The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


reign of the by no means popular King
Leopold has been remarkable In the
mining and Industrial belt of which Liege
is the center the values of plant and out
put has been quadrupled since he assembled
the throne, while the commerce and trade
of the great seaport of Antwerp have aug
mented more than tenfold. And this is
said to be directly due to the personal
efforts of the farsighted Belgian monarch.
"A man of genteeI breeding and intel
lectual force told the Boston Journal the
other day that he wears, sewed to his un-
dershirt, card with this inscription: my
appendix has been cut out" And he gave
this reason for his action: 'You see. these
are the palmy knitting days of the surgeon
If a man falls in a fit or faints, or is dis
guised mentally by a drug, and is carried
consequently to hospital, the surgeon OPP
crates on him for appendicitis without de-
day"
-Polyandry, the species of polygamy in
which the wife has more husbands than
one, exists in Thibet, interior of Ceylon,
among the Todas and Nairs of Southern
India, the Iroquois Indians and the aborigi-
nal TasmanianS. In Thibet polyandry has
the popularity that the husbands are all
brothers. or, at least, very nearly related,
so that the woman becomes the wife of
the whole family. 1t has been suggested
that the system arose in a state of society
where men were forced to be away from
home for long periods, and where the duty
of protecting the family would fall on the
brothers in turn.
Owing to the inclination of the war de-
partment to make use of the bicycle in
the army. a number of machines have
been invented for that purpose, the latest
being that brought out by a Pittsburg
man. The top tube of the frame of this
bicycle acts both as a member of the
frame and as a gun barrel The tube is
provided with a cartridge delivery open
ing on the side and suitable spring me-
chanism for quickly expelling. A KNAPP
sack or baggage carrier is also provided
for, and is swung from the top tube. SO
as not to interfere with the movements
of the rider. Brackets and grooves are SCI
cured to the frame for holding guns and
pistols.
In the western part of England there
are situated many places that go by the
name of gallows-traps. They are always
lonely spots in the fields and are doubt
less remembrances of the old pagan days
when it was the custom to sacrifice human
beings to the gods. The gallows-traps
were set for the runaway child or strang-
er that might happen to stray that way.
1t was accepted as an omen justifying the
sacrifice, that the victim had been drawn
thither as the will of the deity. They owe
their origin to the fact that it sometimes
became difficult to supply subjects for the
sacrifice and an arrangement such as this
rendered the selection of victims easier
for those who had the business in charge.
There is amonkey in the Bellevue ZOO
logical gardens of Manchester, England,
that rides a bicycle, plays a violin and
bugle, though he does not extract much
music; sits at a table to eat, uses soap
and towel when making his toilet, and
shaves himself. When riding his wheel
he rings the bell almost constantly. not
so much to alarm pedestrians as because
he enjoys the sound. He smokes cigars
and cigarettes and eagerly picks up a
stump when he finds it. He is afraid of
the fire, and will not hold a match or
lighted paper to light a pipe or cigar, but
scratches match and hands it to his
trainer. He has learned to box, and in a
fight with another monkey used his fists
like a pugilist.
The Hartford electric lighting com
pany. says the New York Sun, is said to
have the largest storage battery in the
world. This consists of 100 cells capable
of giving out a current of 10000 am
Company has also become a great user of
these cells In it's larger stations outside
of New York it began putting in storage
cells about two and one-half years ago
and it is said now to have 90 900 of them in
use. These have supplanted 10000 of the
old chemical gravity cells, in which the
current was produced by using zinc plates
and blue vitriol. The cost is said to be Is
cents year for each of the new cells.
against Sis a year for each of the old
ones. The company has such plants in
Washington and Atlanta and a new one
has just been added at New Orleans in
which Sol of the new cells are used. MANY
Pullman cars are lighted from stora se
cells, and the coaches of the Intercolonial
railway of Canada are similarly s1lnnlied
TO judge from the report of the Paris
mint, says the New York Tribune. this is
an age of medals, and a large proportion
of the worlds medals are made in Paris.
At the beginning of the century the value
of the medals turned out from the Paris
mints was only 100000 francs. or about
$4,000. Last year this amount had been
increased more than five times, and this
year over 100000 francs worth of medals
nave already appeared OF last wears
product, the largest number. as well as
the greatest value, were the silver ones.
of which there were 1870, while there
were only S,452 of the aristocratic gold
ones, a disproportion that should fiji tba
followers of Bryan with joy. To be sure.
their value was half that of their more
numerous rivals, but then, so many more
people were made happy by the latter.
rms increase in the circulation of medals
Is due in the main to the immense in
crease or late years in international and
local expositions. With worlds fair al
most every summer, and with side shows
all the year round, it is no wonder that
the minters in Paris are kept busy. When
the climax is reached at the end of the
century with the exposition in Paris her
SELL there Will probably be bear move
ment in the medal market.
Most people wonder how knowledge
of things in the Arctic region can benefit
science; they think, perhaps, that it is
foolish to incur hardship aud danger as
the explorers do. Here is what a writer
in the Popular Science Monthly saws. To
ascertain with greater precision the shane
size and density of the earth. the astron,
omers base of measures, and thus rem