Tlie political sit nation in Europe
font in uefl to grow darker.
The Japanese eat more fish than any
other people in the world. With
them meat eating is a foreign innova
tion, confined to the rich, or rather to
those rich people who prefer it to the
National diet.
'f The farmer who is feeding his wheat
to his horses should, in the opinion of
the Courier-Journal, hold both his
wheat and his horses until he digests
the fact that wheat will be wheat in
the world's markets during the year
ahead of us.
The new warships are a credit to
the Nation. Recently the Philadel
phia made the run from Rio de Janeiro
to Callao, a distance of 5000 miles, in
twenty days and eighteen hours, with
out stopping anywhere for coal. This
was a speed of 242 miles a day and a
continuous run of twenty-one days
Without stopping at any coaling sta
tion.
' A poor old man, who once was n
well-to-do merchant in Wisconsin, and
likewise was of much State renown as
a public speaker of force and persua
siveness, has been taken to the alms
house in Baraboo, weak in mind aud
poverty-stricken, and past eighty years
of age. "The poorhouse is hospitable
when all other friends fail," is the
QOUirnent of the New York Times.
Doctor J. T. Boyd, of Indianapolis,
has added his voice to that of Lieuten
ant Totten, and declares that the end
of the world is at hand. In support
of his theory, he says that the British
Chronological Society, composed of
noted scientific men, has arrived nt
the same conclusions as those reached
by Lieutenant Totten and himself, and
that all prophecy points to 1899 as
tho date of final smashup.
Some idea of the enormous propor
tions the hußinesß of hotel keeping haH
assumed in this country may he gained,
declares the New Orleans Picayune,
from the fact that there are in the
United States upward of 50,000 hotels,
exclusive of what may properly be
termed inns and taverns, and what are
commonly known aaapartmcnt-honses,
although the latter are in many in
stances conducted as hotelß, in that
they have a common kitchen and din
ing-room.
Deer nnd hears are reported to be
more plentiful now in the "great
woods" of Oxford County, Maine, than
st any other time during the present
generation. These woods extend, in a
belt from four to six miles wide,
from Dixfield away up into the un
trodden wilderness of Northern Maine,
and mnch of the area has seldom been
visited by sportsmen. Driven from
the hunting grounds about Rangeley
Lake the game took refuge in these
woods, and have multiplied there un
molested.
The New York News observes: Now
the surgeons have cut out a man's
spleen, and yet he lives and has red
blood, and will, it is said, recover. No
one has ever known absolutely what is
the office of the spleen. The organ is
not a vital one, but is often much dis
eased and very painful. The opera
tion to remove it is technically called
ipleneetomy. Many years ago a
writer in Chambers's Miscellany con
tended that the spleen was the manu
factory of the white blood corpuscles.
If that were so, the red corpuscles in
the veins and arteries would have soon
laded in vividness in the patient,
Athlete Short, of Yonkers. Are the
iplecn and the vermiform appendix,
which are declared to be useless, left
is hints of the evolutionary process?
SVas man differently constituted when
khey were useful to him, instead of
being as now unnecessary? Who can
eay?
George Vanderbilt is one of nature's
queer freaks. He is the least known
of any of the enormously wealthy men
of New York. He must be worth at
least $35,000,000, but he might walk
the length of the entire city without
being recognized by half a dozen per
tons. He has never been prominent
in any public movement. He has never
attended a public function where
trowds of people congregate, and when
he goes to the theatre or to the opera
he hides himself in the rear of a box,
says the New York Herald. Young
Vanderbilt has many fads. First of
ill he is a bookworm and is in away a
woman-hater. Formerly he was rated
as being, next to John Jacob Astor, the
wealthiest young bachelor in the Uni
ted States, having $1,000,000 in his
own right and control for every past
year of his life. Now, as John Jacob
Astor is a husband and father, George
Vanderbilt stands at the head of his
plass aloni
The crest-ion of money order offices
h the small postoffices is advocated by
•he Springfield (Mass.) Union on the
ground that such offices would greatly
'aoilitate the transaction of business in
rural neighborhoods.
