The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-06-25
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

fore held to be the dean OF the faculty OF
rocks. He considers the greenstones to be
the bottom rocks Of the geological series
and the representative Of the original crust
of the earth formed from the molten mass
by the earliest sol.dlfication.
"A Cincinnati physician has been max
ing practical tests in cigar factories on
the eye of the employees. The test Is to
discover the effect upon The eyes of per-
sons addicted 10 excessive smoking, also to
see what effect the fumes of tobacco in
factories have on the sight He also in
tends to examine the eyes of letter-carriers
and others with reference 10 the erect OF
smoking on the eyes.
The crop of wonder stories that follow
up big tornadoes is now being harvested
in the New Richmond region, says the
Cleveland Plain Dealer. It is claimed
that rails were found driven into trees and
posts by the awful wind hammer. Still
more marvellous is the story that straws
were inserted in the same way. A hoe
blade was driven into a tree two inches.
and people were filled with splinters as
a cushion is filled with pins. Chickens
We're as cleanly picked as if by hand. And
all these remarkable effects are vouched
for by eye witnesses. 1t almost seems as
if the wind demon was possessed of a sort
of ferocious sense of humor.
Prof Moritz has investigated the con-
dltions necessary for the absorption of
drugs and finds that indictments are abb
sorbed most speedily when taken with
plain water while fasting. Soup, milk
wine, etc, retard absorption, even when
the medicine is taken fasting. but absorp-
ton is still more slow when the medica-
ment Is taken with liquid after food in the
absence of liquid. To secure the most
speedy absorption of any drug, therefore,
ID should be Administered with water on an
empty stomach and in many cases 1T wiz
be found that a definite effect Will thus be
produced, though no effect would be per-
cepdble if the same dose were administer
ed shortly after food.
of late years much attention has been
paid TO the subject of color blindness
among railway employees, but acuteness of
hearing has not been equally well observ-
ed. The New York Medical Journal quotes
DR.. Stein, who has examined forty-four
f1remen and thirty-eght engine drivers,and
finds only three out Of the whole number o
possess perfectly normal hearing power
He finds, however, by frequent excursions
on locomotives that these employees hear
sound signals under favorable circum-
stances except those of the whistle. New
ertheless. he thinks that there should be
an established or minimum standard of
requirements as to hearing. These views
are the result of continental experiments,
and 1t would be interesting to know what
the figures would be as regards the hearing
of railway employees in the United States.
Most commentators on the downfall of
Spain have ascribed 1t to certain, often
mentioned peculiarites of the Spanish
temperament and character but Prof.
Maerker, a German savant, quoted by
the Geographical Journal, declares that
the Spaniards have been the innocent and
helpless victims of geographic and climat-
ic misfortunes. Spain, he argues, stands
apart from the rest of Europe, and its
position, though apparently favorable, is
really that of a land shut off from the life
OF the world. In the age of discovery
Spain was again unlucky, according to his
authority. The wealth of her new ac-
QUESTIONS was great enough to reduce the
home population materially and to dis
courage habits of industry In those who
were left, while the trade winds and the
equatorial current brought the conquer
Ing explorers into touch only with the en-
erVating regions of the tropics, and so
even in the New World Spain was at an
enormous disadvantage, especially as COM
pared with England. The absence of fer
tile lowlands and navigable rivers is a
feature of the peninsula upon which Prof
Maerker dwells with sad emphasis. The
theory outlined Is a pretty one, and. Of
course, there is something in it. bur still
the mind returns to the Spanishness Of
the Spanish, as, after all, the best explain
alton of Spain.
"A scheme of a Girard avenue boot
Nack 10 boom business has been interfer-
ed with by the police though it was NOT
found out until after the originator bad
reaped quite harvest, says the PhiladeI-
P-ila ReGoIu. Inc bootblack has a dog
one of the ordinary board-vard heaets
which is very susceptible to training ana
the SINNER, one day while business was
SLOW, bethought him of a good nlar 80
make 1t DISK. AS a result he went N
Work as a trainer, and soon had bis doc |
wen enough learned to spring the new in.
Neh'lon Several weeks went by before II
Nas discovered that the bootblack was NOT
oliy IN the shoe-cleaning business hnt
also made practice of driving the sboas
ana trousers of men who pa ssed near ~. |
stand. Young "Shine-them-up'' baJ /
taught the dog to walk in the rnudd,y o,1t
ters ana then jump up in a plavfuI Syav |
az men who passed by, with the resnIt tbat |
the animal made the legs of nedas+riarss
.iousTIs ana their shoes anything but pre-
sehtable. In nine cases out Of ton ~
clean q
shoes and clothes, at so much DER ioh nh
dog had been trained not to Ioter ah,,,t
the stand, and thus the fact thai The 49,
DlacK owned the animal was NOT pour.1
Out. Finally the bootblack told tba nn
cret OF his brisk business to a storel-ear9e,.
near by, who thought it mis- dutv To in eorT.
the police. Now the cleaner. Of foot +oi III
Is not allowed to have the dog At his n T,aa
of business. at ms place
Mrs W. K. Vanderbilt, Jr., is BUILDING
a squash court at Newport, saws the Cbt'
caso Times-Herald. 1t is quite the son
satlon of the hour in that citv h,. ,ho go.
ana IS to cost $1,000. Squash, and baG, go
ton VIII be the reigning fads of tbe san
SON. squash is the familiar E Jed-
game called fives, only instead o t-'i bniE
prayed with the hand a regular ,ar'nins
lachet Is used to bat the bail against ~
vans To play this new game one n, ne
nave the proper building 1t consists 'u 81
a long hail, oblong in shape. WITH % so, oI
Woooeh noors, ceiling and walls ra',n1
'r, room runs gallery for lool<ersNnoA
. me game is usually played bv two Ill III
sons VINO are separated from one 1877 er
~. ny me marked on the floors o. 81
tnese' the server, strikes the han o e Oh
the wall, within certain line ~ ,- rs aiils'