The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-01-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

II IS SAID that when Alsric, the conqueror Of
Rome, died that "a river was turned aside to
make place in its bed for his grave, and when
ne was buried the water was again let into its
former channel, aud the prisoners who had
helped to bury him were killed so that no one
might find out where the conquerer OF Rome
was buried" The river thus turned was the
Busento, and the place near Cosento, Italy
See Gibbons Roman Empire" vol g. page S.
IT was largely the fashion in the sixteenth
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries with
ladies of wealth to have their watches richly
incrusted with precious stones A ladys watch
made toward the end of the reign of Queen
Elizabeth had gold case set with 800 turquoise
stones arranged in eight Concentric circles with
single one in the middle. On the upper por-
ton OF the case was a Tudor rose Of crimson
and green in translucent enamel and on the
margin crimson and blue leaves and fruit in
enamal The balance wheel was protected by
gilt cock
THE bronze statue of Liberty which has
crowned the dome of the capitol building at
Washington for the past twenty nine years is 10
feet inches high and weighs 1885 pounds
The hgurs was cast in five sections. the heaviest
oelng or 4,14O pounds weight. The statue was
al completed except the head-piece prior to
Dec =, 1863 the finishing being reserved for that
day. Crawford, who designed the figure. sub
mitted his model adorned with a liberty CAP"
but Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, OBJ
Jected to such head-covering. saying that the
old Phrygian emblem wss relic OF degraded
p9Ople. Inc secretary objections were
tanned and the wel-kpown Indian head-dress
was substituted for the cap. Crawford got
S3, 600 for the plaster model of Liberty; Clark
Mills got So, 90 for casting her in bronze; money
expended for labor and metal ran the cost up to
1913 7a6 81
DURING the summer of 1890 1 gave some
Curious Notes" on the subject of solving the
problem Of light without heat citing the fire.
hYs light as an example OF phosphorescent
Illumination without the usual accompaniment,
From some recent experiments OF Prof Langley
It appears that, after all has been said and done
the nrehy's light is not emitted without gener-
atlnR certain amount of heat-RloW and
warmth seeming TO be inseparabls, Langley
fnds that the trety's light is substantially from
the green side Of the spectrum. AS far as
human contact with the insect is concerned,
there is no appreciable heat contained in the
light, but the professors wonderful and delicate
little instrument, which he calls a "boloscope,"
and with which he measured the heat emitted
by the bug, shows that it is about one-half OF
per cent OF that given out with equal
amount OF light from the candle and other
common combustible ilumnants That the
hZht produced by the FREELY is a chemical
product would seem to be indicated by the fact
that it Is decreased by the processes which
check combustion and increased by the oppo-
site; that nitrogen quenches it and oxygen
stimulates it, while the product of the opera
ton, VI atever it may prove to be, appears to
be fine carbon dioxide.
WRITERS on curious subjects often refer 70 a
lutionary fame in which there is a clause pro-
viding that the skin OF the testator is to be made
into two drum heads l notice that these same
writer's always neglect to give the name Of this
general or revolutionary fame" The fact II,
the eccentric person who left this curious last
will and testament" was not a general at all
but a common everyday private, who formerly
lived at Medrord, Mass. Ihe name of this
patriot was Solomon Sanborn and he was a
warm friend OF the new venerable doctor-poet
Oliver Wendell Holmes. In his will Sanborn
! left his body to DR.. Home on condition that
the doctor would carefully remove and tan the
| skin, which was finally to be converted into two
! drum heads. These, properly fitted in drum
| were TO be inscribed, one with the declaration
or independence and the other with Pope's
! Universal Prayer" Had everything been
carried out as Mr. Sanborn intended it should be-
this drum was TO have been presented to a local
drummer, friend of both SlnbOrn and Dr.
Holmes, on condition that he. the drummer re-
pair to the foot of Bunker Hill monument on
each succeeding anniversary of that famous bat
tie and beat the soul-sUirring strains Of yankee
| Doodle" upon the dried cuticle of the departed
patriot. 1t may not be out of place to mention
here that the curious provisions of this eccen-
trics will were never carried out; also that Mr.
! Sanborn especially gloried in the part that
MASSACHUSETTS, took In the revolutionary strug-
gle, and that he was never happier than whe
relating some personal experience In the days
when the American babies were kicking
Father Englands shns." Mr.. sanborn's coffin
was wrapped in the American flag and followed
to the grave by over 5000 people.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT of some new and wonder
full discovery is the rule IN this day and age,
when every man who considers himself a part
and parcel OF the great universe is bending every
nerve and straining all five of his senses and
wishing he had others to bring to bear on the
many plans he Is ncubating, with the intention
of lettering his own condition or that of Others
One of these new discoveries which is lust being
perfected with the beginning of the new wear
is au apparatus for recording the sounds emitted
by light In 1889 It was first announced that a
beam OF light produced sound. The knowledge
of this curious and interesting fact
was brought about in the fol.
lowing manner: A, beam OF sunlight
was thrown through lens on a glass vessel
filled with lampblack, colored silk or worsted
A wheel having slit cut in its edge was made
to revolve swiftly in this beam of light, cutting
1t in two, SO to speak, making alternate flashes
OF light and shadow The operator then placed
his ear to the glass vessel whereupon he noticed
that each time the flash struck the glass a
strange sound was the result Subsequent ex-
periments were even more startling. A beam
of light was next made TO pass through a prism.
so as to produce what is called the solar spec,
trum or rainbow. The wheel with the slit disk
was again made to revolVe as before, the
colored light Of the prism beam, or rainbow,
falling through the cut just as the sunbeam
had been made to do The operator
again PLACED his ear to the glass
strange intermission of the sounds the different
colors giving different keys of sound, which
made pleasing If not altogether harmonious
ulCut0y Alt6T OK D6TlHleutS proved Jnat
of the colors gave no sound whatever which
accounted for the peculiar intermissons noted
When the vessel was filed with red worsted
cloth and the green light Of the prism flashed
upon it the loudness of the sound produced was
astonishing Only feeble, cracking noises
could be heard when the red and blue parts of
the rainbow fell upon the vessel containing the
red cloth, but when a green one was substituted
the red and blue of the prism made the noise
while the green was scarcely audible The dis
covery is strange one and it is thought some
wonderful things m in