SECULAR NEWS | AdventAI

Pacific Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Oakland, California · Oct 17, 1878

SECULAR NEWS.

—The Chinese claim to have invented the telephone in the year 908.

—The people of Iowa have 30 colleges and 385 newspapers of all sorts.

—A colossal bronze statue of great beauty has just been unearthed on the banks of the Tiber, at Rome.

—Out of the 313,977 acres of assessed land in San Benito county, Cal., nine individuals or firms own 181,103 acres of it, or considerably over half.

—Memphis is now the Niobe of Southern cities; its population of 40,000 only two months ago has been reduced 2,500 whites and 6,000 African.

—The amount of money that France is pledged to expend to relieve her railroads and to build other public works will reach $1,000,000,000 in 10 years.

—It is now estimated that upwards of seven millions of persons have died in the provinces of Shansi and Honan, China, in consequence of the famine.

—During the past season much work has been done on the Oregon and California railroad, preparing it for the heavy fall shipments of grain to Portland.

—In the Royal library at Paris there is a Chinese chart made 600 B. C., on which 1460 stars are correctly located. There is also a map of China made 1000 B. C.

—There are said to be upward of twenty-five flashy story papers published for boys and children in New York city, with an aggregate circulation of over 375,000.

—Two thousand three hundred and eighty applicants for admission to the public schools of New York city are excluded this term for want of room; the number of scholars attending is 102,749.

—Pauperism in Ireland is terribly on the increase. Out of a population of 5,000,000 nearly 300,000 are supported by public relief, and the number of paupers is increasing at the rate of 18,000 per month.

—Plans for a railway up Mount Vesuvius have been completed and the work is to be begun at once. The cars will be drawn by a wire rope, moved by a stationary engine. The road is to be ready within a year.

—One billion, four hundred and thirty-nine million one hundred and forty-five thousand three hundred, is the present estimated population on the earth, according to Behm and Wagner's latest figures. This is fifteen millions more than last year's estimate.

—Elaborate preparations are being made for the reunion of the Army of the Tennessee at Indianapolis, October 30 and 31. Generals Sherman, Sheridan, Hancock, Pope, Burnside, Logan, Buell, Jeff. C. Davis and other distinguished officers are expected to be present.

—October 9, while four miners were endeavoring to disperse an accumulation of gas in the shaft of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, Wilkesbarre, Pa., one of them made his appearance with a naked lamp. An explosion instantly followed, inflicting injuries which resulted in the death of the entire party.

—The following report shows the total amount of mail matter collected and delivered during the month of September by the letter-carriers of San Francisco: Collected—Mail letters, 343,225; local letters, 87,046; postal cards, 101,041; newspapers, 74,113. Delivered—Mail letters, 290,181; local letters, 110,256; postal cards, 86,491; newspapers, 150,673; registered letters, 1,357.

—On the 6th of October the debris in the main raise of the Green Mountain mine, Plumas county, Cal., took fire from a break in the stack, running through the raise to the surface, and owing to the rapid generation of gas four miners were suffocated. The mine was closed until the fire was extinguished and the bodies obtained. There was no damage to the mine, the timbers being damp.

—October 8, a serious accident occurred on the Old Colony railroad to a crowded excursion train which was returning from the Silver Lake rowing match, between Reagan of Boston and Davis of Portland. A train of twenty cars ran off the track. The scene of the accident was about seven miles from Boston, and as soon as the news reached the city a large number of cots and stretchers were sent out by the city officials. The train to which the accident happened was carrying about 1,500 persons, twenty of whom were reported killed, and many were wounded.