The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The Nord, Paris. publishes some ac-
counts of the Russian feet in the Black
Sea which prove it to be very formidable
There are seven line-of-b battle ships, rang
ing between 5000 and u, 900 TONS two arm
ored coast defense vessels, six armored
cruisers, three torpedo cruisers, twenty
three torpedo boats and eleven cruisers be-
longing to the volunteer fleet. The latter
are not armored. but carry six to fourteen
quick firing guns. Three of them can steam
20 knots an hour. 1t is not thought that
Turkey can prevent the egress of this pow
erful fleet.
No more romantic places exist than the
deserted cities of Italy. They are to found
all over the country but chiefly in the
marsh of Ancona and the old Grand Duchy
of Tuscany. In these you may see great
marble palaces, to which a bit of string
does duty as a bell-pull and if you enter
you find corner of some grand salon, Of
ten with ceiling by an illustrious artist,
screened off for the inhabitant to live in.
The inhabitant may be some Italian or
English lady, who has the smallest pos
sible independence, and she may get such
a palace, where some cardinal or mar
cheese formerly lived, for a very few
pounds year.
Some money. part of 100000 in Brazil
ian paper currency. lost in the wreck of
the steamer Buenos Ayres on the coast
of Brazil, between Pernambuco and Rio
Janeiro, six years ago, has just turned up
in fishing village north of Oporto in Por-
tugal. The British company that paid the
insurance recently received an anonymous
letter from Portugal, which they put in
the hands of the Portuguese police, who
have already recovered $500. The case
rAo tai mi hn uyn= toll l1x
Oporto fishermen, fishing on the Brazil
coast, who divided it among themselves
and said nothing. They avowed to give
part of it to the church and were betrayed
for not keeping their vow.
The Giants causeway, according to a
Dublin letter, is in imminent danger of
falling into the hands of a small limited
liability company of seven persons, mostly
lawyers and all related to one another,
who have obtained a lease of the ground
on which the causeway is situated. They
have proceeded to inclose it, and now
propose to levy a toll on all persons visit
ing it. They have even commenced pro
ceedings against three gentlemen who per-
sisted in walking over the causeway. Now,
as for many years scores of thousands of
people have annually visited this famous
spot without let or hindrapce, the con-
duct of this upstart company is little
peculiar and not a little annoying. A de-
tense association has been formed, and
every effort will be made to preserve the
causeway for the free and open enjoy
ment of the public.
A very curious old watch is in the
possession of the Russian imperial fam
lily, says the New York Advertiser. 1t
was made by one Jules Curzon, a Polish
mechanic, very many years ago, at the
] ~ rsr,,
heard great things of Curzon's ingenuity
thought proper to put it to the test. Sc
he forwarded to the mechanics address
| a box containing a few copper nails, some
wire, an old, cracked china cup, some
chips of wood, piece of broken glass and
| a few cribbage board pegs, desiring that
| if possible, they should be converted into
| a watch. Undismayed at the strange re-
! quest Curzon, Selling the opportunity Of
! fered him of gaining favor at court, sci
! to in right good earnest, and, after work
| ing steadily for eight hours, produced q
wonderful watch. The car was surprised
| and delighted, ordered the maker to ap'
pear before him, and granted him, not only
a pension, but a place at court. The case
of the wach was made of china, while the
works were composed of the odds and end'
which had accompanied the old cup.
not only kept good time, but only needed
winding every three or four days.
The Chinese believe that the plague is
a soil-bred or miasmatic disease, says The
Philadelphia Record. In proof that then
theory of it's cause is correct they allegC
that those animals are first attacked
whose breathing apparatus is nearest the
ground first rats, poultry, pigs, dogs
goats, sheep, cows. buffaloes and finally
man, who, being taller than any of these
| creatures, longest escapes infection. This
| theory cannot be seriously considered; bu
it is undoubtedly true that rats are es
pecially subject to the attack of tht
plague, carrying it from house to house
and dying from it in great numbers. 1
is a question about which there is dis
! pute whether the plague does not orig
| mate with rats. The better opinion i:
that it does not attack purely herbivorou'
animals like horses, oxen, sheep anC
goats Heat and cold seem to have IL
effect in superinducing or staying the raw
ages of plague. 1t is said that in the in
vestigations of the celebrated japanese
doctor, Kitasato, during the existence o
plague at Hong Kong, in 1894, where h
succeeded in discovering the distinctive
bacillus of the disease, he also found ba
cilli in the soil as we'll as in the bodie!
of victims, possessing like microscopic at
tributes, but not the same toxic properties
For long time buttons and other ar
tcles for which bone is generally use
have been made from CONCEALED blood
purchased by the button makers at thu
slaughter houses and treated with som
substance that hardens il to the suff1cieu
consistency. From the blood to milk, say
the Herald. is a long remove, but tn
ssame articles that are made from bloot
can be made from milk by a process in
vented by an Englishman named jane
Callander and soon to be introduced int
this country. The milk used is the skin
milk that is of little use for domesti
purposes and can be obtained very cheap
ly. 1t is the milk that remains afte
the cream has been skinned off. TIL
process of turning this liquid into but
tons. pool balls, combs, backs of hal
brushes and similar articles consists, frs;
of straining the milk through cloth, il
order TO remove every vestige of cream
and then mixing it with a substance TIL
ingredients of which are a secret of tn
inventor, and COMPRISING it. At the en
of three days the substance is as soil,
as celluloid and is ready to be cut an,
shaped in any way the manufacture
wishes. At present a factory in Hollau
is engaged in fashioning the hardened
milk into various articles buttons beinl