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I
nt Decisions.
Servant—Contributory
Negligeuce.
>n Pacific Railway Com-
d States Circuit Court,
lorado June, 1882.
.aster or another servant
oward the servant injured,
relation of superior or vice prin
ipal, orders the latter h.to a situ .tion
of danger, and he obeys and is thereby
injured, the law will not charge him
■with contributory negligence, unless
the danger was »o glaring that no pru
dent man would have entered into it,
even under orders from one having
authority over him.
ter and Servant—Neghgenee of a Sail-
y Company Belating to Bridge De foots
Evidence.
mrg vs. the Lake Shore and AUchi
tn Southern Rai'road Company.
Supreme Court of Sew York (Fourth
Department), General Term, April,
1882.
Plaintiff was a brakeman in the
employ of the defendant company and
was injured by the falling of the Ash-
talula bridge, December 29ch, 1876,
while the train on which he was em
ployed was passing over the bridge.
No negligence was imputed to plain
tiff. It was claimed that the bridge
“was faulty In its construction in
rny respects,’* and ‘that a competent
nSer could have discovered the
erfeetions by an examination at
y time atter it was constructed. On
rotion for a new trial on' exceptions
after verdict for plaintiff, Held: That
if the structure was insufficient at the
time of the injuries, and was known to
be so, or might have been known so to
be by the defendant company if it had
exercised due care, then the defendant
was negligent of its duty; and that
negligence established, plaintiff's right
of recovery follows. 100 U. S., 220; 83
N. Y., 7.
The court charged the jury as fol
lows: “In this case the issue is on the
question whether the bridge was in a
e and secure condition. Plaintiff
eges that it was not, and it is for
to prove . . . that it was
nsecure and unsafe, as a matter of fact,
at the time of the inj ury. If you find
that it was not in a safe and secure
condition, arising from defects which
were latent in their character, which
could not be detected by engineers or
bridge builders who have a reasonable
degree of skill and experience in their
rrofession; by the use of the usual and
Jdinary tests, appliances, inspection,
id examination which it is customary
apply to structures of this nature
with a view to ascertain their ad< quacy
for the use to which they are devoted,
then the plaintiff'has no cause of action
if it was defective in that manner.”
Held : That such instructions were as
favorable to defendant as it was enti
tled to.
rro
■i
One B was called as a witness, and
testified that he wa9 a civil engineer,
and that he had experience in his pro
fession in the consti uction of bridges ;
that he examined the debris of the
Ashtabula bridge in January, 1877.
After describing the condition in
which he found the bridge and its
original construction, he was asked:
“Tell the causes whioh produced the
falling of the bridge in your opinion ?’’
The witness was allowed to answer
under Ejections: “There are many
causes which might lead to the failure
of the bridge. The first is, as I under
stand it, the bad design of the work as
built, and also the defective manner of
constructing the work.” Held: No
error. The witness was asked for his
opinion on facts known and ascertained
by him, and not on facts revealed by
other witnesses. See 16 N. Y., 173; 23
N. Y., 28; 82 N. Y., 443; Guiterman vs
Liverpool 8. Co., 83 N. Y., 358, distin
guished. Motion denied.
Station Agents—Authority to make Con
tracts for Transportation.
Wood vs. Chicago, Milwaukee and St.
Paul Railway Company. Supreme
Court oj Iowa, JulylSth, 1882.
Whether station agents along the
line of a railway have authority to
bind the company by their contract to
furnish cars for the transportation of
property at a particular station at a
given time, is a question of faot and
not of law. Courts cannot say as mat
ter of law, that station agents must
poesess the power to bind the o >mpany
by such contracts, nor can t he courts
take judioial notice that such agents
possess such power, or are held out to
the world as possessing it.
The quantity of butter Uninfluenced
by the character of the food, and the
quality also, as some some foods pro
duce a hard and others a soft butter.
Early Notions About Electric
ity.
