The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-10-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


only 81 trace their titles beyond the year
100.
The figure of Britannia upon the coins Of
Great Britain is said to have been copied
by order of Charles II, from a full length
portrait of Frances Theresa Stuart, Ouch
ess of LennOx, painted by LEY, and still
eXtant at Lexington Castle, East 10th
ian. Scotland.
The medieval bells now surviving are
comparatively few in number, says the
London Times. In Surrey, out of 1,O30
bells, only a trife over 2 per cent were
found to date before the year 1900. In
Lincolnshire the proportion was IT'S per
cent. In Norfolk about one bell in six
dates before the reign of Queen Elizabeth.
The monastery bells seem to have van
ished when the monasteries were sup
pressed. Some disappeared in private
hands; others were sold by the crown. The
augmentation rolls show that in Henry
Wits reign one lot of 100000 pounds of
bells and bell metal was sold for $500
with license to convey, utter and
SELL the same beyond seas. A very few
monastery bells still hang in stu. Forde
Abbey, in Dorset, still possesses one of
the old bells, cast by the Brasyers who
had foundry at Norwich about the fif-
tenth century, bearing their foundry
stamp and handsomely moulded invoca-
ton of St Margaret.
One of the features of the international
exposition to be opened at Turin, Italy
next year is to be medical department.
and among the subjects taken up by this
department is that of premature burials
Prominent physicians and laymen are at
present busily engaged in preparing an
exhaustive report, with exhibits, on the
subject of Apparent Death and Prema-
2aetc If 81, lit, Dc
are expected from all over the world.
There will be an International competi-
ton, and prize will be awarded for the
best work on the solution of this prob
lem, in which not only the medical pro-
fession, but every one, is interested The
committee above referred to realizes, 1t
is said that the first step to prevent these
horrible occurrences should be to obtain
modification of the laws relative to the
limited space of time allowed for bodies
to be kept before burial in some countries.
1t is pointed out that in the countries
where this time is greatest such occur
rences are rare.
A visit to a plate glass works, says
the Washington Star, reveals nothing per-
haps more interesting than the casting
tables on which the heavy plate glass used
in most store windows is cast THE
casting tables" said the superintendent
to a Star reporter recently, ARE the most
important pieces of apparatus in this es-
tablishment. Each table is about 20 feet
long, Is feet wide and from 7 to inches
thick. The heavy strips of iron on either
side of the tables afford a bearing for the
rollers and determine the thickness or dia-
meter of the glass to be cast. The rough
plate is commonly nine-s1xteenths of an
inch thick, but after polishing 1t is re-
duced to six or seVen-SiXteenths. All
casting tables are mounted on wheels
which run on a track made to reach ev-
cry furnace and annealing oven in the
factory. The table having been wheeled
as near as possible to the melting furnace,
a pot of moulten glass is lifted by means
of a crane, and its contents poured quickly
out on the table. A heavy iron roller
then passes from end to end spreading
the glass to a uniform thickness. This
rolling process has been completed the
door of the annealing oven is opened and
| the plate glass is introduced The floor
of the annealing oven is on the same
level as the wheels of the casting table,
so that the transfer can be made by rail
quickly. When the glass is ready TO be
taken out of the oven its surface Is very
rough. In this condition it is used, for
| skylghts and other purposes where
| strength Is desired rather than transpar-
ency. But when intended for windows 1t
| is ground, smoothed and polished, and is
then ready for the market"
How long does It take a man to think?
Prof. Richet, at the recent meeting of
the British Association, says the Cleve-
| land Plain Dealer, gave the results of his
investigations into this subject. He found
| that by mentally running up the notes of
| the musical scale for one or more oc-
taves, and then dividing the total time
by the total number of notes thought of,
| the time taken for each note was one
| eleventh of a second. There are various
| ways of arriving at conclusions as to the
amount of time necessary for realizing
| any physical sensation or mental impress
| sion. If the skin be touched repeatedly
| with light blows from a small hammer,
| person may, according to Prof Richet,
| distinguish the fact that the blows are
| separate and not continuous pressure when
! they follow one another as frequently as
1000 s. second. The smallest intervals of
! sound can be much better distinguished
| with one ear than with both. Thus the
| separateness of the clicks of a revolving
! toothed wheel was noted by one observer
| when they did not exceed sixty to the
| second, but, using both ears, he could not
| distinguish them when they occurred oft
| ener than fifteen times a second The
! sharp sound of the electric spark of an in
| duction coil was distinguished with one
| ear when the rate was as high as 400 to
| hearing in distinguishing differences. If
a disc half white and half black be re-
| volved it will appear gray when its revo-
| lutions exceed twenty-four per second
| It has been found that we can hear far
more rapidly than we can count, so that
| If a clock-cllcking movement runs faster
| than ten to the second we can count four
clicks, while with twenty to the second
we can only count two of them
1T is easy to make a bonfire, says the
London Daily News, and when once a good
start has been made it is easy to burn al
most anything, from tar barrels to Ouak-
ers; but it is not SO easy to build and
burn really good beacon fire as perhaps.
would be supposed by those who have
| never tried it. bonfire is not a bonfire
when it does not blaze well, and if YOU
want really effective and impressive
! fiare-up it is not difficult to keep together
! large quantities of materials A short life
and merry one should be the motto for a
! bonfire and the great desderatum is to
| burn the largest amount of material in
the smallest space of time. This is not
! generally very well understood. and the
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