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SUNDAY MORNING. FORTUNE CAME KNOCKING. The Prisoner’s Story of a Mining Engineer in Old Montana, “Asa genera) thing a civil engineer in the field gets more 'kicks than hap pence, yet once or twice in a lifetime fortune comes knocking at his door ns it did mine," remarked the chief, as he deftly extracted a live coal from the campfire, lit his pipe and settled himself back on a heap of pine boughs, with his back against a big log de clined as a back log for the alf-nlght fire later on, while the rest of the crew settled themselves in comfortable po sitions and prepared to lirten. We had Btarted the captain, which was a rare event, for he was a taciturn man, and had the Indian way of rare ly speaking, except to give a direction or answer a question, and then in the briefest manner possible. Supper was over, the fried fish, bac on and bread and coffee had been dis posed of, and the last man having spread his blankets, the younger of us were having a quiet laugh at one of the chainmen, who declared that he had the night before gone to the little stream which ran down the mountain, a few yards from our camp, for a pail of water about l o’clock and found the stream dry, yet at 5 In the morn ing when we started to get breakfast It was rushing dwn the mountain side as noisily as it had the night before when he turned in. All the old gags of “why don't you wake up before you go for waterl” “what brand do you drink!" “where did you get It!” "do you have those spells often!” etc., had been sprung when the chief sr>oke as above quoted. He continued: “The way I made my pile was by aid of just such a stream as Jim says this one outside is, though there will be plenty of water in it to night, judging from the sound of that storm outside, and a wet day tomor row, that will not let. us move about much, so If you care to listen, I'll give you the story: "It was at the close of 1868, when most of you youngsters were In short pants and I had just completed my survey of (he territory of Montana and was thinking of pulling stakes and pushing on to a wilder and more un settled country. For 1 thought it was getting rather thick when they had four post offices in the state, and there was nearly 60 at that time, besides there was more than a dozen lawyers In the territory, and I knew that there was trouble for all the rest of us from then on. I am here, yet I know, hut then there are few places now cov ered by the old Stars and Stripes but are more thickly populated, and I fought too long under the flag to oh an go to anew one. The Indians were pretty thick and rather nasty that fall and, while I could generally get along with them, being called ‘Sil ver that Runs' by them on pceount of the flask of mercury I carried at times for the artificial horizon, some of which 1 presented the chiefs and medi cine men, to be used as a prize when they were very sick. The results con vinced them that 1 was very big medi cine myself, and as 1 say, 1 could gen erally get along with them, but the safe rule with an Indian is never to truat them this side of the happy hunt ing grounds, and by the way, the same rule may apply to most white men. 1 ■had moved In close to Helena and oc cupied myself with the small matters of mining claim lines and locating mill sites for the miners, making my headquarters in Sioux Gulch with the Horton boys, old friends of mine, who had found, in the long run, that ranch ing in that country was fully as profit able as mining. "One day 1 was accosted by three Germans, who had a mine a few miles up the gulch, called the 'Wild Horse Mine.' They were in great trouble, for banking on the continued widening of the pay streak, they had invested the best portion of their money in ma chinery and had almost completed a fennel in the side of the mountain, to tap the mine at a point some hundred feet deeper than the shaft already sunk, when the mine gave promise of living up to its name, by suddenly turning from a vertical vein to one of 30 degrees downward and inward, thus rendering a 400-foot tunnel al most useless. Sadly they abandoned the idea of a connecting tunnel to tap the vein and commenced to follow along the new direction, with the vein constantly widening and giving prom ise of richer ore and more abundant metal day after day. until the chances seemed to justify the expenditure for machinery that had just been made. But a few days before they had start ed up the new steam drills, feeling very proud, as they contrasted the rapid strokes