Entries from December 2007 ↓

Boston Transcript: P. Valin, a nervous little old gentleman of Somerville, has discovered that everybody who buys liquids is being cheated. He says the gallon measures in common use do not contain 231 cubic inches, as required by law, and he has proved it to his own satisfaction by testing a standard gallon measure with a set of square tin boxes of known capacity. Mr. Valin has great confidence in his own measures and in his method of proof, which requires a squaring of the circle, but a little thing like that does not bother him. He figured out a method of squaring the circle some years ago, and has been squaring circles ever since, with the greatest of ease. He says that, as a practical result of his figuring, he has found that the standard gallon is about a wineglassful “shy,” and he calls on the authorities, in the name of the president of the continental congress, at once to rectify this error. Just what he will do if the government continues to go on cheating the consumers of liquids he does not say, but the mandates of a man who has squared the circle, it seems, should be given some consideration.

Bad Habits Make a Man Act Like He Was Under a Spell

A man will try to convince himself by arguments so poorly founded that if they were presented by another they would be treated with contempt. As an instance: He may be ailing from the heavy poison of tobacco, or the lighter poison of coffee, the weakened condition will show somewhere in the body; eyes, head, stomach, heart, liver, bowels or somewhere. His doctor tells him to stop the habit, but each day the thought comes, “O, coffee and tobacco don’t hurt me, its my stomach that is at fault; I’ll have that cured and everything will be all right;” so he keeps on with his habits, and goes to drugging a poor old stomach that would do its work beautifully if the master would furnish enough vitality to run it, but he poisons his nervous system and robs the members of strength to carry on their work. When a man wakes up to what he is doing, exchanging his heath and chance to succeed in this world for a paltry habit or two, he quits them and follows nature’s wise laws.

It is easy to give up coffee if one can have Postum Cereal, the food drink, which is a fac-simile in looks of Mocha coffee. In taste it retains a like pungency with coffee, but has a distinct flavor of its own. It is made entirely of pure grains, and has the ability to make red blood.

Tobacco, morphine, whiskey, strychnine and coffee each contain much the same poisonous alkaloids, but very in strength. Postum Cereal is a delicious breakfast drink; it is fattening and nourishing for it is made of the grains intended by the Creator for a man’s natural use.

The Young Man’s Guide, by William A. Alcott. Published 1838, ©1835.

Thanks to Anonymous for post-processing this project!

Bookp(h)ile

The Arena, Volume 4, Issue 5, edited by B. O. Flower. Published October 1891.

Thanks to Richard J. Shiffer for post-processing this project!

Bookp(h)ile

A fashionable audience in Paris recently listened to a lecture on chemistry by a celebrated chemist. At the conclusion of the lecture a lady and gentleman who were among the first to leave the hall had reached the open air, when the lady caught her escort staring at her. “What is the matter?” asked the madame, in surprise. “Pardon me, but you are quite blue!” The lady returned to the hall and approached a mirror. She started back in horror. The rouge upon her cheeks had been converted into a beautiful blue by the chemical decomposition which had taken place under the influence of the gasses which had been generated during the lecture. The majority of the women in the audience had suffered in a similar manner. There were all sorts of colors–blue, yellow, violet and black. Some whose vanity had induced them to put ivory on the skin, coral on the lips, rouge on the cheeks and black on the eye-brows had undergone a ludicrous transformation.–New York Tribune.

The History of Sir Richard Calmady: A Romance, by Lucas Malet. Published 1901.

Thanks to Anonymous for post-processing this project!

Bookp(h)ile

The Building of a Book; A series of Practical Articles written by Experts in the Various Departments of Book Making and Distributing, by Frederick H. Hitchcock. Published 1906.

Thanks to Christine P. Travers for post-processing this project!

Bookp(h)ile

It Would Test the Patience of a Man on a Record Breaking Train

There is a perpetual fascination about the stars and the immense distances at which they lie from one another and from us. To demonstrate the vast distance of Centauri from this planet a popular scientist gives the following illustration: “We shall suppose that some wealthy directors, for want of outlet for their energy and capital, construct a railway to Centauri. We shall neglect, or the present, the engineering difficulties–a mere detail–and suppose them overcome and the railway open for traffic. We shall go further, and suppose that the proprietors of the interstellar space had not been exorbitant in their terms for right of way.

“Therefore, with a view to encourage traffic, the directors had made the fare exceedingly moderate, viz., first-class at 1 penny a hundred miles. Desiring to take advantage of these facilities, a gentleman, by way of providing himself with small change for the journey, buys up the national debt of Britain and a few other countries, and, presenting himself at the office, demands a first-class single to Centauri.

“For this he tenders in payment the script of the British national debt, which just covers the cost of his ticket, but at this time the national debt from little wars has been run up to £1,100,000,000.

“Having taken his seat it occurs to him to ask:

“‘At what rate do you travel?’

“‘Sixty miles an hour, sir, including stoppages,’ is the answer.

“‘Then when shall we reach Centauri?’

“‘In 48,663,000 years, sir!’”