The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-01-27
ITEMS Of INTEREST.

Pitsburg TO dispense with the services Of
400 men.
The people OF Sicily are rejoicing over
the death OF the notorious brigand. Spina,
who has made life in the neighborhoOd of
Aderne uncertain and spread fear through
out the land He was found murdered a
Few. weeks ago by policemen, with bul-
let-hole in the back OF his head. he was
well armed and had considerable money
about him. A reward of 5000 lire. about
$500, had been offered for his capture
Paper telegraph poles are the latest
development of the art of making paper
useful. These poles are made of paper
pulp. in which borax. tallow, ETC., are
mixed in small quantities. The pulp Is
cast in mold, with a core in the center,
forming a hollow rod of the desired
key-shaped wooden pieces driven on either
side of the pole. The paper poles are
said to be lighter and stronger than those
of wood, and to be unaffected by the
weather.
The bag has displaced both the hogs
head and the barrel in the shipment OF
refined and raw sugars, says the Philadel-
phia Record. There was a time, not so
very long ago, when such a thing as ship
ping sugar in anything but a stave-made
vessel was unheard of, but now 1t is just
the other way. The bag has become pOpu-
lar because il is cheaper, and continues
to grow cheaper, while the wooden reCep-
tacles advance in price at about the same
ratio. Even molasses has gone back on
the stave, and that sticky commodity is
being carried IN bulk.
The difference between the modern
steam vessel and the old-time sailing ship
is marked in many ways. one of which
is the post of command, says the New York
Tribune. on sailing ships and the earlier
steamers the captains and officers post
was on the quarterback, which was as
far aft as it was possible to go. On the
steamer of to-day the quarterback is
abolished, except as a promenade for pas
sengers, and orders are given from the
bridge, well forward of amidships, ana
sufficiently elevated to give a view OF
the vessel from stem to stern. This is
frequently as high as the maintop of
sailing ship, and except for the storm
cloths that surround IL in winter, is fully
as exposed Ocean steamships have no
covered pilothouses, as the sound and
river steamer do, but on the bridge, where
every roll of the ship is exaggerated the
captain and his aids maintain their con-
slant lookout, while even at that hight
they are occasionally drench with spray.
The announcement of the discovery by
Professor Rontgen, of Vienna, of a won
derful new light which penetrates many
solids as If they were glass, recalls the ex-
periments which Thomas A. Edison has
been making on somewhat similar lines,
says the New York Sun. More than four
years ago Edison was at work on this new
way of photography. He took it up after
his experiments in rapid photography had
assured the perfection of the kinetScope
Talking to Sun man about that time he
said: zone theory Of light is that ii is
caused by certain vibrations of an intang-
ible ether, The motion being commonly sup
posed to be undulatory. The motion of
heat is much the same, except that the di-
rection of the molecular action changes
Now if these theories are both true, why
can we not make a film which will be SEN
sitive to the heat radiations as well as one
which is sensitive to those which cause
light?' Edison said he had experimental
with the thing good deal, and succeeded
in producing plate which would record
in the dark the fact that it had been near
a warm body, but he had not succeeded in
obtaining satisfactory detail.
A greater number of suicides was COM
mitted in New York city last year than
in any other city in the world, says the
Philadelphia Press. The list of suicides
for the year comprise 45S victims, taken
from all walks of life, and varying in
age from children of less than Is years to
men and women nearly 80 years old. This
HIST is the largest on record in this city,
although the percentage of suicides to the
entire population is lower than in some
previous years. Nearly every walk and
coy nook in Central park has at one
time or another been the scene OF some
suicide A grim record of these events is
kept at the Arsenal 1t shows that over
100 suicides have been committed in the
park during the past three years. At GER
tain seasons Of the year there is an av-
erage of more than one suicide day
within the park limits. Few suicides are
committed outdoors in cold weather Sta
tisticS show that over 60 per cent. of all
the suicides in New York have been COM
mitted by Germans Experts in such mat
tiers account for this by saying that the
Germans are so much attached TO their
native land, and suffer such homesick-
ness in New York, that it amounts to sui
cidal mania. The record of the motives
for committing suicide is very hard to
keep In most cases there seems to be
| absolutely no sufficient reason, and the
word melancholy" is set down.
-"Cold waves" so called-a compre-
hensive phrase for which we are indebt-
| ed to recent meteorological research and
| investigation-are waves of heavy air,
| following the rarified track of low bar
| ometer," and changing the conditions
| from mild oppressivenesS to clear, cold
properties, says the New York Adver-
| tiser. These waves" are as marked in
| their movements as veritable sea waves,
| rolling over the surface of the ocean.
Exactly where they originate is a mys-
| terry, but it is altogether probable that
| their starting point is somewhere on that
| bleak plateau lying between Hudson
| Bay and Boring Straits. When the
wave" reaches the outposts of civiliza-
ton in the Rocky Mountains, the tele-
| of the United States, giving the impress
sion that the home of the blizzard is in
the mountainous regions of the north
western states of our own country. When
| these waves reach the great plains and
the Missouri and Mississippi valleys,
they spread out and cover the whole
country, striking the Atlantic coast in
| a streak, extending from Bangor Me-,
to Cape Hatteras After taking its
| plunge into the ocean it RACES with great
| violence until it comes in contact with
/ the gulf stream. That great thermal
| current modifies and tempers the blast
| so that it is but spring breeze by the
| time it reaches the Bermudas 600 miles
| from Charleston, S. G.
Even since men first began to use the
seas and oceans of the globe as highways
| of travel and commerce, observant sea-
men have occasionally seen queer lights
| shimmering along the surface of the wat
! ers or around the prows of their boats
| on dark nights, says the New York Adj
| vertiser. No doubt many opinions as to
| the exact cause of this phenomenon have
| been hazarded, but it has remained for M.
| Girard, the French professor of natural
| history at Surbonne to account of these
| "ghost1y sea lights" on scientific grounds.
! According to our learned authority, such
| lights are of bacterial origin and are due
! to marine phosphorescence which covers
/ the surface of the ocean or other body of
/ water with luminous microbes. NJ. Girard
/ has examined and carefully analysed
I - l. ill., fH l..