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Ancient Uses of Skins and
Leather.
In these days of steel pens and note
paper but little thought is given to
the fact that our trade was among the
first to provide man with an article
whereon he could inscribe the history
of his times, and hand it down intact
and well preserved for the enlight-
ment of future generations. Many
have forgotten, or, perhaps, never
knew, that the skin of animals and
leather in its manufactured state, with
awls and thorns for pens, comprised
about the entire stock in trade of the
ancient stationery store.
The skins most generally used for
this purpose were those of the sheep,
the goat and the ass. The Persians of
old employed (hem for writing their
records, as did also the ancient Ioni-
ans. Buchanan found in India a copy
of a law written on a roll of leather
fifteen feet long ; and many similar
rolls are known to exist, some extend
ing to the extraordinary length of 100
feet. Even fish skins were not de-
pised. The Mexicans employed them
also. Pergament, or parchment, as
we now call it, takes its name from its
being first used by Eumenes, King of
Pergamus, about 300 years before the
Christian era.
It is said that the immediate cause
of the introduction of parchment was
a decision on the part of Ptolemy,
King of Egypt, to prohibit the expor
tation of parchment from that coun
try. This caused Eumenes to incite
his subjects to discover a substitute.
Many writers hold that Eumenes was
not the cause of the origination of
parchment, but of the improvement of
the old membrana,, or parchment of
the inferior kind. At any rate, it is
from the introduction of parchment or
vellum that we date the first step
toward the modern form of books.
Membrana, an inferior kind of
parchment, was also used. In order
to prepare this, the skin was separated
between the hide and the flesh, and
by working and rubbing with quick
lime was formed into leaves fit for the
purposes of the writer. This form of
writing material was extensively em
ployed by the Hebrews and Greeks.—
Shoe and Leather Reporter.
i
Queen Luise’s Cap.
April Flowers.
Magnetic Storms.
Remembering the influence which
the sun has been found to exercise
upon the magnetic needle, the ques
tion will naturally arise, has the sun
anything to do with magnetic
storms? We have clear evidence that
he has. On the 1st of September,
1869, Messrs. Carrington and Hodgson
were observing the sun, one at Oxford
and the other in London. Their scru
tiny was directed to certain large
spots which at that time marked the
sun’s face. Suddenly a bright light
was seen by each observer to break
out on the sun’s surface and to travel,
slowly in appearance, but in reality at
the rate of about 7,000 miles in a min
ute,across apart of the solar disk. Now
it was found afterward that the self
registering magnetic instruments at
Kow had made at that instant a
strongly-marked jerk. It was learned
at that moment a magnetic storm
prevailed at the West Indies, in South
America, and in Australia. The sig
nal-men in the telegraph stations at
Washington and Philadelphia re
ceived strong electric shocks ; the pen
of Bain’s telegraph was followed by a
flame of fire ; aud in Norway the tele
graphic machinery was set on fire.
At night great auroras were seen in
both hemispheres. It is impossible
not to connect these startliug magnetic
indications with the remarkable ap
pearance observed on the sun’s disk.—
/Vo/. Proctor.
