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GOLD IN THE SEA.
/
Oceans Contain in Solution an Un¬
thinkable Sum of Wealth.
About One-Tenth of a Grain in a
Ton of Water.
A great many people are aware of
the fact that sea water is said to hold
in solution largo quantities of gold,
and perhaps some silver besides. In
the strictly scientific world, however,
this has been an open question for
more than thirty years, and it has re¬
mained for an eminent chemist in the
University of Sydney, Australia, Pro¬
fessor Liversidge, to offer from a
series of exhaustive tests not only con¬
clusive proof of tho presence of gold
in the ocean, but also to determine
with some degree of precision the
amount
The results of Professor Liversidge’s
researches is little less than astound¬
ing. Where no previous investigator
lias been able to find more than a
minute trace, which, if represented in
figures, would not perhaps amount to
u tenth of a grain per ton of sea
water, this Australian professor has
firmly demonstrated that ail sea water
contains more than half a grain per
ton, and that much of it contains
more than a full grain.
Of course, this amount is still very
minute, for a grain of gold dissolved
so as to remain in solution iu water
will not, when precipitated,show more
than a thin film, like a trace of oil, on
tho top of tho water, Nevertheless,
when even this smull quantity is con¬
sidered in relation to tho enormous
volume of water in tho sea, tho total
amount of gold which the ocean con¬
tains mounts up to simply an unthink¬
able sum.
At from half to ono grain per ton,
a cubic mile of sea water contains be¬
tween 130 and 200 tons of solid gold.
At $20 an ounce—the actual value is
aomewhat in excess of this—a ton of
gold is worth a littlo short of $500,-
000. In other words a cubic mile of
sea water contains gold to the value of
between $05,000,000 and $130,000,000.
Ou the surface of tho globe it is
computed that thero aro from 300,-
000,000 and 400,000,000 cubic miles
of ocean. Taking tho smaller of these
estimates, at half a grain per ton, the
total amount of gold in the sea would
be above thirty-live million billions.
At one grain per ton it would be just
twice (his- iu figures, $75,000,000,-
000 , 000 , 000 .
It, is almost impossible to grasp the
magnitude of such u sum. Some com¬
parisons will help. The total amount
of gold in all the world at the present
time is calculated at something like
$5,000,000,000 or $0,000,000,000. The
computed wealth of tho United States,
and thin is tho richest nation on earth,
is something like $60,000,000,000 or
$70,000,000,000. Tho gold wealth of
tho ocean is a million times this. The
ocean is, indeed, a gold mine com¬
pared with whoso value the present
wealth of all the nations of the world
sinks into insignificance. — New York
Sun.
The Culture of the Sponge.
Tho department of state has just re¬
ceived through the conciliar agent at
Mitvlene a communication from Char-
alampos Ohorphiop, who calls himself
a "merchant and fisherman ot
sponges.” This Greek gentleman de¬
sires to obtain a concession which
shall enable him to propagate sponges
in the waters of Florida. Ho under¬
stands the artificial culture of these
animals, and he proposes to bring
with him skilled men and special ma¬
chinery. Incidentally ho is willing to
instruct American citizens in the art
of propagating sponges, which ho be¬
lieves will tend to the “development
of the public richness.” It is his opin¬
ion that tho waters of Florida eau bix
made to supply the world with sponges.
He offers to pay into tho treasury ten
percent of the proceeds of his indus¬
try during twenty years, at the cud of
which time he will turn over to the
government all his machinery, boats,
etc.
For many years past it has been
realized that something ought to be
done iu the way of sponge culture iu
Florida waters. The natural supply
of these auimals is diminishing at an
alarming rate, owiug to over-fishing,
Iu fact, they aro well-nigh threatened
with extermination. Being stationary
and incapable of flight,they are wiped
out by sure-handed slaughter. The
evil is not beyond repair, inasmuch as
sponges can be propagated almost as
easily as oysters, but a seemingly in-
surmountable obstacle is presented by
the professional fishermen, who will
not tolerate grants of marine areas for
the purposes of such culture. They
say that giants of the kind would
soon place the fishery in the hands of
monopolists.
