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


! silver sides, instead of the true salmon.
So great has been the slaughter of these
| fish in the Columbia river in recent years
that there is a genuine scarcity now,
and artificial propagation on an enormous
scale will be necessary to prevent com
plete determination.
"A fac simile of the recently discovered
poem of Sappho. unearthed by Messrs.
Grenfell and Hunt in a mass of papyri
FOUND near Alexandria, has been publish
ed, says the London Spectator. The frag-
ment which is in the Sapphic meter end
in the Aeolic dialect, is addressed by the
poetess TO her brother Charaxus, and while
expressing her ardent desire for his safe
return TO Lesbos Sappho reproaches him
for the discredit he has brought upon his
name and fame. The episode thus referred
10 is identified by scholars with Charaxus'
liaison with an Egyptian slave, which led
to permanent eStrangement between
him and his sister. There is something
almost humorous in the assumption by
Sappho Of the role of Mrs. Grundy, hut
we believe it to be the case that the as
PERSONS of her character are all the pro-
duct of later age. Nearly all that is
certain about her is that she was the cen
ter and leading spirit of a coterie of
emancipated literary women in Mitylene.
I made bold to say to Doctor Nanseu
that thousands upon thousands of men
who were not specially interested in Arc
tic work had read his book with delight
says a writer in the Chicago Times-lIer-
aid, and that to me the marvel was not
that he could do what he did in the field,
but that he could write such a book about
mis- experiences THE best thing in it, to
my notion, I said, sis you description
of your dramatic meeting with Jackson
on Franz Josef Land, and the best part
of that was you reference to the manner
in which the wild mans sharpened senses
discovered the fragment of the soap which
the civilized European had used in his
morning additions" at is really true"
replied Doctor Nansen, that I could
smell that soap as plainly if it had
been a strong perfume. johnson noted
the same thing when ne came up. In
fact for several days our sense of smell
was most wonderfully acute. As I APP
preached Jackson's hut l thought l could
smell everything it contained and give
sort Of inventory of its stores without
seeing them. In a day or two this acute
ness wore off, and we became normal in
that as well as in other respects. But 1
wonder, If a man were to live wild for
few years, if his sense of smell would not
become as keen as that of an animal
While universally used by the ancients,
the form of the bow varied with different
nations says writer in Lippincotts. The
D
| c, and the bow of the Tartars-descend-
| ants of the Scythians-stin keeps that
! shape. The Greek bow was not more than
| three or four feet in length, but so stout
! and stiff that it required considerable
| strength and skill to use it. 1t is said
| thai the first Greek bows were made from
| the horns of a species of goat, the bases
| being united by means of a metallic band.
| Afterwards other material was used In
| their manufacture, but they still retained
! their original shape These bows were too
| short to be of much use, and, COMPARE
| lively speaking, but a small portion of the
| troops We're armed with them. The Ro-
| mans carried the bow to Britain, where
| it at once obtained favor and during the
! Middle Ages was extensively used, form
| ing an important element of the armies
| of that period. The English archers were
! said to be the finest in the world, and
| their skill decided the battles of Crecy,
| Poiters and Agincourt. The bows used
| were of two kinds, the long bow and the
/ arbalest or cross-bo The arbalest was
! made of steel or horn, and was of such
| strength and stiffness that it was necessa-
! ~ to use some mechanical appliance to
bend it and adjust the string. The arbal-
| estiers carried a culver with fifty arrows,
| and were placed in the van of the battle.
How is a looking-glass made?" was
the question recently put by a writer for
| the Washington Star, to a large manu-
| facturer of mirrors in New Y Ork. well"
! repiltd the manufacturer, most of the
/ glass used in this trade is prepared for
! us at the moulding factory and we merely
cut bevel and silver it in our works. All
/ the beVels are cut in the same way, first
with sand and water. then on an emery
wheel, and afterward put through several
! processes to bring back the polish. Great
! improvements have been made in this line
of business in the last sixteen years. For
merly it took two or three days from the
! time work was begun on a mirror before II
could be finished. Nowadays, we can set
| the glass in the morning and make it into
| a looking-glass perfectly finished and
ready for sale before night. We make
| all sizes, from the smallest hand glass
of two by four inches to a mirror ten
! by twenty feet or even larger, and we
! have a capacity of turning out 5000 feet
a day. Not many years ago the backs OF
| mirrors were coated with mercury, now
| sheets of pure silver are used instead The
/ old looking-glass reflected sixty or sixty
| five per cent. of the light that fell upon it,
| the modern mirror reflects nearly ninety
five per cent. The mercury looking glass
was very liable to rub off; heat and cold
| also affected it; the quicksilver would
| crack or melt, and thus the beauty of the
| glass would be spoiled. None of these
| dangers threaten the silvered mirror. Be
| sides mirrors, those engaged in this line
|
| glass for doors and windows. In fine build
ings this is largely taking the place Of
| stained glass"
The German drug store is always a
mystery to the American when he first
| becomes one of its customers, says the
| New York Sun. 1t is not nearly so COM
| prehensve as the American institution of
/ the same kind. The apothecarys depart
| ment, which is only one feature of the
/ \ Ir1U CT &c On md liant
! establishment in Germany, and is devoted
10 the filing of prescriptions and the du-
| ties of the apothecary. The "droguerie,"
| quite a separate place, provides half the
articles customarily found here in the drug
store 1t is to the droguerie that one must
| go for soap, toothbTushes, drugs in the
| pure, and all of the articles not dealt in
| by the apothecary. The division may be
convenient one after the mysteries nave
| been mastered. but Il is confusing at first.
Another popularity of the apothecaries is
| that most of them have names displayed.
/ rlaf I.fa