The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, February 16, 1896, Page 25

H E SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 1896 25 NE of the strangest glant ances- tors, whose representatives to- day belong to the smaller races of animals, has been recently discovered 1 Australia, writes J. Carter Beard in Popular Science, Among the queer creatures that exist in that — The Giant Wombat. [This picture represents the head of one of the ez- tinet wombats and also that of a little girl 12 years old in accurate comparative proportion.] queer country is one called a wombat, without doabt the funniest, furriest, fat- test little mammal in the whole world. It is a great deal like a very young baby bear, but is much more amiable. It is very easily tamed; in fact, it might almost be said never to be wild, and when tamed seems to make it the whole object of its existence to be cuddled and petted, to sleep in people’s laps and be carried about by children. If it is put down it rears yp on its little hind legs, puts its fore paws on your knees and cdumbly beseeches to be taken up, thrusting its jet black muzzle The Australian Wombat. [This picture represents @ pet wombat now com-~ mon in Australia held by a little girl. It 4s easily tamed and is G favorile pet with chil- dren.) into your hands like a child and making le leaps upon-its feet. It has a queer f turning in_its toes when it walks, bottoms of its flat feet are quite It hes whiskers like a cat, only they are much thicker and more numerous. Just imagine—this roly-poly pet of a creature had a great, great grandfather that verily deserves to be called any num- ber of times great, for he was really and y larger than a rhinoceros. bones of this great wombat, now in delaide Museum in South Australia, d at a place calied Lake Mulli- nal spot. The so-called lake is all, except after very hecvy 1 other times a plain of black ich lies like snow an incrusta- a tation treacherous covering through wh apt to break and sink ut of in the mire beneath. 'y surrounding it isa vast stony r d of life. Here sandstorms occur ible to think of, and the miaday heat ke that of a furnace, 111 degrees, asour thermometer registers temperature in the shade. More than a hundred different extinct birds and mammals new to_science have already been represented in the bones found here, and goodness knows how many will be before the place is exhausted. Perhaps the remote ancestors of the Diprotodou, which is the name given by men of science to the ancient giant wom- bat, were still larger than any yet found, and remains may be discovered still more ancient, which will rival those of the Megatherium or fossil sloth in size. MEASUREMENTS N THE MAP. Although made in the form of a watch- charm thelittle invention described below may be of considerable value from a scien- tific standpoint to surveyors, army officers, For Making Map Measurcments. tourists and others using maps. A set of folding compasses upon which are en- graved series of scales showinz the dis- tance between two points of a map will certainly bea great benefit. It saves the looking up of thescale at the bottom of the map each time a measurement is to be made and saves thus much labor and time. A KABYLE HERO. The easy-going Kabyles push democracy to extreme limits, livigg on familiar and equal terms with their cattle and their éwine—all occupying the common dwell- ing. A fne, hardy race of great bravery and many noble traits, they yet resemble the Arabs mn their want of honesty. A story 1s told of a chief of theirs, Mokrani, which makes us thifk the days of chivalry are not yet gone. When worsted in the Franco-German war in 1871, the French had to withdraw their troops from Algeria, and thus a grand opening was made for insurrection. Mokrani would not rebel, as he had pledged his word to the Algetian Governor that there would be no rising against the French authority till the war was over. Even when a peace had been made, and he was' thus released from his promise, he gaye forty-eight hours’ notice to the French of his intention to com- mence hostilities against them. Verily, he was a hero, and he died a hero's death in the thick of battle. RHYME OF THE BIKE. Scorching over highways, Coasting down the hills, Riding through the byways, Resting by the rills, Fiying on our journey, Gliding o'er the pike, All the world is happ: Riding on a “bike.” Men of every station, Malds and mutrons, 0o, Ride like all creation, Nothing else to do. Dozens, ones, and couples, Careworn man and wife, Kicking off their troubles, On the “Road of Life.” Gentleman behind us, Riding for his health, Others with a purpose, (Showing off their wealth.) Maiden lady anxious, Looking for a beau, ‘Wish she wouldn't watch us Everywhere we go. Aged man in knee pants, Glasses on his nose; Youngster wich tomato plants, ‘Wonder where he goes, Man with seven children, Hangiog on behind, Dude in latest fashion, Nothing on bis mind. Lady there in bloomers, Sverything to match, Wore them now two summers— All