The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


covered IN California so nearly resembling
the beautiful Pedrara onyx which was
once obtained in the neighborhOOd of
Pueblos Mexico, that IL has been named the
New Pedrara-" This onyx is of pearl
white, pale green and delicate rose col
ored unts, frequently variegated by net
work Of rose red veins, which enhance the
value OF the stone without weakening il
or rendering il liable TO fracture. It Is
remarkable for its texture, translucency
ana susceptibility TO high, lustrous pol
ish' and also for the complete absence
OF oxidation products, especially the red
dish yellow, Opaque limOnite-like mate
rial which causes so much waste in the
Arizona onyx. Nearly every piece rings
under the hammer like an anvil, thus
showing its complete freedom from flaws
II contains also scarcely any Of the in
closed fragments Of flint and siliceous
rocks which constitute a serious defect
in many varieties of onyx. There will no
doubt be a large demand for this rare
material for decorative purposes, as the
Mexican supply has long since been prac-
ucally exhausted.
Prune growing is taking the place, to a
great extent, in parts of Western Oregon,
Of wheat growing. says the New York
Evening Post. 1t is the opinion of prac-
teal men there that is the most likely
solution Of the problem how to escape
from the difficulty of Improbable wheat
farming. There has been some disap-
pOintment in the state this year over the
result of fresh fruit undertakings, owing
to the flood and the railway strike, but as
the prune crop is coming into view its pos
1ADiAlAlES Ol wealth. are most tutOuIdSluSs
About fifty car loads of dried prunes are
about ready for shipment in Douglas
county. Counting 5000 pounds to the car,
and allowing 5 cents a pound for the crop,
the county will have some So 500 for this
item. The industry in Oregon is compare
lively new, having attracted almost no
attention outside of the locality where the
experiments were being made in growing
the fruit extensively until last year. The
outlook Is for an enormously increasing
acreage of prune bearing orchards. so that
IN fEe wears. when Cheqn prices those
! interested in the business in Oregon be-
lieve, shall have made a wide market for
prunes as a staple of table use, there will
be an output ten times as great as at
Night blindness, says the Philadelphia
Record, is a rare condition, in which
person toward evening finds that objects
are becoming less and less distinct, and at
last he is totally blind. This may occur
without previous warning and cause
great alarm and next morning he finds
that his sight is restored. This is repeat
ed every night, and at last the eyes be
come weak during the day also, and
suffer paralysis of the optic nerve. This
strange affection may be epidemic. 1t
has attacked bodies of troops exposed to
great fatigue and the glare of the suns
rays. If there are no symptoms of dis
ease within the brain recovery generally
results by protection of the eyes from the
light and entire repOse. It is seldom met
with in this country, except among sail
ors just returned from the tropical re-
giOns. 1t is frequent among the natives
of some parts of India, who attribute il,
as our own sailors do, to sleeping exposed
to the moonbeams. The more probable
cause of the affection is, however, eXhaus-
ton of the power of the retina from over
excitement or from excessive light, so
that ii is rendered incapable of apprecia-
ting the weaker stimulating action of twi-
light or moonlight. All that suggests
itself in the way Of treatment is to protect
the eyes from strong light during the day,
and to prescribe quinine and nourish-
ing mixed diet.
Numsmatists have interesting objects
of search in two coins which belong to the
transition period between the French re-
public and the second empire, says the
Boston Transcript one of these is an eX-
tremely rare coin, which was struck off at
the moment of the assumption of the reins
of empire by Napoleon III. Only the die
for the diverse or head of a new imperial
coin had been completed. and by some ac-
cident or probably b. mischievous design
coin was struck Oil which bore the head
of Napoleon III, Emperor" on the one
side, and French Republic" on the other
! With the other coin similar story is con-
nected. While Louis Napoleon was prince
president" and just before he made him
self emperor, a decree was issued order
! ing q 5-franc piece to be coined bearing
his image. The dies were made and the
coin was struck off as a sample and sent
to the prince president for approval. But
/ some time passed before he examined it.
! When at last he gave it his attention he
was annoyed to find that he had been re-
presented on the coin with a love lock-"
or hooked lock of hair on the temple,
/ but thought unsuitable to so dignifed and
permanent representation of himself as
an etfigy upon coin. The prince presi-
| dent sent for the director of the mint and
! ordered him to remove the love lock"
| Then he found that his silence with regard
| to the piece had been taken for approval
and the stamping of the coins had COM
| menced. The work was stopped and the
Image deprived of its undignitied look but
| the twenty-three coins that had already
| been struck off We're not destroyed, and
are now regarded as of great value.
Endeavoring to draw strong parallel
| lsmS between man and the monkey, Il
writer in the Nineteenth Century shows
at least ingenuity. Accounting for the
loss of that hair which presumably once
covered our bodies, the writer SAYS that
harboring the PuleX irritans. the first men
scratched so necessarily as to gradually
! get rid of all their hair, and then after a
while no more hair grew. Scratching of
the mead, as a nervous habit, comes then
| from former associations between ner-
Vous irritation and actual irritation by
parasites" 1t has been better and more
scientifically explained that head scratch
ing when a man thinks, arises from an in
voluntary habit of stimulating certain
nerves which act in sympathy with the
brain, and so start the train of thought
The giant gorilla, Gumbo, brought to
| this city from Lisbon some time since and
| placed on exhibition, died about fort
| night ago, and his body was turned over
to three professors of the Harvard nedi-
cal school for dissection, SAYS a New
York exchange. The autopsy showed that
sumption" the spleen, kidneys and liver
exhibiting the effects of the disease as well
as the lungs. The brain was small weigh
ing only seventeen ounces, or about one
third that of a man. The temporal mus
cles by which the lower jaw is moved.
were six times the size of the correspond
ing muscles in man. The muscles of the
spinal colum and chest were remarkably
large. Gumbo had a vermiform appendix
ten inches in length, whereas in the human
species 1t rarely measures more than
three. His hight was 512 feet his weight
was 16S pounds, but these figures give no
idea of his tremendous muscular strength
His arms were three feet long and the
hand measured nearly a foot more The
muscles OF the arm in texture resemblrd
wire rope. The most surprising discoy-
cry however, was a sort of pouch or baer
in the chest, in front of the lungs. and
connected by means of an Independent
valve with the trachea or windDine II
was by means of this hitherto unknown
organ that the gorilla was able to emit
his peculiar shrieks and roars. Gnmbois
brain will be studied more carefully nv
the aid of the microscope. DR. Chanma11
OF Philadelphia, who has made a scientific
study OF apes, reached the concIusion
that man has mentally more of a mr.
totype and Darwinian ancestor in tbo
ChimpanZee than in the gorilla NiiN