The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

1n6T6 are dL present something ike (U,OOO
public gas jets in London, and their average
power is that of sixteen candles-that is to
| say, the total is equal to 100000. Were
| these all clustered together and placed at a
height of 1000 feet, the resulting light could
be seen for distance Of more than 100 miles.
Embalming has for many reasons estab-
lished itself in popular favor. 1t is the only
sure means of preventing the spread of con-
| tagious diseases through transmission by the
\ undertaker'S ice box or assistants. 1t is a
preventive against premature burial in the
| case of cataleptic subject, as the first in
cisions and injections Of the embalming fluid
are. likely to induce signs Of life if any re-
main. Another favorable feature is the pos
| sibiltty Of shipping bodies long distance
| with convenience. 1t is not generally known
| that throughout this country large numbers of
| women have adopted embalming as a profess
| sion, and the head college of embalming has
| large proportion of women graduates. Many
| of the women graduates have been trained
nurses who saw an opportunity to make more
| money than at their former professions. The
| prospectus Of the College Of Embalming sets
| forth that the ordinary length Of time required
| for graduation is two weeks.
Those who eat heartily of bananas may run
some risk of becoming tawny or copper col
ored, says the San Francisco Call. This may
| be inferred possibly from the peculiarities of
| plumage in the turacos Of Africa. AS long as
| the weather is dry these birds are gay, the
| primary and secondary feathers being COR
geously crimson, but when rain comes the
| color is washed out, and the birds seem to be
Inundated and ashamed at the transforma-
tion. But the color returns in dry weather
| The cause of the celebration has been traced to
copper In very pure state. A single feather
| burned gives the characteristic Indication
The source OF the turacin has now been traced
to bananas, on which the turacos feed chiefly
All the aborigines who make bananas a diet
| are very deeply tinted but the color is sooty
rather than red. The North American Indian
cannot owe h S coppery hue to bananas. He
has only known of this fruit on reservations,
and chiefly by the Feelings.
The load which is produced by a dense
crowd of persons is generally taken at 80 to
100 pounds per square foot and is considered
to be the greatest uniformly distributed load
for which floor need be proporttoned. That
this value may be largely exceeded in an
actual crowd was pointed out by Prof. w. G.
Kernot Of the Melbourne University Aus
tralia in recent paper before the Victorian
Institute of Engineers, copied into Engineer
ing News. In an actual trial class of stu
dents, averaging 1885 pounds each in weight
were crowded in lobby containing IS. %
square feet, making an average floor load of
134.T pounds. There was still room to have
placed another man, which would have
| brought up the loading to 1881 pounds per
square foot. Prof. Kernot also quoted from
| Stoney, who placed tifty-eight Irish laborers
averaging 145 pounds each in weight in an
empty ship deckhouse measuring
% square feet floor area. This
was load of 147.4 pounds per square foot. In
another test, with seventy-three laborers
crowded into hut feet by 8 feet s inches
Stoney produced load Of 143 pounds per
square feet and estimated that two or three
more men could have been squeezed in. 1t
appears from these experiments that while
the figures ordinarily assumed of 80 to 100
pounds are sufficiently correct for spaces on
which there is no cause to induce the collec-
t1on OF great crowds, larger figures, say 40 to
to $50 pounds per square foot. should be used
for railway stations and platforms, entrances
and exits to places of public assemblies or of
oftlce buildings, bridge sidewalks, pavements
over vaults and other places where dense
crowds are likely to gather.
La Famille Franchise" is not, as might be
supposed the name Of one of NJ Zoa's pecu-
liar novels, nor, on the other hand. is it the
subject OF prize essay. 1t is an insurance
company, the ingenious invention Of some ex-
cellent gentlemen who wish to augment the
VIGOROUSLY low rate of increase of the popula-
ton of France and to add modestly to their
incomes. According to Harper's Weekly they
propose, in return for proportionate pay
ment, either at one time or in annual pre-
miums, TO secure for any female child insured
in their company either a fixed sum. not over
S4O0, when she shall become mother or a
dowry of not over 81, 800 when she shall marry
or an annual sum for education Naturally
the statistics for calculating these
risks" are not the most complete,
but they are believed by the founders
of the company to he adequate for
operations. One fea ture of-this novel insur.
ance company is that the greater the business
II does, and the more it realizes the benevo-
lent purpose OF its founders, the more sure il
is to have to pay the sums 1t promises be-
cause the more marriages and mothers will
arrive But this contingency is very remote
and may safely be disregarded during this
generation. Probably it is in France only
that an in. titution of this sort could prosper
at all. 1t is agreed that in other countries
and notably in England, the birthrate is
| highest among those least able to support a
family. The only class particularly economi-
cal of offspring is that ofthe very rich, whose
self-indulgence takes different direction. In
France however pCna1 iTyic Of,
erty after death is believed to exert a distinct
restrain, on the growth of population. If this
be so, La Famille Franchise will contribute
! only slight counteracting influence