The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-15
ITEMS oF INTEREST.

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becrlrs rags into new pilot coats. cesspoOl
fifth into ammonia and tar waste into aniliue
dyes and saccharine- In Paris they hrst util-
lie rats 10 clear the flesh from the bones OF
carcasses. then kill the rats. use up their fur
for trimmings. their skin for gloves their
thigh homes for toothpicSs. and their tendOns
and bones for gelltine wrappers.
The common people Of Russia, as rule,
speak only their own tongue A large proper
ton of them cannot read the bewildering
characters Roman. Greek and composite
which form their alphabet, and 10 help their
ignorance the shop walls are covered over
with rudely painted pictures OF articles Tor
sale within. The butchers shop has a picture
Of meats OF all sorts and shapes; the tailor's
walls are covered with paintings of coats and
trousers. The pills of the apOthecary and the
vegetables OF the green grocer are advertised
by pictures upon the doors and windows OF
their stores.
The little plant which is said by scientists
to cause blindness, belongs to the lowest
order of fungi. The propagation-slmply by
division--is very rapid, and It's growth in the
tissues covering the eyeball causes such lrrl-
tatiOn and congestion as to cgt of the supply
Of nutriment to the clearer part Of the eye, so
that the local death of the part. with conse-
quent destruction Of the power Of vision, fol
lows often in few days or even hours. SO far
as is known il Is carried only by lnfect1on-lt
must be planted directly on a suitable soil
before it can grow. This in brief, is what is
known Of the bacterial cause Of blindness.
The full rugged ship the Harry Williams,
met with a peculiar accident while passing
under the Brooklyn Bridge Wednesday
morning A sailor was at work near the top
of the mainmast as the ship approached the
structure. The mainmast was unusually high,
and as the ship swept down the river a car
penter at work the bridge yelled to the
sailor. who slid down Just in time to save
himself. The foremost passed under safely,
but the top OF the mainmast struck the
bridge, and about six feet Of the stick was
snapped OF. 1t was said at the bridge en-
trance that this was the first rccident of the
kind recorded since the bridge was erected.
Owls as well as pigeons and other birds
have remarkable endurance Binding day
light is the only thing that prevents them
from covering long distances as trained
pigeons now do. When 600miles of the coast
OF France big owl alighted in the rigging Of
the British steamship Wilddower, bound
from Rouen to Philadelphia. It was soon
caught and its empty stomach proved that it
! had not eaten anything for four days, having
| been driven seawdrd by a storm. During the
| day il could not find it's way back and alighted
| on the ship. The bird, fine, big one, was
| killed. and its skin is being treated by a
! taXtdermist as remarkable specimen Of the
| owl species.
Electricity has been used as thief catcher
| by one exhibitor at the worlds fair. Several
valuable lenses in his exhibit were
| stolen from time to time, and the theving be
| came so regular that trap was set for the
| thief. Lenses were tempttngly displayed
! within seemingly easy reach, but underneath
| each one was an electrical switch, so arranged
! that when the lens were lifted circuit would
| be closed and bell rung. Hhe guards were
! informed of the trap and instructed on the
! course to take in case they should hear the
| bell. The Sunday after setting the trap the
| bell suddenly began TO ring and the guards,
| rushing in. were able to arrest the thief and
! secure sufficient evidence to lead to his con
| viction
The London correspondent of the Manches-
ter Courier hears that the admiralty has IN
der consideration a new species of torpedo
boat, constructed with a view Of avoiding the
nets with which iTonclads are surrounded
nowadays. The latest inventor claims to be
able TO dive under these obstacles, discharge
the torpedo against the ships bottom and to
return in a similar manner. In other words,
partially realizes the submarine vessels de
scrihed by Jules Verne in A Thousand
Leagues Under the Sea- The idea is scarcely
original Indeed. three or four patents of the
kind were submitted to the American govern
ment not very long ago, l believe. however,
that they hardly fulfilled their pretensions
and that they were in consequence rejected
The English idea, however, is said by experts
to be worked out with remarkable ingenuity
and may al least be considered a long step in
advance of similar contrivances'
Bacteria have bad reputation in the popu-
lar mind on account of the part they play in
many fatal diseases, says the Youths Com
panion. Yet all the bacteria in the world are
uub winning against llhu anu HIS INTERESTS.
On the contrary some of them are his potent
and faithful allies. Consider, for instance,
the minute organisms that manufacture nitric
acid as food supply for plants. One set of
bacteria busy themselves in turning ammonia
found in the soil into nitrous acid. There
their work ends, and so far as the plants are
concerned it has been ineffective. because
plants cannot feed upon nitrous acid. But
another set Of bacteria take up the operation
at just this point, and from the nitrous acid
produce nitric acid, from which plants are
nnd w oil n GWfW fzh1F NEfVaf
other bacteria living in the roots of certain
plants enable those plants to assimilate nj
trOgen derived from the air and thus, instead
of eXhauSting the soil in which they grow,
actually to enrich it. In short man probably
has at least as many frienas as foes in the
microscopic world.
There'h has been a good deal Of complaint Of
late of pain and inflammation in the third
toe; sometimes it affects one foot and some
times both are troublesome, says the New
York Recorder. Up to date no one seems to
have diagnosed the case properly. Here is
an opportunity for some medical research
that shall solve the problem of what many
persons call the thrd-tOe disease In some
cases the toe is intiamed and sensitive TO the
touch in others there is no outward indiCa-
ton of any difficulty. but all the same there is
continual pain and uneasineSs, spaSmOdic at
times. and again steady, aggressive and very
irrlta ting to the nerves. The complaint with
some sufferers is that ii is impossible to keep
the foot still, with others that 1t causes con
dition of general nervousness. Another pa
tCnt says that the pain runs to the heart, and
another that it involves the entire half of the
body, Some scientist has said that some day
we are to have no toes at all; perhaps this is
the first symptom of this condition, Maybe
evolution has already set in. If So and the
symptoms increase in severity, it will evil
IDENTIFY be painful process.
The following rather curious piece of Icom-
position was recently placed upon the black
board at a teachers institute in Vermont and
prize Of Webster's dictionary offered to
any person who could read it and pronounce
every word correctly. The book was not car
ried on, as twelve was the lowest number of
mistakes in pronunciation made, "A Sacri-
legiOus son of Belial who has suffered from
bronchitis, having exhausted his finances in
order to make good the deficit resolved to
ally himself to a comedy, lenent and docile
young lady of the Malay or Caucasian race.
He accordingly purchased a caliope and CO.
raj necklace of a chameleon hue, and secur-
ing suite of rooms at a principal hotel he
engaged the head waiter as his Coadjutor He
then dispatched a letter Of the most unexcep-
tional caligraphy extant inviting the young
lady to a matinee. She revOlted al the idea
refused to consider herself sacrihcable to his
desires, and sent polite note of refusal. on
receiving which he procured a Carbine and
bowie knife, said that he would not now forge
letters hymeneal with the queen, went to an
isolated spot, severed his jugular vein and
discharged the contents Of the carbine into
his abdomen. The debris were removed by
the coroner The mistakes in pronuncia-
tiOn were m adp the following words,