The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-07-26
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

AN EXPLORER who has been collecting speci-
mems from the sea bottom. and also watching
the habits of marine animals, says that artists
are wrong in representing divers as walking
upright, as his experience shows that 1t is neces-
sary to walk with the body inclined forward at
an angle of 450.
For MOTHS salt is the best exterminator. The
nuns in one of the hospital converts have tried
everything else without success. and their ex
perl"nce is valuable, as they have so much
clothing of the sick who go there. and strangers
when dying often leave there quantities of
clothing, etc. They had front room full of
feathers, which were sent there for pillow
making, and they were in despair, as they
could not exterminate the moths, until they
were advised to try common salt. They
sprinkled it around. and in 4 week or ten days
they were altogether rid of the moths. They
are never troubled now.
SOUTHAMPTON FIELDS, known to the world a
the field OF the forty footsteps" is a sinai
plat of ground lying directly in the rear of the
British Museum, London, England. Tradition
says that two brothers, some time during the
Duke of Monmouth's rebellion, engaged in a
deadly duel on this little pi-ce of vacant
ground. Both were killed. When the grass
began to grow in the following spring there
were forty dead patches in it corresponding
exactly in shape and size to the human foot;
tn y were the last impressions made by the
feet of the brothers when preparing to ex-
change the fatal shots.
A CURIOUS CALCULATION of the amount of food
consumed in a lifetime of 20 years has recently
been made by NJ. Soyer, a French savant, now
chef of the Reform Clue of London, Among
other things, NJ Soyer says that the average
epicures of three score and ten will have CON
sumed 80 oxen. 200 sheep, 100 calves, 200 lambs,
so pigs, 200 fowls 1000 fish of different kinds
$4,000 oysters, 5,475 pounds of vegetables 243
pounds of butter, $4,000 eggs and tons of
bread, besides several hogsheads of wine, tea,
coffee, etc. This enormous amount of food will
weigh but little short of forty TONS
AN INTERESTING OPERATION of flesh grating,
which was one of the discoveries of NJ. Paul
Bert, has just been performed at the great gun
works in Paris by a surgeon named DUBIOUS
quet-Labordiere. A workman had his foot
badly burned by molten iron, destroying the
skin over a surface of about eight inches by
four. The surgeon took four strips of flesh
from the thigh of young man and as many
from four different frogs, transferring them to
the wounded mans loot. By great care the
wound healed in eleven days. The cicatrice
obtained by the frogs skin was soft, elastic
and inodorous; that from the human flesh was
much harder, producing irritation at many
points. The result of the operation s of great
Importance, showing the superiority of frog
skin and flesh for serious wounds where both
skin and flesh have been torn or burned away.
The CENSUS of the illiterates in the various
countries places the three Sclavic states of
list, with about 81 per cent. of the population
unable to read or write. OF the Latn-s speaking
races, Spain heads the list with As per cent.
France and Belgium having about IS per cent
The illiterates in Hungary number 43 per cent,
in Austria 30 per cent. and in Ireland 81. In
England we find ID per cent, Holland 10 per
cent, United States white population, 8 per
cent, and Scotland per cent. unable to read or
write. When we come to the purely Teutopic
states we find marked reduction in the per
centage OF illiterates. The highest is in Switzer
land, 2.5; in the whole German empire it is but
l per cent. In Sweden. Denmark, Bavaria,
Baden and Wurtemburg there is not a single
person over 10 years of age unable to read and
write.
Mrs. ADRIAN ALTMAN of Buffalo, N. Y. has in
her possession a dog which, although made OF
bisque, is a most ferocious-looking beast. The
animal was purchased from Boston woman,
who conceived the idea of the design which was
to be used as burglar alarm, and, under whose
care, she should feel safe as if she had a
big brass cannon at each window. Following
up her conception, she had a Siberian blood
hound cast in bronze as large and fierce as DOS
sible. In its diaphragm she had phonograph
set. She then borrowed neighbor's
dog to bark into the machine to load it.
Tne bark did not exactly correspond
with the appearance of the big bronze dog but
she Thought it would brighten burglars for she
said the dog bark will be worse than his bite,
anyway. And so she set up her brazen image
with its full set of Photographic howls and
patent insides. aud had it connected with her
room by wires and an electric button so that
w1en the burglars made their appearance she
could just touch the button and the dog would
do the rest But the burglars did not come and
when the only lady died, the dog burglar alarm
as it was called, was shipped to Buffalo.
THE New ZEALANDERs imagine that the souls
Of the dead go to place beneath the earth
called Reinga. The path to this region of the
soul is a precipice close TO the seashore at the
North Cape. 1t is said that the natives who
live in the neignborhood can, at night, hear the
sounds caused by the passing OF spirits through
the air. 1t i a common superstition with them
that the left eye of every chief becomes star
as soon as the chief dies. Shungle, celebrated
chief, thinking thereby to increase
the brilliancy of his own EYE.
star Sometimes, apparently, il
was thought that there was separate immor
talty for each of the eyes of the dead. the left
ascending to heaven as a star the right in The
| form of a spirit, descending to Reinga 1t
might be mentioned in this connection that the
| natives of the Sandwich islands, at the time OF
their discovery, held a confused medley OF
| notions concerning the future lfe. The current
| fancy was that the souls of their chiefs were
| led by god, whose name denoted Eye ball OF
| the sun" to a life in the heavens, while the
! souls of the common herd went down to Ekea
place corresponding with the New zealander's
| Reinga.
<. R. HARD BIssINGER, the United States con.
sui at Beirut, reports that discovery Of petro
leum has recently been made in the Alexan
dretta district, in the .Vilayet or province OF
| Aleppo, Syria. The United States consular
| a<ent at Alexandria, was directed to cause
minute inquiries to be made, but the result of
| his researches has not been as complete and
full as could have been wished for. The only
details elected are that the land in which GER
tain kind of brownish soil, emitting a peculiar
aud strong smell, has been found. extenls about
fourteen or fifteen miles to the west of Alex
andretta, and from one and seven-eights to
one and one half miles inland from the
sea shore, and that the district within which are
the petroleum wells just discovered is situated
within this area and is not more than alb nut
Z5 square feet in extent. The soil within this
comparatively narrow compass is said to emit
a strong smell of napthia, but does not appear
to ignite when the experience is made of light
ing rag STEPPED in this almost liquid like sub
stance. No trial or analysis seems to have been
made by the concessionary as vet, nor any
studies undertaken respecting the possible
yield, etc. of the new niue. universal opin-
ion, however, is said to prevail that the dis.
coyery is Of little II any importance.
The itching Of the scalp, falling of the
hair, resulting in badness. are often caused
by dandruff, which will be cured by using
Halls Hair Renewer. -Adr.