Dr. Lieberkuhn, of Berlin, describes
the startling results which he obtain
ed,or imagined, “when a nail or a piece
of brass wire is put into a small apoth
ecary’s vial and electrified.” He says
that “if, while it Is electrifying, I put
my finger or a piece of gold which I
hold in my hand to the nail, I receive
a shock which stuns my arms and
shoulders.” At about the same date
(the middle of the last century), Mus-
cbenbroek stated, in a letter to Reau
mur, that, on taking a shock from a
thin glass bowl, “he felt himself struck
iu his arms, shoulders and breast, so
that he lost his breath, and was two
days before he recovered from the ef
fects of the blow and the terror,” and
ihat he ‘would hot take a sec md shock
for the Kingdom of France.” From
the description of the apparatus it is
evident that this dreadful shock was no
stronger than many of us have taken
scores of times for fun, and have given
to our school-fellows when we became
the proud possessors ot our first elec
trical machine.
Conjurers, mountebanks, itinerant
quacks and other adventurers opera
ted throughout Europe, and were
found at every country fair and fete
displaying the wonders of the invisi-
ule agent by giving shocks and pro-
fes dug to cure all imaginable ailments.
Then came the discoveries of Galvaui
and Volta, followed by the demonstra
tions of Galvani’s nephew, Aldini,
whereby dead animals were made to
display the movements of life, n jt only
by ihe electricity of the voltaic pile but,
as Aldini especially showed,by a trans
fer of the mysterious agency from one
animal to another. According to his
experiments (that seem to be forgotten
by modern electricians) with the gal
vanometer of the period, a prepared
frog could be made to kick by connect
ing Its nerve and muscle with muscle
and nerve of a recently killed ox,
with or without metallic intervention.
Thus arose the dogma which still
survives in the advertisements of elec
trical quacks, that “eleeericity is life,”
and the possibility of reviving the I
dead was believed by many. Executed
criminals were in active demand ;
their bodies were expeditiously trans
ferred from the gallows or scaffold to
the operating table, and their dead
limbs were made to struggle and
plunge, their eytballs to roll and their
features to perpetrate the most horrible
contortions by connecting nerves with
one pole and muscles with the oppo
site pole of a battery.
The heart was made to beat, and
many men of eminence supposed that
if this could be combined with artlflj
cial respiration, and kept up for awhile
the victim of the hangman might be
restored, provided the neck was not
broken. Curious tales were loudly
whispered concerning gentle hangings
and strange doings at Dr, Brookes’, in
Leicester 8quare >nd at the Hunte
rian Museum, in Windmill street now
flourishing as “The Cafe de l’Etoile.”
When a child I lived about midway
between these celebrated schools oi
practical anatomy, and well remember
the tales of horror that were recounted
concerning th^m. When Bishop and
Williams (no relation to the writer)
were hanged for burking, i. e. mur
dering people in order to provide
“subjects” lor dissection, their bodies
were sent to Windmill street, and the
popular notion was that, being old
and faithful servants of the doctors,
they were galvanized to life, and again
set up in their old business.
Important to Tugmen.
The following, taken from the Chi
cago Inter Ocean, will prove Interest
ing to owners of tug-boats on the
Hound : Iu the case of Captain Carter,
of the tug Parker, who was find $500
for taking his wife and a party of
friends out to the water wofts crjb and
back, and who had his fine remitted
by the Secretary of the Treasury, on
the recommendation of Collector
Spaulding that Captain Cartel violated
the law through ignorance of its pio-
visions, the Supervising Inspector re-
oominends that notice be given to the
masters ^nd owners of tug boats “that
towing boats oannot lawfully carry
persons other than the crew under any
oiroumstanoes without complying
with the terms and conditions imposed
on ordinary passenger vessels; also
that the character of suoh steamers can
be changed without extra cost for in
spection.” This notice has been ap
proved by the Secretary of the Treas
ury, and it will be well for captains
and owners of tugs to see that they
have the necessary permits to carry
persons other than the crew, and thus
Bave themselves a $500 fine, and one
which will not again be remitted.
WE SHALL KNOW.
