The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

DIR. n. H. Dyer. who has been en-
gagged since 1898 in copying the Virginia
land grants on file in the land office at
completed the work and turned the books
over TO the auditor The work COM
prises $500 grants, and covers 40 500 pages,
divided in eighty-three substantially
bound books. They include not only all
the grants issued by the state of Nir-
ginia since the land Office was established
July :, lIlo, included in the territory now
comprised in the state of West Virginia,
but also those issued by Lord Fairfax
and the regal government on the land in
the same territory, dating back as far as
l754 This Will make valuable addition
10 the Virginia records already obtained
According to the Leeds Mercury. NJ
Paul Humy, the French naval engineer
living in Liverpool, has succeeded in con-
Nerung petroleum and other oils into a
hard, homogeneous mass. suitable for use
as fuel on board WarshiDs aud other large
ocean-going boats. He claims that this
ma terial is affected neither by heat nor
cold, and IS absolutely smokeless and
odorless. The cakes, he says when set
on fire, burn only on the surface, and
give off an intense heat. They can be
made in any size or shape, and can be
stored anywhere without danger, as they
cannot eVapOrate or cause an explosion
Ihey require very little draught and
make not more than from to per cent
Of ashes. NJ d Humy declares that a
man-of-war having Loco tons of this solid
ihed oil could sail round the world, or
At+Aaln O. STD LOT months together. y
ton OF this fuel, NJ. d'Humy says, repre-
sents at least 80 tons of coal, and the cost
is not more than from s. to SO per ton.
IN the manufacture Of Steel he says, 5
cwt. Of soidiiied petroleum, costing 6s.,
would melt ton of metal. The new fuel
can also be used with perfect safety
Tor domestic purposes. If the half of
this story is true. and NJ. d'Humy really
has got a substitute for coal, which is
less dirty bulky. and costly. while equally
safe and powerful, he has opened the
way 70 all sorts Ofrmarine possibilities
But discoveries of this kind have been
made, on paper. a good many times be-
fore, and it will be well to await results
before growing enthusiastic.
"A quaint old superstition is to this lay
he'd in Poland, says the Princess, to the
effect that two lighted candles set a1oat
on the river by two lovers will, by their
conduct, foretell If the course of true love
Will run smooth or otherwise. The "lov-
ers candles" are launched at a very
pretty water fete that takes place every
Vistula which runs through Poland 1t
commences at sunset. The river is
thronged with a procession of little boa IS
containing masked ladies and gentlemen
Each person carries two wreaths and
two candles, the latter representing the
person carrying them, and the object OF
their affections. They are lighted, fixed
firmly in the center Of the wreaths, and
laid side by side in the water. Should
they feat down the river close together
ted Should they drift apart from each
other IT is a sign that the lovers will be
parted, and should they only drift asund-
er Tor little way and further on come
together again it is a sign that the loved
ones Will only be parted for a time, and
all come right in the end. There is much
method and order about the arrangement
OF this procession. The boats glide along
in rows so many abreast, and after the
flrst row have proved their wreaths they
move away to the sides and the others
come forward in gnpcpgGi0O The yfyar.
IS well Illuminated and a. large concourse
or people assemblies to watch the proceed
ings. The scene is a charming one. and
reminds one more of Fairyland than of
anything else.
The tidal movement in the St. Law
renee is not the familiar diurnal one com
mon in the ocean and other extensive bod
les OF water, salt or fresh, caused by the
22ttracuon OF the moon, says the New
Y ork Herald 1t is something much more
mysterious. The allegation is that the
big river has a total tidal period of about
fourteen years, and that is, that it falls
regularly and continuously for seven
years, dropping its level four or five feet
and then rises for the next ensuing seven
years. Those who make this assertion
and its most persistent adherents are the
fishermen and guides who study the river
as matter of business from day to day
ana year TO year-are forfeited with APP
parentiy excellent evidence. They will
show you the islands submerged for twelve
years, lat only show themselves at the
lowest water during the two remaining
years OF the period. They will row you
out TO perpendicular cliffs, upon whose
sides they, their fathers and their grand
fathers before them have marked high
water, and the alleged dates seem to con
hrm the theory. What makes this sin
GUAR movement of the water more an
parent is the fact that the lordly St Law
renee IS not subject to the floods and
draughts which raise and lower the lev
els OF almost all rivers many times dur
ing the course of each year EXCEPT for
the almost impercepuble tidal" rise and
fall as the case my be, its level is con-
slant the year around. Weeks of steady
rain DO not disturb its steady volume or
spoil the anglers sport by making muddy
the clear water.
Another wonderful engineering work.
says the New York Post has lust been
completed N India, which practically
the sea on the western side Of India to
reverse its course, to pierce its Way
through the lofty central watershed. and
now down TO the eastern coast, thus af-
fording irrigation to a vast and arid re-
glon IN which famines have been com
mon for centuries. This territory extend
ed from the central watershed eastward
to the Bay of Bengal. 1t occurred to an
officer of the Madras engineers, Can't.
Caldwell in 1903, that it might be possible
10 divert one of the western rivers, near
It's source in the hills, toward the east
The most important of those western
rowing rivers, the Periyar-literally, "The
ter of the Vaigai river, which runs south
eastward into the Bay of Bengal But
while the Periyar deluged the western
coaststrip with destructive floods, the
Naigai was almost completely exhausted
on its course through the dry regions east
OF the watershed. Capt Caldwells pro-
by another officer of the Madras engi-
neers, Maj. Ryves, and complete plans
Tor dlverung the waters of the Periyar
into the Naigai were drawn up These
included an enormous dam to close the
valley of the Periyar, a vast reservoir to
hold the waters thus collected and the
driving of a broad tunnel, nearly 7000
feet long, to convey the overflow through
the ridge to the dry channel of the Val
gai river. This huge work has just been
When the food of the future is once in
vogue, the food dispensary, licensed by
the government, will long since have sun
planted the butchershop and the grocery
store says the New York World Well