The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-07-19
~ NkEsT.

! curious history, says Peansf -r--7-,..
I Many years ago, as Bismarck y N 49,,
| IN the suburbs OF FriedrichTuh - - |
/ two hounds. he was accosted n IN -
/ mian peddler and asked 10 buzz D2nnS
I meerchaum pipe Of the type that J p. -e.i-
] most affected. AT first BismarcE 90 1
l ed, but the peddler claimed for tho -
\ power OF forecast, and told him hett5
] serve three emperOrs as minister. antI
/ three important changes in mis- life -
I De toretOld by accidents Detailing the y
/ Laughing, Bismarck bought the pipe. 7.
/ has since served three emperOrs. II
/ days before the historic moment when IN
| was refused an audience the stem Of h4
| pipe separated and came 10 pieces. Lax
/ ter he Clipped piece from the side OF the
bowl and within month he was practi-
/ cally dismissed by the present emperor.
/ The third sign has yet to come.
The eupey, or. as it is sacasticalIy call
ed in the English possessions, 1.-THE attor-
| ney,' says Tit-Bits. IS one Of the most
| curious as 1t is certainly the most pictur-
esque denizen Of the virgin forests Of
| the West Indian islands. 1t belongs to
/ the parastical family Of trees or plants.
| but, terrible to relate, it invariably with
| the basest ingratitude destroys all life
/ IN the unfortunate tree that Cherishes il
| on the wings of the wind, and deposited
| on the branches of other trees, when they
| burst into roots, which are dropped to-
| ward the ground all round the nurse"
| tree. In times these roots reach the
| ground and strike into the soil. From this
| moment the roots grow stronger and
! stronger until they resemble lot Of rope
| ladders thrown over the tree. Next the
| parasite sends down a great cord, which
| twines round the trunk of the supporting
| tree, at first as though in loving embrace,
| but It grows tighter and tighter, eventual
| ly strangling its benefactor out of exist
| ence. The nurse" tree thus killed rots
| to decay, and from the immense fibrOus
| roots OF the destroyer now springs a great
/ rfe ,. fr4~., IL,
| the cupey is full grown 1t presents a mag
! nlncent spectacle, for the cord-like roots
rise often 10 fifty or sixty feet, and sup
port in midair the vast tree itself.
Two centuries ago, says the ST. Louis
! Globe-Democrat, the Dutch destroyed
| every nutmeg tree in the Moluccas, in or
| der to enjoy a monopoly of the business
| having planted the trees in their own
| possessions. In spite of their most earn
! est efforts, however, the islands were be-
| ing constantly restocked. For a long time
| the thlng was a mystery, but at length
| II was solved. The doves of that quar-
| ter of the world are Of large size and
| readily swallow the seed of the nutmeg,
with the fruit of which they traverse wide
| stretches OF sea and land in a few hours,
| and deposit the seeds of the nutmeg not
| only unin1ured, but better fitted for ger
| mlnation by the heat and moisture of the
| BIRDS system. By a similar process thou
sands of acres of land have been covered
| with trees of different kinds, the birds
| acting as natures agents in the dissem-
nation of plants. But in quite another
manner do they transport seeds from
| place to place. Darwin found in six grains
| of earth adhering to the feet of plover
| three different kinds of seeds, and in mud
| sticking to the feet of ducks and geese
| shot in England he found the seeds of
| plants peculiar to the Victoria Nyanza
| in Central Africa, thus proving not only
the extent of migration, but also the pos
| slDlllty OF plants appearing in strange To-
| callties through the agency of these birds
In the mud sticking to the feet of Texas
steer the seeds Of five different kinds of
| weeds ana grasses common in Texas were
found by microscopic after the arrival
of the animal in New York.
"A couple of months ago a correspond
ent in Nature drew attention to what ap-
| peared to be a case of hybernation by a
| butterhy-a tortoiseshell butterfly fully
| developed, having been found in his bath
| room with every appearance of having
| wintered there. With reference to this,
| Mr.. w. Tyson, writing from Cape Town
| 10 the same paper, says that the hyberna-
| ton of butterflies is of well-established oc-
eurrence in at least certain portions of
| south Africa, where one species in partic-
| ular-Precis sesamus-assemble in num-
| bers at the end of the season for the pur-
| pose. This very distinct dingy blue and
red insect is plentifully distributed in East
| Griqualand and Natal, especially affecting
| the road-cuttings between Ixopo and the
| lngeli-Zuurberg mountain chains where
| II hybernates regularly. Col Bowker an
| enthusiastic South African lepidopterist
has seen them congregated under rocks
and in holes of dry banks as many as 20
| being captured in a group by placing a
| net over them. Mr.. Tyson, while on a bo-
| tan1cal ramble in the Lower Umzimkulu
district in East Griqualand, unexpectedly
flushed at least so of these butterflies in
| the cold frosty season of July. Upon a lit
tie searching among the scrub and bush,
as many again. if not more were found
| These he reused out with branchlets, some
| being more torpid than others; but as he
retired from the spot, they all fitted back
| to their trysting-place. This was at the Sc
| verest time of the season; and Mr.. Tyson
has never doubted, after having observed
the massing of this butterfly during the
winter, that 1t emerged safe and strong in
the ensuing spring.
Often when we desire to make a neat
little comparison, and consider the ex-
preston with the speed Of the wind" a
little tame, We highten the effect by de-
claring that it went" like RTey's ghost
with the speed of light" Although that
| expression is often used, there Is proba-
ply not man or woman alive that has
the taintest conception of what the speed
| OF llght really is. Let us see: Light trav-
| els $4,000 miles a second! Isn't that rath-
| er peWlldering to start on? asks the ST.
| Louis Republic. Can your keen nereen-
tive faculties and your unclouded imagj-
| nation grasp a faint conception of such
! tremendous speed? Comparisons are"
| well we VIII not mention it only to say
that they are quite useful sometimes
when plain facts and figures stagger our
understandings. Let US make a little
| comparison anyway: The average speed
of the express trains on the best roads is
only forty miles an hour. Think of IL
| only forty miles an hour whereas light
| cleaYes atmosphere and space with a
speed of $4,000 miles a second! A beam Of
| hgnt can hit from the sun to the earth
ana from the earth back to the sun again
| IN sixteen minutes, a space of time which
the express train would have occupied in
| crossing a single Missouri township II
the train could make the trip to the SIM
and return, how long do you suppose r.
| would take 1t? Don't figure on it. but
make a rough guess. Could it start now
and get back in time for the CoIunbian
exposition and worlds fair in ST. T,onis
in 1892? Hardly. In round numbers n
| would take such a train-a first class I'm
tied express-52O years to make the trin
without stopping at way stations or r.
| take on coal and water. Verify. It is nIain
that when thing travels with the sneeJ
of light 1t is humping along at a nro+tC