A prosos of the recent celebrations
ut Berlin in honor of the birthday
anniversary of the late Queen Luise,
Kaiser Wilhelm’s mother, our sport
ing contemporary, The Baer, pub
lishes the following interesting anec
dote, delightfully illustrative of the
amiability and readiness of wit for
which that illustrious lady, one of the
most beautiful and accomplished
women of her time, was so justly
celebrated. One day Frederic Wil
helm III. upon entering his consort’s
boudoir at the breakfast hour as was his
wont, caught sight of a fine new cap
upon the Queen’s work table, and
laughingly inquired how much she
had paid for it. “Very little,” was
the reply ; “I chose one of the cheap
est in the shop.” It only cost four
thalers.” “Only four thalers!” re
joined the king ; “a great deal too
much money, I should say, for such a
thing as that.” 8osaying he walked
across the room to a window over
looking the Schloss Platz, and, hap
pening to perceive an old pensioned
guardsman passing by, called him up
into the room, and, pointing to the
Queen, exclaimed : “That lady sitting
on the sofa has more money than she
knows what to do with. Now tell me,
my old comrade, how much do you
think she gave for that cap lying there
outlie table?” After taking a good
look at the cap, the puzzled veteran
shrugged his shoulders and replied:
“I dare say it cost a few groschen ”
“Grochen, indeed!” cried the King,
casting a triumphant glance at his
smiling consort, “I tell you she paid
four thalers for it. Go to her; I’ll
answer for it, she’ll give you just as
much as the cap cost.” Taking out
her purse, the Queen counted out four
brand-new thalers, and dropped them
one by one into the old soldier’s out
stretched hand, sayinir, “You see that
tall gentleman standing by (he win
dow. He has much more money th in I;
indeed, everything I possess comes to
me from him. Now, go to him : I feel
certain that he will give you just twice
as much as you have had from me.”
Frederic William caught in his own
trap, produced eight thalers with an
affected reluctance that elicited a burst
of happy laughter from the Queen,
and handed them to the stout old pen
sioner who went on his way rejoic
ing. This man, Christian Brandes,
lived to a great age, and the King,
whose memory for faces and names
was as remarkable as that of his great
uncle, Frederic II., met him accident
ally several years later, a short time
after the death of the Queen. Recog
nizing him once, he held out his hand,
and ejaculated, in a voice broken'by
emotion, “Brandes, do you remem
ber?”
Lovers of spring flowers, says Mr.
William Trimble in The Student, will
find this mouth most of our species of
violets in bloom. The most natural
division of the genus is into two parts
or sub-genera, one including the stem
less or acaulescent species, the other
the leafy stemmed or caulescent spe
cies. The common blue violet, Viola
cucullata, illustrates the former, and
the pansy, Viola tricolor, the latter.
In the one case the flowers proceed
from the axils of the leaves, but the
leaf-insertions are so crowded that
both flowers and leaves seem to have
their origin at or below the surface of
the soil, while in the other case there
is a conspicuous leafy stem also pro
ducing the flowers in the axils and
frequently having internodes over
one inch in length. The bird’s-foot
violet, V. pedata, abounds on serpen
tine barrens and elsewhere in sterile
ground. It is acaulescent, has deeply
cleft leaves and large showy flowers
with much variation as to color,
usually some shade ot blue, but occa
sionally white. Much more common,
but often with the last occurs the ar
row-leaved violet, V. sagittata, the
flowers of which are commonly of a
rich purple. The round-leaved violet,
V. rotuudifolia, is acaulescent, has
small shining, pale-green leaves when
in flower, which afterward increase
three or fourfold in size. The flowers
are small, on short scapes, the petals
yellow, marked with brown lines.
Bryant’s beautiful little poem, “The
Yellow Viwlet’” has reference to this
species, and not to V. pubescens, as
many suppose.
The marsh marigold, Caltha palus-
tris, is one of the showy early flowers,
on account of its large yellow sepals
It may be found growing in moist low
grounds, or often in shallow, sluggish
streams. The spring beauty, Clay-
tonia Virginica, furnishes some inter
esting points for observation, such as
time of opening, the relative positions
of the stamens then and later, tin
number of times it reopens, ami its
mode of fertilization. Borne other
flowers of this month are the
wild ginger, Asarum Cauadense ;
penny-wort, Obolaria Virginia;
wind-flower, Thalictrum anemo-
noides ; several of the genus Ranun
culus ; mouse-ear, Antennaria planta-
ginifolia ; dog-toothed violet, Erytliro-
nium Amerieanum, aud many more.
shire, and many thought the chuach
should be re-consecrated. The Vicar
consulted Bishop Wordsworth, who
suggested a “penitential service.”
