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Parent Issue
Day
4
Month
December
Year
1847
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

A Remarkable Experiment. - A recent ivork of science give the following novel experiment, which settles qnesüons of some importnnce in philosopliy. "Two hundred pounds weiglit of eartli were dried in an oven, and afterwnrds put into an earthern vesse!. The earth was then moistened with rain water, and a willow tree, weighing 5 pounds, was planted therein. During the space of 5 years the earth was carefully watered wilh rnin waler, or pure water; the willow grew and flourished ; and. to prevent the earth froin being mixed with fresh eailh, or dust blown on it by the winds, il was covered with a metal píate perforated wilh a great numberof holes, suitable for the free admission of air only. After growing in the air for five years, the tree was removed, and found lo weigh 109 pountis and about 3 ounces ; the leaves which feil from the tree every autumn were not included in this weight. The earth was then removed from the vessel, again dried in the oven, and afterwards weighed ; it was discovered to have lost only about 2 ozs. of its original weight ; thus 169Jpounds of woody fibre bark, or roots were certainly produced ; but from what source ï The air has been discovered lo be the source of ihe solid element ai least. This stalemeht may at first appear incredible, but on slight reflection its trut li is provecí, because the atmosphere conlains carbonic acid, and is a compound of 714 parts by weight of oxygen, and 388 parts, by weight of carbon. More Ince.vdiaryism. - The Western Christian Advocate is regulaily burned in some parts of Virginia, as soon os it arrivés ai the Post-oflice, by the magistrates, under a law of Virginia requiring the Postmaster to give notice if any incendiary publications are in his office - who, upon receiving such notice, shall examine them, and if he deeins them so, burn thern. Also Methodist ministers aro driven from their fields of labor, subject to thé same charge. A Queer Case op Somnambulism. - Mr. Jesse Coombs of 609 Water street, was discovered about half past 11 o'clock on Saturday night, on iho lop of ths lberty-pole nt the córner of Gouvernour and Clierry streets, ín a ?tate of somnambulism. He was watched by the officers and ciiizens for a considerabletime, when he was seen descending the pole. Upon reacliing the ground he lan severa] blocks before he could be overtaken, and wlien cauglit, was found to have only his shirt, drawers and boots on. He was taken to :he Station-EIouse oftheSeventh Ward, where he seeroed rational, but liad no recollectlon of what had happenel Pie got out ofihe dormer window of his house, t is supposed, as he reiired very earlv, and when fuund all thedoors werelockec'. -N. Y. Tribuna Singular Case. - The Hanibal Gazette says that young Houghton, one of the Marión volunteers was lost on the way from Santa Fe, in a singular manner. - We are told that when the bunter rides into a herd of buffalo, it is often the case that they become frightened nnd the whole mass starts off with furious speed for the mountains, and there is no way to gel out, but to keep the same speed, and work your way gradually from among thern; lo hilt would be certain death, as the mass would pass over and crush you, and hunters are ofien carried seven nnd ten miles before they can disentangle themselves from the headlong herd. In this way Mr. Houghton disacpeared. - When last seen he was flying over the plain endeavoriug to make his way out of a drove of several thousand, and has not been heard of since. P. S. Mr. H. has returned, having gone a week without food. Printers Turning Lkgtslators. - There are in the Pennsylvania Legislature, twelve or fifteen printers, editors and ex-edilors. This apprecintion of the fraternity speaks well for the Pennsylvanians . It adds greatly lo their chances for good government. Mrs. Mary Rünkle was hung at Whilesboro, nt 12 o'clock and tvvenly minutes on Tuesday, for the murder of her hu&bnnd. Just previou3 to the falling of the drop ihe Sheriff asked her, "Mary Runkle, have you any word to say to this jury, and these people V' to which she made noanswer. A fter hanging fifteen minutes, her body was cut down, and delivered to her friends from Montgomery Co. She has made n confession to Dr. Smith and Under Sheriff Eames. - TJiica Herald. The Charleston Mercury states that oí the South Carolina regiment which left tiie United States nine months ago, numbering nearly eleven hundred men, but between eighty and ninety were left lo enter the city of Mexico. An eleclion n New Jersey, to determine, by a popular volé, whether the people wil] have any tavern licenses, for !he sale of intoxicating liquors, granted for their respective townships or not, will take place on tha 7th December. "Christiant Slaveholders." - Mrs. Swisshelm, a lady of Pittsburgh, who formerly resided in the South, says, in a letter to "The Albatross." "1 pubücly stated some time ago that the only ron collar I ever saw on a slave, was on a little boy about ten years old, belonging to an eider of ihe Second Presbyterian church of Louisville, Ky. This collar I saw upon him hundreds of times, during the sumrner and winter of 1838-9 - never saw him without it. It was a devilish iuvention, with a projecting front