The inter ocean curiosity shop for the year 1883

Chapter C: E. Locke

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_Answer._—Why the magnetic needle points northward is not positively determined. There are several theories but none of them explain all the phenomena of the needle. That which perplexes scientists most is that in every place the needle is subject to variations. By observations at Paris it was found that in 1681 the magnetic needle varied 2 deg. 30 min. to the west, in 1865 18 deg. 44 min. to the west. At London between 1580 and 1692 the needle varied from 10 deg. 15 min. E. to 6 deg. W. In Dakota Territory the average variation is 12 deg. 30 min. east, in Minnesota 11 deg. east, while in Montana it is 20 deg. east. S. V. Clevenger, United States Deputy Surveyor, says in a work on government surveys: “The needle does not point due north, except in a few localities, and at no place does it continue to point with a given angular distance from the north, for any stated length of time. It changes secularly, annually, diurnally, and hourly, and is further subject to fluctuations reducible to no method of tabulation. In the vicinity of iron in any shape, or magnetic sands, the needle is deflected toward the material attracting it. This perturbation is known as local attraction. The author has known the needle to vary 5 deg. in a distance of one mile, and 1 deg. 30 min. during two hours when stationed at one place.” The variation in the magnetic needle of Columbus’ compass was probably caused by some local attraction of which he knew nothing.

DISCOURAGEMENTS TO ANTARCTIC EXPLORATIONS.

PALESTINE, Ind.

Why is the north pole the object of more research than the south
pole?

SUBSCRIBER.

_Answer._—Soon after the discovery of America European navigators began to search the arctic zone for a passage to Asiatic countries which would be less dangerous and circuitous than that usually traveled. Although the object of polar expeditions has changed somewhat, yet one of the reasons which actuated them influences the explorers of the present time. The nearness of this pole has rendered it of greater interest than its southern counterpart. Expeditions are fitted out more easily for the shorter voyage. Relief can be procured with less delay. Other reasons are that from the closer neighborhood of the continents, and from the action of the Gulf Stream on the one side and the Japan current on the other, and from the fact that the earth is in perihelion during the winter season of the Northern hemisphere, and in aphelion during the winter of the Southern hemisphere, the Arctic Sea is more free from ice, which in the Antarctic region is an impregnable barrier in the way of discovery.

WAGES IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA.

OSKALOOSA, Iowa.

Give a comparison of the wages of the United States with those of
England.

O. P. L.

_Answer._—The following is a comparison of the wages paid per week in Chicago and Great Britain to various artisans:

Chicago. Great Britain.

Bakers $8.00 to $12.00 $6.50 to $6.60
Blacksmiths 9.00 to 12.00 7.04 to 8.12
Bookbinders 9.00 to 20.00 6.50 to 7.83
Bricklayers 6.00 to 10.50 7.58 to 9.63
Cabinetmakers 7.00 to 15.00 7.70 to 8.48
Carpenters 7.50 to 12.00 7.33 to 8.25
Farm laborers 3.40 to 4.25
Laborers, porters, etc 5.50 to 9.00 4.50 to 5.00
Painters 6.00 to 12.00 7.25 to 8.16
Plasterers 9.00 to 15.00 7.68 to 10.13
Plumbers 12.00 to 20.00 7.13 to 8.46
Printers 12.00 to 18.00 7.52 to 7.75
Shoemakers 9.00 to 18.00 7.35
Tailors 6.00 to 18.00 5.00 to 7.30
Tinsmiths 9.00 to 12.00 6.00 to 7.30

THE BANKERS’ CLEARING HOUSE, LONDON.

DAVENPORT, Iowa.

Tell us something of the purpose of the great Clearing House of
London, and the amount of business done through it.

