The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

!
Miss Alice Bates Gould, daughter of
the late DR.. Benjamin Apthrop Gould of
| Cambridge. Mass has just given to the
! NATIONAL Academy of Science the sum of
| $4,000, a trust fund whose income shall be
| used for the advancement of astronomy.
| DR.. Gould. who died only a few months
| ago was at one time director Of the Dud-
| ley observatory in Albany, and from 1868
! to 1850 had charge of the astronomical OBJ
| servaJory in Cordoba, Argentine Republic.
! He was one of the aDiest and most act
| i've of American astronomers of his day.
Speaking of death, its times and guises
| it is worthy of note that at least four ia
nous personages died of laughter. says an
| exchange. Zeuxis, the Greek painter, of
| laughter excited by a picture he had just
| finished; Philomenes, at seeing donkey
! eating his figs; Margutte, at the sight of
| monkey trying TO pull on boots, and
| Chalches, the sOothsayer, because he had
| outlived the time set for his death by the
| prophets. Fabus, the Roman Praetor,
chOked on a goats hair in his milk and
| Sanfeins the same way, While supping
| the white of an egg. 1t was probably
| fear of like fate that caused Itadach
| to refrain from drinking anything. In con-
] sequence, he died Of thirst Some author
tiles say he was only following out rule
of st. Patrick's. Strangest of all was the
dCdltl VI <AtSCllA JUS. "A lyiLS eagle let IdlI
a tortoise upon his head.
At Jiddah, in Arabia, the Mohamme-
dams locate the grave of Eve. A small
temple, utterly out of proportion to the
| Moslem conception of the first woman
| 0hey claim she was 200 feet talD is erect
ed above the ashes. The structure is in
bad repair, and if it Eained often in Ara
bia, Mother Eve would have rather damp
| resting place. AS it is, big palm tree
has forced its way through the roof The
| spot Is the Mecca of a seVen-year pilgrim
| age. On June g. which is alleged to be the
anniversary of the death of Abel the
| doors of the temple remain open all night
| On that night the spirit of Eve mourns
| for the loss of her murdered son. In
fear and trembling the pilgrims listen to
| awful sounds of lamentation emanating
| from the tomb. There are usually in the
| throng one or two scotfers, who claim to
recognize the voices of the priests in the
doleful walls, but their opinions do not
carry weight with the majority.
1t is not always necessary to go back
into ancient history for strange stories,
says the Pittsburg Dispatch. Odd things
| are occurring every day and all about us.
! Only few weeks ago man walked into
| police station in Rotterdam and asked
| to be imprisoned, because he had killed his
wife and child. The police Inspector
| thinking he had a crazy man to deal with,
| began to question his visitor in a good-hu-
| mored way. Thereupon the man produc-
| ed from his pocket four human ears, two
of the ordinary size, the others small ard
| delicate. Perhaps you will believe me
now" said the man. And they did. A Wis
| it to the mans house verified his story.
| His wife and child had been butchered in
| a horrible way. The Dutch authorities
| also believed him when he confessed to
| having at various times killed his father
| and mother and fourteen wives married
| in different parts of the world, and an un-
known number of his own children.
Commerce in wives is not confined
wholly to the savage races, says the Pitts
| burg Dispatch. Within the last twenty
| five years number of cases of wife selling
were recorded in England. In 1881 man
| named Morris, residing in Sheffield, pur-
| chased the consort of one of his intimate
| friends for a quart of beer. The English
| courts took the matter in hand, but Moth
| ing further came of the action. The same
| year a woman of Ripon confessed that
| she had been bought for % shillings and
had thereupon assumed the name of her
| purchaser. At Afreton, in the following
| year, one man sold his wife to an acquaint-
ance, the consideration being a mug of
| beer. The woman accepted the terms of
| sale. In 1884 a bricklayer at Peasholme
| Green drew up an agreement with a man.
| disposing of his wife to the latter for Is
| Cd. May 6, 1887, a Burnley weaver, accused
| of deserving his wife and three children,
| acknowledged to having sold the former to
| a friend for half-pence. Another case
| was recorded in 1889 where a man. prom
| inently connected with the church, has
| disposed of his wife for l shilling In
| spite of ali that has been said to the con-
trary civilization is mot all wool"
Speaking at Selklrk on the 8th inst.
1
Browne dwelt on the dangers to health in
| volved In Incidence and disuse of the
| brain. The medical profession. he said
| adapting itself to the needs of the times
| had felt it incumbent upon it during the
| last decade to insist mainly on the evils
| Of misuse of the brain, on the excessive
| strain not seldom imposed on it in these
| days in the fierce struggle of the race TO
| be rich, and more especially on the over
| pressure imposed on it in the same of ed
| ucation when in an immature state. but
| they were not less keenly alive to the cor
| relative evils of the disuse of the brain
| Elderly persons who gave up business and
| professional men who laid aside their avo-
| cations without having other interests or
! pursuits to which to turn We're in MANY
| cases plunged in dependency or hurried
| into premature dotage. He did not know
| any surer way of inducing premature
| mental decay than for a man of active
| habits to retire and do nothing when lust
| past the zenith of life; and, on the other
| hand, he did not know any surer way of
| enjoying a green old age than to keep on
| working at something till the close 1t
| had been said that one of the rewards of
! philosophy was length of days. and a
| striking list might be presented of men
| distinguished for their intellectual labors
| which they had never laid aside, who had
| far exceeded the allotted span of human
life. Calico lived to Is, Newton to So.
| Franklin to 49, Button to so, Faraday 20
| rs, and Brewster to 81 years. Sir James
! Crichton-Browne drew special attention to
the great age generally attained by our
| judges.
Prof G. H. Darwin, in his fifth lecture
! in the Lowell Institute course, explained
| the causes of daily high and low tides, says
the Boston Transcript. when the moon
| is over any spot on the earth, the water
| is drawn I'D toward IL hv the fnrce IL ev-