The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

] perry district employ about S,UJO persons.
/ From two to three million carats are turn
/ ed out each year, and up to 1892 ten tons
/ of diamonds, valued at $500, 600, Co., rad
come from these mines. In 1895 there
/ were found 2,435,5H carats of diamonds,
| realizing $l5.000,000, al an expenditure Of
/ S,5OO,O00- The largest known diamond,
/ weighing SO carats, was found at the
| Jagersfontein mine, and is now being cut
| at Amsterdam. These mines are capable
| of yielding a much greater output, but
| they are limited in order to maintain
prices.
| AT a recent meeting of the Royal So
ciety of Marlborough, Lord Kelvin read
a communication on THE Electrification
| of Air by Roentgen Rays" the outcome,
| he said, of some experiments which had
| occupied his attention for some months.
| The primary object of these investiga-
| TONS of theoretical value only was TO
| ascertain the action of Roentgen rays upon
electrified air; that is, to see whether the
! rays had any electrifying effect on air
| In every case the experiments showed
! that air which had not been previously
| electrified was negatively electrified, and
/ air that was positively electrified having
! been submitted to the action of x-rays
was found to be either not electrified a. ali
| or slightly negatively electrified. Thus it
will be seen that rays have a decided cleo
| trifying action, positively electrified air
! losing it's positive charge and sometimes
acquiring instead negative charge.
The Johnstown Telephone Company
! has all-night service at it's central office,
and, according to the Johnstown Tribune,
! has established in connection Herewith a
| unique method of helping out those of its
| subscribers who do not care to trust
| themselves to get up a a certain desired
! hour without some outside assistance. 1t
| is a call system, something on the style
! of that in vogue at the hotels The sub
scriber who wishes to wake at a certain
! hour calls up central and tells the oper-
| ator, who makes a note on, t." When
| the set hour arrives the operator rings
| up the subscriber who made the request.
If he turns over and fondly imagines it's
only an alarm clock he is badly fooled,
as the telephone bell will keep jinglng
until an answer is turned in to central,
| giving assurance that the sleeper is
awake In the same manner If physi-
! clan is called for and cannot be reached.
! if requested he will be notified of the call
as soon as he can be reached, and told
! whence it came.
! Considering the great claims of prog
ress made in all fields by the Japanese,
it is interesting to note the curious way
! in which the japanese crown prince and
| heir apparent takes his writing lessons.
! The young prince is surrounded by num-
Der of pretty little girls. who are always
| about to wait on him, every one of them
| being entrusted with a certain duty. Thus
| one girl prepares the india ink for the
| prince, another fixes up the bamboo pens,
! which are used to draw the heavy and
| picturesque Japanese characters; as soon
as the writing teacher enters the room
| several of the little 'Musmes" rush to-
| ward him and tie fine silk shawl around
| his face, so as to cover both mouth and
| nose. This precaution is taken so that
| his breath may not defile the royal prince.
| OF course, he must not address the prince
! by word or mouth; he is compelled 10
! draw the letters for the prince, who is
| to initiate them, and the teacher can only
| express his satisfaction or dissatisfaction
! by nodding or shaking his head.
AT a recent rehearsal of the Apollo
Male Quartet of Coldwater, Mich, says
the ST. Paul Globe, a large spider came
slowly down his silken thread to about
the hight of the singers shoulders, where
he hung suspended for a few minutes,
then began to move up and down in front
| of the music rack. The second tenor, who
was leading the air, soon noticed that
| the movements of the spider correspond
ed with the variations of his voice, up
and down the scale, and in perfect time.
| They then began a series of experiments
and found that the spider would ascend or
| descend about a foot for every octave,
and, though the melody was carried ever
! so lightly, and the basSos Numbered in
their heaviest tones, the insect could not
be deceived, but always followed the lead
| ing part accurately and with the precision
| of a directors baton. All kinds of songs
from Down in the Corntield' to The
| Bridge" were sung to test the ability of
| the wonderful little being, and each time
he came out of the conflict not a beat be-
| hind At last the four voices struck an
| awful discord, and instantly the spider
scurried up his improvised metronome and
disappeared in the chimney.
There is always an abundant supply
of stories of the expertness of Hindoo
jugglers and acrobats, says the Boston
| Transcript One who moves about
perched upon a single long stick is the
latest novelty. This performer is mount
ed on a bamboo pole about fifteen feet
high, the top of which is tied to girdle
worn round his waist. A small cushion
is fastened few feet down the pole,
which acts as a leg rest. The acrobat
hops around large space in the liveliest
way, uttering cheerful shouts and accom-
panied my the tapping of a curious drum.
| He also executes a sort or dance and
goes through a little pantomime 1t is a
| marvellous feat of equilibrium. To walk
on a pair of stills as high as this would
| be performance worthy of exhibition on
our variety stage. But to hop around
| on one Is quite duOIHeT SHHEs Inc SAME
| man can do many other wonderful things.
He appears absolutely perfect in the art
| of balancing. He can balance very light
stick on his nose and a heavy one on
his chin, and then throw the heavy one
into the air with his head and catch it
on the end of the light. When balancing
| these two sticks, end on end, he will make
one revolve in one direction and the other
in the other. He puts one hand on fiat,
| circular stone, throws his feet up into
| the air and balances a stick on each OF
| them. At the same time he revolves rap
idly on the pivot formed by his arm and
the stone.
The faculty most nearly approaching a
sixth sense is the muscular sense, or the
sense of weight. says an exchange. If we
| regard the senses as merely specialized
parts of the nervous system, adapted for
| the reception and transmission to the
brain of impressions of a special kind,
| then this is the sixth sense without ques-
| ton. Indeed. mans senses are regarded by
| psychologists as six in number, and this
one is among them. In support of the
| claim of the sense Of weight to the sixth