except the patch. ‘ady in long dresses. TLooks divine! Wind blows oft Small boy picks the: Fat man comes a pufiing Like a railroad train; Sent for silk or something, Must go back again. Racing man in tights there Bearings striking fires, Stops to bump his he «d ther = Punctured ail three tire: Men of all desires, Malds of every mind,, Blowing up their tires, Every shape and kind. Of all kinds of motfons, There is one we like, Best of locomotions— Riding on a bike! Scorching over highways, - Coasting down the hiils, Riding t'rough the highways Resting by the rill Flying on our journ Gliding o'er the pike, All the world is happy, Riding ona M0 R. DRAKE. SCARE RATS. A CAT THAT WL latest contribution to the United States Patent Office—No. 305,102—is an auto- matic, double-action, scientific mouse frightener. It is nothing more nor less than the statuette of a cat, painted and whiskered with realistic effect, with big, phosphorescent eyes that gleam brilliantly in the dark. “Ths cat,”” so runs the inventor’s de- The Electric Cat. scription, “is painted to present an at- tractive appearance. ting posture, with'its head turned to one side and its eyes staring straight ahead.” These eyes are thickly coated with phos- phorescent paint, which shines liké a flame in a dark room. All you have to dois to lace the cat on the floor near a mouse- ole and then wait for results. The scheme has been a tremendous success. The only drawback to it is that it does not eat the mice. These statuettes will be made of clay, of plaster of paris, of terra-cotta and, for the very rich, of pure Carrara marble. A Broadway merchant whose .storerooms are infested with rats introduced ene of these phosphorescent cats into his place the other day. The effect was truly amaz- ing. “‘There is one big hole in the corner of our salesroom,” he said to a reporter, ‘‘out of which all the rats seemed to come. We placed the cat immediately in front of this opening, and -immediately the nuisance ceased. Throughout the night the cat’s eyes gleamed like fire, “Yesterday, when I went to the store, what do .you think 1 found? A strong odor from that particular corner of the sroom led to an investigation by our parter. He reported that he had found a dead rat in the hole. The animal had died of star- vation. What a terrible death that must have been! The animal had._ probably Fnkerl bis head out of the hole and had ound the eyes of the cat gleaming bale- fully upon him. Two or three such ex- periences no doubt discouraged him, and ‘while be lay in hiding waiting for the cat to go away be must have starved to death. cats.” Aside from being good to frighten rats, these cats make an amusing mantel orna- ment. It is rather startling, though, to enter a dark room and find yourself con- fronted with two balls of fire that seem to gleam out of the wall. ARMY CREMATORIES. A novel exhibit will be seen at the Berlin Industrial- Exposition next summer. A Polish engineer has invented an ambulant crematory for military purposes. The ob- ject of this invention is to make use of the hygienic advantages of cremating for the' disposal of the bodies of dead soldiers on | bevond the flames at each end, by means of battlefields instead of burying them in numbers, thereby creating the danger of epidemics, The military authorities of Germany have shown great interest in this invention, and it is very probable that the apparatus will be intrognced into the German army, each army corps being sup- plied with one ambulant crematory. They are mounted on low wheels, and have the appearance of the portable army bakin ovens, only that they are higher sng heavier. ght horses and six men will furnish the equipment of each crematory. A SEE-SAW EXP_EB!)IINT. Take two heated pins and stick them in- to the center of a candle at right angles to the wick, which should be left-exposed at both ends. Then rest the pins on the edges of two wine glasses and trim the candle to balance. Light the wick, and a piece of wire, fasten two little figures, | | Jew; | (though one Whiffen and also one Spouse); | ture entitled “Caritas”; the second prize ($2000) to Edmund C. Tarbell, instructor of painting in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, for his “Girl With White Azaleas.” Mr. Thayer was born in Bos- ton, but studied in New York, and under Gerome_in Paris. His early succesdes were with animal studies, but in recent years he has devoted himself to figure pieces. Mr. Tarbell was born at West Groton, Mass., in 1862, and has studied under Boulanger and Lefebre in Paris. Like Mr. Thayer he has been the recipient of many honors, some of them from the Academy of Fine Arts. The jury was composed of Henry G. Marquand, presi- dent of the Metropolitan Museum, chair- man; John G. Johnson, Dr. A. C. Lamb- din of the Times, and four artists, ‘Robert Blum and Edward S3immons of New York, Frank W. Benson of Boston and Robert W. Vonnoh of Philadelphia. ODDITIES IN NAMES, The following oddities and anomalies occur to us after a careful and "attentive perusal, or