The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ounces, weight that corresponds with
! those OF European women; while in the
negress the mean weight is less than in
the female sex in Europeans. From the
weighings which have been published of
the brains of the orang and chimpanzee It
would seem that the brain weight in these
apes ranges from II ounces to Is ounces,
and the brain weight appears to be much
about the same in the gorilla. These fig
Ures are greatly below those of the human
BRAIN even in so degraded a people as the
dwarf Bush race of South Africa. They
closely approximate 10 the weight of newly
born male infants, in whom the average
weight is 11.6 ounces.
Isaac Duckett who died in 1920, left
400, the income of which was to be dis
tributed to maid servants by the parish
of st. Andrew, Holborn, London, says the
New York Tribune. Maid servants who
apply for the gift for the first time must
have lived with a respectable master or
mistless in the upper or Saffron-hill Lib
critics of the parish of st. Andrew, Hol-
born, for seven consecutive years. and
must give satisfactory evidence to the
trustees of habits, of thrift and provi-
dence, and they must not be less than
20 years of age. Applicants who have once
| received the gift are eligible for it every
five years, if they have remained in the
same service, and many have thus several
times received ~. he sum gwen must
not be less than 60 or more than f20, and
it usually averages SO every year. The
applicants average about twenty in num-
Der. There were fifteen last year, and
there are sixteen this year.
There is only one spot on the earth's
surface that has actually been willed,
decided and bequeathed to his satanic mai
esty, says Parsons Weekly. This spot
lies four miles and a half south of Hell
! singfOrs, Finland. A few years ago Lara
Huilariene died in the little town of Piel-
isjarvi, an the above named country leav-
ing considerable property in the shape of
landed estate. How he had come into pos
session of so much land no one seemed
to know, but as he was a very bad citizen
it was generally admitted that he was in
| league with Wintahausu (Satan), and that
they had many business deals with each
other. This somewhat startling opinion
was verified when old Huilariene found
| certain warranty deed enclosed therein,
which decided to Satan all his earthly pos
! sessions. The will was to the same effect.
! The family have repeatedly tried to break
| the win; but so far have been unsuccess-
full; thus the records plainly show that his
| sulphuric majesty has a legal right ana
| title to some excellent grounds in the near
vicinity of Helsingfors The simple people
| of the neighborhood have changed the
/ course of the road which formerly skirted
! the Huilariene homestead and declare that
| they would not enter the possessions of
! Satan & Co. for all the money that the
! three estates would bring.
1t is just as easy to tell the age of an
oyster by looking at its shell as it is to
ascertain the age of a horse by examin-
| ing its teeth, or a tree by inspecting the
| circles revealed by the ak or saw when
it is laid low, says Pearson's Weekly.
] h. IL Sc
| as big as a siXpence, when one year old
| it will cover a 2-shuilling piece, and when
| 2 years old viii be about the
! circumference of a 4-shilling piece.
! The oyster, unlike the crab, is not
| obliged to seek new quarters or build a
new house every time he grows appre-
| ciably The extension that he puts onto
! his house ars clearly marked by a we'll
| defined ridge Oysters are esteemed to be
| at their best when between 4 and years
/ of age and the planters endeavor to
protect the beds for that length of time.
| Conscientious oystermen-that is, men
! who are not inclined to kill the goose
that lays the golden egg-always return
| to the bed oysters that are too young,
/ but in case a patriarch is brought up
over whose she'll the tides of from eight
| to twelve winters and summers have
ebbed and flowed, he is sent to market
where he is put at the bottom of the
/ nedp anu SONQ WltIl MS younger ana more
| lueious companions
| Raw ants are largely eaten in Mexico
| AS is known, certain ants are selected by
their kindred as storehouses of honey,
| says the London Standard. They are fed
| with honey until the abdomen speedily
| becomes smooth and round, and so filed
with honey that the skin is transparent
| These ants are doomed to pass the re-
| mainder of their lives as mere honey-cells,
from which their kindred extract the hon
| ey when it is required. There are several
specimens of these ants in the British
| Museum, with the honey still within their
| transparent bodies. The Mexicans raid
the nests of these ants for the sake of
| the honey that their bodies contain and
| the ants are eaten raw as sweetmeats.
| They are sold by measure and form an
! article of commerce. Ants steWed in but
| ter are a luxury in some parts of Africa
| and are said to be of two distinct fiavors
the front part differing from the abdo-
men in flavor. Hum oldt noted their use
| as food in South America and stated that
some tribes preferred them stewed i'm res
in. In Sweden, ants are distilled with
rye and used for fiavoring brandy. Ter
| mites, or white ants, are highly esteemed
by Hottentots, who fatten themselves
upon Solomon's models of industry. The
| correct method of preparation is to parch
| them in pots over a gentle fire, stirring
| them occasionally with a stick. They are
eaten without sauce of any kind, and are
said to resemble sugared cream or sweet
| almond paste. The Hindus prefer them
made into pies. Fried wasps are a Chi
nese delicacy, and the Celestials also de-
| clare that the chrysalis of the silk-worm
| is delicious, as is the caterpillar of the
hawk-moth. The Singhalese used to eat
bees, and the natives of New Caledonia
| favored spiders.
"A series of experiments on the associa-
tive processes in animals were recently
carried on in the psychological laboratory
| of Columbia University, which have
! brought out number of facts relating TO
| their intelligence and reasoning powers
| The method of procedure was to place the
animal when hungry in a closed box
| which may be opened by the operation of
| some simple device. The first result is
that the animal instinctively tries to find
an opening to squeeze through or bites
and scratches at the walls of the box If