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INDIFFERENCE.
Would I could learn Indifference
From all I bear and see ;
Nor seek to care for others more
Than others care for me!
For why should I with vain regret
Uphold a broken claim ?
If others should so soon forget,
Should I not do the same?
Would I could learn Indifference
From all I hear and see,
Nor seek to care for others more
Than others care for met
There Is no blight that winder throws,
No frost however stern,
Like thatwhloh chill’d affection knows
Of hearts forsaken learn !
What solace can the world Impart
When love’s reliance ends,
For there’B no chill can touch the heart,
Like that unklndness sends,
Would I could learn indifference
From all I h« ar and see,
Nor seek to care for ethers more
Than others care for me 1
Eliza L. Leveti.
The East kivet Suspension
Bridge.
The following statistics of this re
markable structure will give an idea
of ite magnitude. Its entire cost, and
the date of its completion, are items
which will be forthcoming in due
time:
Construction began January 2d,
1870.
First rope thrown across the river,
August 14th, 1876.
De^' h of the New York foundation
below nigh water mark, 78 teet 6
inches.
Depth of the Brooklyn foundation
below high water mark, 45 feet. •*
The New York tower contains 46,-
94-5 cubic yards of masonry, the Brook
lyn tower 38,214.
Weight of the Brooklyn tower about
93,079 tons.
Weight of the New York tower,about
a third more.
Size ot the towers at high water line
140x59 feet; a roof course, 136x53 feet.
Height of the towers ’ above high
water mark, 276 feet 6 inches.
Height of roadway in the clear in
the middle of the East River, 135 feet.
Grade of the roadway, 3 feet 3 inches
to 100 feet.
Width of promenade in center of
bridge, 15 feet 7 inches.
Width for railway on one side of the
promenade, 12 feet 10 inches.
Width of carriage way on the other
side of the promenade, 18 feet 9 inches.
Length of main span, 1,595 feet 6
inches
Length of each land span, 939 feet.
Length of the Brooklyn approach,
1,500 feet.
Length of each of the four great
cables, 3,578 feet 6 inches; diameter,
15f inches ; number of steel galvanized
wires in each cable, 5,434 ; weight of
each cable, about 800 tons.
Weight of steel in the suspended
superstructure, 10,000 tons.
Useful and Instructive.
Dr. John Rae does not hold the com
mon opiniontfhat the Esquimaux are
a diminutive race. He is inclined to
think that v.hey are fully as tall as the
average native of Loudon, and much
heavier. The women, when young,
he says, are very pleasant-looking—
almost pretty—extremely solid and
compact, with small teet and hands
and well-formed limbs. As to strength,
he found that the Esquimaux could
lift 400 or 500 pounds with ease.
M. Gley, a French physiologist, has
attempted to answer by experiments
made upon himself, the question:
What are the effects of intellectual
work upon the cerebral circulation.
When he applied himself to a subject
which he had a difficulty in undir-
standing thoroughly, and had there
fore to concentrate all his energies upon
It, the rhythm of the heart wap far
more accelerated than when he took
up some matter with which he was
well acquainted.
Borne engineers of Dundee, Scotland,
have tried with success a new gun for
throwing a line to a wrecked vessel.
The gun is about two feet long, and
has a bore of two and a half Inches in
diameter, and the cord is coiled in the
form of a cop and put inside a steel
canister, which is fired out of the gun,
leaving the line streaming behind it.
Two ounces of gunpowder carried the
end of the line at least 400 yards, and
would have taken it further if the line
had been longer.
Good work from human beings, just
as from machinery,requires good treat
ment, and the finer the quality and
the greater the quanti y of the work
the larger must be the outlay. Build
factories that supply pure air, and the
employes will produce more ; but they
will ask for more pay, because they
will consume more food and cannot
live on low wages. A donkey can exist
on thistles, of course, and give a don
key return ; but a race horse cannot
be placed on the same fare with profit
to anyone.
There have lately been made a series
of Interesting experiments upon the
artificial propagation of the sponge by
Prof. Ray Lank ester. From these it
has been proved that a sponge, cut
into small pieces, will form inde
pendent masses of growth. Each piece
was sunk in a suitable locality in salt
water, when it was found that it grew
into a well-formed sponge in about
seven years. One condition of success
was that the pieces must be left in
open, unprotected beds where the
natural food of the sponge was not
withheld.
Letters recently received from some,
of the Chinamen who were students at
Northampton say that two are learn
ing to become mining engineers, two
are studying medicine and others are
at the Naval Torpedo School. The
boys are not looked upon with favor
by the Chinese officials, who think
they cannot be trusted because they
have become Americanized. They all
look with longing eyes to America,
anxious to come back. Apparently
they do not take kindly to the man
ners ana customs of their native
country after their experience here.
