The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

the highest point in the are described by
the shot being 1700o feet above the earth's
surface. The discharge Of the gun can
not be heard at the place where the ball
strikes.
1t is well known. says the American
Microscopical Journal that light reflected
from white clouds IS one Of the very best
for Illuminating the microscope. George
Rust writes that when white clouds are
wanting he moistens the fingers with
watch oil and spreads an even but very
thin coat over the face of the mirror
which produces the same results.
-Incandescent electric light is the least
harmful to the eyes of all artificial lights.
says DR.. Trousseau, surgeon of the Paris
QuinZe Ningts Eye Hospital Next
comes the light given by kerosene lamps,
which Is good for ordinary purposes. He
condemns as injurious the light of oil.
and particularly of candles. and considers
the gas jet the most hurtful of all.
-Indolence is declared a disease Ma
larial fevers induce it, and it is a frequent
erect Of dyspepsias and indigestions. It
Is a Characteristic in neurasthenia so gen.
orally that il is usually safe to say that
al lii1OlenI person is neurasthenic to a
certain extent. Hence, in cases of chronic
impotence the counsels of a physician are
often more in place those of a moralist
A careful record kept at Yale for eight
years shows that non-smokers are % per
cent. taller, 25 per cent. heavier and have
% per cent. more lung capacity than
smokers. A recent graduating class At
Amherst presented a similar difference in
taVor of non-smokers, who had gained
in weight "a per cent. over the smokers
ana IN night 81 per cent. and also ex-
ceeded them in lung capacity.
Connecticut has repealed the last of
her plue laws. 1t read as follows: When
any Justice of the peace shall have per-
sonar knowledge that any person is guilty
! OF drunkenness, profane swearing, ours
ing or sabbath breaking, such knowledge
shau be sufficient evidence for such JUS
uee OF the peace to render Judgment
against him, without previous complaint
and warrant. having first caused such
| person to be brought before HIM.
Some curious old customs are still
maintained IN remote parts of England.
| Al Oakham, for example, the lord of the
! manor sttll has the right to demand from
/ every peer passing through his realm the
/ near horseshoe of his nag, though in these
/ Gays the traveller usually compromises by
furnishing 2 counterfeit presentment on
/ large scale, which is nailed as a trophy
| to the wall of the old manor. which dates
\ back to the conquest. Not even royalty is
! exempt from this singular tax. and the
shoes of George ", his brother, the
Prince of York. and the Prince of Wales
! singular collection.
! -Syndicates have been formed in vari-
Gus branches of business for PURPOSES
of speculation or to build up Industrial
| enterprises, but such a thing as a syn
/ dictate to build warShips to dispose of to
/ the highest biQder could hardly have
been expected. says the New York Trib-
une. Yet such a syndicate has been
| FORMED in England for the construction
/ of a powerful cruiser of 10000 tons dis
placement and z knots speed, upon lines
! laid down by Sir Edward j. Reed. the
1 well known naval architect. The vessel
/ is to be built at Barrow-in- Furness, by
the firm which has the contract to build
4 the Powerful for the British navy, and it
| is the intention of the syndicate to sell
/ her to the highest bidder.
! When a. man here walks into a gilded
/ saloon, or any other place where drinks
| are sold, and asks for a split says the
/ New York correspondent of the Baltimore
! American, he simply means a half-pint
! bottle of something, champagne, apolli-
\ narts, or some other water. 1t is well to
/ remember this. said the champion bar
! tender of Gotham to-day, and then he
explained how the word came into use.
| The Prince of Wales, he said, usually
| takes apollinaris as chaser" and in
| one of the clubs he used the word split
to denote half of a pint bottle. The
| other side, and is now in frequent use
| here to denote half pint. and those
who wish to be up to date are talking
| splits, just as If the use of the word was
sanctioned by photographers.
! According to Herodotus. Pharaoh
Necho, $50 years before the Christian era,
| commenced the construction of canal
| branching out from the Nile and travers-
| ing the desert to the head of the Gulf
| of Suez, says Longmans. When about
/ half completed, and after the expendi-
! ture of an Incredible amount of labor,
| the WORK was abandoned, owing TO an
] oracle which the king ndQ consulted,
warning him that If the enterprise was
| completed, IL would be for the benefit
| of his enemies, the barbarians, and prob
| abby entangle the nation in foreign COM
| plications. The work was subsequently
| completed by Ptolemy IL, and afterward
| restored by Trajan. The Grand Canal was
other canal in the known world. Its
breadth was such that two galleys abreast
| could be navigated on it, and by it the
| riches and merchandise of the east were
| conveyed from the Red sea to the Nile,
| and thence to the Mediterranean. Strong
| opposition was raised during the con-
! struction. on the ground that the land
| through which it passed being below the
| level of the Red sea, the canal would be
the means of flooding it. To overcome
| this difficulty a dam, or sluice, was placed
| across it, with doors which opened to
| give passage to the vessels, and then
were closed again. After the lapse of
several centuries this canal was allowed
to go to ruin, but traces of it still re-
main.
1t must have been difficult in the
middle ages for a man of limited means
| to take care of his savings. There were,
| it is true, the Lombard and Genoese
| bankers, who dealt with princes. mobiles,
bishops, and the abbots of the greater
| monasteries, and as times went on there
| arose the SienneSe-R Roman firm of Chigi,
with its hundred branches which in later
times supplied a pontf to the holy see
| who bore the name of Alexander VII; but
! of what service were these great luxury
loving people to the pedler. the yoeman,
or the small SnOpkeeper, whose gains came
| not in by pounds, angles or marks, but
by penny driblets, with perhaps an odd
| groat of profit on a very successful ven
ture? How was their money stored? In
! some cases. we suspect that the church
| wardens took care of it in the parish
chest, though If put to the proof of what
| we say we should not be very ready with
an answer; but it is quite certain that as
| years rolled on and guilds sprang up in
| every village they acted as bankers for the
| ealildmen. But there must have been
| many persons who belonged to no guild,
some because they were of loose life and
such as no guild would enroll, others
| because they were not on good terms with
| the aldermen, or because they were land
| less folk. who had no settled place or
| abode. 1t was dangerous to carry specie
| on the person in those days. There were
| many Robin Hoods abroad, who had no
| sc1'uples as to robbing the poor as well
| as the rich. To the weak the only course
that was open, if they could not deposit
! their coin in the hands of some trust
| worthy neighbor, was to bury 1t in the
earth This is the explanation of the num-
| erous lords of coin which have turned up
| from time to time from the thirteenth
century to the present day.
Awarded