This was held , a very large congrega
tion being present. The Miserere (the
fifty-first Psalm) was chanted; col
lects from thecommination office were
chanted.a penitential litany song, and
rn appropriate sermon preached.
A minister is assigned every year by
the conference to the .’Methodist Church
at Troy, O., and is invariably locked
out by the Trustees. This is the re
sult of an old disagreement, in’which
the ediffice was, by order of a court,
left in the Trustees’ hands. The last
appointee, the Rev. George Edgar,
announced that he would break the
door and hold services. The Trustees
put on new locks and bars to prevent
an entrance. While they were at
work the pastor appeared on the
scene. An altercation ensued. Trustee
James brandished a hatchet and the
clergyman drew a pistol, for which
act he was arrested and ptat under
bonds.
The Boston correspondent of the
Hartford Courant says of the Rev.
Octavius Brooks Frothingham : “Mr.
Frothingham has renewed his connec
tion with his father’s church. His
name has neyer been taken from its
rolls, where it was placed in his youth.
The pastor of this church is the Rev.
Rufus Ellis, and he is one of the most
orthodox in his tendencies of any of
our Unitarian preachers. Mr. Froth
ingham is a constant attendene on his
ministry. He takes part in the social
meetings of the church also, and fre
quently addresses them. In spite of
what the Rev. Mr. Savage has said of
his holding to his former views, it ap
pears very much as if the radical work
of Mr. Frothingham was ended. A
mind constituted as is his, when ex
periencing a change in mature life
does not return from it.”
Norwegian
Glaciers
Lore.
and Folk-
Witty and Jocose.
The Church Temporal, General
and Personal.
A River Under Ground.
The Startling Discovery Reoently Made by a
Herder in Idaho.
Gems.
The best throw with dice is to throw
them away.
Prefer truth before the maintaining
of an opinion. , *
He who depends on another dines
ill aud sups worse.
Examine not the pedigree nor patri
mony of a good man.
The greatest gift we can bestow on
others is a good example.
He who can plant courage in a hu
man soul is the best physician.
School houses, are the republican
line of fortifications.
He who swells in prosperity is sure
to shrink in adversity.
The sale of the Troy \N. Y.) Tele
gram to Senator Ma
t»on,Jflttttf| l 'i‘oy liras effected.
Mete Green, not long since, while
out with his cattle, made a most
startliug discovery, and one that may
possibly take its place among the
grand wonders of Idaho. He was
riding along early in the morning on
the divide between Indian Creek and
Snake River, when his horse sprang
aside, snorted and otherwise gave
evidence of having heard something
unusual. The spot was a little knoll
on the come of the ridge, and Mete,
who had been almost asleep, taking a
sweep around with his eyes to learn
the cause of his horse’s fear, finally
rested his vision on what seemed to be
a’hole in the ground a few paces dis
tant. Dismounting he was soon look
ing into a funnel-shaped oiificefifteen
or twenty feet deep by ten or twelve
at its rim in diameter.
At the bottom of this funnel—the
soil giving out there—was a rftt in the
rock two or three feet in width by
four or five feet in length, which
seemed to open into the very bowels
of the earth. Through this aperture
came up from the depths below a ter
rible roaring, as of a leaping cataract,
a mighty rush ef waters, tumbling
over rocks. The ground trembled and
the subterranean noise continued un
interruptedly. Mete remained some
time and the longer he listened the
more convinced he became that what
he heard was running water, but how
far down to the stream he could not
even conjecture—might have been a
few feet or half way to China. And
as the fissure was large enough to take
him in should his foot slip his observa
tion was not an extended one. The
principal thing he did while there
was to listen long and strong and
think loud—at a safe distance from
the brink of the hole.—Ex.
Dr. Jackson,the Episcopal Bishop ol
London, hasjust completed his seven
ty-first year.
Professor M. E Gates has been
unanimously elected President of
Rutgers t’oliege, New Brunswick.
