The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ttAA paper LudL WMen "A muscle Is eAEE-
elsed a portion Of it is oXidized or
burned Our bodies are furnaces, in
which the vital heat is supplied by the
same chemical changes which so on in
stove when the fire is lighted. And If for
any reason the flesh Of our body is not
continually consumed by this process Of
combustion" we die, as the fire goes out
in a stove when il becomes clOgged with
ashes and c!nders.
According to a writer in the Popular
Science Monthly, the nerves of warm
blOOded animals telegraph Information To
their brains at the rate Of about 10 feet
per second When any one puts his hand
on hot iron he does not feel il until tho
nerves have sent the message 10 the
brain, and in the interval his hand has
been burned. 1t is thought that this would
not be the case if the nerve message
were transmitted with the intensity and
velocity of electricity transmitted over
copper wire 10 a brain acting with the
promptness Of a Leyden Jar.
The keys to the iron gates which are
placed at either end Of the corridor in the
ctty hall where council chambers are to
be are marvels of strength and workman
ship says the Philadelphia Record. The
that each key cost sls. and
occupied the time of skilled
workman for a week. They are made
of steel, entirely hand wrought, and the
designs arg artistic and complicated. The
locks on the gates are. unusually power
ful, and it is explained that the council
men feared lest lobbyists might secure an
entrance to the chambers. The bolts run
up and down from the floor to the ceiling
and nothing shot OF a dynamite charge
or battering ram could induce them to
give way.
NJ. Flournoy. of Geneva recently de-
vised novel experiment for testing the
limits Of human intelligence, says the Pail
Mall Gazette. He arranged a series of
common articles of all sizes and requested
his class to put them in order of weight
The weight Of all was exactly the same
but only one student discovered this fact
The ma l0TifN nlarp6 a small uraf o
hrst, and large wooden basin last. The
ordinary mind, apparently. ranges the
weight OF objects in inverse proportion to
their size. Only when the eyes are shut
does true appreciation become possible
showing that the sensations of innerva-
ton, by which we should be enabled to tell
when the support of different objects calls
forth the same expenditure of energy. do
not properly exist.
As we write says the Pail Mall Gazette
we are clad IN suit of paper as supplied
to the Japanese soldier on service. It is
thoroughly light. easy under the arms
and over the chest. The trousers il is
true. are knickerbockers, and lead TO the
impression that the japanese soldier in
Nariably wears his left leg shorter than
his right; but this we believe is the
result of art rather than nature. 1t is said
that this paper never tears. is very warm
and seldom wears out. We should recon-
mend the poor to wear the Z. NJ. G. under
their coats this cold weather. A man
might make a handsome living by having
advertisements printed on himself. after
the manner of the praying machine
These clothes would also make useful pa
Jamas. being elegantly fitted with tapes
and buttons just like real. 10 Ben likes
them, but we are not quite sure whether
we shall ever get out again. Later-We
got out of Them but they are very diff
cult to fold up.
Inhabitants of the northeastern part
of Asia use mushroom to promote in
toXication, says HarrisOn's Magazine. 1t
Is known as the f1y-broom mushroom, and
is very abundant in Scotland. The fungus
is regularly gathered in the hottest part
of the year, and is then hung up by a
string in the air to dry. Some are dry
before gathered, and these are stated to
be far more narcotic than those artifciaIly
preserved. Usually the fungus is rolled up
IKE a bolus, and taken without chewing
for If masticated, Il is said to disorder the
stomach One large or two small fungi
produce what is looked upon as a pleasant
state OF intoXication for one day. The
effect is the same as that produced on
taking a quantity of spirits or wine eX-
cept that it is delayeyd from one to two
hours after the bolus has been swal-
lowed. At first it produces very cheerful
emotions of the mind; it renders some
persons exceedingly active, and is a slim
person affected by it wishes to step over
straw or a small stick, IL impels him to
take jump sufficient to clear a low hedge
or the trunk of a tree; 1t keeps those fond
of music perpetually singing.
"A Belgian who has been studying the
marriage rites and customs of savage
races has found many interesting points
of both likeness and dissmiliarity among
the habits of the different nations, but
none of these struck him a so popular as
one fact not directly in his line of in
vestigation but which was everywhere
forced upon his attention. That fact was
the absolutely universal existence OF a
feeling, more or less pronounced, of hOspi-
tally between the husband and his mother
in-law. This sentiment, whose origin he
was not able to discover, attains among
certain "barbarians" an intensity really
1fr~fra
riage," says the writer, the son-in-law
in not a few negro, Indian, and other prim-
tive tribes, manifests both fear and hor-
rOr toward his Wife'S mother; she, in
turn, shows an equal dissemination to ad-
dress her new relative, or even to see
him. Each Of them avoids with extreme
care the pronunciation Of the others
name. Among some of these peoples. and
especially among the Kafrs, men and wo-
men are named after domestic animals or
utcnsn in common use. The Observance
of the rule is a cause Of much inconven-
fence, and makes necessary the employ
ment of long paraphrases. For instance a
man whose mother-in-law is called 1.-THE
goat" is forced to refer to his flock as
THE animals that have horns"
The dancing hammerkop, says Cham
ber's Journal, is somewhat like a heron
or stork, has a. melancholy gait, lives
on fish and frogs, and is considered in
Africa a bird of evil omen. 1t is found in
Cape Colony, some other parts of Africa,
and in Madagascar Under its quiet APP
When it casts OFF its sober demeancr it
INDUCES in a fantastic dance. In a state
of nature, two or three join in the dance,
skipping around each other, opening and
closing their wings. They breed on trees
or on rocky lodges, forming huge struc-
ture of sticks These nests are so solid
that they will bear the weight of a heavy
man on the domed roof without collapsing
The entrance is a small hole, placed in the
least accessible side. In d lonely rocky
glen Mr.. Layard once counted half dozen
of their nests, some almost Unnecessarily
placed on lodges of rock. One nest con-
tained a. least a large CARLOAD of sticks
They occupy the same nest year after
year, repairing it as required. The female
is credited with the joiner work and the
male is the decorator on the platform
outside the inner portion he spreads out
all kinds of objects OF vertu. brass and
bone buttons, bits of crocl6ery, and
bleached bones. If a knife, pin, or finder
box were lost within some miles, the loser
made a point of examining the hammer
kops' nests Indeed, were 1t not that hy-
enas, leopards, and jackals ranged in their
vicinity, it is highly probable mans Gu
riosity or resentment would have often
eXtirpated these interesting artists, or at
least destroyed habits founded on leisure
and immunity from persecution.
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