and back, where the two somi-circles which formed it met and were rivited. A half hoop made of an iron rod nbout an inch in circumference,stood up over an inch in circumference, stood up ovor his head higlier than he could reach, üke the handle of a basket, and when it was fastened at each side formed the other projection, which made it appear impossible that he could lie down without retitig the weight of his head upon the collar. He wore it pubücly, and I never heard it hinted that it was contrary to the doctrine or usage of the Presbyterian Church. - Thismnn'sslaves, and he had a number of them, were, so far as I could learn, entirely without moral or mental culture. Indeed, in this matter I saw and could hearof no differenco between professors and non-professors." The annexation of all Mexico would come pretty near giving the Catholics a majority in the extended Uniled States. It is intimated that the Archbishop at Baltimore favors the war for the purpose of bringing about such vvholesale annexation. HüMoun of the Barxburners. - Some of the tickets voted at the recent election were very fanciful. The electora did not seem content with erasions and black lines, expunging ihe Locofoco candidates, but they frequently garnished themwith borders and niottoes. Others were regularly printed in the following style : For Comptroller, Remember Silas Wright ? For Secretary of State, Maintain FreeJom ? For Attorney General, Rebuke Fraud ! Singular and Fatal Ouccurrenck. -On Friday last, about three o'clock, the Une boat ftl. Kingman, Capt. Wm. Babcock, and a scow boat, la passing each other near Amboy bridge, about six miles west of this place, became wedged. - Capt. Babcock, we learn immediatelv went on board the scow boat, and commenced on assault upon the captain, and beat hirn severely. During the assault, a son of the suficrer, n boy, who had been out wilh bis gun follovving the boat, came on board, when Cnp. Babcock, leaving the father, wrenchod the gun which was loaded, from the boy, and broke the stock D pieces on the deck of the boat. The gun was discharged from the effect of the blow, and the whole charge lodged in the; thigh of Capt. B., near the groin.causing his death in an hour and a half! The deceased, we understand,resided at W eedsport, Cayuga co. Significant. - We would a thousand times rather see such a Demócratas Silas Wright, Preston King, or Rathbun, elected President or Speaker, than such a VV big as Milton Brown, or Jarnagin, or Merrick, who went for the annexation of Texas. It is time for us to discard ñames, and look at principies. - Ash. Sentinel. The whole number of Pólice arrests in the city of New York for six months ending Ocl. 31st was 14,381, for which 6,843 were for intoxication and disorderly conduct, 2,177, fur disorderly conduct alone 1,623, for assaults and battery, 1,225 for petitlarceny, 1,217 vagrants &c. &c. What Next.- Mr. J. N. S. in this viiage, claims to possess Letters Patent Tor an ingenious Ilen's Nest, which he thus describes : "The bottom the nest is so constructed as lo let the ogg through, and out of sight ; when the hen turns round to view her production, cackling her dfilight the white, s!;e is astonished to find her nest empty ! - so naturally supposing herself mistaken, she again sits down, and lays anotheregg; and so on, until the necessary number of eggs required are obtained. Mr. S. does not manufacture the nest, but offers 'Rights' for sile. The nest would be an excelent accompanirnent to the Sleam Egg Hatching Machine." - Pcrry Democrat. WntpxsiN. - Gov. Dodge's message to the Legislature of the Terrilory is confined to those topics hearing upon the object for which the special session was oalled - that ofenabliug the representatives of the people So take such action in the early organization of a State Government as will meet the wants and wishes of their constiluents. The present population of the Tcrrhory is estimated to exceed 200,000. A large majorily of tliem are in favor of a State Government. Among the inducements inlluencing to the change, besides the obvious one of securing a represento lion in boih Mouses of Congres, and that giving an electoral vote for President in 1848, are the privileges of selectirig the 500,000 acres of land to which by law Wisootuin will become entitled when a State, before the choice tracts are all sold. and of availing herselfuf the lands granted by Congress for schools and a University. - Journal of Commcrce. The Spani.sh, in their atlempts to subjugate the Mexicans who were struggling for their nalional independence, said to have captured the city of Mexico seven times, snd were seven times expelled. General Scott, it would seem, bas as yet hardly made a commencement of the work. The Great PowderMill Explosión. at Nashville continúes to occupy the papers of that city. The damage done to buildings is computed at $100,000 and there is not glass enough in the State to replace whal has been destroyed. Four persons were kileJ instantly, and many were wounded, some of whom have since died. The penitentiairy was damaged to the amount of $500, the Lunatic Asylum $300. All churches, public buildings &c. have suffered more or less, principally in glass , and more than 50 houses were demolished. In the magazine,lhere were 800 kegs of powder, and from which bricks were thrown three miles ! while at a