A business man of Canada, of an en
terprising nature, has established a
"floating bank" on Kootenai Lake,
I Canada. It is in a steamer which
journeys from place to place along the
lake ; thus enabling its owner to sup
ply the inhabitants of the lake villages
with banking facilities.
Doctor Oliver Wendell Holmes says
that the largest elm he ever saw was
in Oxford, England, and measured
twenty-five feet in circumference.
There was an elm of about the same
size in Springfield, Mass., some years
ago. The Doctor estimates the life of
| the American elm at between 200 and
300 years. If any survive to be 300
years, bethinks, it is as wrecks, liable
to go to pieces in the first heavy
storm.
The method of harvesting wheat on
the great bonanza ranches of the Da
kota* is said to have amazed the for
eign Agricultural Commissioners at,
the World's Fair. To clear up 640
acres of wheat in one day with 150 |
hands and forty-five harvesters is a ■
feat which has been paralleled in Cali
fornia, Nebraska and other big West
ern grain States, but it is doubtful,
thinks the San Francisco Chronicle, it
any part of Europe can show such
rapid work.
Life insurance companies are becom
ing the holders of enormous masses oI
capital, notes the New York Tribune.
Statistics made public at the last meet
ing of the National Association of Life
Underwriters show that the companies
taking no account of assessment cor
porations and societies, hold assets to
the value of $850,000,000, that they
receive from policy holders about
$175,000,000 a year, that their gross
income is nearly $220,000,000 annually,
and that they pay about $100,000,000 !
annually to the insured in the form of
I death losses, surrenders and dividends.
Though most people are equipped
with thirty-two teeth only, the Shah
of Persia appears to be more amply
provided for, as we are told that he
has just had his fortieth molar ex
tracted. The phenomenon is thus ex
plained, The first time his Eastern
Majesty suffered from a decayed tooth
and had to have it removed his loyal
subjects offered him as a solatium a
number of presents amounting in all
to ten thousand gold sequins. Hav
ing thus discovered a new source ol
supply for his privy purse, the Shall,
whenever he feels the want of those
little presents that help to maintain
the glow of friendship, causes the fact
of his having another bad tooth to he
proclaimed by a flourish of trumpets
in all parts of his empire, aud the
presents begin to pour in.
Great Britain has undertaken nn
other great enterprise in Africa, which
will probably have an immense effect
in the extension of its empire and the
civilization of the dark continent. It
is to erect a telegraph line from Alex
andia, in Egypt, directly through the
heart of the continent to Cape Town.
The preliminary surveys have already
been made. The line will traverse
Egypt, the Soudan, the region of the
great lakes, and the East Africa Com
pany's territory, German East Africa,
the Portuguese possessions, Mashona
land, Khama's country, Bechuanaland,
the Transvaal, the Orange Free State
and Cape Colony. Contracts have
already beer signed for constructing
the line for more than half the dis
tance, and work is being rapidly
pushed, so that the whole is expected
to be in working order early next year.
The Atlanta Constitution says:
Congressman Brosius, of Pennsyl
vania, is a man who has a vivid recol
lection of his experience during the
war. He came near losing his life in
the fight with Pickett's forces nl
Green Plains. He was one of the 300
men who charged across a wheat-field,
a third of a mile in width upon a Con
federate rifle pit and of the number
only 125 came out alive. The Confed
erates waited until the storming party
was within twenty-flve yards of the
pit and then they opened deadly flre
he tells. Brosius, who was a boy of
nineteen, stopped to pick up a
wounded comrade, and as he did so a
rifle ball pierced his shoulder, shat
tering tho blade and making him a
cripple for life. He still carries a
mcuiemto of that day in tho shapu of
a pocket diary, which he wore in his
veßt. There is the mark of a bullet in
it that would hate gone through the
young soldier's heart if it had not
been stopped by the book.
