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Wbe Wt an. _ TRI- EEKL EDV'L( N .__O. 141_ A YEAR'S WORK IN SCIENCE, ---o OLD THEORIkS DESTROYED AND XE WV INVEN'IONS MADE. No Such Thing as Liquids and Gases All Nature Composed of Hydrogen-. Making Air Solid- -Opening New Fields. [From the Neto York Ir:2d.] While the political annals of the year are writ large with battle, inur der and sudden death, the scientiflC record stands written in letters of living light. At the very outset of the present year the world of science was as sembled on the judges'stand count ing seconds in the race between Picket and Gailletet for liquefying the last of the gases, and thus ex perimuentally proving the unity of nature and the continuity between the solid, liquid and g seous do mains. Cailietet h id scored the first round by liquefying oxygen and carbonic oxide as early as December 2, 1877, bht being then a candid te for election to a seat in the Academy of Sciences he mag naninously refrained from an nouncing his success and consigned the account of his discovery to a sealed packet, which was opend at the academic session of December 24. Strange to relate, M. Raoul Picket, of Geneva, announced by letter sit that meeting the samine re suit achieved by entirely diffurent processes. Scarcely had the. won dering savans found time to an - nounce to the public this double triumph when M. 0.killetet, on the last day of the year, a0ccomIpisheJ the liquefaction of hydrogen, niko gen and atin sphe:ie air, and ie86 ing closely upon nimi, 'A. Pw1i,it swept to thu goal JanuiAry 11, definitely establisling tho sequence of the "constants of nAturo" by the solidification of hydrogen. It was found to be a metal, thereby bril liantly justifying the conclusion first reached forty years ago by the veteran chemist, J. B. Dmnas, who had the honor, as president of a leading scientific society, to receive the first telegraphic annouincomeut from M. Piotet, and to in ike known to fnis at P 1riA t1is gun disoverv 0n th., lvy d ly it was Ma'Ido Ge1nevat. Results such as the,-' would suffice to make the year 1878 for ever memorable in the annals of science, but only the first page bad yet been written. In the same month of Deceinber, 1877, when Cailletet and 1-ictet were winning their first laurels in Paris and Geneva, Thomas Alvo Edison rode into New York one morning fron Menlo Park with a queer brass cyl inder under his arm, and astonished our neighbors of the Scientific American with the brazen-faced assertion that "Mary had a little lamb." The phonograph had sprung, unheralded, upon the world, and so incredible was the scientific fact thus revealed that several weeks *elapsed before it was generally credited. Although the full-fiedged discovery of the phonograph per tains to 1877, the whole of its development and its world-wide renown belong to 1878, and it is assuredly not the least of its many titles to perpetual remembrance that "the Wizard of Menlo Park" then first assumed a recognized * position as a factor in our comning civilization. Of Edison's manifold other and curious inventions-the megaphone, the phonometor, and the aerophone-we have no need now to speak, though i other times they would rank high among the curiosities of ,science. But there are three other achievements of lIis genius which distinctly ,call for mention among the wonders of the year-the improved carbon tele. phone, the.tasumneter and the electric lamp-more than one of which were firat fully described in 'the columns of the 1Jer'al. Other workers have recently inscribed their names upon Fame's eternal bead-roll with similar titles, and it would be unjust not to recognize the great merit of our countryman ProfesaUr Hughes in the discovery of theimicrophone, of Professor Gra ,ham Bell in perfecting his tz e?hone, of Mr. Stearns in "duplexing' the Atlantib cable, of Professor Alfred * M. Mayer ini his illnstrations of the atomic theory by floating magnets, of SirJ. ID. Hooker and Paul Bert in their disc(veries in vegetable chemistry, of Qoyn uJia oncQl in his ingeniious veelpp.nents of, the phonograph into a oad(ens6ateur chanCant, of Lewis Swift and Pro fesdor Watson in.dI9 idIegoyr of intra-Mercurial' nefi, of Pro Lessors Newlands s4WIlde: .amnd others in tb ^.41)*~ oMt I sifications of the elements by periodic laws, and of Lontin, Rapieff, Jablochkoff, Wardermann, Sawyer, Hosmor and Gary in their impurtant. but not yet fully realized, applications of ele3tric force. The erowning discovery of the year, however, if the half that has been claimed should prove true, will belong neither to Pictot, Cailletet, Edison, Hughes, Watson nor Swift, but to the eminent English astrono mer and spectroscopist, Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, who visited our shores in July last for the observa tion of the great solar eclipse. His discovery, which the ierald was the first to announce in America, is nothing less than that of the sixty four so-called "elements" are con densations or modifications by the interactions of the cosmic forces upon a single primitive matter, which, so far as this earth is con cerned, seems to be hydrogen, but which in the solar corona is found to be at least four times lighter than hydrogen. Of course men are already spealng of this discovery as if it were synonymous with alchenry or the transmutation of metals In one sense they are right, but not in the most impor tant meanings cotnected with those expressions. It may be found pos . sible to reduce gold and other pre ciou imetals and stones to tneir primitive calcium or hydrogen, but it in y be positively stated that it will never be possible to make golk from hydrogen or calcium. The reason is the same as in the paral lel case of reducing fuel to ashes. To destroy is easy; to rconstruet from thi samne or similar iateri.s is impossibio. Above all, -ine of thle f :(!t9S inl LIIU fori ion of inm-tals is unl:inkte I dar .ti>n of timc fi)r the pAZLY Of the cosmic forc.e-l and until the new alchemnistse cin control that factor their efforts will be useless. It 's too early to predict the range of Mr. Lockyor's discovery; but, granting all the facts which he chims, he has but demonstrated experimen tally an idea which is perfectly familiar to modern chemists. It is highly probable that Mr. Lockyer's conclusions are well founleId and that they will revoutiomizv the form l tmtching of lchemisZtry, blit they cannot change thbe faW11's as they have always existed. Me-.iiwhilo tho scientilic world is becoming impatient for the record of Mr. Lockyer's experiments-not for his conclusions, for those they can draw as well as he. MR. EPPENsTEIN's BABIREs. -Yes terday a reporter called at the store of Mr. Abrahajn Eppdnstein td make some ingiries about the he:Llth of the three cherubim that his wife had presented him the night beforel "Well, how's everything I" asked thd reporter, smiling broadly. "Vell, I feels pooty good' all the vhile. Beesness was pickin' up pooty kvick. I have der largest assortment of goods vat vas ever brouht-. "The children-the babies 7" in. terrupted the reporter ; ".[ w ant to kn.owv something about the baibies." "Vat babies ? .Oh!I dose dree leetle fellers 'vat come to seen me last night ? I vish you vould said in your paper to-morrow dot Mr. Eppenstein's babies are like his goods-der best the market affords, "Und see here," called the happy father after the vanishing reporter, "poot in a line at der bottom, und, said of you please, dot your popular merchant, Mr. Eppenstein, haf just returned from Ni Yoriek mit a large Atock of goods, vich he is almost givin away on ockound of der hard times."-Oil City, Derr ich. Hoiun DEcoBATIoN.-Just as quick as farmer Jones painted his barbed 'wire fence blue, plain blue, farmer Smith's wife swore she wasn't going to be outdone, and the fence around the Smith farm soon bios - somed out red, picked with white. Mrs. Jones wasn't going to have any of the Smith family put on airs over her, and their .blue fence was soonl trimmed with gold loaf stripes. Smith trumped over by putting a gilt b dII on every b.arb ; and Jones, when ast heurd from, was painting weatber vanes, gilt horses, peacocks lightning--rod tips all over his fence, and swearing he'd beat the Smith famly fhe had to put a eupalo anmd a bay window at .every. post, and bang a; chromo every two feet along the line. We shouN all pay .more attention to the decoration of our homnes4.--Keokuk tJon4titU ion. Mrs, 1lortpe, of 1iali%ak ~ha. given hirAh-to .twvimu.aigls-A varte .WORFEIrz.D LAKDE. Postgonement of Sales, and ea Terms of Bedemption. The following important bill ha passed the Senate and had pre viously passod the House of Repre sentatives : A Bill in relation to lands forfoite4 to the State for non-payment o taxes. Be it enacted by the Senate an4 House of Representatives of th< State of South Carolina, now me and sitting in General Assombly and by the authority of the same : Smnovio 1. Tnat in all cases ii which sales of lind tinder an no entitled "An act in relation to for feited lands and the redOmption o the same, and to lands not hereto. fore placed on the -tax duplicate, approved March 1st, 1878, havo been suspended by compotent an thority, the printer's aftrges, a now provided by law for advertis ing s'ch Rales, shall- be p tid. by the couuf treasurer of the county i which said lands are sitaited, or the order of the county om:nis sioners. out of the county funi. Szo. 2. That all sales of forfeitei lands not yet made under said aci be postpono until the first M>n day in September, 1879. utiti which time the privilege of redemr tion is extended to the parties it interes, upou the payinent by thea of one-half of the simple taxes o the fiscal year 1876, 1877 ano 1878 *ithout costs or penalties. SEo. 8. Tat in all oases wher real estate has been offared for sali ,.idnot sold under the provisions o: said act, or m-ty hereafter be offere for sale, as 