The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

AAtlfI7-tfA A. - AAAiAANA Nattr fAA@N IT AAAN
brightness OF star seen with the eye alone
is designated by one. with two-inch telescope
IN is 100 times as bright with a iourinch tele-
scope Il is 400 times as bright oiEhtiuch tcle-
scope u Is GO times as bright. sixtceninch
telescope 10 Is 100 times as bright thirty two
inch telescope Il is -. e0) times as bright,
thirty -siN-inch telescope IL Is 50 400 times as
bright That is~stars can be seen with the
thlrty-sixinch telescope that are 5000 times
fainter than the faintest stars visible to the
naked eve.
A Gloucester correspondent OF the London
Telegraph says An ancient custom in this
county Of sending annually lamprey pie to
the Sovereign which has been in allegiance
since 1890, will this year be revived, Her Maj
esty having consented, through the Lord High
Steward OF Gloucester, TO accept the gift,
which will be despatched on Wednesday,
Gloucester used to be famous for lampreys,
and in old times royal proclamatiOns were oc-
casionally issued forbidding their sale at more
than Is. each 1t was the custom Of the Cor
pOration Of Gloucester to present the Sever
eign al Christmastide. as a token OF loyalty
with lamprey pie. which was sometimes q
costly gift. lampreys at that season being
scarcely prOcurable at guinea apiece. The
Severn is noted for this fish, and Gloucester
for its peculiar mode of cooking them. 1t is
said that an excessive meal Of Gloucester
lampreys cost Henry l. his life.
The courts of Massachusetts have recently
rendered a decision in the case of a printer
against some college students, holding the
members of a class responsible for the bills
incurred by their representatives for college
enterprises. The class of 93 of Tufts College
published volume last year prepared by a
board of eleven editors elected by the class.
The business manager OF the board, who was
minor, made the printing contract The
work was done but never paid for. The
printer sued all the members of the class
who were twenty Oneayears old, and obtained
verdict against them. This judgment
says the New York Tribune, may
be considered as settling the question Of the
legal liability of college classes, and printers
may feel safe in doing work for them, provid-
ed they take the simple precaution of having
the business manager state in the presence
of witnesses that he is not contracting the
work on his own responsibility, but that the
class is to pay for 1t.
The sinking of iron piles in Chill with a
water jet has recently been accomplished in
a most satisfactory manner, and has attracted
considerable attention. Some of the piles
were nearly fifteen inches in diameter, with a
fiat bottom fange or pedestal of about forty
two inches diameter, and were sunk to depth
OF twenty-eight feet below the bottom of the
river, through a coarse and compact sand. in
which screw piles penetrated with great diff
Guilty, and sharp piles could be driven only
, twelve to fourteen feet. A pump, delivering
some 10 1000 gallons per hour through a 4.92-
inch pipe, would sink two piles, each having a
2,O9-inch pipe projecting slightly less than
eight inches below its base, with 5.9-inch
opening. The pile being put in position and
the water jet started, it sank nearly three
feet by its own weight, after which 1t was
worked by means of an endless cable leading
from the drum of a hoisting engine around a
horizontal pulley bolted on to the pile, so as
to revolve the latter about its vertical axis.
An average of eighteen hours was required to
sink each pile.
A curious method was recently used in nli-
nois to take the foul air out of we'll says the
St. Louis Globe Democrat. The well was to
he CLEANED INT the m N xSyoe
afraid to go down until he had ascertained
the quality of the air at the bottom. He let
down lighted candle. and when it decended
TO about six feet of the bottom 1t went out as
suddenly as though, distinguished by Whit OF
air. That was all he wanted to know. He
was then sure that the we'll had poisonous gas
IN II, and took a small umbrella, tied string
to the handle and lowered 1t open into the
well. Having let 1t go nearly to the bottom,
he drew 1t up, carried 1t a few feet from the
well and upset it. He repeated this operation
twenty or thirty times, with all the bystanders
laughing at him, then again lowered the light,
which burned clear and bright even at the
bottom. He then condescended to explain
that the gas in the we'll was carbonic acid gas,
which is heavier than air, and therefore could
be brought in an umbrella just as though it
were so much water. 1t was a simple trick,
yet perfectly effective.
A remarkable degree of strength has been
attained in the construction of Dr. Nansen's
new ship Fran, built at Laurain, Norway, and
intended for Arctic exploration, The general
dimensions of this fine craft are as follows:
Length on keel, 102 feet; on water line, 113
feet; on deck, 1913 feet: greatest width, 80
feet: draught, light, - feet; displacement
$50 tons. The keel is in two pieces IA by IA
inches, and the covering IL inches thick.
American oak is used for the keel, and italian
oak for the other timbers, the intervals be-
tween the latter being filled with a mixture of
pitch, tar and and sawduSt; the inside lining
is pitch pine from four to eight inches thick,
and the outer sheathing is in three layers of
three-inch oak plank, then four-inch oak, and
finally an lice cover" of three to six inches of
green-heart. The sides will thus vary in
thickness from some twenty-seven to thirty
inches; the oak bow is four feet thick, and va
riouS beams and crOss-s stays strengthen the
vessel inside; the ship is also pointed fore
and aft and is there further protected by iron
plating. The rigging is that of a three
masted schooner, and the aim has been to con
strUct a strong craft that will lift if pinched
between ice foes.
A species of gigantic serpent called the
dragon is frequently mentioned by the ancient
writers, both sacred and profane says the st.
Louis Republic. The old-time naturaIists had
many disputes as to the actual existence of
such creatures or, when they agreed on that
point, as to their size color, habits etc
Aristotle, volume Is, chapter 81. gives such an
account and so does St. Ambrose Nor
Brach, page 63, where a description of one
40 cubits about 105 feet longJ NAV
be found. Alexander the Great while
uldhlng an attempt TO quarter his
army in a cave during o spell of stormy
weather, was kept from so doing by a
monster dragon, whose body literally
filled the opening of the cavern, into which a
man could have ridden without dismounting
had the reptile not disputed passage" St
Jerome says that such monsters were first
called boas. because of their habit of swal-
lowing whole cows. Livy tells of one encoun-
tered and killed by the Roman army whose
skin, after drying, measured 129 feet in length
and whose body was larger than that of an
Arabian horse" DR.. Dudderidge, in comment
ing on the supposed existence of dragons, says:
Il suppose that all my readers know that a
dragon is a serpent OF enormous bulk job
the celebrated African, assures me that one
of them once carried off live. COW in his
mouth before his face"
Whatever the depression in trade, saws the
London Spectator, there is always something
useless which the rich will buy at fancy
prices A few years ago 1t was odd china
Lord Dudley for example, giving thousands
of pounds for china ship which a housemaid
might break. Recently 1t was French furni-
ture which had been used by some person OF
eminence; and to-day it seems to be rock
crystal and other inferior precious stones. A
vase of that substance, which Is not specially
beautiful, with enamelled gold mounting was
sold on Wednesday at the Splitter sale in
Paris for e. $40, and a jasper cup with similar
mounting for 9l ,892. A Smoky rock
CRYSTAL ever went for P6QO ond % 80