Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 11.pdf/316

 Rh gang of highway robbers that had terrorized Liverpool, some of whom he had himself seen at work, came before Justice Day for sentence ten years ago. " I am not going to give you men long terms of imprisonment," he said; "but when you go in you get twenty lashes of the cat, when you have been in nine months you get twenty lashes of the cat, and before you come out you get twenty lashes of the cat. And then you can show that to your friends."

CURRENT EVENTS. The post-office of India has to contend with diffi culties of which we have no conception. The matterof-fact " Report " of the working of this magnificent establishment for 1897-8 is not without its touches, now of humor, now almost of romance or of tragedy. The postal-runners climb the lofty Himalayan snowpasses and traverse the dangerous jungle. River squalls, cyclones, and earthquakes bring destruction to mail-boats and offices, and death to the messengers. A swinging bridge over the Chenat gives way, and down falls the village postman, never to emerge alive. Yet, in spite of all, the department handled in the year some four hundred and sixty million pieces of matter, an average of 1 .63 pieces per head for the general population, or of 38.58 for the literate popu lation. Human nature vies with inanimate nature to increase the tribulations of the Director-General. A tremendous pother was raised by a local magnate in Bengal over the behavior of a village postman. The ponderous machinery of investigation was set agoing, and it transpired that the humble offender had handed the big man a letter with the left hand in stead of the right! The post-card is becoming exceedingly popular, and, strangest of all, telegraphic money orders are coming widely into vogue in Burmah, being used by the emigrant laborers there, who often wire money to their distressed kindred at home during the famine. The " value-payable post " is an institution which we Americans might well adopt from India. The Merchants' Association of San Francisco has been trying the experiment of sprinkling a street with sea-water, and finds that such water binds the dirt together between the paving stones, so that when it is dry no loose dust is formed to be raised by the wind; that sea-water does not dry so quickly as fresh water, so that it has been claimed when salt water has been used that one load of it is equal to three loads of fresh water. The salt-water, which is deposited on the street absorbs moisture from the air during the night; whereby the street is thorough

289

ly moist during the early morning, and has the ap pearance of having been freshly sprinkled. At present it is estimated there are in the world's oceans seven million cubic miles of salt, and the most astonishing thing about it is that if all this salt could be taken out in a moment, the level of the water would not drop one single inch. Torpedo-boats may be made invisible, according to an inventor, who has applied for a patent on his contrivance, by attaching a mirror to the bow of the boat so as to deflect the rays of the search light and show only the surface of the waves. The principle is old, but its application is brand new. Accord1ng to English advices the Russian govern ment has made an important change in the Mosaic law. The Fifth Commandment in the future will be : "Honor your father and mother, your ruler and his officials, that thy days may be long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.'' Teachers are required to see to it that no other form is used. Among recent inventions is a locomotive headlight which, when the train is rounding a curve, turns in such a manner as to keep its projected shaft of light continually upon the rails, instead of pointing off to one side, as occurs with a stationary headlight. The motion of the headlight is controlled by means of an air-cylinder, connected with the air-brake system of the train, and regulated by a valve in the cab. When the locomotive strikes a straight section of track the headlight automatically returns to its proper position.

LITERARY NOTES. Harper's Magaz1ne for June contains interest ing articles on " Korean Inventions," by Homer Beza Hulbert, F.R.G.S. In addition to a phonetic alpha bet of its own, Korea has invented the earliest iron clad war-ship, the earliest movable metal types, the earliest twisted cable, the earliest bomb and mortar; "Quivira and the Wichitas,•' by James Mooney. The author gives a pleasant glimpseof aboriginal Indian life, and identifies the site of the Wichitas villages discov ered by Francisco de Coronado, 1 540; " The Century's Progress in Scientific Medicine," in which Henry Smith Williams, M.D., in a brief and comprehensive manner tells of the invention of the stethoscope, the discovery of the anaesthetic properties of sul phuric ether, the establishment of the science of bac teriology, and the development of the use of anti toxins. In •. Needful Precautions for Safe Naviga tion," John Hyslop, the author, points out the grave