Chapter C: A. Damon

_Answer._—The primitive form of galena, or sulphate of lead, crystals is the cube. Whenever left free to crystallize, subject to no extraneous force or pressure, this ore takes that form. At cross veins it takes modified forms, the angles and edges of the cubes being replaced by faces, so as in many cases to form octahedral crystals. Now just why lead seems to have been more free to take its simple primitive form when crystallizing in east and west veins or lodes than in veins running in other directions is still largely a matter of theory or conjecture. Some theorists think that the north and south magnetic currents, to which the polarity of the magnetic needle is attributed, have something to do with this phenomenon, but a great many other wise people think nobody knows.

NATIONS OF THE GLOBE.

SILVER LAKE, Ind.

How many nations are there on the globe? Has each of them a flag?

J. F. CLYMER.

_Answer._—The following is a full list of the nations of the world, each of which has its own distinctive national colors or flag: The United States of America, Mexico, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, San Salvador, Costa Rica, the United States of Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chili, Argentine Confederation, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Venezuela, Hayti, and San Domingo, which are all the independent nationalities of North and South America and the West India Islands; Great Britain and her dependencies in both hemispheres, France and her dependencies in Asia, Africa, and Oceanica, the German Empire, Austro-Hungary, Russia, Italy, Spain and her dependencies in both hemispheres; Portugal and her dependencies in Asia and Africa, Switzerland, Belgium, Netherlands and her dependencies in both hemispheres, Denmark and her colonial possessions, Sweden and Norway, Greece, Roumania, Servia, Montenegro, Turkey or the Ottoman Empire, Andorra, San Marino, and Monaco; the only independent States of Africa (except those wholly savage), Liberia, Orange River Free State, Transvaal Republic, Morocco, and Abyssinia; the only independent nationalities of all Asia—Persia, Burmah, Afghanistan, Beloochistan, Siam, China, and Japan; finally the Sandwich Islands. This makes a total of fifty-seven nations universally recognized and diplomatically treated as such, although several of them, like Afghanistan and Burmah, are little more than nominally independent, and two of them—Monaco, with an area of only 5¾ square miles, or less than a Congressional township in this country, and a population less than 6,000, and San Marino, with an area of barely 23-8/10 square miles and less than 8,000 inhabitants—are so insignificant in comparison with their great neighbors that it seems a mockery of the name to call them nations. Indian tribes, Esquimaux, tribes of Africa, Asia, and Australia, although taken into treaty relations as independent or quasi independent peoples, are never correctly spoken of as nations in the sense in which the term is used in international law.

ENTERING LAND IN DAKOTA.

HUSTON, D. T.

Nine-tenths of the persons who have inquired of me about Dakota land entries since my brief note in THE INTER OCEAN did not inclose stamps or postal cards for replies. I have answered all that did observe this plain business rule. I am no land agent, nor have I land to sell, so I ask you to publish the following notes, which will answer nearly all the questions asked me. [A person should not invite a general correspondence through a paper like THE INTER OCEAN, “whose parish is the world,” unless he is prepared to employ one or two stenographic correspondence clerks. In almost every instance that we have published contributors’ invitations to Farm and Home readers to write to them, these rash friends have sent us word that they were deluged with correspondence.—ED]. Of course, in the beginning all the government land in Douglas County, D. T., was subject to entry under the pre-emption and homestead or timber-culture acts. But at present there are not more than three hundred vacant quarters in the county, and, since the timber-culture act only allows one such claim in each section, these unentered quarters can be taken only under the homestead and pre-emption acts. A timber-culture claimant is required to plant ten acres of trees and protect and cultivate them for eight years. As no settlement is required, these claims are in good demand, the relinquishments selling for from $200 to $400, owing to location. Under the pre-emption law the settler pays $2 to file his claim. After he has lived upon the land six months final proof can be made by paying $1.25 per acre. Under this entry the claimant is allowed thirty-three months in which to prove up, at the end of which time, if he has not complied with this requirement, the land is again open for settlement. Under the homestead law the settler pays $14 to enter. He has then six months in which to begin his residence on the land, after which time, if he has not complied with the law, it can be contested on the ground of abandonment. Where a settler is unable to begin his residence and settlement within the time allowed by law, he can dispose of the claim by relinquishing to the government and allowing some one else to enter. Nearly all the land throughout the central part of the county has been taken; and what government land there is remaining is mostly in the western part and around the borders of the county. Relinquishments range in price from $50 to $300, owing to location and quality of the land.

H. S. BROWN.

RECORDS OF THE BRITISH CELTS.

DUNLAP, Iowa.

Had the Celts, at the time of the invasion by Julius Cæsar of what
is now England and Wales, any records by which their origin could
be traced?