When the mlsta have rolled In splendor
Prom the beauty of the hills,
And the sunshine, -warm and tender,
Falls In kisses on the rills,
We may read love’s shining letter,
In the rainbow of theipray;
We shall know each other better
When the mists have cleared away.
We shall know as we are known,
Nevermore to walk alone,
In thedawning of the morniug,
When the misto have cleared away.
If we err In human bllndnesR,
And forget that we are dust,
11 we miss the law of kindness,
When we struggle to be Just,
Snowy wings of peace shall cover
All the pain that clouds our day.
When the wearv watch Is over
And the mists havo cleared away.
We shall know as we are known,
Nevermore to walk alone,
in the dawning of the morning,
When the mists have cleared away.
When the silvery mists have veiled us
Fr m the faces of our own,
Oft we deem their love has (ailed us,
And we tread our path alone;
We should see them near and truly,
We should trust them day by day,
Neither love nor blame unduly,
If the mists were cleared away.
We shall know as we are known,
Nevermore to walk alone,
In the dawning of the morning,
When the mistB have cleared away.
Sentiment.
He that has no charity mtiits no
mercy.
Every man is occasionally what he
ought to Le perpetually.
Men nead not try where women
fail.
Every part of the soul, if it comes to
any largeness or any strength, goes
through discipline.
People are to bo taken in very email
doses. If fcolitude is proud, so is society
vulgar.
Everywhere endeavor to be useful,
and everywhere you will be at home.
The reck not moved by a lever of
iron will be opened by the root of a
green tree.
A hundred men make an encamp
ment, and one woman makes a home.
Good style is goi d sense, good health,
good energy, and good will.
To live long, it is necessary to live
slowly ; to live happily, to live wisely.
Nothing helps the memory so much
as older and classification. Classes are
always few, individuals many; to
know the class is to know what is
essential in the character of an indi
vidual and what least burdens the
memory to retain.
Where woman is held in honor
there the gods are well pleased ; where
she receives no honor, all holy acts are
void and fruitless.
A Haven. A
There’s a haven, safely locked
By two arms outstretching wide,
Where lor many an age have flocked
Htorm-tossed ships from every side.
Depth enough it has to float
Every vessel, great or small,
Stateliest build, or simplest boat,
And there’s room enough tor all.
Ever on Its swelling breast,
Pours the sunshine from above,
For this heaven, safe and blest,
It Is God's unfathbmed love.
And the arms, its sure defence, •
By the rudest shocks unstirred,
Are our God’s Omnipotence
And His never-failing word.
Anchor here, O storm-tossed soul,
Here thy fears and doubtB shall cease;
Though without the billows roll,
Here is safety, rest and peace.
Opposition is what we want and
must have to be good for anything.
Hardship 1b the native soil of manhood
nnd self-reliance.
One watch set right will do to set
many by; but, on the other hand, one
that goes wrong may be the means of
misleading a whole neighborhood;
and the same may be said of the exam
ple we each set to those around us.
All praise wrongly directed, or sug
gested by adflsh motives, is an in
jurious element in society. It perpetu
ates muoh that ought to be repressed,
it fills silly minds with vanity and
egotism, it pandera to some of the
worst features of human character.
Insinoere flattery especially does this.
Real foresight consists in reserving
our own forces. If we labor with
anxiety about the future, we destroy
that strength which will enable us to
meet tne future. It we take more in
hand now thau we can «io well, we
break up, and the woik is broken up
with us.
Milk when drawn from th| cow Is
slightly alkaline, soda being the ele
ment whioh holds the easel tie or curd
in solution. As oxygen is admitted
to the milk this alkali is neutralized,
and the milk sours and readily cur
dles.
Hydrophobia — The Possibility
of Recovery.
The death on Tuesday of Mr. George
A. Reeves, Speaker of the Texas Hou&e
of Representatives, will tend to con
firm the almost univer.-al impression
that recovery from hydrophobia is im
possible. Here was a pa'.itnt who^e
position and circumstances enabled
him to command all the avaiiatde re
sources of medical science in the treat
ment of the awful disease to which he
was a victim ; and yet his life could
not be saved.
