The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

At the beginning Of the century the
population OF London increased yearly %
per cent. It increased only 10 per cent
from 1881 to 1881. and now the increase IS
still less
Swiss watchmakers are now manufac-
turing watches whose hands move from
right to left. They are intended for the
markets Of Turkey, Japan and other
Oriental countries, where the natives read
from right TO left
Lord Kelvin declares Maxim has solved
three out of the five problems OF artificial
flight The two remaining ones. DR.. G. H.
Bryan points out, have now been solved
by Lilenthal and Pitcher, and all that re-
mains is to combine the advantages of
the two forms Of apparatus in a single
machine.
An italian cannon OF 100 tons. with a
charge Of $50 pounds OF powder and a
shot weighing about Z, 100 pounds. will give
an initial velocity of SO meters per sec
ond; the length Of time during which the
power acts is less than one-hundredth Of
a second, from which II follows that horse
power developed is about 100000. After
100 shots the cannon Is put out of service,
ana Its total active life is therefore only
one second.
1t has frequently been asserted that
the brilliant colors of many flowers serve
to attract bees and butterflies to them.
Experiments recently reported to the Bel
gian Academy of Sciences seem to show
that the perfume rather than color of the
MOWERS Is the real attraction. Bright-cOl-
ored blossoms were covered with leaves
ana papers pinned closely about them; vet
the insects not only visited the hidden flow
ers, but endeaVored to force their way
under the papers in order to reach the
blossoms which they could not see.
A battery has been patented consist
ing of a source of electrical energy placed
inside a cake of toilet soap The device
is intended for curative applications of
electricity to the human body To use
| the language of the inventor "the inven-
ton is based on the fact that the chemi-
| cal decomposition of soap is such that
when dissolved in water 1t produces a IL
| qutd having an exciting effect upon GER
| tain metallic electrodes placed in prox-
| Unity to form an electric battery. The
| arrangement of the electrodes is such that
| they may be reached by the solution
| FORMED In the use of the same and pro-
/ vded with terminals on the exterior of
| the soap through which the electric cur
| rent is transmitted to the person OF the
user The elements OF single galvan-
| &c battery are used and the effect of the
/ current is intensified by the addition Of
an induction COLL
| 4 went into a mandatory at Buffalo
the other day where one man only was
employed to feed eighteen furnaces, says
| 81 Louis writer, and, although he han
/ dies l5O tons of coal a day, he spends
| more than half his time reading novels
! The coal, which come by cars is dumped
| into bins which have chutes connected
! with them, and there is a tramway sus-
| pended in the air that carries big steel
! buckets about the boiler room. Those
| buckets hold about ton each, and can
| De nlled by pulling a cord. SO when he
| wants coal this comfortable stoker laws
! GOWN ms novel, turns on the electricity
that moves his car TO the coal bins, and
| pulls the strings, fills his bucket and then
| let's his car run along the rails until ne
| reaches the furnaces, which have auto
! matte feeders. All ne has to do is to
M M the feeders by dumping the contents
| OF one OF his buckets into each. Each
| furnaces burns about seven tons of coal
! day, but with his patent chutes and
electric carriage and automatic buckets
| this leisurely gentleman has very little
| years.
Hell" is colossal panoramic picture
which is now approaching completion and
| is the work of some Hungarian and Ital-
ian limners. whose combined forces exc
| cuted the elaborate tableau, says London
| Society. HELP promises to be as graph
| ic an illustration of the sulphuric regions
OF the damned as the imagination of those
| concerned in the awful conception will
| allow. OF course, it will be only fantas-
| tic imagination and the spectators will be
| left as completely in the dark as hereto
| fore relative to the actual scenic attri-
| Dutes and life and society in the regions
| of perpetual torment. Still. the panoTa ma
! IS possessed of no mean artistic merit and
| SO thOroughly impressed are the painters
| Wltn the excellence Of their Internal
| achievements that they have decided to
| commission three of their number to re-
| pair to Rome to invite King Humbert to
| the show. The belief prevails in artistic
| circles in Hungary that Humbert will re-
| SDOn0 faV0rahlV n ha
| satanic and sulphuric associat tons, the
| more so as his majesty has intimated his
! intention of visiting the Mlllennial exhi-
bltion in the autumn.
Among the curiositles at the Botani-
| cal Garden, in this city, which Gardener
Smith never fails to point out to his
visitors, says the Washington correspond
| ence of the Baltimore American. is a
| curious little plant known as mother
| n-laW' plant. 1t has, according to Mr.
smith, the remarkable property of de-
| prlVlng any one who cheWs a leaf of the
| plant of the power of speech for twelve
| hours. Mr.. Smith discaims the credit
| OF having given the plant this happily
| signlhcant name, and lays the author
| ship at the door of a newspaper man
| Some years ago. he says, there was
| mower show in the neighboring CITY for
| which the association having it in charge
had made elaborate preparations. The
| pubic, however, failed to respond and
Tic dsSOcldtlOH was In despair. One daV
| reporter, who was being shown around
the hall and the committee in charge
pleaded with him to write something
| which would make people come. He
promised TO do so. Among the plants he
| saw was this flower 1t had no ponular
American name, as yet, because II was
recent importation into this country
and was merely known as the dumb
cane. Inc reporter was, 1t appears a
married man, of the usual domestic ex-
| perlence, and when he was told of the
Qualities of the plant, he asked for and
a splendid story for his paper. telling tbe
effects produced on the female tongue nv
chewing the leaf of the plant, which. IN
moment of happy inspiration, he had
| named the 'mother-in-law" plant. Anpar-
entity, there were other men in the Town
VINO mad mothers-in-law, for the 1ower
show that day was crowded by men % eer
10 see the plant, and to learn where -
might be purchased. and also bv wonnan
eager to study the miami ~