THE SAMARITAN'S.
UNIQUE international COX
VENTION AT VIENNA.
Its Object Was to Tench Methods
of diving Efficient Aid to In-
Jure<! People—How the
Work is Done.
THE Samaritan Congress which
recently assembled in Vienna
was the first international
convention of that body, which
was originally started at the instigation
Df Professor von Esmarcb, of Kiel, the
inventor of bloodless surgical opera
tions. The underlying theory, upon
which Professor von Esmarch lias built
the system which he has exposed to the
Briticisms of the public at this con-
U|Jt
£) "
CARRYING AN TNJTRED MAN.
j stress, is that the vitality of the patient
ihould under no circumstances be im-
I paired or exhausted and that the nat
ural strength existing in the person at
the moment of the accident should be
kept at its normal condition, as far as
permissible under adverse circum
itances, and thus made to act as one
of the elements in recovery. The pro
fessor, according to the New York
Herald, acts upon the conviction that
%n accident, however severe it may be
and whatsoever may be its final out
come, does not at the instant rob the
injured of all his strength ; he argues
that it is the suffering consequent upon
the accident that weakens and that this
suffering is hastened and perpetuated
in a great measure by delay in giving
to the injured parts the attention and
relief they require. This argument
led the professor inevitably to the po
sition that the quicker relief is forth
coming the longer will the strength
remain with which to battle against the
depressing tendency of the wound or
injury, and to extend this aid and to
educate the people up to the knowl
edge of extending this aid is the pre
liminary step in the groundwork of
his system.
The Vienna Samaritan Society'b es
tablishment, like that of Berlin, is
governed by the same strict discipline
prevailing in the fire department of
every great city, and is not unlike it
in its various stations located in the
different sections of the town. All
those stations are connected by wire
with each other and with the resi
dences of competent physicians, some
of whom are constantly within reach
of an alarm sounded upon their call
wire. So, too, are these stations open
at all times to those who may want re
tfiip
m.
HOW TO CARRY A PERSON OVERCOME BY OAS.
lief from slight injuries not sufficient
to require the use of an ambulance,
and there is at the same time a force
of men ever ready to respond to de
mands from the outside. Aside from
the superintendent of the stations the
force consists entirely of volunteers,
men whose heart is in the work and
who find satisfaction in relieving suf
fering humanity. An exception, how
ever, to many volunteer organizations,
this one is so thoroughly nnd admi
rably under control that the partici
pants arc always at their post when re
quired.
I" large cities the leading causes
of injuries are: Being run over
by ears and wagons, falls in build
ings in the course of construction, nt
fires and nnforseen accidents in stores
and mechanic shops; furthermore as
the ot excesses in drink,
inattention in handling electric wires,
etc. In smaller towns and mining dis
tricts the principal causes of injury to
life and limb are explosions, falls from
VIENNA STREET SAMARITANS CARRYING MAN
IN A HAND CART.
great heights, etc., and in the agri
cultural districts railroad collisions,
floods, lightning and accidents caused
by vicious animAls.
According to the rules laid down by
Professor von Esmarch and adopted by
the Berlin and Vienna Samaritan so
cieties the very first qualification for
one who intends to become a volunteer
is that he should be able to move and
otherwise handle an injured person so
as to cause the least amount of pain
and give the least discomfort. When
three or four men are available two
should make it their sole duty to lift
the injured, while the third or fourth
should raise entirely independently the
wounded head or limb and steady it
with the utmost care, seeing that it re
ceive no new shock or wrench, for on
the tender treatment by these assist
ants much depends, as they have it in
their power to do greater damage than
the most delicate care ou the part of
the other two will offset. The first act
of the Samaritans when called to at
tend an injured person is to see that
the patient is laid perfectly flat upon
his hack and that the bleeding is
| stopped. Then, one man stationing
himself on the right and the other on
| the left of the prostrate figure, the one
on the right side passes his right arm
beneath the back of the patient, the
man on the left passing his left arm iu
the same manner. After that each man
places his disengaged hand under the
upper leg of the patient, about midway
between the knee and the thigh. The
third and fourth Samaritans meanwhile
gather the patient's arms in his lap and
take in their hands the patient's head
or limbs, bo they wounded or not.
