The morning news., 1897-08-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.
The first English steel pens were sold
at 80 shillings each.


at 80 shillings each.
There are 71,OOO more women than
men in the state of Massachusetts, and
this excess is all in persons over II.
In Virginia before 1865 there were
about sixty insane negroes in the asylums
of that state, and now there are over
1900.
At a recent meeting of the London Phys
ical Society, Dr. Thompson exhibited spec
ime IS OF heat-indicating paint compos-
ed Of Il Ccuble iodide OF copper and mer.
cry, oriSil ally discovered t01nry years
agO ~ Il German physicist, says the Sci.
enuIa \ mexican. At ordinary tempera
tursj the paint is red, bur when heated
to 81 dt grees CenLgrade t2)6 FahrenheiD
!. turns biacL. Paper painted with this
compound and warmed at a stove eX-
Eirits the change in a 5eW seconds. A
yell wv double iodlde of silv-r is even more
sensitive to beat, changing nom yellow
to dark red at temperature of 45 de-
g ~cs Cen: grade Q13 FahrenheiO. Many
sus.s ',tiOns rave been made for I'c utility
Of sLoh pant. For insC1nce, it might
be used Cn hearings of ma. lines to give
WGlln. o. t cir heating. rs cost, no "
ever, would probably make this, as well
as many other useful appAcauons, pro-
hibitive.
Blasting for sewer in Norfolk street,
Ward twenty, Boston, Mass, has bpought
to light quantities of rock containing fos-
sill remains, which are not only interesting
to scientists but so beautiful for paper
weights and such articles chat the frag
mentS are in great demand. The remains
seem to be those of ferns and mosses. They
are black and inbedded in dull red rock.
The rock is very hard and as il has
good cleavage, many specimens nave been
found on which the delicate black outlines
Of plants are perfectly preserved as if pic
tured on glass. Sergt. Murphy al the po-
lice sub-station near the Forest avenue
railroad station has a particularly hand
some specimen. 1t is about a foot square
and four inches thick. The ferns seem to
be growing from a common level at one
edge of the piece, and are outlined as
sharply 5 if they were still waving in the
air in which, probably thousands of years
ago, they grew.
The dwellers on the banks of the
Neckar near the good old German town
of Heilbronn, had an experience the other
day which must have reminded them of
the miraculous draught of fishes, says the
Westminster Gazette. A few days ago,
toward evening. the worthy Heilbronners
perceived that the Neckar was toward
both its banks one moving mass of all
sorts and conditions of fish, thronging
landward in seeming anxiety to be
caught. Nor was this tacit appeal at all
disFegarded, for every man. woman and
child Of the vicinity ran out with pots
and pans, with spades and rakes, and
pals and baskets to help himself (or her
selD to a share of fish. The explanation
of the miracle, which, perchance, might
prove a hint to fsherfolk, was that the
river had become so muddy, after recent
= s-,.. +E,o Gah - =
cult to breathe in the thick" water. and
had approached the banks for more air.
Coffee drinkers should soon be cele-
brating the tercentenary of the introduc-
ton of the fragrant beverage into Eng
land says the Westminster Gazette. It
IS generally supposed that coffee was first
| drunk in an English home in one of the
closing years of the sixteenth century.
| The first coffee house was not set up un-
til the east bought a shed in St. Martins
| churchyard, and converted it into cof-
| fee tavern, under the management of a
| noted coCk-one Pasqua-whom he brough.
with him from Smyrna. But the coffee
\ was so expensive that the tavern did not
| repay its owner. There is an Old record
| in the British museum which shows that
| even 100 years later coffee was as much as
| $50 ton At one time it rose to the fab
ulous price of $50 ton. Why a ton is
| vious, but we read that tn Sc who indulg-
| ed in the luxury drank as much as three
or four dishes at a time, which may ex-
| plain it,
A resident Of the Hotel Berkeley IS the
| possessor Of a fine St. Bernard which de-
seIE es a gold medal says the Minneap-
| oils Times. The dog has developed a
| strong penchant for stopping runaway
horses, and the last time the stop was
! accomplished just in time to save a party
| OF ladies' from serious injury, and per
| Eaps worse. His master was driving down
! Portland avenHe last Saturday when he
! was startled by a cry of Look OUT" lie
| turned, and was just in time to wheel
| his horse out of the way of a runaway
| which was tearing down the avenue. Just
| ahead was party of ladies in danger Of
! what seemed certain death to some of
| them, when the dog, who had been follow
| ing. and who seemed by instinct to com.
| prehend the situation, gave a leap and
| caught the lIies of the runaway between
| his icech, his great weight bringing the
| frightened animal TO his launches JUST
! as he was about to strike one Of the
ladies. WHO St emed too terrified to move.
One Of the crying needs of Kansas has
always been some convenient large body
Of water which could furnish the people a
! summer resort nearer than the Rocky
| mountains or the great lakes. This need
we have always felJ was bound to be sup
| piled some day, though nobody had sup
! posed the time was so near at hand, says
the Topeka Capital Yet, here it is: A
| company Of capitalists is at work now in
| Southwest Kansas digging a canal and
! loveling off the body Of a lake fourteen
| miles long by eight wide, which they pro.
| pose 70 fill with the excess water Of the
| raging Arkansas. Everybody knows that
| the surface of that transformations stream
| has to be sprinkled In the summer to
| lay the dust, but comparatively few peo-
| pie realize what tremendous undernow
| II has. As we understand It, the sum
mer resort company referred TO intend
TO tap this hidden supply. They will turn
| on the overflow and furnish enough water
| TO afford fishing, boating and bathing IA
! cilities for the who state.
The surgeon fish owes it name 10 two
sharp lancet-like spines which are placed
| one on each side OF the tail, says the
! New York sun. These spines are short.
but very sharp. Sometimes they are car
ricd folded closely 10 the body laing each
| NFfHN bod tr fH q q.