The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-10
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

There was a queer. sort Of hailstorun in
an East Indian village not long ago There
was a fall of rain. preceded by a wind
storm, and with the rain came shower
OF hailstoues. which continued for over
hour. The most curious part OF this oc-
currence is that the hailstones. when
touched, were not at all cold. and when
put IN the mouth tasted like sugar.
"A Partisan journal reveals the rather
/ interesting fact. II fact II is, that the
tiara worn Of late years by the pope dur
ing those solemn functions In which ne
takes part. is only cardboard imitation
OF the great triple crown. made Of gold
I and jewels and heavy with massive orna-
mentatiOn, that forms one Of the vati-
cans most precious and sacred treasures
Such is the weight OF the real tiara that
Leo XIII. can no longer wear it without
danger.
"A recent writer on the subject of wave
lengths Of light. in describing the appar-
atus used for taking measurements Of
such lengths, mentions the "Nobert test
plates" says the ST. Louis Republic.
These plates are made Of glass, and have
the scale thereon so finely graduated that
there are often as many as 10000 lines TO
the inch. Such infinitesimal mdgnitudes
are totally beyond our powers of concep-
ton, yet much more wonderful things ia
that line have been accomplished. An ar
fist by the name of Webb, a regular manu-
facturer of these 'Nobert test plates"
once tried his hand in microscopic writing
on glass. The specimen turned out.
which is now in the Army Medical Museum
at Washington, is the whole of the Lords
prayer on piece of glass, which IS only
1-294th of an inch one way and lao tn of
an inch the other In the Lords prayer
there are 227 letters, and, as shown above.
they were put on a piece Of glass having
an area of but 1-129. 653d of an inch Had
an entire inch of space been used at the
same rate the engraver would have put
no less than %. 43l. ass letters upOn 1t. The
entire Bible, Old and New Testaments.
could have been written on that inch of
space eight times over.
1t seems that Mr.. Shepherd has a
very rich mine in an almost inaccessible
part of the Mexican mountain ranges, a
1 long way removed from any railroad,
which he has been equipping at great
cost with first-class mechanical appliances
says an exchange. Some time ago Mr..
Shepherd concluded that his equipment
required 1900 or 5000 feet of wire rope for
carrier purposes but how to get II up into
his mountain fastness in a single piece,
as required, was question. By no posi-
bility could II be moved from the rail-
road to final destination on wheels, and
he didn't see how II could be carried by
burros. But n Mexican did. He explained
his plan, got the contract for carrying the
| one and one-quarter inch cable and sue
cessfully executed It. Here is the way
| he did 1t. He coiled the rope up at fixed
! distances along its entire length, each
coil being of approximately the same size
| ana designed to weigh 300 pounds, and
| loaded it on a string or burrOs with prop
/ or fastenings. To take up the slack be-
| tween each two burros, two Mexicans
/ faithfully kept UP their end. or rather por-
| ton of the line. The procession was a GU
/ rious one, to be sure, but 1t got there just
/ the same.
| -One cannot train or teach a snake to do
/ anything whatever: their brain power is
so limited that the marvel is how they
| have ever managed to survive in the
| great competition. especially when one
finds that they are still on the ascending
! curve" of evolution, says Chambers
! Journal Most of them can be tanned to
nH~rzf
| ionship and judicious handling (some spe-
/ cies very much more readily than others) /;
| when they have learned to trust, to ap-
! preciatc the fact that there is no necessity
| for self-defense, then they may be trusted
| a principle which applies 10 most animals,
| and there the scope and possibility of
/ their education comes to an end. After
that the most that a skillful exhibitor
| can do with them Is to adapt himself and
his actions to their movements, which by
/ familiarity he can pretty nearly anti
/ posive and intelligent. He may affect to
/ listen to the serDents cOunsels, or re-
| ceive it's kiss on his lips if it's head in
| clines in an upward direction. or to lure
| it from one hand to the other, or to guide
| it to some given spot should 1t by chance
I glide horizontally or downward, just as
the Indian snake-charmer takes deceptive
! advantage of the natural defiant attitude
| of the well-nigh untamable cobra da cape
llo.
The head gardener Of the white house,
tells a reporter for one of that clty's pa
| pers some interesting things about flower
! pots. He says, to begin with, that for use
| in the grounds and Conservatives OF which
he is in charge from eight to ten thousand
new pots are required every ear. They do
not wear out, but get broken, and also
| decay from moisture gathering, The tiny
little pots about two inches in diameter,
| which are used to put little slips in, are
| called thumb pots and of these from
! 5000 to 10000 are needed every spring to
| start the new plants in the beds about
the white house Flower pots are made
| everywhere, and are of two kinds, the
/ machine made and the hand made The
latter cost more, but last longer. All the
| potteries have standard sizes, so that
| whether the pot is made in Boston or
Philadelphia or somewhere else, the size
| of each pattern remains the same. In all
sizes the depth of the pot must be equal
| TO its diameter at the top. Some very
large pots are made, measuring sixteen
| inches across the top, with, of course,
| an equal depth. These are expensive, cost
ing 80 cents apiece, and are used for
| big palms and other large plants. They
are a great contrast to the tiny two-inch
! baby" pots. Whoever made the first
! flower pot had a good artistic eye, for
| is good tint TO go with any plant and
| never seems TO look out of place.
| The sword of honor presented to Prince
Bismarck by Emperor William at the mill
tary festival at Friedrichsruhe on March
| 26, is a veritable masterpiece of artistic
| metal work. The pommel of the hilt is
adorned with a portrait of the emperor in
the shape of a cameo. The likeness is sur
prising and the wonderfully fine carving
! rises in ivory color from the moss green
| background. The cameo is set in a band
of gold, which is ornamented with dia-
| monds and rubies The hilt and sword
guard are of solid gold, richly ornamented;
| on the outside of the guard are the arms
| of the prince, the golden clover leaf with
| the three silver oak leaves set in between
| surmounted by the princely coronet; the
motto In trinitate robur' lin trinity there
| is strength, is worked in repousse upon a
! scroll running under the arms. The Meth
er part of the sword-guard is chased, the
| motive of decoration being the Imperial
eagle, upon whose wings are fastened the
| arms of Alsace and Lorraine. The blade
| is beautifully chiseled, the design bearing
the initials 'W 1. R." under the imperial
| crown; beneath are seen two crossed guns
| This side of the blade bears the following
| inscriptions ITO Prince Bismarck. Duke
! of Lauenburg, at his S0th anniversary
April l, 1885, On the other side of the
blade are engraved the arms of the prince.
surmounted by the chain and insignia Of
! the order of the Black Eagle. and his now
| famous exclamation: I'VE Germans fear
God, but nothing else in the world The
! scabhard of the sword is of steel nicSeled
and fitted with gold rings. The sword