The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-11-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

The number of suicides throughout The
world is said to be about 10000 yearly.
| The greatest number happen in June, the
| fewest in September, and nearly one-half
| between a. m. and noon.
"A crusade against American chewing
gum has set in in London, the health au-
thorities issuing a warning against it's use,
| and declaring that it is more dangerous
than the ice cream sold from the penny
carts.
An alcohol thermometer seventy feet in
length is now being put in place at Win
chester, Mass. 1t will be placed in a pit
of It's own depth and be used for scientific
measurements of the earths temperature.
1t Is constructed on the same principles as
smaller instruments.
In the earlier ages dancing was ad-
| vocated as a cure for sickness. Lycurgus
brought back from India and Egypt to
| Lacedemonia notions of medico-religious
| dances and enacted that the Spartan youth
| should be brought up gracefully and sym
metrcally. In Greece Socrates commended
! dancing with a view to educating the
! mind and body, for he looked on it as a
health-giving device.
The Swiss Alpine club, according to
the personal experience of the members
and many accounts of high mountain
| climbing in other countries, states that
mountain sickness" is due TO extraordi-
nary physical exertion under very unusual
conditions, rather than to rarened air The
unanimous opinion of the climbers is that
| their excursions are beneficial TO their
health.
| bA al ie 4
| to be the longest Underground telegraph
cable are taken from the Mechanical En-
| gineer: The cable is now being laid be-
tween London and Birmingham, the dis
| lance being 105 miles. 1t consists of rs
copper wires, each insulated with brown
paper The cable is lead encased, its fin
| ished diameter being two and one-half
| inches, and is drawn into three-inch iron
pipe laid about two and one-half feet be-
| low the surface of the ground. Sections
45O feet long are made up, connections be-
| tween the conductors being made by a
| small piece of copper tubing fitting neatly
| over the ends of the wire, which are SOL
| dered fast in place in it. At intervals of
| five miles the cable is brought up into a
| testing box, mounted on a cast iron pill
| lar. These pillars also contain apparatus
| for pumping chemically dried air into the
cable to dry out any moisture that might
| enter through an imperfection in the lead
casing. II is a pity that some of the main
telegraph lines between our great cities
are not laid In this substantial fashion
1t is safe to say that no blizzard" will
| ever interfere with the working of the
magnificent line described above.
How is it, asks the Marquise de Fonte-
noy, that no American tourists ever visit
the village of Washington, near Durham.
| s,, -.
lily from which George Washington is de-
scended. Although many may visit the
ancient city of Durham, none seem to be
aware of the fact that the village of
Washington is within an easy drive. The
founder of the family was a certain Will
lam de HEARTBURN, who, subsequently,
changing his territorial holdings from
HEARTBURN, near Stockton on-Tees, to a
place called Washington, eventually alter
ed his name to William of Washington
These Washingtons figured repeatedly in
the history of the county of Durham prior
to the year 400, and in the treasury of
! Durham Abbey are preserved documents
adorned with these seals. These seals
bear the Washington family arms, namely,
| red bars with three red mullets, star
shaped spurrowel above them on a silver
shield" The crest is a raven with wings
issuing out of a ducal coronet of gold. -
There is so much in these arms to sug-
gest the Stars and Stripes and spread eagle
| of the United States, as to lead to the i'm
+, preston that those on whom it devolved
| to choose the national emblem had in
mind the arms and the crest of the Wash
ingtons in accomplishing their task.
"A new telegraph instrument, known as
a Morse watch" has been put on the
market, says Electricity Outwardly it
looks like an ordinary timepiece but, in
| reality, it is a transmitter and receiving
| telegraph instrument, key and sound
| er, inclosed in an ordinary watch case.
| This type of instrument is known to the
| telegraph craft under the general title of
"secret sounder.'' The Morse watch is so
| constructed that the click of the instru-
| ment can be adjusted loud enough to be
heard in any part of a comparatively large
| room, or be adjusted to a point where the
| click is inaudible unless the instrument
| is held in contact with the ear. The Morse
| watch is accompanied with a suitable fiex-
ibie head band TO fasten the instrument in
place on the head over the ear, leaving
both hands free for transcribing messages
or other work. 1t also has very neat
| silk conducting cord, with specially de-
signed terminals so that the instrument
| can be conveniently and quickly attached
| to or disconnected from the ordinary in
| strument of a telegraph line. The en-
ployment of the are of telegraphing has so
far developed at the present time that the
| telegraph operator is found in one corner
| of many brokers' as we'll as newspaper
| offices, police stations, etc, and in sucn
| places it is desired to maintain for the
| transaction of other business as much
quiet as possible. The Morse watch Sc
| cures that end by permitting the telegraph
ing to go on TO all intents and purposes
| in perfest silence. Probably the most i'm
portant use, however that the Morse watch
will serve is in Connection with the mill
| tary telegraphs and all offices where ap-
| solute secrecy is one of the first require
| ments.
Since the question of domestic work