The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Dury, England. The building was origin
ally erected for church. and has been
regularly used as a place for religious
gatherings for more than ], 800 years. Ca
non Hlntlege, one or the very best au-
positive in his declarations that st. Mar
tins is the oldest church edifice in Europe.
The astronomer royal for Scotland
states that when the moon is half full It's
brilliancy is not nearly one-haf as great
as when ii Is quite full. He attributes
the brightness of the full moon and the
lack OF brightness in the half moon TO the
variations in the reflected sunshine, which
are due TO the ruggedness of the mOOn's
surface. The high peaks and immense
| cnaSms on the moons surface are con-
stantly at cross purposes in their mode OF
| rejecting light. The bright streaks which
the telescope proves to emanate from the
craters and chasms are largely invisible
under cross light, but are brilliantly IL
Eliminated when the sun shines full upon
| them.
| Cheese the supposed to be edible milk
| curd OF commerce. is the best soil in the
| world for microbes and bacteria, and on
| its surface flourish millions upon millions of
| microscopic examination of a single gram
| of fresh cheese, such as is usually sold at
the grocer,s proves that it contained not
| less than 5000 separate and distinct speci-
| mems OF bacteria. After seven days this
| same section of cheese was examined and
| found 10 contain 1900 separate and indi-
| Vtdual bacteria. Prof. de Kahn says that
a cheese properly sliced and exposed will
within week be implanted with a bacte-
| rial BIOWln containing more separate spec
linens than there are trees upon the whole
| OF the earths surface.
| Chief Utan, the auburn-haired orang-
outang at the zoo, is very superstitious.
| says the Philadelphia Record, and his
| convictions with regard to straws are not
| limited to the mere fact that they tell
how the wind blows. The chief believes
| that chewing straw with certain su-
| pernatural qualities will bring his dinner
| around before o'clock, the regular time
and he daily tries TO put this theory into
fnf hea ~ ctr xrr
IN his cage he selects with great care
| the longest and straightest and after
to the glass front Of the cage. and s6ad9
| ing his eyes with his hand peers to the
right and left in search of the keeper with
| his dinner. If the keeper is not in sight
| the chief throws the straw away as not
| possessing sufficient charm" and selects
another. This performance is repeated
| over and over with the utmost gravity
until the meal arrives.
| Electricians are studying with a good
| deal of interest and doubt their chances
| in the horseless-vehicle contest that the
| Chicago Times-Herald has organized, to
take place next November between Chi
| cago and Milwaukee, a distance of about
| elghty-tlve miles, with two relay stations,
| one at kenosha, Wis, and one at Wauke-
| gan, Ill, where renewal of power is per-
mitted. Already over seventy-five entries
| nave been made for this race, but IL is
| said that the electrical competitors are
comparatively few, says the New York
| Post. The main reason for the lack of
| teries hitherto in use and on the market
| have been altogether too heavy and have
had too limited storage capacity. Hence,
| with the increase in strength of the frame
| to hear the burden has come a further
drain on the insufficient power, and no
| body seems able to reconcile these quail
! tiles. Yet another reason for the absence
of electrical carriages is the rareness of
charging stations, although the condition
| in this respect is steadily improving all
the time 1t is believed by electricians
that not many years will pass before troll
| ley systems penetrating into rural districts
| VIII allow their circuits to be tapped for
| lines to run over roads in, such way that
any cart can hitch ON by it's trolley-pole
and get all the current it needs.
In India it is customary to intrust the
| duty of registering births and deaths in
| outlying country districts to natives who
are generally as ignorant of reading and
| writing as they are of English. Their mem
| cries, says the British Medical Journal,
| unperpleXed by knowledge, are, however
| retentive, and these registration officers
| may frequently be seen tramping, in COM
panies of four or five together, into the
| city to hand over verbally to the collec-
tor the data regarding the births and
| deaths in their several localities. Sus-
| pecting once that the records were care
| lessly kept in a certain village, collector
| reported that the ratio of births was be-
low the average, and suggested to the
| registrar that his returns could bear i'm
! proyement. "Ah, it's more births the
| sahib wants." was the inner thought, and,
| with Indian amiability and actuated by
| the desire to say the thing which pleased,
the registrars returns showed at once a
| remarkable increase in the number of
| births. All the babies were duly register
! ed by name, and there was evidence that
| the village was prospecting as population
| increased. Presently the vaccination Off
| Ger began to ask why it was that he had
| no increase of vaccinations, and why
| these numerous babies were not brought
! to him. This natural question led to an
! inquiry, and to the discovery that the chill
| dren registered so accurately had been
! born only in the ardent imagination of
the registrar, and had been produced in
his earnest desire to please the burra
sahib.
The Paradise fish, in addition to being
| ornamental, has some very interesting
| ways, says writer in st. Nicholas. The
| male builds the nest, which is quite right
and proper but he builds it out of bubblesl
| Rather frail building material you may
think, and not apt to endure very long.
| 1t does very well however, for the bubbles
forming in the slime which surrounds the
| eggs are quite lasting, and by constantly
| adding fresh ones the fish Keeps the nest in
| a fair state of repair. The young are near
| ly transparent, and floating beneath the
bubbles they are quite invisible to their
| enemies above the water. From the time
| the eggs are laid until the young fish are
| large enough to take care of themselves,
| their father guards them against their
| hundreds of enemies beneath the surface,
| among which is their own mother. This
| unnatural parent would deVour her off
| spring as greedily as she would a wrig-
| gler, We're it not for the vigilance of her
mate, who takes very good care that she
| guarding his children, which are numbered
| somewhere in the hundreds, and keeping
his somewhat himsy nest in repair, he is a
| very much occupied fish. With very bus
| mess like air he fiirts himself about, now
rising to get a mouthful of air TO release
| in bubbles below his nest to mend break
| now dashing after and Selling one of his
| runaway children, or rushing, with de-
gree of ferocity all out of proportion to his
| size, upon some finny raider But he is ut
| terly depraved of himself, and if he gets
| the chance he will kidnap half a dozen of
| his neighbours family to increase his own;
so, when the nests are close together, there
| is a perpetual warfare going on between
| the proprietors He is very pugnacious,
| and there is no discretion coupled with
| this quality, for he displays as much read
| mess to attack and devour me, sketching
| outfit and all, if l approach too closely, as
| he would a May-fiy. But his disposition is
not half as bad as that of one of his
J cousins for there is a species of the same
/ genus, called Beta pugnaX, which is Gull
| tivated in Siam for its game and fighting
| qualities.
| n~daA