The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

king James Bible is the English trans
lation now in use. 1t took about three
years to translate. The work was per-
formed by forty-seven OF the best classi.
cal scholars at the universities. The
translation came out in 1911.
Most leaves contain some nourishing
properties, in particular those of the aca-
cia tree. 1t would be quite possible to
subsist on leaves if the supply were NOT
stinted, and the shipwrecked mariner will
keep in very fair condition If he chews
them as he would his tobacco.
Here is an act of parliament allowing
a young woman to propose to the man of
her choice. 1t was passed in 1928 by Queen
Margaret of Scotland: Let 1t be ordained
that every maiden of both high and low
degree shall have the liberty to propose
to the man she loves. II he refuses TO
take her to be his wife, he shall pay her
200, or less, if his estate yield this. He is
10 be exempted, however, If he is already
engaged to a lady" This act Of parlia-
ment has never been repealed. In leap
year 1t might serve 10 drive all the bach
elors into the woods.
Condensed milk which is so much used
for the food of infants, is prepared by
slowly evaporating the water of milk by
moderate heat. There are two varieties,
the plain, which is condensed to about one
fourth of its bulk and super-heated, and 10
which no sugar is added, and the stronger
variety, which is more condensed and to
which sugar cane is added in excess, hold
ing about 45 per cent. of sugar among its
solid ingredients. This excess of sugar
prevents the decomposition of the milk,
which will keep fresh for many hours af-
ter the can has been opened.
Soap is not a modern invention, says
the Growers Review, 1t is twice mem
toned in the Bible, first in jeremiah and
again in Malachi. History tells US that
mere than 1900 years ago the Gauls man.
ufactured it by combining beech tree ashes
with goats fat \ few years ago a soap
boilers shop was discovered in Pompeil,
having been buried beneath the terrible
rain of ashes that fell upon that city 70
A. D. The soap found in the shop had not
lost all It's efficacy, although it had been
buried 1896 years. At the time that Pom
peii was destroyed the soap making bust
ness was carried on in several of the
italian cities.
An interesting small locomotive has
recently been designed for use on the Liv-
erpool dock lines. The engine is intended
for work formerly done by horses, and
is to run over a very rough class of line.
1t is fired by oil, and the driver is in
tended to ride at one end and the fireman
at the other, thus rendering it easy to
hook on wagons at either end, while at
the same time a better lookout can be
kept while going through the streets. The
oil used for fuel is carried in two wrought
iron cylinders, placed underneath the
truck, while the water is carried in tanks
fitted at each end and built into the frame
of the engine, which is capable of drawing
IL loaded wagons for the dock lines
Two of the most wonderful automata
now working within the limits of the
United States, remarks the Argosy are
those used by the government for count
ing and tying postal cards into small
bundles. These machines are made in
Connecticut, and the two are capable of
counting the prodigious number of $4,000
such cards in ten hours, and wrapping
and tying the same in packages of twen-
ty-five each. In this operation the paper
is pulled off a drum by two long fingers
which come up from below, and another
finger dips into a vat of mucilage and
applies itself to the wrapping paper in
exactly the right spot Other parts of the
machine Irvine the paper around the pack
of cards, a thumb presses over the muc.l-
age spot and the package is thrown upon
carry belt ready for delivery.
y
by Prof Carter to the Academy of
Sciences of Philadelphia, was made lately
near Three Tans, Montgomery county,
Pennsylvania, says the New York Sun
In a sandstone quarry at that place an
iron tree has been found embedded in the
rock ten feet below the surface The
tree is about eighteen feet long and
eighteen inches in diameter, and has
been completely turned to .ron. or rather
to the iron ore known as brown hematite;
and Prof. Carter accounts for the phe-
nomenon by the fact that the shales and
the sandstoneS in that neighborhood are
covered with red oxide of iron, and some
times with brown hematite. 1t is pre-
Sumed that the iron ore was reduced by
organic matter, and that 1t was made SOL
uble in water containing carbonic acid
gas; then, as the water holding the iron
in solution came in contact with the tree,
the iron was precipitated on the latter.
and there was an Interchange of vege-
table and mineral matter so that the
rocks We're relieved of their coloring and
the tree took 1t up.
The wonderful adaptability a living or
ganism can show to an apparently hos
tile environment is well known to natural
lists, says an exchange. A remarkable
case in point comes from Columbia, South
proof tree. Here large part of the coun-
try is covered with interminable llanos,
or plains, which furnish the grass upon
which vast herds of cattle Craze AS
there is but very short rainy season
during which the grass grows the herd
ers set fire to the remains of the last
years growth, as soon as the rainy season
approaches, so that nothing will prevent
the new growth of grass from springing
up. On these plains the only other species
of vegetable growth is what is known as
as the chaparro tree all other forms be-
ing killed by these fires. The secret of
the fire-resisting qualities of the tree lies
in the bark, which covers it like skin.
In no tree has the bark any organic func-
ton In Itself. merely serving a protective
purpose. In the chaparro however. the
outer bark to the thickness of about half
an inch is arranged in loose layers and
becomes thickened and modified to such
a degree that the protection against or
binary dangers is extended to the case of
fire. In addition to being practically fire.
proof the arrangement of the loose Law
ers renders 1t a non-conductor of heat
and therefore, the delicate inner tissues