Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-07
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

THE st. Petersburg public library offers its
| visitors unique privilege In the form OF
room set apart for smokers.
| ONE of Mrs. A. 7. Stewards unique orna-
ments at Saratoga is a card case with small
watch in the centre of the outside.
! EARTHoUAKE-PRooF BUILDINGS are Of two
| kinds-those as strong as a steel box and
| those Dullt like wicker baskets. Many OF the
| latter sort are in use in Java.
OCEAN WAVES caused by earthquakes are
| telegraphIc. Those started in Javanese waters
on Aug. 81, 3, were registered by tide gauge
on the California coast the same day,
THERE are really such things as seismome-
tiers, of course. BY means OF these delicate
| instruments seismic troubles are often fore
! told days ahead. but the trouble Is to tell
| Just where the shocks are to be.
A MOST astonishing phenomenon of the jaw
| aDese earthquake was the splitting of the
| Papandayang mountains. In fash of time
| it was split into seven parts. Where the lone
| mountain had stood doomed up seven peakes
each some 1000 feet high.
A LARGE town is growing up around the
| shore of Lake Elsinore, CAL, sheet of water
which is seven miles long and three miles
| wide A popularity of the town is that the
| people go from street to street almost entirely
| by boat. In fact the principal atreet of the
town is circular and can be touched by boat
at any point.
| A GREAT DEAL of talk has been caused at
| Dunkirk by the untimely and unexpected re-
turn. after seventeen years absence, of three
married fishermen. They had been cast away
| in Greenland. Like three Enoch Ardens,
| they have returned to find three Phillips in
their places, or, as the reports put it. "ther
| wives in the meantime had taken other hus-
| bands"
THE South Metropolitan Gas Company of
London has lately reduced the price Of its
| gas by 20. per 1000. The reduction was
| equivalent, If the consumption rem aimed sta
| tionary. to diminution of 10000 year in
| the company's income; but it appears that
| instead OF any diminutien there has been an
| incres'e Of $4,000 on the first half years
| working OF the reduced tariff.
A PHYSICIAN describes in a recent number
of the Deutsche Medicinische Wochenschrift
the case of a patient who refused to eatbe-
| cause he had been forbidden to use alcoholic
| drinks. and who literally starved to death.
| The physician confesses. strangely enough.
that be abstained from forcing his obstinate
| patient to take food because he had no one to
care for and was thoroughly worthless indi-
| vldual.
A BOTAEIST has attempted to estimate
| the number of seed found upon single speci-
| mon of some of the most obnoxious weeds of
this country. For shepherds purse he makes
the number 81, 300 per plant: dandelion, "a
| 7.ooa; common thistle. 81, 1893; chamomile. 49,
| go; bitter weed. S,5ST; rag weed, 1885; com
| mon purslane, 1885,, $780, common plantaln, A.,
| 2Go, and burdock, SS,o6S.
THE smallest oscillating en- CINE in the world
has been made by John r. Hare. Its bore Is
one sixteenth of an inch, and the stroke one
eighth. The wheel. shaft and crank weigh
eight grains. the cylinder five. and the stand
and pillar y grains, making the whole weight
one pennyweight one grain. 1t is about the
size OF a half grown collar button, and Is
| completely covered by No. or child's
| thimble. 1t will be run by compressed air.
| 1t makes 5000 revolutions minute. Mr..
Hare has also made comparative giant,
| which Is covered with an English walnut
shell.
| We are told an affecting story by gentle
| nan from Peoria, III. A little dog had one of
his hind legs badly crushed under loaded
/ dray. A young physician picked up the suf-
| ferlng animal tenderly, carried it home, and
| found that only ampntation could save its
| life. which was done In very skillful man
1 ner. The sagacious dog, it appears, did net
| forget the great service, for one day when the
| physician called, some months after the sur
gical operation was performed, 1t hopped up
| nmbly on its three pins anu nipped a good
| big piece out OF the calf of the good Samarl
| tan's leg.
| A CAPITAL WAY to discover the passage Of
earth waves is by means of the oil IN kero-
sene lamp. II the lamp be Of glass and half
| filed with kerosene oil when the shocks come
ripples will be seen to advance regularly
| along the surface OF the oil. These are not
! ripples like those made by a jar of a building,
| etc. They run across the ell steadily, not
| tremu'ously, and follow one another with
| regularity. Such is a reporters experience.
| The test was made several times. The OF |
being at the level of the eye its motion is
easily seen.
CAPT. JOSEPH WHITRIDGE. who recen tly
died near Sprin gfeld, o., at the age of SO, had
made pretty thorough preparation for death
mp to a certain point. Thirty years ago he
put away heavy plank of burr oak, and
| after letting it season for twenty years had
| his coffin made OF it. He bought o winding
| sheet and placed it IN the coffin. which was
stored in dark room. Twelve years ago he
| dug vault in field near his house. walled il
| up, covered IL with sandstone slabs and
placed boulder weighing seven tons for the
| headstone. He was buried in the coffin and
grave he had prepared.
LONDON Truth: At Ashford last week a
man was charged with catching young pleas
ants on the estate of Mr.. Macarthur. SEN
| tence, one months hard labor. In the not
very distant city Of Rochester another man
was charged with ioeutiy asseulting young
married woman. He had attempted to kiss
! her. and, when she resisted HIS biandish-
| ments, he Knocked her down and kicked her
| brutally. Sentence, three weeks hard labor.
| SO much for "the gallant 'squires Of Keut!"
In the eyes OF these chvalrous gentry mar
4
| and brutally assaulting, one is less heineus
! crime than poaching in 'squire's covert.
AT CANTON, CHINA, a short time since, an
| English sailor caught huge turtle, measur-
| ing AKA feet. 1t was kept on exhibition for
several days, to the apparent distress OF the
| Chinese worKmen, who not only pleaded with
| its captor for its release, but actually sub
| scrIbed considerable sum for its purchase.
| This money was paid over and the turtle was
| then taken on board a launch and returned to
| Its native element amid the firing of crackers
| by the overjoyed workmen, who also placed a
| number of lighted joss sticks and candles on a
! plank which they launched into the harbor
| the same time as the turtle. The reason of
this superstitious veneraton Of the turtle
among the natives is not very clear. All the
| work men could say when asked on the point
was "B'long JOSS pdgip,"
| IN China there is a curious device to make
! record of earth tremors. One of the instru-
ments is thus described: ut is Of copper and
| ia shaped like a wine bottle. Inside is a little
| pillar so placed as to move in eight directions.
! On the outside of the bottle are eight dragon
| heads, each of which contains a ball. Under
| meath these heads are eight frogs, so placed
| that thev appear to watch the dragon face,
| so that they are ready to receive the bali II It
should be dropped. All the arrangements
| which cause the pillar when 1t moves to knock
| the ball out of the dragons mouth are well
| hidden IN the bottle. When an earthquake
occurs and the bottle is shaken, the dragon