The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The rhinoceros is beast Of legendary and
mythical associations as well as o. stern re-
atty SAYS The 81 Louis Republic. In the
mythology OF the old world he figures very
! conSplt Ously. being worshiped as god uE
the earlN JaVaneSe tribes and laudCd as tue
I builder ~ the earth and the heavens by seves-
| al East African peoples The old JEWISH
I Iulmud declares that his skin is folded as q
I result OF having been exposed forty days and
/ forty nights In the waters OF the food. TIE
1 waters OF the great deluge were hot. accord
! ing 20 Iahar1. where we read: AFTER that
! Noah sent forth the dove The dove departed
| and without tarrying put her feet i'm the water
/ The waters Of the flood were hot, ana they
| scalded and picked the legs Of the dove. IL
was hot and briny, and feathers would not
] grow on her legs any more and the SKIN
| scaled of. Now doves which have red
! and featherless legs are Of the sort which
! Noah sent forth" This is only cited for au
| thority to prove why the skin of the rhinoce-
! rOs lays 10 folds and ridges. Certainly II the
waters were hot enough to pickle and scald a
/ dove : legs at the moment OF contact they
/ would make the skin Of a rhinOcerOs too large
! for HIM In the course of forty days. But ~
/ YOU say why was he exposed in the waters
| of the great deluge while all the other beasts
! were safely housed in the ark?' Simply be
cause he was too large to be put aboard the
! great liteship. The bulk of the old rabbiuic
! writer's agree that the rhinOcerOs t1oated
/ along with the ark, but they disagree as 20
how the floating operation was performed.
1t appears from the latest consular report
! from Swatow, in Southern China says the
! London Times, that among cotton goods the
| import of towels alone has shown any i'm
| prOVement But, the consul explains, this
! does not imply any increased attention to
! personal cleanliness on the part of the inhabl-
! tants OF the district for the towels are used
| for clothing. The breadth of the ordinary
! towel being that from shoulder, two sewn to-
| gether will make a coat. Sleeves are dis
! penSed with and. except for the armholes,
! there is none of that waste of material which
! is eSnpCl8IlV TeDQQDaQt to the (}hlDamaQ and
| which the size of his native piecegOOdS and
| the fashion OF his clothes cOnSplre to avoid.
| British manufacturers have been warned
! by their agents and others of this
| frugal tendency of the Chinese mind; but the
| loom designed to turn out cloth of the
narrow Chinese breadths requires as much at
| tention as one giving cloth twice as wide.
| This leads the consul to suggest that the
! cloth might be woven so as to be diViSible
| down the centre, so that two pieces of the
Chinese breadth could be woven at the same
loom. So far the remonstranceS Of importers
have awaited chiefly tC affect the length of the
piece. II piece forty yards long will make
exactly twelve Chinese garments, one few
inches less will only produce eleven similar
garments, leaving useless remnant. Thus
importers who know their customers have
urged that the piece, though it cannot be WOW
en- to a given inch, should always exceed the
expected length and never fall short OF 1t.
Lastly, the consul suggests that as Chinese
garments fit loosely TO the figure and can be
transferred from one person to another with
out any noticeable miStit, II might be possible
for British manufacturers to turn out goods
of the exact size needed for coats gowns,
and the anonymous pantalOons He asks
whether these crude garments might not be
produced entire and so imported into China.
Some years ago Edison, the electric wizard
was convinced that platinum existed in
| North Carolina says the Great Divide, Of
| Denver. He sent William Earl Hidden, an
! accomplished minealogist tu search of IT, Mr..
| Hidden little knew at the time how full of re-
| suits to him that pursuit platinum would be-
| He could not find the desired mineral, but he
| found something far better. At Alexander
| county, q quiet part Of the state many miles
! from railway, he was directed by Mr.. J. A.