rather reperusal, of the busi- ness or “‘commercial” department of the scarlet-bound Directory of London. We find a Legge end a Boot, but no Shoe; &} Sermon, a Creed and a Paternoster, but no Ave Maria ; we find an Ivory, but no Ele. phant; Jasper, but no Jet; Steel, but no Iron; a Snoveller, but no Shovel; a Nailer and a Naylor, but no Nail; a Spooner, but no Spoon; aJudge and Jury, but no Pris- oner; Lions and Lyous, but no Tiger; a Last, but no First; a Magnus, but no Great; Law, but no Equity; Weale, but no Joy and (one) Tear, but no Sorrow; Pain, however, is frequent and in various forms. We find a Prong, but nio Fork; both Ham- mer and Tongs, but no Poker; a Trainer, but no Train; an Augur, but no Prophet; Fortune, but no Fate; Leary, but not Hungry ; Hunger, but no Thirst; a Glover but no Glove; several Christians, but no several Hu but no Wife a Love and also a Lover, a Lovelock.a | which indicate its presence are a small lever at the top and a thin handle imme- diately underueath the right handle of the handle-bar. Its construction is so simple that it will explain itself from the cut. CALIPERS AND COMPASS COMBINED.. An instrument in which is combined the calipers and compass has been invented by a French mechanic. These new com- passes are g constructed that when ap- pliea any deviation irom the proper cali- d Calipers and Compasses. ber shows immedijately by a spring point- ing to a scale near the top of the blade. This spring is actuated by the extension or contraction of the pointsof the com- pass, and it is thus possible to detect the most minute deviation from the proper measurements with the least possible loss of time. WOODSMAN OF THE NORTHWEST. The woodsman writes of his own tribe as follows: ‘‘He wears a Mackinaw shirt, and as a rule comes from Michigan, Sweden or Canada. The first thing he does is to swamp, chop limbs, knock off knots and receive the benedictions of the teamster, who wonders how anything so awkward found its way so far through Iife. After a while he learns to chop, pull a saw and flip a canthook. When timesare hard and wages low he goes to a camp and sticks to work right along; when timesare zood and wages high he can’t content him- self ip onie place. His ‘turkey’ consists of a two-bushel bag and some old clothes. If French, he ialks less in Febraary than 1 | any other month in the year; still hesays | all’that can be said in twenty-eight days, and his under jaw 1s a near approach to Lovebond and a Loveridge, but neither Hate, Hatred nor Hater. So, also, we find | perpetual motion. If Scandinavian, he talks little, thinks slow, minds his work gt Fig. 2 Fig 8. Fig. 9. ELERIPEDE, HOBBY-HORSE McCALL'S COPY OF LALLEMENT'S VELOCIPED®. ®a5 § MGMILLAN'S REAR-DRIVER, 186, The wonders of science never cease. The | | increases in speed until the little figures at | It is shown in a sit- | ICYCLETTE. wo, T THE AMERICAN VELOCIPEDE. 1869, ARIEL BICYCLE. 273, Fig. 9. Fig. 0. 3 Fig. & RANGAROO SAFETY MARVEL SAFETYS ORIGINAL ROVER SAFETY, 183, [ G5 DEVELOPMENT OF THE WHEEL. [Reproduced from the Aeronautical Annual.) with their joints hinged. Now, as the) Spring, Summer, Winter and Frost, but | and never kicks. _If Irish, he is likely to candle begins to melt, a drop of grease will fall from one end (it is advisable, by the way, to put something beneath to catch it in) and that end of the canale will | rise a little above the other. Then a drop | will fall from the opposite end and a gentle | oscillation will begin, which gradually the end will perform the most surprising antics at their game of see-saw. | BULL - FIGHTING ON BICYCLES. A bicycle paper of Munich relates that | bull-fights ‘on the bicycle have recently taken place at Malaga, Spain. A picador who is a very clever wheelman® undertook 1o enter the arena mounted on a bicycle instead of on horseback. The steer, how- | ever, was not awed appreciably by the | novel apparitio® and before the daring | picador had time to retreat he took wheel and wheelman on his horns, throwing | both high into the air. The picador got | away with a good shaking-up, as the steer was too busy trampling the wheel into a | | shapeless tangle. 5 e ey | ENCOURAGING AMERICAN ART. The prizes offered by William L. Elkins, | through the Academy of Fine Arts of Philadelphia, for the best pictures by American artists shown at the present ex- | hibition, have been awarded. The first prize ($3000) has been given to Abbott H, | Thayer of Scarborongh, N. Y., for his pic- ! no Autumn. AN INVISIBLE BRAXE. Another novelly for bicvclists is the in- The Hidden Brake. visible brake: this brake goes through the steering head proper, and the only parts N (i A - I am going to buy three more of these | oL LA L TR Mg ‘\“\ AR N\ “THE AZEALARO.” prove a synonym for ambiguity and util- ity. The woodsman is valued according to m?h be is high, too.””—Minneapohs Jour: nal. PRECIPICE, SEA, SKY, (Tnscription on a mountain at the farthest accessi- ble point.) “Terror dwells here, unneighnor'd and alone * ‘Thus o the SWATL rock’s face, With lifted arm by upward currents blown, My signature I trace. 