The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-05
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Is attached 10 the rear part OF the frame
and has a piston-rod connected to a crank
set in the motor frame which turns a
sprocket wheel and transmits the power
to the rear wheel of the bicycle.
To prevent railroad cars running out
on the main track after being placed on
switch a steel bar is set across the rail in
a slanting position with the inner end
pivoted in a socket and the outer end fit
ted with loop to hold it in place over
the rail by means of pin and lock.
The Shah of Persia never drew sword
in war and probably never will, says the
Springfield Republican, but he is having
magnificent imperial blade manufacture
ed for him-and at Sheffield, too, for En-
glish craft in steel leads any Asiatic skill
of this degenerate day, except only that
of Japan. The blade of the shah's sword
is scimtar-shaped, double-edged, inlaid
with gold: its scabbard will be of royal
scarlet Persian leather, with mountings in
gold flagree, and an ivory hilt, inlaid with
gold arabesques and Inscriptions, while
its cross-bar is studded with precious
stones. Such things are the toys of pet
ty monarchs of to-day.
Some of our American authors claim
the halcyon days come in June, when the
air is filed with the scent OF flowers and
patch. They are right in thinking the
phrase expressive of q period of tranquil
ity and happiness, but are wrong in plac-
ing the time. The fact is we are now in the
very heart of the halcyon days, since, ac-
cording TO the ancients they came during
the seven days preceding and the seven
days following the shortest day of the
year. The old Grecian mariner believed
that at this period the kingfisher, or haly-
con bird as they called it, laid its eggs
in a nest floating on the surface of the sea,
and that during the time of incubation 14
days. the waves of the sea were always
calm.
A resident of Orlando, Fla, has sent
to the New York Times office a specimen
of what he calls "the new Florida pro-
duct-the velvet beam To the ineXpert,
unagricultural eve said product seems tr
be merely an almost black pod containing
five well-developed seeds in color brown,
carelessiy streaked with white. Why vel
vet or why wonderful does not appear to
the unassisted vision, but one sentence in
the accompanying letter convinces us that
this plant is indeed remarkable, though it
raises at the same time question as TO
the wisdom of granting our correspon-
dents request and urging an extensive cul
tivaton of his bean. That sentence runs
thus: THE Verbiage and vine coming
from this bean is marvel" So abundant
is verbiage in this world already, that
really there doesn't seem to be need
for any more of il, especially as the Flori-
da man expatiates on the nitrogen, pro-
teine, and oil which the bean produces
when ground up, instead of telling what it
says while growing However, we are
willing to take for granted the harmless
ness of this vegetables remarks, and to
give it here a little free advertising.
The Great Salt Lake of Utah. the Gal
lice of the vanishing Mormon, is seventy
miles long and fifty miles wide in its wild
est part, with q present maximum depth
of forty feet, though much of its area
does not exceed from twelve to twenty.
says the New York Tribune. Fifty years
ago, when the Norman first Jared thither
il was much deeper, exceeding 100 feet
in places, and its average being much
greater than present measurements show
Just now it is two feet lower than has
ever been known, and the local saVant
conjectures that it is gradually turning
into a body of fresh water. The theory
is supported by an examination of the
waters of numberless springs which used
to pour pure brine into the lake, the out
flow of many of them being now quite
fresh as if they had exhausted the under
ground deposits of salt of which they vera
formerly the solvent and carrying vehicle.
Still Of the lake in general, it may be
safely asserted that its salt will long out
last that of the doctrines which its pion
| Ger apostle promulgated along it's shores,
and though it occasionally shows as at
present, particularly low water mark it
is not going to dry up altogether for a
long time to come.
The water clock, otherwise the clep-
sydra, seems, unless the Psychologists find
something fresh in that land of incessant
discoveries from the most far mists of
| time to have been the first scientific effort
at noting the hours. says the London
| Standard. A good many people talk glib
ly about the clepsydra, who neither know
| its precise construction nor the nation who
| have the credit of constructing it. That
| belongs 20 the Assyrian, and as far back
| as at least over 300 years ago the clepsy-
| dra was used in Nineveh under the sway
of the second Sardanapalus 1t was a
| brass vessel of cylindrical shape, holding
| several gallons of water, which could only
| emerge through one tiny hole in the SIDE.
| Thus the trickling of the fluid marked
| a certain amount of time, and the water
was emptied about half a dozen times per
! diem. In Nineveh there was one at the
| palace, and one in each principal district.
| These were all filled by signal from a
! Waterman on a tower at the moment of
| sunrise, and each had an attendant whose
| business it was to refill the clepsydra as
| soon as 1t was emptied, the fact being an
| nounced by criers, much as in the last
! century the watchmen drowsily shouted
| the hours at night throughout the streets
| of London. Some five centuries later an
| anonymous genius made a great improve
| ment by inserting toothed wheels, which
| revolving turned two hands on a dial in
| clock-fashion, thus showing the progress
| of the time, which from one filling to
| emptying averaged two hours and half
In this shape the clepsydra, which was
| then chiefly procurabe in Egypt, became
| introduced to various other nations in
Guiding Rome. where it fourished with
various splendid embellishments until the
| end of the empire.
The Importance of ozone in purifying
the air is now generally recognized, and
many new plans for its generation are be-
| ing suggested. Among these is a Swedish
! invention based on the well-known prin-
/ ciple that phosphorus properly immersed
in diluted sulphuric acid with the addi-
| ton of a little permanganate of potash.
| develops the gas in question. This meth
| cd Is adapted for domestic use. where COM
| paratively small quantities of ozone, made
| at a slight cost, are needed. The phos-
| phorus is kept in the liquid In such way
| that its upper surface is hardly submerg-
| ed. Gradually, as the phosphorus is con-