The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.
wonderful freak of nature can be seen on
| the farm of j. D, Petrie, near Lorraine, in Lane
| county, Oregon. 1t consists of a fir tree which
has grown entirely around white oak tree
The fir tree is about $50 feet high and about 5
feet in diameter feet from the ground The
size of the oak tree is not known except where
1t projects from the fir, about7 feet from the
ground, where it is inches in diameter. The
oak is dead, having been strangled by the fir
some time ago.
The blacksnake's method of swallowing is a
very simple one, although if the frog be large
more than half an hour may be consumed in
| the process. The two bones of the lower Jaw
are separate and capable Of independent
movement; so the reptile looSens its hold
| upon one side of its jaw, and pushing that
| Side forward as far as possible it drives the
| teeth in again and then draws the jaw back
| again to its original position. The result is
| that the prey is drawn down by the move
ment. The process is then repeated by the
other half of the jaw. thus inevitably forcing
| the victim inward. The snakes skin
| stretches enormously, and the jaw is of course
| dislocated, but the extensible ligaments hold
| the bones together.
Mr. Carpenter, in his book on Ceylon and
Elephanta, tells how advanced are the Hindoo
| adopts who can abstain from troublesome
| thoughts precisely as some people abstain
from eating Welsh rarebit late at night.
| They can eschew worrying subject by force
| OF will power exactly as other civilized people
| decline the food or drink they know that will
keep them awake or do them harm all day.
| Mr.. Gladstone seems to have this faculty as a
| lady remembers who talked over this subject
with John Bright. Mr.. Gladstone once told
| him, Mr.. Bright said, that for twenty years
he had made it a habit never to let his mind
dwell on parliamentary or political matters
| after getting into bed. Mr.. Bright could not
| control his thoughts like this. When 1 am
going 10 make speech on subject l care
about" he said, I'm lie awake three or feur
| hours every night for several nights thinking
| of it,
The National museums collection of oils is
very remarkable, says the Boston Transcript
There is oil from the nose of the pilot whale
which will not freeze at zero Fahrenheit, and
oil from the forelegs OF the crocodile, which
will freeze where ice melts. The latter is a
particularly fine leather dressing. Oil from
the fat that lies beneath the turtles upper
she'll is recommended for rheumatism, while
the oil tried out from the entrails of the eel
is said to be good for deafness. The natives
OF Ecuador take an oil from the fat of bird
called the 'guacharo," which they consider
equal to olive oil for table use. In Central
America the people obtain golden oil that is
unequaled for waterprOofing purposes from
an insect about the size of a rosebug, which
yields two-thirds of its own weight in this
peculiar grease. The insect, called min
feeds on the sap of a reSinous plant, to which
1t clings by its long beak, giving it the ap-
pearance OF being driven full OF queer looking
tacks. When the bugs are thickest they are
scraped of and boiled.
The faculty of the University OF Michigan is
said to be very much wrought up over the
latest development in the medical depart
ment. 1t has been discovered that at least
twelve OF the medical students have pocket
books made of human skin. One of the
CHASTITY things is in the possession of the
faculty, and others have been seen, but who
the students are that have them is only sus-
pected. The facts came out through the
publication in New York jewelry journal of
a notice that firm of Detroit jewelers.
had received from New York O number
of fine pocketbooks made from
the skin of convict, who died at the Jackson
prison. The officers of the state prison at
jackson Indignantly denied this and as the
unclaimed bodies of convicts are sent to the
dissecting rooms of the medical college. it
was at once apparent who possessed these
unseemly trophies. The Detroit jewelers.
her OF the students applied to them to have
the pocket books made; that the skin was sent
on to Boston to be tanned; that it was made
up in New York and the pocket books sent
on to them a few days ago.
The Paris Temps states that the total length
of railway lines in Europe at the end of last
year was 1868 miles. or $500 miles more
than at the end of 1891, this being equivalent
to an increase of 1.85 per cent The 142 658
miles of railway are distributed as follows:
Germany q 1870 miles, with an increase of 3l6
miles; France % 7l5 miles, with an increase
655 miles; Great Britain and Ireland 20 AS
miles, with an Increase of so miles, Russia
and Finland 1920 miles, with an increase of
IS miles, Austria-Hungary 1880 miles with
an increase of sos miles; Italy s 240 miles with
an increase of l75 miles Spain $3.50 miles
with an increase of 155 miles; Sweden and
Norway g. $50 miles, with an increase of 100 |
miles; Belgium 3. 3l5 miles, with an increase
of 62 miles, Switzerland 20i5 miles with an
increase of so miles Holland and Luxembourg
1925 miles, with an increase of II miles; Rou-
mania $50 miles, with no increase; Portugal
!, 43C miles with an increase of 05miles; Den
mark $50 miles, with an increase Of IS miles;
Turkey, Bulgaria and Roumania 074 miles
or no change: Greece 572 miles, with an in. |
crease of 81 miles Servia 1877 miles and Malta
miles, in neither of the two latter cases
there being any change. The present mile
age in the United States is about 10000
A swindling scheme which clever Partisan |
has applied successfully to many American
inventors has just been exposed by the an |
thorities of the Franklin Institute, Phila- |
delphia. From the office Of an alleged Par |
isian Inventors Academy" in Paris. France |
it's president" E, Boettcher, sent Circulars |
broadcast among the inventors of the United |
States informing them that they had been |
elected members of honor of the academy and |
that with this distinction went a''frst-olass I
diploma" and a great gold medal 'sFhis
valuable title, naively announces the circu-
lar, Will be no expense to you, but If you are |
DESTROYS to receive the medal and diploma |
you would have to send a post money order of |
$40 to cover the admission taxes freight etc
and we shall send both, well packed and free
of charge to your address," A large humber
of Philadelphians have been caught by the
swindle and it is supposed that many invent
ors IN other parts OF the country have fell
victims to their vanity. The medal was al |
ways sent when the SO was forwarded and is II
neat and pretty in design and slSillfully gilded
The information which led to the exposure of
at Philadelphia was obtained from Consul II
Voisson, who wrote to the department of II
agriculture and public works of Paris In he. II
half Of the institute, and procured Boettcher's Il
record. His academy" was shown to he n II
pure myth.