The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-10-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

now owns both the jeff Davis and Abra-
nam Lincoln cottages, and will remove
them to Nashville for exhibition al the
centennial next year. They are noted struc-
lures and VIII attract wide attention.
While talking to some friends at
Wilkesbarre, Penn, Patrick Healey was
stricken deaf and dumb. He wrote on
piece of paper: do not be alarmed. This
VIII pass off in three days. l know what ii
is. I've had it before" Ii seems that Hea-
iey when in Ireland ten years ago, was
thrown from horse. AS a result of inju
rles received he was deaf and dumb for
three days. Every four years since he has
had similar attack, lasting in each in
stance three days.
"A street railway company at Grand
Rapids, Mich, having occasion to recon
struct a large portion of its track, found
1t necessary to cut off certain lengths of
the old rails, and this has been done in
novel manner. An old car motor was
rugged up on truck and geared to saw.
This truck was then attached to a car
and drawn to the point where the work
was to be done, and there set at work
BY means of this com bination 66-pound
girder rails were sawed through, at the
rate of one cut a minute. thereby effect
in considerable saving in the item of
labor.
Physicists have investigated the wave
length of the Roentgen ray, both in this
country and abroad. Prof Rowland, of
Johns Hopkins University, a short time
ago published some researches in this di-
rection, and now European investigators
have taken up the problem. Measurements
based on the attraction of the rays
through a narrow Slit in a brass plate
gave. by means of the formula employed in
such determinations, a wave length of
about 000014 millimetres, which is about
fifteen times smaller than the smallest
wave length hitherto observed in the ultra
violet. This is thought to be the upper line
rather than the exact measurement of the
wave length.
The most isolated spot in the British
empire is Tristan da Cunha. a volcanic is
land 1,75O mis- from the Cape of Good
Hope and 300 away from St. Helena, the
nearest point of land. While Napoleon was
a prisoner on St. Helena, the British gov
eminent maintained a garrison on Iris
tan. His death made the garrison unne-
cessary, and the soldiers left, with the eX-
ception of Corporal William Glass, his
family and two prlvates. The prlvates mar
ried Glass daughters, and, according to
the last reports brought by the Australian
ship hartford, the present population of
"a people consists mainly of women. 1t is
said that in 1887 the greater part of the
male population secretly sailed away one
night in the only boat and were never
heard of again.
The proposed new departure in the
propulsion of tugs by electrity on the
River Spree, at Berlin, is assuming prac-
teal shape. The scheme is to establish a
service of the tugs on the ~ miles of the
river which pass through the capital by
connecting the boats to a trolley line. The
present freight charge for covering the
distance is $3.50, but it is estimated that
by the aid of electricity this charge will
be reduced about one-half. The success
of such a scheme would be quickly re-
flected in this country, where the use of
electric launches for both pleasure and
commercial purposes has been retarded
from the fact of the scarcity of charg-
ing stations for the renewal of the nee
essary storage batteries. AS soon as peo-
pie begin to find that they can be fairly
sure of being able to recharge their bat
teries whenever they are in the neighbor-
hood of trolley line, an eXtraordina-
ry impetus will be given to the summer
business in electric launches.
An Indian mummy has been found in
Arizona, near Prescott, that is believed to
have once been one of the great men of
the Aztecs, says the New York Journal.
1t was found by John F. Blundy, who COM
municated the facts to George F. Kunz
the New York diamond expert. Be
side the mummy was basket filled with
half peck of torquoises. With the AZ
tees green was a sacred stone, and wealth
was gagged generally by the number of
green stones the person owned. Every
mans treasure those days was buried with
his bones, and neglect to do this was re-
garded as highly sacreligious. For the
nourishment of the deuarted soul few
ears of corn were added. The turquoises
Mr.. Blundy found were In the form of
beads. These the Aztecs firmly believed
saved the wearer from fevers serpents'
bites and diseases. The mummy is a sim
gular speciment, altogether unlike the
Egyptian variety. The skin is dried firm
ly over the bones giving 1t a withered ap-
pearance. This is due to the rare air in
Arizona, which dries, but seldom has the
decomposing effect of our atmosphere.
=" 'Gad's Hill was a merry house."
writes Stephen Fiske fondly recalling in
cidents Of his visits to Charles Dickens.
in an article in the Ladies' Home Journal.
telling of the personal side of the novelist
Dickens was a well-spring Of mirth, and
his humor affected the whole party Often
when l came down to London, he would
Shout with laughter over the fun we al
ways had had and were going to have
When everything else failed the library
was an amending amusement The room
was lined with books from floor to cell
ing. even the backs of the doors being
bookcases; but, the books on the doors
and along the floor were bogus. Dummy
backs had been lettered with titles and
pasted on the glass, and the titles had
been selected by such wits as Dickens
Yates, the Collins brothers, Albert Smith
and Mark Lemon of Punch We used to
sit on the floor to study this mock librarv
and roll over with delight at some clever
satire. 1 remember The Virtues of orr
Ancestors volume so thin that the title
had to be printed lengthwise. Five Min
utes IN India, by British Tourist in two
volumes as large as. an unabridged die.
uonary; Eggs on Bacon to match Coke
on Littleton'; Statues Erected to the TrIke
of wellington fifteen portly volumes
and there were dozens Of other quips and
cranks. A catalogue of these books should
have been preserved but nobody thought
or writing 1t out, nobody realized that
Dickens would ever die"