Fortress Monroe is the hugest single
fortification in ihe world. It has
already cost over $3,000,000. The
water battery is considered to be one
of the finest pieces of military con
struction over built.
In consequence of the • defective
water supply there has been an in
crease of 25 per cent, in the price of
nre insurance risks in the city of Gal
veston. The average under the old
rates was 1J per cent. The new sched
ule of fire rates will make it If per
cent. There is about $20,000 000 regu
larly covered by insurance in Galves
ton. S) says the News.
There has lately been exhibited in
the Botanical Garden of Berlin the
biggest flower in the world—the great
flower of Sumatra, known in ecience
as the Jtpfflesia Amoldi, and peculiar
to Java and Sumatra. It measures
nearly ten feet in circumference, and
more than three feet in diameter.
Sir Stamford Raffles and Dr. Joseph
Arnold were exploring in company
when they discovered this champion
plant.
• Washington Territoiy is now set
ting up its claims to distinction as a
State. Two years ago the census of
that Territory showed a population of
75,116. The people now claim a pop
ulation of quite 150,000. O wing to the
remoteness of the Territory from the
East this increase is quite remarkable,
aud the completion of the Northern
Pacific Railroad v ill result in the
rapid filling up of that country.
Merino sheep will yield from ten to
twenty pounds of wool per heal, and
the Cotwold even more, while scrub
sheep will only give from three to six
pounds. The fine sheep eat no more
than scrub and produce more flesh, to
say nothing of the superior quality of
both wool and flesh. Therefore keep
only good sheep.
itect’s office, 90; First Comptroller’s
office, 68 ; Second Comptroller, 63;
Comptroller of Currency, 89 ; office of
Commissioner of Customs, 33 ; First.
Auditor’s, 56 ; Second Auditor’s,
151,; Third Auditor’s, 137 ; Fourth
Auditor’s, 46; Fifth Auditor’s, 28 ;
Sixth Auditor’s, 278; United States
Treasurer’s office, 281; Registrar, 192;
office of the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue, 222; United States Coast
Survey, 100. In the State Department
there are but 86 clerks. In the War De
partment taere are 1,6 )0 clerks, as fol
lows: Secretary’s office, 89; Adju
tant General’s office, 448; Inspector
General’s office 6; Quartermaster-
General’s department, 170; Paymas
ter-General's department, 65 ; Engi
neer department, 215 ; Ordnance de
partment, 18; Signal offlre, 128; Bu
reau of Military Justice, 8; Colonel
Casey’s Bureau for Building the State,
War and Navy departments, 140 ; office
of the publication of < ffi ;iul records of
the rebellion, 43. The Interior De
partment clerks number 1,666, as fol
lows : Secretary’s office, 128; Patent
office, 448; Laud offi ie, 261; Pension
offi 5e, 67 >; Indian office, 66 ; Geologi
cal Surveys, 50 ; Education bureau, 34;
Railroad bureau, 9. TheCeusus office,
which is really a branch of the Inte
rior Department, numbered last year,
680, and these should be added to the
number in the Interior Department,
making 2,346. In the Post Office De
partment (proper) the employees num
ber 488. Iu the Department of Justice
59 ; iu the D apartment of Agriculture,
lo3; Government Priutiug Office,
1,843. So that really the number em
ployed in the Government depart
ments on duty iu Washington is about
10,000. This exclusive of the Capitol,
city Post Office aud District Govern
ment offices.
The remuneration of the employees
in the departments varies somewhat,
but generally the salaries range from
$900 to $2,000 for clerical work, the
latter being given to those who occupy
responsible or particularly important
positions, and the first generally to
copyists a great many of whom are
ladies.
In the Departments.
Look to Your Books,
Importance of Beading.
No matter how obscure the position
in life of an individual, if he can read,
he may at will put himself iu the best
society that the world has ever-seen.
He may converse with the greatest
heroes of the past; with all the writers
iu prose and poetry. He may learn
how to live, how to avoid the errors of
his predecessors, and to secure bless
ings, present aud future, to himself.
He may reside in a desert far away
from the habitations of man ; in soli
tude, where no human eye looks upon
him with affection or interest, where
no human voice cheers him with its
animating tones ; if he has looks to
read, ha can never be alone. . He may
choose his oompany, and the subjects
of conversation, and thus become cofl-
tented and happy, intelligent, wise
and good. He thus elevates his rank in
the world, and becomes independent,
In the beet sense, of all debasing asso
ciations and Influences.
