The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

4
| pers. Thus. not long ago. countess had
a pair made. ornamented with rubles, en-
eralds and diamonds, costing S---51-
One Of the few countries in the world
| where American patents cannot be pro-
| tected at present, says the New York Tri-
| bune, is Japan. and the clever people OF
! the island may take unlimited advantage
! OF yankee genius. II will be different,
however, when the treaties Of lsss 80 into
| effect.
The manufacturers of clocks, says the
| Jewellers Circular, have not been so busy
| at any time during several years past
| as they are at present; the factories de-
| voted 70 the PRODUCTION OF sliNel-plateu
| ware are running full time with large COM
| plements OF operatives; the watch manu-
| facturers have this year given their hands
| shorter vacations than usual, and are in
| creasing their already large forces; the
jewelry manufacturers of Providence,
| New York, Newark and other centers are
| running their factories to. their utmost
capacity; the importers of art goods, pot
| terry and bric-a-brac are receiving extern
| sive shipments of goods; makers OF cut
and are working every frame In their
| plants. Thus the anticipation OF golden
/ shower during the fab season IS evident
| throughout the manufacturing branches
| of our Industry, and that the manufactu-
| rers will not be disappointed all signs IN
| dictate.
A thimble was originally thumb-ben,
! because il was worn on the thumb, a.
| sailors still wear their thimbles, says
| Harper's Bazaar. 1t is Dutch invention.
| and in 1884 in Amsterdam the Dicenten-
| nal of the thimble was celebrated with
| great deal of fOrmality- This very Valua-
| bic addition TO my ladys Work-basket was
first made by goldsmith named Nicholas
| van BenschOten the ancestor of the Amer
| lean family of Van Censchotens. And IL
| may further interest Colonial Danes 10
| know that the first thimble made was
| presented in 1854 to Anna van Wedy, the
! second wife of kiliaen van Rensselaer,, the
purchaser of Rensselaerwyck, and the
| first PATRON. Nine. van Rensselaer,
memory was duly honored in Holland on
the occasion of the thimle bicentennial. In
| presenting his useful gift Van Benscho-
| ten begged Mime. van Rensselaer, TO &C
| cept this new covering for the protection
| of her diligent fingers as a token of his es-
teem." 1t was not until 1855, Just 200
| years ago, that the thimble was introduce
ed into England by a Hollander named
John Lofting, who opened a thimble man
ufactory at Islington.
The New York Tribune says: A case
| of total blindness from an excessive dose
| of quinine is reported by DIR. Claiborne.
| The patient, as appears from the report
| of the case, poured the palm Of his hand
nearly full of two-grain quinine pills
| which ne took a short time before retir-
ing to bed. and he remembered nothing
| after going to sleep until he awoke. a
few days later. perfectly blind; the OPP
| tic disks were pearl white. and the yes
sells much smaller than in health, though
| not SO small as they subsequently became
| and he complained of seeing many col
| ored figures that changed their hues, the
| sensation of red predominatng the pu-
| Eight days after taking the quinine he
had absolutely no light perception; about
two years later the patient with the right
| eye could see the hand six feet distant,
| while the left could only perceive light
The evidence thus afforded is, therefore
that quinine in toxic doses may produce
blindness, that the toxic dose is distinct
! ly indeterminate, and the dura ton of the
sightlessness varies greatly; there is color
blindness at first. and the color percep-
ton is ultimately restored within the CEN
trail field.
One of the greatest combinations or
natural and artificial curiosities on the
coast Of California is called the Deviis
Pump, says the St Louis Republic. The
pholas or shell miners, species of mol
lusk which excavate immense caverns In
the very hardest stone, have tunneled
the entire coast in the vicinity of the
pump. Water rushes into these caVerns
with each succeeding tide flow, and, in
this particular case, finds vent through
a cylindrical opening some distance from
the waters edge 1t is estimated that
this hole, which connects with the sea-
cavern, is IS TO 100 feet in depth. Every
time the tide PUSHES into the cavern be-
meath, the pump throws water to the
hight of a full 100 feet above the mouth
of the opening The Indians formerly
called it by name which signihed fairy
water gum. bur the irreverent white men
nave given 1t the title of Devils Pump, 80
and by that name 1t will probably ne
known to future generations. There is d
= similar curiosity near Horn Head Coun-
" Donegal, ireland, where a hole in the
rocks is called "McSwiney's Gun" Like
the California oddity il is on the sea
coast, and has connections with a sub
marine cavern. When the north wind
blows and the sea is at half flood" the
wind and waves enter the cavern anu
through the gun" Travellers who havt
visited Horn Head and vicinity say thar
each charge of water sent from the gun.
is accompanied by an explosion that can
be heard for miles
in half a dozen mining offices of San
francisco there are small slabs of hard
black wood 4X10 inches that always puz-
zles strangers, especially workers in wood
from the east These four inch slabs were
once l7xl7 inch timbers of Nevada pine
and their present condition is due to the
fact that for a few years they were sub
jected to the tremendous pressure exerted
by millions and millions of tons of earth.
The tbres of the wood are so closely
crowded together that when polished the
slabs look more like stone than wood.
All the history of the Comstock lode, says
the San Francisco Chronicle, speaking re-
Gently of this wood, governed and regu-
lated as ii has always been by men in
San Francisco, is peculiar. but of all the
stories in the mines on this lode there is
none more peculiar than the creeping
| clay" and the compressed timbers From
1874 until 1877 the Big Bonanza was worked
down to a 1,500-foot level, but at l. 100 feet
| drift off toward the east. This brought
them to a position where a large proper
ton of a side of a mountain was pressing
upon the quartz bed. There was a body
of ore shaped. like a watermelon and in
size about equal tic about four Palace ho-
tells. 1t was this ore that made the for
tunes of so many men. There was a wall
running down at an angle of about As
: degrees, and this wall marked the limits
of the loose earth, which contained the
/ watermelon of ore, and this same loose
} earth was continually moving Immedi-
ately surrounding the lump of ore was
: clay, and this clay so moved and crept in
the natural process of natures action
that by the miners it was called Creeping
clay" and watched continually. So ir-
: resistible was its force that nothing could
stand against it, From the 1lOO-foot
level the drift was set in toward this
. body of ore. There was a gallery where
the car ran along for the taking out of
the ore, and from this gallery ran the
smaller drifts. Above. below, ard on the
sides of these smaller drifts there were
heavy timbers of Nevada pine. There was
between the timbers a space of about on
the average seven feet in hight and 1--WE
| in width These were square sets and IL
was these timbers that, by the action OF
J the loose earth around them. were so com
; pressed that pieces of them look more
like stone than wood.
Awarded