J. BROWN.

_Answer._—The Bankers’ Clearing House, London, is the medium through which bankers collect the checks and bills in their hands against other banks. Instead of presenting these checks and bills at each bank to which they are addressed, and receiving cash and notes in payment, clearing bankers settle the whole amount delivered during the day at this establishment in Postoffice Court, Lombard street, by receiving or paying the difference in the totals for or against them by a single check on the Bank of England. Every bank in London and the country is represented by clearing bankers, and as their agents send through the Clearing House all drafts payable in the city and in the country, the amount passing through this establishment every year is enormous. The total amount for the year ending April 30, 1882, was £6,382,654,000, or nearly $32,000,000,000. The total clearings of the Bankers’ Clearing House, Chicago, in the year ending Dec. 31, 1882, amounted to $2,366,526,185. This represented only the transactions of banks doing business in Chicago. It is estimated that the new rule as to settlement applied during the past year has reduced the total clearings nearly 25 per cent below what they would have been under the old rule. London is the center of exchange for the world, and the volume of its bank clearings must necessarily be enormously greater than that of any other city. The totals of bills, checks, and drafts passed through the London Clearing House, between 1869 and 1881 inclusive, foot up £68,010,643,000, or over three hundred and forty billion dollars. The rise and fall in trade not only in England, but in large degree the world over is mirrored in the annual records of these clearings for the period mentioned. Whereas in 1869 the total clearings were but 3,626,396,000 pounds sterling, they increased each year until 1873, when they amounted to £6,070,948,000. Then, in consequence of the widespread commercial depression the total trade transactions fell off, and the London bank clearings fell to £5,936,772,000 in 1874, £5,685,793,000 in 1875, and £4,963,480,000 in 1876, the lowest point touched. Not until 1880 did the clearings rise to nearly six billions again. In 1881, for the first time, did they reach and pass the total in 1873, indicating general business prosperity throughout the world.

CHICAGO AND MILWAUKEE COMPARED.

SHOSHONE AGENCY, W. T.

How does Milwaukee compare with Chicago in the amount of grain
handled in one year?

WM. H. ROME.

_Answer._—The following are the statistics of receipts and shipments at Milwaukee for 1882:

The statistics of Chicago during the same period are:

AMERICAN AND ENGLISH SHIP-BUILDING.

VAN WERT, Ohio.

How does American ship-building compare with the ship-building of
Great Britain?

J. W. NICODEMUS.

_Answer._—During the year 1880 there were constructed in the United States for ocean traffic 412 sailing vessels, having a tonnage of 53,610, and 166 steam vessels, having a tonnage of 40,617. In addition to this, for the service of the lakes and rivers, were constructed forty-eight sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 5,447 and 182 steamers, with a tonnage of 38,237. In the same period Great Britain constructed 353 sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 57,534, and 474 steamers, with a tonnage of 346,361. The total number of American vessels plying the ocean was, at that time, 17,932, with a tonnage of 2,803,923, while Great Britain boasted of 25,185 vessels and a tonnage of 6,574,513. Including the shipping upon the inland lakes and rivers, the total shipping of the United States was 21,547 vessels, having a tonnage of 3,577,816. The reason for this enormous difference between the two countries is due partly to the greater cost of labor and material in the United States; partly to many more ways of employing capital profitably in the United States than there are in other countries; partly to the subsidies paid by the British Government to encourage the establishment and maintenance of British ocean lines of transportation; partly to the vastness of the British Empire and the exemption of British vessels and British goods carried in their vessels from heavy port dues and duties in trading to British ports; and partly from the American law forbidding the granting of the American flag to vessels built in other countries, even when owned by American citizens, and forbidding the restoration of our flag to American-built vessels after they have once gone under other colors, whatever the cause. American-built vessels compare in all other respects, except cost, favorably with the same classes of British vessels, and in many particulars American builders have done much to improve all classes of sea-going craft.

CELEBRATED PAINTINGS.

RAVANNA, Mo.

What and where are some of the most celebrated paintings?

A READER.