J. H. G. ROGERS.

_Answer._—That they had any written records there is great reason to doubt, although there are inscriptions on certain rude stone monuments in parts of Wales, as in the southeastern counties of Munster, Ireland, consisting of long and short lines, known as Ogamic characters, the antiquity of which is not well determined. As far as deciphered, these inscriptions throw no direct light upon the origin of the Celtic race. Their spoken language, reduced to writing after the introduction of Christianity, is the only key of any importance to their origin. This language plainly marks them as an early offshoot of the Aryan family, the common Asiatic stock from which all the ruling races of Europe have descended. The descriptions left by the Romans of the aborigines of Britain at the time of the Roman conquest represent them as fierce, cruel barbarians. Neither Cæsar’s Commentaries nor the writings of Tacitus and other historians of the period of the Roman domination convey evidence that the Britons had any knowledge of letters until the Roman and Greek characters were taught them. Neither do these historians preserve any oral traditions of the British bards or druids calculated to shed much light upon the early history of the Celtic race.

REPUDIATING STATES.

BEMENT, Ill.

Name the States which have repudiated their debts, in whole or in
part, and tell what party was responsible for the act in every case.

J. C. MILLER.

_Answer._—Virginia, W. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota have each of them, at one time or another, repudiated a part of their State debts. Illinois repented almost immediately in sackcloth and ashes, and settled with her creditors. Indiana has settled everything but about twenty old internal-improvement bonds, which will no doubt soon be liquidated. Minnesota has recently determined to settle with her creditors, although the railroads, in aid of which the repudiated bonds were issued, were not constructed in conformity with the law, and the bonds are badly tainted with fraud. In every case but that of Minnesota and South Carolina repudiation came in under Democratic regimes.

THE CAPITAL OF LOUISIANA.

ALDEN, Iowa.

What is the present capital of Louisiana? Some geographies say New
Orleans, and others Baton Rouge. Please explain this discrepancy.

TEACHER.

_Answer._—The capital of the first colonial government of Louisiana was fixed at Biloxi, in 1699. It was transferred to New Orleans in 1723. New Orleans was the capital of the Territory of Orleans, organized in 1804 out of a part of the vast Louisiana purchase. In 1812 the State of Louisiana was formed with New Orleans as the capital. In 1847 Baton Rouge was made the seat of the State government, and it remained so until after it came into possession of the Union army during the late war. A provisional government was established at New Orleans in 1864, and the State constitution of 1868 made that city the capital; but by the new constitution of Dec. 2, 1879, the honor of being the seat of the State government was restored to Baton Rouge, where it was established in 1880.

ANGORA AND CASHMERE FLEECES.

SEDAN, Kan.

What are the distinctive differences between the “staples” of
Angora and Cashmere goats? Which staple is the more valuable? What
are the present prices of the same in the markets of this country?
Give a few chief facts as to these two breeds of goats.

T. S. R.

_Answer._—The Angora goat takes its name from the Turkish city and village of Angora, in the interior, mountainous region of Asia Minor (about 220 miles E. S. E. of Constantinople), which exports 2,000,000 lbs of mohair annually. The animals are highly prized, and command from $250 to $1,250 for the finest males and $200 to $900 for females, there being several varieties. The Cashmere goat is named from Cashmere, a province between India proper and Thibet. The animals are most numerous in Thibet, but most of the wool—or mohair, as it is technically termed—is manufactured in Cashmere, the 16,000 or more looms of which turn out about 30,000 shawls every year, worth in London from £100 to £450. There are marked differences in the “staples” of these two species of goats. They both have two coats. In the case of the Angoras there is a coarse, short hair close to the skin, and a long, curly, outer covering of the nature of wool, very soft and silky and, in good varieties, from seven to nine inches long. This is the more bulky and valuable part of the fleece. The Cashmere goat, on the contrary, has a coarse, outer coat of different shades from gray to black and a fine undergrowth of beautifully soft, silky texture, almost downy. It is perfectly straight, of a uniformly grayish color and glossy luster, and is fully double the length of the Angora staple, the best grades measuring eighteen inches. This is combed out of the animal’s coat in the spring, when it begins to be shed, and the product is so light that it has been said that the average yield is but three ounces per goat, which would require the product of ten goats for the manufacture of a shawl a yard and a half square. It is certain, however, that the yield of the finer animals ranges from seven to nine ounces. The value of this mohair in Cashmere is from 30 to 40 cents a pound. It is not exported to this country to such a degree as to establish a market quotation. There is some of the Angora mohair imported for manufacture in our Eastern States, at prices ranging, according to quality, from 60 cents to $1 a pound. The Angora goat has been successfully introduced into the British colonies of South Africa. Cape Colony alone exported in 1878 the sum of 1,300,585 pounds, valued at £105,313, or about 32 cents a pound. It is believed that it can be raised with profit in the mountainous parts of Georgia and Alabama, and still farther north; and in the mountainous districts of California and Oregon.

