The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-03-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

mic des Sciences, Paris, some time ago,
that cholesterine injected into the blood of
animals made them resist the venom Of
vipers. Doubts We're thrown on his re-
suits, because he had used cholesterine Of
animal origin. Since then he has repeat
ed his experiments with crystallized chol-
esterine extracted from carrots, and found
it as effective as that from animals. More
over he has obtained similar results with
crystallized tyrosine extracted from the
dahlia and even with the sap of the dahlia.
Efforts are being made to have Wolmer
Forest in England, turned into sanctu-
airy for wild birds. Since 1895 the Officers
Shooting Association of Aldershot has
taken over the game preservation of the
forest grounds, and all wild birds have
been studiously protected. A typical re-
suit of this has been that, instead of one
heron's nest a few years ago, there are
now twenty, and nearly fifty young herons
flew from the nests last year. The eff
forts of the association are, however, null
lifted to large extent by the destruction
Of protected birds whenever they emerge
on to the private lands surrounding the
forest
The Halford system of railroad con-
struction is much interesting English me-
chanic circles. The plan is one in which
gravity is the motive POWER and the cars
are always running down hill. This result
is achieved by making the permanent way
in sections. hinged together and at each
end supported on hydraulic rams AS the
train reaches the junction of two sections,
it puts the hydraulic machinery in action,
so that the ram rises, lifting the end of the
section, together with the cars that ere
upon it; the train thus has a decline, down
which it runs by its own weight and, as
the same process is repeated with eacn
section, it is practically always running
down a falling gradient, continuous,
though of varying steepness. The ly-
draulic power necessary in carrying out
this system is conveyed through a pipe
which is laid beneath the rails, and the
admission of water to the cylinders Of the
rams is controlled either by electrical
means from the cars themselves, or by the
weight of the train depressing the section
it is about to leave, and in this way ac-
tuating the supply valve.
while doing some work up in Eastern
Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia
about nine years ago. I saw a remarka-
BILE natural wonder" said an OLD civil en-
gineer in Louisville, KY, few days ago.
You have, of course, seen the chameleon,
that wonderful little lizard whose color
changes as do the views in a Kaleidoscope,
but l doubt If you ever saw a large
limestone rock that exhibited an infinite
variety of different colors with the COM
ing of every new season. Such a curiosi-
ty I viewed in the Kentucky mountains,
and I have never been able to satisfac-
torily explain the phenomenon. / first no
ticed the pinkish-looking limestone rock
while surveying a proposed railroad line
almost on top of the mountain near Cum
berland Gap, and asked one of the men
from the Virginia side what caused the
rock to have such an unsual color. He
said in hunting he had seen the rock yell
lowish, blue, brown, almost black; dark
red, nearly white and pink. He said he
didn't know what caused the rock to
change its color, but his father, an old
woodsman, had attributed it to the
changes in the weather. 1 was in the
neighborhood about three weeks. One
morning a week after had first noticed
the stone. and just after a hard rain,
went to look at it again, and found 1t was
dark brown. The next time 1 saw the
wonder its top was black almost all over,
and looked like it had been dyed, while
the sides were of a greenish hue"
The Corsican has no confidence in le-
gal justice, and generally takes the law
in his own hands, says an exchange. An
arises; what is easier than the discharge
of a gun or a stab with a dagger? The
result is a mock trial; the assassin is ac-
quilted because of insufficient evidence;
but he is often shot to death as he leaves
the court room. If not cross is gener-
ally drawn upon the door of his house The
cross is a threat of death, and the threat
ened one need expect no quarter. The ven
delta neither sleeps nor knows where it
rtn te~
viduals. The quarrels of individuals are
taken up by whole families. Even collat-
eral branches are not exempt and women
must take their chances with them In
deed, revenge is more artistically complete
when the blow falls upon the beautiful and
gifted. Threatened persons remain shut
up for months, or even years. in their
houses, built as all Corscan houses are
like a fortress. The ground floor is &C.
cupied by the stable, and the first floor is
reached by an external ladder, overlooked
by loophole, from which a cannon bah
or a heavy stone can be dropped on the
head of an unwelcone visitor. If the
voluntary prisoner wished to go out for a
moment to breathe the fresh air on the
threshold, scout goes before and recon-
noiters. And this death in life continues
until they meet their doom or the ven
delta is formally closed by written treaty
between the parties.
Ventilation, or rather the want of it,
must be a difficulty in the underground
life of almost all animals says the
London Spectator. The rabbit and the rat
secure a current of air by forming a
bolthole in connection with their system
of passages; but the fox, the badger, and
many of the field voles and mice seem in
different to any such precaution There
is no doubt that whatever gave the first
\ impulse to burrow, many animals look
upon this, to u.s. most unpleasant exer-
ton, as a form of actual amusement 1t
also confers right of property. Prairie
dogs constantly set to work to dig holes.
merely for the love of the thing. If they
cannot have suitable place to exercise
their talent in, they will gnaw into boxes
or chests of drawers, and there burrow.
to the great detriment of the clothes
therein contained. In an enclosed prairie
dog town" they have been known to
mine until the superintendent earth col
lapsed and buried the greater number. A
young prairie dog, let loose In a small
gravel-foored house, instantly dug a hole
large enough to sit in, turned round in
1t, and bit the first person who ATTEMPTED
to touch him. Property gave him cour-
age, for before he had been as meek as
q mouse. IL is noticea bla that +ba -.