5 Terror dwells here, and from this barrier's helght. This glant, sbadowy form Peers through the clear and golden evening light, More sinister in sunshine than in storm, And shouts Lo earth and heaven, to seaand shore, No further, and no more GE DOUGLASS. MECHANICAL CURIOSITIES. The seamless tube isa recent invention ! that will prove very useful. More than 30,000 clocks in Paris are op- | erated by compressed air, of which 7000 | horsepower is used for various purposes. Elias Howe discovered whete to put the eye in the sewing machine needle in a dream. He dreamed he saw warriors | carrying spears pierced near the head. | __The first balloon was invented by a poor French paper-maker. He saw a starched | petticoat, the string of which had been ! tightly arawn, rise in the air over a hot stove. There is a flywheel 1n Germany made of steel wire. The wheel is 20 feet in diam- | eter and 250 miles of wire were used in its | construction. WARMING THE POPE'S PALACE. The recurring indisposition of the Pope has again raised the question of heating the Vatican, a problem which, so far, has | never yet been satisfactorily - solved. There are no fewer than 11,000 rooms in the Papal Palace, and. many of them never receive a ray of sunlight. Professor Laponi, the physician of his Holiness, has tried by all the means 1n his power to maintain a normal temperature in the private apartments, but without effect, and they remain much too cold for the daily diminishing vitality of the Pope. An architect recently submitted a plan for distributing hot air all through the Vati- can, but when the cost was mentioned— £36,000—the Poge dismissed the subject with a wave of the hand. RECORDS SAY HE IS DEAD. So & War Veteran'Can Get No Aid From the Government. On the shore of the Harlem River at One Hundred and Thirty-first street and Lexington avenue, in a little two-room shanty, lives John Wallace, a one-armed veteran of the war. He is very much alive, but through e error a record of his death has crept into the Pension Bureau at Washington; and although he has long endeavored to secure a pension he can ob- tain no aid from ‘the country for which he fought. This is the fourth winter the old man has passed in his little hut. He complains bitterly that all of his friends of happier days bave deserted him. Even his only. son has wandered away.. Only one friend stuck to him for years, sharing his hunger and privations. That was “Joe,” his black hound, but the dng died a year ago. *1’m 68 years old,” said old John to me yesterday. ‘““My father came over from Scotland and I was born in Norwich, Conn. Then we went to Brookiyn, where I joined the Volunteer Fire Department. Go ask what’s left of’em. They all remember me. T was a member of Company Franklin, No. 3, of which, Peter Hyde wascaptain. When 1 got married my wife Sarah’s cousin came to see us from Missouri. He said if we'd come out with him he’d guarantee me $60 a month and all the garden truck we could Taise. “e went, and when the war broke out I raised a regiment of my own in:Mis- souri. At Camp Washington, Ind., I lost myarm. I waslying asleep in my bunk when the shot came, and I never knew who fired it. I was taken prisoner, and | trite is triple. the price of lamber—when pine boards are | waen’'t set free uniil the surrender of Vicksburg. “My discharge papers and all my docu- ments were in a trunk that was stolen from me in Missouri. I've made eight applica- tions for a pefision. I tried to get copies of the original papers at Washington, but there the records are supposed to show that ’'m dead. My wife, - Sarah, died out in Missouri, and then I came East. But nobody wants to see me here. Ican’t get any help from the Government or those who used to know me. I have a son, and he’s floating about somewhere. Children don’t care for their fathers any more.’” ‘When Wallace first squatted on his little plat beside the Harlem the stretch of country about him was open and deserted. Now the newly erected buildings, sheds and piles of lumber are gradually crowd- ing him into the river. It appears that he will soon bave no means of gaining access to the street from his shanty. Before the new drawbridge was planned the shore of the river also was open. Logs, boards and driftwood floated ashore daily beside, the shanty, and these the old man gathered and chopped and sawed -into kindling, which he sold. Now boathouses have closed the water front, and Wallace is compelled_to forage about the shore for his supply. Hisshanty consisted first of a single apartment, the second one being an addition of later years. The poor veteran is in sore need. His clothing is ragged and insufficient to pro- tect him from the cold. Every morning be goes over toa lodging-house opposite the terminal station of the Third-ave- nue cable road. Kind-hearted persons there give him his bread and bowl .ot coffee, I run my chances with the meat,” he added pathetically,.