Entries from August 2004 ↓

Milly and Olly, by Mrs. Humphry Ward. A sweet children’s book with darling illustrations.

The effort of the text-book writer, as well as that of the maker of programmes, lists, and courses, appears to have been to produce what he calls a “well-rounded” effect; in other words, to make the student think that the whole subject–in condensed form perhaps, but still the whole–lies within what he has turned out. Did you ever see a chemistry that gave, or tried to give, an idea of the world of chemical knowledge that environs its board cover? One has to become a Newton before he feels, with that sage, like a child, playing on the sands, with the great, unexplored ocean of knowledge stretching out before him. Most students are rather like ducks in a barn-yard puddle, quite sure that they are familiar with the whole world and serene in that knowledge.

The surface of the earth is slowly but surely diminishing, says the scientists. All the landed portion will be submerged and the last man will be drowned. The ice is gradually accumulating at the North Pole and slowly melting away at the South. Eventually the earth’s centre of gravity will be crushed by the rush of movables that will quickly glide over its surface. There is a retarding medium in space causing a gradual loss in velocity in all of the planets. The earth, when her revolutions finally cease, will be drawn nearer and nearer to the sun until the last man will be literally roasted off the face of the earth. Beginning with the year 3000 A. D. humanity will commence to retrograde and by the end of the year 1,000,000 man will be no larger and have no more intelligence than a plant louse. In that event there will be no “last man,” remarks the St. Louis Republic. The sun’s fires will gradually burn out and the temperature cool; in consequence the earth’s glacial zones will enlarge, driving shivering humanity toward the equator. At least the habitable space will lessen to nothing and overcrowded humanity will be frozen in a heap.

Tattooing as a fashionable fad has not reached New York as yet, but if reports are to be believed, says an exchange, it is still prevalent at the world’s metropolis. An eminent London physician, a specialist in skin diseases, is quoted as authority for the statement that the practice is much less general than has been supposed, yet he says that a number of peculiar and some very distressing cases have recently come under his notice. He adds: “As to whether such things can be effectually removed, I will only say here that much, of course, depends upon the extent and depth of the marks, but nearly all processes of removal leave a mark more or less unsightly. As to the utter folly in most cases of having these marks made, I can bear full witness. Only this summer I was consulted by the parents of a young lady who had been foolish enough years ago to have the name of a lover marked upon her arm. This fancy had wholly passed on and a new and brilliant matrimonial chance with a man she really loved had presented itself, but she dare not tell him of this marking, for he had never even heard of the other love, and was of a jealous disposition, and the young lady could not wear evening dress without a bandage around her arm. This is one of the common cases, and it seems trifling, but the bearer of the mark suffered great mental anguish and was made absolutely ill by it. But I can assure you that the disruption of a really happy marriage between two persons known to every one in society whose separation was a puzzle at the time to a wide circle, was brought about by a wretched and simple tattoo mark, for I was consulted by the lady, who was in an agony of misery. The two have never been reunited, I am sorry to say. Many of the persons who have consulted me have been men who have, as the expression goes, risen in life, and who have seemed to regard the marks upon their arms and hands as outward symbols of their former calling of mere laborers, but in certain of these cases the marks have been of a somewhat coarse significance. If I tried to recollect all the cases brought before me I could tell you some queer ones but I may mention one well-known peer–he got the title unexpectedly–who has the lobes of both ears tattooed.”

H. H. Holmes “castle” at Sixty-third and Wallace streets, Chicago, which is said to have been the scene of his numerous murders was discovered to be on fire. It did not extend beyond the on[e] “castle.” This famous building has for some time past been tenanted only on the ground floor, by a drug store and small restaurant, and it was in the latter that the fire originated. The interior of the building was practically ruined. The loss will aggregate $15,000.

• The Bibliomania, or the collecting an enormous heap of books without intelligent curiosity, has, since libraries have existed, infected weak minds, who imagine that they themselves acquire knowledge when they keep it on their shelves.
• Great collections of books are subject to certain accidents besides the damp, the worms, and the rats; one not less common is that of the borrowers, not to say a word of the purloiners.
• There is an art of reading, as well as an art of thinking, and an art of writing.

The Paris Academy of Sciences has been investigating the project to explore the polar regions by balloon. They think it not unlikely that the adventurous aeronaut may arrive at his destination, but that the coming back may be attended with great danger. The balloon is built, and is large enough to carry three persons, all the equipments, instruments and provisions, and a boat may be made into a sledge. The expedition will start from one of the extreme northwestern Norwegian islands. A stiff south breeze and a clear day in July will determine the time. The explorer hopes to reach the north pole within forty-three hours. The meteorological conditions of this locality are said to be extremely favorable for a voyage of this sort. In July, the sun never sinks below the horizon, and there are but slight variations in the temperature. There are no storms to be feared, and ordinary snow-falls would not interfere with progress and observation.

It is not pretended that this volume is a work of inspiration, or that any portion of it has been revealed by accommodating “Spirits” through the “Medium” of those crack-brained masculine women, or addle-headed feminine men who profess to act as go-betweens from Earth to the Spirit World.

No part of it has been “rapped” out by uneasy tables, or thumped out by dancing chairs; Doctor Franklin didn’t dictate it; Lord Byron didn’t write it; Napoleon wasn’t consulted about it; Cardinal Richelieu didn’t have a finger in it; George the Third hadn’t anything to do with it; Shakspeare didn’t suggest anything in it; and Benedict Arnold didn’t know anything about it.

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