Then the first two Samaritans grasp
each other's hands beneath the patient
and raise the body at a given signal,
acting in perfect unison. It is prefer
able that instead of their handsa towel i
be used or a strap to better steady the
body. The mat attending the wound- i
od parts must hold them as high as j
possible without contributing to the
patient's discomfort.
, In case of a great catastrophe,
where a number of injured people de-
I maud looking after, two men, or even
I a single man, if he is strong enough,
J may perform the preliminary work in
a similar manner as above described.
In a ease of asphyxiation, where no in
jured limbs need to be taken into con
sideration. the Samaritan must never
wait for assistance from other volun
teers, but remove the body as quickly
as possible and in the best practicable
manner from the scene of the disaster.
If two volunteers are on hand one
should grasp the body firmly around
the waist, having the head, shoulders
i TAKING ITT A PERSON WITH BROKEN LIMB?.
and back against his own breast, while
the second man takes both legs of the
victim, and, carrying them in his
arms next to his own body, moves
briskly on. If the wounded person
retains the power to do so he can
greatly aid the rescuers by placing his
arms around their necks while they
carry him between them. The patient
should under no circumstances be car
ried further than is absolutely neces
sary to take him out of danger, or
else to a place where he may be trans
ferred to an ambulance. Arrived there
the body should be laid flat on a table,
door, mattress or blanket, permitting
it to be taken up at its ends and sides.
The bleeding must be stopped be
fore removal is thought of, as already
intimated. This is done by binding
the wound or l>v holding the artery
just above the bleeding part in a firm
grasp. Tf the Samaritan is called upon
to assist an asphyxiated or otherwise
unconscious but not externally injured
I person he must observe the following
I leading principles: The head of the
patient must be raised and breathing
restored as quickly as possible. Only
when the comatose condition is a
consequence of loss of blood the head
rest is to be placed considerably lower
| than the feet, so as to induce the
| blood remaining in the body to run to
tlie head and revive the functions of
the brain. In all cases of unconscious
[ liess it is necessary to entirely free the
j upper part' of the body from clothing,
[ especially the collar, necktie, suspen
| ders, and.incaseof a woman, the corset,
waist and girdle. The strings and but -
tons of the undergarments above the
hips should also be cut and loosened.
The body is then to be placed on a ta
ble or any flat surface at hand, while it
cushion or rolled coat is placed under
the middle of tho back to raise it. The
legs should be bent at the kuees, so s
I to relax the Hkin over the abdomen.
I After thiw is done the Samaritan places
his hands on both sides of the patient's
abdomen, and, with a firm, hard pres
sure slowly moves his hands upward.
This is repeated until the strength of
the motion relaxes the air confined in
lungs aud it is heard forcing its way
through the different respiratory or
gans. It requires a certain amount of
practice to determine the exact strength
of pressure desirable to use in this
treatment, for if too great a power is
extorted it is liable to cause some in
jury to the delicate internal organiza
tion of the human body.
If respiration fails to respond to this
treatment then the services of an as
sistant must be employed, and while
the pressure upon the abdomen is con
tinued the assistant may place his
hands on both sides of the chest, below
the short ribs, and exert a steady pres
sure in order to help forcing the
air from the lungs. The tirst natural
breathing produced by these manipu
lations is announced by a deep sigh
from the patient and a flushing of the
face. If the face becomes again pale
the Samaritans must renew their ef
forts with redoubled force. It some
times happens that respiration is in
terfered with by the turning back of
the victim's tongue into the roof of
the mouth. In such a case the Sa
maritan will find it necessary to draw
the tongue back into its normal place
and hold it protruding slightly from
the mouth while his assistant is work
ing on the body. In case these methods
fail in the desired result the arms
JL
- '
nOW TO PRODUCE ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION.
should be repeatedly lifted above the
head and brought down to the sides
again ; this must be done energetically
and continuously to have effect.