4.eroinbeforo provide( for, anl not sold for want of bid. ders, the original ownerA, or per sons claii:ng under them, n.y havi said real estate restored to them freed from all lien or encumbrance rising from said non-payment o taxes, or said forfeiture, upon thi payment of one-half of the simpl taxes of the fiscal years of 1876 1877" and 1878: Provided, sai: payment shall be made before th, 81st of October, 1879 ; and the rea estate thus redeemed shall revert t< the person' having the legal till thereto, enbje,t to the claims u third p,tities having an inLeree therein, in te same manner as if n, forfoit.uro had taken place. Szo. 4. That the paymuent of t:axo heroinbefore provided for shall b made in national bank notes, Unite, States 'reasury notes or in gold o silver coin, and the privileges o this act are given solely upon t,hi condition. SEo. 5. That auditors are re quired to compare their forfeita< land book with their tax duplioate, and when it is apparent or made t, appear that there are lands upoi said forfeited list upon wh ch taxei have been paid by the origini owners in their own names for thi years 1876-77, such irregular pay monts shall be taken and held ti have redeemed such -lands - unde the "Act in relation to forfeiteI lands and redemption of the same~ and to lands not heretofore placeG on the tax duplicate," approve< March 1, 1878. SKo. 6. That all acts or parts o acts inconsistent with this act ar. hereby repealed. ELEcTING TOO SooN-There is g eneral feeling among members o: Congress that the plan of electing Congressmen a session in advanc< of their taking their seats is al wrong, and if this were a long session the question would bi brought before the body before iti close. A leader in the Honse, foi example, says you now elect a mar before you know what questions h< will have to act upon, and thea thta defeated man who does nol feel any responsibility remains in session after his defeat.- Wash ingtoni Letter. The British government is goinj to establish a mint at HongKong, a1 at an expense of $200,000, far the purpose of coining a piece of Eng lish money:to supplant the trade dollar, which is a universal inedini of exchiang0 hii the Chin~ese empire It has driven the old favorite, th< Mexis dollar, entIrely out of oir oulatiota. Col. 3. M. Iteating editor ofth Memphis A eaI,. niet with .ai eloganbi rece tlot ii Ne~w York given to him by tle New YOrl Press Olub,.In :recognition of his fidelity to the professio{ d in t late terrible yell6 fiv scourge. Alk exohagg& A t 4h JAGROK' NS D RPA TH1 ED~I. v About daylight one Sunday morn-. ing Mrs. Jackson informed him that o his.recovery was very doubtful. and - that it was better that e should be prepared for the worst. Ie was silent for a moment, an.1 then .i1 : "It will be infinite gain to be f translated to heaven." He advised his wife, in the event of his death, to return to her father's house, and ad led : "You t have a kind and good father, but there is no one so kind and good as your He venly "athor." He still expressed a ithopo of his t recovery, but reqesteI her, if h should die, to hi vo himu buria.l in fLxingtol in tha3 Valloy of Vir ginia. His exh-austion increita d so rapidly th-t at 11 o'clock Ms. Jackion knelt by his bed, an] told him thAt before the sun went down he would be with the Savior. He replied : "0 no ; you nre frightened, my chil: doith is not so near ; I may get well." She fell over the bed, weeping bitterly, an:i told him that the physicians said there was 10 hope. After a moment's pause, he asked her to call me. "Doctor Ann informs me that you have told her I atu to die to day. Is it so " When he was answered, he turned his eyes toward the ceiling, and f gazed for a moment or two, as if in intense thought then replie,, "Very good, very go ; it is all right." He then tried to comfort his al most heirt.broken wife, and told her that he had a good deal to say to her, but he was too weak. Colo nel Pendleton came into the room about 1 o'clock, and he as.ced him, "Who w.s pre.tching at headquarters to-day 1" When told th.tt the Whole army was praying for him, he replied: "ThAnk God! they are very kind." He said : "It is the Lord's day; my wish is fulfilled. I have always desired to die o1 Sunday." His mind now began to fail and t w nder, and he frequently t.tked as if in coim.inl on tne field, giving orders in his old way ; then the scene shifted, and he wias at the 01 mess-ttible, in conversation with wife an: chiLl ; now itt prayers with his milit.try family. Otca sional inturvals of rittirn of his mind wonld appear-, and during oe of thei I offered himn some brandy and water, but he declined it, say ing, "It will only delay my depar ture, :tld do no goo,1 ; I want to preserve ny mind to the last, if possible." About half past one be was bld that he had but two hours to live, and answered again, feebly but firmly, "Very good ; it is all ri-ght." A few momuents before he died be crie. I out in his deirinmn "Order A. P. Hill to prepare for action I Pass the infantry to the front rapid ly I Tell Major flaws"-then stop r ped, leaving the sentence un r finished. Presently a smile of ineffable Isweetness spedover his ae ae and then ho said, quietly, and wvith an exp)ression of relief, "Let us cross over the river, and rest under Athe shade of the trees." And then, without pain or strug gle, his spirit passed away.