Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


hurry nor to spring from stair to stair. They
should step firmly, lesurely and Keep erect.
IN Moscow there are said to be over 100000
children Of school age, yet the MUNICIPAL
schools have accommodations for 1900 pupils
only.
A MAINE teamster says: 81 can start the
most obstinate horse by taking him out Of the
shafts and leading him around in a circle I'M
Ill he is giddy."
A PROPOSAL is on foot to erect at Paris, in
the Place DIES Etats Unis. reduced copy of
the colossal statue of Liberty Lighting the
World. which was presented by France to the
United states.
FIGUREHEADs for bows of ships are going
out of use. Where, in 1860, there were, in Bos-
ton. six carvers of these heads, now there is
only one. Sailors are fond of poklng fun at
them. and often a ship comes into port with a
pipe in the mouth Of the winged cherub on the
bow.
THE pronunciation of 'tuberose' has been
a subject of discussion In an English paper.
and the decision that the word is a trisyllable
has been at last unanimously reached. The
flower IS a lily, and the name Is from the
French "tubereuse," called from the tuDer-
like bulb of the plant. Shelly pronounces the
word IN three syllables.
CHICKENS, two minutes after they have left
the eggs, will follow with their eyes the
movements of crawling insects and peck at
them. judging distance and direction with
almost infallible accuracy. Ihey Will IN
stnctIvely appreciate sounds, readily run
ming toward an invisible hen hidden IN a box
when they hear her call"
A NEW kind of gunpowder is brown in
color, and, when fired, gives but little smoke.
Such powder, it is claimed, would be very ad-
vantageous for use in the Soudan; for, during
some of the late fights, half Of the English
shots were utterly useless and at RAMON on
account OF the smoke, under cover OF which
The Arabs have. several times, been able to
break the English square.
BosToN's backwarduess in not having a
geological garden is emphasized by what other
American cities have done and are doing In
this direction The board OF directors Of the
geological garden in ST. Louis decided at re-
cent meeting to build one of the finest giraffe
and elephant houses in the country. The
building IS to cost $4,000. and to be completed
by July l. a sea lion is expected at the gar
den in about week.
HORSES have a natural dislike of camels in
mass, and can scarcely be induced to charge
upon a body of these desert animals, even
when they are lying down and tied. This
dis Ike Of the horse for the camel was pointed
out by HerodOtus in bis account of the great
Persian war. when Cr0asus, King OF LYDIA,
was defeated by his cavalry horses fleeing as
soon as trey scented the camels. That he has
not got over his cowardce since HerOdotus'
time is not very creditable to the reasoning
qualities of the horse.
THE largest gun yet made for the United
States Government has been completed by
the South Boston Iron Company, and was
shipped last Tuesday to the ordnance prov
ing station at Sandy Hook. 1t has been in
process of construction since last August, and
was mate Of the one DESTROYED last Septem-
Der during the moulding. This gun IS p feet
IN length, weighs 81 tons. and Is OF Finch
Calibre. carries an S00-pOund shot. and uses
$50 pounds of powder in one discharge, 1t is
riied with 81 grooves, and is intended for an
experiment lOug-range rifle gun.
SECRETARY OF STATE KELSEY. of New
Jersey, has refused 20 receive the original
copy Of the minutes of the late Assembly,
which are required to be filed in his office, on
account of their condition when presented to
him When the session began number of
Assembymen desired to have on their desks
each morning printed copy of the proceed
ings of the previous day, and they passed a
resolution to this effect. The Clerk had to
rush the original copy of the minutes Off to the
printer at once. and the latter had to slice it
into small pieces for the printers.
ONE day last week Mr.. Lee Finger, who
lives eight miles south of Newton, N. c.,
while at work in his field, sent his little son to
the house to get some fire with which to burn
a brush heap. The little fellow in passing by
the straw stacks concluded to have little
blaze Of his own, and stuck the fire to a bunch
OF straw. In a few seconds a straw stack
was on fire, and In q few seconds more half
dozen stacks were on fire, and from the huge
blaze thus made the barn, stable ana graDa-
ries soon caught fire Not a vestige Of the
grain, roughness or buildings was left.
A GREENvILLE county, Va, farmer has
had several fine swine killed lately by a mys-
tarior7a amin al that couI1 NOT 10 coutvro1
He finally found the tracks of the beast and
following it with some dogs, on last Thursday
came upon a large black leopard, which
spraug into a tree. He fired and brought the
animal down. A free fight then ensued be-
tween the farmer, his dogs, a cOlOred servant
and the leopard, which was finally killed
with an ak. II was found to be one that had
escaped from a travelling menagerie some
months before.
MAJ. sTERNBERG, Of the United States
army, who is detached at the Johns Hopkins
! University, Baltimore. investigating causes
of disease, stated before the Pathological
Society of Philadelphia that pneumonia is
simply the failure Of the system to resist the
ravaSes of micrococci, sort OF vegetable
fungus growth that exists i'm healthy human
saliva, hut differs in virulence, being greatest
among TIE negroes. lie gave results Of tile
fatal effects on various small animals of in =
jected saliva. Heinjected his own saliva into
number OF rabbits. and declared that they
died within "a hours with symptoms similar
10 pneumonia.
THE Japanese dentist performs all hisopera-
tions of tooth drawing with the thumb and
fOrednger Of one hand, and thus he never ter
rifles his patients with an array Of steel In
struments. The skll necessary to do this is
only acquired 10y long practice But. once il
rs obtained, the operator is able to extract
about half dozen teeth in thirty seconds
without once removing his fingers from the
patients mouth. The dentisi's education
commences with the pulling out OF uegs that
| have been pressed into soft wood; il ends
with the drawing Of hard pegs which have
! been driven INTO an oak plank with q mallet
IL Is said that no human jaw can resist the
delicate but powerful manipulation OF the
japanese dentist.
TWO new seedlingsof the dracwna variety
were named by the gardener at the White
House "Aliss Van Nechten" and "President
Cleveland" They are handsome foliage
plants with leaves IS inches long and inches
wide, that named for the President being a
purplish red and the other q red pink and
green combination. Requests for these seed .
hngs have been received from England and
several fine snecimCns will be sent over bv
the next steamer. The President and the
young lady hOn1red boo this pleasant manner
were very much gratiled when their name
sakcs were shown them, and the library was
adorned with half dozen large pots contain-
ing the new plants.
SOME FIGURES are published by n Paris
journal which mag be OF interest. Il states
that in an average first night audience,
amounting in an TO 1000 people, there will be [:
Personal enemies Of the author 80; persons
who. without knowing him, hope for q fail