The Lif6 of the Natioral Clerks at Wash
ington.
The women clerks are hard worked,
and receive the smallest rtmuneration
but the wolf is kept from the door of
many a family by their earnest en
deavors. A great many of them once
belonged to families of wealth, but
reverses came, and they are glad to be
able to work for. a living. In the
Treasury Department there are over
500 women clerks, and in the Bureau
of Engraving and Printing as many
more. In the Treasury aud Interior
Departments changes are most fre
quent, and it is in these mostly that
women are employed, and every now
gind then there are rumors of pending
changes which set their hearts flutter
ing with dread until the danger is
over. A position in the State Depart
ment is considered a permanent thing.
It is run on a plan similar to our
Army and Navy. When some one
dies promotion takes place and there
is a chance for an appointment. In
the War and Navy Departments also
changes do not olten occur, and many
a clerk whose hair is now white en
tered the service whtn a young man.
Employees perform their labors in a
remarkably satisfactory ma ner. In
fact, it is apparent that the Govern
ment clerk, taken on the average, has
greatly improved in many respects
within the past dozen years. The
Government aud its employees bear a
relation to our city somewhat similar
to that of a college and its students to
the little New England village where
it is located. There are enough office
holders who are residents of Washing
ton to make a good sized city of them
selves. In the various departments
the work goes on the same from one
year’s end to another, and one would
scarcely realize how great the number
of employees iu the various depart
ments is.
In the Treasury Department there
are over 8,500 employees, divided as
follows : Divisions of the Secretary’s
office, 676; bureau of the Mint, 12;
Supervising Surgeon-General’s office,
17; office of Ipspeotor-General of
Steamboats, 5 ; bureau of Statistics,37;
Life Saving Service, 17; < ffl le ot Light
house Board, 36; bureau ot Engraving
and Printing, 1,008; Supervising Arch-
The Incandescent Lewis Light.
Some weeks ago The Tribune gave
a description of the new lamp by Dr.
Regnard, in which kerosene vapor
was used to heat to incandescence a
platinum wire cage. A modified form
of this—known as the Lewis burner
—in which common coal-gas is substi
tuted for petroleum vapor, has been
successfully tried m London. The ap
paratus is au application of what is
known to scieutifi! men as Herapath’s
blow-pipe. Au air-pipe which ends
in a tapered cone enters a (mall space
or chamber of the gas supply near the
burner, and a little below it is a short
arm which supplies a supplementary
air current. Through this tapered
cone air is forced under a pressure of
6 in. or 7 in. of water. The mixture
of gas and air thus produced is carried
into the burner, which is a%age of
platinum wire, about three times as
long as it is wide. When the gas is
first lighted it is a loaring, flickering
flame, with no appreciable illumina
ting power; but soon the platinum
gusze becomes iiot, and in a few sec
onds the burner presents the appear
ance of a glowing pillar oi solid light
possessing intense brilliancy. The
combustion of the gas itself in this
case yields no Illuminating power
worth speaking of, the brilliancy of
the new ligty being due to the high
temperature of the platinum gauze,
which becomes incandescent just as
ihe carbon threads in the electric
lamps glow with the heat engendered
in them by the current. An ordinary
Lewis burner of tlii-» kind gives a
light of over fifty candles for every ten
feet of gas per hour; but by increas
ing the pressure and the consumption
of gas a much higher economy can be
attained—so much as 180 candles for
twenty feet of gas, it is said.
Possibly the feature of greatest im
portance in connection with this new
system is that illuminating gas is not
requited, for heating gas answers as
wel , if not better. In ordiuary gas,
it is well known that only about four
per cent, of the volume contains the
real, illumiuating materials, but to ob
tain that the coal has to he wastefully
distilled. If heating gas, as It is called,
will produce so'brilliant a light, 15,000
feet can he obtained from every ton
of ordiuary coal instead of only 10,000
feet. The gas, it is said, is completely
burned—there is no waste in smoke—
and the surface of the gauze being so
much larger than is possible with the
electric lamps, there is greater quantity
and less intensity; in other words,
the light is better distributed and is
more penetrating, while less trying to
the eye.