The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

- - SWAoo hO0 us over d iOnS-QlSlduSt
telephone system to any part of the coun-
try. The instruments are kept in perfect
repair, and the service is said to be ex>
cellent.
"A thought-weighing machine has been
invented by Prof. Mosso, an italian ply
siologist, the rush Of blood to the head
turning the scale. The machine is so del
lcale that 1t can measure the difference
in the exertion needed to read Greek from
that required for Latin
M. Moissan is reported to have discov-
cred substance which is harder than
the diamond, in the form of a compound
OF carbon and boron. 1t is produced by
heating boracic acid and carbon in an elec-
trio furnace at temperature of 5000 de-
grees. In appearance the composition Is
plack' and looks not unlike graphite.
The little children of China take very
kindly to the kindergarten, says the Gin
cinnati Enquirer, the two already estab-
hshed there by missionaries being highly
successful. The little folks of China
have such remarkably good memories
that the system established by Froebel
is even more like play to them than to
the young folks in other lands.
-Vegetarians tell US that the chemical
constituents Of mushrooms are identical
in every way with those of meat, and
that they possess the same amount of
nourishing properties. Many people, how
ever, ind them much more difficult to
digest, by reason of their excessive rich
ness, and we doubt whether sufficient
quantity of mushrooms could be eaten at
time to take the place of, say, for in
stance, good mutton chop.
1t is reported in the London Electrical
Engineer that Prof. Willard of the Ecole
Normale of Paris, has, after the unsuc-
cessufl attempts of many chemists, caused
the new element, argon, to enter into
combination with water. He found that
no pressure short of two hundred atmos-
pheres would coerce argon into combina-
ton with water. The compound result
ing is said to be colorless, and to crys-
tallize prettily when kept cool.
There are about 10000 students in Paris
and of the whole number not more than
400 French Protestants studying high
er branches. A number of the latter sus-
tain the Cercle Etudiants Professionals de
Paris, which has rooms in the Latin quar-
ter and carries on work not UNI
like that of our Young Mems Christian
Association. The Catholic students have
large society of 1850 members, whose
quarters occupy a large building, and
whose influence is very strong.
Mr.. H. C. Russell, scientific man of
New South Wales, announces as a result
of prolonged examination of history
from the earliest times that seasons of
drought recur with unfailing regularity
al intervals of nineteen years. OF POS
thoughts recorded since the year 800 all
form To J, s- =
is that there are every nineteen years one
long period of three years during which
the rainfall is somewhat deficient, and a
shorter period between each of the long
periods when the deficiency is excessive
He even finds a confirmation of the Bible
chronology in the fact that the dates of
the Egyptian drought in Joseph's time, the
drought during King David's reign, that
foretold by Elijah and that predicted by
Elisha all fall into the nineteen-year per-
Rod.
"A London paper has been giving many
instances of clergymen holding the same
living for over fifty years Most curious
of them is that of a clergyman named
Mathson, who died in 1891 at the age Of
80, after being minister of Patter-
dale, in Westmoreland, for sixty years.
For many years his benefce only brought
him f12 year. which was afterward in
creased to HS-the high-water amount.
With that unobservance of usual methods
general in out-of-the-way country dis
tr!cts, he himself read the burial service
over the body of his mother, married his
father to second wife, and in due course
buried him, published his own banns of
marriage in the church with a woman
he had formerly christened, and, though
he did not actually marry himself. he
did conduct ha ofo al Ii.
children.
The use of hollow shafting, instead of
solid, appears to be gaining in favor, the
principle. of course, not being new, but
mechanical difficulties presenting them
selves in certain applications For in
stance, pulley is sometimes fastened to
a shaft by means of a bit of metal called
key, wedged in between the two, a slight
recess or seat being cut in the shaft and
the inner surface of the wheel to receive
it; and thus, so long as the shaft is solid
the key can be driven inward without
special care. If, however, the shaft were
hollow, it might spring slightly under the
pressure, and it's shape be to that degree
distorted. But the fact is now coming
to be recognized that screw clamping bolts
running radially inward from the hub
of pulley, will grip the shaft as firmly
as a key-the latter being pronounced
needless by experts.
-Microscopical investigation is said TO
prove that the pores of wood invite the
passage of moisture in the direction of
the timber's growth, but repel it in the
opposite direction, and this is supposed to
account for the phenomenon which has
been so often noticed and which is 50
commonly mystery, namely, the fact
of two pieces of timber sawn from the
same section of tree, sometimes an
pearing to possess very variable degrees
of durability. 1t is found that If the
wood, say, of a gate post, is placed right
end up the moisture of the soil will effect
1t, but the rain falling on the ton will do
little harm; il. on the other hand the
butt end of tree is placed uppermost the
top of the post win decay, because tbe
moisture of the atmosphere win nene-
trate the pores of the wood more ranidIv
in such position. The fact, so famiIiaS
that the slaves of a wooden tub apnear
to absorb moisture irregularly-some got
ting quite sodden while others are com
paratively dry and seemingly almost i'm.
pervious to moisture-is because the DRY,
slaves are in position as the tree grey,'
but the saturated ones are reversed