The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Dispatch, we gave the composition OF
man from the chemists standpoint. Be
hold, here is the composition of DIa-Butsu,
a japanese god, who has held forth a ha-
mal1ura, Jana, for p centuries past and IS
still therei Da-Rutsu stands 60 feet tai
and weighs ABOUT Leo 90 pounds all told,
made up in the following proportions:
Gold.5O5; tin, 6,9z7; mercury, 1854; copper,
9S6.0S0. This idol holds the honor Of being
the largest in existence. His eyes-Queer-
looking things-are feet inches long.ano
his ears 81 feet. Dia-Butsu is the central
figure of a erouD of Is smaller idols, VINO
perch upon his shoulders and head, each Of
which measures feet.
Recent tests of 5427 gas meters at syr-
acuse, n. Y, showed that LIZA ran from l
to IS per cent fast; 3,O35 from to g per
cent. slow; GIG We're classed as correct,
showing less than per cent varia ton; 6l6
failed TO register, and l would not pass
gas Most Of the meters running either
fast or slow showed variations of 5 per
cent. or less. and only 81 meters out of /, IA
ran more than per cent. fast. The aver
age excess of registration for all the fast
meters was 2la per cent, end for the slow
334 per cent. The tests We're made by Mr..
7. Littlehales Of Syracuse, vino stat es that
in all his previous experience he had
scarcely ever found a meter running over
Syracuse he attributes largely to the use
OF Old meters of a defective type
Christmas day. 1860. was dreadful day
in England, says the Pitrburg Dispatch. in
the way of cold weather nothing like it
was ever known before on the island. over
the signature of one of the leading meteor
ologists of the day the London Times
printed the following statement: This
morning the temperature at four feet
above the ground was 8 degrees below zero
and on the grass 1873 below zero, or 45.S of
frost" Another writer says he had Just
seen a horse pass with icicles a his nose
three inches in length and as thick as
three fingers" Compared with some of the
winter weather we have in the northwest
the temperatures given above are trifing,
bur such as they are they are extremely
severe for England. Years were required
for the trees TO recover from the damage
inflicted by this blighting cold.
Writing of how to select a pipe
the London Telegraph says. a
soft clay is invariably cool smoking.
because the acrid oils obtained on the de-
structive distillation of the tobacco are alb
sorbed instead of collecting in a little pool,
which must eventually, either by the vola-
tilization or by mechanical conveyance,
reach the mouth. An old wooden pipe or
brier, so dear to invaterate smokers, be-
comes smooth smoking" because
the pores of the wood widen
and so absorb, as is the
case with clay and meerschaum. a large
proportion of the tobacco oils A hook
shaped pipe must be better than pipe the
bowl of which is on the same level as the
mouth, for the simple reason that in the
former a considerable quantity of the oil
is kept back in the U-shaped part of the
y lot 1cf
ly down the stem. Ebonite stems are in
general Objectionable, because they COM
monty spoil the true flavor of the tobacco
smoke. We know instances where ebonite
stems have produced distinctly objection
able symptoms in the throat Bone or real
amber makes a much more satisfactory
stem, or the pipe should be of wood
throughout Amber substitutes, and es-
pecially celluloid, should be discarded en-
tirely as dangerous. Pipes of special con-
Struction cannot be regarded with much
favor such as those which are said to be
hygienic, and usually contain a so-caned
nicotine absorber. Those smokers who re-
quire such auxiliary attachments had
better not smoke at all.
Egyptian mummies are being cruelty
malheated. according to Mrs. Elise Braun,
a Theosophist, and pastor of the Progress
sive Spiritual church of St. Paul, says the
New York Tribune Referring to some
mummies in Minneapolis, she says: IF
those poor things were on sale, and l only
had money enough, | would purchase them
ana end their sufferings by incineration.
The lowest astral form of life still exists
in these poor old 'physicals, and as a
result they have been suffering for thous-
ands OF years. The lowest astral does not
leave the body of flesh and blood until il
fo
condition-dust. When a physical is en-
banned disintegratiOn is prevented and
the astral cannot take its fight For
this reason alone 1 believe the practice of
embaln1ing is a relic of barbarism." De
scribing the transition of the divine spark
the L am'-from the physical to the be-
yond-in other words, the death bed-ATrs.
Braun says that astral forms often left
the physical with the greatest reluctance.
Consequently the body frequently took on
the semblance OF death while life vel re-
manned. For this reason she advises all
people not 10 allow the burial of a loved
one until the fourth day after the sun
posed death-or until decomposition had
set in. As an instance, she cited the case
OF man buried when death was thought
to have interviewed who had endured IN
tod agonies in his grave for thirty wears.
The astrals had not deserted the physical
The only proper way to set the psvchic
IIeS from the DOdy as soon as death has
actually been ascertained is by cremation.
The science of navigation has failed to
develop any continuance to overcome the
perils of fog at sea, writes W. E. Curtis
in the Chicago Record. Steamers blow
their whistles at intervals as a warning
to each other. On the coasts they have
fog horns planted at high places and whis-
ting buoys and tolling bells floating on the
surface OF the water. Sailing ships use
heaVy bells that can be heard afar off
ana advise the masters of other ships Of
the necessity of caution, but the great dir
hculty that always has been found ana
sun exists is to locate the source Of a fog
signal There is something deceptive in a
sound that had passed through a thick at
mosphere. The vibrations may be car
ried long distance but the ear is ant
10 be deceived. They seem 10 come from
different directions. The captain OF a shin
in fog will stand with his mate upon
the bridge with his hand to his ear trving
TO locate signal from another vessel. and
nine times out of ten the two will disagree
n the direction