The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Il. S. Bangs of Waterville. Me-, received
a postal card recently that was mailed
in London. Eng, by a friend, July s.
! Through some mistake of the postohice
authorities the card was put into the Aus
stralian mail, and the next postmark was
I that of Sydney, n. S. W., July %. 1t was
next stamped in the postoffice at San
/ Francisco, Aug. q, and arrived in Water
vile Sept. 5, having been on the road for
siXty-four days from London. Mr. Bangs
intends to remai1 the card to his friend in
London, and thus complete the circuit of
the globe.
THE steel umbrella Frame" says an
umbrella dealer, according to the New
| York Tribune, has almost superseded the
old wooden one, but it has one drawback.
/ If the owner Of such an umbrella should
i be carrying his steel frame in the vicinity
/ of an electric light or trolley wire and
/ should happen to touch the wire with the
/ steel point of the umbrella, he would re-
/ ceive the full force of whatever charge
the wire carried in his arm. have heard
/ of several deaths occurring from careless
/ ness in this respect lately. One need not
abandon his closely rolled umbrella on
/ this account, however All that is neces-
1 sary is to be careful where the point is
placed so that it does not come in contact
with any electrically charged body
/ Recent reports from Mount Vesuvius
say that its eruption is steadily increas-
ing in volume.T A broad stream is flow
ing down north Of the Atrio del Cavallo,
/ in the direction of the Fosso della We
/ trana, and the cone of ashes, with the
crater of Vesuvius proper in the center,
/ is Visiby growing The interior plateau
which stems The lava flow, appears at
night all on fire. According to the meas
L.. ,-rfrr ~
/ observatory the hight of the mountain
has increased by 100 meters since the
[ present eruption began, while the fiery
lake along the Atrio has attained a cir
/ cumferance of 800 meters, and the bulk
of the lava emitted is estimated at 400O,-
00O cubic meters. The magnificent spec
tacle attracts many sightseers.
The scientists, of France celebrated, on
Friday last the fiftieth anniversary of
the discovery of the planet Neptune by
Urban LIE Verrier and John Couch Ad-
ans. LIE Verrier decided by calculations
that there must be a planet of about the
mass and orbit of Neptune in order to
account for certain disturbances in the
orbits of other planets. He therefore
wrote to DR.. Gale, the astronomer of
the Berlin observatory, requesting him to
point his telescope to particular spot In
the sky, on an evening indicated, and, in
effect, said: You will see planet which
/ l have not seen, and which no human eye
has ever seen, but which, nevertheless,
must be on the spot, because my calcu-
latiuns have pointed out the necessity for
its existence" Dr. Gale did as directed,
and on Sept. is, 1876, Neptune was in view
and recognized as the outlying planet
which revolved around the sun. The Eng
lish astronomer, Adams, arrived at the
same conclusion at the same time.
Mr.. V. S. Posse, says The Waterbury,
constructed a queer-looking clock. which
has been attracting considerable atten-
ton in the show window of a bright
San lose. merchant. The only part of the
clock which is similar to any other time
piece is the works. The dial is an old,
worn-out baking pan which was pur-
chased thirty-fiye years ago by Mr.. Poz-
EOS father. After marking out dial with
the face of an old clock, Mr.. Pozzo OBJ
tanned native oyster shells, which he ar
ranged at the proper distances and paint
ed the different hours on them. After
placing the clock works on the pan he
used boards to keep out the dust. and the
clock was then ready for use, except that
hands had not been obtained. He got
an old fork and a knife for hands, the
knife being the minute hand and the fork
the hour hand. These were attached. and
the clock now keeps time as correctly as
the costliest timepiece in the land. Every
one who sees it admires its oddity.
A correspondent writes from Ashland,
Wis, about pack of wolves that gath
cred around his camp at night, says For
est and Stream. Magua, or Ernest, the
Indian guide was sleeping, when all Of a
sudden he leaped to his feet and began to
pile wood on the fire with a haste that
surprised the white man. When the
a ayaxz linz lv ltcrh
the wood, the Indian explained that wolves
were down in the swamp bowling The
white man wouldn't believe it, as he had
not heard anything. The Indian said
"You see, pretty quick" and tethered the
horses between the wagon and fire. Then
the wolves came within hearing of the
white man, sending chills up his back
with their long, undulating howl. The
horses shook the tree to which they had
been tethered with their violent trem-
bling. Then suddenly all was still. The
wolves some of which had come within
fifteen PAGES of the campfire, sneal1e d
away silently, bafied in their search fol-
horseflesh by the flames.
According to the Electrical World
one of the cheapest ground returns that
can be built for electric roads, may be
constructed of old rails. Flat rails are
the most convenient for the purpose and
may be rea Oily laid between the rails. 1t
is necessary, however, in order that the
rail thus laid shall materially reduce the
resistance of the return circuit, that 1t be
exceptionally well bonded, otherwise there
will be little gained One point may be
noted as being extremely favorable in this
class of bonding. The rail Is not subject
to continuous jar as in the case of rails
doing, at the same time, mechanical
service still the joints are subjected to
the gradual motion of expansion and con-
traction. The bond must, therefore, be
flexible, or it will gradually work lose.
If such a feeder were laid with its joints
staggering those of an active rail and
cross bonded thereto the failure of a
bond on either rail would be provided
for. BY drawing a sketch of the two rails
and the bonds, 1t will be seen that by
staggering the rails, each joint is bridged
by rail, the path having four bond
Joints. If the joints are opposite the
number of bond joints in this reserve
bridge is increased to six. The use of old
rails for this purpose would seem to be
very advisable, being both economical
and durable. The electric continuity of
the bond may be preserved from corro-
eioy, fxri r,,'noddfr1rr A. On 49,.