The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

"A me OF SIosVyJ mas DSSn pdld 10 l4ie
London Goldsmiths Company by a Hol-
born dealer on whose premises antique
silver" of modern manufacture was found.
An eminent dealer in The trade says that
if the pubic is taken in by receptions of
that kind they have themselves to blame
for it, because respectable dealers who sell
az market prices invariably give certifi-
cate with the goods.
The wife of an English clergyman has
made collection of all the buttons placed
| in che offertory bags during the last two
or three years, and has fastened them
| 10 cardboard in various cunning shapes OF
animals, birds and flowers. As a bazaar
is shortly to take place in connection with
| the church she has had these button pic
lures photographed, and copies viii be on
sale a the exhibition.
The domain of Achileion in Corfu has
! been beQueathed by the Empress Eliza
| beth to her eldest daughter, the Arch
| duchess Gisela, wife of Prince Leopold
! of Bavaria. Achilleion is one of the most
magnificent royal residences in the world
and it is said that 10 O0OO 900 francs was ex-
/ pected by the Empress in building and
decorating the palace and in laying out
/ the beautiful grounds and gardens.
-Epicures in the East are developing a
taste for miniature specimens of the
earth's products. To supply the demand
in the larger cities for young vegetables,
such as the French consider the most del
icate and appetizing, the truck farmers
bring to market tiny potatoes, turnips, car
rots, cauufiower, and even heads of cab
bage' the size of a base bah. Such vege-
| tables are, il is said, more easily digest
ed, their fiber being tender and succulent,
instead of tough and often a woody ma
ture, as the growth arrives at manurity.
The annual statistics published by the
French ministry of agriculture indicate
that the consumption of the flesh of horses,
mules and donkeys is steadily increasing
in Paris. The number of stalls al which
it is offered for sale now reaches 1893. The
number of horses brought 20 the sham
bles for slaughter was 21,667, of mules 50
and of donkeys 80, but 734 horses, mule
| and donkeys were condemned as unfit
for human food so that the total killed
and consumed was 20 9S3 horses, 81 mules
and 303 donkeys. The prime cuts fetched
about franc pound, some of the infe-
rior parts making little more than 10 CEN
| times per pound.
The trolley car and the bicycle have
had similar effects. curious Indirect
result of the appearance of these two in
ventions has been definitely shown by a
discussion at a meeting of the American
| Hay Making Associati ton One of the top
les for discussion was THE Effect of the
| Bicycle and the Trolley Car Upon the Con-
sumption of Hay" One of the speakers
| gave the following estimates OF the num-
Der of horse displaced in eight large cities
! by the appearance and general use Of these
means of transportation; Philadelphia, 90
O0O; Chicago rs 600; New York. 10000; Bal
timore, z5,000; St Louis, 10000; Cincin-
natl, 10000; Richmond, Va, 25.O0O; Toledo
$4,000; total. 100000.
For some time past the drink question
has been exciting among thoughtful per-
sons in Belgium serious reflections, and
the figures collected by Jules LIE Jeune
administer of Justice, certainly justify
| them. The population of Belgium is still
less than 100000, although it win soon
| pass that tota., but it can boast of 1913 coo
wine and beer shops, or one for every
thirty-five persons, women and children
included The total drink bill of the coun-
| try is valued per annum at 100, 100000. This
| expenditure does not represent all the loss
to the country. To it have to be added
the loss of time, the deterioration in the
quality of the work and the absolute inca
pacity for work that follows in the train
of excessive drinking.
The Ural mountains, between Russia
and Asia, have been until now the only
source from which platinum has been pro-
| cured for the International market It's
| part formed over % per cent. in the univer-
sal production of that precious metal. A
small group of platinum mines, concen-
trated in the Verkhotursk district of the
government of Perm, includes about seven
| ty separate mines, OF which only forty
are being worked and the remaining thirty
are either inactive or under investga ton
| During 1897, the production of platinum
amounted to about six tons. No new veins
! of platinum have been discovered during
late years, and those now existing will
soon be exhausted
The halcyon days of poisoning were
those of the sixteenth and seventeenth cen
turtles. True in S31 b. c., large numbers
of Rome's upper ten were indicted for
using this means of divorce. True too
that a somewhat similar epidemic ravaged
| Hungary at a date almost recent. But the
days of dear old La Spara and La Toffania.
| remain unequaled STILL Indeed, the latter
| of these ladies is said to have caused 600
| deaths. Her faVorite prescription was a
! preparation of arsenic sold under the name
| of aqua Toffana." 1t worked very slow
| ly. The patient simply grew weaker and
weaker day by day, and finally died of
mere exhaustion" Then besides Spara
and Toffana, we have, in France. Nine
de Brinviliers of blessed memory, and
| wnsome romantic Lavoisin and Lavigo-
| reuX. The first of these were taught the
secret of succession powder by Stephen
! CroiX and successfully administered it to
| her father and brothers. The latter two
| in their character of midwves, carried
their dulcet medicines 10 high and low
nj rfFarr tl1a mil.
that in all stations of life married malcon-
| tents anxious to hasten the dissolution
of an irksome tie, or needy heirs desiring
to accelerate the departure of rich rela-
| lives had an equal opportunity to these
| benefits of nature.
"A recent accident to an Underground
electric railway in London, in which the
! passengers had to find their way out of
the tunnel as best they could, has excited
! fears that under some conditions such
mshap might befall an underground