The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-09-17

niue warriors on parade mas always Deen
liable to be somewhat marred by a marked
ineOngruity in stature between the rank
and file and their British leaders. On ac-
tive service, too, tall British officer in
a Goorkha battalion is a conspicuous fig
ure for the enemy's marksmen.
"A remarkable pebble, says the Phila-
delphia Record, which was picked up
somewhere in Egypt, that land of dark
mysteries. is in the possession of we'll
known lapidist on Twelfth street. near
Walnut. The stone is translucent, and
a a casual glance looks like ordinary
seaShore pebble. 1t is about half the
size of a walnut and oval in shape. When
the stone is held to the light it's reparka-
BILE popularity is beheld. Inside is
drop Of water that circles about the in
terror. How it ever got there is a mystery
that nature alone could solve The sur
face of the stone is perfect, but there Is
no doubt of the hollow interior. The peb-
BILE is only interesting as a curiosity, but
many wealthy institutions have offered
good round sums of money for it, The
owner, however, will never let it get out
of his possession, IS it was given to him
by an old sailor friend, who was drowned
several years ago.
Another mechanical prodigy has been
added by the Boston Railroad Company
to it's magnificent equipment, says the
New York Sun. This is a new steel shaft
reported to be the largest ever castle
form part of a new vertical cross-con-
pound engine, which IS being put in place
in the company's central power station,
an engine of 1000 horse power, at ordIn-
airy speed. The shaft is twenty-eight feet
ia length over all, thirty-eight inches d.
ameter in the center and weighs in its fin
ished state about 70, 900 pounds; as a rough
casting it was much heavier, OF course,
hole fifteen inches in diameter having to
be bored in the center. In the journals,
which are each fifty inches in length leav-
ing a length of some twenty feet between
the centers, the diameter is thirty inches.
The vast proportions characteriZing all the
other features of this undertaking will be
further understood when it Is stated that
the fly wheel casting weighs seventy-ive
tons.
The tomb of George Mackenzie-"B
dy Mackenzie" of the covenanting times
and the best-hated man in Scotland-in
Greyfriars churchyard has been attract
ing more than usual attention. The maui
soleum, one of the finest in the metropolis,
has been undergoing repairs, and several
gentlemen had the privilege of viewing the
remains of the famous advocate who, in
the reigns of Charles ii and James II, had
almost despotc power in Scotland, and
who acted as prosecutor of the covenant
eTS. II was the latter circumstance winch
made him so unpopular and earned for
him the nickname "Bluidy Mackenzie"
For generations his tomb was regarded
with adherence. Sir Georges remains
are still covered with what has been re-
markedly fine 'ehroud, and, though shrv-
eied and mumTny-like, are wonderfully
preserved. This In spite of the fact that
the vandalism of bygone days took away
the lead coffin and tore all the garments
from the body
In a dark corner near the west en-
trance to Winchester Cathedral is a door
composed of four pieces of iron grill-work,
which have the distinction of being the
Oldest specimens of their kind in England.
Mr.. ]. Starkie Gardiner aff1rms that this
grilwork dates as far back as the elev-
enth or twelfth century and that no other
grill in existence resembles it, Its origi-
nal use was to protect the shrine of st.
Swithun from the vast crowds of pilgrims
who resorted thither, but 1t is many years
since the gate was placed in its present
position. Not now being employed for
ingress or egress, it may be taken for
granted that this unique specimen of early
English iron work will be safely preserved
for untold generations and the more so
that all the restorations which have been
carried out at Winchester during recent
years have, thanks to the wise policy of
the dean, been undertaken in a spirit of
perfect loyalty to the past. Several thous-
ands of dollars are still wanted for preser-
walton work urgently needing to be done.
The Pail Mall Gazette approves the
American system of naming ships of war
as better than the English. The Magnif-
cent class for instance, contains not only
a Majestic and a Victorious, but also a
Caesar and a Hannibal The Gazette there
fore advocates copying our method of CIV
ing the name of a state 10 battleship, the
name of large city TO a first-class cruis-
er, of d smaller city to a second-class
cruiser, and of a naval hero to torpedo
boat This method reveals by the name
the class to which any ship belongs. The
great divisions of the British empire Asia,
Africa, America, India etc. would fur
nish the names for the largest battleships.
Then there might be an Irish class-the
Ireland, Donegal Limerick, Connaug1T,
Ulster Munster Tyrone and so on. Next
would come the names of the counties of
England, and we should hear of the North
cumberland, Lancashire, Yorkshire Sussex,
Kent and others. And how fine would be
the names of a lot of frst-class cruisers
called after the great cities of the empire
London, Liverpool Edinburgh, Melbourne,
Singapore and Calcutta
Prof. William c. Day of Swarthmore
College and formerly of Baltimore, has
been experimenting in the production of
artificial asphalt and by dishling in an
iron retort mixture of behring's and fat
pine wood he has produced a shining black
mass closely resembling one species of as
phalt says the Baltimore Sun. Using
fish only, another variety of asphalt was
produced. A third set of experiments has
been made with wood alone, with the re-
suit of producing a black. shiny mass,
very brittle, with a shell-lke fracture
Summing up his results, Prof Day, as
fYffn Tod lx~k t,,
Three asphaltic substances have been OBJ
tanned by operations of distillaton, prl-
marily in presence of steam, from natural
animal and vegetable material both sep
arate and combined. The material obtain
ed from the mixture of fish and wood, call
ed artificial gilsonite, so closely resembles
the gilsonite from Utah that it is impos-
slble by inspection to tell the two mate
rials apart The material obtained from
nsh alone also resembles what has been
called with questionable propriety) elat-
erlte from Utah. While these two pairs
OF substances differ from aach otbar 10