Yet since 1877, the number of pensioners on our rolls has almost doubled; and the annual cost of maintaining them has nearly trebled.—N. Y. Sun.
A Solid Life Insurance Company.
The figures of the last annual report of the New York Life Insurance Company, just issued, present a record of almost unexampled success in the conduct of the business of that old and strong company for the past year. Its income for the year was $19,230,408, it paid policy holders $7,627,230, and it has cash assets amounting to $75,421,453. It goes without the saying that this great company does its insurance business on strictly business principles. It recognizes the policy holder's right to paid-up insurance in case of a discontinuance of payment of premiums, and its policies are notably free from restrictions as to occupation, residence, and travel. The company issues a great variety of policies, thus adapting its contracts to the wants of almost every one having present means from which a small percentage can be spared for the benefit of themselves or those dependent upon them at a future date.
Dr. Giles de la Tourette has recently published a monograph upon normal locomotion and the variations in the gait caused by diseases of the nervous system. He found, from a comparison of a large number of cases, that the average length of pace is, for men, 25 inches; for women, 20 inches. The step with the right foot is somewhat longer than that with the left. The feet are separated laterally in walking about 4½ inches in men and about 5 inches in women.
EMERY WHEELS FOR GUMMING SAWS.
In the illustration herewith, the operation of gumming saws with an emery wheel is vividly represented, the frame affording sufficient support for the side of the saw where the teeth are being ground, and the arrangement being a simple one, readily made at any work bench or machine where a shaft is run upon which an emery wheel can be placed. The operation itself involves only the simplest mechanical knowledge and but a rudimentary experience in the handling of tools, yet the desirability of this method of sharpening saws is largely dependent upon the kind of emery wheel used and the rate of speed at which it is run.
