Page:Cyclopedia of illustrations for public speakers, containing facts, incidents, stories, experiences, anecdotes, selections, etc., for illustrative purposes, with cross-references; (IA cyclopediaofillu00scotrich).pdf/198



Siemens. Birmingham, Pittsburg, and a host of wealthy cities could never have come into being but for these discoveries. James Gayley's discovery taught the practical steel-*workers how they could save one-third of their coke and at the same time increase the output of their furnaces by a new process of extracting the moisture from the blast. This alone means the saving from now on of 10,000,000 tons of coal annually in the United States.—New York Evening Post.

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DISCOVERY, FORTUNATE

"Here's the last quarter I've got in the world. Give me some oysters, and go as far as you like," was the combination of announcement and request with which John Olson, a sailor employed on the Scandinavian-American Line, greeted William Gau, proprietor of a market on Washington Street, Hoboken, as he entered that establishment.

Mr. Gau proceeded to open oysters. The sailor looked hungry, so he made haste.

As the third oyster was pried apart Mr. Gau uttered an exclamation. There was a big pearl. "Well, that's the best luck I've had in a long time," he observed. "Isn't it a beauty?"

"Wait a minute," piped up Olson. "Didn't I buy the oysters, and didn't you take the money? My oyster, my pearl. Hand 'er over."

The oysterman protested, but the sailor argued so convincingly that Mr. Gau finally acquiesced. They journeyed at once to a jeweler, who appraised the jewel at $200, and threw in an exclamation of admiration upon its white color for good measure. It weighs about three carats.

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DISCRETION

When I was a boy, a grim old doctor in a neighboring town was struck down and crusht by a loaded sledge. He got up, staggered a few paces, fell and died. He had been in attendance upon an ancient lady, a connection of my own, who at that moment was lying in a most critical condition. The news of the accident reached her, but not its fatal character. Presently the minister of the parish came in, and a brief conversation like this followed: "Is the doctor badly hurt?" "Yes, badly." "Does he suffer much?" "He does not; he is easy." And so the old gentlewoman blest God and went off to sleep, to learn the whole story at a fitter and safer moment. I know the minister was a man of truth, and I think he showed himself in this instance a man of wisdom.—

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Discretion in Attack—See.

DISCRIMINATION IN PUNISHMENT

A farm servant named Auguste Bichet was condemned at Nancy to six days' imprisonment for stealing a franc, but was complimented by the court for his honesty. Bichet stole a franc from a shop counter and confest to the theft. But about the same time he found a purse containing $125 and at once restored it to its owner, refusing to accept any reward. The court exprest its astonishment and admiration at the man's honesty, but as he had been convicted before, the president said they were obliged to send him to prison. They did so with great regret and complimented him on his probity.—San Francisco Bulletin.

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DISCRIMINATION, UNFAIR

Taking $1,000,000 is called genius. "      100,000  "   "    shortage.  "        50,000  "   "    litigation. "       25,000  "   "    insolvency.  "        10,000  "   "    irregularity. "        5,000  "   "    defalcation.  "         1,000  "   "    corruption. "          500  "   "    embezzlement.  "           100  "   "    dishonesty. "           50  "   "    stealing.  "            25  "   "    total depravity. "      one ham  "   "    war on society.

—Washington Post.

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See.

DISEASE BENEFICIAL

People have considered every symptom of disease noxious, and that it ought to be stamped out with relentless determination; but, according to Sir Frederick Treves, the motive of disease is benevolent and protective. If it were not for disease, he said, the human race would soon be extinct.

Sir Frederick took examples, such as a wound and the supervening inflammation, which is a process of cure to be imitated rather than hindered. Peritonitis, he said, was an operating surgeon's best friend; without it every example of appendicitis would be fatal. The phenomena of a cough