The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

the locusts have been devastating the
crops in the Argentine Republic, according
to adVices received by the bark Maria l..
| The Philadelphia Record says lone way
devised by the governments officials to
destroy the locusts was to collect the eggs
and burn them, a bounty being given 10
those who did the work. No less than
1909 tons of the insects had been collected
at La Plata alone when the Maria l.. left
there. II was with some difficulty that the
sails of the Maria l.. We're stretched when
she was getting under way at La Plata,
as thousands of the lOcusts had made the
folds OF the sails their homes. Capt
D'Urso states that the future of the re-
public was never glOomier, The crops hav-
ing been largely ruined, and famine is
threatened"
A Warrenton (Va.) correspondent of
the Baltimore Sun writes: For the past
thirty-five years there has been suspended
in a home here a George Washington relic
of historic value in the shape of a mirror.
which was purchased at the sale of the
personal effects of Laurence Washington,
a great-nephew of the first President who
was the proprietor of Waveland a beauti-
full old estate situated about two miles
from Marshall, Fauquier county, The
glass, which reflects a life-size figure. is
framed in silt, ornamented with Ionic cap
ltalS and having space a the top in
Whlte and black enamel, upon which is
engraved a gold shield of bars and stars.
surrounded by a unicorn with Washing
tons personal motto, "Exitus acta pro
bat'-the result proves the achievement
inscribed beneath. Gen. Washington was
accustomed to make his daily toilet before
this mirror.
A question that has often been asked
is, how long does fright last in a wild
creature? The close observer will be sur
prised at it's brief dura ton says the Pail
Mall Gazette. They are not subject to
nerves like human beings A partridge
after running Cor rather hying) the gaunt-
let OF half dozen guns-if we may be al
lowed mixed INTERPRETATIONS on the
other side of a hedge and begins calmly
to peck as if nothing had happened You
would think ribbit after hearing charge
OF shot whistling about it's launches and
just managing to escape from a yelpng
spaniel would keep indoors for a week
but out 1t pops quite merrlly as soon as
the coast is clear. \ fox pursued by
hounds has been known to halt and kill
a fowl in its flight, though we may as
sumo that his enemies were not close to
Reynard at the time. We have been led
into thinking about the matter by noting
what took place at a cover after being
shot over.
forthcoming eclipse of the sun is already
causing lively fear, namely, in the empire
of China, says an exchange. The eclipse
will occur on Jan. %, and the emperor has
ordered that the ceremonies of cOngratu-
lations habitually paid to him on that day
the Chinese New Years day shall be held
in a penitential hail. instead of the throne
room, while the annual banquet given at
night to the members of the imperial
70 hp
should be no imperial house, indeed no
China, at the end of the day. Furthermore
according to an imperial decree, the eclipse
Is regarded as a warnig from heaven that
the regning Prince has been wanting in
wisdom and morality" 1t is added that
the emperor is filled with a great fear"
and that he has tried during his mo-
ments of leisure, inwardly to question his
conscience as to whether he has not COM
mitted some fault calling for divine retri
button"
The plan of using steam snow Iocomo-
uves to open and maintain communication
between the outside word and the Klon-
dixie country has not been abandoned by
any means. Secretary Alger was in con
sultatiOn the other day with several rep
fesentatiVes of a company which has al
ready made ten of these unique locomo-
tlVes, and the secretary, who is intensely
7C4iNltOuS " SAtcIlQ dl1 TO the miners who
are supposed to be suffering from lack of
food, authorized them to proceed to ship
the machine TO Alaska and make the eff
tort to get through to the interior The
plan is to use either the Chilkoot pass and
the Dalton trail or White pass with pref
erence to the former route. The men who
were at the war department to-day as
sured Secretary Alger that they could
take the locomotives up either of these
passes, with the possibility of requiring
the assistance of cable power in one place
about half a mile long. Once over that
place, near the head of Chilkoot pass
there would be no difficulty they said. in
making good time across the country over
the snow to Fort Selkirk, and thence to
Dawson.
Scientists have long been at odds over
the question whether coral islands have
the form they do because of a gradual
subsistence of their foundations or wheth-
er the reefs are built on elevations COM
posed of the remains of marine organ
isms that fall to the ocean floor and fin
ally APPROACH near enough to the surface
TO become the residing place of the coral
polyps, says the New York Times The
first theory is Darwinian, and, therefore,
there should have been more caution in
disputing it than has been shown. With
a view to settling the controversy. the
Royal Society of England aided by com
mittee formed in New South Wales, sent
an expedition last year to the Elice ISL
ands to make deep borings The attempt
was failure, for the drills penetrated
only 105 feet while the coral builder. as
has long been known, can work at a
depth of $50 feet Last fall another at
tempt was made, wholly at the expense of
the Australians, and the report has come
that depth of 643 feet was obtained.
Through all this distance nothing except
solid coral was found, and, therefore, the
subsistence theory can no longer be ques-
toned The deposits reached must have
been secreted on foundations not more
than 100 feet from the surface of the sea.
and then have been lowered to their pres
ent position. Thus a genuine and import
ant contribution to human KNOWLEDGE has
resulted from this investigation, and much
light is thrown on the geological problems
of the South seas.
A Partisan lecturer on culinary nv
gienics says the New York Times, has
been divulging information on the relative
value of the outer and iDnar ,o~te