The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

champs the horses were shod with alumni
mum. There are also several racing sui
kies made of aluminium. 1t is only a
short time ago that an Ohio firm built sew
eral duckboats of aluminium.
in the Colorado desert. says the Kan
sas City Star, they have transforms dur
ing which not single drop of water
touches the earth. The rain can be seen
falling from the clouds high above the
desert, but when the water reaches the
strata of hot, dry air beneath the clouds,
Il is entirely absorbed before falling half
the distance to the ground. 1t is a sin
gular sight TO witness a heavy down-pour
of rain not drop of which touches the
ground. These strange transforms occur
in regions where the shade temperature
often ranges as high as 128 degrees Fab
renheit.
Offenders of high rank at the Russian
court were punished in a singular way
by Peter the Great 1t was the duty of
everybody else at court to consider and
treat the delinquent as a fool. When
Anne. the daughter of Peters elder broth
er, Ivan, came to the throne she original
ed an even Queerer form of punishment.
She decreed that certain prince should
become hen, and for this purpose she
had made a large basket, stuffed with
straw, and followed into nest, with q
in conspicuous place in the queens pail
ace, and there, under pain of death, the
| unfortunate prince was obliged to set day
after day, initiating the cackling of the
fowl he was supposed to represent.
"A certain inventor, whose name is
identified more particularly with a scheme
! for improving the tramcar of to-day, has
| devised a means of doing away with the
| pneumatic tire, and still obtaining all the
| buoyancy that is desired, says a London
paper. A pneumatic tire cost something
| like ten times the money at which it will
| be possible to make the patent article
| that is to supercede it. The invention is
now being considered by one of the larg-
| est firms of cycle makers in the mid
| lands. The great drawback of cycling
as we know 1T, the puncturing of the tire
| will be removed if the patent is found to
| fulfill what is claimed for it; and cycling
| will, as a consequence, beyond all doubt
| become even more popular than it is now,
| if indeed that is possible.
-One of the most erroneous of the many
| queer ideas which the layman has on the
questions of natural history is the one re-
| speeding the elephants mode of sleeping
| says the St Louis Republic. Even the old
! school of naturalists declared that the ele-
! plant had never been known to sleep ex-
cept in a standing position. OF late, how
| ever say within the last century, it has
! been learned that the error came about
| by persons studying the habits of such
| beasts as had not been long in captivity
! Such animals, when under the process
| of domestication, have been known to
| stand for twelve, eighteen or even TWEEN
| ty-four hours without once lying down
| to sleep. This is regarded as a want of
| confidence in their keeper, coupled with
longing desire for liberty. While ele-
Ir,1,o &c i
to their fate they will lie down on their
sides and sleep as all other beasts do.
| When Napoleon died his friends asked
permission to remove the remains to Eu-
| rope that they might be buried on the
| banks of the Seine according to the wish
| he had often expressed. This privilege
| the British authorities refused to grant.
| Even Nine. Bertrand's entreaties to al
| low the heart to be taken home to France
were ignored. Strangely enough how
| ever, when the body was being embalmed
| the heart disappeared The basin In
| which it had been placed while the en-
| balminS process was going on was quite
| empty. OF course, it was at first though.
| that some one of the dead emperol's
| friends had stolen it. Search was made
| everywhere. Finally, someone noticed a
| trace of blood leading to rat-hole in a
corner of the room. There, stuffed tight
| man who had made all Europe tremble
| The rat had taken it from the basin. but
| could not get 1t through the opening lead
| ing to its nest.
-"Give me burn naval" demanded .
| sleek-looking gentleman, as he approached
the bar in the Bellevue yesterday after
noon, says the Philadelphia Rec
| ord The order was a strange one. and
number of men who were lounging about
| watched covertly to note the outcome
| The bartender however, seemed to be ia
mllar with the connection, and immedi-
| ately began operations. His first move
| was to select large California orange of
| the Washington naval variety Then taxi
ing sharp knife he made an incision in
the skin completely around the orange
| not disturbing the pulp. Dexterously turn
| ing the skin, which peels very easily. he
| Fashioned the bowl of a cup, and with the
| other end he formed the stand. Then
pouring a pony of brandy into the bowl
ne ADDED lump of sugar and then set
| t1re to it, During the burning process. the
! brandy absorbed the oil from the orange
| skin, and the drink was ready to serve
They say it has no equal as a bracer
The liquor trade seems to be in a fair
way of being revolutionized bv an inven-
ton of Prof. w. L. Woods of Washington
No process Of making chemically pure
whisky is now in common use. as the
| process is slow and most EXPENSIVE and
alcohol is double in cost to the cbeap
| grades of whisky But by this new pro
cess there will be no impure LIQUORS
and all, even the most common. can he
| made pure and almost harmless. totally
denuded of its chemical impurities and
poisons. This invention is small in Size
and can be made as compact as an orli-
nary battery, occupying about a square
foot of space. The impure whisky. which
is of an opal tint. is run into vat ana
between the poles of the battery in such
a way that it comes out as clear as wa
ter and perfectly free from any poison
or coloring. 1t is now pure. and can he
tinted any shade. Its use will not pro-
duce any of the ill-effects of alcoholic
poisoning, and, it can. by blending. he
made into any combination desired. In
a word, Prof Woods claims that he can
take new raw whisky, run il through his
machine for a few minutes and II viii
not only be chemically pure and free
from anything injurious, but that it will
have all of the finer qualities attributed
to liquors by the process of "ageing.'
Awarded