The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

fire in the morning. The roof was burning
briskly when an Evansville and Indanap-
oils passenger train happened along. The
engineer stopped the train, and the pas
sengers and trainmen carried water from
the tender and extinguished the flames.
An Alaska traveller recently described
some extraordinary phenomena connected
with a small lake, named Selawik. situat-
ed near the seacoast. Tides rise am fall
in the lake, perhaps on account of an I'M
foreground connection with the sea. AT the
bottom, he says, the water is salt, but on
the top there is layer of sweet water.
"A police raid on a slot machine joint
at Cincinnati resulted in an examination
of the machines and the discovery that
they were constructed with short decks
on the rollers. That is to say, instead
of a full deck of cards the roller lacked
several, making a reduction of the play
ers chances between 30 and 40 per cent.
-Seventy-eight snakes in one writing
mass were unearthed by men in the en-
ploy of the public works department of
New Bedford, Mass. the other day The
reptiles were about foot below the sur
face of the ground, and had gone into win
ter quarters. Near the same locality the
same men discovered a nest of twenty
snakes.
Petitions are being distributed in every
town along the Des Moines river which
contain a request to ask the state legis-
lature to make a vigorous attempt to buy
the dam across that stream at Bonaparte,
Ia, and to open up the Des Moines to the
fish, which are unable to pass the OBJ
structlon. Sportsmen, especially the dis
ciples of Izaak Walton, are anxious to
see the ObStrnCfiOp removed
Years ago, when one of the now burst
ed Wichita banks was running, it's officials
caused a certain money borrower to insure
his life and transfer the policy to the
bank as security. Year after year the
bank paid the premium and kept the pol
icy alive. The other day the man died
and the receiver of the bankrupt insdtu-
ton collected $500 from the insurance.
II turned out to be the best investment
the bank has ever made.
"A Photographic apparatus for divers on
submarine excursions has been devised by
Senior Borteus of Rio de Janeiro. 1t con-
sists of an incandescent lamp with re-
fiector in the divers head piece, and an
ordinary camera inclosed in a rubber en-
velope having a glass front Electricity
for the lamp is supplied by small dy-
namo in a boat above. Pictures are TAX
en- by pressing buttons through the rub
Der covering, and objects in Rio de janet
70 Bay have been pho tographed under wa
ter at distance of ten or twelve feet as
easily as in full daylight.
Much satisfaction has been caused in
France by the publication of statistics for
1896, which show the population of France
to be increasing. In 1898 the number of
births only exceeded the deaths by 7146. In
1894 the excess rose to $685. which was
also trifiing figure for a population of
IS, 100000 and which justified the anxiety
as regarded the future. Nor did the alarm
appear to be groundless in 1895, for the
number of deaths that year exceeded the
births by 17,S13. The figures of 1896 show,
however, that last year there were $1,000
more births than deaths.
When a horse fell into a large and
deep well at Henderson, N. c., some prac-
teal genius attached a hose to a nearby
hydrant and turning on the water, filed
up the we'll and fioated the horse to the
top, when rescue was comparatively easy.
Prof. Koch, in Elektrotechnische Rund-
schau, recently described some very inter
esting experiments which seem to have "a
marked bearing on the conductivity of
lightning rods. He formed a chain several
meters in length, with links of iron oxide
lator cells and a galvanometer. This CO.
herer was constructed in a room thirty
meters from the galvanometer. When q
spark was discharged in the vicinity of
the chain the deviation of the galvano-
meter showed that the resistance of the
circuit was reduced to one-t housandth of
it's normal value, and in a. second expert
ment the resistance fell to one ten-thou-
sandth of the normal. Prof. Koch con-
cludes from these experiments that they
may afford an explanation why lightning
rods with poor conductivity are neverthe-
less effective in thunderstorms. The os-
citations produced provoke an enormous
reduction of resistance at the. proper in
slant to facilitate the flow of current
through the conductor.
1t is a familiar fact that fishes can
change their colors at will; many fishes
make remarkable changes, says the New
York Sun. Free swimming fishes most
commonly preserve their normal colors
though these fishes can change; the fishes
that change most are the bottom feeders
For their own protection from other fishes
that would prey upon them, and the bet
ter to enable them themselves to capture
food, these change their colors to match
the bottom they are on, so as to make
themselves invisible. They do this often
to a degree that seems extraordinary. In
one of the smaller saltwater tanks at the
New York Aquarium there are a number
of small fatfish. The bottom of the tank
is covered with coarse gravel. The great
bulk of the gravel is composed of pebbles
of a brown white, sort of pale iron-rust
color. Scattered in this are pebbles of
deeper tinge, with now and then one of
q brownish gray or brown black. The fiat
fish lying on the gravel at the bottom of
this tank initiate it's colors in their own
backs in a manner that is marvellous; they
are of notified brown, like the colors of
the gravel, and the smallest of the flatfish
is the most wonderful. They are all thin
and lie close to the bottom. The edge of
the little one blends with it; and it's back
is wonderful mosaic of browns so like
the gravel of the surrounding bottom that
it appears to be part of it. Even in this
clear water, at a little distance, the fish
is scarcely distinguishable.
Prof. Esclangon, the editor of lie
Monde Scientifique, in Paris, has invent
ed a man-killing machine, which he
thinks will ultimat ely do away with the
blood-stained and horrifying gullotine,
says the New York World. Although the
death is effected by means of electricity.
it is not altogether bloodless. The electri-
cal part of the device is used simply for
the purpose of pulling the trigger, so to
speak, and setting the death-dealing ma