The Rev. Mr. Ashenfclter,of Jersey
City, has accepted a call to the Uni-
versalist Church of Towanda, N. Y.
Dr. Beresford, the Archbishop of
Armagh and Primate of Ireland,
entered upon his eighty-first year, two
weeks ago.
The Rev. J. W. Bain, of Cincinnati,
has accepted a call to the Alexander
Church, Philadelphia.
In Scotland, candidating sermons
are called “preaching matches.”
Thirty-three English parishes were
dependent for the choice of their rec
tors on the late dissipated Lord Lons
dale.
Thirty-one societies are engaged in
missionary enterprises in China. They
employ 618 laborers, and last year ex
pended $764,000.
A native of India is publishing in
Calcutta a journal called the Anti-
Christian, in which he undertakes to
show the absurdities of the Christian
religion. He offers to priut replies
from Christians, and defies them all.
In commemoration of the five hun
dredth anuiversy of ’Wyclifr’s death,
which will be in the year 1884, a
Wyclifr society is in course of forma
tion to secure the publication of the
great reformer’s Latin works, with
English translations.
It is stated that the revision of the
Old Testament is finished, with the
exception of Ecclesiastes and the Bong
of Solomon. The second revision will
take the whole of 1882, and thefluished
work will be published in 1883.
The extensive statistics that have
been recently gathered in England
show that in a large number cities
more than 60 per cent, of the pojula
tion do not attend auy place of Wor
ship and that little more than one
quarter of the people attend the Es
tablished Church.
There was a suicide recently in the
parish church of Marston, Lincolu-
When an Austin schoolmaster en
tered his temple of learning a few
mornings ago he read on the black
board this touching legend. ‘ Our
teacher is a donkey.” The pupils ex
pected there would be a combined
cyclone and earthquake, but the phil
osophic pedagogue contented himself
with adding the word “drivet” to the
legend, aud opened the school as
usual.
A party ot vegetarians who W'ere
boarding at a water-cure establish
ment, while taking a walk in thefields,
were attacked by a bull which chased
them furiously out of his pasture.
“That’s your gratitude, is it, you
great hateful thing?” exclaimed one
of the ladies, panting with fright and
fatigue. “ After this I’ll eat beef three
times a day !”
An acquaintance from the country,
having visited some friends and being
about to depart, presented a little boy
—one of the family—with half a dol
lar, in the presence of his mother.
“Please, is it a good one?” asked the
little fellow. “Of course it is,” replied
the gentleman, surprised. “Why do
you ask ?” “Because, I’d rather
a bad one, and then thewiH^wmie
keep it. If I get an^Fgood money it
goes into the bank, and I never get
it again.”
Aurist to patient—“We’ll see di
rectly what your difficulty of hearing
arises from. Can you hear this tick?”
holding out his watch. Lady—“No.”
Aurist, holding it nearer—“Now,
possibly?” Lady—“No.” Aurist,
placing the watch closer to the pa
tient’s ear—“Well now, atall events?”
Lady—“Not a sound.” Aurist—
1 Why, you must be all but stoue deaf!
You surely can’t understand what I’m
saying to you?” Lady—“Indeed, I
can, I assure you!” Aurist—“But,
upou my word—” He looks at his
watch, then puts it to his ear. “Oh, I
beg ten thousand pardons,
has not been wound up.”
