The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

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| within 200 years. More brunettes than
| blondes find husbands. The ratio is such
| that the descendants are becoming darker
in complexion.
The inhabitants'of the lonely isle of st.
Kilda were astonished one winter not long
| ago at the appearance of the great blood
| red, conical object floating on the wild
| Atlantic pillows to the westward of the
| isle, says Household Words. With much
difficulty the derelict was brought to
| SHORE and as the ST. Kildans had never
before seen such queer looking thing
| ana could make no guess to its pur-
| poses or place in the scale of created
| things, they INDUCED in wild visions OF
| IT'S valuable nature But when the factor
came across on his yearly visit from the
| neighboring but distant island of Great
| Britain, he identified it as a great iron
| buoy, which, it subsequently, appeared
| had broken away from it's mornings in
| New York harbor and drifted in the Gulf
| stream across the Atlantic. 1t had taken
| two years in it's passage.
The portable searchlights which have
been dispatched to Cuba with the army of
Gen. Shafter will be of great value for di-
| recting the aim of the heavy guns by
| night for gathering the dead and the
| wounded left on the battlefelds at night.
| ana for many other purposes, but eXpe-
| rlence shows that no great reliance could
| be placed on their use for signaling Eur-
poses In 1895 the searchlight of the
| United States steamship Maine was loan
ed by the navy department to the weather
| bureau for temporary use in Chicago, IN
| experiments designed to test the efficiency
of such means of distributing warnings
| OF coming important wea Their changes. The
| light, which had a lens of 30 inches diam
| eter, and candlepower of about 100000,
| was erected at an elevation of go feet
| above the level of the street. 1t was used
| but once In giving a warning of coming
cold wave, the light being slowly revolved
| at the rate of one revolution in five min
utes. Although the night was dark and
| cloudy, the signal was seen twenty miles
| off, but it was finally determined that
| searchlight signaling was too much de-
| pendent for its efficiency on faVor1 ole
weather conditions to become generally
| practicable
| "A study of paper making, with a view
of ascertaining the relative durability OF
different kinds of paper, has been made by
| the English Society of Arts says the st.
| Louis Globe-Democrat The society finds
| that while papers have come down to
us from the naiddle ages in a perfect con-
| dition of preservation, on the other hand,
| there are many instances of the total de-
| struction of books produced within quite
| recent years. The trouble with modern
| DOCKS seems 10 De tndI CNey become ulS-
| colored and distntegrate; and both these
| faults are caused by the way the wood
I pulp is treated. There is a chemical
| change Of the fiber. Although a large
| proportion of the books now being print
| ed will have become useless before the
| middle of the next century, there is no
| reason why durable volumes should not
| be produced where sufficient care is taken.
| The Society of Arts tells how this can
| be accomplished. a Book paper should
be sized with a minimum quantity Of rosin;
| (2) the presence of starch is objectiona-
| Bile; 90 care must be taken that paper
| should contain a minimum of chlor1des,
| a. 10 per cent. of total mineral constiu-
ents is the outside of what can be allowed
in papers for publications of permanent
| value; and 90 a close and well-compacted
sheet Is especially necessary for printing
papers. For book papers for publications
| of permanent value, not less than 20 per
| cent. of cotton, fax or hemp should be
used; not more than per cent. Of rosin,
| and not more than 10 per cent total min
eral matter.
I'm time leap year will go out of exist
ence entirely" explained an almanac COM
puter, to the Washington star, but
as it will not occur for over 800
years, we haven't much personal interest
| in the event. In the ordinary course of
events 1900 would be leap year, but it will
| gel ret III the CdlCuldtlOD.a III OhbSi
| words, while it does occur, il does not oc-
cur, simply because it is not in the agree
| ment that it shall occur. The story is q
long one, but 1t can be briefly told, so that
| the average person can understand il
| without much difficulty. In 1882, in the ar
| rangement of the Julian calendar, ten days
were dropped so as to get things running
on the then new, but the present basis of
| calculating time. So as to keep things
| running right ii was determined that
year ending a century should not be bis
seXtile, except every fourth century. Thus
| there was no leap year in 1900, 1850 1900.
1t is, or at least, was, rather rough on the
| ladies, who have a special advantage in
leap year, for it is the only year that it
| is proper for them to propose themselves
in marriage, but as it has always been so
in matters affecting womankind, men al
| ways find reasons for restricting their
privileges. The ladies get left again in
| 1900, but though there will not be many of
| those who see 1900 who will see 1000 the
latter year ending a fourth century, will
be a leap year. In this way three days are
retrenched in four centuries, and the re-
| naming seven days will be made up in
| little over 800 years. After that calendar
years will be like solar years and future
errors in the calculation of time will occur
no more. The loss of leap years will in
| thousands of years affect the seasons, but
| / suppose the mathemaJcians of The CEN
| lures HeuCS VIII ne 50 mp III ndnuilng nS-
| ures and making calculations that they
win have no difficulty in keeping things
going correctly.
Jules Lemaitre, most accomplished
classical scholar, of exceptional attain
ments In his knowledge of Latin has re-
Gently written two articles in the Paris FL
caro- setting forth al length his view that
the study of Latin Is a waste of time, says
| the Portland Oregonian. Lemaitre, who
stands in the front rank of Frenchmen of
| superior literary power, says that he owes
the formation of his heart and mind to the
| Bible, to Montague, Pascal, Rousseau,
| Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Michelet
Sainte Beuve, Tame and Renan. He con-
fesses that he is ignorant of the English
| language. spoken by one-half the world
and his German is simply pitiable Lemai-
tire grants that the study of dead Ian
guages is useful as an exercise of the mind