The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-10-18
ITEMS oF INTEREST.

ITEMS OF INTEREST.
The snipe has nerves clean down TO
the tip Of his bill. because he digs for
his living, and, not being able TO see his
food, has these nerves provided to enable
him to ascertain its presence.
In a recent report to the United States
department Of agriculture, Mr.. AleXan-
der McAdee states that the liability to
damage from lightning decreases in
thickly populated districts, the risk in
the country being, in general, about five
times as great as that in the city.
There is a general impression that the
humidity of the air is greater in the
woods than in the open fields. This is
contradtcted, however, by the result of
observations recently made in Germany.
II was found there that the humidity,
both relative and absolute, was slightly
greater in the open than in the woods,
and this was true equally in the morning
ture OF the air among the trees, it was
a trifie higher than in the open in The
morning, and in more marked degree in
the afternoon.
spider weighed it very carefully. and then
closely observed its eating habits and the
amount of food the creature consumed in
a given length of time. He sums up the
whole as follows: At a similar rate of
consumption man weighing $50 pounds
would require a whole fat steer for break
for super two bullocks eight sheep and
four hogs. This would hardly suffice for
the "A hours, so just before retiring, he
would call for and consume nearly four
barrels of fresh fish"
The largest opalescent glass window in
the world is in the new St. PauHs church
at Milwaukee. 1t is what is known as a
nave window, the lower half being COM
posed of three immense panels, and the
upper half of splendid rose and traCery
in a semiCircle of briliancy. This mon
ster window in its extreme measurement
is 30 feet and / inch in width and exactly
"A feet in hight It is beautifully exc
cuted, the subject being the crucifxion-
in fact il is an exact COPY of Dore's mas
ter-piece, Christ Leaving the Praetori-
UNI" There are over 200 life size figures
represented on this wonderful window.
A remarkable discovery was recently
made while workmen were tearing down
an old building at Pesth, Hungary. When
they removed the lightning rod, which
had been erected some Is years previous, A
large mass of pure iron was found firmly
attached to the lower end. The lump was
porous as a sponge, but pure and very
heavy, the piece, which was not more
than twice as large as the average mans
head weighing 46 pounds. There is but
one way of accounting for the peculiar
position of this ball of iron-it had been
brought together and shaped by the aC-
ton of lightning on the iron particles in
the clay.
Recent experiments for determining the
erect of massage upon the blood show
that 1t increases the number OF red blood
corpuscleS enormously and also the hem
Cglobin, though to less extent. In some
cases there was an even greater increase
in the white blood corpuscles. DR.. S.
Weir Mitchell suggests that the increase
is due to the bringing into the general
circulation of Corpuscles which have been
previously accumulated in the smaller
vessels of the larger viscera. DR. Rey-
nOlds suggests that the increase may be
only relative and due to the withdrawal
of a portion of the fluid elements of the
he q nj
massage seem to be identical with those
of cold bathing and exercise.
Artificial clouds were recently made for
the protection of vines from frost at
Oaeleain, on the Swedish Norwegian from
tier In carrying out this novel innoVa-
ton, liquid tar was ignited in tin boxes
placed along the vine rows, and large sec
tons of Sohdihed petroleum were fired at
various places in the vineyard. From
these combustibles large clouds of smoke
arose and thoroughly protected the par
ticular vineyard in which the experiment
was being tested although the vines in
the immediate neighborhOod were badly
injured by the frost. One of the Euro
pean metropolitan weeklteS in comment
ing on the utility of the method, spoke
very unfavOrabe of it, declaring that it
could only prove effective in very calm
weather. If the editor of that journal
will brush up a little on meteorology he
will learn that calm weather is about the
only time in which killing frosts occur
The science of chironomy, or reading
3
is a queer as well as a delightful study,
taken in any of it's many branches. 1t is
said that If the palm of the hand is lean
or skinny and narrow, the owner is a
person noted for timidity, feebleness of
mind, and as one being wanting in moral
and intellectual forces If too thick, big
and strong, it denotes a low order of intel
ligence, with a tendency to brutality. A
hollow, deep palm always denotes misery,
ill-luck, and that the owner has been a
failure in life. Fingers round and smooth
denote tendency to act on impulse or
intuition, rather than by reason, calcua-
ton or deduction. Knotty fingers denote
a tendency to order and arrangement. AS
a general rule, persons with short, thick
fingers are quicker, more impulsive and
act more on the spur of the moment than
those with long, slim fingers, especially if
the latter have a tendency to turn back
ward from the palm. If the fingers are
very short and square-cut at the ends it
signifies cruelty or want of tact. Long,
pliable fingers denote love of detail or gen
eTal luxury Large hands and fingers us
usally belong to workers with minute
things (such as watchmakers, etc.), while
small hands generally belong to persons
| having colossal works on hand, or who
are planning the same
There are at least four kinds of "vegeta-
BILE wax known to those engaged in COM
merce and trade. The best known of these
is what is called Japan wax" which is
obtained from queer plant growing upon
that Island and in Korea. 1t is of a vel
lowish white and may be said to bear a
general resemblance to beeswax. 1t was
first taken to Britain as a trade article in
1853, and has since become quite an impor-
tant item in commerce Two kinds of veg
etable wax are brought from South Amer
lea, the best known being the palm wax
of the Andes. As it's name implies. it is a
product of the palm, being secreted upon
the leaves from punctures made by min
ute insects. 1t is of a whitish color odor-
less and tasteless, and is often used by
the natives of Columbia and Ecuador in
the manufacture of candles. The other
South American vegetable wax alluded to
is secreted by both the leaves and bark of
the tree which produces it, Brazil wax
is obtained from another species of South
American tree. At a certain season Of
the year it forms in glossy, varnish-like
covering over both the lower and upper
surface Of the leaves. AS the leaves with
er these layers of wax peel off and the
people of the country where the trees
grow in great abundance collect these
wax shells and press them into LAYERS.
Like the product of the wax palm of the
Andes. this material is used much in the
manufacture of candles. The United
States has but one species of tree or veg
etable which produces wax in sufficient
quantities to make it an item of trade-the
barberry tree of the eastern states The
substance itself is known as candleberry
wax, or barberry tallow. The wax is a
| tallowish incrustation of the berry of the