of the drill, which both lightened their labor and enabled them to excavate with fully 10 times the speed of the old hand drills, when sud denly one of the drills struck a stream of water, which shot into the mine and made things lively until they could get it plugged, which was done after a few minutes delay. "Very soon they struck water again and again, until at last it seemed as if they could not stick a drill hole into any of the rock about them without finding water, which is the last thing any miner wants to see in a mine. Well, they got a pump after a vast deal of trouble, for pumps were few and far between in this country in those days, and let the water in through one or two holes and tried to control it. It did not seem to succeed at first, but after two days they sud denly got control of It and in a few hours the water ceased to flow / *and they put in a blast in a tew holca and blew out a section of rock and then fled for their lives, foe in two minutes after the blast was fired the water was six feet deep in the mine and rising fast. Tools, drills, pump and every thing else was abandoned and in a short time under water, which rose until it was 10 feet deep, and after three days dropped to six feet, and after a few hours began to rise again slowly until 10 feet was reached, which continued with regularity for some days; first, 10 feet, of water, then six feet, then 10 again. They borrowed a couple of pumps and rescued their own at low W'ater and started them all and pumped until patience and fuel pave out. No use, stlij that deadly rise and fall continued. "The 'Wild Horse Mine' and Its owners became a busted outfit The bottom was out of the mine and the owners’ pockets, for while they had IfcOOO worth of machinery, which, with the freight overland, had cost them SIO,OOO, they had no mine and there was no immediate call for water works it that section just at that time. So they came to me with the proposal that if I would control the water they would give me a quarter interest in the mine. At. first I refused, for 1 con sidered the stock too well watered to he of much use to any one but a stock broker or eastern tenderfoot, but at the intercession of the Horten boys, who gave the Dutchmen credit for be ing good, hard-working fellows, who would be ruined completely unless 1 cruld find a way to help them out, I consented to walk over to their hole in the ground and take loo); at the lather curious feature of a mine that had a tide which rose and fell once ;n three days, with a mean variation o! four feet, and as low water was to occur that day I started and slowly walked over with the Hortons and the Dutchmen. "As we approached the mouth of the mine, I noticed a dozen or two yards from the mouth of the shaft, a fine mountain rill tumbling over the rocks with a (all of about 25 feet. It was about four feet across and a foot or 18 inches deep, and after admiring the fall a few moments I asked Jake, one of nfy would-be German partners, why they had not put up a wheel and used the water power to run their ore crusher, instead of the more costly steam engine.” “ 'Won’t do,' he replied, 'it will stop pretty soon and won't run again for three days.’ I stared at him with amazement. "What!” I exclaimed, "not run for three days?” “ ‘Yes,’ said he, indifferently, 'it will stop by 3 o’clock this afternoon.' I said nothing more, but determined to be on hand when it stopped and try snd find out why it stopped. I exam ined the mine ami found things about as l have already outlined them, and casually asked Hans, another of the Germans, when he expected the tide tv commence to rise again, when I was astonished to hear him say 'about 3 o’clock and then the water comes up about three days, then goes down again in one day.’ I examined tne tunnel and by aid cf my pocket com pass determined its general direction with reference to the mine ard the stream, and with my pocket rule in lieu of a transit made a rough calcu lation, which 1 kept to myself, sat down to dinner, after which 1 spent an hour or more in examining the last ore taken from the mine. "Abotlt 2 p. m. I climbed the rock to the brink of the waterfall and found the hole in the rocks through which the stream came, a few feet back of where it took its plunge. Ail there was to be seen in that direction was a hole the size of a man's body, yet while 1 looked the water, which for some lew minutes had appeared to be rapid ly getting lower, stopped with a low rumbling sound. The show was over. 1 turned on my heel and led the anx