The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-01-15
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

last week, in settling up his affairs, that
he was paying storage fees on thirty big
! boxes of correspondence, account books
and business papers accumulated during
! the last twenty-five years, and now of no
value to him. These papers were of such
character that If they fell into the hands
! of an unscrupulous person he might make
them the source of much annoyance to the
importers friends. The importer found
that he had no suitable place where he
might burn them, and he knew of no other
safe method of destroying them. In his
quandary he applied to a banker for ad-
vice, and to his surprise he found that
there was a firm in this town that dis
posed of this kind of papers, and guaran-
teed that the job would be complete.
Then the importer turned his thirty boxes
of papers over to the firm, and he learned
that the banks and big business corpora
tions applied to this firm every year to
destroy a lot of paper that was of no use
to them, but might be used against them
if it fell into the wrong hands.
Representative Charles r. Crisp,
youthful looking enough to be easily mis-
taken for a schoolboy, is, says the Wash
ington Post, the last person to take fall
out of one of the dignified doorkeepers
who watch over the peace and freedom
from intrusion of the United States Sen
| ate. 1t occurred to Mr.. Crisp the other day
l0dL 1t WOulQ De a BOOu lutd " St6 Wildl
the Senate looked like from nearer point
of view than the gallery. AS he tried to
enter the Senate chamber at the main en-
trance he was gravely stopped by the
doorkeeper and directed toward the gal
| lery stairs. But am a member of the
House," said Mr.. Crisp, and then as the
Senate guardian looked incredulous, he
added his name. This wrought a won
rous change. The veteran doorkeeper had
long cherished the valued friendship of the
late Judge Crisp, and well knew that his
son had succeeded to his seat in congress.
| Il ought to have known you, sir" he be-
| gan, alphabetically, and then he told of the
friendship that had existed between the
young mans father and himself, and wnen
the two parted, it was with a hearty hand
| shake, and each with his arm over the
! others shoulder as a loving father and
son might have embraced.
The New York Academy of Science
and Arts is now in possession of what is
said to be the most powerful X ray outfit
| i'm the world, in the form of a portable
cabinet weighing us pounds. This appa-
| ratus was constructed in conformity with
| the designs of Prof. Reginald A Fessen-
| den of the Western University of Pennsyl-
vana, at Allegheny City. The induction
| coil, which forms the most important
| part of the apparatus is designed to give
a spark 20 inches in length, and is COM
| posed of II coils with a total of 30 miles
| of wire. The current for the apparatus is
| supplied by two portable storage cells, the
| current being interrupted at the rate of
| 200 breaks a second by means of a small
motor arranged to form a revolving con-
| tact breaker. This interrupter is immers-
| ed in paraftin oil, with a magnetic blow.
| out to prevent sparkling. The character
| and period of the sparks are regulated by
! means of an adjustable condenser. The
I AL IL, sw, Ia1 prnf
Fessendens discovery that the positive
| electrode must not be nearer any part of
! the huorescent glass than the length of
| spark the coil will give. The positive ter
minal is, therefore, inclosed in a long tube,
| projecting from one side of the main bulb.
| Fastened to the side of the cabinet is an
| adjustable arm for holding the Hoentgen
| ray tube. This is so constructed, with sew
eral elbows, that it can be placed in any
| position. If necessary, it can be placed
! beneath the bed upon which the patient
| lies, and the photograph taken without
| moving or disturbing the sick one. The
coil is the most powerful ever successfully
| made A photograph can be taken
| through the thickest part of the body in
| fifteen minutes, and the surgeon can east
ly see through every part of the body with
| the Horoscope.
A correspondent of the London Times in
speaking of the financial condition of
| China, quotes some instructive figures to
! give an idea of the shameless peculation
| and robbery prevailing in all her public
departments. According to this authority
| the land tax levied from the cuitivators of
| the soil amounts to about two-thirds of a
tael per acre, and at a moderate computa-
1 ton there are 300,000O00 acres under Gull
! tivation in China. on this basis, and al
lowing 50 per cent. for costs of collection
/ and leakage, the land tax ought to yield
at least 100,O000O0 taels, which is roughly
| the figure attained in India on lower rate
| of taxation with a smaller area of culti-
walton, generally less fertile soil, and a
numerically inferior population. Yet the
amount which is actually supposed to
reach the treasury in China is barely 80
| 100000 taels, and probably does not in real
! ity exceed %, 900 900 taels. As for the taxes
| levied and sent in kind to Pekin under the
| name of tribute rice, it is generally ad-
mitted that the central government might
! economic at least 100000 taels a year by
merely intrusting the transportation to
| some respectable firm of foreign shippers,
! instead of leaving it in the hands of an
| army of needy and greedy officials. The
| tax on foreign opium collected under the
| imperial maritime customs still amounts
| to about 5000 900 taels per annum, notwith-
standing the rapid displacement of the
! imported by the native grown drug. Yet,
| although twice as much opium is now
grown in China as is imported from
| abroad, the revenue returned by the ma
tive administration amounts to little more
! than 100000 taels, instead of a possible
| 100000. In the same way the sale of
salt which is a state monopoly and which
| in India yields 35000,000 taels. only produces
| 13,50O,0O0 taels in China, while nearly twice
that amount is known to go into the pock-
cts of officials and middlemen connected
with the monopoly.
From Austria comes a curious ac-
count of man suffering from a nervous
disease that manifested itself in parox-
ysms of laughter. The patient, whose
case was described before the Psychia-
trio and Neurological Society of Vienna,
was 80 years of age, and had been sub
! ject for three years to fits of laughter,
| which occurred at first every two or three
months, gradually increasing in frequency
| to sixteen a day. The attacks occurred
| especially between in the evening and
$3.50 in the morning. and In greater fire.
| quency between and $50 Some occurred
| also during the day, however the patient
| happened to be occupied. In the inter-
walls between the attacks and Immediately
! before and afterwards, the man was per-