Progress of the Telegraph.—The London Times thus summarizes some of the statements made by Mr. Raikes, the postmaster-general, in his speech delivered at the telegraph jubilee the other day:
At first a machine required five wires before it could dispatch a message. Now on one single wire seven or eight messages can be sent simultaneously. At first the rate of sending did not amount to more than four or five words a minute. Now on the latest machine no less than 462 words a minute can be dispatched. The number of messages has increased by steady steps, until now, under the new tariff and with the facilities that have been so widely extended since the telegraphs came into the hands of the government, the number is truly portentous. Those sent during the past year amounted to close upon a million a week—fifty-one and one-half millions in all. Letters have grown from 80,000,000 in the year of the Queen’s accession to more than 1,400,000,000. According to Mr. Pender, there are some 115,000 miles of cables lying at the bottom of the sea. The progress in this department has been constant. The latest scheme, as the new colonial blue-books show, is for laying a cable under the Pacific Ocean, from Vancouver to New Zealand. Surely there is no task from which modern science will recoil.
The Mystery of the Ages.—A work recently published at London by the Countess of Caithness is a work of ability and learning, devoted especially to a philosophy which is thus defined:
“Theosophy is the essence of all doctrines, the inner truth of all religions…. God is Spirit, and Spirit is One, Infinite, and Eternal, whether it speak through the life of Buddha or Jesus, Zoroaster or Mahommed…. The ideal of the Theosophist is the at one-ment of his own spirit with that of the Infinite. This is the essential teaching of all religions, and to obtain this union you must believe in and obey the voice of your own higher conscience; for the true Christ is the Divine Spirit within you, and thus, God manifest in humanity.”
Progress of the Marvellous.—Mrs. Herbert, of St. Joseph’s Hospital, Joliet, Illinois, as reported Aug. 16, had slept 219 days, sitting in an easy chair, in a cataleptic state. She rarely moves a muscle, and if her arm is lifted and not replaced it remains as it was left. Her hands are cold, and her face very pallid. The food given her daily, it is said, would only sustain life in a bird, and the doctors are expecting her death.
Mr. C. J. Helleberg, of Cincinnati, says that a lady of his family has become developed as a medium, and many messages have been written through her. Among others, a message from Charles XII. of Sweden declared that “Sweden will be a republic sooner than any other power in Europe,” and the elections will be easily and honestly managed.
A Grand Aerolite.—The Galt Gazette (California) describes the fall of a meteor in that vicinity, witnessed by Dr. Goodspeed, which fell in a slough and so heated the water as to kill the catfish that inhabited it. It lies in the pond, and looks as if a hundred feet wide. A much more marvellous story has been published of an engraved meteoric stone falling in an obscure portion of Georgia near Clayton Court-house, which is a hoax, and has been so pronounced by the postmaster at Clayton.
Whether the California story is true I have not ascertained, but the fall of a great meteor in this region has developed a grand meteoric capacity for lying. The despatch first published by the Boston Herald described the stone as falling near McAdam Junction, not far from Bangor, Maine, making the crockery rattle at the Junction, and plunging into the earth all but about ten feet of the stone, which was so hot that no one could come within fifty yards of it. It has not been found at all, for it dropped into the Bay of Fundy; but it illuminated the whole country for a vast distance, and looked as large as the moon. It had a long trailing violet light behind it as it fell. Our meteoric showers generally occur in August, this was on the 15th of September.
The Boy Pianist.—Joseph Hoffmann is considered in London the greatest young pianist since the days of Mozart. He is coming to America. He is from Poland.
Centenarians.—The Rabbi Hirsch, born in Poland, died a few weeks ago in Brooklyn, aged 109. He saw Napoleon on his march to Moscow. Mrs. Paradis of North Grosvenordale, Conn., died Aug. 26, aged 120. The Boston Globe in making a record of old people in Maine, has mentioned Miss Betsey Sargent, of Canterbury, aged 100; Mrs. Ellen Scott, Portsmouth, 100; Mrs. Mary Mann, Oxford, 101; Mrs. Jane Wilson, Edgecomb, 102; John Chandler, Concord, 102; Mrs. Nancy Chase, Edgerly, 103; Perault Pickard, Colchester, 107; Robert Peters, Berwick, 107; George McQueen, Portland, 109; Giles Bronson, Castleton, 115; Mrs. Mary Ludkends, Portland, 117.