The popular notion that their is no
known remedy for rabies is correct.
Most of the new drugs which have
been tested of late years prove more
injurious than beneficial to the patient.
They produce paroxysms, and thus
hasten death.
But the idea that nobody ever re
covers from hydrophobia does not seem
equally well founded. On the con
trary, a few cases of well-authenticated
spontaneous recovery are on record.
For the ’ast eight years a committee of
the Paris Academy of Medicine has
been engaged in prosecuting careful
researches concerning rabies iu
animals and man, and the President
of this committed, M. Decroix, in a
recent report, declares that he has
obtained satisfactory evidence of re
covery in nine cases, three of which
were those of human beings.
In commenting upon the experi
ments made by the French Rabies
Committee the Lancet says that, since
the administration of medicines usual
ly provokes convulsive seizures, “it
seems desirable, aeording to our pre
sent knowledge, to leave persons affect
ed with hydrophobia in the most per
fect possible calm.” Absolute quiet
and obscurity are pronounced indis
pensable conditions of wise treatment
by M. Decroix, and that investigator
makes the astounding statement that
under suoh conditions he would rather
suffer from hydrophobia than from
many other diseases.
It is something to have learned that
evey case of hydrophobia is not neces
sarily fatal; that recovery may occur,
though cure as yet appears to be im
possible.
Testing Wine with Catgut.
The determination ot the astringent
matters contained in wine is consid
ered a meat delicate operation. These
matters are various ; the principal is a
tannic compound called eenotannin,
and there are several ooloung matters
c'oiely related to it. The ordinary
methods of determination are rather
uncertain, especially when there is
little astringent matter. M. Girard
has lately devised a method ot very
simple nature, whioh has proved to be
superior in precision to the others. It
depends on the tendency of the matters
in question,to combine with animal
tissues. Long ago Peiouze used skin
to separate tannin from gallio acid;
others have analyzed bark by a process
based on absorption of tannin by skin.
Some chemists seem to have even, tried
ordinary skin in the analysis of wines,
but it is not wdll suited for this. M.
Girard finds in catgut a pure animal
tissue, of definite chemical species, a
much better means of determination.
He takes some of the fine white violin
cords prepared by M. Thibouville-
Lamy, tbe last process of polishing
with oil having been omitted. Four
or five of these are put together. A
certain quantity is soaked in wafer
four or five hours (One grain having
previously been detached to ascertain
the water in it); then these swollen
portions are put in a known quan ity
of the wine to be analyzed. This is
quiokly altered in consiquence; in
iwenty four hours generally, or forty-
eight at most, ail color has disappeared.
The tanned and dyed portions of cord
are then dried, first in a flat dish, then
in a dosed vessel at higher tempera
ture. A comparison then made of the
original cord (free from water) with
tbe same oord tanned, colored and
tried, affords a oorrot estimate of the
tenotanuin and coloring matters of the
wine.
Our Wheat Crop.
Current estimates of the wheat
crop harvested vary from 490,000,000
bushels to 570,000,000 and 600,000,000.
The first is the estimate of those who
reduce slightly the estimate of the
Agricultural Department, the last is
the estimate of the New York Commer
cial Bulletin. In any orop this varia
tion of one bushel in six would be a
serious matter. In tho one product ou
which trade balances turn and the
financial cutlook next fall pivots,
doubt on this matter is vital. It is
.truethat in one view of the case un
certainty is not to be wondered at. It
is barely ten years since the surplus
wheat of the United States began to
fill tbe granaries of Europe, barely
twenty since our exports began to bo
serious, and a little over a generation
ago our seaports imported grain in bad
years. Before 1860 the United States
did net export an average of over 6,500*-
000 bushels a year; in the next ten
years our export was quadrupled, and
in the next had risen twenty-fold. In
1871 the wheat product of the couutry
was 280,000,000 bushels and the acre
age 19,943,893. The acreage is now
unquestionably twice this, and, if the
larger figures are reached, the product
has nearly trebled.
