The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

spective commonwealth: Alabama Ne
braska and oregon. the golden rod Cor
oradO. the cOlunbine; Delaware the peach
blossom. Idaho. the syringas Iowa ana
New York the rose. Maine. the pine
cone and tassel; Minnesota, the cy-ripO-
dium or moccasin flower. Montana, the
bitter root North Dakota the wild rose
Utah. the lego lily. and Vermont, the
red clover In addition. Rhode Island
and Wisconsin have adopted state tree,
the maple having been selected BY both
-Outerbridge's dictun that cast-iron.
instead OF being weakened OF made brittle
by vibration IS actually tOughened and
strengthened by this treatment, Is stated
in the following emphatic terms. according
10 Engineering Mechanics: The result
Of about loo tests Of bars OF cast-irOn OF
all grades from the sOftest foundry mix
lures TO the strongest car-Wheel metal,
enables me to state with confidence that,
within certain limits, casr-iron IS ma
ter;aIiy strengthened by subsection 10
shocks or repeated blows" The scientific
and practical value Of this discovery, for
such IL is, is very great and is likely 10
affect the use Of castrir0n materlally BY
relieving this metal OF some Of the dis
trust with which 1t is now viewed, and
justly so, on account OF the uncertainty
Of whether the shrinkage stresses will
cause failure or not.
Divorce had been. and is still. sub
ject of grave discussion From a medi-
cal standpoint Of view. Is it responsible
for the ills that are attributed TO il? asks
the New York Herald. Is IL really a cause
of suicide and mania? Some have claim
ed that II is, and statistics appear 10
bear out their opinion. Thus, in Prussia,
per 100000 Of Women-single, married,
marriageable and divorced-there are 81,
81, l24 and 3iS suicides, and for an equal
number Of men in the same conditions,
2S6, 29S, 9iS. 2,S34. This makes FIVE times
as many suicides among divorced wo-
men and ten times the number among
men. As regards mania, in Bavaria, for
the same number Of women of the sans
categories, there are So, 100, 1885, 6SS cases.
and for men 80, 1l3, 119. $50; that is to say,
that mania, commoner in women. is ten
times as frequent among the divorced
Of both sexes. In Wurtemburg the pro-
portions are higher still, and from these
figures IL is easy 10 understand that di-
vorce has many irreconcilable enemies.
Unlike the Emperor of Germany, the
young car persists in refusing to accept
the epaulettes of general, and continues
to content himself with the rank of colo
mel, which he held at the time of his
accession to the throne. There are two
reasons for his adopting this course. In
the first place, Peter the Great remained
colonel TO the end of his days, although
he. was certainly the most celebrated and
powerful of all Russian emperors, and
secondly the acceptance by the car Of
the rank of general would entail the re-
moval Of his name from the list of or
derby officers of his dearly loved father.
as the chief of whose aides-de-camp he
still figures on the roster of the Muscovite
army. Nicholas, moreover, is clever
enough to realize that the epaulettes of
field officer cannot add one fota to his
power and prestige as car and as auto
crat OF all the Russias, whereas his display
OF simplicity and of hlial regard for his
dead father and for the feelings Of his
bereaved mother, is calculated to win for
him much sympathy and good will at
home as well is abroad.
-Heraldry is obsolete and so is astrol-
ogy. says the Hartford Times. Astrology
once permeated all sciences, all religion
and all politics. To-day II is little more
than a means of extracting money from
the simple. Although a few still adhere
TO the superstitious belief in the sup
posed influence of the motion of the
heavenly bodies on human and terrestrial
AFFAIRS, the science is dead. The decline
from its former position of credit and
power began in the sixteenth century
It succumbed to Swift's famous squid-
the death blow of astrology in England.
But though the science is dead IL lives
in the language fact which testifes
to the once-whispered belief that existed
We still speak of men as "tovial" or
saturnine,' or "mercurial" in tempera-
ment-an unconscious survival of n time
when the planet under which a man
was born permanently influenced his life
The words disastrous" 'ill-starred" and
"ascendency," as well as such phrases
as born under a lucky star" point in
the same direction. Long after astrologv
ceased to be a belief II retained its power
over the Imagination.
DIR. Jeserich, the inventor of criminal
photography" lately gave some remarka-
bic instances of the detection of crime by
means Of the camera, in a lecture deliver
ed at the military academy, saws an ex-
cnange: A woman had been murdered in
upper Sllesia; her husband and a mate of
MS were suspected. Each denounced the
otner as the perpetrator of the deed The
question was: WHO was the actual MIR
derer?' Hairs had been found on the
ciothes OF poth prisoners. DR.. Jeserich
photographed them under powerful lens.
when It was found that the hair on the
husband's clothes came from the head of
the poor woman While that found on the
other prisoner had dropped from his own
mead. Photography has proved highly sue
cesstul as means of detecting the falsi-
ncation of documents by showing the min
utest differences in the color of the ink the
character OF the handwriting and the stvle
of pen used in the forgery as comnared
with the original. We may instance the
case OF torger, respectfully connected
VINO altered the figures on a check from
$i'zOU 10 5000. His first intention was
merely to prefix the figure 2. After he had
done so, however, he saw that he had left
too large space.
Two years ago the corporation of the
city Of Glasgow, Scotland, took into its
own hands the street railroads. The ex-
pertinent at the time was assailed on all
hands by the 'Canny Scots" and predic-
lions as to the failure We're as plentiful
as the heather upon their own mountains
Ihe success of the first years working
by the municipality, after large reduce
lions in the rates for passengers. opened
their eyes to the fact that the scheme
was panning out. The second years work
ing, of which statistics are lust now to
hand. shows a further Improvement in
the profits. which will. go towards reduc-
ing the general taxation of the citizens
The net profit for the year ending the
Slst of May last was $3.50 (S417.745). or
an increase over the previous wear Of
tol, $50 400. During the twelve
months the cars carried SC, 462. 5s4 passene
gers, rs against 57104.647 for the wear
1SS4-95. The success which Glasgow has
made in being watched with interest Nv
many of the corporations of the larger
towns througout Great Britain, and man,
are already reaching forward in the sans
direction. The gas and water works are
already owned by most of the municinaii-
ties, and the profits go towards the redI,c-
ton of the taxes.
5 -sfaA