The morning news., 1892-02-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| In PERSIA lambs week old and weighing
only few pounds, are roasted whole and
stuffed with dates raisins, chestnuts, pistachios
ana almonds. Sherbet, in large china bowls, is
always served at dinner. Ii consists of fruit
| syruns or eau sucree; it is usually iced, and is
| drunk from large wooden spoons.
BERLIN's richest citizen has an annual income
OF S75O,OOO. But two persons in Prussia paying
an income tax are richer. man tsaid TO be a
| Rothschildl in Weisbaden is taxed on an income
| OF Sl,OOOO 600, and another (said TO be Krupp) In
dusseldorf Is taxed on 81, 500, 900. KruDp stands
at the top in the 12Sth class of income taxpay-
ers.
| A NORTH CAROLINA TOURIST, in Cuba, had his
watch stolen on the street. In less than two
hours police judge had sentenced the robber
TO three years imprisonment. He also awarded
the North Carolinian Ss3 damages for the injury
sustained by his watch in the struggle for its
possession, and ordered the convict to work it
out.
TIE wonderful and well known faculty of
| rnimicry possessed by monkeys makes them
| excellent subjects for Thespian training.
| Several apes of the common order are sold an
nually from tue geological gardens to i'm
pressarios or the siman stage. The value of
| them depends almost entirely on their powers
| OF attention, which vary greatly even in diff
terent members or the same species.
A MOST interesting relic, which British Colum-
| bia proposes TO send to the worlds fair, is the
wreck Of the old Hudson Bay Compauy's steam
boat Beaver which was the first steam boat to stir
the waters OF the Pacific of the North American
coast. The wreck of the Beaver lies with its
nose on the shore and its stern in about l2 feet
| OF water at the entrance to- Vancouver harbor,
where 1t was run aground and abandoned in
| 1885.
BY FAR the most intelligent denizens of the
deep are the dolphin and the porpoise. and long
and careful examination of the latter which
formerly inhabited the large tank at the Brigh-
ton aquarium proved them to be not only tame
able and even socable as regards man. but also
| TO possess social likes and dislikes, and great
| exclusiveness with regard to other Inhabitants
OF what they considered their particular do
main
THE growth of modern science in japan is one
of the most interesting phenomena connected
with the history of civilization. The Japanese
and the Magyars of Hungary are the only peo-
| pies OF other than Aryan stock who have
founded universities and taken part in the de-
velopment of the historical and physical sci
ences. The university Of Buda-P Pesth dates
| from the fifteenth century. and at the present
moment its large STAFF of eminent professors
contains but few names which are not distinct
| lively those of Magyar nationality. The uni.
| verslty OF Toxic was founded in the year 1868
| by the union of the Toxic Daigaku and the
| Kobu Daigako 1t has more than zoo students
and comprises college of law, with eleven pro
fessors OF whom only one is an European; a
college of medicine with sixteen professors, all
native japanese; college of engineering with
| eighteen professors, three of whom bear En-
gish names; college of literature with ten pro-
| fessors, of whom two are Englishmen and two
Germans; college Of science with fifteen pro-
fessors, among whom One-a chemist is En-
| glish. the rest being Japanese.
The builders Of the Congo railroad are now
| in the midst of their greatest difficulties.
Nine-tenths of the engineering problems are
| centered in the fifteen miles. Near Matadi, on
| the lower Congo, the engineers are compelled
ffNh or hn aulwr
way. For about three miles the roadbAd 10 dug
in the solld rock that rises almost precipitously
above the Congo Ii then tnrns up the Mposi
valley, one of the toughest spots IMAGINABLE
| Every quarter of a mile or lass the track will
have TO be carried across the river on bridges
The first five miles of this difficult part of the
| road have now been completed, and
the work is making good progress on
| the second section. BY the end of
this year the engineers expect to have
| all their bridges in place and to have the road
completed to Palabala, at the summit of the
plateau, and then the work will advance rap
| idly to Knchassa, on Stanley pool. The num-
Der of workmen has been largely increased of
late The latest mail reports that 2. $50 native
laborers are grading the roa1bed and excavat-
ing the rock. The managers are we'll pleased
with the progress they are making The build
ing of the bridges at Belgium has advanced far
ahead Of the work on the Congo, and great
deal of material is now on the river ready TO be
put in place. The need of the road is increas-
ing every month. The trading stations above
Dutch and French traders has Increased increased
to about 100 members and they are
collecting great deal of ivory
and rubber. which is now sent to the coast on
the backs of men. About 80, 600 porters are now
employed in the transportation business The
| railroad company is carrying out one work
which is unique in the history Of railroad en-
terprses II has constructed in Belgium three
iron buildings for the use of Belgian mission
aries. The whole cost is betrayed by the raul
| road company, whose officials say that it will
pay them toEive this assistance to the mission
aries on account or the excellent influence they
have upon the workmen and the soIicitude with
which they look after the health of the black
personnel The company has also taken steps
to establish Sanitarium at Kinkanda and has
competent medical staff to care for the
sick.
NOWADAYS, when the colors of animals and
their uses for the purposes of recognition aud
protection are forcing themselves upon the at
tention of all naturalists, it is not so wonderful
that an animal so conspicuousy marked as q
zebra should have commanded large share of
notice. Much as it has been considered, how
ever, do not think We have yet learned all the
lessons that it has to teach us That its bold
and vivid stripes should be of imm ense service
for recognition may be accepted as beyond dis
pute The statement of Francis Cation
that on clear moonliU night these vivid stripes
melt into invisibility, and to an eve not abso-
lutely focused TO the animal itself but to OBJ
jects in its immediate vicinity, it is quite un-
seen, even when so near that its breathing can
DS ueaIu ulStlhCIlys proves most lnQu0lt-
ably their immense protective value
AS he says: "If the black stripes
were more numerous, it would be seen as a
black mass; il white, then a white one: but
their protection is such as exactly to match the
pale tint which arid ground possesses in the
moonlight" Prima face. this is hardly what
one would have expected, but when pointed out
by competent ana trustworthy observer, even
slight knowledge of the laws Of hight proves it
to be true. Let any one notice at what a short
distance lady in galatea dress with broad
stripes becomes invisible in the moonlight. and
he will be at once convinced of the truth of
Cations remark. Prof. Henry Drummond
further says: when we look at the coat of a
zebra, with its thunder-an6 liz ightning pattern of
black and white stripes, we should think such a
conspicuous object designed to court
rather than elude attention. But the
effect In nature is just the oppo-
site. The black and white somehow take
away the sense of a solid body altogether, and
the two colors seem to blend into the most
inconspicuous gray. and at close quarters the
effect is as of bars of light seen through the
branches of shrubs. 1 have found myself in q
forest gazing at what supposed to be a so-
tary zebra, its presence betrayed by some mo-
tion due to my approach, and suddenly real
lied that was surrounded by an entire herd
which was all invisible until they moved" By