ious Germans hack to the office, and in 15 minutes became the owner of a tne-fourth interest in the ‘Wild Horse Mine,’ for the usual sum of a dollar, etc., with the condition that 1 was to have sole tontrol of the mine for one year and that my partners were to take up work at once on the aband oned tunnel and run 'it not exceeding 100 feet in any direction 1 named. Work on the tunnel commenced the next day at an angle of 60 degrees to the right of the former line toward the stream, but 50 feet below the head of the fall, and 10 days afterward 1 was awakened one morning with the news from those disgusted Germans that they had struck water in the tun nel and could go no further. I think at that moment that 1 could have bought the rest of the 'Wild Horse Mine' for another dollar. " 'Good.' said I, and put on my hat. 'Good.' grunted Jake; 'bad, bad! 1 tink dot mountains vas vhat you call one sronce. a f i’t it?’ and ’■•ith the three walking dejectedly at my heels we sat out for the tunnel. A nice two inch stream of water was spurting from the face of the rock. To make a long story short. 1 plugged that hole, loaded it with 30 pounds of powder, put in a time fuse, had the tools taken from the tunnel, lighted the fuse and took to my heels. A minute later a muffied explosion shook the earth and a yellow stream of dirty water, the full size of the tunnel, shot from its mouth. 1 looked at the waterfall. It was stopped. I sent Jake down the shaft to see if the water was rising or fall ing and he came back with a face like a full moon, with the information that the water was running out as quick TE BRUNSWICK DAILY NEWS as 'nefer was.’ By 6 p. m. that night there was not a drop of water in the 'Wild Horse mine,’ and but a small stream flowing from the tunnel. “The next morning we blew out the heading of the shaft and found our selves in a rock chamber 20 by 80 feet, which was the natural reservoir that had caused all the trouble fort lie mine; had furnished the little waterfall with water and myseif with a comfortable fortune which is safely invested in United States bonds, from which 1 carefully cut the coupons every six months. What had happened? Was this*the passage from the reservoir t the outlet above? The fall was simply a natural syphon, which once started drew out the water until it was low enough to let air into the long end of the tube; when it stopped and took two or more days to fill up and the op eration was repeated. When my Ger-. man partners punched holes in the rock, they simply added so much space to the reservoir, causing it to take longer to fill and therefore the time was extended to three clays. “I, having settled the proposition in my own mind, found the abandoned tunnel running in the right direction and far enough below the floor of the cave to drain it comfortably and quick ly. When we got rid of the water we simply traced the vein on the oppo site wall of the cave and went on tak ing it out.” Now one word, readers, don’t, laugh when a man tells you a curious story. Don’t be ashamed to ask questions. All sucessful men are noted for asking questions and are good, listeners when others talk. And last but not least, never be too old or know too much to let someone else tell you anew wrinkle about your trade. —Sing Sing Star of Hope. 6UAINT AND CURIOUS. Three ancient Roman weights were recently found at Rome. They were of green marble, with bronze bandies, and prove that the Roman pound was equaj to three-quarters of a pound avoirdu pois. In Rotomahona, New Zealand, there is an immense geyser which covers an area on acre in extent, and constantly tlirows columns of water to vast heights, some of them ascending threo hundred feet, with clouds of steara wtiUh go much higher. imagine, if you can, a live-stock train 16 7-8 miles long-numbering 2,- 357 cars and containing 34,785 bead of cattle, 38,456 hogs and 22,234 sheep, nnel you will have some idea of the record-breaking day for receipts at the Union Stock Yards, Chicago, on Wed nesday, July 24, 1901. It was the big est day ever known in the history of this big live-stock mart. The old custom of giving a purse to the bride at a wedding is still observed in an odd fashion in parts of Cumber land. England. The bridegroom pro vides himself with a number of gold and silver pieces, and, at the words, “With all my worldly goods 1 thee en dow,” hands the clergyman his fee and pours the c her coins into a hand kerchief held by the bride. In other pluces the brid# asks her husband for a gift of money or property on the day