The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-09-10
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


a French workman named Nougues is
constructing an aerial machine with
which he proposes to tempt fortune in the
skies. The new flying apparatus is to be
supported by series of small cylindrical
balloons, and the pilot, seated on a bicy
Gle saddle, will have wings or, as 1t is
said, light oars attached to his arms.
wherewith he can propel himself through
space. The machine is now being finished
at Vanguard, and M. Nougues. proposes
to make public ascent on a perfectly
calm day, for he does not expect to be
able to use his apparatus in windy wealth
er. or even when an ordinary breeze is
blowing.
The possibility of telegraphing through
space, which is maintained by Tesla and
other electricians, has been practically
demonstrated in Ireland in maintaining
communication between the Fastnet light
house and the mainland, where a nom
continuous system has been established
with success by w. H. Preece, the cleo
trician to the British postoffce depart
ment. Formerly the difficulties at this
place of carrying a telegraph cable up an
exposed rock, where it was subject to con-
slant chafng, were almost insupera BILE
The non-continuous system is now used,
and works admirably. The cable termi-
mates in the water sixty yards off and the
electric currents sent from the shore find
their way through this distance to two
bare wires that dip into the sea from the
rock.
If she lives until the end of September
Queen Victoria will have reigned longer
than any previous British sovereign 1t
has been decided not to celebrate the fact
until she completes her siXtieth year as
queen. The above decision was ponder
ously announced recently in an official
note to British subjects, which stated
that the secretary of state for the home
department is commanded by the queen
to intimate that, while she is much graft
lied to observe the general expressions
of loyalty and affection toward her in
regard TO the fact that she will shortly
have reigned for a longer period than any
other British sovereign, it is her majesty's
wish that, should she be spared to rule
over her beloved people for such period
any recognition or celebration of that
event should be reserved until she has act
ually completed reign of sixty years"
When an animal dies in a menagerie it
is not likely to be a total loss, says the
New York Sun. The skin is usually of
some value, and in the case of some ami
mails as, for instance, the lion or the tiger,
1t may be of very considerable value. The
value of any skin depends largely upon it's
condition, and its condition may determine
whether the skin should be mounted as a
rug or as a showpiece. The manner of
mounting a skin might also be influenced
in some measure by the state of the mar
ket at the moment. There might be a
greater demand for rugs of the skin of
some animals, or a greater demand for
such animals, amounted as showpieces. The
menagerie owner sends the skin to the
taxidermist and has it mounted, perhaps
as a rug for his own use, or as an ami
NAL to be added to the menagerie museum,
or to be sold as rug or as a furriers
showpiece. In any event when an animal
dies there is likely to be more or less sal
wage.
The medical officer of one of the lead
ing deaf and dumb institutions of England,
writing to the London Lancet, says that
he has obtained material aid from the
seeming improbable source of a loud
speaking telephone in the treatment of his
patients. In the education of those deaf
mutes who possess a fragment of hearing
power the telephone possesses many i'm
portant advantages over the speaking tube
usually employed. First and foremost, the
wires from several receivers can be cou-
pied up to one transmitter and thus a
teacher can instruct a group of children at
the same time; and secondly, it is not ne
ceSsary for the teacher to apply his mouth
close to the transmitter, so that pupils
have a full view of the facial expressions
and lip movement, which is not possible
when he has to direct his voice into the
mouthpiece of a speaking tube or trumpet.
The patient while seeing the movement of
the lips has the sound conveyed close to
his ear drum, obviously most advantage
Gus combination.
The people about Carleton, Mich, are
much excited over the discovery recently
of a buried stone, which is said to have
remarkable properties, says the Phila-
delphia Press. In the year 1868 there liv-
ed in the township of Frenchtown, Mon
roe county, man named Labeau, whose
youngest son, aged IA years, created a SEN
sation at that time. Joe, as he was nam
ed, became in some manner possessed of a
peculiar looking stone, by looking at
which he claimed to be able to reveal the
hidden, and tell the future as we'll as the
past. Joe was green, uneducated lad
but his fame as fortune teller spread far
and wide, and the crowds which surged
around his home both night and day
would cause a modern divine" healer to
turn green with envy. The story goes that
the stone was once the property of an
American scout, who with it foretold the
coming of Gen. Proctor and his Indian
allies to perpetrate one of the worst mas
sacres in American history but failing
to arouse Gen. Winchester to his danger.
became disguised and buried the stone,
where 1t was accidentally dug up by young
Labeau. Be this as it may, young Labeau
made himself famous, and fabulous sums
were offered by several Ohio men for the
services of the young man and his stone.
The father and other relatives of the boy
were superstitious, and, with the assist
ance of a priest, succeeded in driving him
out of the fortune-telling business. He
went on visit, and when he returned the
stone was gone and to no one would he
reveal what had become of it. but the
general impression was that the priest
had it, Labeau has a brother living six
miles west OF Carleton, and recently he
received a letter from Joe, whom every
one supposed was dead, telling him exact
~ where the stone could be found, to-
gether with the information that il II was
stiA there he would return and take IN
the occupation of his boyhood DAYS. The
search was made according to directions
and the identical stone found in the pIace
described. The premises where the stone
was found was once owned by a French
ia milV whore ha