Items Of Interest

Parent Issue

Ann Arbor Argus, April 30, 1880

Day

Month

April

Year

1880

Public Domain

OCR Text

The negro physicians of Tennessee have organized a State Medical Society, of which Dr. J. M. Jameson is president.
David Buris is the oldest living boatman on the Kentucky River, having been born in 1791. He has walked from New Orleans to Frankfort—fifteen hundred miles—six times.
A Paterson, N.J., silk mill has just received an order for $200,000 worth of certain class of silk goods. This is said to be the largest single order of the kind yet given.
The German War Department is busy with a plan for the fortification of Berlin after the fashion of Paris. Several of the Continental newspapers are already discussing the details. The defense will include some twenty outlying forts.
The average annual attendance of colored pupils at public schools in South Carolina from 1860 to 1876 was 51,947, while for the four years since, attendance was 52,732—a small increase of a little more than forty-five.
The people of Virginia are determined that the name and fame of Jamestown shall not perish from the public mind. A new county has just been formed in that state and named for the old settlement. The name of Jackson has been fixed upon for it.
William Smock, a patriarchal German of ninety-seven, living in Orangeburg County, South Carolina, has 13 children, 138 grandchildren, 460 great-grandchildren, and 79 of the next generation. Total number of descendants: 691, of whom 575 are living. Mr. Smock's wife is ninety-six years old. Their oldest child is 75 years old, and their youngest and thirteenth child a grandmother.
A somewhat ghastly act has been performed at Calais by an actress, who entered the lion's cage at a menagerie and there recited Victor Hugo's "Carmen." Her musical voice evidently had the traditional effect of "soothing the savage beasts," as the lions never attempted to interrupt her performance.
A famous Parisian doctor, who has given much time to the observation of children affected by convulsions or epilepsy, publishes the result of his study, that in eighty-three families of afflicted children there were 433 whose illnesses were traced to parental convulsions. In two years’ time, 169 were dead, and of the 201 still alive, eighty-five—more than a third—were epileptic.
Mr. and Mrs. Stratton (Tom Thumb) live at Middleboro, Mass., in a two-story wooden mansion, tastefully painted, with its grounds laid out in ornamental shrubbery and walks commanding an extensive view of varied scenery. The house is luxuriously furnished, and among other objects of interest are a diminutive sewing machine and a small grand piano, two feet high.
According to Herr von Puttkammer, the Prussian Minister of Education, there has been a constant increase of crime and immorality in the great towns of Germany during the last ten years. The minister declared in Parliament that this unsatisfactory state of things had not been without effect on the teachers of elementary schools, except in Berlin. This was to be attributed to considerable measures taken to address increased facilities for drinking provided by recent legislation.
A Green River Kentuckian has given his seven children the following names: Robert Goderich Channing De Aubrey Phelps, Quintan Fremont Fitzhugh Cadwallader Phelps, Bethel Zebediah Seminarius Phelps, Janet Richard Augustus Phelps, Bethenia Permelia Melvina Phelps, Ezra Marshall Allushbar Phelps, and Dionysius Edric Bob Turner Phelps.
The latest novelty is a barometer handkerchief. The design printed on it represents a man with an umbrella. In fine weather, the umbrella is blue; in changeable weather, gray; and in wet weather, white. The secret lies in printing the design with chloride of cobalt, but the first washing removes this sensitive chemical and destroys its barometric properties.
During the past five years $353,018,255 worth of property has been destroyed in this country by fire.
In 1875, the loss was $78,102,285; in 1876, $64,630,600; in 1877, $68,265,800; in 1878, $64,315,900; and in 1879, $76,703,700. Of the states, New York leads in big figures. Her loss in 1876 was $14,000,000; in 1877, $11,456,400; in 1878, $9,397,000; and in 1879, $15,793,200. Pennsylvania comes next with a total loss in the four years of $28,123,500.
At the annual meeting of the Glasgow Ship-Owners’ Association,
the chairman, Mr. Allan, of the Allan Line company, expressed the opinion that Mr. Plimsoll’s bill to regulate the shipment of grain cargoes is not required, and if brought into operation would in some respects be injurious. He also expressed the wish that the New York Herald would abandon the issue of storm warnings, as in many instances they were incorrect and caused unnecessary timidity in setting out for sea when there was really no occasion for it.
At the present time there are, according to a lately published return, no fewer than 12,436 officers in the infantry and 2,342 in the cavalry of the Spanish army,
although its total nominal strength, including the forces serving in the island of Cuba, is only some 180,000 men. Attempts have been made from time to time to reduce this excessively large number of officers, but they have been fruitless. Of the 15,000 officers of the cavalry and infantry, only 10,441 can be actively employed; so there are some 4,500 officers on half-pay waiting to be absorbed as vacancies occur.
Manure applied broadcast to meadows early in autumn, or later if it has not been done sooner, increases the luxuriance of the growth before winter and gives the grass an early and luxuriant start in spring.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Argus