The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-12
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Commercial able Company has signed
contract with Siemens Brothers and Compa-
ny limited. of London, for the manufacture Of
new Atlantic cable, TO be laid between Ire
land and Nova Scotia next spring This cable
Will be the third one owned by the company;
viii be 22O0 miles in length.
It is said that certain western railroad is
known as the Dan ielion Road" because in
their season 6andelions grow in such pro-
fusion along the roadway that passing trains
mat them down on the rails. The oil which IS
pressed out causes the wheels to slip so badly
that trains have been stalled ana passengers
nave left the cars and walked to their destl-
nations. The equipment account Of this road
includes regular outlay for mowers, ScytheS
and sickles.
According to Hardware, some authorities
say that the prices Of nickel and silver will
eventually cross each other They argue
that nickel is more useful. is scarcer and not
so readily produced. and that as silver is used
more as symbol of wealth. its value IN that
direction Will gradually depreciate. In such
an event there is long road, because silver
has in 1t the tradition Of ages, and the poorer
classes Of the world would be actuated In its
use as the rich have been, and for long time
the downward course would be staid by this
sentiment alone.
One Of the many curious incidents which
happen at sea was reported by a steamship
which arrived at Tacoma recently When
ABOUT six days sail from the American coast,
an gle, spent with flying, alighted on the
ship, having PROBABLY flown from some Amer
lean whaling vessel The eagle was caught
as II was resting on the ship rail, and kept
In cage until the vessel was passing ito
the Straits of JUao de Fuca. The American
coat of arms was scratched on its bill, which
had teen coated with vermlllion. The bird
injured Its wings in the cageand was released.
On seeing land it attempted to fly but could
no., and was swept into the sea and drowned.
M. Lawson TAFT, the well-known English
that the n nartaip q
becomes changed into alcohol during the pro-
cess OF decay, and that waspS sometimes get
very drunk thereon. On grapes and certain
plumS he says ''yoI will see them get very
drunk, crawl away IN a semi Somnolent con-
dltlon, and repoSe in the grass for some time
till they get over the bout, ard then they will
go at it again" Moreover, M. Iait declares
tnat they do their worst In singing, both in
the virulent nature of the stroke and the Ut
terly unprovoked assaults Of which they are
guilty. was stung last year by drunken
wasp and suffered severely from symptoms of
nerve poison for several DAYS. In such
drunken peculiarities they resemble their hu
man contemporaries"
An enterprisng investigator OF the mechan-
les Of our grandfathers has discovered that
the lift, or elevator. is not modern inven
Vention. An ingenious ContrtVance OF sim
arnature was constructed in the seventeenth
century in Paris by man named Velayer
who called his invention flying chair We
layer s lift was not merely q toy; 1t became
very fashiona ole with rich people on account
Of its utility, says the Philadelphia Telegraph
1t was simply chair alta he'd to a rope
which was passed over a pulley-or something
viii; h did duty for one-and had weight
at the other end to counterLalance the
chair and its occupant. 1t continued in
fashion until mishap occurred to the king
daughter at Versailles. On one occasion the
Uhinery failed to work when she was half
way up, and she STUCK there for three good
hours before she could be rescued by her
servants, who had to break away the wall to
release her. Flying chairs were not much
used at court afterward. Some years later
M. Thronier, who da5bled in mechanics in his
leisure time, made similar chair, which he
worked from the balcony outside his window.
He thus escaped the danger of being shut up in
a shaft, as the kings daughter was NJ Thro-
nier kept his arrangement secret and had many
laugh at the expense Of his friends who came
to visit him. When they left him he would
make some excuse for not so ng down stairs
with them, but when they reached the 90 Irt-
yard they were amazed to find him standing
there awaiting them. To their questions he
would return testing replies, and then seat
himself in his Oh 1ir and go up so quickly that
they were unable to see how he did il. One
day, instead of surprising his friends agreea-
bly, he did so disagreeably, for the machinery
broke and he came greatly to grief. He used
the staircase after his recovery.
The first steamboat was built by Dennis
Papin. who navigated it safely down the
Fulda as long ago as 1907 says the St. Louis
Republic. Unfortunately this pioneer craft
was destroyed by jealous sailors, and even
| the very memory OF it was lost for three-Quar-
tiers Of a century. In 1775 Perrier. another
| Frenchman built an experimental steam yes
| sci at Paris. Eight years lato' in 1888. Jouf-
! troy took up the idea that had cen evolved
/ by Papin and Ee-Ger and built steamboat
] VIII CHI did good service for some time on the
/ Saone. The first American to attempt to
! apply steam to navigation was John Fitch a
| Connecticut mechanic, who made his initial
! experiment in the year l7S5 TO what extent
| Fitch was indebted to the three illustrious
| French inventors named above we are not in
! formed, but that his models were original
there is not the least doubt. In the
first he employed large
pipe kettle for generating the
/ steam. the motive power being side paddles
working after the fashion of oars on a com
| mon rowboat. In the second Fitch craft the
! same mode OF propulsion was adopted with
! the exception that the paddles were made to
! initiate n revolving wheel and were liked to
| the stern clearly foreshadowing the present
| stern-wheeler. This last mentioned boat was
! the first American steam vessel that can be
pronounced success. 1t made its first trip
to Burlington in July, 1888 But, after all, It
was not until after the opening Of the present
century that steam navigation started into
tuai life. IN 1907 RoUert Fulton (Who every
school child knows was an American in con
! junction with one Robert r. Livingston. built
the Clermont and established regular packet
service between New York and Albany The
success Of this undertaking was so satisfac-
tory that four new boats were built before the
end of 1911, at least two of them being de-
| signed for service in other rivers.
An interesting case has arisen in Minnesota
| involving the right Of a state arbitrarily to
| nix by law the color of food products SAYS the
| New York Herald. The legislature OF that
state not long ago enacted statute providing
/ that all oleomargarine and other substitutes
for butter offered for sale in its markets
/ should be colOred in a certain shade of pink.
! One Of the largest packing companies of the
west, in spite of this law has been sending
into Minnesota great quantities of oeOmar.
garlne OF natural color. which is light vel
/ low, closely resembling that Of genuine but
/ ter. he state food and dairy commission
! brought suit against the firm and the latter
/ has appealed to the United States courts for
I an order to restrain the commission from in
terfering with its business The petition
( alleges that the Minnesota law is nun and
void in that it conflicts with the fifth amend
/ ment to the federal constitution. The com
I pany contends, moreover, that to color its
/ oleomargarine would be injurious ana de-
/ strdctive Of its character The product
/ 1t contents is worth II cents a pound
! when marketed under its natural color as a
! food product, but if sold for other purposes
! would be worth only about | or cents a