An Emperor Cornered,
The Duchess of Clievreuze of the
time of Napoleon I. was immensely
wealthy, and like the other aristocrats
of her day declined to appear at the
usurper’s court.
The Emperor, who had made up his
mind that the representatives of the
old nobility should grace it, dropped a
hint one evening to one of the friends
of the family of Luynes that unless
the Duchess appeared at the next re
ception at the Tuileries he would allow
the decision of the courts in the Con-
cini case (to which the Luynes owed
much of their immense fortune) to be
revised.
“But, sire, protested the person ad
dressed, “the case could not be revised
—the time prescribed by law has ex
pired.”
“There is no prescription where I
am concerned.”
After this, there was nothing for
the Duchess but to make her appear
ance, and accordingly she was present
at the next reception.
She had suffered from an attack ot
smallpox, which had left its .traces on
her face.
“Ah, it is you, Madame?” said Na
poleon, with his brutal frankness;
“but I say, you’re all pock-pltted.”
“I know it, sire,” replied the Duch
ess, with a bow, “but a Frenchman
would not have reminded me of it!”
The Duchess’ retort was in the same
style—though neater—as that of the
lady who when one evening the Em
peror called her up and remarked
loudly :
“Are you as fond of men as ever?”
replied, as she turned on her heel and
walked off :
“Yes, sire, so long as they have
good manners!”
Cloth Tracings,
A correspondent of the Moniteur In-
du8triel refers to the difficulties en
countered in tracing upon cloth or
calico, especially the difficulty of mak
ing it take the ink. In the tirst place
the tracing should be made in, a warm
room, or the cloth will expand and be
come flabby. The excess of glaze
may be r. moved by rubbing the sur
face with a chamois leather, on which,
a little powdered chalk has been
strewn ; but this practice possesses the
disadvantage of thickening the ink,
besides it might be added, of making
scratches which detract from the ef
fect of the tracing. The use of ox gall
which makes the ink “take,” has
also the disadvantage ot frequently
making it “run,” while it also changes
the tint of the colors. The following
Is the process recommended: Ox-gall
is filtered through a filter paper ar
ranged over a funnel, boiled and
strained through fine linen, which ar
rests the scum and other impurities.
It is then placed again on the tire, and
powdered chalk is added. When the
effervescence ceases the mixture is
again filtered, affording a bright, col
orless liquid, if the operation has been
cart fully performed. A drop or two
must be mixed with the Indian
ink ; and it also has the property of
effacing lead-pencil marks. When
the doth tracings have to heliograph-
ed raw sienna is also added to the ink,
as this color unites with it the most
intimately of any, besides Intercepting
the greatest amount of light.
J
Pious Thoughts.
Unbelief.
There is no unbel lef;
Whoeve plants the seed beneath the sod,
And waits to see it push away the clod,
lru-its he in God. •
Whoever says when clouds are la the sky,
"Be patient heart! Light breaketh by and
by,”
Trusts the Most High.
Whoever sees, ’neath winter’s field of snow,
The silent harvest of the luture grow,
God’s power must know.
Whoever lies down in his couch to sleep,
Content to lock each s mse in siumber deep,
Knows God will keep.
Whoever says: "To-morrow,” "The Un
known,”
"The Future,” trusts that Power alone
He dared disown.
The heart that looks on when the eyelids
close,
And dares to live when life has only woes,
God’s comfort knows.
There Is no unbelief;
And day by day, and night, unconsciously,
The heart, lives by that lalth tne lips deny,
God knoweth why.
A Speck of Foliation.
We read iast week of a gentleman
who was bitten by a fly'. He was sit
ting in a chair when the fly lighted
on his arm. Feeling the sting he
brushed the fly away and thought no
more about the matter. Shortly the
arm became painful aud swelled, and
the man became seriously til. The only
explanation that the physician could
give was that the fly had probably
been at some tainted meat, and at the
moment of biting the arm left a little
of the pollution in the flesh.
The human body is very intolerant
of any pollution within the system.
Boils or the symptoms of blood pois
oning speedily follow its introduction,
and health is not restored till it be ex
pelled. A physician of this State a
year ago allowed a knife which had
been used in the examination of a
corpse to slip and cut his finger ; be is
hardly well yet from the blood poison
ing which resulted.
It may well be that God has de
signed this sensitiveness of the body
to the presence of anything that savors
of decay, to teach us the necessity of
purity of the soul The injury done
to the soul by the slightest pollution
may not be so evident, but is it not as
real? The taint may be communi
cated to the soul as easily, as unsus-
pectedly as in the bite of a fly. Let
us be on our guard.—Christian Ob
server.
