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

Something like the japanese Of a hun
dred or more years ago, the Egyptians
4 of the early dynasues held silver as more
valuable than gold In tombs, silver OBJ
] lects are exceptionally rare. The eXplana-
/ Uon IS that gold was more easily procur-
/ able that silver. But the Egyptians, later
/ on, must have had their bimetallic
I troubles, because in the eighteenth dy-
nasty silver and gold were on parity
] ana after that gold was probably dearer
/ than silver. In time, under the name of
. electron, a compound OF gold and silver
. was used, the alloy being two parts gold.
Some very curious deductions of an an
. InfcpoloSical character are due to DR.. r.
/ HaNelock Charles professor of anatomy
/ IN the medical college, Lahore, says the
. New York Times. Accurate measure
I Inents having been taken of innumera Die
} IeS bones OF Europeans and the Punjaub
] people, more than twenty differences were
/ iouho, chiehy in the structures of the knee
/ joints and ankles. If, then these differ
/ enGes exist not only in race alive to-day
/ - III me prehistoric caVe-dWellers when
! compared with the later European, there
! iIuSt nave been some cause for il. The
/ S'tJng posture Of the orientaIs is the same
/ So-uay as IN the past. The European
, uOes not 1old his legs under him ana sit
/ on mem. RMS method OF sitting among
/ me OrlentalS has had its influence on GER
/ IN muscles and shaped the bones. The
/ chIlu Just born has, transmitted, these
/ PScuidrlJleS Ergo the caveman, sQuatted
! Oh MS uOubled-up legs. He had no chair.
Few people know that soap is found in
| natural mines in California. These mines
| are on the shores Of Owens Lake and
| are accounted for by scientists who have
| recently investigated them as following:
Inc Tater of the lake is strongly imprcg-
| rated with borax and soda. IN The water
| - CuTi9us spcles of grub breed
! ~ millions. These grubs go through
Inetr various transformations and
many emerge as shOrt-winged heavy
podiea lies, very fat and oily. They live
put IeW days, dying and falling into
the lake in such numbers as to be fire.
9dentIy washed ashore in layers more
iran loot thick. The oily subsistence OF
/ hIanHC NH-irh oil Of
Ine poraX and soda. and the result is
layer OF pure soap, corresponding in
thickness to the drift strata Of the lead
mes, foot deep of flies making layer
OF soap nearly an inch thick These
Str9ta' repeated year after year, have
formed the celebrated Soap banks of
Owens Lake." where a large force of
of years.
Wen is situated on a farm near Olympia,
W ash, says the St. Louis Republic 1t
was sunk in 1883, the workmen going
down to depth of % feet About 1890 it
was noticed that the platform was being
gradually raised oft the ground by the top
layer OF bricks. The owner tore away the
boards and removed the layer of bricks
which had protruded above the ground,
ana before the end of the year had re-
peated the operation twelve different
times, removing not less than two feet of
the wall Since the spring of 1891 the well
has been entirely abandoned, the water
having become unfit for use on account
OF some obnoxious gas escaping into it.
ana which can be smelled at a distance
OF 10 feet from the well. Since its aban-
comment comment nothing has been done toward
removing the bricks, which gradually but
surely, layer after layer, show them
selves above the ground. At the present
time the wall actually sticks out" of
/ the ground, like huge circular chimney
ITS night above the surface being a few
inches over 10 feet. The bottom of the well
IS now only II feet from the surface and
1t has been calculated that at the present
IaIe OF upheaVal it will actually rise to
me surface level and entirely disappear
by the end Of 1895 Scientific inquiry
proves that the phenomenon is of seismic
origin and that it is really the showing of
. the lesser forces of an earthquake.
Every few years, says the New York
Gost somebody raises the question
whether St Pauls Cathedral in London
ought not to be cleansed from the SCOT
with which it is encrusted. and restored
10 something like its primitive white
ness. Some time ago an experiment of the
sort was made on one OF the porticos
which forthwith assumed a notified or
plebald appearance. Now the matter
has come up for discussion again and
the following interesting point is made in
a letter to the Times by a well known ar
chitect; Il have had the opportunity,
when examining some of our London
stone-faced churches, of removing the
coat of dirt with view of seeing the
condition of the stone under it, and have
found it to be perfect. The casing of dirt
appeared to he made chiefly of road dust
which had adhered 10 the stone Conly the
outer coat of all being gray black. All
the deletertous chemicals must have gone
out of the lower layer, SO that the dirt
was a perfect protection. If it were all
cleaned off, the stone would be subjected
to the strong chemicals in our London
atmosphere. 1t must be remembered
that this dirt only adheres to the parts
which are not completely washed by the
rain, and that it is just these parts,
therefore, which are in most need of pro-
lection. If at some future time the atmos-
phere of London should be as pure as the
atmosphere of the country is now, it
but until that time comes l sincerely
trust that no such experiment will be
tried"
The tail Of q comet is net formed Of the
same particles which composed it yester-
day, or even an hour or a moment ago-it
| is constantly being renewed at the ex-
pense OF the nucleus, says the St. Louis
Republic. AS the long stream Of black
smoke from the neighboring factory or
! mill IS being Continually renewed by
fresh particles of carbon released by the
| combustion going on in the furnace be
! low, so is the wonderful luminous train
, of cometary bodies being constantly re-
J plenished by particles flying from. or
rather driven from the nucleus by the in
tense heat Of the sun. Then, again, how
nous must these particles that so to
make up the tail of a comet be. This
! thought is suggested by the fact that
/ 1t has been proven that in some cases the
nucleus of comets which are only a few
hundred miles in diameter will have
: enormous, fan like tails stretching across
; space for a distance exceeding 200. 900 600
miles, and having a bulk exceeding that
Of the sun by more than 10000 times
Prof. r. F. Barnard beautifully illus
trates the formation Of a comets tail by
"supposing" thus: Suppose, for exam
| pie, that the nucleus Of a comet is com
posed of ice: Then suppose the heat Of
! the sun to be so intense as to rapidlv
melt that portion of the ice globe exposed
. to the. action of its rays, which are strong
enough TO Immediately convert ii into
yapor which ascends toward the sun
| Imagine now, fierce wind blowing out
Z 1Hi f.a
meets it to be whirled out into space be-
hind the comet This will clearly illus
comets tail, only that the nucleus of the
+ comet is not ice and. the vapor is not
, water Vapor, neither is the force which
drives II away from the sun a fierce
: wind The unknown force limited at by
I the astronomer above quoted, readily ex-
/ plains why a comets tail as rule
points in an opposite direction to the sun.
The RUSSIAN astronomer Brediechen, dis
tnguishes three different types OF com
etaTy tails; Those composed Of particles
/ having the specific gravity of
hVdO-CarbOn pas. and 4 third 81 sc ,,,-;,-.-