A correspondent of Nature gives
some curious particulars of the advance
of a Norwegian glacier known as Buer-
bree near Odde,on the Sorfjord. “I vis
ited the place,” h* says, “in 1874, and
the recent ploughing up of a consider-
aule bit of the valley by the vast irre
sistible ice-plough was very striking,
while the glacier itself was very beau
tiful. My object, however, is to repeat
a strange piece of folk-lore, which
tends to show that in this particular -
spot the advance of the glacier must
have been long-continued. The legend
was told me by Asbjoru Olsen, an
intelligent guide at Odde, who speaks
good Euglish. The tale was that long
ago the Buer valley extended far into
the mountains, and was fu'l of farms
and cultivation. It had also a village a
church and a pastor. One winter
night when a fearful storm was
threatened, three Finns (i. e. Lapps)
entered the valley and begged shelter
in vain of the inhabitants. At last
they asked the priest and he too re-
fused. Then the wrath of the heathen
wizards was raised and they solemnly
cursed the valley and doomed It to
destruction by the crawling power of
the ide, until the glacier reached the
lake below. The Lapps were seen no
more, but on their disappearing the
snow began to fall. The winter was
terrible. The glacier approached by
awful steps, and by degrees engulfed
the cursed valley and farms. Nor is
the curse yet exhausted, for the gla
ciers creeps down the valley’each year,,
and has yet a mile to go before it
reaches its destiua,ioh in the lake
above Odde. I am no judge of folk
lore, but this weird tale seemed to me
a genuine piece of it, and not invented
for the occasion, as Olsen gave it half
jokingly as the tradition of the dis
trict. The farmer who owns the
remnant of the doomed valley wanted
them to sell it, as he saw his acres
swallowed up each year, but no one
will buy. If this tale be genuine.it
points to a prolonged advance of the
Folgefond, which has led to the tale of
the Lapps’ curse.”
The Dispensary.
A Gentleman.
\:
Socially, the term “gentleman”
has become almost vulgar. It is cer
tainly less employed by gentlemen
than by inferior persons. The one
speak* of “a man I know,” the other
ol “ a Veutleman I know.” In the
one case the gentleman is taken for
granted, in the other it seems to need
specification. Again, as regards the
term “lady.” It is quite in accor
dance with the usages of society to
speak of your acquaintance the Duch
ess as “a very nice person.” People
who would s.iy “very nice lady,” are
not generally of a social class which
has much to do with Duchesses ; and
if you speak of one of these as a “ per
son ” you will soon be made to feel
A Simple Cure for Small Pox.—
As the prevention [or cure of this dis
ease is a question that concerns every
person, we ask the perusal of the fol
lowing which is taken from the New
York Journal of Commerce, one of the
most conservative and reliable dailies
published in this country :
A lady, the mother of six children,
had often sought relief for a pain in
the back by taking saltpetre and bran
dy. She was exposed to the small pox
and contracted the disease. The pre
monitory symptoms were violent,
fever very high, severe pain in
head and excruciating pain in the r
gion of the kidneys.
A physician was ciJJ-tSii
night, but 4ji doubt a/to the nature
the diso^e, though suspecting it to
a.case of small pox, he made no p
scrtj^j|^|PfrrDmising to return ea:
ext morning. The fever and pai
increasing, she begged her husband
prepare for her the old prescription
saltpetre and brandy. The brandy
was not to be had, but he crushed a
piece of saltpetre as large as a common
white bean. This she took in a tea-
spoonful of cold water. Feeling
better th^dose was once or twice re
peated. Pain soon subsided and she
slept well the remainder of the night,
and awakened feeling perfectly well.
She had sixty well defined pustules in
her face, but they weresliglitly inflam
ed and hot at all painful. The devel
opments of small pox on her entire
person were in number aud appear#
ance in keeping with those on her face.
In due time all her children and her
husband were aflected, as she had been
by fever and pain in the head and
back. They received the same treat
ment with the same favorable result.
Several families caught the disease,
used the same remedy and in every
case the result was favorable.
These facts came to us at first hand
and the reader may rely upon them
as exact statements without exagger
ation. Here were from ten to twelve
cases all relieved from pain and fever in
less than an hour. The pustules were
speedily developed, but were more
like the disease in its convalescent
stages than at any other period. As
to the quantity given it was not at all
defined, but the first patienk within
an hour, must have taken of
tiie bulk of three ordinary white
beans.
The jury in the United StateJ
trict Court at Charleston, S. C.
on the Acton election cases.