Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-05-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

THE Boston Waterman says that within the
last nine yeare nearly 500 churches have been
burned in America, mostly through defective
heating apparatus.
THE Buffalo Espress reports that the Whirl-
pool Rapids Park Company, at Niagara Fails,
has secured the widow of Capt. Webb as an
attraction" for the coming season.
THE latest investigations Of NJ. Bloch into
the rapidity of perceptiye power seem to
show that studied vision is quickest in its
operation. and auditory perception occupies
the seventy-secOnd part Of a second longer.
Touch requires the twenty first part of sec
Ond longer for the transmission than visual
perception.
REV. DIR. WRIGHT, distinguished A. NJ.
of Trinity College, Dublin. has created some
sensation by an article in which he says that
many of the fellows of that university do not
believe in divine revelation or the existence
OF personal God. Several are, at the BEST
agnOstics, if not atheists. There is no way for
discipining either a fellow or professor for
erroneous views, and so it is a propaganda of
skepticism.
The editor OF the Richmond tVa.) Religious
Herald thus describes a bit Of his personal
experience at the Southern Baptist COnven-
ton in Baltimore: "Alas for us. here is
brother who don't wish to speak to us. The
trouble began ten years ago with little
pleasantly on our part IN our News and
Notes. and he means to carry it to the judg-
ment seat; but then, if never before, he viii
find it was only little joke
FROM French state paper, lately brought
to light, it appears that in 100 the following
Parliamentary decree was solemnly passed
and duly registered under King Louis Nv:
''WhOsOeyer, by means OF red or white pant,
perfumes, essences, artificial teeth, false halr
cotton. wool, iron cOrsets, hoops, shoes with
high heels, or false hips. shall seek to entice
into the hands OF marriage any male subject
of His Majesty, shall be prosecuted for witch
craft, and declared incapable of matrimOny."
LARGE numbers OF sturgeon are caught in a
novel way in Lake Winnebago, off Stock
bridge. Wis. Ropes about six miles in length
and reaching half way across the lake are
stretched over the surface and kept up by
means Of buOys. and on rope OF this length
are fastened as many as twenty thousand
lines to which hooks are attached. These
hooks are baited with most anything in the
line of meat and allowed to rest upon the bot
tom. The sturgeon suck up everything eata-
BILE that they meet, and consequently fali an
easy prev to the fishermen.
A CORRESPONDENT, who has passed some
years in Russia, states that in the village of
Velkotta, in the St. Petersburg government,
an old woman is living who has just attained
her l3Oth birthday! The old lady is in the en-
joyment of good health, but complains of her
deafness. Her hair is still long and plentiful,
considering her age. She mas Outllved three
husbands; and has had family Of nineteen
children, all OF whom are now dead, the last
one to die being daughter Of 80. She lives
with one of her great grandchildren, man
OF 80.
THE somewhat remarkable announcement
has been made to his colleagues and to the
country by member of the House of Repre-
sentatives that he desires the officers Of the
United states Navy ''to fish for distinction in
the limpid lakes and clear running streams OF
their native land, and not go bObbing for eels
IN the muddy waters of despotism," This
statement was part OF his speech IN Opposi
ton to resolution permitting an ensign to
accept a decoration from the Emperor of Aus
tria for having rescued some Austrian sailors
who were drowning. His el0quence was
wasted, however. for the resolution prevailed.
PERHAPS the most curious battalion in any
army is the Norwegian Corps Of Skaters.
These corps are composed Of picked men
armed with rifles, which they use with great
precision. The skates used are admirably
adapted for travelling over rough and bro
ken ice and frozen snow, being six inches
broad and between nine and ten inches long.
The soldiers can be man9uVred upon ice or
over the snow fields OF the mountains with a
rapidity equal to that OF the best-tralned cav
airy. As an instance OF the speed they can
go, it is stated that messenger attached to
the corps has accomplished l2O miles in eight
cen hours and half, over mountainous
country.
THE SusquehaHna river and Chesapeake
Bay are said to be literally swarming with
small herring, and the hauling seines are tax
ing them in any quantity desired. The sup
plv is far in excess of the demand for this
kind Of herring, and the fishermen are glad
to dispose OF them at any price. Hundreds
of barrels OF fish have been allowed to escape
from the seines, and many thousands of them
have been hauled away by the farmers in
Hartford and Cecil counties to be used as COM
post. great many have been salted and
smoked. and the supply of cured herring will
be large. But few shad, however, are being
caught. The gill bOat@are doing so little that |
only a few Of them fish at all, and they get
eight or ten shad or 200 or 800 herring night. |
THE French Academy of Sciences has just
received an interesting account Of meteOrite
which fell not long ago near Odessa. A bright
serpentine trail of fire was seen one morning |
to pass over that town, and the editor Of one
of the papers, surmising that meteoric mass |
might have fallen from the sky, offered re-
ward to any one who would bring it to him. |
A peasant, who had been TERRIBLY frightened |
by the stone falling close to him as he worked |
in the fields, and burying itself in the ground, !
answered this appeal. He had dug the stone |
out Of the soil, and preserved it, Keeping the |
matter quite secret from his neighbOrs, as he |
feared rfdicule. This stone was found to be a |
shapeless mass weighing nearly Is pounds. |
The faV of another meteOrite, which, in its |
descent near the same town. wounded a man, |
was also reported, but it had been broken into |
fragments and distributed among the peas |
nj