The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1889-02-19
ITEMS OF INTE REST.


their credit
THE Paris academy Of science is just now ex-
cited over plant called Colocasia. This plant
often exhibits trembling or vibrating mo-
ton without any apparent cause, and as many
as 100 or 100 vibrations have been observed in
single minute.
THE Paris FiJdro says that the Illustrated
London Nelcs will erect an exact reproduction
of Shakespeare's house at Stratford-on-Av
for its headquarters at the Paris exposition this
year The intention is to make the copy com
plete in every detail
A RED-cHEEKED, rusty looking old gentleman
bought bag of shorts at Bangor, Me-. store
not long ago and the new clerk refused to let
him take them till he had paid. He afterward
fOun out that his customer was an eX-Nice
President of the United States.
A BREWERY EMPLoYE in San Francisco on a
wager, carried on his shoulders, for distance
of six miles and half, a keg weighing 1O7
pounds. making the trip in about two hours
When asked if he felt tired he offered to beU
even money that he could carry the key back
to the place of starting but there were no
takers.
AMONG the couples who took out marriage
licenses in Chicago during one day were Michael
Wawzyniak and Anna Cichanska Ignatius ely
bowski and Annie Wychene wski, and Jan StrZy
zynski and Antonio Oksinka. The Chicago
NeICS, commenting. says. that all these names
are regular tooth pullers but marriage will wipe
out half of them, and therefore is not failure.
A DISEASE resembling membranous Group
RACES among the children at Wabash, Indiana,
and forty-seven deaths are reported. The local
physicians are reported with acknowledging
their inability to cope with the disease, and DIR.
Ford, of the board of health, states that yellow
fever in its most virulent form, does not
approach this phase of Group in point of fatal
ity.
THE OTHER DAY at Hampton, Va. Indian
School an elocutionist of some power had been
reading and reciting for the entertainment and
instruction of the school, and among other Sc
lections was one more less familiar to the
Indians. After the entertainment had closed
an Indian girl, in all seriousness. asked: did
that man read to show how it ought to be read,
or how it ought not to be read?'
Snow SHOES are worn even by horses on some
of the stage routes in Nevada They are fastened
to the hoofs by clamps, and, after an animal be-
comes used to them he can travel four or five
miles an hour where it would be impossible to
go that distance IN week without them. The
shoes are made of thin steel plete, and measure
about by Il inches. The horses are shod with
long heel calks, which go through the snow
shoes and prevent their slipping going up and
down hill.
THE MORPHINE HABIT has become so prevalent
in San Francisco as to give rise to a slang ap-
plying to it and its votaries. The latter are
called morphine fiends,' and the process of
hypOdermic injection Is called taking shot."
Hospital surgeons say that the morphine habit
is increasing rapidly, and that most of the vic
tins were initiated in Chinatown. Oae of these
Officials estimates that 90 per cent of the petty
offenders sent to the receiving hospitals Of the
city prison are victims of the morphine habit.
Cocaine is so expensive that few acquire the
''nabit,
DR.. NORMAN KERR, an eminent physician of
England, believing the statement of temperance
people that $4,000 people died annually from
the effects Of strong drink to be extravagant,
began as early as 1870 a personal inquiry in con
nection with several m edcal men and experts
expecting to quickly disprOve the figures. Ac-
cOrding to their deductions the latest estimates
of deaths of adults annually caused through
intemperapce are, in Great lin, 800 900; in
France, 1t2 90; in the United States, $1,000, or
nearly 500 600 each year in three countries ag-
gregating population of l12O00,000.
Alta RECENT TALK on ''WIt and Humor in the
Press, +" given before the Contemporary Club of
Orange, n. j., H. c. Bunner, editor of Puck
related all anecdote, of which William Walter
Phelps was the subject. Some years ago Puck
had been caricasuring Mr.. Phelps profuselv,
always representing him with beard which at
one time he wore. Mr. Phelps wrote a polite
note to the editor saying that he did not object
In the slightest to be carlo tureu, but be hated
to see inaccurate journa ism. For some time
he had been wearing only mustache and
trusted that for any future caricature they
which he inclosel. This illustrated the anna
ability and good humor with which some public
men endure carcatureS.
WHEN visiting a friend last summer, saws
Notes and Queries, ne called my attention to a
curious plan for preventing the plague of flies
in his house. The upper sash of one of the
windows in his sitting groom being open for
ventilation, there was suspended outside a
piece of common fishing net Ny friend told
me that not a fly would venture to pass through
it. He has watched for an hour at Il time and
seen swarms fly to within few inches of the
net, and then, after buZZing about for a little
depart. lie told me the flies would pass
through the net if there was thorough light
that is, another window in the opposite wall
though the day was very warm, did not see a
single fly in the room during my visit though
elsewhere in the town they were to be seen in
abundance. J suppose they imagine the net to
be a spiders web, or some other trap intended
for their destruction.
A CONDUCTOR on q street car line in New York
has noticed that women have an aversion to ac-
ceptng pennies in change, although they pay
their fares in money of that denomination
ottener than any other class Of riders. He
dosen't know, either why such is the case and
can only say in explanation that lit S their
way He adds: I've seen women hunt in
every pocket they had for pennies rather than
give up nickel, and if they don't have the pen
MES they give over the nickel in a way that
IN ans pretty plainly that they don't think they
ought to do it. They stand in with each other
too, on 1t. I've See1 one woman help another
out with some Of her own pennies so that
should get them for fare. But you Just let me
offer them pennies in change and see how quick
they object If can help it don't offer them
pennies, for 1t isn't pleasant When | am
obliged to do il. and see the way I'm glared at
and hear the remarks made, feel like some
sort of criminal
VI EIFFEL's metallized monument in the
Champs de Mars is said to have been lately
competing with the famous Leaning Tower of
Pisa. The rumor was spread that the nine
tenth century Babel had been seen to oscillate
slightly towards the left or light, no one being
able TO specify the particular direction NJ
Elte' and his constructors admit the possibility
OF slight deviation of the axis of the tower
but they are firmly convinced that the iron edi-
flee Is as perpendicular as the firm stone foun-
datlon on which it rests. They contend that
aven if the tower deviates the accident would
b. OF no Importance, as it rests not on a strong
basis of masonry but on a complicated maze Of
machinery of steel and Cast-iron into which
hydraulic presses OF 800 tons power can be in
troduced FOR the purpose of keeping the tower
IN the perpendicular. The engineers also aver
that the ground on which the tower rests is no
IN ore overwelghted than if it bore an ordinary
Partisan building of fve stories. and that the
resisting power of the iron Of which it is com
p )sed is sufficient 10 insure its safety, The
tower, as it now stands. is a thing of wonder IL
not of beauty, and will certainly be the marvel
OF the approaching Universal exhibition.
ONE Of the attaches Of the court house in
Portland, Ore is in possession Of an old paper
n hR Vartv Is.-t.1