The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-09-22
ITEMS OF IN FEh EST.

1Hk honeo and Potenza section OF the South
Italian railway has to pierce through the Apen-
mines, and one of the tunnels which is no \ in
progress, is l,O66 feet in length. At the close
OF March this tunnel had been pierced for a
length of 2 2s3 feet Some progress has also
been made with the approaches in the tunnel
IT IS claimed that the little steam yacht,
Yankee Doodle, which was burned at Philadel-
phia recently. made the fastest mile OF any
craft atioat. Last July she steamed mile in
minutes and 1879 seconds. The boat was so
feet long. with a feet inch beam. Her rival
was the Norwood. owned by Norman L. Munro
of New York. who claims his boat made a mile
in minutes and 12 seconds; at least that rate
was determined by computing her revolutions.
THE relic hunters besiege the watchmen at
Gen. Grants tomb. They must have some
thing. In the past fakrs have palmed of bricks
and sand from other places for good round
sum. But. according to the New York Evening
Post, Chicago visitors are personGe non Ordtde,
so to speak. Here is what it says: OF the
many strangers who visit the tomb Chicago
people are the least welcome to the policemen.
They ask all sorts of questions, are generally
very arrogant and never suited The beauty of
the place, the Hudson near by, arouse in them
no emotions. well" said a recent Chicas o
couple, what queer place to have Gen. Grant
buried in Such Dutch oven for tomb
Now, if it were Chicago, it would be all differ
ent." Another couple inquired OF the pocs
man what he was there for, what need there
was of HIM. The officer nettled, replied: ITO
htOp OulCohO PCOplO rum bbCAiuA 8
tomb"
BIG men seem to abound more or less In all
callings but in art In this country there is a
man who seems not to have peer That ma n
is Clark, the maker of great telescope glasses
The senior is dead, the elder son is dead and the
younger is IS or 60 years aid, So Prof. Todd. of
Amherst College, suggests that II the biggest
telescope OF all is to be made somebody better
give Clark the order before it is TOO late. Prof
Todd diScourages investment for great glasses
for so gernment use. He argues that more
devoted us would be made of them by college
explorers in celestial fields. lie thinks the
tweht y-siX inch glass at Washin ton large
enough for its location and use. The Lick glass
is q thirty-sIx inch Prof. Todd says that IL
Clark could get the necessary glass disks he
would take contract 10 make four foot or
five foot telescope in two or three years, proba-
bly, for Si26, 200 to S.60, coo.
PERHAPS the happIest time In George William
Curtis life as literary man were those nights
and days which he spent with Thackeray In the
early sos. Whom Thackeray came to this
country he brought with him a good many let
tiers of introduction. Some he presented. others
he kept But of all tie men whom he met per-
haps the choicest Intimacy was developed with
Mr.. Curtis, Pa k: Goodwin and the elder Wal
lack. lhackcraJ usru to make sort OF head
quarters at tEe editorial rooms OF putndm's
-HIcdzfnc, and when he came IN there and
70 nd both Curtis and Parke Goodwin there very
little work was done for the rest of that ,a .
MIR. Curtis helped Thackeray gather soma of
very likely that his executors will find in his
correspondence some of those exquisitely
whimsical letters of Thackeray which Mr.
Curtis used with delight now and then to show
to those whom be could trust
ANY clear night, if the watcher has patience.
he may one or more shooting stars or
meteors, says Harper's Young People These
are not stars at all, but often are more brilliant
than any star, because they are near US that
their friction against the earths atmosphere
either causes them to glow at white heat or to
flame up like torch. Even very small
meteor, one not much larEer than a pinhead
might become distinctly visible in this way
anu seen against q backgroun OF oonstella-
tions, outshine the north star The whole solar
system, astronomers say, IS strewn with par
ticles of matter known as star-dust Wills
larger bodies known as meteoroids chase one
another about the sun at intervals Of a few
miles. Usually when these meteoroids en-
counter the earthS atmosphere they break into
small fragments and fall harmlessIy to the
| ground. 1t is thought that only 600 or 700 of
these meteorlc stones reach the surface Of the
earth unbroken in the course of a year while
the number OF small particles which fall has
been estimated at 1000, 900 day. If the air did
not act as a cushion, no casualty would be more
common than being hit by a metorite. MeUe-
orites are usually composed of IRON silicon and
! oxygen, the three elements which are most
common in the earth, aud no new elements
have been found in these visitors from space it
is believed that the solar system, and perhaps
! tine univ rSe, are made out OF the same material
as the earth. The motion of falling meteors is
very curious One has been kuownto travel on
line almost parallel with the earths surface,
and from 81 ty to one hundred miles above it,
all the way from Indian Territory to Central
| New York where it is supposed to have fallen
in fragments. Another passel from Michigan
across New York state and on out to SEQ be-
| tween New York city and New Haven. These
meteors travel GOO or 700 miles an hour after
they become visible. Meteors ara
most common about Aug. 10 and
Dec. Z. when the earth annually encounters
| long droves Of meteoroids as they Journey
around the sun. Once In thirty-three years the
earth crosses the thin stream of Ieonides
which seems to come from the constellation
Leo, and Is so lo1R that six or eight years are
required for this flock of meteors, travelling
twenty six miles a second, to pass gwen point
When the earth meets this great torchlight pro-
cesson there is a display worth seeing. The
next oGe will take place in November, 1899
Where meUeors come from is not known
Whether they arc fragments of burst planet
or collected star-dust only be- surmised
Once 1t was thought that thew kept up the suns
supply of heat by running into him. but that
theory has been abandoned. What is certain is
that the planets are becoming somewhat larger
and heavier every year through the shower Of
meJeors and star-dust that is constantly falling
Thus il happens that while 1t never rains pitch
forks yet iron enough to make pitchfork rains
upon the earth every day.