The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-09-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

An ingenious invcr tion has been devised
for rapidly obtaining the hour angles OF the
principal stars foz the detection o. compass
errors and for general navlgauoual uses save
the Pittshurg Dispatch. Ihe lace o. SttS1,
isP card which "a hNed on iarEer o atu "
oblong shane. contains divisions OF hours anu
minutes. while around IL on the IQunua'loI
card the principal stars are placed ny hAeu
distances. The working OF the design Is most
simple The time Of Arietls merriam pS9oasSS
for the day Of the month is nrSt tOund, anu
the dial is moved around until thaJ llme
comes opposite the star on the card; the Jihe
of the meridian passage Of all the olheI sua AZ
viii then be simultaneously denoted Dy ~ tHe
correct figures on the dial appearing Opposite
their respective names.
The Persians resort to curious rites for the
purpose Of averting the attacks OF the chol-
era. One Of the most widely practiced OF
these is that Of passing under the Koran.
Two elders stand opposite each other, mold
ing between them a scroll Of the Koran,
wrapped in a silllen scarf. Under this swing
ing talisman the peasants pass one by one,
and then go home. convinced that the cholera
will not be able to touch them. The PerSlanS
stick to these ancient ceremonials IN spite OF
the fact that the epidemic is working SAD
havoc among them. The spirit OF tatauSm
/ has deeply 1mbued the Persian who Is natur-
ally very indolent and tmproV1dent. Whlle
the cholera Is daily carrying on hundreds
upon hundreds of VictixS the phlIosophlc
subject of the shah smokes his pipe, mutters
DEGREES of fate
Dr. William T. Bull, Of New York, who with
DR.. Coley of that city was credited in a re-
cent newspaper rumor with having made the
discovery that the virus of erysipelaS was
cure for cancer, recently returned to New
York from Europe. A reporter sought him
| out and asked him about his supposed dis
| covery, and the doctor replied emphatically,
| There is no truth in the story" He said
| that the only foundation for the report was
/ the fact which he had demonstrated, that
! erysipelas was antagonistic to sarcoma,
! which, while being a dangerous disease, Is
| very different thing from cancer. He said
| that it was true that Dr. Coley had been eK-
| perimenting on cancerous subjects with the
| erysipelas virus but that the results did not
| justify any such reports as had gained cur
| rency. The doctor said that he had received
/ large numbers of letters from sufferers in
! this country, who had hopes of being cured
! by the newly discovered remedy, and one let
! ter that came all the way from Japan, and
| the false reports had entailed on him the disa-
/ greeable duty of telling these unfortunates
! that their hopes were in vain.
In the Russian army culinary competition
takes place every year in connection with the
| regiments of Guardt, The object is to keep
| the military cooks up to their duties. A spe-
! cial commission is appointed by the oficer in
| command and prizes are given to the success
| full competitors. The competition was estab-
| lished by Prince Petrovitch of Oldenburg, at
| the time he was in command OF the Guards,
/
! no-Selo under the orders of the Grand Duke
| Vladimir. Arriving in an open carriage the
| grand duke Saluted the cooks, and passing
/ along the line of camp kitchens he entered
the mess room of the Nicholas regiment, and
/ the saucepans with their contents were i'm
| mediatelv brought in Each of these sauce
pans was numbered but in such way that
| the tasters could not tell to which particular
! regiment each one belonged. The jury com
! posed Of sergeant majors, solemnly went
round and tasted the food tnscrieing on a
] int - V11r hal NJ ToAfpNG OF a
each cook for the quality Of his preparations.
| The first prize, silver watop and chain, was
awarded to the cook Of the Horse Guards.
Persons Of inquiring turn of mind who often
ask themselves, What mean these thingsg
Where and when did they originator" and
| who, after asking the questions, seek a solu-
tion of the same, even though they are forced
| out Of ordinary channels in their search for
| information, have long believed that our
alphabet has an astral origin. just as our
| signs" of the Zodiac have. But the astrono-
mers tell US, says the St. Louis Republic,
| there are but few of the English letters rep
resented by the arrangement Of the stars
These s' are "A "..V. TX" and ~" The first
may be plainly seen south of the zenith and
| directly opposite the Great Dipper" The V
| is to be found in the group called the HyadeS
exactly in the face of the Bull. The x is out
lined by five prominent stars, Sirius, the
! great SON. being at the axis. The others
| which go to form the letter are Procyon,
| toned above as one OF the four English let
| ters outlined on the heavens is to be found in
| the urn of Aquarius. Those who have given
the subject particular attention declare that
| the whole OF the Hebrew alphabet is plainly
marked by differed groups of stars.
| Ahypnotized dog is the last new thing in
animal curiosities, says the London Times
| This interesting quadruped belongs to M.
| DurOv, who was awarded gold medal by the
| Paris Academy of Sciences for his original
| inVpstip9fiO and discoveries n 10
| of hypnotism as applied to animals and its
| effects upon them. Several tests have been
made in the presence Of DR.. Afanasiev of the
war department, though IL is not obvious why
/ this gentleman should have been chosen.
| One Of the tests consisted in placing several
| articles, as pencil, cigar case, handkerchief,
| cuff button, etc, on the floor. Then the dog
| having been thrown into hypnotic trance by
him, M. Durov requested one Of the audience,
| which consisted Of several other physicians
! OF renown and some newspaper men. to think
| about something and what the dog was to
| do with IL, then to write it out on piece
| of paper and show it to the rest Of the
! audience, excepting, of course. himself,
! This was done, and the dog having been
! brought in what was the establishment of
| the whole assemblage to see the animal 90
| up to the cigar case, pick 1t up and bring it to
| the one who had been indicated in the wish.
/ Another test consisted in laying several cubes
| with fingers on them in certain order in a
| closed box. At the same time several pieces
! of paper were put upon the floor bearing like
| numbers on each. The dog was then called
| in and required to place the pieces of paper in
| the same order as the cubes were laid IN the
| closed and sealed box. This he did to the
| establishment of all assembled NJ. Duroy de-
| clares that he knows no more about what is
| being done or wished than does the dog and
| is, therefore, entirely unable to prompt him
| in any way,
| The latest discovery of medical science is a
| tear pump. This ingenious instrument is
used for the purpose of irritating the lachry-
| NAL glands and producing tears. In this re-
Spect it has for its rival the onion, saws james
| Payn in the London Illustrated News but the
| tear pump has no smell. 1t is scarcely posi-
| bic to exaggerate the uses of this implement
If, as one concludes, 1t is portable and of mod
4 crate size. Upon the stage-where only half
| dozen performers have hitherto been able
| to weep at Wilt will be invaluable In do
nestle life 1t will place the husband as re-
! CARDS the display of emotion upon equal
| terms with the wife. She may still have the
| advantage Of him, so far as screaming is CON
| cerned though through further improvements
| the tear pump may even produce
| Mysteries, but in the mere fountain
| display" as the Crystal Palace post
ers term 1t, the eye water will be on
| the same level For wedding breakfasts
| such an instrument will be a godsend to
guardians. who at present have sometimes a
| difficulty, not only Of squeezing out tear
| but in concealing their satisfaction at
| their troublesome charges being off their
hands; While for such duties as giving evil
| dence to character or the preaching of char
| ity sermons it will be indispensable. Judges
| who have TO PASS the last sentence If tho la,,,