Notes of News | AdventAI

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Feb 27, 1879

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 53, No. 9.

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Notes of News.

—The plague in Russia is said to be disappearing.

—The Russian army of occupation is withdrawing from Turkey.

—Holland has recently passed the three hundredth anniversary of its national independence.

—The Battle Creek, Mich., authorities fed, and lodged at the lock-up, 183 tramps during the month ending Feb. 14.

—A great pavilion, to seat from 6,000 to 8,000 people, is to be ready for the next summer meetings at Chautauqua, N. Y.

—Key West, Fla., is rejoicing in the discovery of sponge of superior quality in its harbor, which it had supposed was extinct there.

—Machinery Hall, of the Centennial Exhibition, which was built at a cost of $634,867, was sold at auction last week for $24,000.

—The seventh General Conference of the Evangelical Alliance will be held at Basle, Switzerland, beginning August 31, and continuing a week.

—There is great distress among the Jews at Jerusalem this winter; there has been little rain, prices are very high, and business is at a standstill.

—One of the Chinese officials at the Centennial Exhibition, since his return home, has published an account of his travels in this country, in four volumes.

—Mr. Bruce was called to the chair in the United States Senate a few days ago. This is the first time in the history of the government that a colored man has presided in the Senate.

—According to a late paper, American Congressmen vote about a quarter of a million of dollars a year from Uncle Sam’s pocket into their own pockets, for stationery, mileage, etc.

—A bill has passed both houses of Congress giving any woman who shall have been a member of the highest bar in any State or Territory or in the Federal District the right to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States.

—The object of the Anglo-Afghan war, as Lord Beaconsfield states it, was to secure control of the great highways connecting Afghanistan with India, and he announces the purpose of the government to retain them.

—The use of the magic lantern, which may be so arranged as to throw the picture of a common watch or chronometer on a white screen in places much visited at night, has been suggested as a cheap and ingenious substitute for tower clocks.

—Jay Gould of New York, recently a “ruined man,” has just sold 100,000 shares in the Union Pacific Railroad. The average cost of this stock was only $30 a share, and Mr. Gould sold it for from $70 to $75 per share, realizing a profit of only something over four million dollars.

—Among the members of the new Turkish Cabinet are two Christians, one of whom holds the all-important portfolio of foreign affairs. An exchange thinks this an indication that Turkey, like the rest of the world, moves; but if Turkey moves, does not England furnish the motive power?

—The Secretaries of the Presbyterian Board of Home Missions state that on February 1 they were $90,000 in debt, and that their expenses for the next two months, before the close of their fiscal year, will be $45,000 in addition. They appeal earnestly for the removal of the debt.

—The Methodist Missionary Society has received the cheering news from Japan that sixty-two persons have united with their church at Nagasaki, among whom were prominent merchants and well-known citizens, that a church has been organized at Sappori, and that 28 professed their faith in Shin-shu.

—Mr. Thos. W. Bicknell, editor of the New England Journal of Education, has arranged for a series of four tours upon the Continent of Europe, occupying from fifty days to seventy-two, during the next summer vacation of teachers, at a cost of from $300 to $475. The party will sail from Quebec, June 28.

—Here is a curious item from the Inter-Ocean: “If Ferdinand de Lesseps, the projector and constructor of the Suez Canal, is appointed Governor of Algiers, he will have a new field for his engineering projects. He is one of those who believe that the waters of the Mediterranean can be turned into the Great Desert with results highly beneficial to Northern Africa.”

—For some months past negotiations have been pending between the Pope and the Emperor of Germany with a view to securing a modification of Germany’s attitude toward the Catholic Church. A recent dispatch from London says that cordial letters have been exchanged between the Pope and the German Emperor. Concessions have been made on both sides. The Pope decides that ecclesiastics must obey the laws.

—The Universalist Register, or Year Book, gives 737 as the number of churches in the United States; members, 37,965; ministers, 711; Sunday-schools, 704; teachers and pupils, 59,845. Their church property is valued at $7,057,170; they have twelve colleges and academies, and publish twelve periodicals. “Twenty-four ministers have been ordained during the year, and six have been installed; and twenty-one church edifices have been dedicated.”

—The Papier Zeitung, a German paper, suggests that by coating or printing wall-paper with oxalate of copper, a paper might be made that would adapt itself to the degree of illumination of the room, becoming darker as the room is more lit up, and vice versa. It is believed that very curious and novel effects of color and shade may in this way be produced on wall-papers, and possibly on other material. An entirely new field for artistic decoration seems to be here opened.

—In last week’s paper mention was made of a battle in Southern Africa between Zulus and British troops. The Zulus are said to be no mean antagonists, as they are brave and determined warriors, well armed with breech-loading rifles procured from Portuguese colonists, and are quite strong numerically. The native Kaffirs, many of whom are in the British army, are not trustworthy, and in an engagement are as likely to fire upon the British as the Zulus. In the end the Zulus must, of course, succumb; but they may hold out long, and give their antagonist much trouble. The British territory in Southern Africa, augmented by the Zulu country, will be as large as England, France, Germany, and Italy put together.

—The Yellowstone Geysers are the most remarkable in the world. There are more than 10,000 vents. The Grand Geyser throws a column of water 6 feet in diameter 200 feet high. Its eruptions occur every 24 hours, and continue 20 minutes. The Giantess throws a stream 20 feet in diameter 60 feet high, and through this five or six smaller jets 250 feet high. It plays 20 minutes once in 11 hours. The Giant sends up a five-foot column 140 feet high for 3 hours. The Beehive projects a column 3 feet in diameter to the enormous height of 129 feet for about 15 minutes. Old Faithful, very regular for fifteen minutes, once an hour, sends up its massive column 6 feet in diameter 100 to 150 feet high.