It is this rapid rise in the production
per acre, coupled with an enormous
increase in the acreage itself, which
makes an estimate of the crop difficult,
if not impossible. Few early estimates
of the crop in the last three or four
years since our production began rising
by leaps and bounds have been within
50.000. 000 bushels of the mark, and
they bave often undershot the crop by
twice this. Last year Bradstreets’ put
the crop three months after harvest at
368.000. 000 bushels. This was about
35.000. 000 bushels short In 18S0 Brad-
streets' put the yield, figuring in Nov-
ber, at 455,600,000 bushels, and this
was 45,000,000 bushels short. In 1879,
as late as July 26, a statistician of some
remark, Alexander Delmar, put the
crop that year at 360,000,000 bushels.
It proved to be 88.000,000 bushels
more.
These instances could be multipli
ed indefinitely. They prove the strong
probability that the yield now is under
rather than overestimated. It is true
that the reasoning by which the Com
mercial Bulletin supports Its largest
estimate is weak. The acreage, as
given by the Department of Agricul
ture, is about 40,800,000 acres. This is
a guess; but it is the beet guess obtaina
ble, and the average per acre assumed
by the Department, 13 bushela, the
yield would be 550,000,(00. Unfortu
nately, the acreage is as uncertain as
the rest, and tne best that can be said
is, that with the largest acreage yet
known, a strong probability of the
largest yield per acre and a knowledge
of the steady underestimates of past
years, it is safe to say that the orop is
not less than 600,000,000, which leaves
a surplus of 250,000,000 bushels to be
sold cheap abroad.
Electoral Vote for 1884.
The number of Presidential eleotors
for 1884, based on the new apportion
ment, will be as follow*:
Alabama in
Arkansas 7
Misslsslppl........ 9
Missouri IS
Colorado s
Connecticut 6
Delaware 8
Florida 4
Georgia 12
Nevada 3
New Humpanue.... 4
New Jersey 9
New Kork 39
North Carolina 11
Illinois 22
Iowa 18
Kansas 0
Kentucky 13
Pennsylvania ........ 39
Khode Islauu......... 4
South Carolina........ 9
Massacauseus 14
Michigan 13
Minnesota 7
Total
Virginia 12
VeqaVirglula 9
WlsWnslu 1L
... .xoT
There is a net increase of 32 in the
total number of electoral votes since
the last Presidential eleotion. The
gains are: Arkansas 1, California 2,
Georgia 1, Illinois 1, Iowa 2, Kansas
3, Kentucky 1, Massachusetts 1, Michi
gan 2, Minnesota 2, Mississippi 1, Mis
souri 1, Nebraska 2, New York i,
North Carolina 1, Ohio 1, Pennsylvania
1, South Carolina 2, Texas 5, Virginia,
1, West Virginia 1, Wisconsin 1. Total
wains, #35. Maine, New Hampshire
and Vermont each lose one, leaving a
net gain of 32. The States voting for
Garfield have a net gain of 15, the
Statefe voting for Hancock a gain of
17.
A Poor Relation.
A poor relation is the most irrelevant
thing in nature, a piece of impertinent
correspondency; an odious approxi
mation ; a haunting conscience; a
preposterous shadow, lengthening in
the noontide of our prosperity; an un
welcome remembrancer; a perpetually
recurring morilfioation ; a drain on
your purse, a more intolerant dun on
your pride; a drawback upon success •
a rebuke to your rising; a stain in
your blood; a blot on your esoutcheon;
a rent in your garment; a death’s
head at your banquet; Agathoelee’
pot ; a Mordeoai at your gate; a Laza
rus at your door; a lion in your path;
a irog In your chamber; a 11/ in your
ointment; a mote in your eye; a tri
umph to your enemy ; an apology to
your friends ; the one thing not need
ful ; the hail in harvest; the ounoe of
sour in a pound of sweet.—Chariot
Lamb.
There are sixty corn canneries in
the S tft t e ”f Maine, which pack annu
ally 12,000,000 cans. • y *