The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-05-07
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.
In HUNGARY and Brittany the young girls as
semble on certain fete days. wearing red petit
coats with white or yellow borders round them.
The number of borders denotes the portion the
father is willing TO give his daughter. Each
white band representing silver, denotes 100
francs per anuum, and each yellow band de-
notes gold, betokening 600 francs year.
A RUSSIAN ATHLETE, NJ. Vslowski, having
made a bet that he would cover the distance
between Bordeaux and Angouleme. there and
back, on foot total distance OF i45 miles, in
twenty-four hours, started on recent Sunday
morning. He returned on the following Mon
day morning, having accomplished the double
Journey in forty minutes less than the stipu-
lated time thus winning the wager of 1000
francs.
CANARY BIRDS fed on cayenne pepper insensi-
bly, change color and pass from yellow to red
Cayenne pepper, in addition TO a tinctorial sub
stance, contains an irritating principle and an
oily matter When these two latter principles
are extracted through maceration in alcohol the
pepper loses its coloring property upon the
plumage of the birds; but II olive oil be added
TO the product of maceration the coloring &C
ton reappeara
ACCORDING to the Greek theory of creation
(Which seems strangely at variance with their
refined ideasl, Zeno, in spirit of cruel jest.
ordered Vulcan to make woman out of clay,
and afterwards induced the whole host of gods
and goddesses 20 invest the clay image with
all their worst quail ties After this had all
been done to Zeno's liking, the breath of life
was breathed into the statue, and capriciou5
woman started in her erratc career.
The Portland fl shing schooner Hattie Maud
was hauled out on the marine railway last week
for painting and cleaning, and it was found tina t
she needed a new cardboard straKe-the PLANK
next to the keel When the old plank was taken
off a curious discovery was made A cobble-
stone, weighing couple of pounds, had rolled
between the planking and the ceiling Of the
vessel, and from constant motion with the roll
ing and pitching of the schooner had nearl y
worn through the pla nix in one spot.
THE PUBLIC has often been told how Edison.
years before he wrestled successfully with the
problem of making incaudesceut lighting
commercially possible, amused himself by de-
signing an electric trap that wrought havoc
with the cockroacheS attracted by mis- lunch
basket. Carl Herring has now improved on the
idea by constructing a device for preventing
caterpillars from crawling up trees. Alternate
wires of copper and zinc are run around the
trunk of the tree, at a distance OF ABOUT one
half inch apart, The casual caterpillar tegins
to mount the trunk Of the tree, and unlimbers
himself with the confidence and vigor born OF
an impending feast. Presently he reaches the
copper wire, pokes his nose over it, and lets
another kink out of his backbone. One-half
inch further up his front feet strike the zinc
the current is completed. and the unfortunate
larva is a martyr to science
GUS Some say it is the dust in the air that
gathers the moisture into drops, each particle
of dust being the nucleus OF a drop. Without
dust there would be, some say, no rain, but only
dew. But there will not be dew except under
certain atmospheric conditions, 50 that the
Interior question is as to the cause of the con.
ditions that produce rain. Here, too, the au.
thorities differ. Some say the chief cause is the
cooling of vapor in the air due TO an ascending
movement Of large masses of vapor-laden air
Five miles above our heads there is an arctic
temperature, and vaporladen air once up that
high would be squeezed dry. Other meteo
rolagists contend, however, Lhatsrain is caused
by the mere mixing of horizontal currents of
differing temperatures and degrees of satura-
ton. Mere expansion of warm vapor-laden air
may cause it, it is said to drop its burden. The
doctors are not agreed.
THE story is related of a little town called
Feldkirch. on the frontier of Austria on the Ill,
an afiuent of the Rhine. In the year 1799 when
the armies Of Napoleon were sweeping over the
continent, Massena, one Of his generals, sud &.
denly appeared on the nights above the town
at the head OF lS, 900 men. 1t WAS Easter day,
and the morning sun, as 1t rose, glittered on
| the weapons of the French at the top of a range
OF hills to the west of Feldkirch. The town
council hastily assembled to consult what was
to be done. Defense was impossible Should a
deputatlon be sent TO Massena with the keys of
| the town and a petition that he
treat the place with mercy Then the
1T is Easter day." he said I'VE have been
reckoning our own strength. and that fails Let
us ring the bells and have service as usual, and
leave the matter in higher hands" His words
prevailed. Then all at once from three or four
church towers in Feldkirch, the bells began to
clang joyful peals and the streets filled with
worshipers fastening to the church. EThe
sudden clangor Of joy bells, and concluding
that the Austrian army had arrived in the night
to relieve the place, Massena suddenly broke up
his camp and before the bells had C .ased ring
ing not Frenchman was to be seen.
AN OFFICIAL ACT regularly performed at the
interval of twenty years, and therefore of some
historical, as well as practical and scientific,
interest took place at Westminst or on Satur-
day, April 2, says the Illustrated Nel0s of the
World. 1t is generally known that all British
or imperial weights and measures are regulated
by standard unlts,a pound and a yard, which are
in charge of the board of trade. These are kept
at the standards department, old palace ward,
Westminster, and copies of them are supplied To
wich and to the Royal Society of London. They
are always available for reference. But the
board Of trade standards are made in accord
| ance with primary standards which are sealed
up and deposited, for safety, in walled up
| recess In the interior of the house of parlia-
| ment. The Imperial Standard of Measure" is a
| solid square bar OF bronze, on which is marked
| the length of the standard yard of thirty-six
| inches between two lines of little gold studs
| The Imperial Standard of Weight" is a
| platinum :cyliuder Euearly lbs inches in hight
and lis inches in diameter. These imperial
| standards of measure and weight were con.
| structed IN 1874 we're legalized in 1885, and are
now adopted in all British colonies and depend
encies. They are very carefully preserved. The
l pound weight, for instance, is inclosed in case
/ of silver gilt. in another case of solid bronze
| then placed in mahogany box; this is put into
! a leaden case and the whole sealed up in an
| oaken box. A periodical examination is neces-
| sary for which two instruments have been de.
vised; microscope comparator, which viii de-
tect an error OF the 100, 000th part of an inch
| and a balance of precision, which will show a
variation Of the i0,00Oth part of a grain. The
examination was made in the presence OF the
speaker, with the clerk OF the House of Com