Christ at the Feaat.
Thomas Toller, of Kettering, was
remarkable for a happy dealing with
texts in, at once, a wise and simple ac
commodation to circumstances. For
instance, at Kettering occurred a great
annual festivity; for several days it
kept th^neighborhood in a state of ex
citing relaxation from the duties of
life. He usually preached a sermon
an admonitory character to the
young, guarding against the dangers,
and showing, how yet the occasion
miglit be made honorable to the Au
thor of all blessings. On one occasion
he took for his text, “What think ye,
that he will uot come to the feast?”
and he divided his subject in this way.
I. He may be here. There is noth
in Nuch a feast in itself inconsistent
with Christ’s practice.
II. Suppose he should be here, how
different this feast from all former
feasts. (1) If Christ should come.no
good man need be ashamed to be seen
here. (2) If Christ should come, what
a damp it will be to many people’s
pleasures. (3) If Christ should come,
would uot some be ashamed to behave
as there is too much reason to believe
they will ? (4) If Christ should come,
a welcome guest, how gratefully and
happily will everybody go away.
III. Suppose Christ should not come
tothefeast, then it will uot be worth
coming to. (1) If he is not there,
then you know who will be—the devil
will. (2) If he is not there, no good
man has any business there. (3) If
he is not there, it will be because he is
not invited. (4) If he is not there,
then you had better also have remain
ed home.
Saddle of Lamb.— A saddle of
lamb is a dainty joint for a small din
ner party. Sprinkle a little salt over
it and set it in the dript ing-pan, with
a few small pieces of uutter on the
meat; baste It c ccasionally with
tried-out lamb fat; dredge a little
flour over it a few minute before tak
ing from the oven. Serve with the
best of currant jelly and send to table
with a ffew choice early vegetables.
Squash Fritters.—A pint of cooked
squash, or less, one egg, two spoonsful
of flour. Fry in a spider or on the
griddle for breakfast.
Instructive.
Last year Great Britain made nearly
2,700,000 tons of puddled iron and im
ported 90,000 tons besides.
It is said that plaster of Paris of
hardness sufficient to be employed as
mold for metal may be made by using
10 per eent. of alum in the water which
is intended to be mixed up with the
plaster.
Electricity is now applied to pile
driving. A water-wheel furnishes the
power, which is transmitted by two
dynamo-electric machines and con
necting wires to pile-drivers at a con
siderable distance.
The French physiologists Perrier
and Poirier have found that, properly
speaking, starfishes have no blood cir
culation at all, as what has hitherto
been supposed to be the heart of these
animals is simply a gland.
The longest three-quarter Inch rod
ever made was rolled at the Albany
iron-works recently. It is 263 feet
long, plumb from end to end and free
i om flaws. The next longest rod ever
made was forty feet shorter.
The question of the existence of
earth tides, or oscilliations of the
earth’s crust corresponding to those
produced in the sea by the attraction
of the moon, is being investigated by
a British commission. A pendulum
is so suspended that its slightest mo
tion turns a mirror and causes the
point of light reflected by it upon a
distant screen to move very percepti
bly. The pendulum is proved to be in
continual change of position, for the
motion of the reflected light is inces
sant, and so irregular that it is hardly
possible to deteimine its mean posi
tion on the screen within five or six
inches.
Six million pounds of graphite of
plumbago are annually imported into
the United States, and it ie estimated
that the home production in New
York, Pennsylvania, Canada and else
where equals this amount. This val
uable material is used principally in
the manufacture of lead pencils, stove
polish and crucibles. Its market price
varies, according to quality, from $25
to $75 per ton.
Valuable.
The Blood.—Never under any cir
cumstances rub the limbs downward
The blood in circulation which can be
reached by rubbing is all venous or
blue blood. It is charged with waste
and poisonous materials, and is strug
gling to get to the heart and lungs for
purification. Always rub upward.
But few invalids, especially with fe-.
male difficulties, who will not feel a
new life imparted to them when this
is tried for the first .time. Valves aie
placed in the veins purposely to resist
downward movement, while the stiff
arteries, near the bone, are without
them. Clasp the wrist tightly and see
what multiple currents of poison start
out on the hand, while none appear
on the arm back of the ligature.
A life could be destroyed in a short
time by simply rubbing the limbs
downward, while you cau almost draw
the dead out of the grave by rapid,per
sistent and general rubbing of the
limbs upward, if no lesion of the vital
parts has occurred. In view of this,
why has it not been so stated in the
hundreds of “directions” for restora
tion of the dead from asphyxia and
syncope—as in drowning aud heart
disease? Rubbing to and fro simply
affects the capillaries, doing little if
any good. Artificial respiration is
beneficial, but only when it has given
impulse to the heart. The best results
will be obtained by having as many
as four or six persons rubbing the limbs
synchronously (all alike—in rhythm),
while another manipulates the chest
and abdomen.