These toilers of the sea aro deter¬
mined to defend their means of liveli¬
hood to the uttermost. They are the
sort of men who shoot on occasion,and
the least they would do would bo to
destroy the boats and other apparatus
of any specific sponge farmer who at¬
tempted to invade what they cousi-
dered their territory. Furthermore,
they profess the conviction that the
artificial propagation of sponges is
wholly impracticable. In this idea
they are wrong, if any faith is to be
put in the experts of the United States
fish commission, who claim to have
proved their theories by careful ex¬
periments. They assert, that, if
proper measures were taken, the
sponge fishery of Florida could he re¬
stored to the highest productiveness
within a few years. Unquestionably,
a considerable appropriation of money
would be required, but it would be
trifling compared with tbe cash value
of the augmented crops.
The sponge reproduces its species
by means of spores, corresponding to
eggs, which aro set free iu the water.
After being “hatched” the young
ones swim about for a while, eventu¬
ally attaching themselves to a rock or
other object. The mature t-ponge also
produces little buds, which detach
themselves from the parent and float
away to begin life ou their own ac¬
count. Tho scientific culturist, how¬
ever, makes use of neither of these
natural processes. Tho method ho
adopts is extremely simple, though re¬
quiring care aud skill. Traveling over
the fishing grounds in a boat he pulls
the sponges to the surface with a hook
on the end of a long pole. The
freshly-tackled sponge is not taken
out of the water, but is held beneath
the surface, while the operator cuts it
into pieces.
The knife used is as sharp ns a razor
so that as little injury as possible shall
be done to the tissues of the sponge.
The animal is cut up in such a manner
that each piece shall retain a part of
the original external surface. Finally,
each fragment is fastened to a bit of
stone by a wire and is then dropped to
tho bottom. In shoal water un easier
and preferable method is to thrust a
small splinter of wood through each
fragment and stick it into the bottom.
In this way a number of sponges are
made out of a single sponge. Some of
the fragmentary ones die, but the
great majority of them survive. For
three or four mouths they seem to be
sickly, but at the end of that time they
recover aud begin to grow with sur¬
prising rapidity. The planting must
always be done where the sponges will
not be rolled about by tho waves—
Philadelphia Times.
Japan's National Beverage.
Saki is tho national beverngo of
Japan, and until recent years was tbe
only fermented liquor known iu that
empire. It is obtained by the distil¬
lation of the beat kinds of rice. In
appearance it resembles very pale
sherry, though its taste is somewhat
acid. The best saki is white, but
there are many varieties, and the
poorer people of Japan have to con¬
tent themselves with a turbid sort. A
glass of saki is drunk at every func¬
tion and ceremony of daily life; even
all offerings to the gods at the reli¬
gious festival--, whether great or small
include a cupof s-’aki.
An Eye Blackened by a (Juail.
Tho American Field tells of au acci¬
dent on the Corral Hollow Railroad
which gave Aeorge Leviilsky of Stock-
ton, Cal., a.'bhrt’k eye.
Some men, Lsvinsky among them,
were ou one of several flat cars,riding
along the railroad, when a bevy of
quails arose and started to fly straight
for thetraiu. The passengers jumped
aud waved their arms, and oue of the
bewildered birds hit Leviuskv iu the
eye. The bird fell dead to the plat¬
form, while Levinsky’s eye was bruised
so badly that a physician had to at-
tend to it.
DOFFING STRIPES.
An Interesting Experiment in
Prison Reform,
Good Conduct Earns Exemption
From the Convict Garb.
Th£ most original experiment iu
prisip reform which has yet been tried
has tome time since been put into
effect at Ohio’s penitentiary at Colum¬
bus, A striking, almost startling
change in the conventional prison
stripes of the convict has been made.
This, the first announcement of this
important departure, will doubtless ex-
cits wide attention and comment.
-t is, in brief, regulating the cloth¬
ing of the convict by his conduct.