after the wedding, and this request he is bound in honor to grant. \V ind Is lo bo the newest food, says Heinrich Reli, a nrofessor of chemis try *.n Merlin. He has secured a pat ent upon a form of animal fodder which has sawdust as its chief ingre dient. He argues that animals have a decidco liking for young shoots, roots of shrubs, tree bark and other heavy food of t..e same nature, and. tiuce experiments have proved that the nu triment contained in such growth re mains in it even after it has become wood, he observes that, with a little salt aud water added to it. the saw dust will prove to be a highly nour ishing diet. The other day as l). C. Misner was passing the Hillsboro (Ind.) Bank he saw upon the sidewalk what he thought was a snake- about a yard in length and of a peculiar color. He Struck at the supposed reptile with his walking stick, and was surprised when the ‘ snake" parted in twain. Upon ex amination it was ascertained that the peculiar-looking object was made up of myriads of small, wiry worms, each about an inch in length. The mass was termed exactly like a snake and was moving along about as rapidly a* a snail, l.ater in the day Mrs. Sarah Ketchani, residing north of the town, found a similar mass of wriggling worms in her dootyard. The SttrntT F*lrl. The petrel is usually named the stormy petrol. The bird is. under the name c r Mocher Carey's chicken, the terror of the sailor, who always con siders the bird as the precursor of a storm. It is t::e smallest of tile web footed birds. Few storms are violent enough to keep the winged creature from wandering over the waves in search of the food that the disturbed water casts to the surface. Hike the fulmar, the petrel is so exceedingly oily in texture that the inhabitants of the Feroe Islands draw a wick wick through its body and use it as a lamp. "I think.” said the historical novel ist, "that 1 shall not put any history into my book." “Oh. Pereival," his wife said, “1 was so in hopes that you would make your next book different from your others.” —Chicago Record-Hcrald. When a man finds himsetf in a hole he must expect his friends to look down on turn. WHALES NOT IN DEMAND FEW LEVIATHANS LEFT AMD THEY ARE NOT MUCH HUNTED. It Wu firm Bedford That Cleared the Sea# of Karth’e Largest C'rearuree lt Wa* Mr. Itorkefeller Who showed ihe World How to Live Without \t hale*. For the whale these are, in the lan guage of Jack Miller’s farewell, "Hap py days and many of 'em,” exclaims the Boston Evening Transcript. After a strenuous life of four centuries this is the coffee-and-cigars, the easy-chair and-slippcrs period of his existence. Since the time when Columbus crossed tbs Atlantic he has been hunted and harried from Arctic pillar to tropic gost, but the economic cycle has passed and for the present the whale is en joying a period of comparative secur ity, when he may roam the waters in peace, multiply and people once more the depleted seas. Let none begrudge him his repose. The whale deserves well of the world. What he has in his humble way contributed to the intel lectual development of the human race only the imaginative can compute,only the ungrateful deny. For four cen turies he fed the scholar’s lamp and the victor's torch. For so much of literature and of science as we owe to “midnight oil” the thoughtful and the generous will give the whale due cred it. But the service he has long per formed is now done better by another agency, and he enjoys a comparative ly unmolested rest. One day last March, a tale came up from the tropics as weird as the rank est yarn that ever came out of a fo'c's'le, but verified as accurately as a government report. The New Bed ford whaling bark Kathleen was float ing calmly in a placid sea, when she caught the attention of a giant fin back. He swam up in his majestic way, and -when within a few yards of the ship he dived just below the sur face and moved slowly beneath the keel. Then he rose quickly and sav agely, in the manner of a bucking bronco, until the ship was sheer above the water. It toppled over on Its side, the whale moved on a few feet and then, with an angry Hip of his tail, knocked the bark to smithereens. Now, that may be considered the des perate parting shot of a maddened, long-hunted fugitive, the climax of an ancient feud. Only in order to look on it in this way, we shall have to give the whale credit for carrying about in that huge head of his a kind of Mach iavellian subtlety and a mind for deep planned revenge. And as every old whaler knows, the only thing in a