|
The Peking Gazette, the oldest periodical in the world, has an estimated circulation of more than 100,000. It has ten publishers in Canton, each of whom employs about ten distributors, so that there are 100 distributors in the city and suburbs alone. The Gazette is printed from movable types, and each publisher takes, a certain number of copies. It is delivered every two days to subscribers, who are of two classes. The first retain the pamphlet and pay about 20 cents a month; the second pay about half that sum, and return the Gazette to the distributor the next time he comes around. Together with it is delivered the local "official sheet," the matter of which is collected from the yamens daily. This is printed from wax blocks, which are then remelted and are available, for another day's issue. THE OLDEST MANUSCRIPT IN EXISTENCE This production, entitled, "De Imitatione," in the handwriting of Thomas á Kempis, was finished in 1441. It was saved from the ruins of the monastery of St. Agnes on the Nemelenberg, destroyed during the revolt of the Netherlands. Johannes Latomus, prior of the Monastery of the Throne was the means of its salvation, in. 1557. By Latomus the manuscript was carried to Antwerp and left at his death to a friend, Jean Bellere, a man of letters. On his death, in 1595, his sons became possessed of the treasure and turned it over to the Jesuits. On the suppression of that order. "De Imitation" passed into the possession of the Burgundian Library at Brussels. That this work is the production of Thomas á Kempis has been vigorously disputed by some, but certain peculiarities of the manuscript seem to dispose of this contention. These are found in a system of punctuation characterizing the undoubted writings of this author, the object of which is to divide, the work into rythmical periods. These marks are as follows: the full stop, followed by a small capital; the full stop, followed by a small letter; the usual sign of interrogation; and lastly, an unusual sign, the clivis, or flexa, used in the musical notation of the period. When the Latin is read with due attention to these marks, a distinct melody is perceptible. FAMILIAR MAXIMS AND THEIR ORIGIN Many of our common sayings, so trite and pithy, are used without the least idea from whose mouth or pen they first originated. The works of Shakespeare probably furnish us with more familiar maxims than those of any other writer. To him we owe: "All is not gold which glitters," "Make a virtue of necessity," "Screw your courage to the sticking place," "They laugh that win," "This is the short and long of it," "Comparisons are odious," "As merry as the day is long," "A Daniel come to judgment," "Frailty, thy name is woman," and a host of others. Washington Irving gives us "The Almighty Dollar." Thomas Morton queried long ago "What will Mrs. Grundy say?" while Goldsmith answers "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no fibs." Charles C. Pinckney gives us "Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute." "First in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" was written, in 1790, by General Henry Lee. He also originated "Make assurance doubly sure," "Count their chickens ere they're hatched," "Christmas comes but once a year," and "Look before you leap." Thomas Tasser, a writer of the 16th century, gives us "It's an ill will turns no good," "Better late than never," "Look ere thou leap" and "The stone that is rolling can gather no moss." "All cry and no wool" is found in Butler's Hudibras. Dryden says, "None but the brave deserve the fair," "Men are but children of a larger growth," and "Through thick and thin." "No pent up Utica contracts our power" came from Jonathan Sewen. "When Greeks join Greek then comes the tug of war" came from Nathaniel Lee in 1692. Matthew Prior said, "Of two evils I have chosen the least,"—and "The end must justify the means." We are indebted to Colley Cibber for "Richard is himself again." Johnson tells us of a "Good hater," and Mackintosh, in 1791, used the phrase, "Wise and masterly inactivity." "Variety's the very spice of life," and "Not much the worse for wear," are the words of Cowper; and "Man proposes, but God disposes," those of Thomas á Kempis. Christopher Marlowe, wrote "Love me little, love me long," and Edward Cook opined that "A man's house is his castle." Milton originated the expressions, "A paradise of fools," "A wilderness of sweets," and "Moping melancholy and moon struck madness." Edward Young tells us that "Death loves a shining mark," "A fool at 40 is a fool indeed," and "Man wants but little, nor that little long." Bacon said "Knowledge is power," and Thomas Southern originated the phrase "Pity's akin to love." Dean Swift said, "Bread is the staff of life"; Campbell said, "Coming events cast their shadows before," and "Distance lends enchantment to the view." Keats said, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever"; Franklin said, "God helps them who help themselves"; Lawrence Sterne said, "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb." ABOUT WATER Water is found in four separate states or forms, as ice, water, vapor, and in combination with other substances. As a rule, all bodies contract in cooling, but water increases in bulk and becomes lighter as it gets cooler. Although water in freezing becomes intensely cold, cold water and cold sulphuric acid mixed in certain proportions, become intensely hot. Water is heavier than air, and yet, mixed with the air in the form of vapor, it occupies a space 1,400 times greater than it did in its ordinary liquid state. A cubic inch of water will make nearly a cubic foot of steam. Water in the shape of steam at low pressure will scald and blister the hand, but at high pressure, and with double heat, it will not scald or blister. Under certain circumstances water will change its condition without any apparent cause. Ships leaving the port of London take their water from the Thames, and it is said to have some peculiar properties which render it fit for long sea voyages. After a few weeks, or less, it turns putrid and offensive; then it changes its character altogether, becomes pure and palatable, and is better than any other water for sea stock. Water from the Rhone, if allowed to settle and then put into earthen vessels, will remain fit for use a long time. In imperial Rome there was a good supply of water. The allowance for each inhabitant was 300 gallons daily. Croton water (New York) is remarkably free from impurities, as it contains less than five grains of organic and inorganic matter per gallon; the water in Philadelphia contains less than four grains. In some parts of Portugal the spring waters are so hard as to be quite useless for many purposes. The well water in Edinburgh is so soft that soap may be dissolved in it, and it will still remain transparent. Iron in water will give a bleacher of cloth no end of trouble. A woman in Scotland who bleached her own household linen, after watering some webs near her home, was amazed to find that they became redder and redder every day. She attributed this to witchcraft, blamed the person she hated most, and sold the cloth for a trifle. The water was afterward found to contain a large amount of iron. Water is liable to become contaminated by lead, and cases of lead poisoning often occur when lead in water is exposed to the air. The carbonic acid of the air attacks the lead and water, acting upon it in that state, makes the lead soluble. Water conveyed in leaden pipes to a fish pond will kill the fish. THE DEADLY SNAKES OF INDIA The amount of rewards paid in a single year for the destruction of wild beasts and venomous snakes in India, was 99,189 rupees. Three specimens of snakes dangerous to human life are to be met with in the Bombay Presidency, viz. : the cobra, the chain viper and a small, black, white-banded snake, known to naturalists as the Bungarus Arenatus. Popular Anglo-Indian tradition adds others, such as the carpet snake, the whip snake, the eve snake, etc. The Cobra, one of the commonest snakes in India, is one of the most fatal in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 1,000 for every square mile. In stations in the Deccan, as, for instance, Poona , the cobra fins board and lodging, on easy terms, in the holes of the field rats, and there serves a useful purpose. Snakes shum man far more than man shuns them, and the cobra is especially timid and wary in disposition. According to statistics, the number of persons killed in India by venomous snake bites was 16,812 in a single year. OLD CLOCKS AND WATCHES |