Under the system now in vogue iu all
prisons, every convict wears the same
uniform. The prisoner whose in¬
stincts are vile, whose ideas are thor¬
oughly steeped in crime, is the same,
:n the appearance that clothing gives,
*s the man whose instincts are of
high grade, hut who, through weak¬
ness, has violated the laws.
Penologists have long held that the
intelligent convict could be more thor¬
oughly reformed by mental processes,
or methods akin thereto, than by the
physicul penalties that prison rules
have caused all offenders to suffer.
This is exactly the idea from which
Warden E. G. Coffin of the Ohio peni¬
tentiary, conceived his plan of help¬
ing the prisoners to reform by grading
their clothing. There are to be three
grades, one hardly different from the
ordinary suit of the civilian, while the
other two bear in greater degree the
mark of the prison.
The first grade of clothing is of
gray cloth, with nothing to indicate
that it is anything else than a citizen's
suit. The second grade will consist
of gray aud white checked goods, and
the third grade will be that of the
present regular stripes, as now worn
by all.
A prisoner upon entering the prison
will be placed in the second grade,aud
after the expiration of six mouths,
without being reported for any infrac¬
tion of the rules, will be entitled to be
placed iu the first tc Every
prisoner of the o Peniteu-
tiary who is not reported for
the violation of a prison rule
until January 1 will be permitted to
wear the first grade uniform as soon
as it is possible to procure it. The
prisoner who during the time men¬
tioned is reported for one infraction
of the rules, will be eligible to the first
grade in ten days thereafter. The
prisoner who has two reports against
him January 1 will not be eligible to
the first grade fur twenty days. If a
prisoner has three or more reports
against him he will not be placed in
the first grade until three continuous
months have passed without au unfa¬
vorable report regarding him.
Warden Coffin, iu talking to the
writer, said: — “I am fully satisfied
that all good citizens will lieartily
approve the step I have taken, I do
not believe that it is right and just
that a man who has so conducted him.
self as to maintain au unblemished
reputation for years should be classed,
clothed nml marched witlj one who is
daily committing infractions ngaiust
the rules of the prison. 'It holds out
no inducement to the worthy prisoner
to continue his efforts iu well doing.
There should be some mark of dis¬
tinction to separate the .good from the
bad- It seems to me the graded uni¬
form is the best method of accomp¬
lishing this purpose.”
The Ohio Penitentiary has long
been known by the fact that the in¬
mates thereof are treated with more
humanity than in almost auv other
State prison. The policy that has
actuated the authorities.has been that
men are much more inclined to re¬
nounce evil life and to become good
citizens if the attitude of the officials
toward them is that which human be¬
ings might naturally expect.—New
York Herald.
In the Schoolroom.
Teacher—What is your mother's
name?
Six-year-old—Mrs. Rogers.
Teacher—But what is her Christian
name—what does your father call
her?
Six-vear-old (in a piping voice)—
Different things.—Washington Times.
t
i *
Sfcp Took Her Precious
A Buffalo woman we'' to Caiifor-
nia to 6peml the a cou pl e °*
weeks ago.
She is great lover of flowers.
She hr' uer yard full of them in the
gI ,.imer and her house full of them in
the winter. Her particular pride is a
bigcalla. When she was making up
her list of things to take to California
she included the calla. She read the
list to her husband. When she came
to the c ilia he said: “Now, I wouldn’t
take that calia.”
“Why not?” she asked, with some
asperity. “I never thought so much
of a plant in my life as I do of that
calla, and I just know it will be full of
blossoms this winter, aud I wouldn’t
miss seeing them and smelling them
for the world. ”
The first letter home contained this
paragraph:
“I must tell you about that calla.
It was the greatest bother you ever
saw. I almost wore myself to a
shadow taking care of it. But I car¬
ried it along, thinking of the lovely
blossoms it would surely have this
winter. By the time I got into Cali¬
fornia I was sick and tired of it and
nervous and worried and all that. But
I remembered the comfort the blos¬
soms would be to me when they came.
