The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-08-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

inventor OF the game OF chess. The king was
so delighted with the diversion that he prom
Used 10 grant any request the inventor might
make. ~ysla, who must have been mathe-
matician as well as a mechanical genius only
/ asked that the generous king would put one
! grain OF wheat on the first square OF the
/ board and double the amount upon each sue
cessive square up TO and including the Sixty
fourth Lucas de BurRo says that there was
not enough wheat in the kingdom 10 pay the
| crafty inventor, which was lo446744W8,IU to-
/ 55IGl5 grains! According to curious med
ley of figures published in the Louisville
| Courier-Iournal there are s32, 600 grains In a
| bushel Of wheat Row many bushels did the
modest inventor ask for;
A Boston man living out in the suburbs has
according TO the Herald OF that city, discov-
! cred a fact that may interest good many
persons during the present sun spot period.
What he found was that it is quite possible to
see the larger spots that appear on the sun S
surface without glass or lens OF any klnd.
| The shutters of the Observers house nap
| peIe1 to lie closed. and through tiny hole
/ near the top of them cam OF sunlight FOUND
] its way to the floor There 1t left an image,
| clear and round, Hinged at the circumference
! with a fringe of blue and orange. The whole
| appearance of the beam as projected reminded
| the spectator of the image of the sun taken on
| paper through a telescope, and he got sheet
Of white note paper in order to test his sur
mise. The result confirmed It, beautiful
round image OF the sun fell on the paper, ana
near the centre thereof could be seen blush
spot. which moved ahOUtwith the image when
! ever the paper was shifted. he blutshcol
ored object was q veritable sun spot, and the
observer watched 1t by the simple means de
Scribed tor several days until the revolution Of
the sun had carried it out OF sight.
1t may be imagination born of sharpened
appetite, says a writer in the Country Gentle
man, but it seems to me that eggs never taste
as good anywhere else as they do in the Cats
kills or the Adirondacks. OF course poultry
men will say that mountains have nothing to
| do with the taste of eggs, but they may be
! mistaken. 1t may be that the increased ozone
| in the elevated atmosphere increases the
| richness of the egg, but would attribute it to
! the lime or some other ingredient of the fos-
siliferOus rock composing the mountains
1 Possibly some chemist or mineralogist may
give us the exact facts, but the point l am
getting at is the great difference in the quail
| fly OF eggs In the market an egg guaranteed
| fresh, with a clean, bright white or yellow
| shell, will command the highest price no
matter what its quality may be. In fact, quail
! ity, except as 1t may be affected by age, Is not
| considered at all. Unless my taste Is very
much at fault there is as much difference in
the flavor of even fresh eggs as there is in
! the flavor Of oysters. Yet while eggs sell at
| virtually one price oysters vary at least so
! per cent. in value. according to size and
| flavor.
| In the old code OF Massachusetts and other
! New England states there were once very
severe penalties prescribed against the use
of tobacco In any form. statute, dated
1882, forbade the use of tobacco by any person
in any place, public or private, under penalty
of hne Of one penny for each offense, 1his
law not proving effective, another was passed
two years later, of much greater severity. All
tObaccO-uSerS were ordered to discontinue
the vile habit. Tavern keepers were Unable
five ShillingS for permitting smoking on their
premises, while the fine for every ofense in
the private use of the weed, even In ones own
house, was too shillingS and six pence for
each OHenSe. Social smoking was considered
yet more Objectionable; for two persons who
took tobacco together" there was fine
OF five shillings each. In 1857 these laws were
repealed, and to quote the quaint language of
the statute Tobacco is set at liberty" But
in the following year, finding smoking on the
increase the use OF tobacco in public only
was disapproved save when on a Journey"
and no attempt was made to enforce the pro-
hibition I'm private houses or inns. The laws
confined in force many years, but finally
dropped into innocuous desuetude, though
still borne on the statute books.
The so-called Mike" apples Of Eastern
| Connecticut have a queer history, so it is re-
lated in the Boston Transcript. Micah Rood
was once thrifty farmer in old Norwich
! town. His habits suddenly changed and he
became idle, restless and Incorporate. He
neglected his work and Stunned his neigh
| bors. Some thought the change due to witch
\ craft, others TO insanity When the apple
| trees blossOmed in the spring, on one tree the
| flowers had turned from white to red. The
| neighbors wondered much, and especially as
| Rood was drawn to this tree by resistless
| fascination. When the yellow apples ripened
| in the fall each one was found to contain a
| red globule which was known afterwards as
! the drop of blood" The people remem-
| bered that a foreign peddler had passed
! through the village in the previous fall and
| had stopped over night at Rood house, and
! the stroy grew that he had killed
| him for his money and buried
| the body under this tree. Search
| revealed nothing concerning the peddler, but
! the DeODle said the evidence of ROOdiS UOi1t
! was summed up in his disturbed spirit and
| the blood notified apples. Micah Rood lost
al lnteiest in his farm became dependent
! on the town, and died in l7l7. But so long as
the bloc! spotted apples grow they will be
! known as the Mike" apples and will per
petuate the story Of his life.
The most curious of all objects in New Zea-
| land says Chambers Journal, is that which
the Maoris call "aweto." One is uncertain
whether to call it an animal or plant In
| the first stage of its existence II is simply
| caterpillar about three or four inches in
! length and always found in connection with
| the rata tree. kind of towering myrtle. 1t
! appears that when IL reaC hes full growth it
! buries itself two or threeinches under ground
| where. instead of undergoing the ordinary
| chrysalis process il becomes gradually trans
formed into plant. which exactly fills the
! BODY. and shoots up at the neck to a height
! OF eight or ten inches. This plant re-
| sem les In appearance q diminutive bull
! rush; and the two. animal and plant, are
gate ii to the domain of imagination among
dragons and mermaids but then it's existence
and nature have been accepted by the late
Frank Buckland. How il prOpagates it's spe-
Cles is a mystery. One traveller after de-
scrlbing its dual nature, calmly states that IL
| IS the grub of the night butterfly. II so, then
the grub must also become butterfly, or
! what becomes of the species One would
i be ready to suppose that the grub does really
| so. and that some fungus finds the cast of
slough cOngenial quarters for its growth But
! as far as present observation goes the grub
never becomes a butterfly, but is changed in
/ every case into plant.
The human heart, says Spare AIoments. is
q hollow muscle of conical form, placed be.
| tween the two lungs, and inclosed In the peri
| cardium, or heartsac. The ordinary size of
| the heart in the adult is about inches in
length, 80 inches in breadth at the broadcast
| part and 2% inches in thickness. Its weight
| is from 10 to II ounces in men, and from to
| 10 ounces in women. Dr. Benecke OF Mar
| burg, has made known his observations on
| the growth of the human heart the fact ap-
| pearing that the increase is greatest and
most rapid during the first and second years
! of life its bulk at the end of the second year
| being exactly double what it Originally was;
| between the second and seventh years it is
! again almost doubled in size. A slower rate
! of growth then sets in, and continues during
| the period of maturity Of other portions OF
! the body. After the 18th year, up to the 50th
| the annual growth OF the heart is about .06l of
cubic inch, the increase ceasing about the
| 5lth year. The heart, although so small is a
| wonderful niece n mechanism If rrao .