The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-09-26
ITEMS oF INTEREST.

MUmmery informs US that a very different
conclusion was reached by his father more
than twenty yearS ago after an inquiry eX-
tending over more than decade. over Two
thousand skulls were examined, Including al
the available collections in Great Britain.
Among thlrty-slX skulls OF ancient Egyptians
there were fifteen with cariOuS leeth; among
seVenty-siX AnglO-SaNOn skulls, twelve.
among li6 skulls Of BomanO-BritOns forty
one. and among fo,tyfOur miscellaneous
skulls Of ancient Britons nine. Several
other collections gave like results. Examin-
Ing skulls OF savage races. 277 per cent. OF
IaSmanlans We're found 20 have dental carries.
2O45 per cent. OF native Australians Pas per
CEN. Of the natives Of East Africa and 27.S6
per cent of the natives Of West Africa.
An Englishman discovered electricity;
Prlssian, In the land OF amber. invented the
hrst electrical machine, saws the Electrical
Review. Otto Guericke Of Mardeuburg who
also invented the air pump. formed the in.
strument by which electricity could be most
readily produced. He placed a globe of sui
phur on an axle, to be turned by the hand OF
the operator, while with the other he applied
cloth to the sulphur to produce the neCes-
Sdry friction 1t was nude. imperfect ma
chine. but II was at once found TO have made
great revolution in the science. Electricity.
which had heretofore been known only in
ITS teebIer forms, was now given out in
sharp sparks and displayed thousand Gu
IlouS properties. sometimes II attracted OBJ
lects, at others repealed them. 1t seemed at
times TO exercise a kind of VOiitiOn. The
weather affected 1t sensibly; dampness dis
solved It's strength il was capable too. OF
influencing bodies a a considerable distance.
and was apparently independent of the usual
laws Of space. Yet the seventh century
guO6u away, with its fierce religious wars
and It's wonderful voyages and settlements,
while little progress was made in the knOWl-
edge OF electricity. Newton paid no partic-
ular attention TO the new science. He sug-
geSted, however that the electrical sub
stance was a subtle ether uiliug nature,
which could be set in motion by friction. Yet
MS bold lnqulSltve mind was never strongly
aJJlacleQ by the TVStRrlOIS StnGV. the
flashes and sparks of the electrical machines
seemed, perhaps, puerle entertainment to
the great student Of natures laws. Nor did
any other eminent phllo sopher OF the age
suspect that human hands would ever WELD
the thunderbot or unfold. by the aid Of
globe OF sulphur, the mightiest principles OF
nature.
The Antarctic is a region of eternal winter
and Of unmelting snow, where-so far as is
known-not single plant finds life within
the circle and where never n living creature
rOamS, says the New York Advertiser. The
zoologist IS not drawn to the southern circle
as he Is to the northern, and yet the attrac-
tons for him are great, because they have
all the charm of the unknown. 1t is believed
that only few of the hardest birds build in
Few OF the sheltered corners of the Ant
arctic, but who knows: Who can say that
deep within those awful sOlitudcs may not
De revealed the mystery of the life OF the fur
seal when he vanlShes from the waters Of the
north Pacific: or that on some Antarctic
continent or island may not lie found the
priceless remnant Of the great aux tribe:
we know not. at any rate, what riches or
poverty may be there until we 20 to see.
And nobody has yet gone to see-beyond
the fringe. 1t is curious fact that no one
has ever wlnteTed within the Antarctic, MANY
as have been the expeditions and ships, com
panies which, compulsorily or VOLUNTARILY
have Wlntered in the Arctic. There has been
no need to do so, for there has been no posi-
BILE goal beyond. such as India, which hrst
led our mariners into the Arctic; no scientific
romance su n as has characterized the quest
for the northern pole. And yet another
thing dllfereutateS the Arctic from the Ant
arctic. In the north there iS-unless Dr.
NanSen Is grlevOuslv mlstaken-a pole sur
rounded by water. In the south there is d
pole surrounded by land-a polar basin as op-
posed to polar continenC. While the books
and essays, the theories and journals. which
have been published concerning the Arctic
region, would ill library, Il handful OF vol
umes contains all that has ever been printed
of records in the Antarctic.
From c.. j. Franks paper on Pharmacy
as Practiced in France, says the London
News, il appears that French chemists carry
on their business under conditions some
what different from those which regulate
their profession in this country They are
only allowed to have one shop each, and are
not permltted 10 work IN association with un-
qualified persons. 1t IS illegal for medical
man in conjunction with pharmaCien to give
gratuitous advice and reap a benefit from the
prescriptions. Pharmaciens have the sole
right Of compromising and retailing medicines
for human beings, either for internal or eX-
ternal use. Medical men resident in rural
districts, where there is no chemist, are al
lowed to dispense medicines, but if they visit
a patient VINO lives near an cstaO-
lishad chemist they are not entitled
to sell medicines. Hospitals and religious
communities can compound medicines for
their inmates Secret medicines are illegal.
and the formulate of all special pref aratlOns
have to be submitted to a board appointed
by the state, and approved OF before being
sold to the public. French pharmacies open
generally at I a. m. ana close at 10 p. m all
tlc year around, Sundays included, and some
one is supposed to be present at all hours for
cases of necessity. Their sales are confined
strictly to drugs, chemicals and mineral
waters, and il would be considered IN mo
fesSional TO handle the variety Of toilet arti-
cles, etc, which Is often an important part Of
the business of their English brethren The
CHIEF poisonous drugs and chemicals are re
CURED by law to be kept in a locked cupboard
in the pharmacy, and the pharmacies are Wis
TIED al least once year by officers appointed.
A still more noteworthy popularity is that all
prescriptions have TO be written in the
mother tongue, and not in Latin, as with us
If our sun were removed to the Pleiades it
would hardly be visible in an opera glass with
which nearly 100 stars ban be seen in the clus-
ter. Sixty or seventy Pleiades Surpass our
sun in brllhancy. Alcyon being 1000 times
more brilliant Electra so times and Maia
nearly 400 says LOngman'S Magazine Sirius
itself taxes subordinate rank when com
pared with the five most brilliant members
OF group the real magnihcence of which we
tdL lhuo III SUMO htEItt dppituHlu. II we
seek to know the dimensions. not of the indi-
vidual stars, but OF the cluster itself, we are
met with many difficulties; but on the as.
sumption that it is apr rOXimately spherical
in shape, we can calculate its diameter to be
over 10000 C000G0 miles. If we think Of the
dimensions of our solar system by thens elves
or in relation 10 terreste2l matters they an
pear sJupendously enormous. Neptune the
most distant known member, mas an orbit
over 600 900 OOO miles across but the solar Sya-
tenn is to the PleladeS but a LiliDuilan 10
BrOpdlngnagian-is but as a microbe to a
mOuntaln-tOr sphere the size OF the solar
system would. II 1t were Spher cal ana lis
diameter that OF the orbit Of Neptune be
relatively so minute that il could be con
tanned more than 10000 100000 times IN n
sphere the size OF the pleiades: in other
words, the limits OF the Pleades could con
tain 100 solar systems as many times over as
there are miles between Neptune and the |
sun. II must not be forgotten that though
there are 1900 stars in the cluster vet with
such dimensions for the entire group vast
distances must separate the stars from one |
another. In fact 200 spheres each with a d.
ametcr OF 3.O}OOOO,OOO miles could he contained |
in the limits assigned to the group, and as
sumng equal distribution of the stars in the |
group, each would be at the inter- Of a spher. |
a,OO0OOOODO miles across and therefore iignt
journey Of Isl days from its nearest neighbor !
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BAk NG PONDER.
A vynrHaH