The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-31
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


with regard to the potato disease, that at
first he "thocht it was dispensation of Al
MIGHTY God, but now he believes il was an
insect"
king Oscar of Sweden and Norway fas
conferred the Order of Vasa on August Pc
! terson of Washington in recognition Of his
| services in founding colonies of his coun-
trymen in America.
Hail Columbia was written in 1898
by Joseph Hopkins u770-1sl2), vice presi-
dent of the American Philosophical Soci-
ETY., and president of the Pennsylvania
Academy of Fine Arts.
The new viceroy of India is a strong
| temperance reformer; in fact, until he
went TO the foreign Office. Lord Curzon
was actually on the executive of the
| Church of England Temperance Society
Most people will be surprised TO learn
| that the majority of flowers have no per
fume whatever. An Austrian chemist
! who has been making researches into the
! subject declared that out of 10 varieties
! known and cultivated in Europe, scarcely
! 400 have any odor; and of these nearly
| fifty have an odor which is, if anything
! disagreeable.
For many years porpoise leather has
been on the market High boots of por
! poise skin were in great favor 100 years
| ago, with the fishermen on the Atlantic
coast, and if the producers could put the
! raw porpoise skins on the market at
/ cheaper price everybody would have boots
| and shoes of it, as il is very plant and
the strongest leather made.
Great beds of white sand, said to have
all the qualities requisite for the manufac-
ture of glass, have been found about fifty
miles east of Saginaw, Mich, and speci-
mems are row being submitted 10 chemi-
cal analysis. Believing the deposit to be
valuable, the Flint and Pere Marquette
Railroad Company has bought the beds
and is now conducting experiments.
The estimated value of the SuFtans
jewels is $4,000, 600 If His Majesty has any
hobby at all it may be said to be the pur-
chasing of jewels and Witnessing private
theatricals. No professional of note-be he
actor, singer or conJuror-passes through
| Constantinople without an Invitation from
the Sultan. He always pays for these per
formances in Bank of England notes.
The wife of an English clergyman has
made a collection OF all the buttons placed
in the offertory bags during the last Two
or three years, and has fastened them to
| 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 will be on
sale at the exhibition.
The Venezuelan Herald announces
that the natives of Cucutta, on the from
tier Of Venezuela and Colombia, have dis
covered a cure for eephautasis in an herb
| called tuatua, or frailejOn. This dreadful
disease has hitherto been regarded as in
durable, and if there be any truth in the
report from Cucutta, which is vouched for
by priest, the information may prove of
great value to the medical world.
M. Auguste Chaveau finds that sugar
has more value than fat as an ingredient
of diet for man at work In fact, Is
parts by weight of sugar are equivalent
to 100 parts of fat. Sugar is not only bet
ert than fat because it supplies more heat
and energy to the person, but also be-
cause it promotes the assimilation of pro-
teids, or, to speak generally, because of
it's influence on the renewal and forma-
ton of the anatomical elements of the
body.
In the first four weeks after the open
ing of the electric railroad at Cairo, Egypt,
it is said that no less than eighty persons
were killed, and since that time the week
| ly average of victims is seven or eight.
This very high rate of casualties is sup
posed to be due in part to the imperfect
sight of many natives in consequence of
the prevalent eye diseases, but fully as
much is due, perhaps, TO the fact that
they are unfamiliar with such swift NOV
ing vehicles
-Sunfower seed, which is coming into
high estimation as a commercial product
is the object of a recent Corner" 1t is
a very popular food for parrots. Though
it is sometimes imported from Russia and
y Australia, the bulk of the crop comes
from the Western states, with Kansas in
the lead. The crop is very exhaustng to
the soil, and the stalks, which form nine
teen-twentieths of the bulk, have no com
mercial value. In several cases where
farmers have this year put in small lots
of the plants, they have done well with
them. 1t is believed that before long the
culture of the sunhower win be taken up
on a large scale by Eastern farmers. The
seed gives, when expressed, a beautiful
table oil, and the refuse is one of the best
foods known for poultry and stock, and
it is also used for human consumption as
a substitute for peanuts and candy
Solder, the first American paper published
in Manila: "TOndo. the suburb beyond
Binondo, is the dwelling place of the poor
er class OF natives, as in this quarter the
erection of huts of 'nipa' and bamboo is
permitted The ground as perfectly fat.
and as there is no system of drainage
all the fifth from the houses accumulates,
and pools of water form in the hollows
during the wet season. The result is that
when the dry season comes The fever
makes fearful ravages among these peo-
pie, The average death rate in Manila
is under ordinary conditions from egh-
teen to thirty a day, which for a city of
this size, nearly 100000 is very moderate
Under the present conditions of santa
ton the wonder is not that the people die
here, but that they five at an Ii seems
to prove that the climate is not of itself
very unhealthful.