The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-11-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

L
as follows: The peace footing of the army
is, in Germany. of 5S4. 452 men. or II per
cent. of the population: in France, of
$4,000 men, or more than Is per cent; in
Italy, of 218,000 men,. or more than per
cent; in Russia, of $4,000 men, or near
" 9 per cent; in Austro- Il uni gary. $4,000
men, or per cent. of the population The
different war budgets were in 1893: Ger
many, Sl20,m,o00, or ~ per cent Of the
whole budget OF the state; Italy, $50 co.,
600 or Il per cent; Russia, sl40O60,000o or
"a per cent, France, S130 COO, or IS per
cent; Austro- Hungary. only SIS. 900, or
II per cent. of the whole budget Of the
empire.
a chicken raiser near. RoIfe, Ia, is the
owner of a Plymouth Rock hen that is
genuine freak in her way, says the st
Louis Republic. For weeks alta time she
vail regularly lay eggs without the least
sem6lance OF a covering in the shape of
shell, but with white and yolk Of such
firm and unyieldlng texture as to stand
without nattenlng' as in the ordinary
skinny egg. These eggs are as hard as
the average hard boiled and may be
cut IN TWO without danger of Spilllng the
contents of the leatherY membrane which
forms the covering. That the above is
out OF the ordinary all will admit, but ii
Is only half of the queer story that is told
concerning this feathered monstrosity.
AFTER laying number of these cuTiou
sheilesS eggs. period of from a week to
ten Gays VIII elapSe In which there is
total cessation of the egg bus ness as far
as TINS one hen is concerned. and then
the real wonder egg is deposited. This
above, being entirely composed Of shell
material, and of about the same specific
gravity as an equal bulk of common chalk.
ok OF these wonderful eggs had been Sc
cured up to Oct. ], and three of the nUm-
Der have been sawn asunder SO as to show
their composition. The Rolfe man has
been offered 800 piece Tor each of these
solid eggs, but has so far refused to part
/ with single specimen.
Tho British board Of photographers
! have made a report which is startling in
: some OF It's details. the 81 IOnis
/ public. 1t appears that after a long series
! OF observations ii has been asCertained
/ that the little Thames is carrying 14,00O-
/ 600 cubic feet of British soil into the sea
/ annually. In order to get an idea of what
! the above figures really mean let us i'm
aglne a huge mass of stone 100 feet in
| width, 100 feet long and 400 feet high;
! then let us imagine that fourteen Of these
! immense cubes are yearly fioated out TO
sea from the British mainland. The
! Thames basin has, however, an area. Of
b,l60 square miles. The immense amount
! OF solid Latter alluded to above is taken
gram by grain from this large extent OF
surface, so that 1t only wears away the
! surface of the basin as a whole at the
rate of 1 SAth part of an inch each year.
4 Al the rate of wear and tear mentioned
: IN the opening paragraph of this article
/ one would naturally suppose that within
! few hundred years the whole of the
/ main British Isle would be deposited at
| the bottom of the ocean, but owing TO the
! vast area from which that 100000 cubic
/ feet or solid matter is gathered. the basin
/ OF the Thames has only been lowered
one inch since the Norman conquest.
| Some of the readers OF this will, no
/ doubt, be disappointed to find that the
] rate OF erosion is so slow, and will de-
/ clare that the headline conveys a different
/ Impression. The island is, however,
/ slowly washing away" for the statisti-
/ cian Of the hydrosraphic board says that
/ II VIII take $4,000 years more to reduce
! Britain TO the level of the sea.
The first strike on record, says the
| Rochester Post, is recorded by Livy in his
| famous book, The Annals" This strike
| occurred in Rome in the year 800 b. c. The
/ following is a translation of the Latin
! isded because the latest censors had for
| hidden them to take part to the banquet
! n Juplters Temple, according to the an
/ cient custom, withdrew every one of them,
! 10 Iibur. so that nobody was left at Rome
/ TO play during the sacrifices. This Incl
/ dent shocked the religious sentiment of
! the Senate, and the senators sent MESSAGES
! to invite the Inhabitants of Thur to make
! every effort in order that the players
/ should be restored to the Romans. The
/ I1burtines, having promised not to neg
. lect anything necessary for that purpose
/ caused the flute players to come 10 the
I place where the senate met ana eXhorted
I them to 80 back to Rome Seeing that
/ they could not prevail upon them 10 90 So
! they employed strategem in keeping with
I their character. On a day of festival, IN
. der the prCteXt that music would increase
/ the joy of the feast, every citizen invited
/ the flute players individually to his house
ana VINE, or which people of that profess
! sion are usually fond, was given to them
/ in such quantities that they fell into a
deep sleep. They We're then thrown into
/ wagons and transported to Rome. They
/ only became aware of what had hap
! pened on the day after, when dawn sur
prlsed them lying on the carts, which had
/ been LETT in the Forum. A large crowd
! had assembled, and they We're induced to
/ promise that they would remain al Rome.
/ The right of attending the banouets was
/ restored TO these flute players.
The natives of nearly all tropical coun-
/ tries, and especially those of the sea
/ islands, exhibit many Vagares Of taste in
/ the matter of food. in many cases show
/ ing an almost Irresistible desire to fill
/ their stomachs with the various kinds of
! earth, generally clays, says the st. Louis
. Republic on first thought one would
/ imagine that this clay-eatng habit had
been formed through desire TO get al
/ kaline substances into the stomach in or
der to neutrdlize the acids of that org n,
. but investigations prove the contrary,
the clays which such people, most crave
/ being unctuOuS and wholly devoid Of sal
I inc elements. Humboldt says that the fe-
I male pottery workers on the Madalena
. river in South America put large Jumps
/ of clay into their mouthsSquite frequently
/ while shaping their 'earthenware vessels,
/ and that the clay-eatiHg instinct is so
/ strong in the natives of that region that
infants of from Ia to years of age are
I tied in the huts to prevent them from
/ overlooking their stomachs with the un-
! wholesome diet on the Orinoco, too, our
great Traveller passed several days with a
| ciay-eating tribe OF Indians called the
/ Otomacs. He thus describes the peculiar
habit as noted in that queer people. The
earth which the Otomacs eat is a soft vel
lowish white potters clay, with a small
/ quantity Of oxide OF iron rs a constituent
/ part. They seek for it on the banks of the
| Ornoco and Meta rivers, and select 1t
I with great care, nos considering all claws
/ equally agreeable to eat. y . A very
/ intelligent monk assured us that one of
, them would eat from three-quarters Of a
I pound to pound and a quarter Of this
food in a single day. II YOU in
quire OF an Otomac Indian concerning his
/ winters provisions he viii point to q heaD
of clay balls stored away in his hut AS
noted in the opening we find this queer
earth-eetng practice difused through
ont the Torrid Zone. and occasionally hear
/ of the practice in Sweden, Norway Fin
! land and in New Caledonia as well a g In
] the southern states of our own country,
/ Why the human system should crave such
odd food could probably be scientifically
/ explained; however it Is not the purpose
OF this note 10 seek remote reasons FOR
the existence OF the habit but sirnplv ~
state that the practice, though admittedlv
a curious one, is vel known in the various
1 quarters Of the globe
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