The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

been found to contain 1000 900 microbes to
each cubic centimeter. II is said that more
than 100000 microbes to the centimeter
are unhealthy. The safe plan is always
to count them before eating.
As the English upper classes do not
object 10 their boys being birched, it is
only royal princes and the sons of noble
men who receive corporal punishment in
the great English schools. So at least
says the headmaster of Harrow.
A procession of ice6ergs sent against
the surface of the sun would melt at the
rate of 3O0oOO,OOO cubic miles of solid ice
a second. and its heat is estimated TO pro
duce force of about 10000 horsepower
TO every square foot of its surface
-Brummagen French is dangerous. A
Birmingham citizen passing two police
men on the street in the evening said Bon
jour, monsieur TO them. They at once
arrested him, charging him with being
drunk and swearing al them in a foreign
language.
As lover of honey bees David NJ
Kepley, Of Louisville, has kept a hive in
his dooryard. One of the bees alighted
on his nose one day and stung the tin Of
1t. his face turned purple. and for sew
eral hours two doctors thought he was at
the point of death. He recovered.
Tennessee is up near the head of the
snake column this year with the record of
Jesse Shoun, who killed on Cross Noun
tam, near Bristol, a rattlesnake rneas11r-
ing three inches across the head. five
feet in length and six inches in diameter.
1t mad thirty-two rattles besides the
button.
Government ownership of railroads has
been found a failure in Brazil, and the
government has offered to lease its entire
system of 1900 miles of track to anv re-
sponsible company that will pay a bonus
OF $1OOOOOOO as rental of the tracks. roll
ing stock and other property for term of
nifty years, and a guarantee to restore
them IN good order al the end of that pc
Rod
The Colossus of Rhodes, a bronze
statue, was 1O5 feet high It was made by
Chares, who. aided by am army of work.
men, consumed twelve years in its con-
structon. 1t remained in position in the
harbor of Rhodes for sixty years. and
was thrown down by an earthquake B.
c. PA. 1t lay on the ground 1874 years, and
was sold to a Hebrew for old metal. He
carried away 900 camels loads, or about
10000 pounds, of bronze
Spurious mummies have from time TO
time been palmed off upon the public and
a doubt arose in a Vienna museum as to
the validity of one daughter of the Phar-
aohs in their collection. 1t occurred to
them, in view of the general holloWness
OF life, that the young lady might have
been manufactured in Birmingham. So
they turned the Roentgen rays upon her.
and saw a once through the many folded
wraps the amulets which the Egyptians
placed upon the bosoms of their dead
thus proving the genuineness of their
specimen.
Referring to the frequent instances.
during the last year or so, of chemical
laboratories being destroyed by lightning.
the Springfield Republican notes the sing
ular fact that, while the earlier discoveries
| in relation TO the nature of electrical force
| found instant practical application in
measures designed TO safeguard life and
property against lightning, the immensely
more important discoveries of the present
! era ignore this phase Of the problem al
together, or have little or nothing 10 offer
| toward the disarming of the thunderbolt:
| indeed, the only progress made in this di-
| rectlon has been to prove the worthless
| ness of the lightning rod-to demonstrate
| in word, the useIessness of the one prac-
| teal outcome of the earlier discoveries
The lightning specialist connected with
| the government weather bureau goes so
far this year as to maintain not only that
/ rods are of no use, but that most of all
| the precautions taken by persons to keep
out of the path of possible electrical dis
| charge are useless.
| Chemical investigation has brought to
notice recently a new element, called by
! thium, according to an announcement
| by Theodore Gross in the German technical
/ organs, says the New York Sun. A fused
mixture of silver sulphide and silver chic
| ride is electrolyzed in a nitrogen atmos-
/ phere by using platinum electrodes free
| from iridium. In this melt is found a dark
| gray powder, insoluble in aqua regia and
| in ammonia; fused with alkaline carbon
| ate it gives melt soluble in hydrochloric
| acid. from which hydrogen suphide gives
| brown precipitate. The yield of this new
/ substance is said to be per cent of the
| original sulphur used, and, from the fact
| that there Is corresponding loss of sui
! phur, II is considered that this bythium is
| formed by the decomposition of sulphur. 1t
| is admitted, however, that since there is a
| small, or per cent. only loss of chlorine
| in the electrOlytic reaction, il is possible
| that bythium may be formed by the de-
composition Of chlorine Future expert
ments with this new element will be look
ed for with interest.
In some Of the large cities of Europe
the principle Of the reflection of sound is
| very ingeniously employed in locating the
| position Of inaccessible Instructions in the
| pipes of the pneumatic tube service, saws
the New York Sun. Thus, when pipe is
| CONSTRUCTED, a diaphragm that is so thin as
to Vibrate instantly under the force of a
| sound wave Is attached to the end of the
| pipe, and connected electrically with a
! chronograph In such a manner that when
! the diaphragm vibrates 1t will close the
electric circuit and register on the chrono-
! graph; pistol loaded with blank cartridge
4 is then fired into the tube through an
| opening just below where the diaphragm
| Is placed When therefore. the shot is fir
/ ed. the sound wave causes the diaphragm
| to vibrate and registers the exact time on
! the chronograph. The sound wave will
! travel along the tube until IL meets the OBJ
| struction, and will then be reflected back:
/ on this reflected sound. or echo returning
/ to the end OF the tube. It causes the dia-
/ phragm 10 Vibrate again and make another
| registration on the chronograph, which by
/ this simple operation viii correctly indi-
/ cate the exact interval OF time required for
! the sound 10 travel from the end Of the
I tube and back.