The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-31
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

/ 1860. As the story is told the bishop spoke
Z for full half an hour with inimitable spirit,
emptiness and unfairness. II was evident
I from his handling of the subject that he
had been "crdmmed' up 10 the throat,
and that he knew nothing at first hand.
He ridiculed Darwin badly and Huxley
savagely- Unfortunately the bishop. hur-
ried along on the current of his elOquence,
50 far forgot himself as to push his at
tempted advantage to the verge Of per-
sonality IN telling passage, in which he
turned round and asked whether Huxley
was related by his grandfather's or moth
res side 10 a n ape. Huxley, when his time
for reply came, had this TO say: Il as
serted, and l repeat. that a man has no
reason TO be ashamed of having an ape
Tor mis- grandfather. If there were an
ancestor whom l should feel shame in
recalling IL would be a man, a man OF rest
less and versatile intellect, who, not con-
tent with an unequivocal success in his
own sphere Of activity, plunges into scien-
tine questions with which he has no real
acquaintance, only to obscure them by an
aimless rhetoric, and distract the atten-
ton OF MS hearers from the real point at
issue by eloquent digressions and skillful
appeals 10 religious prejudice" The late
Prot Fawcett, who was present on the
occasion, wrote afterward: THE retOrt
was so justly deserved and so inimitable
in = manner that no one who was present
cam ever forget the impression that it
made"
Jackson county, Missouri promises to
be famous in history as the birthplace of
the Irish potato, says the Kansas City
Journal Some of the local botanists of
Independence have discovered this fact
and have traced the lineage of the veg
etable, which is now known to every table
in the world as the Irish potato" back
to its birthplace, Little Santa Fe in the
southern part of this county. The bot
anists give the name of the plant from
Whicn the potato grew as "dioscOrea ba-
tata," and feel confident in their asser-
ton that the history of the potato can be
traced back TO the little town of Santa Fe.
DR.. Ballard, a well known botanist and
geologist. had in his possession recently a
plant which he claimed to be a specimen
of the "diOsCorea batata' found at Little
Santa Fe. By tracing the plant back some
800 years, the doctor says that undoubted-
~ the dioscorea batata was the progenitor
of the SO-called Irish potato. 1t appears
that the aborigines of this section knew
he art of propagation of plants by cult
walton, from their wild state, and by such
knowledge produced the tuber now so
generally in use and found on every table.
ITS matter of history" said the doctor
that the potato was first used as an edi-
bic by the Indians near what is now known
as Little Santa Fe. Jackson county, Mo.
From there it became an article Of barter
The edible was so palatable that its use
spread rapidly and became common among
the Indians of Virginia. The potato fell
into the hands of Sir Walter Raleigh in
Virginia, who recognized a good thing
when he saw it. Sir Walter took it on one
of his trips to Europe, and by reason of the
soil and climate of Ireland ii at once be-
came a staple article of food, hence the
Santa Fe has never set uD its claim for
being the birthplace of Ireland's staple
food, for outside OF the botanists the mat
ter is not possibly. known to
the citizens OF that locality.
That the potato fourishes in this
locality more so than in any other section
of the county, is a we'll known fact, and the
"dioscorea batata" grows in great abund-
ance there. BY experimental tests the
plant finally produces a small potato from
which larger ones will grow.
&c Of Nv
drophObia. says Vogue, that slight de-
rangemcnt of the dogs nervous system is
often mistaken for symptoms of rabies
while a dog in commissions, in an epilepuc
fit, or stricken with apopleXy may be
shot as INDEPENDENTLY If it be hot
weather-before there is a chance of deter
mining the nature of his disease. A dog
may have a fit from overexertion in the
heat of the sun, from neuralgia pains, or
from toCthache, from meningitis, Excess
sive fright parasites in the nose or brain,
acute ear disease. or from the distress Of
being lost in a large city; or, If a female,
of being deprived of her whelps. Recently
It has been shown that mental distress
has the power to give dog diabetes. 1t
stands tc reason that so sensitive an ami
NAL should never be unduly excited. On
no account allow one dog to see another
in a fit. The suffering dog should have his
head wet and Ahoud be kept for a time
in dark, quiet place, free from all ex-
element. In most cases of commissions
a small dose Of bromide OF potassium Will
do great good. Hydrophobia, considered
as a canine disease, is decidedly a mis-
homer. The proper term for canine mad
ness is rabies. The rabid dog has no
fear of water" on the contrary, he Graves
IT. Rabies Is u specific disease of the ner-
Vous system. In all cases there is an in
tense Inflammation Of the brain and spinal
marrow, ending in a loss of function,
which is a result common TO Unnamed
glands. The mucous glands of the stomach
and bowels, the liver the pancreas, and
the kidneys are all more or less injected
with blood; but the saliVary glands are
especially affected and the. secretion of
saliva is greatly increased. There is the
furious or maniacal form of rabies and the
paralytic. The paralytic IS known as
dumb rabies. Absolutely typical cases or
either form are as rare as is the disease.
EpllepuCal Commissions are due to an IL
regular discharge of the nerve cells. They
occur unexpectedly, are OF variable du-
ration, and the spasms are of two kinds.
A prolonged muscular contraction in call
ed tonic spasmS. Following the tonic
spasm are the clonic spasms, which con-
sist of alternate contraction and relaxa~
ton. Tho dog, like the human subJec-,
will froth at the mouth and bite the
| tongue. ApopfeXy differs greatly from
epilepsy. The commissions are not prom
inent; the pupils of the eyes are either
contracted or dilated there is long -contin>
ued Inconsistencies and more or less
paralysis. Meningitis, so often mistak-
en- for rabies, is very different still. The
temperature is very much elevated, which
is not in rabies; the dog snaps but SHOWS
no tendency to bite, and there is no par
llCuldT DdIh anu HOWl CCIODlneO, al
though the dogs voice is high pitched
| Phrenitis is a simple Inflammation of the
brain. 1t is sometimes a complication of
distempers, and is the only disorder
which resembles rabies. 1t generally oc-
ours in the hottest weather. The dog
cannot propagate phrenitis by salivary
incubation. "Hydrophobia in human be-
ings," says a writer, results from ac-
cidents of a nervous order sometimes
mortal. sometimes durable according
as they derive from disorders analogous
to tetanus QockJaw) produced by a
wound or from purely mental disorders. -
According to DR.. Cafe, Spontaneous ra5-
form hydrophobia is the only rabies thar
exists, and that is a moral rabies" Be
fore NJ. PasteUr'S system was invented
about nineteen persons annually were Of
ficially reported to have died of hydro
phobia. Now, strange as it may seem
the number of persons who annually re.
port themselves bitten by rabid animals
averages from 1900 to 1900. Rabies is q
rare disease. rarer to-day than in the PAST
and hydrophObia is more or less form of
hysteria. Were there less talk about il
ii would be better for the community A
little more knowledge of our nervous sys-
TEN, a little less ignorance of the dogs
and we shall be far more likely to escape
hydrophobia entirely than to die from il
or to be saved by incubation.