The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


about completing telegraph line, 5000 miles
long. across the Cobb desert, from Pekin to
Kashgar Chinese Turkestan. 1t has been
three years under construction, and poles IN
places were hauled 600 miles, Branch lines
connect It with the Russian system.
There is an Ulster landlord of New York
city who. after thirty years sojourn IN the
United States. is still a loyal subject of Vic
torla. He passes part Of his time on his es-
tate IN Ireland, and to please his son, native
OF the United Sta es and sturdy American,
he flies side by side upon the lawn the Union
Jack and the Stars and stripes
The strike in the west brought profit to one
class of laborers. The newsboys in all the
large cities declare business to be on a verit-
able boom. One newsboy on Broadway, New
York, was overheard to remark recently that
should the strike continue he would soon be
able to buy cab and thus reach the average
newsboys idea of solid wealth.
Snakes and lizards have hitherto been gen
orally regarded as the effect, rather than the
cause, of stimulants. According however.
to the official report drawn up by the British
consul at Pakhoi and submitted to the En-
glish parliament. an immense quantity of
drled llZar1S have, during the last two years
been shipped from that Chinese port for use
IN the collaboration of wines in Europe and
America.
ST. Elmos light or fire is the name which
has been given phenomenon often seen at
sea during thunderstorms. 1t appears in the
shape of brush or star seldom roIud or
square,, usually at the tips of the maStS; or,
II on land, at the points Of gables or spires
| 1t is occasionally accompanied by kissing
noise and on this account, is believed to be
an electric al manifestation. The old time
! mariners believed the light to be the spirits
of Castor and Pollux who were supposed to
watch over men and who go down to the sea
in shtps'), they always regarding the lire
as sign that the force Of the storm has been
spent.
When attention was first called to the prac-
ticabiltty of canal from the Mediterranean
to the Red sea (by the first Napoleon a
corps of surveyors was sent out to run the
levels" They reported that the scheme
would necessarily have to be abandoned be-
cause the level of the Red sea was 30 feet Ga
inches higher than that of the Mediterranean
That report put damper on the canal pro-
! Ject for several years. In 1S47 however
some doubling Thomases' prevailed on the
| Great Powers to resurvey the route. Eng
land sent Robert Stevenson: Austria. NJ
| Talbot, and France, Sig Negrellf. They
| found that the two seas had exactly the same
level, and the Suez canal is the result of their
| laborS.
The subject Of sugar as a food producing
muscular power has been discussed by DR..
| Vaughan Harley, says the London Public
! Opinion. From brief summary of his paper
we make the following extracts: During a
twentv-four hours fast on one day water
| alone was drunk; on another So grlmmes of
| sugar were taken IN an equal quantity Of
! water. 1t was thus found that the sugar not
! only prolonged the time before fatigue oc-
| CURED, but caused an increase of 81 to rs per
cent In the muscular work done. In the next
! place the effect of sugar added to the meals
was investigated. The muscle energy-pro-
! duclng effect Of sugar was found to be so
| great that 200 grammeS added to a small meal
! increased the total amount OF work done from
! to 80 per cent. Sugar ESQ grammes-about
| eight ounces) was now added to
large mixed meal when it was
FOUND not only to Increase the
! amount of work done from to Is per cent but
| increased the resistance against fatigue AS a
| concluding experiment 80 grammes of sugar
were added TO the meals of full diet day
causing the work done during the period Of
! eight hours to be increased p to Sc per cent
In reply to a request from Acting Secretary
Dabney, the chemists office of the depart
ment Of agriculture has submitted prelimi-
nary report on an examina tion of peanut oil
1t is in part follows: "One of the most in
teresting discoveries which we have made is
Characteristic test for peanut oil as distin-
/ guished from cotton and olive oils When
! these oils are dissolved in equal volumes of
petroleum and treated with a few drops of
| Sulphurlc acid OF 1855 specific gravity and
thoroughly shaken, the ether solution of pea
nut oil becomes a magnificent wine-red color
| while the other oils remain either colorIesS or
| become slightly brown. We have not applied
this test to all the vegetable oils but it is
! completely characteristic of peanut oil as
| compared with the two mentioned. This re
| action is entirely new and will become with
| out doubt a standard une for distinguishing
! between the oils in question We Will extend
| the examination to other vegetable oils as
rapidly as we can get samples OF known
! purity 1t may lie that there is no other veg
| etable oil which will give the beautiful wine
red color. in which case we will have estab-
| llshed test by which peanut oil can be dis
! tinguished from all other vegetable oils"
An old Confederate soldier living at Ma
| con, N c., and who was so unfortunate as to
lose his right arm during the war between the
! states, always complained Of the fingers of
the dead and buried hand giving him exces-
| sive pain. Finally. some one suggested that
! the arm be disinterred and an examination
made. This was accordingly done when it
! was found that stone, weighing several
| pounds, was lying across the fingers. The
! stone was removed, the arm carefully
wrapped in straw. and again buried. From
that time forward the soldier made no further
! complaint OF painful sensations in the lost
! arm. Some curious persons. who heard the
| above story related, substantially as il is
| here, and sent to Prof Edward G. Spitzka
| who was at that time professor of anatomy
! and physiology of the nervous system in the
! New York Postgraduate Medical School
asking 81. If such such sensations in a
siOle, and if SO, why? The reply is re.
| produced word for word below. 1t is a well
| established fact that after the limbs have
! been amputaied the person feels certain sen
/
| the parts which have been removed. The ex-
| planation advanced by the leading physiolo.
| gists is that the nerves are pressed at the
| end of the stump, and that the pain is re-
| ferred by the mind, through habit. to the for
| mer termination OF the senSory lines The
! position, cramped or otherwise. OF the buried
! parts, having nothing whatever to do with
| the sensations conveyed to the brain.
| Fancy rather than fact has all TO do with
] these cases OF imaginary sensations being
sent to the brain from the removed parts
If results. such as you mention in the
case of the old soldier, could follow because
or stone lying across the dead fingers
striking the amputated arm with hammer
or stone would naturally have caused a
much greater sensation Of pain"
The discovery and working of the great
South African mines has enormously in.
creased the production OF diamonds. During
the past quarter century ten tons of these
gems, selling for $500 100000 uncut, and for
5000 100000 after cutting. have been added to
the worlds wealth. Ibis quantity OF stones
Is twice as great as the sum total of all that
were known to exist before, the value reure-
sented being in the most concentrated posi-
lie form. single corporation contains more
than nine tenths OF the entire worlds output
OF diamonds, owning practically the whole of
the mines in South Africa. Thus il is en-
lea to regulate and maintain prices. re.
strictlng the production so that the SUP pIv
may not exceed the demand Up to date Il
has placed upon the market about 2SOOO
cdrats. During the last year 10 dug and sold