When I got up on the morning of the
last day I looked out of the car win-
dow,aDd may I never see Buffalo again
if the train wasn’t running through
a field of callas so big that I couldu’t
see its limits. I just sat dowu and had
a good cry. To think that an ordin¬
arily sensible woman should cart a
twenty-pound loot aud lily 3,000 miles
just because she wanted to see it in
blossoms, and then find millions of
the same lillit s growing wild in the
fields. It was enough to make an
angel weep, Then I took the calla
amj threw it out of the car window.—
Buffalo (New York) Express.
Telephoning Without Wires.
“The most interesting experiments
I know of now being conducted are
those of telephoning without wires,”
said J. T. Marbury of Nashville at the
Howard. “N'o mention of it has as
yet been made iu the papers, but to
my mind the scheme gives every prom¬
ise of being successful. A friend of
mine, by the came of T. A. Edwards,
who has been a telegraph operator for
a good many years, conceived the idea
that as the ground currents of electric¬
ity had long been used in place of the
old-time return wires, they could be
used for the entire circuit. He ex-
perimented for several years with tele¬
graphing without wires, achieving
partial success. He then learned that
other men were investigating the same
subject, and abandoned the plan sub¬
stituting telephoning for telegraphing.
In this he will be successful. I have
used it for a distance of a quarter of
a mile, aud it was entirely satisfacto¬
ry. 1 am not an electrician, aud my
friend has not yet completed his appa¬
ratus,so I will not attempt to describe
it.”—Washington Star.
Horseless Carriage Accident
Paris has had its first serious motor
carriage accident. The Automobile
Club had had a run to the Paviliion
Henri IY. at St. Germain. On the
return, in going down the steep de¬
scent between St. Germain and Fort
Marly, the leading carriage, in charge
of the Comte de Deon, came to grief.
In trying to steer between a heaviiy
laden farmer's wagon aud the steam
tramway train that runs ou the side of
the road, the automobile carriage was-
turned suddenly, knocking off one of
the front wheels and throwing out the
nine occupants, A Paris lawyer had
three ribs broken, M. Georges Berger,
who was director general of the 1389
exposition, aud another gentleman
were badly bruised, while the rest got
a severe shaking up.
How It Happened.
“Did I ever tell you how I got
licked iD school once?”
“No.”
“Well, I got it. Yon see, half a
dozen of us boys arranged to jump ou
the teacher at a given signal, and——”
“You were the only one that
jumped?”
“Exactly!”—Chicago Record.
During the last year eight non-com¬
missioned officers in the British army
have been promoted to lieutenancies.
The Point of Yiew.
Helen (looking over fashion maga¬
zine)—Now, who do you suppose would
be seen in such a horrid immodest bi¬
cycle * suit as this?
Edith—That? Why, that’s a bathing
suit!
Helen—Oh! Isn’t it just too lovely
for anything! Let’s see how it’s made.
—Puck.
One Secret of Long-exity.
Those anxious to prolong this rapid transitory
existence of ours beyond the average span,
should foster his digestion, negatively by ab¬
staining from indiscretions in diet, and affirm¬
atively by the use of that peerless stomachic,
Hostetler's Stomach Bitters, when he experi¬
ences symptoms of indigestion. The impair¬
ment of the digestive function is fatal to vigor.
Subdue with the Bitters, also, fever and ague,
biliousness and constipation.
The football champion of the present may be¬
come the hack driver of the luture. it is a
pleasing thought.
If you have tried Dobbins' Floating-Borax Soap
you have decided to use it all the lime. If you
haven't tried it you owe it to yourself to do so.
Your grocer has it or will get it. Be sure that
wrappers are printed in red.
A deficit in health is much better than one in
pocket.
“I enclose Centbeville, R. I.. March C. of 1892.
two dollars to get some your
Tetterine. It has done wonders on three
persons to whom I had given a little ot my
small supply. They were radically cured of
eczema.” Yours respectfully,
Rev. C. P. Gaboury.
1 box by mail for 50c. in stamps.
