The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-04-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


length of the life of fish, it is said that
the ordinary carp if not interfered with,
would live about 500 years. The ordinary
goldfish has also been known 10 live over
100 years.
The symptoms of sunstroke are known
to occur without any necessarys connec-
zion with the rays of the sun or high
| Temperatures, but a somewhat novel view
of the cause of the malady has been
taken by DIR. Sambon, an Italian physician,
who believes the cause to be a specific
| germ. According to Dr. Sambon, "the spe
cific organism of siriasis (sisiasis or Their
mic fever is so called from connection
which is believed by certain people 10 ex-
LIST between Sirius the dog star and sun
stroke) "is probably spread in the super
fetal layers of the solid like other patho-
genie micro-organisms, and may be con-
veyed to man with dust blown by the
| wind or thrown up under the tread of
marching column. 1t is then inhaled into
| the lungs or ingested into the alimentary
| canal, where il produces the virulent toxin
which probably as in cholera, becomes
absorbed and sets up the symptoms of the
disease
An experiment made last summer on
Staten Island demonstrated so well the
feasibility of destroying mosquitoes by
| the use of oil that 1t is to be repeated
this year on a scale which is expected
to keep large section of the island COM
| pletely free from the pests, says the Phil
| adelphia Ledger. If this can be done in
one place. why not in another? 1t is a
very simple and by no means a costly pro-
| cess. 1t is merely to cover the stagnanl
| water in the affected locality with coal
| oil. Crude oil or waste stuff will do, the
| only requirement being that it shall form
a scum on the surface of the pool, which
| will prevent the eggs of the mosquitoes,
which are always laid in stagnant water,
| from Matching. The odor of the oil is not
agreeable, but most persons would choose
| it in preference TO. the buzzing and biting
of the insects; and besides in most cases,
| the water is at such distance from dwell
| ings that the odor would not reach them.
| What makes the scheme still more feasible
| is the fact that, unless carried by a
| strong breeze, mosquitoes seldom go more
| than a few hundred feet from the place
| where they were Matched, so that a mere
ly local application of oil will give i'm
munity to that locality, whether other To-
| cations join in TO make the work general
or not.
Peter the Great hated Moscow, and.
above all, that stronghold of oriental in
| trigue and moral darkness, the Kremlin,
says writer in the Louisville Courier
Journal. If l remember right he never
| Inhabited the palace within its walls after
| he was a child. The old palace is a net
| work of incredibly small, low, ill-ventilated
| rooms, some little bigger than closets,
painted in green's blues. and reds. after
| the Swedish fashion; rooms which seem,
| even to-day, to reek of plots, intrigue and
murder. Napoleon, always trif1e theatre
| cal, insisted on sleeping in the bed of Peter
the Great when he occupied the Kremlin
in 1872. The bed of the boy Peter fitted the
hero of Austerlitz to a nicely 1t is a
| very abbreviated couch. In the very heart
| of this oriental palace, with no window
| which gives on the outer day and the
open air, Is the terem, or womens quar-
tiers. The terem was. to all intents and
| purposes, harem. The ladies, even the
Czartiza and the sisters of the Car, were
| only permitted to look down into the han
| OF coronation through a carved wooden
lattice, just as ladies do in every harem
IN the East. They received no men ex-
cept their husbands and brothers. and
| when they went out 1t was in curtained
litter. When Peter mounted the throne
| or the Cars the women of Russia were
| orlentals, imprisoned far more vigorously
than the ladies' of Constantinople to-day.
"A curious Illustration of the novOar %
light matter to perforate more substantial
| substances when driven at a high veloci
! " IS stated by the Engineer" as quoted
| by Nature ito have occurred in the royaI
arsenal few days ago. In the course of
| experiments on firing gas in mines. con-
| quoted by Capt. Cooper Key r. A.. under
the nome office, special gun is employed
10 90 duty for borehole with a charge
OF nigh explosive, and pressed cylinders
or raw dry clay three inches long and
| one and seven-eighths inches in diameter
| are USED to represent tamping These
| sHots are made to act in various mix
| lures of air, coal-dust, gas etc. and to
| stop the course of plug, etc; eventually.
a cast-iron target-plate, one inch thick
was placed % feet in front, at an angle If
| 20 degrees, in order to break up every
| thing into dust and throw it upward AZ
| ter three or four shots with this arrange
| ment the clay plug weighing seven and
| one-half ounces, perforated the inch iron
| plate, and the hole thus made has been
steadily extended since. The familiar
tallow candle passing through a door must
moe IT'S head before seven and one-half
ounce plug of clay perforatinE an iron
plate an inch thick at an angle of AZ de-
srees. Doubtless the velocity must he
tremendous. 1t is pointed out that the
| velocity for hard cylinder of this weight
| and size to cut through an inch Of
! wrought iron at As degrees would be over
| l'SOO foot-seconds. With cast iron and CLAW
anu IiS three or Tour repeated blows eY-
erything Is so greatly altered that there
is little more to be said than that the
effect is remarkable and unexpected"
Great pride is taken by the Russians
in the ingenious devices by which travel
on their new Siberian railway will be made
comfortable, says the New York Times
Judging from their enthusiastic descrin-
tons OF the train that is to run from ST
Petersburg to Tomsk in six DAYS twice
a month, il is not ingenuity they have
shown but wisdom-the wisdom of adont-
ing expedients long familiar in America
but which Western Europe mas been
strangely slow to copy. 1t was on April
l that what is called This remarkable
train" first steamed out of the Moscow
railway station at st. Petersburg. "The
cars, declares an enthusiastic correspond |
ent ARE built on the most approved prin- |
eiples, and no shaking or rolling is felt |
while the train is in motion; they are
connected by 'harmonica' platforms end
1t is thus possible to pass from one waeon |
to another without the slightest danger |
or inconvenience. The whole train is /
lighted by electricity and heated h., $500 |