Why Brain Cells Go On Strike After Drinking
An early 20th century style exploration explains brain cells as octopus like units forming networks. Overwork and alcohol disrupt contacts, causing drunken stumbling, deep sleep, or death, while genius traits link to temporary mental imbalance. Absent mindedness arises from disjoined cell groups during intense study, leading to distracted, erratic behavior.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
England
Cromwell
Dean Swift
Shelley
Charles Lamb
Johnson
Coleridge
Milton
Byron
Pearson
Century Old Cambridge Student Tea Bill Reveals Frugal Life
A long-ago Cambridge undergraduate kept a detailed 1788 grocery bill showing tea and provisions as the main costs. Items include Hyson tea, Congo tea, a new teapot, hearth brush, mop, and Holland galosh, totaling modest sums. The record suggests breakfast of weak tea with bread and butter, dinner at noon, and frequent candles and candy purchases.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Cambridge
Hyson
Congo
St. Louis Republic
Prized Autographs and Astronomical Prices Across History
The article surveys historic autographs valued at high prices, noting Shakespeare signatures, letters by Marie Stuart, Columbus, and other notable writers. It recounts sales, such as a £1000 for a Columbus autograph and rumors of $100,000 offers, with mentions of forgers and notable collectors.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Rere
Shakespeare
Montaigne
British Museum
Alfred Morrison
Carlton House Terrace
Marie Stuart
Guise
France
Vatican
Bernard Quaritch
Columbus
Chicago
Chatterton
Collier’s Weekly
Jimmy and the Baby Coffins Maker Boy Tale
Jimmy, a 13 year old with a small milk business, secretly built pine baby coffins for 50 cents each. A customer’s aunt shows him a new baby, and Jimmy leaves with a grave remark about making a coffin when he goes home.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Jimmy
New York Commercial Advertiser
Boers Great Pioneers and the Trek Legacy
A London Mail opinion praises the Boer pioneers from the great trek of 1837 and earlier, arguing voortrekkers and 1840s hunters opened unexplored Africa with feats of endurance and courage outweighing famous modern travelers noted for publisher gains and fame.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Africa
London Mail
Waves of Fate Spark Matrimony and Divorce Tale
A Nashville Banner quip recounts a neighborly courtship that began with a wave from a young woman to a stranger and led to marriage in three days. Two days after the wedding she waved a flatiron, and the next evening her husband returned home waving a divorce.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Nashville
Spanish Charitable Spirit Highlights Local Aid Practices
Spanish communities widely contribute to charity with many self supporting towns of around 50 000 feeding a pauper population of 5 000 or more, reflecting strong communal generosity and social support networks.
A Curious Railroad Explosion on Rio Grande Western
The Memphis Scimitar relates a strange wreck at Soldier Summit Utah where engine 1,129 ran loose in a blizzard and exploded on a grade. Henry Alquist, a veteran railroad man, explains the mystery as a boiler failure from compressed air built by the pistons.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Henry Alquist
Alquist
Rio Grande Western
Soldier Summit
Utah
Wasatch
Clear Creek
Grand Junction
Salt Lake
Scimitar
Memphis
Wanted to fire the President
A gawky country lad visits the White House, announces a wish to see the president, and is directed toward the retreating official. He exclaims dern my time as he watches the president walk away, noting the leader moves like any other man.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Washington Star
White House
Warwick Castle Crowned as England’s Most Beautiful Seat
Warwick Castle is held by many as the most beautiful seat in England. The large Baronahall is a magnificent room decorated with perfect armor, luxurious furnishings, and masses of flowers with large palms abundant in every aisle.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Warwick Castle
England
Barona Hall
The Cuckoo as a Monster Among Birds
A London Spectator critique extols birds as generally good tempered, citing eagles and falcons as exemplary, while denouncing the cuckoo as an unfit member of the avian race. The author warns the cuckoo embodies ill beyond mere parasitism, an outrage to bird life and moral law.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
London Spectator
Training watchdogs the German method and its aims
The Philadelphia Times describes Herr Straus in Berlin who runs a watchdog academy turning out hundreds of dogs yearly. The program trains obedience then teaches attack on burglars, using a dummy burglar and a padded attacker to condition the dog to strike at the throat or upper body. St. Bernards and Russian wolfhounds are noted as best for guarding valuable property.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Berlin
Herr Straus
Philadelphia Times
Indian Compositions From The Southern Workman
Two young Indian students are profiled for their new composition work. One piece on General Armstrong recalls Hawaiian idolatry as “the idols of their aunts' sisters.” The other misplaces Washington in Armstrongs retirement note, saying Armstrong wrote to Washington after the war asking for more to do.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Lfe
Armstrong
Hawaiian Islands
Sandwich Islands
Washington
Famine Frequency Since 1770 Great Famine
The Review of Reviews notes that since the first great famine of 1770 when Bengal alone saw 10,000,000 perish, India has rarely had a decade without grain scarcity in some district. It cites the British government predicting drought about twice in nine years, a famine roughly every 11 or 12 years, and a major famine about twice per century.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Bengal
India
Review of Reviews
Tobacco use linked to eye disease and blindness
Numerous observations show tobacco as a potent cause of eye disease. Degeneration of the optic nerve leading to total blindness is traced to tobacco use. Recent notes also link tobacco and alcohol to color blindness, explaining why it is more common in men than women.
Climate and soil shape animal and plant types across regions
The passage argues that environment determines form, citing Holstein and Kerry cows, American cayuse horses, Jersey cattle, Arkansas hogs transforming in the corn belt, parrots adopting English, migrating northerners adapting to the south, New Zealand parrots fattening on sheep kidneys, wild dogs becoming wolfish and sunning hues, and buffalo domestication altering physique. It concludes that land, climate, and soil select best types, guiding farmers to suitable varieties for their conditions.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
North Sea
Ireland
Jersey
Isle
Arkansas
Africa
New Zealand
Why manufacturing centers cluster in the east and westward limits
A farmer asks why manufacturing towns cluster in the east. Reasons include easier access to capital, lower interest rates, better transportation, and more skilled machinists in the east. The west could grow during freight rate reductions, with wood based trades moving west while steel and arts related work stay east.
Pasture Care and Wheat Prospects Highlight Kansan Visit
The piece warns against overstocking and overfeeding pastures, urging rest periods, division of land, and reseeding with clover. It notes spring soil improvement methods and reports a Kansas agricultural visit noting strong wheat prospects, with some counties expecting over 200 bushels per acre and high wheat value statewide.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Kansan
Northwest
Kansas
Picturesque Cottage Design for a 2200 Dollar Home
A 1900 plan by George Hutchings outlines a simple picturesque cottage to cost 2200 dollars. The design features a stone underpinning, clapboard exterior, shingled roof, colonial cream facade with white trim, cypress woodwork, open nickel-plated plumbing fixtures, and four rooms per floor plus an attic storage.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
George Hutchings
Flatbush Avenue
Brooklyn
Kitchen Table placement in 19th century kitchens
The Philadelphia Press outlines a kitchen table setup with the cook positioned directly before the range to avoid walking. It calls for a zinc table with a continuous central two barred rack to hang small implements within easy reach. Condiments should be arranged in distinctly different dredges on the table.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
Philadelphia Press
Care of Bric-a-brac for Dust Prevention
Bric-a-brac should be kept in a cage to avoid dusting and only sturdy items that can be washed should be exposed. Fragile pieces look worse when dust settles and can trap dirt in their crevices, despite a bright surface.
Also Mentioned on This Page
Kier
Taelor
Hell
Chen
Feof
Amt
This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!