Unless the patient is so crushed or
mutilated as to be absolutely dead,
Professor vonEsmarch's rules require
the Samaritan to work over a body in
the manner described for two hours be
fore giving the patient up as beyond
recovery. So soon as consciousness re
turns the Samaritan gives the patient
a strengthening draught of either
black coffee, brandy or other stimu
lant. When a person is injured, but
not unconscious, this stimulant should
be given before the patient is taken
from the scene of the accident.
llow Nature Drives Out Disease (Jerms.
With every twenty breaths a human
being inhales from eleven to '175
germs, together with a varying amount
of iuorganic matter. In a town, of
course, the micro-organisms are much
thicker than in the comparatively pure
country air. Such foreign particles
are mostly caught in the mouth, noso
and upper throat or swallowed, while
a certain number pass into the air
tubes or lungs. But to drive out all
intrusive gerniN and particles nature
has established a wonderful arrange
ment. The inferior walls of the wind
pipe and bronchial tubes are lined with
a sort of mosaic of tiny cells. Each of
these cells stands on end and has a sort
of beard of very small hairs at its ex
tremity. This b(#rd serves as a broom
with which the little cell is constantly
sweeping night and day. Ho long as
lile stays in the body these thousands
of sweepers go ou sweeping all foreign
j material up toward the mouth. In
| fact, they usually keep at it for a long
j time after death has arrived, being the
lust portions of the body to give it up
! and die.—Washington Htnr.
The Angry Tree.
The "angry tree," a woody plant
found in Eastern California and West
ern Arizona, cannot be touched with
out it exhibits signs of vexation by
; ruffling its leaves and giving forth an
j unpleasant, sickening odor.
Fashion's Dragou Fly.
j M. Worth must answer for it. It is
| his will that the young woman of high
| fashion shall go about in a wrap of
j lace and velvet that has a big jet
dragon fly embroidered upon it, back
and front. The sight of it brings to
mind Mr. Walter Besant's wonder
FASHION'S DRAGON rar.
at seeing real, live fireflies in the
parks of Albany as ho journeyed
homeward from Chicago's Congress of
Authors. "£ always thought," ho
says, naively, "that fireflies belonged
in Humboldt's cosmos and BuutU
America," -St, Loipy Republic,
INDIA RUBBER,
now IT IS GATHKRKD IN BRA
ZILIAN FORKBTS.
Gashing the Rubber Tree and Col
lecting the White Juiee r Tile
Operation of'•Smoklnn"—
The Rubber Trade.
NEVER Hay that the twelve-foot
globe in the Brazilian Bection
of the Shoe ami Leather
(. Building in made of "India
rubber." Call it Para rubbew or Baron
de Mnrajo, the Brazilian Commissioner,
will make a correction. He will say
that Parn rubber is the bent rubber in
the world, and that all other rubbers
arc imitations. He will then lead the
way to the enormous rubber sphere,
which has its axis resting on the pol
ished stump of a rubber tree, and will
point out ten different varieties of
rubber, each from a different river.
The Baron is high authority on rub
ber and lias all the simple appliances
<ised by the seringneiro or rubber
gatherer for topping the trees and col
lecting the milk. He also lias the
queer inverted vase-like fumatory or
furnace, the wooden mold and nuts of
the urucury tree, used as fuel for pre
paring the crude rubber.
The seringneiro begins work about
8 o'clock in the morning. He carries
INDIA RUBBER BALL IN THE BRAZIL SECTION OF THE FAIR.
with him a little hatchet like a minia
ture tomahawk, and going along tl.j
estrada, a winding path through the
forest, makes small cuts in the bark of
the rubber tree. Under each gash he
fastens a little tin or clay cup, to col
lect the white sap which drips from
the wound. He goes on blazing a line
of trees until noon. Then he retraces
his steps with a bucket or gourd and
collects the sap from the drip cups.
