The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

A new industry has been started OIL
Fox Island. The industry is that of man
ufacturing doghsh oil and fertilizer, say:
the Tacoma Ledger. Buildings for tn,
plant have been leased from the For
Island clay works, and work has already
been commenced manufacturing the prod
uct. A considerable addition to the plan
in the shape of trying-out kettles ant
boilers has been sent over to the island
Doghsh oil is a standard article of mer'
chandise as a lubricator, and the ferti
lizer manufactured from the bodies has E
ready sale. This class of fertilizer con
tains large quantities of ammonia ant
phosphoric acid, chemicals which are es
pecially useful in fertliZing California
grape-growing lands. Among the vine
yards of California there is a large de
mand for the article.
The French government has just had
occasion to appoint a commission to in
quire into the grievances of the cats in
it's employ says the New York Journal
Their report is an amusing exhibition OF
official stupidity, and will rouse a right
eous indignation in the bosom of all
friends of the useful mouser 1t appear
that cats are kept in some of the French
military magazines to keep down the sur
plus population of rats and mice. Their
food is regulated by ministerial decree
according to circumstances, and at pres
ent there is a regulation in force author
izing an expenditure of 21a centimes per
cat per diem. But this does not seem
enough, as the unfortunate governmental
cats have been growing extremely thin,
so at last the ministry appointed special
lists to inquire into the matter. These
have gravely reported that the cats of
the army are very slow to accumtom
themselves to the diet prescribed by the
government circular Thus they seldom
eat bread, and never lap up greasy water
unless actually driven thereto by pangs
Of hunger, so that they are dying off or
else abandoning the military magazines. -
If you like you can now have a tooth
pulled painlessly and without gas by cleo.
tricity. says the New York World. Instan-
taneously? Why. of course; but the point
is that there is no pain. You need not
bother with nitrous-oxide gas, which is
very distressing in its effects upon some
people. The up-to-date American denta
surgeon has very simple apparatus
which consists most Importantly of a bat
terry not much bigger than a cigar box. The
battery has a queer little attachment call
ed vibrator" which is nothing more OF
less than a short strip of metal fastened
at both ends. When the current is on the
strip Vibrates at such a rate of speed that
1t huns. The operator tunes it up with
a tuning fork until it gives out the note
A; then he knows that the current is just
right. The person in the dentists chair
grasps the handles which are connected
with the battery by wires. At the same
time the operator seizes his forceps, which
likewise are on the end of a wire proceed
ing from the battery. He touches the
tooth, completing the circuit, and instant
ly local anaestheSia is produced. The tooth
and neighboring gum are rendered for the
moment insensible to pain and out comes
the offending molar or incisor with a dex-
ferrous twist. Before the patient has had
time to realize what has happened he is
gleefully paying the fee.
The question has been asked Which
of our senses is most capable of improve
ment? says the New York Journal. An
English scientist says probably the sense
of touch. Strictly speaking, the senses
are capable rather of alteration and spe
cialization than of Improvement For in
stance, those who have much to do in the
open air become immensely long-sighted;
but this is abnormal, and the increased
superiority in one direction is compen-
stated for by inferiority in another. But
there are many trades which afford
abundant evidence that the sense of touch.
at any rate in certain directions. can De
largely developed. For instance, the con-
noissuer of china relies much more on an
almost imperceptible difference of feeling
in the texture than on his eyes to dis.
cover the genuineness of any piece. The
blind beggar can very soon discern be-
tween different metals merely by the sense
OF touch, and, in fact, the education OF
the ol1nd affords remarkable instance
OF the development of this sense. In GER
tain manufacture the skilled workman
knows entirely by this sense when &. mix
ture mas reached the proper degree OF
solidity or material is of the right tox
ture, and he receives very high wages b,.
virtue of this sense alone. On the other
hand, the sense of smell and the sense or
taste are, each of them, blunted and los,
thelr finer perception if the same obiect
is frequently presented to them. In every
case, however, 1t is not the general sense
OF touch that is improved, but a special
excellence of the sense.
The earthquakes which occurred in
the southwest of Iceland on the afternoon
OF Aug. q were the greatest that have
taken place since 1854, says the London
Times. They were felt over an area Of
about 5000 square miles. After the catas-
trophe, all the pictures on the walls of
the parliament houses had been ierked tn
one side and rents We're visible in tba
ceiling, while the cathedral had suffered
even more. None of the houses of the
town were damaged severely. It was tha
districts near Hecla that suffered most
The center of the earthquake seems TO
nave been in the volcanic range o,+ Of
Which this mountain rises. The extent of
the DANCE done is not yet fully known
AT least fifty farms and homesteads have
fallen down, several churches have haar
damaged, one man severely wounded
thirty sheep and five cows killed. The Il,
habitants saved their lives by tumD,no
half naked out of the windows The
household of one farm were buried unf1er
the ruins, but Cne of them got away ana
brought help from the neighbors VIII
dug them out still alive. In one dis+riot
twenty-seven homesteads were DESTROYED
out of thirty-one. The appearances Of tba
land has been changed In places tbo
earth has been rent asunder, hot snrines
have disappeared and new ones annear1
ed, tracts of water have taken the nIaca
of dry land and great rocks have roIIed
down from the mountains and formej
new hills. The great Geyser is stiII exist
ing. Hundreds of people are homeless ana
have lost their property They sIeen ~
tents, and already a COMMITTEES has been
formed n rpredxra -