The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-07
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

me eIIecllVe lfetlme ora great gun
one of the 1OO-ton sort, for example, which
requires a charge of $50 pounds of powder,
and discharges a projectile weighing 1000
pounds-is said to be only one second. 1t
can be fired with safety 100 times, and
then must be put out of commission; but
it takes only 1-1OOth of a second for the
powder to burn and eject the projectile,
so that one second stands for 100 dis
charges and measures the limit of activity
Of the gun.
One of the marine curiosides recently
fished from the bottom of the Indian ocean
by a dredging vessel in the employ of the
Calcutta Society of natural history was a
mammoth sea crab which continually
emitted a bright white light, similar to
that seen in the spasmodic flashes of phos-
phorescent luminosity kindled by common
glowworms. The oddly was captured in
the daytime, and placed in a large tank,
nothing peculiar except its immense size
being noticeable in the broad glare of the
tropical sun. At night, however, when all
was pitchy darkness. the crab surprised
the naturalists by lighting up the tank so
that all the other sea creatures, great and
small, could be plainly seen.
Among the queerest languages used by
human kind throughout the world are
those of the Gomeros, inhabitants of one
of the Canary group of islands, and the
Cameroons of West Africa. The Gomero
whistles what he has to say to his neigh
Dor, using both fingers and lips so expert
ly as to express all the signals that are
required to make the conversation intel
ligible. CAMERON man uses drum.
The instrument is rather peculiar its sur
face being divided into uneven halves so
that when it is struck it yields two diff
ferent notes. With a code in character
10 10 Of no al NH
tenn, the people make this drum express
every syllable of their language. A Cam
Groom chieftain can summon anyone of his
subjects and at the same time intimate
the purpose for which he is required by
the mere use of the drum.
in an article on the various kinds of
leather used in this country for making
shoes, Megargee of the Philadelphia
Times, whose statements are not often
questioned, says: "a Philadelphia physi-
clan has his shoes made from the skin of
negroes CHASTITY, but true He obtains
the epidermis from bodies which have
been used for dissecting purposes in a ia
nous medical college in this city. The
thighs are flayed and the skin thus pro-
! cured is sent to Womelsdorf, near Read
ing, and there tanned by a stolid Berks
county yoeman. The result is a beautiful
leather extremely soft and pliable, very
luSlfOuS ana suggestive OF Ine Out very
thick piece of kid. The shoes are beauu-
| full to look upon and grasp the feet kind
ly. This story is told from actual per-
| sonal knowledge. But that kind of leather
is not likely to come into general use"
The astonishing accomplishments of lit
tie Helen Kellar recall the somewhat sim
liar case of John Stanley, an English mu-
| Sician, who lost his sight when years
of age. says an exchange. He had so cor
rect an ear that he never forgot the voice
| Of a person he had once heard speak. If
| twenty people were seated at a table to-
| gether, he would address them all in reg
ular order. Riding on horseback was one
| of his faVorite exercises. He could take his
friends along the pleasantest roads in Epp-
| ing Forest, and point out to them the most
| beautiful prospects. He played at whist
| with great skill; each card being marked
at the corner with the point of a needle,
| but so delicately as scarcely to be discern
! ed excepting by those who knew where to
look for them. He could tell the precise
| time by a watch, and knew the numbers
| of persons in a room when he entered it,
| and would miss anyone who was absent
| and tell who that one was.
The boys of the greater New York
have taken advantage of the button craze
10 add to their list of street games On
| observant pedestrian, says the New York
| Tribune, may see a new game in progress.
| button is tossed in the air, and heads
| or tails are called to determine who shall
! take the first button. The boy who takes
a button sticks it upright in a crack of
| the sidewalk near the inner edge, the
| other boy kneels at the curb and shoots
| a marble at the button. If the marble
| hits the button the button becomes the
! property of the shooter, and he may shoot
| again at a second button; if, on the other
| hand, the marble misses the button, the
| marble becomes the property of the boy
| who staked the button, and the other boy
| must put up a button for him to shoot
| at. OF course there is among the boys a
| standard of values on buttons Bicycle
| buttons, issued to advertise various
| wheels are the most valuable, some of
| the less known makes bringing fancy
prices. This variation in values lends an
added interest to the game.
| Amber is a speciality of the Baltic
coast of Prussia. and the British consul
at Dantsic. in his last report, states that
| it is a monopoly worked by a firm which
| owns the two best mines, Palmwickeu and
| KraXtepelle, and paid for the concession
to the government last year a royalty
| of about 1850. says the London Times
| It is calculated that the firm has, up to
| the present, paid Fl, 000, 900 in these royal
| ties. Last year, in addition to the pro-
| duet of the mines, a good deal of amber
| was picked up on the beach at Pillau in
I the province of East Prussia, having been
| washed up with the seawrack during the
| prevalence of the northwesterly gales
| The shore at Pillau after a storm is some
| times covered with a layer of seaweed
| three feet thick, in which the number Is
! found entangied. Men, women and chill
| dren find easy and lucrative employment
| in seaching for the amber along this part
| of the cost. After a storm last year one
man was lucky enough to notice a piece
| of amber the size of a childs head in the
| weeds near the shore, and with some diff
! ficulty secured it, having had to dive for
| it. The people engaged in this precarious
| work sometimes earn from 81 los a day
| The raw amber that goes into Dantsic to
| be worked up is nearly all melted to make
lac and varnish. The larger pieces are
| made into beads, which are sent all over
| the world, and are known as Leghorn
corals. There is a great demand for them
Amber mouth-pieces and ornaments. es-
/ nppiallV necklaces of