The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

electric cigar lighter, which can he attached
to the wires Of anv inoandescent light. 1t
will be impossible for man 10 burn MS mus
tache. and it VIII be especially valuable IN re-
lighting old soldiers.
A perfect steam engine weighing but three
grains is the work Of a Connecticut genius.
The engine boiler governors and pumps all
stand on a space only Onefourth OF an inch IN
diameter and less than seven-slXteenths OF
an inch high. he engine has l4S distinct
parts held together by hfty-two screws.
a record kept at Yale for eight years shows
that non smokers are p per cent. taller, p
per cent. heavier and have 60 per cent. more
lung capacity than smokers An Amherst
graduating class recently showed q still
greater difference, the non-smOkers having
"a ned 24 per cent. in Wel-ht and 81 per cent
in night over the smokers, and also exceed
ing them in lung capacity.
A mackereI with rubber banda sort of
primitive corset-around its body has caused
much comment at Gloucester. Mass The
band had evidently been put on when the
fish was small. and had stayed there in spite
of its rapid growth Under the band the
hsn body had not grown, and me depression
was about three inches deep. The band was
sound and flexible, and the fish was in
healthy condition.
Ofhcers OF the steamer Essex report
school of flying fish in the Rappahannock
river, Virginia. Flying fish swim in shoals
varying in number from a dozen TO 100 or
more. They often leave the water at once,
darling through the air in the same direction
for 200 yards or more. and then descend to the
water quickly, rising again, and then renew
ing their flight. Sometimes the dolphin may
be seen in rapid pursuit. taking great leaps
out OF the water. and gaining upon its prey.
which take shorter and shorter flights, valnly
trying to escape, until they sink exhausted.
Sometimes the larger sea birds catch flying
fish in the air. The question whether the
flying fish use their fms at all as wings is not
fully decided The power OF flight is limited
to the time the fms remain moist.
A Peru (Ind) special in the St. Louis Globe
Democrat runs as follows: Superstitious
people OF the city and county are worried
over the discovery made that the letter %"
Is Icing found plainly impressed upon leaves
of growing oats, and it is put down as a pre-
dlctlon OF disaster The letter is taken as an
indication of 'blood-shed. " and 1t is said in
proof of this that the mysterious circum-
stance was noticed preceding the civil war
and the war of 1872, hence with such examples
in the past some look upon its temperance
as prophetic of some similar calamity. a re
porter investigated the truthfulneSS of the
letters presence and found 1t as reported
The letter IS distinct and seems to have been
pressed into and across the leaves as with
type. Some people say the appearance of the
letter is frequent and means nothing. but
none can explain the cause OF its presence.
To save his vessel from being crushed with
the ice in the far north Capt. Salter. of the
Greenland bark Sabna, which arrived at
Philadelphia Tuesday, made fast to the lee
side of an iceberg in the hope of drifting
north with the berg until clear water should
again offer clear course. The Salinl was
fOrtY-three days IN making the run from
lvlgtut nine days OF which were spent drift
ing with the iceberg She drifted { de
greeS to the northward Of Ivigtut aud to IS
degrees west longitude. The passage through
out was one Of great peril. Capt. Saltcr saws
That when he saw the vessel was being car
ried to the nOrthward by the Arctic current
he fastened the kedge anchor in the soft ice
at the base OF the berg and made the hawsers
fast to his vessel. In tn way the Salina
was carried along at speed of the two knots
per hour. During this time the vessel was
surrounded by yelping seals, which were be
ing carried from the coast seward. The
crew killed many OF them. and although their
meat supply was not short tie crew sub
sisted on this meat for ten days.
The greyhound runs by sight only. says the
Philadelphia Times. This is fact. The car
rer pigeon flies his hundreds of miles home
ward by eyesight, noting from point to point
objects that he has marked. This is only con
lecture. The dragon fly, with I2O)O lenses in
his eSe, darts from angle to angle with the
rapldlty OF flashing sword. and as rapidly
darts back, not turning in the air, but with
clash reversing the action Of his four wings
and lnStan taneouSly calculating the distance
pieces. But in what conformation of the eve
does this power consist: No one can answer.
Ten thousand mosquitoes dance up and
down In the sun, with the minuteSt interval
between them, yet no one knocks another
headlOng on the grass or breaks leg or a
wing, long and delicate as they are. Sudden
ly peculiar, high-shouldered. vicious Great
ure, win long and pendent nose, darts out of
the rising and falling cloud and settling on
your cheek, inserts poisonous sting What
possessed the little wretch to do this? Did
he FpEll NT.NNnYs p loo Us1aY1
No one knows. A carriage comes suddenly
upon some geese IN u narrow road and drives
straight through the flock. A goose was
never vet fairly run over, nor duck They
are under the very wheels and hoOfS and vet
they cOntrIve to flap and waddle safely of.
HaUitlally stupid, heavy and indolent, they
are. nevertheless, equal to any emergency.
Why does the lonely woOduecker when he
deScendS from his tree ana goes to drink
stop several times on his way and listen and
look around before he takes his draught? No
one knows. How is II that the species of ant
which is taken In battle by other ants to he
made slaves should he the black or negro
ant: No one knows. The power of Judging
OF actual danger and the free and easy bold
ness that results from 1t are Dy no means
uncommon. Many birds seem to have a cor
rect notion OF guns range, and are scrupu-
lousy careful to keep beyond it, The most
OBVIOUS resource would be to fly right away
out of sight and hearing. but this they do not
choose to do. A naturalist of Brazil gives an
account of an expedition tina. he made to one
of the islands Of the Amazon to shoot snoOn-
bills. iolSes and other magnificent birds
which are abundant there. His design was
completely hathed, however by a wretched
little sand-piper. which preceded him con
tinually uttering his tell-Jale cry, which at
once aroused all the birds within hearing
Throughout the day did this individual bird
continue its self-imposed duty OF sentinel 10
others, efectually preventing the approach of
the hunter TO the game and yet managing TO
keep out OF the range Of his gun.
BY and by We shall scarcely dare to move
or breathe much less to eat in view of the
discoveries of science as TO the danger which
lies in every contact with the outside world.
says the New York Witness. Invisible
disease germs are everywhere lying in wait
for US. ready to enter our system by the
mouth or nose or through the skin, and capa-
bic OF multiplying themselves with miraculous
rapdIty and Of destroying health and even
lie in defiance of all the appliances of medi-
cal art We long ago learned that it was
dangerous TO eat meat or drink water lest in
doing so we should swallow death -dcaiinT
microbes. Then we we're taught that street
sweeping skirts were disease traps Of the
most efficient kind and that flies crawling
over our food were very likely to innoculate
IT with bacteria gathered from the swill-pal
We have also been carefully warned that
1t is very dangerous TO handle money seeing
that we know not through whose
hands 1t may have passed. and now
we learn from a news item that il Is
practically impossible to travel in a public
conveyance without facing death through dis.
ease in variety Of forms 1he marvel is
that we did not all die long ago; or rather
la 10 hn IN n