AN EARLY CALIFORNIAN COIN.

CHICAGO, Ill.

Please give the origin of the $20 gold piece of 1853, marked on one
side, “San Francisco;” on the other, “Moffat & Co.” Is it worth
anything above its face value?

J. A. BLOSS.

_Answer._—It being impossible to find any quotation of the value of the coin referred to, Messrs. Stevens & Co., well-known numismatists of this city, were asked to answer the above questions. The following is their reply: “The $20 gold piece here designated gives a good deal of trouble to curiosity hunters and coin collectors in general; very much as is the case with the silver dollar of 1878 with eight feathers in the eagle’s tail. There is no premium on either of them. There is no certain history of the Moffat & Co. pieces. They were a private coinage and issued under miner’s law; and all ’49 Californians know the potency or persuasive powers of that law. The quality or fineness of the pieces is below standard and their value much below our current $20 piece. The San Francisco mint was established in July, 1852, and very soon after that all private coinages ceased. Most of these pieces find their way into the brokers’ offices and are sold only at bullion prices.”

MOCHA COFFEE.

MAYVILLE, D. T.

Where does Mocha coffee come from, and what makes it so much higher
priced than other coffee?

EDWARD PALMER.

_Answer._—The genuine Mocha coffee is produced in the province of Yemen, South Arabia. It takes its name from Mokha, the chief port of exportation, on the Red Sea. Very little of it, and that of inferior quality, is ever seen west of Constantinople. Mr. W. G. Palgrave, the Arabian traveler, says: “Arabia itself, Syria, and Egypt consume fully two-thirds of the annual crop, and the remainder is almost exclusively absorbed by Turkish and Armenian esophagi. Nor do these last get for their share the best or the purest. Before reaching the harbors of Alexandria, Jaffa, Beyrout, etc., for exportation beyond there, the northern bales have been sifted and resifted, grain by grain, and whatever they may have contained of the hard, rounded, half transparent, greenish-brown berry, the only one really worth roasting and pounding, has been carefully picked out by experienced fingers, and it is the less generous residue of flattened, opaque, and whitish grains which almost alone goes on the shipping. So constant is this selecting process that a gradation regular as the degrees in a map may be observed in the quality of Mokha, that is Yemen, coffee, even within the limits of Arabia itself in proportion as one approaches to or recedes from, Wadi Nejran and the neighborhood of Mecca, the first stages of the radiating mart.” About 10,000 pounds of this coffee are exported annually through the port of Mokha, says another authority; but this seems to be consumed, as Mr. Palgrave says, mainly in Africa and Turkey.

The Mocha sold in the markets of Western Europe and America is from the East Indies. Some of it even never crossed the Atlantic, being produced in the West Indies or Central or South America. The really exquisite flavor of this choice, small berried coffee, together with the almost fanatical prejudice of the Turks for it, because it is raised in Arabia, and the limited production, sufficiently account for the high price it commands.

INDEX OF PERIODICAL LITERATURE.

CHICAGO, Ill.

A party of ladies studying Shakespeare are deeply interested in
the Baconian theory. We find very little concerning it in books.
Can you tell us if there are any valuable magazine articles on
this subject, and where they may be found? What guide is there to
periodical literature?

MRS. M. B. W.

_Answer._—Happily we do now know where to direct not only this correspondent but other inquirers where to find a complete index of all periodical literature in the English language of any importance, whether upon the above-named subject or any other. It is in “An Index to Periodical Literature,” by William Frederick Poole, LL. D., Librarian of the Chicago Public Library: published by James R. Osgood & Co., Boston. This is the only work of the kind, except Dr. Poole’s first and second indexes, published the one in 1848, and the other in 1853, both of which are out of print and were mere pamphlets in comparison with this noble volume, a royal octavo of 1,442 pages. Fresh from the press, it is brought down to a very recent date. The answers to the above questions and another, from two correspondents who wish to read up on the protective tariff and free trade controversy, may serve to illustrate the advantages of this invaluable index. Under William Shakespeare there are eight and a half columns of references by title to articles in American and English reviews and magazines on Shakespeare and his works, all of which are alphabetically arranged. Running along the “A” column we come to “Authorship of” (Shakespeare), “and Lord Bacon. (Delia Bacon) Putnam, 7:1.—Frazer, 90:164. Same art, Liv. Age, 123:131.—Chamb, J., 18:87—Nat. R. 5:72—Canad. Mo. 16:76—(A. Morgan) Appleton, 21:112, 481. 23:481. 24:14—(M. B. Benton) Appleton 21:336.-Blackw, 80:616.—(C. C. Shackford) No. Am. 85:493.—(A. G. Sedgwick) No. Am. 104:276.—(N. Hawthorne) Astan. 11:43.—(E. O. Vaile) Scrib. 9:743.—(J. F. Clarke) No. Am. 132:163.—(W. H. Smith) Liv. Age, 51:481.—Harper, 34:263.—Nation, 2:402.—Scrib., 9:392.” This answers Mrs. M. B. W.’s question as to where she and her Shakspearean Club are to look for periodical literature on the Baconian theory of the authorship of Shakespeare.

