The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-10
. ITEMS OF INTEREST.


government of Belgium has issued an r
der that every newspaper in the country
IS entitled to free use Of every railroad.
| The business of news gathering the gov
eminent regards as of so much import
ance to the development of the nation.
The governments following this sensible
and up-to-date view will find a. free press
% even more use than standing army.
Force a toad's mouth open and hold it
in that position, and it will suffocate, says
the San Francisco Bulletin. This is be-
cause he has no ribs, and no way of dilat-
ing the chest; therefore he must literally
swallow air as though it We're food. For
chilly keeping the creatures mouth open
causes the air to pass into the stomach
instead of the lung. Another oddity is
| its. tongue. which is hung in the mouth
just the reverse of the human tongue be-
ing attached to the front of the jaw, the
loose end hanging back and down the
throat.
The prevalent idea that slow eating is
very favorable to digestion is largely fall
lacious, says the Journal Of Mental and
Nervous Diseases. ''The important point is
not that we eat slowly or fast, but that
when we do eat we chew with energy. OF
course, where the haste is due to some
mental anxiety, this may injuriously in
hblt the secretions. Slow eating begets
a habit of simply mumbling the food
without really masticating it, while the
hurried eater is inclined to swallow his
tood before proper mastieation Hence
hurried eating is bad, but rapid mastica-
ton Is advantageous 1t concentrates our
energies on the act in question, and hence
more thoroughly accomplishes It, More
over, energetic chewing stimulates the Sc
erection of saliva in the most favorable
manner These various points are so com
| N NH 7teqfr,z la,~
~, that they demand our frequent atten-
ton"
A correspondent supplies us with the
biography of high Chinese official who
is now one of the leading authorities on
foreign affairs says the Hong Kong
Press. This man, 1t seems was born
in Fatshan, and received a good educa.
ton. He inherited some money, which
he squandered, and being regarded by
his family as a bad character, he was
turned out He then came to Hong Kong
and set up as a foFtune-teller in Taipin-
shan, where any one could have his des-
tiny told by him for a few cents Find
ing he could not make much in this line
he returned to Fatshan, where he started
an opium divan. When his friends dis
| covered this they again tried to get rid Of
him, and he agreed to go away for good
if he was paid ISL 100 The money
started for Shanghai. When clansman
with whom he had ingratiated himself
was promoted to the grade of Futai, he
received an order from the throne 10 be-
head a certain eunuch, who was in dis
grace, but as the eunuch was favorile
of the Empress Dowager, no one dare
undertake the execution of the order I'M
til the subject of this biography under
took the task He afterward met Ii
Hung Chang, and his promotion was then
rapid.
One argument that has been made in
favor of building a comparatively large
number of small warships rather than a
smaller number of large vessels, with large
! crews, says Casters Magazine, is that
| the smaller ones afford the greater number
of independent commands and opportuni-
/ ties of training for command. Between
/ 1882 and 1888 seventy-six sea-going fighting
ships were launched for the British navy,
| varying in displacement between 430 and
! 1000 tons, and the number of men and Off
| GERS in these ships ranged from 50 in the
| smallest to 220 in the largest. These ships
were to be found all over the world. Ad-
mirals captains and leading officers of
! to-day were all trained in them, and
/ splendidly trained. These ships, however,
| have been displaced during recent years
! by larger vessels, with larger crews, maxi
| inf, for each command, larger claims on
naval estimates and on the reserve of
men. Some of the foremost authorities
now lean to thee opinion that too much
| trust is placed In big ships and guns, and
too little in the skill, enterprise and valor
| which may be had in the direction and
| management of a ship of moderate size.
| To multiply such smaller ships is to multi
| ply the chances of getting good men in
command. Piling up armor and guns
| condemns many such men to subordina-
ton to their interiors
Electrical interest is manifested over
the Introduction of perchoid, a new pro-
duct, and a substitute for gutta percha,
the supply of which has, of late, shown
some signs of failure. Perchoid, the in
| vention of DR.. Napier Ford, is oil which
| has undergone a high degree of oxidation.
| Stimulated by the fact that hnoleum-lixe
| many kindred subStances-is oil imper-
| fectly oxidized. DR. Ford experimental to
| produce a method whereby oil could be
fully oxidized, and has succeeded. The oil
| IS heated with litharge, stirred long and
continuousy,and then allowed to cool Spe-
cially prepared tow is then dipped into it,
and placed in wire baskets subjected to
| currents of air. The oil adhering to the
| flaments of the hemp becomes wholly OK
idized Under the microscope, the hemp
en- threads appear sheathed with coat
ing of amber. This is drawn through roll-
| CT anu NOillSS Oul DIS d aGdIneEy material,
closely allied to, If not identical, with rub
Der. Its tenacity is increased by mixing
1t with sulphur. 1t can be rolled as thin
as piece of tissue paper and any fabric,
and it makes leather impervious 70 mois-
ture, though not to air. 1t is said to be
eight times cheaper than rubber and more
! durable. One of its great fields will prob
ably be in the pneumatic tire industry. It
will also be exceeding serviceable to cleo
tricians, as it never becomes brittle and
never leaves the wire, two most valuable
qualities in an insulator.-The Tradesman
for February.
The Pail Mall Gazette, In the course of
a recent and erudite article, states that
no one knows whence came the name of
Spain. IAN we do know" the Pail Mall
adds, lis that soon after the Romans set
foot in it they called it So" Naturally
The Romans did not go about rechristen-
ing countries. They called the country
Spain for the excellent reason that that
han a.aA 10 ID, 49,.