The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

About three centuries ago a wealthy old
maid in London left legacy 70 the pigeons.
In consisted in a bushcl Of grain a day to no
thrown from the stceplc OF St Martin S.
Every d1y Al noon 10 IS thrown out aud thous-
ands q pigeons assemble % share the old
maids bounty.
A BON Az man has constructed a hedstead
/ priced at 1000 rupees. II is thus described:
/ 1t has al its four corners four fullsized,
gaudily dressed Grecian damsels-those at
the head holding banjOes, while those on the
/ right and left foot hold fans. Beneath the
/ red is a musical box which extends the whole
/ length Of the cot, and is capable OF playing
3 twelve different charming airs. The music
/ begins the moment the least pressure has
/ been brought to bear from the top which is
created by one lying or sitting, and ceases
/ the moment the individual rises While the
music is in progress the lady haniOists at the
head manipulate the strings with their fingers
and move their heads while the two Grecian
damsels at the bottom fan the sleeper to
/ Sleep
Herr Noll, a mechanician of Berangen,
| Germany, has constructed clock warranted
to run for 900 years without winding says
| the Brooklyn Eagle. d. L. Con in this coun-
| try, has in his hall an old fashioned clock
! which, so long as the house is occupied never
| runs down. Whenever the front door is
| opened or closed the winding ARRANGEMENTS
OF the clock, which are connected With the
! door by a rod with gearing attachments. are
/ given turn so that persons entering or
| leaving the house keep the clock constantly
| wound up. Z. G. Farrer, Of Fresno, Cal, In
vented a clock. the only motive power of
which he alleges, is the gravitation Of the
| earth which keeps the clock running forever
| without winding. I he clock consists OF plate
glass dial suspended from the ceiling, and all
the arts Of it that visible are the two
hands, the pivot on which they swing and the
dial. In lSA0 j. Smith, Leeds England con-
structed a clock. the sole motor of which vas
electricity. He lived to see this clock 20 for
fifty years. Clocks are now made to run tive
. years with one winding up There is clock
in the church of ST. Quentin, Mayence, which
is said to have stopped only once during a
period Of 800 years.
The Newcastle (Eng) Journal reports a
pathetic story of dog, given in evidence be-
fore the Gateshead magistrates. A man over
eighty, charged with keeping dog without a
license, did not appear, but the chief conSta-
bic informed the bench that the old man had
been at the court in a terrible state of dis
tress,i' and that he lived with his wife in a
condition Of AFFECT poverty. On inquiries
being made, it appeared that the dog must be
, destroyed If the summons was pressed a S the
old couple had no money to pay for license,
but that the wife had begged for the dog S
life because it had more than once saved her
from being burned to death. She had fallen
into the fire in fit, and the dog had seized
her. dragged her from the flames, and, bury
ing his nose in her lighted clothes, had eX-
, tinguiShed the tre. TO prove the truth of the
r woman S statement the chief constable got
some old newspapers and set fire to them,
this being done in the presence of other con
stables. On each occasion, the newspaper
was lighted in the middle of the floor. The
dog rushed at ii and eXtinguished the fame"
I ne magistrates. OF course, subscribed to pay
for what the local reporter, with pardOnable
efusiveness, calls the noble creature
| license" II is a pity that the dog breed. orr
at any rate, size and look, are not mentioned
A remarkable thing about frogs says St
Nicholas, is that the larger part of the breath
ing is done through the skin In fact. it IS
said that this supply of air is a necessary ad
dltion to that taken in by ordinary brea thing,
as the latter does not supply sufficient air TO
eupPoIt me IN d frog. announcer PeeullaL IIIng
about the skin OF frog is its powerful alb
sorption of water. This is due, of course. to
the numberless minute pores with which
their skin is provided 1t has been proved
that frog can thus soak up half its weight of
water in an hour. The soaking Of water is
what gives the frogs skin such a cola, clam
my and uncanny feeling when handled, and it
explains strange thing. Though bullfrog
were poked with a redhOt iron, it would not
feel il enough to move out of its tracks, for
the moisture on the skin forms kind Of film
Of vapor between il and the iron which it
takes time to heat through. and so the frog
would not feel pain from the heat Yet, If
hot water Is dropped upon him. he will in
stantlyo jump from pain, as this heat at once
| strikes into the skin. a frog has another
safeguard against drying up-that IS kind
Of interior sack for storing water. Like the
camel, it thus keeps supply which carries it
| over many dry place, when 1t would other
wise lose all its moisture and die. The water
is as pure and tasteless as that of any spring.
Boston has discovered new line Of useful
ness for the bicycle, says Hardware. Some
inventive genius has fitted wheel with
small chemical tank and a fire ak, with which
experiments are going on at the house Of a
ladder company, South Boston. One of the
| bicycle houses OF that city fitted upa machine
OF this sort some time ago, and Sentit to the
Chicago fair. to be placed in its exhibit, and
| themachne ut South Boston is the second
one of the sort ever tried. The captain Of the
| ladder company says that the practical value
Of the experiment could not be estimated at
| present. The machine is being tried by one
OF his men, who Is wheelman. and for whom
it was made. 1t is lady's light roadster,
with cushion tires. and with its whole
Outht weighs about 81 pounds The
chemical tank fixed between thu
head of the machine and the seat holds about
two gallons of chemical, which amounts as an
eXtinguisher TO - pals of water. In speak
ing of the experiment the captain says: ION
the Back Bay orin the outskirts of that city
t where there are good roads, the machine may
he OF use IN cXtingul Sh1n2 slight fires, caused
, | by smoking chimnCys. blazing curtains or the
like. but on the pavemeutS OF the city il would
probably be of little practicaluse. One in each
engine house would probably lie all that the
department would ever use, and as yet the ex-
! pertinent has not even been brought to the no
! ticc of the lire commission
Mr.. f. S, Holden Of the Lick Observatory
writes % Mature as follows II notice in
your issue of June /, 1893, p. lO7, an inquiry
]
scorpions. His conclusion is that if scorpions
sometimes kill themselves the verdict must
he accidental suicide, or suicide while OF I'M
sound mind have no evidence to offer as
/ 10 the habits of California scorpions. but |
| have myself witnessed the deliberate suicide
of a rattlesnake, and think that a brief &C
! count of it may DE worth recording. In the
, summer Of 1883 Prof. Keeler saw large rat
tlesnake with seven rattles) crawl under the
foundation of the dome of the six-inch euua-
tOrial. With the nice manipulation for which
he is famous, DIR. Keeler fastened pair of
blacksmith S tongs about the animals neck
and brought him into the large marble vesti-
bule OF the observatory. The snake was furi-
Gus and was practically uninjured. After ev-
cry one had seen him it became a question
what to do next. 1t was resolved to put him
into gallon jar of water. DR.. Keller had
the task Of getting the very lively animal
(which was some three feet long, into the
jar and Of letting go with the tongs while |
undertook to put in the stopper of the bottle
at an suspicious moment. All this was ac-
complished very nicely, and the next step
was to drown the snake by inverting the lar
at intervals. After little time it became OBJ
viOus to every one the snake included that
the animal must soon be drowned. At this
moment the snake ceased any attempt to rise
TO the surface Of the water in the lar and in
the most deliberate manner struck its fanps
deep into its body. have no doubt whatever
that the blow was Intentional and with sui