distance of half a mile people had to seek shelter from the shower of bricks that feil. Education. - Of the thirteen original States, the population of the four most northerly, in 1840, was, 1,441,081. The number of whites, over 20, who could neither read nor writewere, 7,530 The four old Southern States had in 1840, a free population of 1,976,220 Of these, over 20 years, who could neilhar read or wiite, there were 166,728 So that in the Free States there was less than one in 191, and in the slave one in ess than 12 ! This is a sad ditference. It shows what the South has yet to do for education. Let us, in Kentucky, take the lead in this work. We are a younger branch. What higher glory could we win for ourselves thanby outstripping any Southern, and striving to equal any Northern State? - Examinar. A Tall Wedding. - At Mount Pleasant, Iown, on ihe llth uit., by J. T. Morton, Esq., fheight 0 feet 3 inchesj Silas G. Weeks Esq., of Warren county, 111., (6 feet 4 inches,) to Mrs. Mary Robb, of Wount PIeasant,(beight-6 ftet I uch.) Frost Bitten. - A Miss Frost in Mnssachusetts, has recovered thrce hundred and sixty-five dollars of Mr. Snow, for a breacli ofmarriage promise. He couried her for a year, and bas to pay at the raie of a dollar a day for il. A calculation of the weight of water and the superficial área of an acre of ground, provcs that a body of water one inch in depth and covering an entire acre, will weigh one hundred and one tons. Speaking of the recent storm, and of the enormous weiglit oi the descended rain, a writer in the National Intelligencer properly remarks : "How overwhelming is the consideration of the physical law by which this voíumo has been suspended over, befjre it is permilted to discharge itself before us ! And how much more avvful and humbling ought to be the reflection when we look up to that Power which controla and directs this law, and which restrains its ability by a sudden descent, to destroy us in an instant!" Gas. - Mr. Castor, of Boston, has discovered a new mode of generating gas Iromcommon rosin which possesses the important advantage of great economy, and emits a lght of remarkable brilliancy. - Scientific American. A Washington letter to the Baltimore Sun says . - "Mr. Buchanan has consented that his name shall be used as a candidate for the LIis Pennsylvania friends will see that he is brought forward asacandidate, in handsome style, andwith every proper advantage." Law Reform. - All special pleading is abolished in Missouri, by an act of the Legislalure. This act provides that no special plea shall be allowed in any case, and that the general issue in all cases shall be as follows : "The defcndant comes and denies the plaintifIVs demand.', The Raleigli Register relates another case of poisoning, at a wedding party in Greene county, N. C, in which some twenty persons were made sick by partaking ofa custnrd. ílenry B. Holmes, and a negro have since died, but the others will probably recover. No cine has yet been discovered as to the perpetrator of this diabolical crime. Paul a Slave-Catchkr. - A writer in the (Cincinnatij Watchman of the Valley says that in one of the publicationsof the American Sunday Schon] Union, entitled "Life and Tiavels of St. Paul," :he follovving passage may be fuund on p. 181: "This episile was to intercede for a slave, named Onesimus, wlio had run away from his master to Rome, where he was converted and sent back by Paul." Ten tons of fine ponltry are said to have been taken over the Eastern Rnilroad to Boston, on Tueso!ay morning. By t'se returns of the county cen.-us it arpearslhat the present population of Cleveland is 12,769. Quincy Adams visited the Park Thealre last evening, and was greeted in a most enthusiastic manner by the crowdeü house. The venerable patriot made his appearnnce jusl as the curtain had fallen on the first act of "La Sonnambula." He was mmediately recognized by several gentlemen in the pit. The lionored name passed in an instant over the house, snd inspireó by one common impulse the auditory burst into three cordial shouts of welcome. The "old man eloquent" bowedhis acknowledgments, and another cheer shook the walls of the Theatro. It was altogether one of the most unafFected, sincere and thrilling exhibitions of patriotic feeling which we ever witne&sed. It wasno expression of heated partizanship, but tlie spontaneous manifestation of popular lovp and reverence for one of the purest of American statesmen. - Tribune. Vermont Farms. - The two greatest farms of New England are in Vermont : Consul Jarvis, upon the Connecticut River, at Weathersfield, has his giant farm with his twenty barns, contained in a single traci of splendid interval and upland : Judge Meech, on Lake Champlain, has a larger farra, and more numerous cattle, shcep and horses in a single body at Shelburne. We ofTer ihe conjecture that Nathnn Smilie has more of beller farming cultivated lands in Cambridge, Vt., than either. Ixfamous Law. - We learn that the Corporation of Washington, our Nalior:al Capital, have passed a new edict, requiring all free colorod persons in the city to give good white security each in a thousand dollars for their good behavior for one year ; and to pay $2 each for a certifícate that they havo given such security.

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Subjects
Signal of Liberty
Old News