Human Srains, Skin and Hair.—
The average weight of the brain of the
adult is three pounds and eight ounces
—of a female two pounds and four
ounces. The nerves are all connected
with it, directly or through the spinal
marrow. These nerves, together with
their branches and minute ramifica
tions, probably exceed 10,000,000 in
number, forming a “body guard”
outnumbering by far the mightiest
army ever marshahd. The skin is
oompesed of three layers, and varies
from one-lourth to one-eighth of an
inch in tnickness. Its average area In
an adult Is estimated at 2,000 square
inches. It performs various Import
ant functions. It Is the seat of com
mon sensations, and Is furnished with
numerous pores or openings, which
give passage to the sweat and other
exhalation* It is in this way the
great regulator of the heat of the body.
Walnut Trees and Gum Trees,
There is now a great scarcity of wal
nut logs in this country, and It is said
that it will be difficult to obtain a mil
lion feet of walnut lumber next year,
as, owing to the demand for this wood
in Flurope, the supply was greatly re
duced by last year’s cutting. The use
of walnut in the manufacture of sew
ing machines and lead-pencils has al
most cleaned this tree out of our
Western forests. Some farmers have
begun raising walnut trees for the
timber.
An important question for builders
and manufacturers is, what other
wood can be used in the place of
walnut ? There is a widespread belief
that no other native wood is equal to
walnut in certain qualities. It has a
fine grain and it cures evenly, does
not readily split or crack, and holds
its color and shape under trying con
ditions which would warp, shrink aud
discolor other woods. It takes a bet
ter polish than other woods of native
growth, and more nearly resembles
mahogany and rosewood than any
other timber grown on our soil.
The substitute of cherry dyed to re
semble ebony has partially succeeded
in the making of light frame work ;
but a broad surface of dyed cherry is
not so easily obtained. Recently some
experiments have been made with the
wood of the black gum tree, one of
the largest trees grown in the Southern
States. Its small blue fruit fattens
the opossum, and bees make honey in
the hollow trunks. It is a peculiarity
of the growth of these trees that they
become hollow as they grow old ; but
there is much sound wood in the
branches, which has been largely
used for railroad ties. It hss been dis
covered that the wood of this tree can
be dyed through and through. After
it has been dyed it is susceptible of a
flue polish. Its durability, however,
seems to depend, as does its color, upon
some artificial process, aud this ren
ders its availability as a substitute for
walnut questionable. There is a great
supply of gumwood in this country,,
and if it can be utilized for a few years
the farming of walnut trees may make
up what is now a serious deficiency in
the supply of timber for manufactur
ing purposes.
One significant fact showing the
scarcity of walnut is the presence in
the West of men who are pulling up
old walnut stumps and roots to be
sawed into veneer.
Measuring the Perspiration*
By means of apparatus constructed
especially for the purpose it has been
found practicable to measure the
amount of perspiration in different
portions of the human body. It is also
found that the moat important element
in reference to the atmosphere, in this
connection, is its relative humidity—•
an increase of this relative humidity
corresponding to a decided diminution
in the quantity of perspiration. Of
less importance is the influence of
temperature, an increase of this acting
not so much directly by increasing
the capacity of the air for moisture as
it does indirectly, by tirst of ail bring
ing about some changes in the skin,
increasing the supply of water at the
surface whence the evaporation takes
place. The clothed arm is found to be
subject to variations in the amount of
perspiration, which are dependent
upon the exterior influences of the air
as is the case with the naked arm;
clothing, in fact,does not diminish,but
rather favors, the evaporation of water
from the surface of the body.
A Rotary Steam Motor.
A new kind of steam engine has
been recently patented in Austria by
Prof. Wellner, of Brunn. The so-
called “steam wheel” (according to
the account in the Polytechnischer
Journal) consists of a simple water
wheel, mostly immersed in hot
water in a closed vessel. Steam is ad
mitted at the lower part, and forces
the oells of the wheels upward, pro
ducing rotation. The steam fills more
aud more of the cells on the rising
side, and at length begins to escape
into the Bteam space above the water.
Steam may either be produced directly
at the lower part, or conducted to the
vessel from elsewhere. The upper
tube for outlet of steam may lead
either Into the open air or into a con
denser. The meohanical work con
sists in the ascent of the speoifloally
lighter steam in the heavier liquid.
These steam wheels may either be
used as independent motors or in con
nection with ordinary steam engines;
in t he latte* case the escape steam of
one kiDd of machine is utilized foi*
the other.