The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The craze 10 possess some article which
has touched the sacred hands Cf the rep
resentatiVe OF St Peter on earth has
grown to such dimensions that now the
pope has been Obliged to be more careful
IN his habits than he used TO be, says Har-
rison's Magazine. After he has dressed
himself Tor the day he locks the doors OF
his private apartments and puts the Keys
IN his pocket. This accounts for the rat
ting OF keys which IS heard whenever ne
moves In this way he is able TO clrcuIn-
vent some Of his attendants, who have APP
parentiy been in the habit OF purlOlnlng
numerous small articles which are USED ~
his holiness in his daily routine. These
they have sold as relics 70 the British ana
American Catholic tourists. who have
gone on delighted with their purchases
one Of the Americans declares ne IS Ilf
happy pOssessOr Of a suit Of paJamas Ihe
pope used 10 wear; another has a slipper
much worn down at the heel. and mira
exhibits with pride a silk handkerchief,
which he was assured by the attendant
has frequently been a great comfort 10 the
vice regents nose. In the time OF the late
Pope Plus *. the sale Of similar euectS
was noticed, and steps were taken TO put
a stop TO it, for IT was the occasion Of
great scandal at the vatican.
Ruined temples Of great size have been
discovered by French investigators in
Cambodia- lust north Of Siam. says the
Philadelphia Record. An extinct race.
bearing the singular name of khmers, IN
habited an immense territory, now form
ing part of Cambodia and covered by for
ests. Temples and other large monu-
ments now lie hidden by vegetation, and
il will probably be years before the extent
Of them can be ascertained. The arrange
ment of these buildings and the originality
of the carving and Ornamentation are de-
clared to be very astonishing. Tney eyl-
dence a somewhat advanced CIVILIZATION
and the period at which II prevailed can
not be fixed with any certainty Ihere Is.
however, a document in the treasury OF
King Norodom of Cambodia which throws
some light on the subject. II is the royal
chronicle or POngsa-Noda. Nm J.
Moura and AymOnier have obtained from
King NOrOdom an authorization 10 trans
late the Pangsa-Noda. Sketches OF some
of the buildings recently discovered show
that they are large and magnificent IN a
| grotesque way. Among the ruins are those
of what Is believed to be the royal fortress
of Angxor-Thom, built by Prea- Thong;
Angkor-Thom was In reality a tortlned
city. of which the extent can be roughly
traced. II measures about nine miles in
circumference. The entrance is surmount-
ed by a colossal head of BFahma. on the
walls are the remains of a frieze composed
of the figures Of gods, the bodies rising
from lotos flowers. Among other decora-
tions is a large, three-headed elephant,
| representing Airawaddi the faVorlte
mount of silva.
The European elephant herd is, gen
| orally speaking the property OF the large
| circus owners, and these prefer the Indian
| elephant, which they allege TO be more 90
/ Gle and more reliable for thetr purposes
| than the African species, says the Satur-
| day Review. The trainers say that the lat-
/
| makes them uncertain performers IN a
| ring. They will learn a few tricks with
/ out difficulty but when called upon 70 per
! form in public they sometimes seem 10 Ior-
! get their accomplishments, and either
! stand still or bolt to their stables. II mas
| been recently pointed out that TINS lack OF
| memory, or perhaps of brain power, IN
| the African when compared with the IN
! dian species may possibly be accounted tor
! by the descent of the former from the mas
| todon an earlier extinct type than the
! m amnroth The teeth of the African ele-
/ phant correspond with those of the masto-
don while in the Indian elephant they are
| analogous to those of the more recent
| mammoth When kept in England the At
| rican seems to have less respect Tor "hu-
mans" than the Asiatic, and is less trusted
| by its keepers, who seem 10 look upon II
| as unsafe But is this only comparative
| estimate of a creature judged by the slde
| of one which has long held the first place
| among domesticated beasts of burdenF
! Or Sclater who has summarized the gen
| eral experience of the Geological Society
| for nearly twenty years, gave II as ms
| opinion that they are quite as Intelligent
| as the Indian species, though, perhaps, not
| equally docile.
Napoleon, who knew. the value Of time
! remarked that it was the quarter hours
! that won battles, says Good Words The
| value of minutes has been often recog-
| nzed, and any person Watching rall-
/ way clerk handing out tickets and change
during the last few minutes must nave
| been struck with how much could be done
/ in those short portions Of time. AT the
appointed hour the train starts, and by
| and by is carrying passengers at the rate
! of sixty miles an hour. In second you
| are carried twenty-nine yards. In one
! twenty-ninth of a second you pass over one
yard. Now. one yard is quite an appreci-
! able distance, but one-twenty- ninth OF
second is a period which cannot be APP
preciated. Yet 1t is when we come to
| planetary and stellar motions that the mo-
| ton of the infinite divisibility of time
dawns upon us in a new light 1t would
seem that no portion of time, however
| microscopic, is unavailable. Nature can
| perform prodigies not certainly in less
| than no time but in portions of it so min
ute as to be altogether inconceivable The
/ earth revolves on its axis in twenty-four
hours. At the equator its circumference
| is $4,000 miles. Hence, in that part of the
! earth a person is being carried eastward
at the rate of 500 yards per second. That
| is, he is moving over yard, whose length
| is conceivable, in the period of one-fiVe-
| hundred-and-ninth part of a second of
! which we have no conception at all. But
| more, the orbital motion of the earth
| around the sun causes the former to per
! form revolution of nearly GOO, 600 600 miles
| in year, or somewhat less than 10000
miles an hour, which is more than 1000
| miles minute. Here, then. our second
carries us the long distance of about 10
! miles. The mighty ball thus flies about a
mile In the nineteenth part of a second
THE view from the steps of the Temple
! Demorests Monthly. A weird and DESC
late, yet withal a beautiful panorama
shows YOU Pompeii, the city of ruins, living
before you with Vesuvius In the distance
haHy as ever. sending its calm pillar of va,
| por into the mid air The feelings of awe
are succeeded by wonder and astonishment
as closer inspection of the ruins discIoses
the skill of that time; one sees often con-
venlences and appliances equal in con-
! Struct1on and ingenuity to those of a sim
ilar Kind in use to-day, and naturally asks
himself What have we been doing during
! all these centuries?" l learned that oniy
/ about one-half of Pompeli has TINS far
! been eXcavated, and that at the presenf
| rate OF progress it will require at least
| sixty years longer to unearth the whole
/ only about $1,000 or 5000 a year are ev
| pended on the work. The streets of Pom
| peii are seldom more than "a feet wida
! mostly straight from end to end. Indeed
/ TINS ancient town is quite American in Inc
| rectangularity Of its plan. The pavement
| Is, however, quite lnamerican in it's soil
/ atty, consisting of large, polygenal blocks
! OF lava, set so firmly that after eiRhteen
/ centuries the roadways are as sound as
! Wnen laid. The crossways are sIightIv
/ raised above the level Of the trees and tbe
M nfep pm OF the horses feet and the Impact
/ OF the chariot wheels are plainly visible
| Curiously enough, the Pompeiian nubH,,
/ fountains (and there are many of them
/ still