The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

There is a coIored prisoner in the Ala
I bama mines who speaks twelve different
/ languages.
| Dr. Jekyll. Mrs. Cohen, who moved IN the
most respectable circles on Walnut Hill.
| Is charged with rObblng visitor 10 low
resort, where she was a regular VISITOR
Owing to the insufficient width Of the
/ COrlntn canal, the steepness or Its Sldes
and the current which at times becomes
] exceedingly strong, none Of the great
steamship lines of the Mediterranean sea
l nave Yet adopted this route, although II
would result IN the saving Of much time,
and, consequently, expense. Under the
I circumstances, II looks very much as II
/ this enterprise, begun about the time OF
/ Nero and brought TO a termination only
about two years ago. is destined 10 re-
I suit in financial failure.
! The discovery Of Prof. Flinders Petrie,
/ the distinguished Psychologist and exca-
Nator of remains OF race distinct from
/ the Egyptians that existed in Egypt, near
| Ihebes, 3cO years before Christ. gives
/ a new turn TO the history of the Nile
country. Inc people OF whom traces are
Z now for the first time found ar supposed
/ TO have been the people who overthrow
/ Egyptian civilization at the close of the
older period. Who were these barbarians?
/ 1t has been suggested that they were
/ Llbyans, who, migrating eastward, d.
I ylded into two hordes, one remaining IN
! Egypt, ana the other penetrating into
Syria, where they were known as Am
orites.
An inventor has just patented in Swift
/ zerland and other countries a new process
/ for the manufacture of objects from wool
/ iber. such as paving blocks, building ma
/ terials, etc. The wood fibre is mixed with
/ z suitable agglOmerant, having mortar as
/ base. Previous to this the fiber is i'm
/ pregnated with vitriol, sublimate, etc, TO
/ render il antiseptic, after which it Is thor
! Oughly dried. The plastic mass obtained
| through the mixture of wood fibre and
rfaf
| moulds. As soon as the material has set il
is removed from the mould and dried. It
is said that the objects thus obtained are
light porous and tough, and are bad con
ductors of sound and heat. They can be
| sawed nailed, drilled and otherwise treat
ed, just like wood.
1t cannot be reasonably doubted, says
! Nature. that one of the most interesting
| features connected with the natural his
| tory of spiders is their habit of gaining a
| livelihood by spreading nets for the cap
ture of prey. Il may be that the large
| share of the attention of naturalists that
| this habit has attracted Is to be attributed
10 the fact that 1t appears to be confined
IN the animal world TO spiders and men
1 This circumstance Is of itself sufficiently
| remarkable to call for special. comment
hut its interest is not a little enhanced by
the reflection that, since spiders made their
! appearance IN the history OF animal Ire
l vast ages before man came upon the scene
none of us can justly claim that any mem
Der of our kind was the first in the field in
bly,, indeed, the oft-repeated and unaVOid-
able observation of the efficacy of a spid
er's web for the purpose of catching other
wise unObtatnable prey may have reused
in the brain of some intelligent hunter
among our ancestors the idea of the prac-
teal utility of similar instrument for the
capture OF fish or other eatable forms of
! life But If this be so, civilized man has
long forgotten the debt of gratitude he
owes to spiders. For. TO the average in
diVidual among us, spider is thing TO
he looked upon and spoken of with fea"
and dislike amounting to loathing, and to
be ruthlessly destroyed when safe
chance of destruction is afforded.
Baltimore had it's first experience with
/ electric light bugs a few nights ago, and
| the sun of that city deVotes g0on deal
| of space in describing the unwelcome on
slaught. The Sun says: The swarm
| alighted upon the city about 10 clock
| and by the time the theatres were out
/ some OF the down town streets where
electric lights are numerous were covered
| so thickly with them that IL was almost
impossible for people to walk along the
| sidewalks or cars to run on the tracks
without crunching them. The suburban
districts We're also invaded. Engineer j..
}. Mnnick, who runs a midnight train
/ between Washington and Baltimore on
the b. and p. railroad, states that they
dashed against his cab window so fast
and frequently that he at first thought
they We're hailstones. Two species of the
insect were observed, both of them be-
| tween TWO and three lncheS long. Inc
one most often found was about half an
inch broad, with green eyes on either
side of its sharp beak and three pairs of
legs, the front pair rather well rounded
and plump for creatures of its size. Its
wings when shut gave the insect hard
shell like back, but when opened as if
/ ready TO fly 1t could be seen that this was
but a wing cover" and beneath lay a
pair of wings as delicate as tissue paper
and exquisitely veined The other spec
les was decidedly broader than the first
and slightly lighter in color. Its front
legs We're thinner and fiatter and down
the inner edge ran a deep grove. DR.;
| Philip r. Uhler, president of the Maryland
! Academy of Sciences, recognized the in
sects as soon as one of them was shown
to him. They are commonly called great
water bugs" said he, land both species
are to be found in this vicinity. L have
frequently picked them up under the cleo
trio lights III Baltimore, put they do not
| usually come here in such sWarms. The
narrower species is called by scientists
Benacus Haldemannus. and the broader
one BeOstama Americanum. BelCstama
is from two Greek words meaning dart
mouth, and was given on account of the
insects sharp pointed bill. The other
species was first described by the late
Prof. Leidy, and was named by him after
Prof. Haldemann, a prominent philolog-
ian and entomologist, who sent some of
the bugs to nm.
1t has been estimated that every man,
woman and child in the country uses ~.
destroys six matches daily, so that the
aggregate consumption of our populate
may be set down as 0O0 each day or
the enormous amman aggregate or lU9, 500,-
100000 says the New York Advertiser
These matches retail at about cents a
box, 200 in d box, so that the retail value
of the product in the United States may
be set down as so, $4,000, and the whole
sale value at about 100000. This enor-
nous trade has been controlled by the Dia-
mond Match Company an organizatio
that owes its origin to 0. c. Barber, a
man who may be said to have been born
and brought uD in the match trade Mr.
BARRIERS father began manufacturing
matches in 1S47, and the son succeeded
to the business about the year 1865 Pre-
vious to 1890 the match trade was not
very profitable, owing to the sharp compe-
titfon, but Mr.. Barber saw that there was
a chance to make it a big monopoIy
through one fact. This was the govern
ment rule of allowing a rebate of 10 per
cent. TO all purchasers of internal revenue
stamps bought upward of 81. 600 worth at
q time. This was the keynote and he
soon was able TO convince the four or
five other large concerns OF the country
that the 10 per cent. rebate was Of itself a
sufficient advantage over small manufaC-
turers to drive them from the marker
Accordingly the Diamond Match Com
pany, a corporation with $1,000, 600 capital
was formed, and presently acquired a
monopoly of the business Tho rrior =