The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


( pany. formed In 1850 to carry out concession
granted by the porte to NJ. Navon. is unable
Z 70 pay the annuity on the lU.O~O.0J0 or boEda
which IL Issued in 1881 The company has,
( therefore, gone into liquidation. The unGer-
! taking. says the Leyant Herald has doubt
+ less been considerably OVerrated. but It is
not impossible that railway, cheaply made
and Cheai l. worked between Jerusalem and
/ tae coast might pay its way. The present
road will PROBABLY pass into other hands.
! Lake Zouay, in Abyssinia. and near the
southern frontier OF that country, had not
/ been visited for three or four hundred years
+ by the Abyssinian authorities, and the people
who live on an island in the midst Of the
( lake had remained without any communica-
4 ton with the outside world. Emperor Meme
/ Xix has recently paid visit TO that lake.
/ where is situated the island OF Debra-Slna. IN
/ the cnIrCneS OF which most valuable Etnlo-
I pean manuscripts had been hidden by Abys-
/ slnlan lOaarchs at the time OF the invasion o.
their country by the Egyptian and Soldau
{ Moslems. ] he island is held as sacred
ground, and MeEel1k chaplain was the only
! man TO proceed there on that occasion; he
! visited the churches, looked at the alclent
/ manuscripts, and brought some o. them TO
the emperor, who ordered them to be relig-
! lously returned to the chief Of the island.
| Graphite as a lubricant has teen slowly
coming to the front tor good many yeIrs,
! says the American Machinist 1t appe4.s to
have not only the quality Of making surfaces
/ slip easily by and over one another. hut APP
/ pC1Ao 10 tiit uy AOlEo. dS II were. ldhluI n
rather solid surface when no surface exists.
| When mechanic desires TO Judge OF thu
/ quality OF lubricant tnere seems to be moth
/ Ing so natural as to luuricate the ball Of the
/ thumb and the iOredngcr and then rub them
/ together. This may not be scientific, but h.
/ gets very good results from his con
ciuslons. ana is never Likely to
| give up the practice. One reason for this is
| pro- silly in the fact that a great deal OF the
! unslassitied educat on ora moghanic has TO
| 90 with the hlmb and forcing er. He trans
! fers sizes ana does Thousand things from
/ their sense OF touch Now If YOU take pinch
| OF graphite between these mem GERS you will
| very readily see how easily they slip one over
J the other, even under considerable pressure.
/ and that to the mechanic means seuce OF
j friction, and this has good deal to do with
| the growing favor with which graphite is re
| celved as lubricant
| The rule Of the rold in old England has
| always lcen Keep to the left" In New
| England. almost as soon as it was settled. the
/ rule Of The road [ ane TO be Keep TO the
| right, which is now the universal prac ice
| in this country. The change coald hardly
| have Leen merely arr itraTy, says the Roches
| ter Democrat and Chronicle. The English
! coloriSts would not have taken the trouble 10
! break themselves Of the habit that had be-
| come instructive except for some good reason.
| As to what that reason was there recently has
| been considerable newspaper discussion with
| out any particular valuable outcome. that IL
| is TO re found in som 3thlug in the new envi-
| ronment seems apparent. chat it was he Diff
| ference between cd England S roads ami New
| England S roads is likely. a driver in order
! to have the free use of his right arm must sit
| to the right. lie has his righI fore hue under
| his eve, while he cannot see his left fore
| hub, and, therefore. can drive more safely If
| OBJECTS with which his wheels must not col
| llde, and which must be gaSSed clos ely, are
| kept on his right. On the broad level and
| crowded highways of old England these OBJ
| Jec wee. mos. frequently. the wheels of
| otherYehlcles going Ia the opposite direction
| 10 keep the contiguous and opposed hubs
1 no Inv oil 10 lrar -,
! the left. On the narrow wOOdpaths OF New
! England these OBJECTS were the stumps
| trees, rocks and holes on either side. A man
| might drive for miles on one OF these roads
| without meeting other vehicles. He did not
| have to take them into consideration. In
| order to avoid the distinctions on one side
| of the narrow road he must drive constantly
! close to the distractions on the other side.
