The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-05-17
ITEMS or INTEREST.

Asbestos is playing more than ever a
remarkably useful part in electricity. Its
latest application is called the electro
Llefn ana ls used N hospitals n place OF
consists OF flexible sheet OF pad or as
bestOs in which electric wires are imbed-
dea- These wires are connected Wlth any
source OF electric current and uniform
heat maintained. Ii can be moisteued and
made 20 serve as poult-ce-
The Arabs in the deserts have con-
tracted a strange prejudice against run
ming water, and VIII only drink what
they find IN some stagnanL pool SO mucn
has this become a matter Of habit win
them that. while the most poisonous look
ing water agrees with them admirably,
pure running water VIII make them Vio-
lently sick i'm the course of a few hours
Inis prejudice Is shared by most OF the
lower animals. and is often acquired by
Europeans travellers in Africa. At first
the staguant water produces nausea. ana
Injured to it. running water affects them
~ precisely the same way that it affects
the Arabs.
A cannibal snake is one Of the I'M
pleasant reptiles which make picking wild
flowers a joyless pastime IN India and the
Malayslan archipelago. Scientists call
him OphiOphagus elaps, and he is much
longer than that. The cannibal snake is
allied to the cobra family. He has the
cobra habit Of pulling out the sides Of
a
poison. In his prime he is y or 13 feet
long and the Hindoos call him the King
OF SerDents." La Nature, a French Sci
entific paper, is authority for the Hin
docs account Of the cannibal rites which
this unnatural Ophidean conducts. When
hungry he puffs up his neck and Kisses
IN his own peculiar way. Immediately,
from all parts of the forest, the snakes
that know what the sound means hurry
and range themselves round the monarch.
He looks the lot over, and, selecting the
a m
The rest, having no further part in the
proceedings. retire respectfully, as ODE
dent subjects should. Although the can
niDal snake is very large, his venom IS
las powerful as that of the most deadly
cobra An English naturalist tells of
seeing an elephant die four hours after
being bitten. 1t will attack man, and
manifests all the unpleasant traits of
snake disposition that would be expected
in a serpent so heartless and unfeeling as
TO dine on his own relatives.
The latest capacity in which the Ger
man emperor has chosen to reveal him
self is that of an inventor of new sys-
TEN of fastenings for watertight doors of
men-Of-War. He turned up in the harbor
of Syracuse recently. in the HOhenzoi-
Tern and the officers of the British cruis-
er AstrOea, which happened to be lying
there, We're not a little astOnished soon
afterWard TO see him approaching their
vessel in a steam launch, attired in the
panoply of a British admiral He in
spected the AstrOea minutely and then
carried off the captain to the Hohenzol-
lern, says the New York Times After
entertaining him royalty he took him
down INTO the engine room and there
pointed out a water-tight door I'm one or
the bulSheads, which, he said, he had in
vented himself and expected TO see imi-
tated generally. The door was of the
kind known technically as a "clSnDed
door'-that is it is secured VIXEN shut
by means of short lever catches which are
called clips, In the English service as
n elf 4rno of aro
used to secure one door. The improve
ment claimed by the emperor is that in
slead on having to work the clips singly,
mus involving several operations, he can,
by an arrangement of levers, work them
simultaneously in one operation only Pro-
Vided the mechanism is not too complI-
Gated and likely to get out of order, the
invention seems to be one of consdera-
bic practical value. the manifest obiec-
ton being. that if the lever happened to
De out of order at a critical moment
an the clips and the door would be use
less.
SO far as can be ascertained from
portraits of statues that have come down
10 US, the majority of great men have
not been striking in personal appearance
Inc greatest Intellect of all time Will
tracted the attention of passers-by in
the streets of London. Milton, Words
worth and Tennyson displayed in the
eye and brow the thoughtfulness of the
student, but nothing more, saws the New
York Mercury. OF great statesmen. Oil
yer cromwell might have passed as a
[Eee !,es farmer, Walpole and Fox as
bIun squires, and the younger Pitt as
private gentleman. The hawk-nOse and
piercing eyes of the elder Pitt did in
deed, indicate exceptional powers Our
great warriors certainly did not evince
their genius by their physical appear
ance. Marlborough had handsome
eourtier-like face; Nelson would not have
looked out OF place in a surplice, and
Wellington in a frock coat might have
passed for a country gentleman. The
same will hold good for the great men
or other nations. Bismarck, indeed has
a strong, determined countenance, but
there are hundreds of German faces that
might belong to genius equal to his.
The appearance Of Napoleon Bonaparte
was certainly remarkable. but some of
the younger Bonapartes have displayed
his Hneaments without his genius. The
portraits of Columbus, Calico William
the Silent, Dante and a host of other
leaders of men do not usually convey the
impression of extraordinary genius, and
the same remark will apply to the rep
reservations that have come down to us
of Alexander, Caesar, Socrates and other
ancients.
The fundamental principle of naviga-
ton and therefore the controlling elemen-
tary law of maritime strategy is the physi-
cal law of displacement-that a floating
vessel invariably weighs neither more nor
less than the quantity of water which it's
Review. 1t is a consequence of this law
that the weight of a ship of given size is
constant. Within certain limits a builder
may distribute the weight as he pleases.
He may assign so much to hull, so much
to engines of propulsion and the remainder
to cargo For q given speed the weight
of engines for ships of the same size will
be much the same. The builder therefore,
must choose between assigning weight to
hull or giving it to cargo. A very strong
hull means reduced carrying capacity,
great carrying capacity mems hull of
the lightest possible construction. To
these elementary conditions is due the diff
ference between a ship of war and a mer-
chant ship; the merchant ship must neces-
sarily be constructed to carry the greatest
weight of cargo possible consistent with
huh strong enough for navigation and with
propulsion sufficient for the speed required
in its business. The moment the hull is
unnecessarily strengthened the ship will
cease to be able to compete as a carrier
with other ships of the same size and
speed which, having lighter hulls, can
carry more cargo. A ship built with a hull