—New York Herald., SAFETY' CHECK SYSTEM, An Efficient Device for Pre- venting Fraudulent Al- terations. The Contrivance.Is Very Favorably ' Commented Upon by Leading Bankers. A device for frustrating the tricks of some attention from a number of the lead- ing banks and commercial houses in town. The proposed safegnard has many features in common with the well-known Camp- bell safety checkbook system, and is a modification of the coupon system now in use in the money order department of the National postal service. M. Leventritt of 4 Sutter street is endeavoring to introduce the system into the financial world, and appears very confident that it will take, s be’'considers it almost if not quite flawless. The safeguard advocated by Mr. Leven- In the first place, the cou- pons prevent the raisinz of checks to any very great amount. ‘Then drafts, checks and letters of credit calling for sums of $10,000 or less will be printed on pink to $40.000 on white, and those for amounts over §40,000 and under $100,000 on blue. | By the same ratio in value the length of the main body of the check vares, the [ pink checks being 714 inches long, the | white 8 inches and the blue 8!4 inches. The coupon system appears to leave small chance for great frauds. To the left of each check is attached a number of vertical columns bearing the inscription, *Not over $500,"” **Not over $1000,”” and so | on. The spacesoccupied by each column | is exactly a quarter of an inch 1n width, so some extent an indication of its value. Mr. Leventritt has applied for a patent, as some features in the system are of his own invention. | A number of leading bankers and finan- | eial authorities enthusiastically praise the new tem, and some firms have | already signified in writing their intention | to adopt it in their business. Several bank check-raisers i3 commencing to receive | paper, those for sums ranging from $10,000 | that the length of a check alone will be to | officials have written to Mr. Leventritt ex- ‘pressing their approbation of the device, which, they conceive, will soon be gen- erally adopted. — e BUILT ON OLD PILES. A Unique House on the Banks of Oak- land Estuary. Peter, the clam digger, can boast of having one of the most unique residences in this part of the country. -Butthatis about all that he can boast of, for hishouse is neither beautiful nor comfortable. Just. how or when Peter came into pos- .session of his house is a matter thathe The Clam-Digger’s Home. {Sketched by & * Call” artist.] has forgotten and nobody in the neighbor- heod seem to have the least' knowledge on the subject. It islocated on the banks ot | the Oakland estuary, or rather about 200 feet from the shore at high tide. It seems asif there must have been a pier there at one time, for the stumps of a row of broken piles reach from the house land- ward and show plainly at low tide. Peter does not speak very good English | and it is impossible from his dialect to tell what country he came from. He is most likely a Russian. From all that can be learned he simply pre-empted the four end piles of the pier wher it was aban- | doned and constructed his house on the top from lumber he found floating in the estuary. The house is not 4 piece of work a car- penter would be proud of. It is made of all sorts of lumber and looks as if a good breeze would blow it away. At high tide it is six feet above the water, and at low tide about ten feet. Entrance to it must | be_maae by climbil:ig from a boat up a half-rotten rope-ladder. The piles have been eaten away by the teredo and the structure shakes in a dangerous fashion. Peter has braced the piles together on the four sides, and this is undoubtedly all that holds the structure together. The interior is not inviting, because it is not large enough for a man to stand erect in. In the center is a cracked stove and a | few cooking uténsils. The bed is nothing more than a pile of dirty rags. Nothing in the place is worth carrying away, even if it was not so hard to get at, | and yet Peter, at the risk of falling into the water, locks his door with two large padlocks every time he goes after clams. Thatis all the work he is known to do. At low tide he fills a few buckets with the bivalyes and takes them totown for sale. They surely do not bring much, but it seems to be sufficient for him, for he ap- pears to be contented and happy. He says that he sleeps well in hig house and has no fear of thievem bling spirit within that brings o FROM A DR. A. T. SBANDEN—Dear Sir: of my age. For Weak Men. . Men who find themselves failing in that manly vigor which :s so precious, who have bogun to see the result of past ex- cesses; for men who are growing old be- fore thieir time, who, though still physi- nally strong, are vitally weak; for such men Dr. Sanden’s rlectric Belt is like the dawn of new life. Does not nature teach as that her storehouses are inexhaustible? They are, and that vital force which is lost can be restored by Electricity., Dr. San- den’s Electric Belt will restore it. 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