whale’s head is some three or four tons of liquid spermaceti, worth in the New Bedford market about SSO a barrel. It is a pity this prosaic fact is so, for it forbids us to indulge in the poetic fancy of imagining the whale as entertaining a feeling of gratitude to the Standard Oil com pany and erecting monuments in the deep to the glory of John f). Rocke feller, who is chiefly responsible for his emancipation. The petroleum age for the world spells golden age for the whale. Down on the ancient business streets of Boston, Purchase, High and India, and along the old wharves, you will find a score perhaps of weather-beat en gilt signs which proclaim that those within sell, among other things, "Sperm and whale-oil, sperm candies and whalebone.” But those signs tell not the truth. They are signs of noth ing at all but the conservatism of the Boston business man, who changes his wares to meet new demands, but changes not his sign above him. The prowling newspaper man who asks the junior partner for information about the whale-oil trade is met by an amazed stare and a half-indigant "Great Scott, man, wake up; this is 1902. We don't deal in whale-oil. We sell mineral oils.” And when you call his attention to the sign which he has seen with unseeing eyes these twenty years he explains that that is of the past, and refers you to "Smith & Cos., around on India square—they handle the whale-oil, I think." And then Smith, the commission dealer, says: "We don't carry any whale-oil; oh. yes, there is an old fellow- out in central New York that orders a barrel once every six months or so. We or der it for him from New Bedford, but we don't know what he does with it. Some old Rip Van Winkle. I guess, that sticks to the old ways." After diligent search you find the one or two houses that do make .a business of whale products, and you learn that there is now just one staple use for sperm oil —minors’ lamps. Then. text, a few railroad companies like it for their signal lamps, and for certain curious purposes, like temper ing steel, the universal mineral oil is improved by a slight admixture of spermaceti. In New Bedford you will hear the same story. In the grocery stores and on sunny porches the old whaling captains, deep-eyed, hawk-nosed, re hearsed old times in "the Western ocean.” The picturesque population that made New Bedford's wharves the most genuinely cosmopolitan spot in America is gone forever. Frank T. Bullen has written their requiem; "From ail the isles of the South they tame —sturdy of limb and clear of eye from Polynesia: lithe, sinewy and cruel-visaged from Malaysia, black with the blackness of soft coal from East Africa, stolid and haughty from Arabia, and last, but greatest both in number and in importance, the stately, cavalier-like Portuguese from that Atlantic cluster of jewelled isles, the Azores. Cape Verde and Madeira,” Finally, those argosies of clumsy whal ing barks, “built by the mile and cut off in lengths as you want ’em,” have fallen to such base uses as carrying coal from Philadelphia and lumber to New York. But all this talk of departed glory is told in statistics. In 1846 there were 736 vessels carrying the Ameri can flag (practically ail were from New Bedford), hunting whales in every corner of the watered world, from Okhotsk to Arabia. That was a mighty fleet. Of it today are left but 39 small barks and schooners. Jan. 1, 1859, a year before the civil war be gan, there were 625 vessels; by 1866, the figure had fallen to 263. The annals of ruined New Bedford fortunes will tell how much of the decrease was caused by the vindictive Alabama. The whalers would be com ing home from four-year-long cruise# in the Arctic. They knew nothing of the war that had begun since they left in peace. They were loaded down with oily cargo, and the crews reefed and tacked cheerfully enough to the thought of homeward bound. Then would come the astonished encounter with the Alabama, and the whaling captain would pace the Confederate’s deck a prisoner and watch the fruit of his toil roll off across the sea in big billows of dense black smoke. The Alabama scourge was artificial. After the war the trade picked up. In 1869 there were 338 vessels. Then came the striking of oil in Pennsyl vania, and the whaling industry was doomed. Of the remnant of the fleet still afloat 24 hail from New' Bedford, four from Brovincetown, two from Boston and ten from San Francisco. These are scattered through the North and South Atlantic, in Hudson Bay and in the Japan and Okhotsk Seas. With the sailing