The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

There are, on the average, nine times
as many deaths from typhoid fever in the
large cities of the United States as in the
many German cities that have secured a
purified water supply.
-Mightiest of guns ever built in Amer
lea, and one of the largest yet constructed
anywhere, is the 16-inch engine of war
on which work is now being pushed at the
Watervliet arsenal 1t will be 49.67 feet
long, weigh lbs tons, have a range of six
teen miles, and will penetrate 271s inches
OF the best steel armor at two miles.
Mounted at Fort Wadsworth, in case of
hostilities with Spain, this gun would be
able to hurl 2,S70-pound projectile at a
man-of-war before she got within seven
miles of Sandy Hook.
As leap year is now in it's departing
month, says the New York Tribune, it
may not be amiss to give a precise def
milton on old authority of its privileges
for the behoof of those who have waited
till this late hour to exercise them. A
book published in London, 1906, entitled
Love, Courtship and Matrimonie,' thus
formulates them: Albeit it has now be-
come part of the common lave in re-
garde to social relations of life that as
often as every bissextile year dOthe return
the ladye's have the sole privilege during
the time it continueth of making love unto
the men which they doe either by wordes
or lookes as to them it seemeth proper
and moreover no man will be entitled to
the benefit of clergy who doeth in any
way treate her proposal with slight or
contumely"
When life insurance was first intro
duced, says Views, some persons looked
upon it as a violation of divine law, which
prohibited any proposition to make COM
pensation for passing away to eternal
rest, in defiance of the will and act of the
Supreme Being. 1t was thought to raise
the presumption that the policy writer
could control life as he did personalities,
and the impression existed that a contract
was to be entered into to buy them life
for a monetary consideration. This su-
perStition yet exists among some people.
illustrated as follows: An aged colored
pastor once consulted an insurance agent
about obtaining a policy upon his life. He
made inquiry if there was not some other
way by which he could secure an inheri-
lance for his family, for he said, as God
had given him his life he had come to the
conclusion that it would be a violation of
religion to entrust it to corporation that
had no soul, and it seemed like tempting
Providence to enter into contract with a
corporation on mere speculation. Posi-
bly, this pious man was under the impress
sion that he was on a straight transit
route to heaven and possessed means to
enter its gates, which might be prevented
| by an impious act such as he declared
would be the acceptance of policy on his
| life written by human hands. He did not
| place any respect on the indemnity prom
ised whether it was to be in gold or silver
| 16 to /, but said that he was confident that
| his reward in future life could not be
| granted by any man or association. 1t is
| not intended to be understood that such
thesis is now prevalent in civilized com
munities, for those who neglect to make
provision for those dependent on them af-
| ter passing away commit as great a sin
as the pious minister apprehended he
would have been guilty of had he accept
ed policy on mis- life.
Writing of the Stentzel flying ma
chine, the Scientific American says: The
principle in this machine is similar to that
embodied in the more recent machines OF
| the late Otto Lilienthal Stentzells ma
chine is the imitation of a bird; the wings
| have a spread of about seven yards, AID
| their surface is eight and two-hfths
square yards. They move through an an
| gle of seventy degrees, and are curved
| according to a parabola in the proportion
| of / to II. The machine weighs seventy
| five pounds, and is driven by an engine
4
| the motive agent. With pressure of five
atmospheres one horse power is obtained.
| The speed can be readily controlled so
| that the machine will fly at varying We
| locities In order to guide the apparatus
| in it's fight, so that it might not be dam
| aged by collisions, the inventor suspended
| it in a safety cable. With one horse power
| applied the machine will travel forward
/ ten feet for each flap of the wings, and at
/ one and one-half horse power a free flight
| is obtained, 50 that none of it's weight is
| supported by the cable and the number of
| flappings is increased to 1.3 per second.
| Each Tapping drives the machine forward
| thirteen feet. The elasticity of the wings
| is quite remarkable, and the inventor at
| tributes his success largely to this feat
/ ure. The mainstay of each wing is made
| of weldless steel tubing, the ten ribs"
| are of bamboo, and the covering a pecu-
| liar kind of rubber cloth. The results
| have been so encouraging that a larger
/ machine, weighing IT'S to 225 pounds, is TO
| be constructed, which will be capable of
| carrying a person. A four and one-half
| horse power motor will be used. Stentzel
| believes that mans muscular power
| which does not exceed one-fourth horse
| power, will never be sufficient to lift u
weight of $50 pounds for any considerable
| time. The inventors future experiments
will be watched with great interest by
scientists.
The curious movements of jumping
beans have lately attracted some atten-
ton, though to style the spasmodic jerks
of the beans jumps is to court disappoint-
ment. Some jumping cocoons," described
by DR.. d. Sharp in the Entomologist, were.
| however remarkably good athletes. for
| they could spring out of a small vessel.
such as a tumbler, in which they we're
| placed. These cocoons were from South
Africa, but in spite of their exceptional
gymnastic efficiency, DR.. Sharp hardened
| his heart and sacrificed them upon the
altar Of science, in the hope of discovering
something unusual'that would explain the
powers of jumping. The cocoons looked
like piece of oval pottery, about five
miIimeters long. and having a rough sur
face. In each of the two investigated a
pupa was found; the two were similar in
eycry respect, and they no doubt belong
ed to the larvae that made the cocoons.
This little pupa," says DR.. Sharpe. sis
| smut up In remarkably hard, thick CO.
coon, and 1t has to get out Nature has
| provided wit