Now turn to “Tariff,” and there are nearly two columns of titles of articles on this subject and where to find them; among them being the following, arranged under the head of “Protective Tariff.”

“Protective, (J. C. Pray) Hunt, 2:119.—(H. J. Burton) Hunt, 11:254.—(M. D. L. Rodet) Hunt, 11:299.—(E. Everett) No. Am., 19:223.—(A. H. Everett) No. Am., 03:160; 32:127.—No. Am., 35:265.—(F. Bowen) No. Am., 73:90.—(H. Greeley) Am. Whig R. 2:111; 4:215; 5:201; 14:81. Ed. R., 72:321. Dem. R., 7:341; 9:329; 10:357; 14:291, 447; 19:163.—Am. Q., 10:444; 11:345.—So. R., 2:582; 6:206; 8:213.—Niles R., 17:87; 19:331; 20:306, 354; 21:121, 147; 22:2, 292; 23:40, 118; 24:99, 116.—So. Lit. Mess., 8:421.”

Turning to the introduction of the book we find all the above abbreviations clearly explained, and the place of publication of each of the several periodicals referred to. For example: “Putnam, 7:1,” stands for Putnam’s Magazine, number 7, page 1; “Blackw. 80:616,” signifies Blackwood’s Magazine, number 80, page 616, and so on. Every public library in the land—city, village, college, high school, whatever its name—needs such a guide as this to periodical literature, and it is easy to see that no private library of any pretensions can do without it.

WHY 1900 WILL NOT BE A LEAP YEAR.

TIPTON, Iowa.

Will the year 1900 be a leap year? Robinson’s Arithmetic says that
1896 will be a leap year but 1900 will not be. If this is true,
please explain why.

STUDENT.

_Answer._—The old Roman year contained but 355 days, divided into twelve lunar months, with an intercalary month thrown in at certain intervals, as became necessary, to atone for the fact that it requires more than twelve precise lunar months to make a year. This arrangement led to great confusion, and Julius Cæsar, in the year B. C. 46, remedied the trouble in large degree by the introduction of what is known as the Julian calendar, which regarded the year as composed of 365¼ days. This was a great improvement, but as a matter of fact the natural year contains 11 minutes 10 seconds less than 365¼ days, which difference amounts in a hundred years to 18 hours 36 minutes 40 seconds, or a little more than three-fourths of a day. As a consequence, between the year A. D. 325—when the Council of Nice established the rule for the determination of Easter Sunday—and the year 1582 there was found to be an accumulated error of ten days. Whereas the sun had crossed the equator at the vernal equinox of A. D. 325 on March 21, it crossed it in 1582, according to the Julian calendar, on March 11. Pope Gregory XIII., resolved on ending the confusion attendant upon this imperfection of the generally accepted calendar, ordained that what according to this mode of reckoning would have been Oct. 5, 1582, be reckoned as Oct. 15; and to prevent a repetition of the error he further ordained that every hundredth year should not be a leap year, excepting the year 2000 and every four hundredth year thereafter. Manifestly the omission of an entire day every four hundredth year would be too much by about one day, since, as above shown, the error in the Julian mode of reckoning amounts only to 18h. 36 min. 40 sec. in a hundred years, or about three days in four hundred years. This correction the Gregorian amendment effects by the rule above stated, which took the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 out of the list of leap years, and left the year 2,000 in that list. This leaves but the small difference of 36 min. and 40 sec. in a hundred years between the civil and natural years: which amounts to no more than twenty-two seconds a year, or about six hours in 1,000 years. In England the change from the old style of reckoning to this new style was not ordered until 1751, by which time the error that was but ten days in Gregory’s time had grown to eleven days. The order took effect in England and the Colonies as regarded all official dates and reckoning, in September, 1752, when eleven days were left out of the calendar by reckoning Sept. 3 as Sept. 14. This explains apparent discrepancies between authors who wrote in the latter half of the last and the early part of this century. For example, some early biographies of Washington say that he was born Feb. 11, others that he was born Feb. 11, O. S., or Feb. 22, N. S. Some biographical sketches of John Adams, Washington’s successor, declare that he was born Oct. 19, 1735, without indicating that this was according to the old reckoning, while others state that he was born Oct. 30.

LEGISLATION FOR THE PEOPLE.

DENVER, Col.

Enumerate the acts passed since the Republicans have been in power
which have served to benefit the people generally, and not some
corporation or monopoly only. An elderly Democrat declares that the
Republican party has never passed any such laws.