The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-10
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Not including the war of secession nor
the Spanish war the United States has
waged four separate conflicts with for
| eign countries; the war with Great Brit
ain, the war with the Algerine and Trip
olitan pirates from 1901 TO 1904, the war of
| 1872 and the Mexican war Of 1915. There
was a fifth war with France in 1900,
which, however, lasted but a few weeks.
and, although naval operations were ac-
| tive for short time, an open declaration
and conflict were prevented by negotia-
| tons between the two countries. Conflicts
| with the Indians of this country have new
| er been recognized as wars but were
treated as outbreaks or Instructions by
the wards of the government against its
authority
The Russian cotton industry is now in
so hourishing condition that 1t has not
only almost driven foreign productions
| from the enormous interior market, but
| the expectation OF its manufactured ar
| ticles to foreign countries is also constant
/ ~ on the increase. While Russia number
| ed 10000 splndles in 1873 each of which
| furnished annually one pood of spun goods,
| the number at present is 100000, each of
which supplies more than double that
weight The imported raw cotton is being
| gradually replaced by Russian cotton, and
already one-fourth of the quantity WORKED
up is derived from Central Asia and eau
| casia. The Russian cotton, grown from
| American seed is said 10 equal the Ameri
| can both as regards the length and
strength of the staple, and is quoted on
| Change at as high price as the latter.
| The aggregate quantity of cotton now
used in the Russian factories amounts to
| y 10000 pools, about one-tenth of the
whole quantity used in Europe and Ameri-
| ca.
Sir William Crookes, F. R. s., showed
that various gems and minerals glow with
a beautiful tinted phosphorescence in the
| cathode rays" of his vacuum tubes, and
| NJ Leconteur, with Mr.. A. c. Cossor, has
| applied this fact to the examination of
! precious stones and minerals of uncertain
| constitution. A large number of gems of
various kinds, shown under the rays were
| quite altered in color by the phosphOres-
| cence From large Burmese rubes, for ex-
! ample weighing twenty-five and a half
| carats, gloWed a fiery red. Singalese rubies
were easily told from Siamese by the phos-
| phorescence. Diamonds became a light
! blue or green; moonstone cleaned like
moonlight just after the rays We're with
! drawn from il; American dolomite was
| red; tunstate of calcium a turquois blue,
! sea shells of rich golden
yellow and light blue, and
| so on. Questionable stones can thus
! be tested without injury to the gem. More
over the method is applcabl to toxicol-
| ogy in the case of alkaloids, and will be
useful in medical jurisprudence.
| "A French surgeon has invented an in
strument for searching the brain-a device
! by which, as he claims, he can reveal to a
| demi-millimeter the exact location of a
| ball in the brain. According to this meth
| Cd, two photographic proofs are taken of
| the head a different times; inside the head
/ fe hon H.
| termined by geometrical construction and
! by its relation to three fixed points or
| guiding marks traced on the face of the
| wounded man, and then, by means of
| small movable arms jutting forward or
! outward, the ends of which come together,
| the relative positions of the three fixed
| points and the ball are determined The
| four extremities of these movable arms
| are then attached to a compass, and the
| latter, thus set, is placed on the head of
| the patient and adjusted to the three guide
/ marks on his face. AS the extremity of
| the fourth arm comedies exactly with the
center of the ball, it is then only necessary
for the purpose of extraction to follow the
direction of the arm and penetrate to the
| depth indicated by its length. NJ. Contre-
| moulins, the ingenious inventor in this
case, claims superiority for this device
over all others for the purpose.
The Railroad Gazette translates from
a German publication, of high character
and unpronouncable name, the railroad sta
! tistics of the world which that publication
| annually collects and collates. 1t appears
| that the railways of all countries gained
| but Iii miles In 1897, or less than has been
| built in this country, in one or more in
! stances, in single year. Adding the lii
to the worlds total mileage of 445,064 at
! the end of 1886, we have a total of 446 175
| miles, enough TO reach around the globe
/ almost nineteen times. OF this aggregate
| the United States had 1S2 746 miles, or
! about Al per cent, but our rate of increase
! from 1892 to 1886 was but AZ per cent. or
| less than that of any other great coun-
| try. This was due to previous oVerbuiIding
which we carried to a most injurious ex-
! cess, Investing hundreds of millions In
| roads that have gone into bankruptcy and
| many of which will never pay a cent to
| those who furnished most of the money for
| their construction. Germany, France, Rus
/ STA, and India have been the great fields of
railway building in the past two or three
| years. In 1896 France and Germany each
| added to its system 585 miles, Russia SIS
and India O7 But Russia exceeded that
| limit very far in 1897 and will surpass her
! highest record in 1885
1t is the popular belief that the fight
of birds is much swifter than that of the
| insects. but number of naturalists who
| have been making a study of the matter
think that such is not the case, says an
exchange. A common house fly, for ex-
ample, is not very rapid in it's flight. but
it's wings make 800 beats a second, and
send it through the air twenty-five feet
| under ordinary circumstances, in that
I space of time. When the insect is alarmed
however, 1t has been found that il can
increase its rate of speed to over $50 feet
per second. If it could continue such rapid
flight for mile in a straight line it would
cover that distance in exactly thirty-three
| seconds. 1t is not an uncommon thing
when travelling by rail in the summer time
to see bee or wasp keeping up with the
train and trying to get in al one of the
windows swallow is considered one of
the swiftest of flying birds, and it was
thought until short time ago that no
insect could escape it. A naturalist tells
of an exciting chase he saw between
swallow and a dragon fly, which is among
the swiftest of insects. The insect flew
with incredible speed. and wheeled and
lodged with such ease that the swallow.
despite It's utmost efforts, completely fail
ed to OVpTt8kh and "a rTuro