HOW THE DOCTOR LOST HIS CORD.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4520, 15 September 1875, Page 3

HOW THE DOCTOR LOST HIS CORD.

One day last week a little boy, who had been standing for some time in front of n drugstore in Baltimore, enviously eyeing a large reel, well provided with “ simmy-dimmy ” twine, as the boys call it, which Was fastened to the top of the counter, summoned up courage enough to walk in and ask for a few yards with which to fly his kite. The doctor bears the reputation of being a goodmatured man, full of humor, and very fond of the little ones ; but the youngster approached him at a time when he was out of his usual mood, and he consequently gave him “No ” for an answer. The urchin had made up his mind to have some of “that cord” anyhow, and he got it. On Thursday morning the boy entered the store, accompanied by another boy and a dog. Boy No. 2 having placed a bottle upon the counter, demurely asked for five cents worth of “ syrup squills and polygollic,” and while the doctor was filling the order, boy No. 1 was tying the end of the coi-d to the dog’s tail. "When the man of medicine returned to the counter the reel was flying like fury. The doctor quietly reached for a pallet-knife, and, having hung himself over the counter, made a desperate whack at the cranium of the youngster, who, he supposed, was sitting on the floor helping himself. But, lo! the boys and the dog “ Bouncer ” were not there. The doctor having tried in vain to stop his reel, was obliged to give it up on account of the heat it communicated to the palm of his hand. When he reached the door, he beheld the boys upon the side walk about two blocks off, and “Bouncer” in the middle of the street going at the rate of forty knots an hour, the string pointing directly towards his tail. The reel continued to spin for some time afterwards, until it stopped of its own accord. —American Paper.

A chemical examination of some Chinese and Japanese bronzes of an unusually deep color, exhibited in Paris in 1869, has shown the existence of a much larger percentage of lead than occurs in the ordinary bronzes, proving that it is to this substance that the special composition and color of the bronze is due. Where zinc was present in considerable quantity it seemed rather to counter-balance the effect of the lead. An alloy, composed of G part's tin, 83 of copper, 10 of lead, and 2 of zinc, proved to be exactly like the Chinese bronze, and identical with it in fracture and polish. If heated in a muffle it quickly assumed a peculiar dead black appearance, so greatly admired in Chinese bronzes.