The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-09-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

old StuyVesant pear tree BY Commissioner
Roosevelt has now brought 10 light pear
plucked from that tree by a New YORK
grocer thirty-tWo years ago The pear
was exhibited at the American Institute
fair of 1863; it is perfectly preserved still
attached 10 the original twig. The jar
of spirits in which il is kept bears the
lowed BY long exposure. This pear was
one OF the last three specimens pluckel
from the historic old tree.
One Of the so-called 'unfailing tests of
death" which has been introduced into
France, Germany and Holland during the
past few years, is known among the under
takers as the blistering precaution," and
consists OF producing a blister on the
/ hands, feet and some other exposed por-
ton of the body of the supposed corpse.
| The test is said to be infallible for this
reason: IL the blister produced by the ap-
plication of a lighted candle, or redhor
iron, or ire in any form, is shown to con-
tain water or waterish fluid upon being
opened, there is still life in the body, and
a burial under such circumstances would
not be advisable. On the other hand
should the blister be empty or contain
steam only. the sorrowing friends may
rest assured that the vital spark has
flown, and that there is no danger that the
corpse IS being buried alive"
An American physician. DR.. Fales.
who has spent many years in China, has
high opinion of Chinese cookery, which,
he says, is skillfully cOntriYed to in
crease the digestibility of the food pre-
| pared. Whenever indigestible meats are
TO be used as food. he says, the cook in
creases their assimilative character by
the use of peptoniferous tripe and vim
eSar. | have often, out of curiosity, ex-
amined the numerous dishes of the
Monaghan cuisine with a view to ascer-
tanning their constitution. Whether it
was soups or steWs, ragOutS or fricas-
sees, pot Ioasts or boiled ! have found
tripe finely shredded or thinly sliced in
three dishes out of every five The ra-
ton was largest in households of wealth
where well-paid cooks were the rule
As they discovered the peptic virtue of
tripe in all animal foods, they likewise
found the same quality in the gizzard
of the bird kingdom"
Sitting a horses nostrils is still prac-
ticed in some parts of the world, as in
/ Persia, Mongolia, and even in Northern
| Africa, and ponies with slit nOstrils are
| often seen in the Himalayas and in At
! ghanistan, says the Pittsburg Dispatch.
/ This mutilation is resorted to in the err
| roneOus belief that the horse can inhale
/ more air when going al fast pace, and
/ also that it prevents neighing, a disqual-
| fication of much importance during war.
or when ii Is desirable to travel as silent
/ ly as possible. Ii was practiced in Hunga-
| ~ not long agO, according to the copy
/ of finished sketch of a horses head,
/ by the celebrated Zoffani, given in Colo
| mel Hamiltons work on horses. A very
/ barbarous and useless operation for pre-
! vention of stumbling in horses was fash
! ionable toward the end of the seventeenth
| aud beginning of the eighteenth centuries.
| This was the exposure of the tendon of
/ muscle that assists in dilating the nos
| trils, and twisting it round two or three
| times, when it was divided
I'm this country, says the St. Louis
| Republic, we talk Of insectiverOus or in
sect-eating birds, and few of us have
| ever heard of a real country where the
| tables are turned to such a degree that
| they speak of a bird-eating insect, but
| that is the exact condition of affairs in
| Southern Brazil and Venezuela. In those
| countries they have an insect called the
| great Mdntis" which is some four or five
| inches in length not including his strong
| This pair of enormous ''pinchers' are
| equal in strength to those Of a crawfish
or crab, and are used by the giant Man
| tbs in capturing its prey The food OF
| this cannibalistic insect consists of spi-
| ders, grasshoppers, small snake and liz
| ards, and, according to Brumlister, the
| most robust specimens of the genus will
| not stand aside with an empty stomach
If he he can manage q get his nippers on
| or chck-a-dee. The great Mantis resem-
| bles combined leaf and twig both in
color and shape, and, being aided by this
| resemblance, is able to stealthily approach
| its prey, whether it be reptile, insect
bird, and seize the unsuspecting creature
| with its razor-like claws,
Carlyle gave us the philosophy of
| Clothes now DR. Seitz, of Munich gives
| us their bacteriology, says the British
| Medical Journal. on examining a worsted
stocking he found $50 thriving colonies,
| while on a cotton sock there Were 7l2
| Both these articles had beer worn, but no
| information is vouchsafed as to the per-
sonal habits of the Wearer. Thirty-three
| colonies We're found on glove 20 on piece
| of wooden stuff and on q piece of cloth :;
| none of these articles had been worn.
| on piece of cloth from a garment
| that had been worn week there were %
| colonies. OF the micro-organism found
| on articles of clothing relatively few We're
capable of causing disease The patho-
| genie species arc almost without exception
| staphylococci. In one case, however, DR.
| Seitz found the typhoid bacillus in articles
Of clothing from p to q days and the
/ all I~x4
after they had been worn. The anthrax
bacillus found in clothes was still viru-
l5nt alter year. me mlcrobe Of erysip-
elas, on the other hand, could not be
round after Is hours, nor the cholera VI
brio after three days. Dr. Seitz studied
| with special care the question whether in
tubercuous subjects who sweated pro-
fusely the bacillus was conveyed by the
perspiration to piece of linen worn for
some time next to the skin of the chest
The incubation of two guinea pigs how
ever gave negative results.
I'm the spring time, says the ST. Louis
republic, Ii you will carefully examine
the stagnant pools along the roadside, YOU
VIII most likely find them literally alive
with countless numbers of sleek bright
| lttle creatures, all of which appear to
be very busy going nowhere in particular
These are what people in general call
| tadpoles," but which are known to the
haturailsts as embryo frogs. They were
once eggs, to be sure, as all forms of ami
MAJ ne once We're. Let us put a speci-
men of this queer form of life on a sheet
OF paper and examine him. His body
IS clear, jelly-like mass, almost as broad
as long, and with tail one and three
fourths the length of the body. With a
good, strong glass you can see right down
through the struggling little atom of life
me most conspicuous thing is his single
intestine, which appears like a tiny black
thread, eoiled up exactly like a watch
spring. Nearby is his heart which, with
the single intestine mentioned, appear to
make up the chief portion of his internal
machinery. At this stage and up to the
time the tadpole is 8 months old he lives
constantly in the water and breathes bv
means of gills. like fish. When between
20 and 40 days old he suddenly develops a
pair OF hing legs and his tail gradually
grows shorter. His gills begin to look like
a fringe and are finally absorbed alto
gether By this time the tail is gone and
the forelegs have made their appearance
the creature now being full-fedged frog
winch only needs few weeks growth to
make him full-grown one.
1t is said that it requires more force
70 sound note gently on the piano
than to lift the lid of kettle" says the
Literary Digest. We don't know lust
what kind of a kettle the German com
poser who makes this statement means
| but he has fipurad tbat ,,,;,,f..,---3