The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-08-26
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

-Ielegrapn wires VIII last Tor forty
years near the seashOre. In the manufac-
turing districts the same wires last only
ten years, and sometimes less.
When a glass IS as full as it possibly
can be OF liquor, the surface Of the liquid
is slightly convex, and the center lies
higher than the brlm- In view Of this
fact such a glassful is called a bumper.
because the liquor bumps up, or protrudes
in the middle.
There are earth tides as well as sea
tides. Prof. John Milne states that the
tall buildings upon the earth's surface
are being continually moved to and fro
Ike the masts of a ship upon the ocean.
In Germany and Japan tide-like move
ment too great 70 be produced by lunar
attraction has been observed. There are
also waves from distant earthquakes,
which are appreciate to the senses for
only a few hundred miles, but which may
extend around the world.
A German who has been living in
South Africa for long time has address
ed to one of his compatriots a letter in
which he gives the following as the origi-
nal cause of the Matabeles' revolt: The
young women in Mata beleland are seduc-
tive, handsome, well formed and very
agreeable. though somewhat proud and
wild. Many whites at Buluwayo, and
nearly all Europeans in the country
around. have taken some q these girls
for their wives. with the ready consent of
the latter. These girls insult the men of
their own race. calling them the dogs of
the white men," and they decline any
friendship with them. That contempt has
irritated the Matabeies against the Euro
peans and melted them to insurreetion.
Chickens are not generally supposed to
possess any great amount of intelligence.
says Philadelphia Record, but a Ken,
sington man tells a story which seems to
show that occasionally they are up to a
trick or two. Next to his house there IL
a vacant lot covered with a rank growth
Of weeds. These weeds bloom periodical
ly, bearing a yellow flower. At such times
the lot is crowded with fowl, which de-
YOUR the blooms greedily. One afternoon
a short time ago the Kensingtonian saw
two chickens enter the lot evidently look
ing for something to eat. There was
nothing in sight save a solitary blossom,
which had withstood the onslaught by rea-
sons of its hight. After a few vain at
tempts to reach it by jumping, the birds
desisted and appeared to hold a consul
tation Then the first, leaping up. caught
| a leaf on the stalk and pulled il down,
| thus bringing the flower within reach OF
| its comrade. The latter approached. ate
what it considered fair share and then
| relieved No. 1, which Immediately finished
the remainder of the blossom.
"A surgeon in one of the London hos
pitfalls is credited with having lately per
formed one of the most remarkable Oper-
atoms on record, says the New York
| Tribune. 1t seems that some months
! since a young man without nose asked
| the authorities at the Charing Cross hos
| pital whether they could obtain real
nose for him. To obige the applicant
! an amputated finger of another patient
| was grated on to his face, but it was
/ found that the amputation had caused
| the finger to die. The nOseless man, moth
| ing daunted, then agreed to the surgeons
| suggestion that one of his own (the pa
! TENTS fingers should be cut of to fur
| nish the nasal organ, but in order that
| the finger should not be wasted in the
! event of the operation being unsuccess-
| full the patients arm was encased in
| plaster, and for four weeks he had to hold
| his finger to his face in the hope of its
| taking root. This it did. The finger was
then taken off the hand and now remains
! fixed as q nose. It has been manipulated
so that it is no longer to be recognized as
a finger, and the process of shaping it is
! going on.
The American expedition to the an
cient mound at Nippur has made wonder
full discoveries, throwing a flood of light
upon the history of Babylon, says the
New York Suns London cable. The most
! astonishing of all is the unearthing of an
! cient inscriptions and other records which
| carry back written human history no less
! than 2,250 years further than anything be-
! fore known. Prof. Hilprecht who is in
/ nf ha
| University of Pennsylvania, has Just de-
/ ciphered cuneiform records upon tablets
| of Babylonian history dating back at
! least 1000 years before Christ. This is
| ESQ years earlier than any other record.
! he is confident that some tablets upon
which ne is now working date back still
| another thousand years, or about 10 900
| years earlier than the present dav. He
is not ready fully to commit himself vet
| on this point. These latest discoveries
! came about In an interesting way His
predecessor, DR.. Peters, worked down to
certain floor or platform which he and
| others had taken to be the ground level
Of the ancient city. One of the party suq.
| gested that this level should be penetrated
and the digging continued until rock or
| virgin soil should be reached The sug-
| gestion was adopted, and, to the delight
| of all concerned it was found that what
was supposed to be the level of
! Iue ancient city was ONLY tha
| level of comparatively modern civ
built over the ruins of an older one or a
| succession of older ones. The excavations
above the level had gone through tbirtv-
six feet of debris. They were now CON
unued to depth of thirty feet below. The
| excavations above the platform discovered
! remains which covered a period of 4 000
years of Babylonian history. Below +he
! platform to the virgin soil was an accum-
ulation of drains, preserved and broken
pottery and various other objects of in+ar-
est. Twenty-three feet below the plat
form PROT Haines came upon the most
ancient keystone arch known. an arcb
which. Prof. Hilprecht thinks, cannot he
later than 5000 B. c. Prof. Haines exca-
waited the lower part of the marvelIons
wall of the city. Its foundations vvaro
round TO be sixteen feet below the level
of the desert wall itself 1t is seventeen
feet high and forty-tive feet wide unon
the top. This wall stands upon another
of unknown hight. These walls were
built of brick twenty inches square. nroh-
ably the largest bricks ever used The
| most valuable finds were the inscrintione