-Rich mnond .Dispatch. A Iady was the miotheri of 'a bright little boy about three years old. T1he whooping-conghi prevail ed in the, neighborhood, and the mother besaine very muoch alarmed lest her boy should take it. One. night, after the little fellow had beer put to bed and to sleep, a jackass was driven past the house, and wheri just 6pposite set .nd his he-haw, he-.haw, he-haw. With a shriek the little fellow was out of. his bed, screamin at the top of h-is voice: "The whooping--cough a coming, mamma:- thsi whooping cough is coming." He,lidn't catch: b it that time,'though. Miss Celeste Wirians, daughter of Sthe late Thomas Winans, of B3alti more, is said to be the richest heiress in. Ameriea, very handsome, , and only twenty. The fortune she inherited trotn her father Is said to be $20,000,000. " *Xy aean"' Mid% wife to her h'use L band, "I. & think it is time~ wp e Rad, wht or greeti w i muit, me' A VOrC R FROAI TRBERIA. The Troubles of a Barnwell Emilgrant R-ast Monkey Withour Lard--A Chanco for Brother Fred Nix. The Barnwell People publishes the following letter which has been received from one of the emigrants who went to Liberia : MONRVIA, October 20, 1878. To the .Jtedonian Baptiat Chuch (Colored,) Barnwell County, S.G. DE,u Bi(11'VflEN IN TiE LoDim-Thie leaves sus all well at this time. hop, ing it iny find you all the same. I am sorry to say I have not hoard a word from you, though I haye written y )I all ; but have you- all at' heart. The worst grief that-Lbave is my church and pastor, I niss them SO much that I oannot help but feel sad at tiies when I think of you all. We are witout a church at this time Some parts of the country are starving for the Gospel so much that that the breid of life has to be broken by the licentious. I have heard six sermons, but I hIve rot seen a person baptised nor one join tho church. We have a small gathering of the brethren here, but no church. Some money hase been sent by friends in Charleston, but not enongh to build a church. Wo don't want to build till we are settled. The principal is in my hands. I am going to gather the brethren togetber as soon as I can under a bush-arbor, if the Lord wills. For has he not .said, -where two or thro are gathered together He would be in their midst T Please allow me to say something about my crossing the ocean and my trials since I left th,- United States, for they have been many ; but the Lord has been with me until now. I started with twenty two in my family, but I lost two at sea, my baby and my grand child, and on arrival lost three more. Mose Stephens lost two of his chil~ dren, and my mother-in-law, Liddy, died June the 24th. She said she was not afraid to die. Provisions are now plenty, but they are not what we used to eat. It went hard at first, but we go used to it now. Ooffee is plenty and so is sugar, and so is yams. bitt meat we hardly ever eat, except on Sundays, when we have roatt monkey for dinner. Its mighty dry eating, and needs lard, but that you can't get for love or money. Toll Brother Fred Nix that we want him oat here very bad. We have told the folks out here what a smart man he is and a great politi, 3ian. If he- will only come out he is sure to be made president. Remember me to Brother Tolbert rind Brother Jackson. You will find enclosed a letter for Brother Wil 1Iam Jones. Pleoe write, write all of you to me. I would be glad to hear from you all. Your ba.other in the Lord, WILrIAM JOHNSN. Cure for felons-Arrest themn. "Never say dye" to a wvomen who uses it. A go m m.v men are suspending mnore than they earn. A growing evil-That clothing won't growv with the grower. The lotter' D is truly an old salt ; has been following the 0 for years. The Japanese government still tort,ures prisoners to extort con~. fossion. The girl of the . is the girl that, mak:ss a -for the grate and puta the : whenever her beaux , 'round to see her. It may brighten some medical student's pathway to be informed that a pestilence of the most awful character is predicted f.or 1890. Stepmiotheirs, though proverbially inhuman, seldom.carry matters so far' as Florence Marryatt, the. novelist, has.done in advertising her "Step-son" for sale. Lord and Lady Dufferin's por traits will appear on the Canadian S1 anid $2 bils. We shall iramedi~ ate write to their :exeellencies 'for their pictures.-ree .Pres.. Professor Barft has refused an offer of one and a quarter .mnillions of dollars,for the patent i'iglitg o bis proooss. for-the permanent. pr'om t,oo n f ron from rust and #tmos ero indlue4ces.. - * When yo at g.My