The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Z
! sentatlon. The rose is her favOrite flower.
The skulls Of ancient peoples are fire.
| quently found to exhibit ira es Of the oper-
ration of trephnlng. which consists in drill
| ing circular portion of one out of the heal.
| InlS operation is often performed in m Ddern
surgery for the cure of brain ailments. Il. tho
curious question arises why. IN ancient life.
| such a procedure was practi- Ell at all. Mr.,
| Munro and other anti Iuaries have lnVasti-
| gated this subject from the arch8OloEi al
| point Of view, and with certain interest
! ing results in the way of explanation. 1t
| appears probable that the operation was I'M
| dertaken primarily for the relief of pain in
| tle mead: There may have been present to
| the primitive operators the idea of allowing
! the evil spirits, which were believed to tor
ment the patient to escape through the oDen-
! ing made in the skull BE that as il may. it
| seems certain that the circular portion of
| bone removed in the course of the operation
| was treas lred as kind Of amulet. The fat
| ihat trephlnlng )pears to have
| been employed in epilepsy may bear
| out the idea of allowing the trouhlOuS
and evil spirit to escape: for epilepsy OF old
| was undOubte lily regarded n possession of
the devil 1t is interesting to note that the
Eskimo trephine the skull by drilling is a
skiIlful fashion. while the re, ent PeruvianS.
dS MT. lctor HOSleY has lately remarked.
also perform the operation haDitually Brain
surgery to-day in a very advanced state it is
true. but 1t is startling somewhat to find that
primitive man was not Uy any means afraid
TO NEEDLE in very decided fashion indeed
with the skill and its contained treasure.
singular incident. indicating hitherto
unsupported danger from lightning. has.heen
| related by A. A. Voysey in an English techni-
cal journal. SAYS the PittSburg Dispatch
fringe, which was nailed TO an ornamental
table. was found after thunderstorm to be
almost entirely burnt on the side furthest
from the window. the wood being charred to
depth OF one-eRhth to One-quarter of an
| incl where the friI &c was burnt. But there
was not mark or sign Of any kind that
| would mote that the lightning had StruC<
a. D q aBp
| TO the table was completely isolated 1t was
proven beyond question that no one had
| entered the room with a candle. A
! close examination of the fringe. which con
| sisted of fluffy material, probably a mixture
! oil cotton and wool and certainly of an in
| t1ammaDle nature was made and here the
explanation of the mystery was found In
| terSpersed among II e fluffy material were fac
metallic threads watch W ere acted upon in
| ductlVely by the lightning discharges taxing
| place near the house. This lnductlVe action
| was sufficient to cause small sparks to fly G.
| tween various threads and the sparks set the
| lnhammable material on fire. If the fire
| caused in this peculiar manner had not
| quickly died out. the whole house might have
| been destroyed and no sign would have been
left to point to the true cause. 1t seems not IN
| likely AFTER Such an incident. that large
| percentage of the fires that occur IN conneC-
( ton with thunderstOrmS and that are gener-
| ally attributed to the direct action o. light
! ming discharge. have been caused ny Undue
| ton. The eminent English electrical author
| lty. Prof Lodge, IN commenting on this new
danger, says; The note regarding indirect
fire from lightning is interesting. II wO Id
be dlhicult to vOuCh for the occurrence in any
particular instance, but I am already con
| WINGED that such resonant sparks occur and
do cause fires. There IS an instance at the
! Hotel de Vile, Brussels. Gas leaks act az
| the usual finder. One would not expect a
fringe to catch fire quickly enough"
We read in many OF our histories Of Rome
that Romulus founded the Senate and gave to
it Its original functions " writes j. Howard
! Peterson no n
good capstOne to his glory; but, unfortunately
| for him, the senate was primitive instltu-
ton, common to all the Latins and reached
pack TO period long anterior to the para
ton or the stocks. In the comparatively
! early history of the Latin race there was a
! natural dlvls on into tribes or tribal families
| not Independent social units. but integral
| parts OF polit. Il community held together
/ v mutual observance of law. legal redress
4, and united action IN offense and defense
! hFeI lOlal center was essential at
| which the people could assemble to make
! laws and to defend themselves against a
| common Zoe. The situation most favorable
! for this purpose would be some elevated DO
! Sition, which was called 'captolium' from
! 'caput the head, hence our word capitol
/ From TINS emlnence the cOgnate tribes could
! De summoned by means of signals usually the
! lowering Of "a flag. This CuOtOm of keeping a
| flag waving while no danger was near contin-
| ued for several centuries at Rome. until il
/ was considered guarantee of peace and
/ harmony, and all felt secure as long
as the flag foated from the Jani-
! culum hill. 1t is interesting to note
| IN this connection that a flag NAV he seen
/ above our houses of congress a lone as these
/ bodies are in session. At this point in the
/ earlier days, large encampment would re
| formed: and. as the sessions became more
| frequent, the camp would take on permanently
4 and finally become a city-thc chief city IN
/ the canton. the capitol. As the population in
/ creased and industrial aVOCatiOns grew il
was deemed best to have a fixed time for az
sembllug: and so the eighth dav was
SET as the re Eular time for meeting
for Intercourse, sacrifices and the
4 transaction OF business. BY and by, the can
. tons became tnterdep andent and questions
! OF common veal arose, resulting in a leapue
! or confederation o. clans. At this time fine
| council met first with one canton then
another, having in each case as a presiding
/ ottcer the Oh et OF the c an within " nose Ter
rtory lay the meeting place. This wandering
nndllS lea 10 conIuSlon and by common con
/ sent central point, Mt. Alba became thp
/ sole meeting place, and thus Rome was the
| capitol.
I The love OF the sparrow for the looking
! glass, described in recent number Of The
| Spectator. is noteworthy. says the London
! Illustrated News, though one cannot hut won
| der at an editor OF such Acknowledged GOOD
| taste ana tenderness of heart having made
pubic an incident evidently intended to lie of
a confidential kind. When a female rraene
! herseH IN mirror, even though il be in an
/ other person S room, ii doesn't behoovc the
| proprietor to reveal the circumstance ARD
! after all, II Is but poor triumph to convict a
| sparrow OF vanity. Among our own race we
! nave any examples of the same weakness
! IN lauleS whose plumage. 30 to speak is ROT
| one whit more remarkable for beauty Asto
| flrds being capable of vanity. " who that has
J seen peacock spread its tail can doubt III
( IT IS not so generally known. however thai
nI[[u9 are capable OF vengeance. An
lnhaoltant of Brenchley having shot
/ a men swallow sklmming in the ar with her
/ mate. the enraged male bird new nj his TOO
! and continued to modest h IN with ey-erv or,
/ pearance Of anger, whenever he annea rod
%PIod1 a., Inc lnGident happened at q time