The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-04-22
ITEMS oF INTEREST.

The drink known as the cocktail was in
vented and named by Elizabeth Flanagan. the
wife Of an Irish soldier who died during the
revolution She then became a sutler. and
followed the troop Of Virginia horse which in
lls9 Wlntered at -Four Corners. between White
PlalLs and Iarrytown. WeStcheSter county.
n I. Betsy lana an set Up hotel, which
the American and French officers frequeuted
lhey would come in after night at the card
taCle for "braCer," and Mistress Elana san
would provide them with drink that made
mem feel as fresh as cocks tall In time
the compound received the name by which II
is now known. Elizabeth Flanagan is dead,
but the cocktail We still have with US,
The extent to which the human body can be
mutilated without causing death is beyond
what most people think. OF course. the re-
moval OF the largest limb is a familiar fact
OUT the successful removal or all the 1nC rs
would, in mos cases, result in nothing worse
than inconvenience. In the same way the in
ternal organs may be eytirplted This IS IA
cllltated oy their quality One kidney may
be removed and the other will make up for
the loss by doing double work. One eye may
be taken out and the sight remains practically
unlmpalred. Large portions of the brain may
be removed with no injury to life. or intellect
A portion OF the intestines has been cut out
and the ends Sewed toE ether and their normal
action and function have not been intertere1
with.
The monarch among poisonous snakes is
the enormous hamadryas, which grows to be
as much as fourteen feet in length, aud is so
fierce that II will sometimes attack and even
chase any one who ventures near to its nest,
SAYS writer in Mcclure Magazine. Native
snake charmers, who will handle the hereest
cobras fearlessly, are usually loath to touch
hamadryas. though have occasionally seen
large specimen of this venomous reptile in
their bags. 1t lays its eggs in heap of de-
! caying leaves, which it collects for the pur-
pose, and sits upon the top to keep of intru-
ders. A road through the jungle will some
times be closed against all corners by pair
OF these snakes. and woe EetlQe the
unfortunate traveller who stunt les
pnawares upon the nest. The
snakes, but it is fortunately some what rare.
Curiously enou h, it is not always aggressive.
| Indeed. it sometimes happens that 1t is quite
unwilling to strike. SuDericially il is not
| unlike a harm ess rock snake, and not very
long ego, in Burmah. a MN brought one in
| from the jungle and kept 10 loose in his hOUS3
Lor some Gays under the impression that 1t
| was one OF these creatures. During the
| whole of its captivity it never attempted to
bl e any one and its captor, who had heen
Familiarity pulling Il a out by the tail was only
apprlsed Of his mistake by a forest oficer
| who happened to turn mp and who knew a
good deal about snakes. 1t is easy TO ina yine
the haste with which the amateur sn Ike
| charmer proceeded 10 dispose OF his captive.
1t is popularity supposed that cars are
| meant for carrying freight; little obserya.
ton shows that actually their chief use is for
| StorehOuses and this fact appears in europe
| as well as in America, says the Rail
| road Gazette And this is not only
| In the hands Of the negligent constance wLo
| takes his own time to unload, bit also in that
| Of the presumably careful carrier. who keeps
| his cars standing on sidings several times as
many hours as he keeps them moving. some
one has pointed out that the elaborate freight
| statistics of the Prussian State Railroads.
! recently published showed that the average
! mileage of freight cars in the Lass year was
| only 1O,3i7 miles. Assuming, saws he that
| the average speed of freight trains is 1876
miles pretty fast for freight per hour,
| the cars we're moving only 555 hours. or
| tWenty-tnree days in the year and there
! fore stood stu at stations 3i2 days. He esti-
| mates that the average number OF runs uer
| car was $50; the statistics show that 81 of
| these were made without load, leaving 80 runs
| when the car was loaded and IN
| loaded. The legal allowance OF
| time for these operations is IL hours each
| equal to 60 days for the 80 runs. For switch
| ing three hours he thinks. ought to have been
| enough, the running time being little more
| than six: this would require 8 DAYS more
| , his accoJ ntS for los days Of the cars time
| What on earth was it doing the other 2T
| days: And why should there be car fam
| inc every year? After all, he has little to
| suggest as a remedy, exceut that freight
| trans ought to be run at night ana te loaded
and unloaded by day-apparently not consid-
| ering that, to get through, many must run
| night and day.
Thomas S. Baldwin the aeronaut and gym
mast, connected with the ballooning depart
ment of the signal service and war depart
| menus, mas been ordered to Boston, where he
| will conduct series OF interesting and i'm
portant experiments in aeronantics saws the
| New York World. Vessels approaching Bos-
| ton can be heard through their foc horns tif-
! teen miles out at sea, but when within three
| miles OF shore the sound Of the fog-horn whts-
| tie is absolutely lost. The question is where
| does the sound go? 1t is proposed to investi-
| gate the upper atmosphere at distance Of
| 500 feet in the hope OF ascertain
| ing whether the sounds from the
whistles and fog horns do not go up
NO 20 T1p1s1 Int.
such sounds do. A A mCnBter P 6aIiooS
| will be anchored TO u government
vessel. and will be allowed to ascend to any
| required distance by means of a wire ca lie
worked by steam. The vessel will cruise
about of Boston and neighboring points TO
| distance OF ten to fifteen miles, ana sounds
| will be made from whistles and fog horns
| When within three or four miles of shore it
! IS believed that the aeronaut in the balloon
| can ascertain whether the sound in getting
| lost ascendS. In the coil Of wire that is at
| tached to the balloon is a telephone wire
| by means of which Baldwin will conmuni-
| cato with officials on board the shin MAJ
! Llvermore, Of the government service. with
| his star. Will assist the aeronaut in this
| work which Will possibly occupy some
| months, and perhaps d year. After these ex-
| periments are concluded Baldwin Will turn
| his attention to experiments in war bal
| looming, for the benefit of the war depart
ment,
| Surprising man to toss three pennies in
the air, what are the chances of their coming
| down all heads or tails? That Is question
| discussed in a recent number Of Nature nv
| Francis Cation, OF the Royal : ociety he
| upsets popular oelusion regarding the
| laws of chance 1t is obvious that at least
| two OF the coins thrown in the air must turn IN
| alike, for when the coins are on the ground
| there must always be either two heads or
| tails showing. 1he question then is as 10 the
chance OF the third coin turninIup head or a
| tail. 1t is, OF course, an even chance whether
| a third coin turns one side or the other Is
| 1t, therefore, an even chance that all three
| coins viii alike? Mr. Gallon saws it is not
| an even chance, and that the man who bets
! his money on such theory would lose in the
| end. he SAYS the relative chance of all three
! coins turning up alike is two to eight and he
! figures 1t out in this way: There are two dir
/ terent and equally probable ways in which a
coin may turn up; there are four WAYS
| In which two coins may turn up. and there
| are eight ways in which three coins NAV do
| so OF these eight ways one is all heads
and another all tails. While it is an even
/ chance whether third coin is heads or tails
/ 1t is not an even chance that the third coin
! will turn the same as the other two. In order
/ 10 test the matter, Mr.. Cation tossed three
| coins eight times. Only twice did they come
! up all alike, while the third coin was :equalIv
| divided tetween heads ami tails Mr. Gallon
! then made 100 throws of dice with three dice
! IN each throw, the cd numbers counting as
! heads and the even numbers as tails The
! 10 throws were divided into three groups OF
/ forty IN olgh, and gave the result of ali alike