Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1885-04-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

! a FiREPR0OF flooring can be made ofplaster
/ Of Paris. This is hardened by new process
! discovered by ". Julio. 1t is not only more
/ Gurabic but desirable on account OF It's
/ economy, costing four times less than oak to
walk upon.
/ A HEAVY RATEsToRM has prevailed on the
/ Cumberland plateau, Tennessee, and all
I streams are greatly swollen. aud the logs
/ which have been banked up since January are
/ etioat. over 100000 feet is now afloat for
I Chattanooga.
/ THERE is q very large colony of Russian
! Mennonites in Bon Homme and other counties
/ ~ Dakota, and they retain most Of their Old
/ country practices. One OF these is their weekly
/ FAIR. Livery Thursday q thousand or more or
them gather at Scotland, bringing whatever
they may wish to sell or trade.
/ A NATURAL ice cave exists thirty miles east
of Fan river valley, Cal, in the Mount
/ Shasta region. There are huge columns of
/ ice. chambers 81 ice, and ice hanging from the
/ ceiling like blades of polished steel, forming a
/ picture Of grandeur. The residents of the
/ valley haul their summers supply of ice from
/ the caAe.
THE English mint is suffering by the impor-
| tation or manufacture of French copper coin.
/ This coin is intrinscally worth but one fourth
! Of its nominal value. leaving Is per cent OF
profit for the people who are flooding the Eng
! llsh market with it. is quite certain that
J 50 vast q QudutltV OF fTe0Cl copper uOeS uOb
/ come into england by the course Of legitimate
/ trade. but that some persons are carrying on
Wha5 Is practically fraud upon the revenue.
a RUSSIAN paner gives some interesting
/ particulars concerning the trade between
Russia and China. In 1906 Russia only re-
ceyed $4,000 pools OF lea per annum, IN 1853
| the amount had risen to 22j COO pools. and IN
/ 1883 1t was no less than $4,000 pools. But. in
! spite of all the assistance rendered to mer-
! chants by the government Of st. Petersburg,
Russian exports INTO China had fallen Off from
/ 100000 r0ubles in 1855 TO 100000 rOubles in
/ lSSl-S3.
PHILIP IL, of Spain. delighted in a cat
organ upon which a bear performed. This
instrument was composed 'of twenty cats,
| separately confined in narrow cases in which
! they could not stir: their tails protruded from
the top and were tied to cords attached to the
| keyb ard of the organ. According as the bear
! pressed upon the keys the cords were raised
| and the tails were pulled to make the cats
! new in bass or treble tones as required by the
! nature of the airs"
! ACCORDING to Pere Hue, the Chinese used
| the cat as a clock. "They pointed out to us"
says the missionary, "that the pupil of its eye
! contracted gradually as noon drew near; that
! at noon it was like a hair, or an extremely
! thin line, traced perpendicularly on the eye {;
| after midday the pupil began again to dilate.
| Wnen we had attentlYely examined the cats
| IN the place, we concluded that 1t was past
noon; the eyes of all presented an exactly
similar appearance"
1.-THE Yam ees," says an English paper,
| boast Of putting out Vesuvius with Niagara,
but they have never yet attempted to carry
| the boast into practice In this respect they
are far behind the simple Russians of SmO-
| lenSk. a small volcano hal developed itself,
j and the peasants have been trying to put it
| out by drenching the ground with water. Ac-
| cOrding to the latest accounts the volcano will
/ continue for some time to afford excellent
! practice for the local fire brigade"
The editor of a Buffalo newspaper recently
asked the subscribers to name the ten most
important inventions of all time. More than
| 500 answers were received and the ten inven-
/ lions receiving the most votes were: The
/ telegraph, printing press. steam engine, cot
| ton gin, telephone, mariners compass, gun
| powder, sewing machine. telescope and photo
! graphy. Twenty-on votes were in favor Of
! the steamboat, six for paper. two for time
/ pieces, and only one for the ocean cable.
THE claimant to the Lovat Scottish peerage,
a gentleman of high respectabilIty, alleges
that his ancestor fled from Scotland and
worked in the Welsh mines of Lords Anglesey
/ and Powers (whO befriended HIM to avoid
! punishment for having, in fit of rage. killed
! piper. The signature of the fugitive miner
! on the uay-rolls is said to correspond exactly
| with that of the missing heir. Meantime the
| existing Lord LOVat has an English peeFage
]
to the Scotch peerage can prefer no claim.
THE organ fur OeIhdndeI gives an account Of
| some experiments lately made in st. Peters
| burg with pyronaphtha, an Illuminating oil
! which Beilstein, the celebrated Russian chem
! ist, thinks win supersede kerosene. 1t is said
! to be wholly free from danger of fire, and
! burning kerosene is easily eXtlnguished BIZ 1t.
| Pyronaphtha itself can be readily put out by
water. 1t burns with bright light, and gives
| of no smoke or vapOr, while the fact that 1t is
a residual product Of the Baku distillation of
| petroleum makes it cost less than kerosene.
IN 1874 Bible sold for 50 marks-f33 6s
| and Sd. The price Of wheat was IS. and 4d. a
| quarter. labOrer's wage halfpence day, a
harvestman's ID. So that the value Of the
Bible sold for so marks was equal to the value
| OF zoe quarters of wheat or the pay of 1000
/ harvesters for one day. In 1929 a COPY Of
! Wiccliffe's New Testament was 4 marks and
! 4)d.-f2 les and Sd. In 1888 the sum of EGG
/ lbs. was paid for transcrlbing a COPY of the
works of Nicholas de Lyra, which was chain
ed IN the library OF the Gray Friars. The
/ price of wheat at that time was IS. and Adj
the quarter the wages of plowman penny
/ day, and OF stonecutter 4d.
THE Nitsu Bisli and the Kiodo Unyu Com
| panies in Japan have recently been compet-
ing with each other in the speed of their YES
sells, both starting at the same hour. This.
/ however, was thought by the Agricultural
! and Commercial Department to be danperous
/ to the lives of the passengers. and they ac-
/ cordingly ordered that the ships should be
started at different times: those steamers 90
| ing at rate of ten knots not leaving harbor
| within ten hours time OF each other: those 90
! ing 1--WE knots within fire hours. BY this sim
/ pie enactment all danger of the ship, of differ
/ ent companies racing with one another has
been avoided.
THE following strange advertisement an
pears in some New England papers: "Come
in out of the cold. All persons desirousof he
ing cremated in the Worcester Gold Bug Gre
matorium should apply early. Treatment in
the order Of application, but Unitarians and
I Eplscopalians preferred. Liberal discount In
all members of the Massachusetts Medical
society ard all graduates Of Harvard ColleCe
This Is rare opportunity for ladies and gen
temcn OF culture. No dead BEATS NIethodists
book agents, or self-educated persona need
apply This is the best means vet devised far
pr ctical application of the doctrine of me
survival OF the iittest. Address Mrs. Alper-
non Winthrop Montgomery smith. iunior sfo.
keres7 and sccretaryes5- in -chief.n
GOOD story is told Of q certain prominent
railway director, who is equally renowned
Tor his ability 60 take or make q Joke.
railway emnloye, whose home IS in the conn
/ try, applied to him for pass to visit his
/ lamlll. "l ON are IN the employ OF the COM
/ panFt inquired the gentleman alluded 10.
- es' "lou receive your pay rcgulatlvFH
/ "le..' "Nell. now. suppose you were work
ing Tor % iarmcr instead Of the company.