The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-30
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

princess, who had died when a child,
three centuries before the Christian era.
When the wrappings We're unfolded from
the body the baby fingers still clasped the
doll.
Heavy, single doors, such as are used
in the United States are practically IN
known in Mexican houses, either at en-
frances or between interior rooms. All
doors open in the middle, and are fastened
with bolts top and bottom. Exterior doors
are always fitted with glass panels, for
they also serve as windows. All such
doors opening on the street or open court
are fitted with solid shutters that are
folded at the sides out of sight when not
in use.
-Marconis wireless telegraphy has been
so far perfected that he claims to be able
to send signals from ship to ship. or be-
tween Ship and shore, at a distance of at
least twelve miles, says an exchange. 1t
appears 10 be better adapted to service
at sea than on land, and this, If confirmed.
will be one of its chief merits, as it
viii enable ships to communicate with a
telegraph station while lying off the beach,
and also to locate the land or each other
in fog, as the apparatus cas- be sent TO
give warning on coming within range of
another instrument. If the device fulflls
great value in war, and still greater in
peace.
In his manuel on road-making in Cuba
Gen. Roy Stone speaks highly of the
guava tree or bush, which grows in lux
urious abundance throughout the island.
He gives diagrams by which this is to be
cut and the boughs bound upward, making
a compact roll about the size of small
log. These guava bundles, known as
fascines, are laid lengthwise, one row If
bundles tapping over another like shin
giles. There are successive layers of this,
bound together, making a serviceable road
way, strong enough for troops and even
for field ordnance While these bush
roads might seem insecure, they are, at
matter of fact, more solid than an ordi-
nary corduroy road, the bundles of bushes
being crowded together with crowbars UNI
til they lie with the solidity of baled hay.
Thirty languages were heard at the
polyglot conference given last January by
all the pupils of the propaganda at Rome
in honor of the siXtieth anniversary of the
Pope's first mass, says Tid-B The pro-
ceedinGs were opened by an English priest
who read an address in Italian explaining
that a polyglot conference formerly took
place every year at the propaganda during
the octave of Epiphany, and that it had
mony during the present year. Recita-
tons were then given in Hebrew, Chaldaic
Syriac, Arabic, Coptic, Armenian, Chinese
Maiabaree, Hindustani, Persian Turkish
Zulu apd katfir, being followed by others
in French, English, German, Polish, Por-
tuguese, ancient and modern Greek, Latin
and Italian, Gaelic. Slav, Albanese, Dutch.
Roumanian, Norwegian and Hungarian
The German papers call attention to
the fact that he German language is be-
ing less and less used in the German and
French cantons of Switzerland. One rea-
son for this is the fact that it is consider
ed more aristocratic throughout Switzer-
land to speak French than German. But
another reason is found in the great in
t1uX of French workmen on the Jura-
Simplon Railway, due to the fact that
French-Swiss influences succeeded in fore
ing AIarli, the Berne statesman and ad-
vocate of the line, out of the management
and transferring the headquarters from
the German city of Berne to the French
city of Lausanne. Complaint is also made
by German newspapers that in the maps
of the road French names of towns are
substituted for German. such as Bienne,
Douanne, Gleresse Melville, etc. for Biel,
Twann, Ligerz, Neuenstadt, etc.
The latest Improvement in optical in
struments is a gauge attached to field
glass and a prismatic lens in one
of the barrels to determine the
distance of an object, says the
Jewellers Weekly. This is accom-
plished by producing two images of the
object seen, one superimposed upon the
other. The prism creates the angle which
forms the basis for the mathematical cal
culation of the distance, and the scale
contains the solution in advance of the
geometrical problem On the barrels of
the glass are human fgureS-one Of an in
fantryman and the other of a cavalryman
with a graduated scale. BY observing
the portion of the body against which the
top of the second image is projected and
consulting the scale the distance of The
object is easily ascertained. OF course,
the accuracy of the test depends upon ac-
curate focusing of the glasses and careful
observation.
The large proportion of blind people in
Spain has attracted attention since the
beginning of the present century. The sub
Ject Is again brought up by an article by
Privy Councillor Hirschberg in the Ger
man Medical Weekly, giving the results of
his recent observation in Spain, where he
attended the hygenic congress. He saws
the streets Of Madrid swarm with blind
beggars; the further south he went the
more blind he met. The proportion in
CR@Aiif
to 10000, against to in Germany. France
and England, but that figure is considered
undoubtedly false by continental author
tiles. More recent figures give 14S. The
chief causes of blindness in Spain is in
Illumination of the eyes in infants, granu-
lation and smallpox. The widespread ia
talistic attitude of the sick, the lack of
governmental oversight and the small at
tention paid to disease of the eye operate
to Increase the number of the blind in
Spain. There is not a single public eye
hospital in Spain, according to DR.. Hirsch-
berg; only wards in general hospitals, and
private institutions. instruction in dis
eases of The eye Is neglected in medical
schools though there is hope that the new
medical faculty in Barcelona, which has
been organized within two years, may
work an improvement in ophthalmology IN
Spain
Church conditions among the people of
the Philippine Islands are not ideal. saws
the st. Louis Globe Democrat. spain
which demoralizes everything she touches,
has used the Roman Catholic Church there
for political ends. and many priests are
VIGOROUSLY far from what they ought TO
be as spiritual advisers and also as men
BY the law of the islands everybody is
Roman CathDlic No otbor ob,,.aA