_Answer._—By general agreement among art critics, Michael Angelo and Raphael stand at the head of the line of master painters. Conspicuous among the great paintings of the former are “The Last Judgment,” “The Conversion of St. Paul,” and “The Crucifixion of St. Peter;” and among those of the latter, “The Dispute Concerning the Sacrament,” the “Madonna di Foligno,” and the “Madonna del Pesce, or Virgin of the Fish.” The “Last Judgment” is a large fresco painting, sixty feet high by thirty feet wide, occupying the wall opposite the entrance of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican Palace at Rome. Over 300 figures are represented in “the most violent attitudes and most admired disorder.” “The Conversion of St. Paul” is another large fresco painting in the Vatican. “The Crucifixion of Peter,” also in the Vatican, is one of the last from the hands of Angelo. “The Dispute Concerning the Sacrament” is a fresco representing, above, a convocation of the saints around the Almighty, the Savior, and the Virgin, enveloped in heavenly glory, while beneath the ceremony of the consecration of the sacrament is depicted. This is found in the Camera della Segnatura of the Vatican, Rome. “The Madonna di Foligno,” in the Vatican gallery, derives its name from the city of Foligno, which is represented in the back-ground. The “Madonna del Pesce,” now in the gallery at Madrid, Spain, represents the Virgin and Child enthroned, with St. Jerome on one side and on the other an archangel with the young Tobit, who carries a fish, from which circumstance the name is derived. “The Madonna di San Sisto” is considered by many critics the best of Raphael’s works. It is located in the gallery of Dresden, Germany, and represents the Madonna standing upon the clouds surrounded with glory, holding in her arms the eternal Son. Saint Sixtus and Saint Barbara kneel at the sides. It was originally painted on wood, but has been transferred to canvas. The painting of “The Last Supper,” by Leonardo da Vinci, is recognized as one of the masterpieces. It was originally painted by order of the Duke of Milan on the walls of the refectory in the Dominican Convent of the Madonna delle Grazie. The picture is now in a state of decay, but several very fine copies have been made; one of them, at the Royal Academy, London, is considered almost, if not quite, as good as the original. Rubens’ paintings of the “Descent from the Cross” and “Elevation of the Cross,” at Antwerp, rank high as masterpieces. The “Adoration of the Trinity,” by Albert Durer, at Vienna, and his two pictures containing life-size figures of Peter and John, Mark and Paul, presented to the Council of Nuremberg, Germany, are also very famous. All of the above and many others, the productions of painters barely less noted, are classed as works of the great masters; and artists and amateurs are constantly going on pilgrimages to the temples and art galleries which are so favored as to enshrine them.

THE SCOTTISH POET, WM. KNOX.

HALSTEAD, Kan.

Please give a short biographical sketch of William Knox.

LINNIE REED.

_Answer._—William Knox, a Scottish poet, familiar to the readers of “Scott’s Diary,” was born at Roxburgh in 1789. Very little has been recorded concerning his life, which terminated at the comparatively early age of 36. He was very industrious, and in addition to his published volumes contributed to the _Literary Gazette_ and to various other magazines. In 1818 he published a collection of poems under the title of “The Lonely Heath,” and in the succeeding year wrote “Mariomne,” “A Visit to Dublin,” “Songs of Israel,” and “The Harp of Zion.”

THE PLANETS IN FEBRUARY.

WYANETT, Ill.

In or near what constellations are the planets at present?

C. A. H.

_Answer._—During the month of February, 1883, Mercury will be a morning star after the 10th, and will be found in Capricornus until near the end of the month, when it will enter Aquarius. Venus will also be a morning star while in Sagittarius. Mars can be observed near the sun in Capricornus; Jupiter nearly stationary between Taurus and Gemini, and Saturn nearly stationary between Aries and Taurus.

JOHN PHŒNIX.

ABINGDON, Ill.

Will you please give a short sketch of “John Phœnix,” the humorous
California writer of twenty years ago.

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The inter ocean curiosity shop for the year 1883Chapter C: E. Locke

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