The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ed in NULL the dust from the dry litter
OF the peat II is very light, has no
smell, and can be used many times over.
The Commercial Association Of Pen
dleton, Ore, has offered a prize of $3.50
for a method Of inoculatfng squirrels with
some contagious fatal disease. So numer-
Gus have the squirrels become in that part
Of the country that many farmers are
threatened with bankruptcy on account Of
their depredatiOns.
"A recent issue Of the London Times
contained the following unique advertise
ment: Young lady required as governess
for one little girl, aged 10. As she unhap-
PLY lost a leg, IL is considered possible
that more sympathy will be shown by a
lady in a similar position; preference,
therefore, given 10 SUCH"
The question, why is spool cotton
numbered as it is. and why are the figures
not used in regular Order?' is often ask
ed, says the Boston journal of Commerce.
The explanation is this: The numbers
on the spools express the number Of
hanks" which are required to wind
pound. The very finest spinning rarely
exceeds 800 hanks to the pound while in
the very cOarsest there is about a half
pound in each hank. The more common
Qualities, however. those from which sew
ing thread is usually made, run from ten
to fifty hanks TO the pound, and the spools
on which it is wound are numbered 10 to
50 in accordance.
Secretary Herbert has directed the test
al the New York navy yard of a machine
designed to send a vessel through the
water without propellers. II will be fit-
ted in a twenty-eight foot boat, that be-
ing the choice of the inventor, although
the department desired to use a 1Oi-fOOt
boat now at the yard. BY burning oil
gas is generated, which is allowed to en-
ter a cylinder. There it is ignited by
means of spark. The force of repeated
explosions drives the piston up and down.
As a result of the explosion jet of air
is blown out of tube in the stern of the
vessel and the resistance of the water
causes the boat to forge ahead. The engi-
neering experts say that the invention,
which has been tried privately, has not
given very good results, and they do not
believe 1t will be useful for naval pur-
poses. The inventor claims it will be OF
service in torpedo boats and will drive
them with phenomenal speed.
"A remarkable case of death produced
by electricity recently occurred in San
Jose, Cal, where George Warner Hoff-
man, late chief electrician of the Electric
Improvement Company, while connecting
two 6O-light arc machines in series, &C
cidentally made contact between the two
side of the circuit. He was thus sub
jected to a pressure of over 5000 volts,
while only about $500 are employed in
the legal executions at Sing Sing, n. Y.
The remarkable part of the death was
brought out at the inquest, when ii APP
peared that after receiving the shock
death did not instantly ensue, as has
heretofore been invariably believed to be
the case. The oiler testified that he held
a conversation with Mr.. Hoffman after
he received the shock, The only plausible
explanation is that the blood was cleo
trolytically decomposed at some point OF
its circulation through the body, causing
a bubble of gas to be formed which on be-
ing carried to the heart, caused death.
The number of horses killed last year
in Paris for consumption as food is given
at 231S6, exclusive of 43 mules and 3S3
donkeys. Horse flesh is sold at stalls
where no other kind of meat is allowed.
Some years ago Reeds Island, in the
estuary of the Humber, was reclaimed
from the sea, says the London News. The
island is about 600 acres in extent, and
until recently it was noted for the excel
lence of its pasturage, which was capable
of supporting about 1900 sheep To-day
there is not sufficient grass upon the
island to feed rabbit. Some months ago
1t was invaded by rats. Every attempt to
rid the island of the rodents has proved
unsuccessful. The island is surrounded by
earthen banks ten feet in hight to keep
out the sea, and about a month ago
sluices were fitted into the banks, and
for some time the island was flooded. The
rats resented the treatment to which they
were subjected by squeaking and snarling.
and then betook themselves to the main
land a diversion in which they INDUCED
every night, although it necessitates a
swim of 800 yards each way. A scheme of
wholesale shooting was next put into
operation, but its success was not such
as to lead the commissioners OF the Hum
Der conservancy TO continue 1t, and the
rats are still masters of the situation. The
appearance of the ground is that OF u
newly-ploughed field, SO thoroughly is the
island burrowed and the earth thrown up.
The unwelcome visitors to Reeds island
differ in appearance from the ordinary
water rat. The tail and headquarters are
similar, but the head and ears are said
rather to resemble those of the caVy The
coat is soft and furry and of tawny hue,
not unlike that of the species of rat the
breeding of which for the sake of its skin
is in some places an industry. There are
millions of these rats on the island and
as they only eat grasses, roots and tubers,
the chances of carrying off the pests
by poison are very problematical.
During the last few months, said the
Pittsburg Dispatch, some of the gentle
men connected with the Museum of Nat
ural History of aPris have given to the
world various interesting results of their
observations. The learned professor at
the museum, Leon valiant, describes the
diet of a serpent more than twenty feet
long, which has been on exhibition at the
Jardin deS Plantes since the month of
August, 1885. Up to the end of 1895 this
reptile has eaten fifty times, that is on
the average fVe times year. The largest
number of times in one year that the
snake took food was in 1886, when he ate
seven times. Nearly always the food con-
sisted of the flesh of goats, old and young
Three times, however, the repast was
composed of rabbits, and once q goose
The feeding of the serpent, which will
uncommon spectacle, and many persons
request to have notice of the times when
the creature feeds. so as to witness the
feeding. Yet the lightning-like rapidity
with which the reptile seizes it's prey pro-
duces a powerful impression. Apropos of
the volume which can, by means of dis
tension, enter the stomachs of serpents.
Prof. Valiant relates that a French viper
was once put in the same cage with a
horned viper. AS these individuals. al
though belonging to different species. were
of the same. size, it was supposed that
these reptiles would live amicably side
by side. Nevertheless, the horned viper,
during the following night, swallowed his
companion in captivity, and in order to
accommodate this prey so disproportion-
ate to itself, IT'S body was distended to
such a degree that the scales, instead of
touching each other laterally. and even
overlapping each other a little as in its
normal condition, were separated, leaving
between the longitudinal rows of them a
space equal to their own breadth. All the
same. digestion proceeded regularly, and
the viDer did not appear to have suffer-
ed in the least. The case of the cobra
that swallowed a brother cobra by mis-
take at the zoo affords another example
of the extraordinary capacity for the