The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-15
ITEMS of INTEREST.

~@N~--~NN~ANA
has been there for ffty-six years, and
the Earl of Kimberly for fifty.
The invention of the organ is very ar
cient. though it is agreed it was little used
till the eighth century 1t seems to have
been borrowed from the Greeks Vitru-
vius describes one in his tenth book TIE
Emperor Julian has an eplgram in it's
praise. st, Jerome mentions one with
twelve pairs of bellows, which might be
heard thousand PAGES or a mile, and an
other at Jerusalem, which might have
been heard as far as the Mount of Olives.
AT Trieste three experienced divers are
just now engaged upon a highly interest
ing task. In 1911 terrible explosion took
place in the harbor there, the causes Of
which have never been explained. Much
loss of life and property was caused, and
the Danae, a French frigate, was sunk.
The divers soon ascertained the position
OF the hull, but all efforts to raise it have
been in vain. The vessels contains $500, 900
in gold and the valuable jewels of a
French princess.
Lii Hung Chang is far more robust
and hearty old gentleman than the de-
scriptions of his appearance in public
give him credit for. When walking he
invariably leans upon the arm of an at
tendant, and at other times is wheeled
around in a chair like an invalid. 1t
seems that Chinese etiquette demands
that so distinguished a person be treated
in this way, and it is custom pure and
simple, and not because he Is so aged ana
decrepit as to demand it, that causes him
to accept the assistance of the members
of his suite.
"A certain proportion of our sponges,
says the Westminster Gazette are OBJ
tanned off the coast of Tripoli, and at
present there are about 100 men en-
gagged in the sponge fishery there. Har-
poOn boats no longer go there, as they
can only work in shallow water, where
few and inferior sponges are to be found,
and divers will not now venture into the
water for fear of being attacked by sharks.
Helmeted divers, or those provided with
a dress, have not been known to have
been attacked These, it is said, are able
to gather sponges at depth of from Is
to % fathoms, while the other divers can
descend as far as 80 fathoms, but they
rarely have time to pluck away moro
than one sponge at dive.
DIR. Hartley has described to the Lon,
don Chemical Society his experiments on
tue temperature of certain flames He fur
pishes evidence of the high temperature
of a candle fame, not only from the melt
ing of gold and of platinum in the fame
but by an examination of the spectrum
to be seen in the mantle. Experiments
made with platinum wires heated in
batswing gas flame proved that the car
bon does not lower the melting point Of
the platinum, that is, not in any appreci-
able degree; = small carbon monoXi lie
fame melts platinum wire of 1-1,000th-
inch thickness, and cyanogen flame was
shown to be intensely hot, for it melted
such wire with extreme ease. These In
teresting experiments by DR.. Hartley, ~
measuring the temperature of flames
were carried on by means of gold leaf ana
With fine wires of platinum 1-9,OO0th-inch
diameter.
The grand conservatory erected at
Chatsworth, the seat of the Duke of De-
vonshire by his gardener, Sir Joseph Pax
ton, cost about $4,000 and is unequalled
by any in Europe, so says a contemporary
1t covers nearly an acre of ground, meas
ures 800 feet in length by las feet in width,
is 65 feet in hight, and has 10000 square
feet of glass. There is a carriage road
through it from end to end. The orangery
at Chatsworth is $50 feet long, q feet wide
and q feet high. 1t is lighted from the
top by a glass roof. In the botanical
gardens at Kew. in Surrey, the palm
house. covering nearly an acre, is 1862 feet
in length, 100 feet wide at the center, and
is 6S feet in hight, and is glazed with more
than $4,000 square feet of sheet glass. The
Duke of Connaught's is another very fine
greenhose and conservatory, and cost $15
900. A wealthy stock broker has had
palm house recently erected at his house
in a London suburb, at an expense Of
over $4,000.
1T has been discovered that the flute
is the most dangerous intrument that is
played on-dangerous to the player A
profound medical authority says that It
is doubtful If healthy man playing any
instrument in a correct method ever sur
fers through playing upon any reed or
brass instrument, but those who have any
weakness of the heart or circulation may
be injured by playing any wind instru-
ment AS it is quite easy for a musician
to draw in his breath between the phrases
OF the music but impossible for him TO
eXpel air without overlooking his instru-
ment it follows that the instruments that
require the least expenditure of breath
are the more injurious, for the reason
that the player must hold his breath for
long intervals This is the case with both
the flute and the oboe. The change is also
probably true that the curious ticking of
the Ups that is caused by the double-reei
mouth-piece of the latter instrument FIRE,
quently causes cancer.
Little by little the story of Nansen's
wonderful journey north is reaching Eng.
land from a variety of sources, says A
New York Sun cable. Sir George Baden
Powell who met the explorer at Ham,
meffest, writes that "Nansen's Journey.
when the world knows all the details, will
be regarded as the greatest feat of men,
tai and PHYSICAL endurance ever record
ed of any human beings" Another ac>
count says that north of 81 degrees north
latitude 10 animal life was found to ex-
list. The northerly flight of birds is be.
lleved to he due to their having lost their
way, or having been blown out of their
course. The depth of water at the fur
thest north attained seems to indicate that
there can be no land near Soundings
taken at S4 degrees gave depths of 3lo
20 1880 tathoms. Further north the lead
reached greater depths, as much as 21Ss
fathcms. The temperature of the sea. was
found to present several pecularities. Al
a depth of 100 fathoms the water was cold
Then there came stratum at Ss2 fathoms
with some degrees of heat. Under this
at 400 fathoms, there was cold water The
proportion of salt in the water varied a
good deal Further north they got less
tide and current.