The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-12-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


| Of unsupported telephone wire is that
/ which crosses Wallenstadt lake, in Swift
zerland, distance OF mile and a half.
/ Some Vegetarians in Germany have
/ started a matrimonial agency and a mat
I rimonial journal The agency will not do
/ business with a meat-eater. Some of
I the advertisements in the paper are en-
| pertaining. wOrkingman who knows
MS own aims in life" wishes to meet
"a "a iree vegetarian who is prepared for
I frulJ diet and emigration" Honest pow
/ erty wants "a vegetarian lady with a
childish disposition and a good landed es-
/ tate" and "a vegetarian maiden who
\ Ger "a faithful heart" to a young man
who is willing to live by the fruits
/ OF the earth"
The greatest wonder of the antipodes
/ is the celebrated glOW-worm cavern dis
| covered in 1891 in the heart of the Tas-
manian wilderness, says the St. Louis Re-
| pears to be series of such caverns in the
N.Clnlty, each separate and distinct) are
situated near the town of Southport, Tas-
mania, IN limestone bluff about four
| mics from Ida Bay. The appearance of
the main cavern is that of an underground
river, the entire floor of the subterranean
| passage being covered with water about
loot and a half in depth. These wonder
IuI 1asmanian caves are similar TO all
| caVerns found in Limestone formation
| with the exception that their roofs and
sides literally shine with the light emitted
b Py me millions OF glow-worms which in
mating gas from sawdust is now being
employed, says the Pittsburg Dispatch
IN Canada several large lumber mills are
DelnS lShted by gas made by this pro-
cess. The sawdust is charged in retorts
EMhlch are heated by wood fire, the gas
from the retorts passing into a seroes
Whlch are similar to those used for coal
gas. Lime Is the principal purifying
agent employed When the gas passes out
| OF the retorts 1t has an order much less
! dlsagreeable than that of ordinary light
! ing gas, and resembling somewhat that
| OF the smoke from fire of green wood
! or ieaVeS. For small plant, turning
| OUT, say, $40 cubic meters of gas daily,
/ ABOUT TWO tons of sawdust will be used
| IN the twenty-four hours. and a man and
| d boy furnish all the labor needed. The
| gas IN an ordinary burner gives an illu-
| mlnation of about IS candle power The
pest quality comes from resinous woods
/ A quantity of 100 kegs of sawdust leaves
a residue of twenty kegs of charcoal.
William Martin, inventor of New
| YORK city, is pertecting machine to clean
| the bottoms of ships while they are aaoat
| and thus save the enormous expense and
| loss OF time spent in dry-docking vessels
| AT present Mr.. Martin is building a model
| OF his machine, which is to be exhibited in
operation on model steamship in New
| YORK. The model is constructed of iron
! brass and wood, but in the regular work
| ing machine all of the machine is to be Of
| aluminium. The value of this invention
| to naval and merchant vessels is easily
understood. The amount of money Uncle
sam pays every year for docking and
| cleaning the bottoms of his ships
Is enormous Mr.. Martins machines
have already received the appro-
tains of vessels who have tried
them. The cleaning OF vessels with the
machines is effected by a system OF re
! geared with belts and cables, susceptible
OF such fine adjustment, that the most
| highly polished vanished surfaces NAV
| not be even scratched.
"A new system of electric railroad,
| which combines the advantage of the
trolley and storage battery system, has
| which was the first to adopt it. Accu-
| mulators are provided beneath the seats
OF the car, and charged during the time
| the car is travelling on the trolley road,
| receiving current through the same feed
wire as the trolley. When the end of the
| trolley line proper is reached the car con-
tinues on the track which heretofore had
been used by horse car line, relying
Tor power absolutely upon the electricity
over the trolley road. These electric cars
are now being used all over the city of
Hanover, although the former electric
trolley line was introduced in only
small part OF it, This system solves
very difficult problem in a very simple
| manner, and seems to have a great fu-
| ture in store, provided that the storage
| batteries retain the keeping qualities as
| promised by the manufacturers at Ha-
made in foreign electrical journal by an
| engineer named Mueller, but his idea is
to use the stored electricity on steep
| grades
The mails in China are different from
| the postal arrangements of any other
country in the world. In China the rnail
service is not only not in the hands of the
| government, but it is left to private per-
sons to establish postal connection, how
and wherever they please. Anybody may
| open store and hang out a sign adver-
Using that he is ready to accept letters 10
| be forwarded to certain places or coun-
| tries. The result of this arrangement is
| that IN populouS towns there are a great
number OF persons accepting letters to be
| forwarded TO all parts of the country: at
Shanghai, for instance. there are not less
| than $500 stores competing with each 9th
er and carrying on a war to the knife as
far as rates are concerned. This system
although having great faults, has some
GOOD qualities. There are several parties
accepting letters to one certain town. The
| Chinese merchant who writes letters two
or three times will patronize several of the
concerns, and ask his correspondent to
inform him which he got quickest Hav-
ing experimental for a while, he will Sc
| lect the firm giving the best service hut
he always has the choice of several mail
ing services for his correspondence.
The banks of the streams in the vicin-
| lty OF st. PauFs, says the Pittsburg Dis
patch in the Upper Amazons in South
| dwellings, of the Indians, all half buried
in the leafy wilderness the scattered
families having chosen the coolest and
| traveller frequently hears in the neigh
borhood of these huts the organ bird. the
most remarkable songster by far of the
| Amazonian forests. When its singular
notes strike. the ear for the first time,
| the impression cannot be resisted that
they are produced by a human voice
Some musical boy must be gathering fruit
| in the thickets, and is singing a few
notes to cheer himself The tones be-
come more auty and plaintive. Some
| times they resemble the notes of a ffageo-
| let, and the traveller is almost persuaded
in spite of the absurdfty of the thing,
that some person is playing that in
strument in the primeval forests. How
| ever closely he may scan the neighborine
thicket, no bird appears, although the
| voice seems to be that of some one near
at hand: The bird is rarely if ever heard
in the Lower Amazons. 1t is the only
songbird that makes an Impression on
| the natives, who sometimes rest their
| paddles while voyaging in their small
| canoes along by the shady Aby-strearas As
If struck by the. mysterious sounds--a