News and Miscellany

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jul 1, 1915

News and Miscellany

Notes and clippings from the daily and weekly press

— Eleven huge bells are on their way by water from Troy, N. Y., to Los Angeles, Cal., where they are to form a chime for the new million-dollar Bible institute. They will have the twofold distinction of being the largest bells on the Pacific coast and the first to pass through the Panama Canal.

— The Fifth, World's and Twenty-seventh International Christian Endeavor Conventions will be held at Chicago, July 7-12. It is estimated that within a few hours' ride of Chicago there are at least half a million members of Christian Endeavor Societies, and preparations are being made for the accommodation of at least 15,000 delegates and visitors.

— The installation of modern motor vehicles in the transportation of rural mail will begin on a large scale in many parts of the United States on August 2, according to an official statement of the Post Office Department just made public. From that time 105 machines carrying mail will traverse more than 5,500 miles of rural post roads daily except Sunday, and this service is to be extended as rapidly as possible.

— Two important inventions have been announced during the past few weeks. Signor Marconi, the inventor of the wireless telegraph, announces that he has perfected a camera-like device, which, placed on wall or floor, makes the wood or the metal transparent, thus enabling one to see persons in an adjoining room. The other invention is announced by Mr. Edison, who says that he has perfected a device by which the telephone itself will transcribe all conversations that take place over the wires, making the spoken message as durable as the written one.

— The Wright factory near Dayton, Ohio, is busy turning out what is called "the new Wright stabilizer." It is designed to enable the aviator to keep his machine in control and preserve its equilibrium with very little effort, and thus he may give all his attention to the foe instead of constantly fearing air pockets and other perils in the currents. These machines are being sold to one of the warring nations of Europe. It is said this invention means a revolution in aerial warfare.

— A foreign exchange has this interesting paragraph: "There is still in existence an Egyptian papyrus of the date of 3,500 years before the Christian era, which contains the following caution: 'My son, do not linger in the wine shop or drink too much wine. It causeth thee to utter words regarding thy neighbor which thou rememberest not. Thou fallest upon the ground, thy limbs become weak as those of a child. One cometh to trade with thee and findeth thee so. Then say they, “Take away the fellow, for he is drunk.”' This is believed to be the oldest temperance lecture in existence.

— The health commissioners of New Orleans have been conducting a rat-killing crusade. About 318,000 rats have been killed. This was a part of an anti-plague campaign. Another feature of this campaign has been the rendering of approximately half the buildings in New Orleans rat proof. There are 70,000 buildings in the city, and this campaign has made New Orleans the most rat-proof city in the world. The campaign will be continued until every building in the city is proof against the rodent. There has not been a single case of plague since this work was accomplished by the health authorities, and it is hoped they will clean the city of both rats and plague.

— According to a recent consular report, sheepskin is used as a substitute for almost every kind of dressed skin. After being tanned, dried, stained, and dyed, sheepskins are dampened a little and passed between wood and copper or other metal engraved rollers, which impress clearly upon them the definite grain of the skin it is desired to imitate. In this way alligator, pig, elephant, fish, and goat skins are so clearly imitated that when used on small articles only an expert can detect the imitation from the real, and sometimes even the expert is deceived. Sheepskin marked so as to imitate morocco is often sold on cheap furniture, and the ordinary purchaser cannot tell the difference between the real and the imitation.

— The Liberty Bell on July 5 is to be taken on a trip across the continent to the Panama-Pacific Exposition at San Francisco, where Liberty Bell Day will be observed July 17. The special train which will carry this relic of the days that marked the birth of the nation, will make stops at numerous places on the way, that school children and others may have an opportunity to see it. The crack in the bell is now very marked. Rivets have been put into it to hold the metal together. The bell was cracked, it will be recalled by those who follow historical details, in the year 1835, on July 8, while it was being tolled during the funeral of John Marshall, chief justice of the United States. The Liberty Bell is twelve feet in circumference, and weighs 2,080 pounds. It was first cast in England, in 1752, but was cracked in ringing after its arrival, and was recast in Philadelphia from the same metal, with the same inscription, in 1753. Each anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence was marked by the ringing of this bell until the accident to it in 1835.