The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-02-18
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


should be observed. A magistrate who re-
Gently sentenced a citizen to receive fifty
strokes has been dismissed from his most
ana sentenced TO six months Imprisonment
with hard labor.
"A celebrated Italian criminologist has
discovered new feature of criminal an
tropology, which goes to confirm still far
ther the views of Prof. Lombroso Accord
ing 20 modern medicine he has studied
the myers and toes of 1900 criminals and
nhdS a deficiency in the number as well
as the prenens1le toes, marked by a wide
space between the great toe and the sec
ond toe; also a webbed condition of the
Ioes-ah approximation to the toeless feet
OF some savages. He found the little toe
documentary in many cases, showing a
tendency toward the four-toed animal
Ioot. me most common of all the abnor-
maIities was the webbed condition of the
toes. The criminal is truly a Degenerate
type. 10
An insect addicted to the tobacco habit
is the latest discovery of entomologists.
Scientifically it is known as Lasioderna
Serrlcorne, but in familiar conversation it
IS termed the cigarette beetle The insect
makes it's home in cured tobacco. and eats
not only the plain leaf, but solid plug and
cigars. The cigarette beetle does not con-
nne itself to this diet, however but has
Deen found enjoying itself in cayenne pep
per, ginger, rhubarb, rice, figs yeast cakes
ana plush upholstery. 1t also takes kind
~ TO ergot and turmeric. There is only
one other insect known to feast on tobac-
Go-Ihe Sltodrepa panicea, or drug store
beetle 1t preys on tobacco and druggists
ssu22piiies' and 1t is a perfect pest when it
mas IT'S way into library. single grub
OF TINS species bored a straight hole
through twenty-seven folio volumes. while
another traversed a whole shelf of theo-
~ its hunger
Vegetables pumping engine" is the
title bestowed upon the ordinary tree bv
Sir Benjamin Ward Richardson. In a re-
cent address, quoted in Casters maya
zlne, ne says: Hydraulic engineers would
o9 sotteiy puzzled to explain how the large
quantity OF water required to supply the
evaporation from the extended leaf SIR
face is raised to nights up to 400 feet and
above. We know that the source of en-
ergy must be the suns rays, and we know
Iurther that, in the production of starch
the leaf stores up less than l per cent
OF the avallabie energy, so that plenty re-
mans Tor raising water. Experiments
nave shown that Transportation at the leaf
establishes draught upon the sap and
there is reason to believe that this null
~ transmitted to the root by tensile stress
The idea of rope of water sustaining a
pun of perhaps $50 pounds per square inch
may be repugnant to many engineers, but
the tensile strength and eXtensibility of
water and other fluids have been proved
eXperimentally by Prof. Osborne Rey-
nolds and by Prof. Worthington and 9TH
ers.
Berlin is wondering over the marvel
GUS achievements of Otto Poepler, the son
of a butcher. says the New York Times.
He IS an infant prodigy of the most in
fantile and prodigious Sort for he taught
himself to read at the age of q and now
though only years old, has been deemed
worthy of presentation to the Anthropo-
logical Society of Berlin as a remarkable
specimen of precocious intelligence. His
opportunities for acquiring information
have been small and yet from an atten-
tive study of the few books that have
come in his way and from observing the
lnSCrIDt1OnS with urhi oh
the German capital is rich, the child mas
managed TO learn an amazing amount of
history and something in Latin and Greek,
and professor who has been investigat-
ing the case says Otto shows remarkable
ability for learning languages. The boy
has a perfect passion for reading but his
dislike for music amounts almost to hor-
ror, For writing he has not yet mani
tested any aptitude. He has been taught
to make the first letters of his name but
rebels at gaining further skill in that line
lie is described as well developed, though
not robust.
"A new apparatus was completed last
week under a patent granted to John
| Speirs of Jersey City Nights, says an ex-
change. It is simple combination of
diving machine and life-saVing raft It
consists of a hollow cylinder a yard in
diameter, made of strong waterproof can
vas, and of sufficient length to reach to the
under side OF vessel, while the open up
per end is above water. This waterproof
bag is held distended by hickory hoops
passing around its inner circumference
ABOUT two feet apart. 1t is provided with
light metal bottom. On one side of the
| cylinder at the hight of a mans shoulders
from the bottom, are placed, on the out
SIDE, Watertght sleeves and gloves, into
which man inside may thrust his hands
! and freely handle tools. Opposite his face
is window and a submerged electric
| hght. The apparatus can be lowered or
| raised to the desired point on the bottom
] or side of the vessel. The device has a
| clear, well-ventilated channel, into which
descend mo Of LODI
he has none of the diScomfOrts of heavy
dlVlng armor. pumps and uncertain tubes
| Tor ar. These cylinders occupy but little
space When stored. yet in a few seconds
! can be converted into first-class life-sa v
| ing rats. They can be inflated and the
end covered, and then possess great buoy
| ancy. If two are lashed together very
SerViceaDle raft can be made. Food can
| be carried in the interior safely.
"A correspondent of a London paper
laments the "swaggering nomenclature of
the British navy" Another correspondent
| suggests that such names as Bouncer and
| lnSolent which have erewhie adorned
| the list, should be replaced by something
IN a dlnerent tone-the Ritualist, for in
| stance, or the Thoughtful Radical. Some
years ago a classical poet in England
| likened the Ironclad to a rhinoceros, and
Il IS rather wonder that the admiralty
| have not before this adopted the name OF
| that powerful and self-asserting animal
The Louisiana tale of the Cow Island
| hen which Matched out a brood of young
| sLiiisstAtoio anu uuISeu them WIN a moth
| ers care, finds its parallel in the exploit
| of North Carolina fowl which has
| brought tr1umphantly forth from her nest
| twelve lively young terrapins, which look
| up to her with filial respect and tender
| ness, says the New York Tribune 1t is
new demonstration of the composure
OF that useful domestic bird, and the
breadth of its maternal sympathies, that
it takes up its family duties without the
smallest token of surprise, and leads the
brood about as TRANQUILITY as If il consist
ed of peeplng young Dorkings or buff
Cochins They will, of course part COM
pany as soon as the young reptiles gain
experience and access to water, but they
will carry with them the privilege of
pointing with peculiar pride to at least
one branch If their ancestry. When they
reach the goal appointed TO all conscienti-
Gus terrapin, that is, the stewing pan,
hint OF chickens may hover about il
mingling with their own ravishing fra
grances commemoration of the enterprise
ing North Carolina hen which started
them on their career.
One of the station officials at the Read
ing terminal stood in the broad vestibule
leading to the tracks and train platforms
and watched the receding lights as the rear
of a Frankford accommodation passed
over the bridge that spans Arch street
says the Philadelphia Record. Some
thing wrong with one of those red lamps"