The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-31
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


claimed the queens birthday for thirty
three years running
Near the battlefield Of Marathon, in
Greece, a prehistoric burial mound recent
" opened yielded eleven old Mycenaean
vases. two of them gold, and some gold
earrings At place called Krikella,
where the Guals were driven back by
the Greeks, IN 2lS Is. c., and over 1000 of
them were slain, bronze helmet has been
found, and at LycOSura the mosaic floor
OF the temple of Despoina has been laid
natural size are depicted, surrounded by
successive ornamental borders.
1t is reported that the spire of Sails
bury Cathedral is lettering When the
cathedral was begun, in 122O, there was no
thought of erecting a spire on the central
tower. That was an after-thOught, and the
architect who designed the spire strained
the strength of the original substructure
to the utmost 1t has always had to be
carefully watched, and the means taken
to strengthen 1t by iron bands and ties
the stone work has been decaying rapidly
so that the spire is in great danger of col
lapsing.
"A London jeweler has Just offered
Queen Victoria pair Of earrings sup
posed to have come out OF the necklace
Of Marie Antoinette. NJ. Bapst who is
an authority on precious relics. says that
the earrings are intact, and have never
formed part of the famous necklace, but
that they are probably a certain pair of
pear-shaped earrings which Louis XVI.
gave to Marie Antoinette on his marriage
to her. The stones are very fine, one
weighing q karats and the other 17i2. The
largest stone in the necklace of Marie
Antoinette weighed only IL karats.
The telephone and the electric lights
nave been the subjects of serious dis
cussion by the Sacred Congregation of
Bishops and Regulars in Rome Asked
whether the installation of the telephone
in convent might be permitted, the con-
gregaton decided affirmatiVely, with the
double stipulation, however, that the APP
anaHNr h..
occasions" and that the communications
should only be made in the presence of
two OF the sisters. Regarding the employ
ment of the electric light in churches,
the congregation decided that although it
might be used for the illumination of the
building, it must not serve directly in
the celebration of ceremonies, strictly be-
longing to the act of worship.
The war department has been conduct
ing tests at Fort Leavenworth, Kan, in
order to devise a comfortable shoe and
has hit upon a rubber-heeled shoe which
seems to fit all requirements. The test
was made with 100 pairs. The wearing
quality of the heel was found to be about
that of the ordinary shoe, but it mate
rally lessened the Jar to the body and
added to the comfort of the troops while
on the march: Scientists have, for some
time, asserted that the jar to the base
of the brain, caused by the continual
marching in the ordinary leather-heeled
shoe, is very Injurious, and as the soldier
carries his body erect and rigid, its i'll
effects are the more readily felt. The new
shoe viii prove blessing in this respect
at least.
st. Bernard dogs are not what they
are cracked up to be, according to trav-
elers in the Alps. one had the following
experience with one of the genus: II
was approaching the summit of Piz Lam
guard in company with friend when a
huge St. Bernard met us on a narrow
path. With a very transparent assump-
ton of good feeling toward us, the brute
ran at us and tipped US over the ledge.
BrOXl0pntlallV- he
and we fell softly on the snow Then
the fiendish ingenuity of the brute be-
came apparent. Instead of attempting our
rescue, as the dogs in foolish old legends
do. this great beast busted himself with
the luncheon basket, which had burst
with the impact, and ate our cold chicken
While we, with some deft alpenstock work
at length retrieved our safety"
While blasting for New York's new
speedway along the Harlem river a dis
covery of considerable scientific interest
crystals of Xenotine and monazite We're
found in blocks of micaschst and gneiss
by New York mineralogist Xenotine is
a phosphate of yttrium, occurring in yell
lowish brown tetragonal crystals, while
the most valuable elements in monazite
are thorium and cerium. In cleveite
which is one of this group of yttrium and
thor1um minerals, the elements of argon
and helium were discovered, and it is de-
clared that all the minerals of this group
contain these new elements to a certain
degree. The discovery of these minerals
in this section of the country will doubt
less be of incalculable aid to local chem
lists and scientists in their experiments
relative to the newly discovered gases.
Among all the thousands of feathered
creatures classified by the trained ornithol-
ogists, but one, the Rpir N'Doob, or bird
OF DEATH" is known to be venomous
says the st. Louis Republic. This
queer and deadly species of the winged and
Papua, or New Guinea. The bird is de-
scribed as being about the size of a COM
mon tame pigeon, of gray plumage, and a
tail of extraordinary length, ending in a
tip of brilliant scarlet red. 1t is a marsh
bird and is found to inhabit only the i'm
mense stagnant pools adjoining the lakes
of the interior of the island. The rpir has
a hooked beak, as sharp as a cooks spur,
and hollow. The venom with which he in
oculates is distilled in a set of organs
which nature has provided for that pur-
pose, and which lie in the upper mandible
just below the opening of the nostrils I'm
der this poison-secreting laboratory in the
roof of the mouth is small, fieshy knob.
When the bird sets its beak in the flesh of
victim this knob removes a pressure
which liberates the venom and inoculates
the wound. No man, native or otherwise,
was ever known to recover from a bite
inflicted by a rpir ndoob. The suffering
IN such cases is said to be much more ago
nizing than in cases of rattlesnake and
ella monster bites.
Simply because our ears are on the
sides of our heads it does not signify that
the hearing apparatus of other creatures
may l1Ol Dc lOCdbcQ III OlneT places, widely
separated from those with which we usu-
ally associate the organs of hearing says
the st. Louis Republic. The grass
hoppers and crickets, for illustrat ton
have their ears, or, more properly, auricu-
lar openings, situated in the leg at a spot
about half way between the ankle" and
knee" Examine specimen of either
of the insects mentioned, using a micro
scope for that purpose, and you will find
that there is a bright. shiny spot oval in
form, on the tibia of each fore leg. For
many years the naturalists were of the
opinion that the spots in question were in
some manner connected with the unhar-
monious music box which such insects all
ways carry about with them. This opinion
was almost universal until within the last
few years, when the high grade instru-
ments in use among entomologists reveal
ed the startling fact that the spots and
holes were really the true ears being the
only organs of hearing possessed by such
insects. Besides the above samples of
''ears in queer places" we might call at
tention to the fact that some spiders have
their ears in the bottom of their feet and
at last one species of crab has his organs