Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-06-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

! CRYLoN SPIDERS weave webs so strong that
a walking stick, when thrown into it, is en-
/ tangled among the meshes.
THE cataracts of the Nile are due to granite
VEINS, which the river, while working a way
through the sandstone, had been unable to de-
/ strOy or remove.
/ A BELGIAN EDITOR who recently insulted a
rival editor in the morning. fought duel and
killed him in the afternoon and came out at
/ Z p. m. with special evening edition descrlb-
/ ing the encounter.
THE San Francisco Board of Education asks
for an appropriation of about $l,0O0,00o for
the year beginning July l. and of that sum
less than $4,000 is for teachers aries while
over $4,000 Is for iantors', salaries. "A
A UNIQUE contribution is about 10 be made
to French literature. The greater writers OF
France are each to contribute an unpublished
work to little volume which is to be sold for
/ the relief OF the unemployed of Paris.
! TEE cheapest railway IN the world is in
! Prussia, namely. that from Thorn station to
! Thorn City, across the famous bridge over the
! Nistula, thlrd-clasS ticket costing plen-
nigs, equal to so cents United States cur
rency. t.
THE word consols is an abbreyiatioR Of the
! term consolidated annuities. The English
/ consOls differ from our national debt in this
way-the principal NAV vary in amount, but
!
/ petual obligation of the United Kingdom,
| bearing per cent. interest and representing
! an lrredeemable principal.
/ THE consumption of chocolate in this coun-
! try is largely on the increase, one manufac-
/ turer stating that last year he made 100000
pounds, and used a ton of sugar per day. The
4 best cocoa beans come from Venezuela and
/ Mexico, and the cheapest from San Domingo.
/ The two great chocolate consuming countries
! are France and the United States
THE Royal College for the Blind at Nor
| wood, England, is to be endowed by the Ma
tional Fawcett Memorial. A popularity of
! this institution is the thorough instruction
given in gymnastics. Many of the students
! are skillful performers on the trapeze, judging
/ of the leaps by the muscular sense, and being
guided by 1t IN remarkable manner.
BEAUTIFUL crimson creepers Irvine round
the great steam hammer and the tree-fern
and cactus grow in the furnaces at Sagine,
where the late King of Burmah erected vast
! lronwCrks and shops to build steamers for his
own and the cOuntry's use. His successor,
Thee-BaW, has spent all the years of his reign
IN drunkenness, deDauchery and murder.
SCIENCE has come to the aid of base ball
players, and announces, for the benefit of
batsmen who are ambitious to make heavy
hits, that the ball should be struck at the an
gle OF twenty three degrees in order to send
it to the greatest possible distance. Repeated
experiments in artillery have proved that
Dali fired from cannon at this angle Will
carry further than if fired at any other angle
with like charge OF powder.
MILLING in Spain is in almost as primitive
a condition at the present time as that of semi
civilized tribes of people. The motive power
is, as a rule. supplied by mules, which, with
an ancient form of machinery. imparts rota-
tOn to the bUrTs These are usually situated
in the cellars Of the houses The capacity of
uoh Afa tod 1r1f
penses Of production are also very small, and
that is the main object in a country where
money IS rare article.
Two of the bidders for the government en-
velOpe contract, on their way from Holyoke
TO Washington, were talking over the situa-
ton with much assumed candor. 1t was
readily agreed that. as the bids had been reg
| istered, there could be no risk in comparing
notes; go each promised to mark his bid on
paper and pass it over. Both scratched away.
the papers were exchanged, and both were
blank! Each weasel counted on the somnO-
lent condition of the other.
1T is the almost invarIable custom of steam
ship companies to bury at sea those who die
on the voyage, no matter whether they be rich
or poor, cabin or Storage. This is done to
keep passengers from becoming nervous over
| the presence OF q corpse on board. If the
steamer is only a day from shore when the
/ death occurs, then the body may be kent, but
might die on the voyage is not allowed to TAX
passage. The ship physician determines
whether he is likely to stand the voyage.
IT does not appear that the moderate use of
! Persian opium IN Persia itself is deleterious.
| Opium eaters there are it is true, but they are
few. Opium smoking is almost unknown,
and opium when smoked is. as a rule. smoked
| by native doctors prescription. The opium
| pill box, tiny box of silver, is as common in
| Persia as the snuff box was once with us.
| Most men or 40 among the upper and middle
| classes use it. They take from a grain to a
| grain and half. divided into two pills, one
| in the afternoon and one at night. Travel
| ers, too, almost invariably take it.
JAPANESE INDUSTRIES are mostly conduct
ed in small workshops, with possibly the
aid Of primitive water wheel, fan making
and the manufacture of porcelain, paper pig
meuts and lacquers constituting large por-
| ton of the whole. Nearly all kinds of ores
and minerals are abundant in Japan. but
mining and metalurgy, although practiced to
| some extent for centuries, do not take the
! prominence that would be expected, when we
remember that some OF the most exquisite
| specim of hamm ered iron and bronze work
! to he found IN imported cOectio to -day are
| the productions of japanese artisans of a
thousand years ago.
THE cure of one actress-smitten man is re-
ported. He had for many years been an in
mate of an insane asylum. He became a
! furious lover OF hlbbOIl as mary STUART and
| Immediately went daft. OF late wears the
one mania of love for the mimic Queen was
! all that allied him. Seeing that Ristori. on
her recent farewell tour. had become 4 mid
/ dle-aged woman, with none of her personal
/ beauty left. the physician decided to take his
patient TO see her. The result was astoniah-
/ ingly successful. There was enough OF the
former Ristori TO convince the man that she
was the same individuals; but he was so thor
oughly dlserchanted that recovery wa0 almost
instantaneous.
LONDON DOCTOR has published some curl
Gus comparative statistics on the longevity OF
public and professional men. He found that
the average age at death OF the twenty-five
most prominent American statesmen during
the last hundred years was 60. The average
o. an equal number Of English statesmen was
20 years practically the same. He thought
( the latter dtG more work ut an advanced age.
The difference IN favor Of English. rs compared
with American, political life was brought out
by comparing tue ages ut death Of members
/ Of the British Parliament with those Of the
United states Congress who died between 1860
and lSSl 81 our senators. 80 gave an average
Of Oh years: li6 REPRESENTATIVES averaged L5
years, aud the average for both was IS. The
l2l members OF Parliament averaged IS years
at death.
SHORT time ago a mysterious fire was dis
covered on board tho English corvette Canada
az Bermuda. Fortunately, she had steam up
for distlling purposes, and this was soon
used for working her powerful fire engine,
and proved amply sufficient for extinguishing