The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

]
| a day.
| The illumination in the lighthouse at
cape de Heve, three miles from Havre
! is equal in power to 100000 candles II
/ is the most brilliant artificial light IN the
/ world. and in clear weather can be seen
I at distance OF IA miles.
The statement that the arc electric
/ light il not blue, but as nearly as possible
similar 10 daylight. will be a surprise TO
many The most probable explanation
| seems TO be that the nerves Of the eye,
/ which are sensitive 20 yellow light, be-
| come fatigued toward night. as yellow
| light predOminates during the day. the
/ arc looks blue. both by contrast to the vel
/ low and because the nerves, sensitive 10
/ blue light, are rested and therefore more
| acute.
| Nature has an agreeable habit OF even
| ing things up in the long run. says the
/ New York Times. There is the Tussock
/ moth, which has been making deplorable
| ravages on the foliage Of trees, espe-
| cially OF NAPLES, and has proved pest
/ difficult to cope with. In Brooklyn a
/ good deal Of damage has been caused
| by it. But within a few days the dis
| covery has been made of a parasitic fly
| which likes better than anything else TO
| deposit its eggs in the cocoon and pupa
| suit that the latter is destroyed An
| expert who has been giving special at
tention to this matter, declares that he
| finds the fly wherever the moth has been
| carrying on its work and unless his cal
| culatiOns are all wrong the career OF the
| rayaging moth is TO be cut short on a
large scale in the ante-caterpillar stage.
If inventions continue to multiply at
the present rate, says the Argosy, the day
may speedily come when man will have to
| sit with folded arms while his work, and
| even his pleasures, are turned out for him
/ by nickle-in-t he-slot devices. Science has
| lately given us a marvel in the shape of a
| card-cOunting machine. Two OF the most
! interesting autOmata now working within
the limits of the United States are those
| used by the government for counting and
| tying postal cards into small bundles
| These machines were made in Connecti-
cut, and the two are capable of counting
| 10000 cards in ten hours and wrapping
| and tying the same in packages of twenty
| five each. In this operation the paper is
pulled of a drum by two long fingers"
which come up from below, and another
finger dips in a vat of mucilage and APP
plies itself to the wrapping paper in eX-
actly the right spot. Other parts of the
machine Irvine the paper around the pack
of cards, and then a thumb" presses over
the spot where the muciage is, and the
package is thrown upon a carry belt ready
for delivery.
1t was not until the year 1774 that Dr.
Priestly found his new gas, oxygen. Three
years later a Swedish chemist, Scheele,
not knowing of Priestlys experiments,
made the same discovery. Then came
| LaVaisier with his balance, and proved
| that whenever thing burns it combines
| with Priestly's oxygen. At that time IT,
| known solar system consisted only of tn,
| sun, moon, earth and five planets visible
to the naked eye. Since the days of the
Chaldean shepherds there had been no adj
ditions except the moons of Jupiter and
| Saturn. HerschePs telescope was to win
its first triumph in the detection of Uran-
US in 1881 In ls45 the planet Neptune was
| discovered by purely mathematical rea-
| soning from the observed effects of Its
gravitation, furnished by the Newtonian
theory. Sixty years after the discovery
| of oxygen the distance of no star had been
measured In 1896 August Comte assured
| his readers that such a feat was imposSi-
Bile, yet three years later Bessel measured
the distance of the star 81 Cygni. The
| spectroscope was not completed till 1861,
by Kirchof and Bunsen. 1t was only IN
1853 that Joseph Black found the secret OF
| latent heat. thus giving the clew to what
happens when water freezes and melts or
when 1t turns into steam.
The British government pays the royal
family Of England 100000 every year,
says the Chicago News, and of this the
queen receives nearly 100000, besides her
S250,OO0 income from the duChy of Lam
caster The lord-ieutenant of Ireland re-
ceives 100000 for his services and ex-
penses. The Prince of Wales gets 5000 900
a year for the labor of being heir-appar-
|
$24O,000 a year-a large salary when it is
, remembered that the government is strug-
Cling under debt OF 5000, 100000, which is
the largest debt ever incurred by any ma
ton. Italy pays her king $2,6O0O00 year
In spite Of the fact that she, host 1900
men in Abystinia. The German emperor
receives about $4,000 coo a year, besides
the large revenues from estates belong
Ing personally to the royal family. The
) car of Russia owns in fee simple 1000 900
, square miles of cultivated land, and has
, | iOPOO0a n a he
is despot, he can command the resources
OF The Whole nation. If little Alfonso of
. Spain saves as he should he will be one
or the richest monarchs In Europe when
z he comes of age as the government al
lows him s., 100000 a year, besides $500 900
additional for family expenses. Though
/ the United States is such a wealthy ma
: ton, our President receives the small sal
| airy of $4,000 a year, and till 1873 it was
but $4,000.
"A month ago English sparrows swarm
ed about the city hall and Jealousy guard
ed the building and grounds against all
other birds, says a dispatch from Waco,
, Tex. Not feather was to be seen ex-
cept the busy, bustling, imported spar
, rows, who were masters and monarchs OF
, the field. There is not a single one of the
host left. All are gone and every nest
they built in the caves and under the
tower projections has disappeared The
cause of the disappearance of the spar.
rows was a sudden invasion of the ha-
pearing in force and opening war on The
{ English sparrow. The sparrows held their
own for few days. Aerial battles were
> fought, sometimes in regular order gen.
orally in combats of two or more In a
bunch. The city hall sparrows did no,
. appear to be able to enlist neighboring
! colonies in the war, while the swallows
. constantly brought up fresh detacbments
! from the suspension-bridge towers and
other points, and, in the end, with rein
, forcements, they put their mottled foes
TGrr1fD rr1N "a NHr HF.~t-
/ and appropriated the material for use ~
the mortar with which they construc4e6
I their cone-shaped dwellings in the nooKs
where the nests of their foes had been
I destroyed. Having cleared out the snar-
rows from the city hail. the swallows are
accommodating with view to further con
! quests. The janitor of the federal build
ing has noticed them circling around fhal
roof cycling the sparrows, which show
: nervousness as soon as the swallows an.
proach their nests. An advance guaro