J. T. SnuPTRlNE, Savannah, Ga.
“Walter Baker & Co., of Dorchester, Mass.,
U. S. A., have given years of stuil y lo the skil¬
ful preparation of cocoa and chocolate, and
have devised machinery and systems peculiar
to their methods of treatment, whereby tbe
purity,palatability retained. and highest nutrient preparations char¬
acteristics are Their
are known the world over, and have received
tbe highest indorsements from the medical
practitioner, tlie nurse, and ilie intelligent
housekeeper food-product and which caterer. There extensively is hardly used any
may lie so
in i lie household in combination with other
foods as cocoa and chocolate: but here again
we urge the importance of purity and nutrient
value, and these important points, we and feel
sure, may be relied upon in Baker’s Cocoa
Chocolate .”—Dietetic and Hygienic Gazette.
A 50-Cent Calendar Free.
tor Perhaps the most beautiful Calendar issued
the year '97 is The Youth's Companion Art
Calendar, which is given to each subscriber to
the paper for the year '97. It is made up of foul-
charming pictures, beautifully reproduced in
twelve harmonious colors. It is in form a four-
page folder which, when extended, is 10x24
Inches in size. The subjects are delightfully
attractive. This Calendar makes a desirable
ornament for a mantel, centre-table or writing
desk. It is offered for sale only by the pub¬
lishers of The Youth's Companion at 50 cents
per copy. Only because of the enormous num¬
ber published is it possible for the publishers of
The Companion to send it free to all Companion
subscribers.
Deafness Cannot be Cured
by local applications, as' they cannot reach the
diseased portion of the ear. There is only one
way to cure deafness, and that Is by constitu¬
tional remedies. Deafness is caused by an in¬
flamed condition of the mucous lining Of the
Eustachian Tube. When this tube gets In¬
flamed you have a rumbling sound or imper¬
fect hearing, and when it is entirely closed
Deafness is the result, and unless the inflam¬
mation can be taken out and this tube restored •
to Its normal condition, hearing will be de¬
stroyed forever, Nine cases out of ten are
caused by catarrh, which Is nothing but an in¬
flamed condition of the mucous surfaces.
We will give One Hundred Dollars for any
case of Deafness (caused by catarrh) that can¬
not be cured by Hall's Catarrh Cure. Send for
circulars, free.
F. J. Cheney & Co., Toledo, O.
Sold by Druggists, 75c.
Hall's Family Pills aro the best.
FITS stopped free and permanently cured. No
fits after first day’s use of D.r. Kline’s Great
Nerve Restorer. Free $2 trial bottle and treat¬
ise. Send to Dr. Kline, 931 Arch St.. Phila., Pa.
Mrs. Winslow's Soothing Syrup for children
teething, softens the gums, reduces inflamma¬
tion, allays pain, cures wind colic. 25c. a bottle.
After physicians had given me up, I was saved
by l’iso’s Cure.— Ralph Ekieg. Williamsport,
Pa., Nov. 22, 1893.
If afflicted with sore eyes use Dr. Isaac Thomp¬
son's Eye-water. Druggists sell at 25c. per bottle.
St. Vitus’ Dance. One bottle Dr. Fenner’s
Specific < ures. Circular, Fredonla, N. Y.
i28
i j B
’<•
Doses One Dol lar is true only of Hood’s Sars-i-
parilla. It is economy to get Hood’s win-u you
need a blood purifier und nerve tonic because
33 ■
Gy
Sarsaparilla
The best—in fact the One True Blood Purifier.
Hood’s Pills euro take, easy Liver to Ills; opera easy te. 25c. to
a ght 5?
costs cotton planters more
than five million dollars an¬
nually. This is an enormous
waste, and can be prevented.
Practical experiments at Ala¬
bama Experiment Station show
conclusively that the use of
“Kainit”
will prevent that dreaded plant
v •
disease.
All about Potash—the farms results of its United use by actual States—is ex¬
periment on the best in the
told in a little book which we publish and will gladly
mail free to any farmer in America who will write for iu
GERMAN Nassau KALI WORKS, St., New York,
93
Business Course
to one perso.i iu every
county. Please apply
promptly business to Georgia
College.
Macon, Georgia.
i vi t— Hi [515
o CURES WHERE ALL ELSE WHS.
Best Cough Syrup. Tastes Good. Use
in in time. Sold by druggists.
I _