! d. Stevenson to gembearing ground, and,
| looking little more narrowly, found some of
the gems. He purchased some land, returned
| to Edison, reported his vain quest of platinum
! then went back to North Carolina. He at
once began to develop the mine.
way, he gradually made the opening larger
| and larger, until specifically the mine pre-
! scented the aspect of a stone quarry. Out of
| this rude pit in the earth were taken unnum-
! bered gems one hitherto unknown. To this
| Mr.. j. Lawrence Smith Of St. Louis, an emil
| nent scientist, gave Hidden's name, and Hid
| denite," the equivalent Of the diamond, be-
| came instantly the fashion. It's tender-tinted
! green crystals, its intense hardness and its
| new beauties when cut were only some OF its
| charms. From the day Of its discovery to the
| present IL has been a hopeless task to supply
!, the demand for it. Every Hiddentte found
is purchased long in advance. But strange
| the place of its birth is vet stranger The
| laborers who are working in the mine handle
| their picks with the greatest care. They dAe
| on the watch for pockets" Possibly for
an hour the digging goes on, and no pocket"
Is struck. Presently the pick goes into an
: opening, with careful fingers the earth is par
: tlalIy removed ana hnally the miner feels
with his hands every portion OF the walls of
! the opening. 1t may happen that his search
| is in vain, but it is oftener the case that his
| fingers touch little crystals that are so i'm
hp66n6 N sides n hn aCClya hat th,f,,
| points alone project outward, They are care
| fully picked out. Perhaps all are beryls,
| perhaps there are are a dozen kinds of gems,
! or II may be that there are only Hiddenites.
/ Sometimes gems worth hundreds of dollars
| are taken from one pocket.
The cocoa is imported into this country
| either Immediately through broker or other
| commission merchant or directly by the
/ manufacturer, in whose hands it unGergoes
J the final processes necessary to prepare il
| for consumption. The first of these is roast
| ing. Then the seeds are subjected to a fan
| blast to free them from their husks They
| are then mixed or blended for the cocoa
! and chocolate of the market are mixtures
| sometimes as many as six or seven different
! kinds going to make the compound. one kind
| being chosen for its color another for its
| body another for its favor. and so on
! These mixtures, upon which the excellence
/ of the brand depends, ate said by the
| New York Evening Post to be the
! secret Of the respective manufactur-
erS. The mixed seeds are then
/ broken and crushed, those intended for cocoa
! being ground in a mill, which reduces them
/ by means of heat and their own inherent oil
/ to a smooth viScid liquid. These fatty con
! StituentS are then expressed by powerful
! pressure, which leaves the residue a dry
| mass. This, powdered sifted and boxed
| with sometimes little sugar or flavOring
] added, is the cocoa proper of the retail trade
| The cocoa fat. or cocoa butter, as it is called
| is in itself valuable article, and is extern
| sively used in confectionery cosmetics and
/ for surgical purposes, When the cocoa is
! to be made into chocolate the fat is retained
| and more is often added in the melangeurs,
| or mixing machines-heavy rollers of French
; granite. which grind and smooth the mixture
! that is here made by adding sugar, favoring
/ and generally some starch to the cocoa. This
/ mixture. cooled in mOlds, forms the chocolate
! of the retail trade The best manufacturers
/ will deny the use of starch but the fact is
cocoa cannot be converted into its more solid
! form OF chocolate without the admiXturc of
| starch, and consequently its presence
! in modrate quantity and of good quality
cannot be duly rCarded as adulteratiOn
! strictly sOcalled. There is. however a great
| deal of deleteriOus adulteration practiced and
! the cheaper grades of cocoa ana chocolate are
! often rendered thereby positively injurious to
/ health. Iron pyriteS and other more or less
/ harmful substances are used for coloring
! plaster Of paris for weight, inferior starches
| are added and foreign fats, the natural butter
! being extracted and sold to its special market
| at a special price. The most important chem
| zeal constituents of cocoa are this fat. Oe Co
! Goa butter which averages 80 per cent of the