The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-12-30
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

At the battle OF SOlfer.nO, according 10
II. Cassenci's careIullH delucel e-ll-hielS
tons. a comparison Of the number OF
shots fired on the Austrian side WIN the
number Of killed and wounded on the part
of the enemy shows that ~ bullets were
expended Tor every man Wonnlel aiia A.
DO for each man killed. The aver age
weight of the bail used was 81 grams
therefore II must have taken atkieaSt -
Kilograms. or 81 pOqrds Of lead tor every
man put out Of thu way. Yet SoIerino
mas gone into history as a mo : import
ant and bloody engagement H0gerl' IN
light Of the above, was not Tar from right
when ne quantity said War IS aWful,
but the sound of war is awfuller'
Intelligent ar all times, birds are appa-
reutly endowed with especial genius when
obstructed, says an English exchange
hen blackb-rd. bringing IN very larse
worm 10 It's nest gave i 10 one OF us on
spring, and Immediately new away 1of
fresh supplies. Returning some minutes
after. she was intensely agltated 70 as
cover that instead of being swallowed, the
worm was sticking in its throat. Her cry
of distress brought the male bird 10 the
scene. who saw at once how matters were
situated. Both birds attempted TO push
the offending m0rsel down the eNhaus tea
nestIing's throat. but without avail; then
the male bird discovered the cause OF the
obstacle. the outer end of the worm had
got entangled in the feathers of the breast
and being held fast, could not be sWaI-
lowed. This he carefully extracted, and.
holding it UP with his biz. the baby bird
was able, with some little effort, 10 gulp
II down, being so spent with its eXerttons
that 1t remained for three hours motion
less; the male bird. meanwhile, pouring.
out a delicious song, as If in thahksgfV-
ing.
The French have taught other people
great deal about what is good TO eat,
ana not the least Of their services in this
department of knowledge is the teaching
OF the world that frogs--and Especially
frogs legs-are an excellent article OF
food. Recently d French missionary in
Indo-China, Rev. Father Guerlach. has
made the discovery that LOads are also
good to eat Reduced by necessity 10 re-
sort to toad flesh, he found.lt TO less pal
atable and nutritious that the frog Most
people," says Father Guerlach, in his
journal recently published, would die of
hunger rather than eat a toad, which Is
nevertheless, beg you TO believe an ex-
celient food. Whenevr ] could procure
toads I was able to give myself ban
quet. But In France your prejudices pre-
vent you from knowing and using what
is good" However, a Paris journal af-
firms that the cookery of toads has made
is better, this journal says. than. a dish
made Of the backs and legs of toads, with
the skin first carefully removed, il needs
hardly TO be sad. The popular rabies
about the poisonous character of tOads
are nowadays not much believed. 1t is
true that the toad is protected from car
niVOra by the acrid sccrCtlOnS of his
warty skin. but these are irritating rather
than poisonous, and not always that.
TOads, however, are OF great service to
man, ana il is to be hoped that il viii not
become fashionable 10 eat them.
Says a dispatch from Kansas city, Mo:
A hOrSeless carriage Went sk.mmsng along
the smooth asphalt Of Fourteenth street
.n the vicinity of Cherry street today
filling Mother Sh.ptOn's prophecy that
carriages without horses shall run and
terrifying two negroes. who saw sparks
ard apparently sulphurous flames issuing
from under it. The vehicle was an cleo
tr.c carriage of Kansas CITY invention.
and manufacture. and the only one in the
United States. The machine works per
fectly. speed of eleven niles an hour
was obtained. The carriage is about the
SIZE of an ordinary vehicle. one seat,
holding three persons fills the front and
another one that VIII accommodate
similar number faces to the rear A
storage battery, composed of five series
of five cells each. furnishes a current OF
6f2 OhmS, and the cells are arranged in
three tiers beneath the seats. The wheels
are of wood, with india rubber cushions
on the tires. The hind wheels, which are
three feet TWO inches in diameter, have
on their inner sides Il cast-.ron fange
twenty-siX inches in diameter and five
inches wide. Power from the battery Is
communicated to the fi&nge by a rawh.de
friction pulIy, revolving from 6l0 to 1000
times a minute, and capable of being ele
Nated or uepreSsed at the Wtii OF me driver
BY means OF divers. on which he places MS
feet The steering is done by a tooth seq
ment and p.n.On attached to the axle
OF the fore wheels and handled by a steer
ing post manipulated by the driver with
his hands. The carriage can make quick.
short turns. The storage batteries VII
run the machine about seven or eight
hours. The carriage weighs 2,O00 pounds
and is quicker and lighter than the Eu-
ropean coaches.
The prediction that this is to be re-
markable winter and one of the old
fash oned KIND led Prof. John Smock,
the state geOlOg.st of New Jersey, TO make
some seasonable comments on the kind
of weather that our forefathers had when
this country was new, says the Baltimore
sun. Prof. Shocks record goes back to
1907, and tells how often the Hudson and
the Delaware rivers were frozen over.
This record IS particularly Interesting be-
rivers full of ice in April; frost making It's
appearance IN every month IN the year
and snow storms in May destroying the
crops. There are numerous cases citeD
where the mercury had gone way below
zero and remained there weeks at time
Some extracts made from the records by
164l-42-Chesapeake Bay nearly frozen
over. l655-Summer very hot. 1I7-Feb.
known" up to that time N New England
and on Long Island. 1164-65-NaV.sat.o
in the Delaware much INSTRUCTED by ice
from Dec. y until Feb. Is; Feb. Z an OK
roasted whole on the ice a Philadelphia;
March IS, snow fell to two and one
half feet deep on level CAST Saturday
9:ght and Sunday 1867, Delfware
closed Dec. %; Susquehanna closed Dec.
8; January TO- as cold weather as remem-
bered IN nifty years: at south and west,
extremely. cold. l797-S-W.nter long and
-
Delaware frozen over Dec. l. open again
Feb. ,. 179S-9-A long and severe winter
with much snow; March u, deep snow
1199-Cold weat Ter IN spring; ice April 20;
frost June G. 1799-1S00-A rema rkably open
winter until Jan. 6; Delaware open again
on 18th; snow three feet deep in GEORGIA;
snow and hail at St. Mary's river IN Flor
ida. 1-0S-May Z ice; on the Sth a snow
which broke down the poplars and other
trees IN leaf 1S29-30-Hudson RIVER closed
Dec. %; free from ice April. 1S29-30-Hud-
son river at Albany closed Jan. il GSS0)
and free from ice again March -. 1901
Winter very cold at southwest; ice formed
at New Orleans 1S35-January and Feb
ruary both very cold; Feb. s, the ther-
mometer fell below zero nearly all over
the country north of Savannah and
Natchez; Long Island Sound was closed
by ice; coolest winter Since 1779-S0. 1872
March was the coolest month of the winter
of 1928; snow fifteen inches deep in
Georgia; August, a remarkable heavy
rainfall in Newark, 22.S4 inches; at Lam
bertville, 1926 inches; the Hudson river
free from ice at Albany Apr.l 10, having
closed Nov. 26 1912. 1S52-Winter Of 1852
cold; mean temperature of the month to
8 degrees below the average; East river
crossed on the ice Jan. 3d. and for three
days following; Susquehanna at Havre de
Grace frozen over for seven weeks; cold
and a <