The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-01-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A LONDON SHyLocK recently attached the sal.
arg of teacher for debt for borrowed money.
The teacher gave the following statement,
which shows that usury is not yet lost art:
Louis of Finsbury pavement. who advertised to
lend money on note of hand For this said Is
l signed bill at month for e6. Not meeting
1t at the end Of the month, paid him 81 for re-
newal of the bill This payment Of 81 ! re-
peated every month until January. 1850
twenty eight months with two EXCEPTIONS
when he increased the bill to 6s, but reduced
the monthly interest to 10 shillings. which paid
regularly until December, 1890. then offered
and begged him to accept payment OF the IS by
equal monthly instalments. He refused to do
so and was advised to decline further, pay
ments Subsequently he pressed me for pay
ment, Offering to accept a new bill for the
amount above and interest, which was unable
to meet. Hence his attachment of my salary"
From the above statement it would appear that
the teacher in question received IS only, paid
244, and is still in debt for an amount, includ-
ing interest and costs. OF Els r6s I'd.
TIE sting ray is abundant south of South
Carolina. being very numerous in the Gulf Of
Mexico. says the American Angler. It is rather
infrequently caught by the angler north of Hat
teras. but ranges to Cape Cod. It is a bottom
feeder, and the best method of avoiding it is to
nsh in midwater. although even that will
not always be found preventive. Cut line and
let her go" lie the best policy after all for they
are repulsive and dangerous creatures to boat
1t attains an enormous weight and size. and
next to the devil fish or manta, Is the largest
ray, known to American waters. .'As1t lives on
that northerners feel when they see them eaten
oa the Gulf coast, especially at New Orleans.
where they, with other varieties OF
spine or thorn on the long tail OF the
sting ray Is used as weapon of ofense or de-
tense. infiicting severe and poisonous wound.
When angered the fish bends its body in the
shape of bow, the tail toward the head and
nearly touching the snout, aud then quickly
lashes out its tail, making sudden and painful
stroke This weapon has supplied the anoients
with many fables relating to it. Pliny, Elan
and Orphan have ascribed to It a venom that
affects even inanimate objects; trees that we're
struck by it were said to instantly lose their
verdure and perish. and even rocks were said to
be affected by its potent poison. The en-
chantresS Gree armed her son with q spear
headed with the spine OF the trygon, as the
most irresistible weapon she could furnish. and
with which he afterward committed parricide,
unintentionally, on his father Ulysses"
We can do a great deal TO cultivate the ear.
but we can do nothing TO extend the range of
sounds which the tympanum can receive. The
ear. says the New York Home Journal, may
have great keenness of perception, may hear
sounds extremely small. distant and faint, and
yet be always deaf to any noise, however loud,
If it is lower or higher in pitch than the tymps-
mum is made for. Various experiments to show
about the lowest or what, in a musical tnstru-
ment, would be called the soeepest bass sound,
the highest OF rather more than 600 Human
ears have not all the same compass. A party
of young people, all with excellent hearing,
may go into the meadows, and some will hear
the shrill note OF the common graSshopper,
and some will not hear it even family, but
simply not hear nothing at all. DR., Wollaston
believed that human hearing ne er extends
more than a note or two above the cry of the
common gryllus campestris." He gives a scale
of sound which he found to be inaudibe to some
ears. He found that some people could not
hear the cry Of the bat, nor the chirping OF
sparrows. which is four octaves above F in the
middle of the piano forte. Not to be able to
hear this last note he considers TO be very rare.
He believes the whole range of human hearing
TO be compressed between the deepest notes
of the organ and the highest known cries of
the insects, including fully nine octaves she
whole of which are distinctly audible TO most
ears There may, In fact, be no dumb animals;
only their voices may be out OF our ear II
must be supposed that small creatures, includ-
ing quadrupeds, hear sounds much more acute
than are audible to u.s. but none of the lower
notes of our scale. This Is, perhaps, the case
with cats and dogs, who can obviously COM
municate with one another, coming so close as
almost to touch noses, but making no sound
audible to u.s. Thus there is not such a confu'
sion of noises as there would be otherwise. The
vass differences of pitch heard by different
great tribes of creatures causes us aud them to
have. s. to speak, the world to ourselves.
The recent hailstorm near Gay Hill occurred
about 4:9o o'clock p. m. Tuesday. Dec. 6, says a
Gay Hill CTex.) letter to the Galveston Neus.
About O'Clock p. IN. heavy clouds appeared
In the west, and as they slowly approached a
roaring sound was heard, such as usually indi-
Gates a coming hailstorm. Lightning. accom-
panied by distant thunder, suggested an un-
usual storm. About six miles distant from my
point Of observation the clouds divided. A
iight-colored cloud passed out from the more
dense cloud toward the southeast, while the
latter continued its course toward the east.
This cloud brought with It deluge of rain, but
far above it at a high altitude was another
cloud OF a pinkish cast, which
moved also toward the east. a
small haiistoues fell. and each moment larger
ones fell than the preceding, until they reached
the size Of small hen eggs. After falling for
about fifteen minutes the hail and rain ceased
probably two minutes. Then 1t commenced again
to rain heavily and continued probably ten min.
utes, with higher wind, and Il was during this
interval that the wonderfully large haistones
fell This remarkable hail fell in large Jumps,
ranging from to inches IN diameter. heard
of one piece. 8 inches in diameter, which
weighed four pounds. They were, as o rule,
and nearly all were covered with oval knobs
They fell In small areas about two feet apart,
while in other places only one would fall in a
space twenty feet square. The average
under my observation was about one
hailstone 70 every three feet square The
earth was thoroughly saturated with water. and
some of the large pieces penetrated the ground
in soft places about three inches. i gathered
about bushel or the largest pieces after the
rain ceased, and in very little while / placed
them in a sack. which put In a box and packed
hay around without special care. Some OF the
pieces exhibited in Brennan. for the reason
that ! preferred to give ocular demon
stration in proof OF the statement made In re-
lation to the size Of the hail. After forty-two
hours several OF the pieces were seven inches in
circumference At this date eleven days after
it fell; about a quarter Of the hail remains. lis
density is so great that believe it will keep
should you wish sample A most remark.
able fact In connection with these large hail.
stones is that some OF them have particles Of
dirt in the center. The question g., How did
thav oct fhera7