| he would naturally drive close to the side
| that he could most readily see. the right In
| the rare event OF meeting another vehicle he
| must pull off the narrow road altogether.
| The reason of keeping to the right would
| now be stronger than ever. lie would not be
| likely to follow the old rule pull across the
| road and plunge his unseen left hubs into I'M
| known dangers. That is the most prol able
| explanation OF the American rule of the road.
| 4 he reason has practically ceased 10 exist.
and so has been forgotten lhe con 1itons
| are now the same here as they were and are
| in England The left four hubs Of vehicles
| coming n the opposite direction are what a
| driver is most frequently called upon to pas
| closely. Keeping to the right he cannot see
either his own hub or the hub with which il is
| likely to collide as they pass each other.
| i hat is why the reaSonablent SIS of the Ameri-
| can rule OF the road is now called into CUES
| ton
The ear is wonderfully comprehensive in
strument. AS compared with the eve. SAYS
the Paris Etude it is vastly superior in ex-
| tent OF the sensations it is capable Of expert
| enling The eye possesses barely an octave
| and half OF sensations, whereas the acreage
I Iar.- St.
while more acute ears havea compass of fully
! eleven o-taves, and then the ear is a wonder
| fully accurate instrument, capable of ap-
| preciatlng minute differences that would be
! cording TO Dr. w. r. stone AN architect or
| draughtsman, who, between two lines, neither
| parallel n in one place. uadc an error of
| estimation by eye not eXce6 ding one thirs eth
| would gain credit for uuus al precision. ouJ
| in the ear one thirtieth amounts to one quar-.
! ter of tone, and by ear Que forty fifth is
| easily determined A skillful pianoforte
taner can do much more He is called
| uIon. for instance. to determine between
a true and an equally tempered
| nth, where the difference is only 1-1L0th Of
! tone. He should accordingly be a lie to recog-
| niLe at least 100 different sounds in an octave.
| More than this, according TO the investiga-
| items OF Prof. Maver, 1t is possible. under
specially favored conditions and for sounds
4 whose pitch is near that OF CO. to distinguish
! from each other notes which do not differ
| more than l-l20th of a semitone In the
! markable. In fraction Of Sc 5ond it can
| accurately refer any note to its place in the
| sea G and can just as easily and quickly sepa-
| rate from each Otner several widely different
! notes. According to recent investigations
| the ear is capable of hearing a sound when
| only two vibrations are made. 1t should
| therefore, hear the middle notes of the piano
| forte in the two or hree-hundredth part of a
| second. 1t REQUIRES more time. however. for
the ear to dis ilguish the full Characteristic
| of a note. 10 do this, according to
! the experiments of Exner Auerbach
| and Kohlrausch, from two to twenty vibra-
! tions are necessary With proper training
| and practice the orrans of hearing can he
| rendered remarkably sensitive and accurate
! There is rarely any physical defect in the ear
! itself The defects ordinarily noticed and
| spoken of are such as can be easily remedied
| by cultivation. The organs truly NAV never
/ be able to retain the remarkable range of
| addition we have SPOKEN OF above it NAV
! never become so ''apprehensive ana dlssriu-
/ inant' as the ear of Mozart, but its delicacv
! can te increased and Its general appreciation
/ OF musical SOUNDS wonderfully improved
This is especially true if the work of instruc-
/ ton is begun in childhood. when the organ Of
| hearing is naturally most sensitive and most
! readily susceptible OF cultivation. In max
| ing experiments with rods and tuning forks
| giving very accurate sounds | have fire.
! quent'y been struck with the very great diff
| ference in the ability to perceive such sounds
1 as manifested by young and old persons
! Even when the latter were trained musicians
! they were incapable Of hearing some sounds
, tH