vessels the old fashion of long voyages that took a large grp from the sailors’ lives still persists. Some of the New Bedford whalers have been away from port since '96. But on the Pacific coast are half a dozen steam whalers which go out for but a few days at a time and tow their prizes to shore to be cut up and boiled. This me.hod will soon entirely super sede the old one, and the steamers will monopolize what is left of the whaling industry. These figures are for America (and in the whaling business. “America” meant New Bedford, until a compara tively few years ago, when San Fran cisco began to hunt for w'hales with steamers.) Indeed, no other calling in the world demands the highest quali ties of courage and daring. Compared tc> it soldiering, even in time of war, is a comparatively serene business. The percentage of casualties on an old-fashioned whaling trip would make the battle of Colenso look like a child's picnic. It is only natural that such a calling should attract the most self-reliant men in the world, the men w'ho sought fortune in an unpeopled world, and the descendants of those men. As early as 1775 New Bedford, with a fleet of 350 ships, mon opolized the whaling business of the world. This monopoly is maintained so long as the industry lasted. It is estimated that in 1846, when New Bedford had 730 ships on the water, the total investment nr money was $70,000,000, and the number of people dependent on this harvest of the sea was 70,000. Comparatively the industry has dwindled to a mere nothing. It may even dwindle yet more. But it will never entirely disappear. There will always be some slight business in the products of the whale. But New Bed ford will not be its headquarters. The twenty-four ships that sail from New Bedford will disappear one by one. The whaler of the future will hunt with steam. He will build his boiling establishment on some shore near which the whales congregate. From this station he will go out every morn ing, shoot his whale with a harpoon gun, instead of in the old manner, and tow him ir. to be cut and boiled the next day. while he steams off after more game. Within the past five years this process has been introduced rt three places—on the coast of Norway, on the Pacific coast of the United States and on the coast, of Newfound land. TT*lt*r F<>ntt n n Volant**!*. The recent discovery in Edinburgh of a summons c alling upon Sir Walter Scott, advocate, to attend and join the Edinburgh army reserve during the troubled period of 1803, has been followed by the unearthing of Scott's reply. Dated from Lasswade Cottage, July 22. 1803, and addressed to Mr. James l.aing. clerk to the lieutenancy of the city of Edinburgh, the letter reads as follows: "Sir—As I observe b> the enclosed summons that I am drawn a soldier of the re serve. 1 beg to inform you my intention to claim the exemption pro vided in favor of volunteer cavalry, leaving been for 12 years a member of the Edinburgh troop of the R. M. Lo.ihiau V. Cavalry. I understand from Col. Dtindas that the adjutant. Mr. Adams, is to supply the lieuten ancy with a list of the corps, in which >ou will find my name regularly in serted. If funber verification of the exemption is requisite, have the goc.d --n5-s to acquaint Mr. Adams for me. I remain, sir. "your obedient servant, Walter Scott.” In spite of his lame ness. Scott was an enthusiastic—and immensely popular—Volunteer, and used to turn out to drill at five in the morning.—London Chronicle. An lnt*llitf*t Mid. The yakamik, or trumpeter of Vene zuela, a fowl of the crane species, is a bird of extraordinary intelligence. The natives use it instead of sheep dogs for guarding and herding their flocks. It is said that, however far the yaka mik may wander with the flocks, it never fails to find its way home at night, driving before it all the crea tures intrusted to its care. SEPTEMBER 2S SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. Porous white paper immersed in a solution of one part of oxalic acid iu four parts of alcohol and subsequently dried, forms anew blotting paper br dried ink. The ink to be removed is moistened with water, and the paper is used in the usual manner. The arrangements for irrigation in South Formosa are primitive and in sufficient to secure a constant supply of water in times of prolonged drought. Hence the success or fail ure of the rice and sugar crops de pends largely on rain falling at pro per times. The use of electricity for purposes of illumination is increasing rapidly in Peru. The town of Lima is