Some of the rubber gatherers prefer
to work at night, and to collect the
milk in the morning. The gatherers
empty tlicar buckets of rubber juice
into a large vessel, and the work of
smoking begins. Tliie is done to
harden the sap.
The furnace is set up in a hut or on
a terrace, and a fire is built under it
of the nuts of the urucur)-, a species of
palm tree. It makes a dense smoke,
which pours from the circular opening
in the top of the furnace. The work
man, sitting beside his fire, with a,
round wooden paddle dips it into the
RUBBER GATHERER.
sap. It clings in a thin layer to the
mold, which is turned in tho smoke
until the water in the sap evaporates.
When this is done a thin sheet of solid
rubber is left on the paddle. The
operation is repeated until a ball of
rubber about the size of a man's bead
is formed. With a keen knife two
lateral slashes to the paddle are made, I
and the wooden center is taken out.
The rubber is exposed to the sun to
finish the drying process, and is then
ready to be sent to the nearest ship
ping point.
The product of rubber from Para in
1839 amounted to 420,300 kilogrammes,
valued at 237,458,000 rels. One thou
sand rels are equal to fifty-four cents.
In 1892 the rubber produced had in
creased to 10,891,888 kilogrammes,
valued at 43,000,505,551 rels. The,
visitor to the shoe and leather bnild
ing will find rubber boots and shoe#
everywhere but in the Brazilian sec
tion. Yet Brazil used to export rub-
HOUSE ON A RUBIiER PLANTATION.
ber shoes by the thousands. Up to
1840 rubber was exported almost ex
clusively in the form of shoes. But
the business dwindled, for crude rub
ber went out instead of the manufac
tured product. Amerieau, English,
Frencli and German manufacturers im
proved the method of manufacturing'
rubber shoos r.nd asked for the crude
rubber. This conditions of affairs
lowered the exportation of rubber
shoes, and, although in 1850 138,88:4
pairs were shipped from Brazil, in 1854
exportation ceased, and since their
nothing but smoked rubber has beeu
exported.
Rubber for foreign trade is divided
into fine, entrefine andsernamby. The
last variety is made from the residues
of the coagulated sap that escapes from
the cups and flows along the trees or
drips to the ground.
Rubber was first brought to the at
j tention of Europeans by La Conda
inine, a Spanish astronomer. In 1741
he arrived in Para on his return from
a commission, on which he was sent
with other Spanish and French astron
omers for the purpose of making geo
detic observations in order to deter
mine the real form of the earth. Ho
did not confine himself to star-gazing,
for in several important scientific
works which he published he gave Eu
rope information of great value re
garding the principal natural products
of Brazil. One of them was rubber,
which, up to that time, had been un
known to European s. —Chicago Record
A Balloon l'lant.
There is a very curious plant to be
found growing in tho vicinity of Oro
ville, in this State. The fruit is yel
low and a little larger than an egg,
nnd appears like an empty bag rather
than a solid, though it contains a
watsrv substance which evaporates or
dries up when the fruit is full ripe,
leaving a sort of gas inside the fruit
which is lighter than air. This in
flated, bag-like fruit flips back and
forth in the wind till it finally breaks
loose from its slender stem, sails up
into the air, rising 100 or more feet!
nnd finally disappearing over the hill.
Oroville (Oal.) Mercury.
Wild Flax.
There are three species of wild flax
that have yellow flowers; the cultiva
ted species, which has blue flowers,
also appears as a weed quite frequently,
the seeds being mixed with those of
grains. All are annual, but some in
crease by suckers from the base of the
stems, which makes them perennial, in
away. These weeds are easily killed
if prevented from seeding by plowing
in the late summer by growing such
crops as are cultivated, as potatoes,
corn, or peas. The first two crops are
the best for this purpose.—New York
Times.
"Knocked Out." *
The green apple knocks out the small
boy with a hit below the belt,—Life.