Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

TEE new railroad cuttings about Bergen
Hill, y. J.. have opened large deposits of odd
and rare minerals. They are continually Wis
tied by mineralOgists and students from sclen-
tifc schools.
\ MONUMENT of Carrara marble, costing
only 5000, is to be erected to Garibaldi in
Padua. Italy is the land both Of cheap mOnu-
ments and cheap marble; the busts OF 100 phi
Iosophers, poets, orators and scientists adorn
the Pincian Hill at Rome, and the whole lot
cost only $4,000.
INVESTIGATIONS made by a committee Of
the Ophthalmological Society into the causes
Of blindness show, according to the Lancet
that 'abOut 90 per cent. Of persons in blind
asvlums. both in England and Germany, owe
their blindness to preventable causes, /. e.,
Ophthalmia neOnatOrum."
THE plan Of using the enormous water power
of the Alps for working electric railways in
Switzerland is about to take definite shape,
the idea being to connect the towns of st.
MnrItz and POntresina by an electric railway
AZ miles long, the motive power to be supplied
bv the mountain streams, the line. in case the
plan proves a success, to be extended a con-
siderable distance.
A CORRESPONDENT writes to an English pa
per: while lying of Madras in the harbor,
on nv way from India, 1 had my attention
drawn to 4 white gentleman with brown legs,
on a catamaran. 1t was explained TO me that
the natives went about the shark-lnfested
harlor with IMMUNITY, and that a European
had had several narrow escapes until ne col
ored the lower part OF his body and Its eX-
tremities, since which he had gone about I'M
scared"
AMONG the amusements resOrted to by the
passengers of the unfortunate Lydian Mon
arch, who were month at sea, was that Of
gathering around the cabin table, each person
with lump of sugar before him. They put
ND a shilling apiece, and he whose sugar was
first attacked By tlY scOOped the pot. 1t Is
notorious that passengers on ocean steamers
are easily amused. and whole shlplOad OF
people might be entertained by this simple
game OF chance if flies were not too scarce.
AN OcELOT, or puma cat, from Brazil is
soon to be added to the collection at the Phil
adelphia Geological Garden. This new curl
ositv is one Of the most ferocious Of wild ami
mails He is absolutely untamable, and as
sumes position OF attack on me approach OF
any one to his cage. He IS ABOUT 1our feet
long, a foot and half in height, and OF deep
fawn color, with black rllge along the
spine. The inner sides OF the limbs are COW
cred with spOts and dashes Of black, anu the
ears are black, with white spot at the base
Of each.
CONSIDERABLE COMMENT is devoted by the
electrical journals to a telephone to be used
at sea. 1t consists Of the ordinary appliances
supplemented by a reel from which the cable
Is paid out over the stern or side OF the boat.
one argument advanced In favor of this new
application Of the telephone is that it can be
used bv ocean steamships in fogs. A small
boat or launch can be sent ahead few hun
dred feet and used as scout 70 the steamer,
making sOundings, and keeping lookout,
meanW lille telephOning back anything Of i'm
pOrtance to the officer of the deck.
A REMARKABLE private act, the Earl Of
Devon's estate bill, was recently introduced
in the House OF Commons. II empowers Lord
ID. and his son, Lord Courtenay, to sell every
acre Of the vast family estate, preserving no
other house but Powderham, and deals with
mortgage debts amounting TO Sl.zJ0,000. The
bin has become necessity through the con-