now' entirely lighted by electricity. Tne town of Arequipa is also lighted to a considerable extent by electricity, and companies are being formed for light ing Calla, Trujillo and Chlclayo. in the same manner. The electrical plant chiefly comes from the United States. The importance of designing fly wheels so as to offer the least possi ble resistance to the air has been late ly shown. In tests at a Nurenbcr;: ; electric station, a flywheel driven at 93 revolutions per minute by enginei of 450 horse power was found to re quire about 15 horse power to keep it in motion, and this was reduced about 5.7 horse power by covering the ehan i ncled arms with sheet iron. The aav ; ing of 1.2 percent of the power of the | eigines was equivalent to about $270 yearly. In another test, the result j was even more surprising, and a 630- horse power engine showed a saving | ot 30-horse power, or 4.8 percent of ; the total, when a suitable flywheel j covering was used to lessen the fue | tion, Scieniistsare paying much attention : to the leakages of power and attempt ing to obviate the loss. Experiments with railroad trains have shown that a great deal of energy is wasted in driving unnecessary projections at the i ends and sides of cars against the re !si stance of the air. A distinct gain has been made even by casting car j wheels in the form of discs, instead ! of with spokes, for spokes cause a ; greater resistance. Flywheels are now catefully shaped to meet as, little re sistance as possible, and a good deal of horse power is thus gained. In | one experiment made with a large flywheel it was found that 30 horse power wr.s lost on aceoi nt of unaece -- 1 sary resistance, the total horse power j of the engine being 630. * In most of the accounts of the eruption of Mont Pelee, Island of Martinique, flame, smoke and ashes were spoken of as pouring out of the crater, c.s this seems to be the pop ular notion about an eruption, per haps it might be well to correct it. The truth is that a‘ volcano throws out no flame, no smoke and no ashes. The eruption is produced by the con tact of water with great masses of moiten rock in the interior of the earth. This contact generates steam at an enormous pressure, and an ex plosion is the result. The force of the explosion breaks up the rock floor of the crater into fragments of every size, much of it coming out of the crater so finely powdered that it is generally called "ashes," though it is nothing but powdered rock. The smoke so often spoken of is nothing but the condensation of the Mara as it comes out into the air, and the flame is merely the light from the red-hot moiten mass within reflected from the cloud of vapor. J * 1 H*l im h ( r*. , i The interest lately excited in En%" land in what is known as tho “red light treatment” of small-pox, wherein the patient is confine-d in a room into which only red light is admitteu, calls attention to the remarkable way in which modern science seems to re vive and reform empencal methods of the past. Even so far back as the reign of Edward IV, smallpox pa tients were treated by wrapping them in red covers and putting red balls in the bed. It was thus that John of GaciJesden treated a Prince of Wales. This method has also been noticed as a popular custom in Roumania. In recent years, too, a French surgeon has told of sman-pox patients in Ton cuin being isolated in alcoves almost darkened by red carpet hangings, and of wonderful eures ensuing. In Japan the patients were covered by red blankets, and the children given red toys to play with.—Chicago News. Ftlt Kail way Signal HUioct. A stationmaster. one of the pioneers of signalmen on the Darlington Rail way, placed a lighted candle in the w-indow of the station when he was desired to stop the train, and left the window in darkness if the line was clear. The first real signals w-ere i waved by hand; afterward those were placed on lofty poles and surmounted at night by lamps, with red or white lights. In 1837 the disk [ signal fixed on a pole came into use, which was turned eCgewayg when the ; iine was clear. Gradually the sema phore. adopted in 1842, came into use just 11 years before the block system was introduced. In 1856 a plan of in terlocking the levers was invented, but it was not until 1859 that the first interlocking frame was set in action at W illesden.—London Chronicle. Fnry. 'ln Moscow a money lender, the owner of several houses and stables,. was sentenced recently to four months’ imprisonment for lending money at the- enormous rate of 1.82 nerrent-