SKATE. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



737 



Plimpton's improvement consisted in so gear- 

 ing two pairs of wheels that they would 

 " cramp " when the foot-plate was canted to 

 either side, and thus 

 cause the skate to 

 move on a curved 

 line. Several years 

 elapsed before the 

 value of the inven- 

 tion was generally 

 recognized ; but in 

 the mean time the in- 

 ventor was busy mak- 

 ing improvements 

 and taking out other 

 patents, and in 1874 

 had brought the skate 

 practically to its pres- 

 ent condition. This 

 device of " cramp- 

 ing" the wheels se- 

 cured the initial suc- 

 cess of roller-skat- 

 ing. The pastime 

 soon became moder- 

 ately popular in New 

 York; but the "rink- 

 ing" mania first broke out in 1866 in Vic- 

 toria, Australia, spreading thence to England 

 and America, and 

 ever since fluctuating 

 in popularity in both 

 countries without ap- 

 parent reason. Since 

 that time, inventions, 

 improvements, and 

 patents without num- 

 ber have been made 

 and claimed all over 

 the civilized world. 

 These can not all be 

 mentioned here, but 

 a few of the more 

 distinctive are illus- 

 trated to show the 

 range which invent- 

 ive genius has taken in this direction. It would 

 seem that, with improved modern methods of 

 construction, some of the devices for employ- 

 ing larger wheels might be available. 



P. T. THTTRSTON 8 DEVICE. 

 AMERICAN. FRONT VIEW. 



LTTDER'S SUMMER SKATE 

 SIDE VILW. ENG- 



A MODERN ROLLER-SKATE. 



A very full bibliography of skating was pub- 

 lished by Fred W. Foster in " The Bibliogra- 

 pher," vols. iii, iv, and v. It enumerates alto- 

 gether 350 titles, but a large number of these 

 relate merely to detached articles or to pas- 

 sages in Norse or medieval Latin literature. 

 The following list includes most of the modern 

 VOL. xxiv. 47 A 



works of importance on this subject: "A Sys- 

 tem of Figure-Skating," by H. E. Vandervelt 

 and T. M. Withan (London, 1873); "The Art 

 of Skating," by George Anderson (London, 

 1873) ; " Practical Hand-Book on Figure-Skat- 

 ing" (London, 1881); "Hand-Book of Fen- 

 Skating," by N. and A. Goodman (London, 

 1882); "Combined Figure-Skating," by mem- 

 bers of the London Skating Club (London, 

 1833); "The Skater's Text-Book," by Frank 

 Swift and Marvin R. Clark (New York). 

 "Roller-Skating," by James Pycroft, and a 

 series of articles in "Engineering," vol. xli, 

 and in London "Field" for March and April, 

 1879, afford the most complete treatises ex- 

 tant, historical and practical, on roller-skating. 

 Papers on skate-sailing may be found in " The 

 Century," March, 1882, and -in u Harper's 

 Weekly," Feb. 25, 1882. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. State Government. The fol- 

 lowing were the State officers during the year : 

 Governor, Hugh S. Thompson, Democrat ; Lieu- 

 tenant- Governor, John C. Sheppard ; Secretary 

 of State, James N. Lipscomb ; Attorney-Gen- 

 eral, Charles Richardson Miles; State Treas- 

 urer, John Peter Richardson; Comptroller- 

 General, William E. Stoney; Superintendent 

 of Education, Asbury Coward ; Adjutant and 

 Inspector General, A. M. Manigault; Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture, A. P. Butler ; Railroad 

 Commissioners, W. L. Bonham, L. T. Walker, 

 and D. P. Duncan. Judiciary, Supreme Court : 

 Chief-Justice, W. D. Simpson; Associate Jus- 

 tices, Henry Mclver and Samuel McGowan. 



The Public Debt. The Governor, in his mes- 

 sage to the Legislature, says : 



The estimated amount of the public debt is almost 

 the same as last reported, the only changes being the 

 purchase and cancellation ot'$ll,000 of deficiency bonds 

 by the Sinking- Fund Commission, and the funding 

 of $3,893 of fire-loan bonds not previously included 

 among the outstanding securities. The whole esti- 

 mated debt is as follows : Consols (valid), $5,464,- 

 656.77; deficiency bonds and stocks, $450,456.29: 

 Agricultural College scrip, $191,800; and bonds and 

 stock still unfunded under the act of 1873 and the 

 amendments thereto, amounting, principal and inter- 

 est, to $415,356.96; the whole aggregating $6,522,- 

 270.02. The unfunded debt, $415,356.96, includes 

 interest unpaid from July, 1&72, to January, 1880, 

 which under act of 1878 is fundable at par, and also 

 $624,322.72 of old bonds and stock with interest esti- 

 mated to 1880, and which under act of 1873 are fund- 

 able at 50 per cent. Of this last class of bonds, not- 

 withstanding the very large amounts still unfunded, 

 but few are now presented for exchange, only $27,000 

 having been funded during the last year, and less than 

 $60,000 in the last two years, so that it is reasonable 

 to suppose that many of them have disappeared and 

 will never have to be redeemed by the State. The 

 exchange of green consols for brown consols has 

 progressed satisfactorily, there being now but $963,- 

 372.42 of the former class outstanding, and of which 

 $699,149.36 or 72i per cent., is invalid. In four years 

 the indebtedness of the counties has been decreased 

 by very nearly $1,200,000. 



Revenue and Expenses. It is estimated that it 

 will require $372,195 to meet the ordinary 

 expenses of the government for the fiscal year 

 1884-'85, and $391,337 to pay interest on the 

 public debt. The annual expenses of the gov- 



