The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-04
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


"A curious disparity is evident in the
authoritative estimation of the heat of the
sun. Pouilet places 1t at 1.4OO to 1880 de-
grees. Celsius (Cenugrade), Ste, Claire
Deville at $500 degrees, Lord Kelvin and
Prof. Langley at 5000 degrees, Sporer a
3.7O0 degrees, and Peter Leodic at 100000
degr es.
For many years all the quinine of COM
merce came from the wild trees of Peru,
but with the present great demand the re-
fined product obtained from the wild trees
of its native habitat would supply but a
small proportion of the worlds require
ments. At the present time two-thirds of
the quiuine used is produced in Java, an
island of the East Indian archipelago, cor
responding closely to size in Cuba, and
having with it many features of soil and
climate in common.
"A part of the vast power of Niagara
Falls has been turned to commercial ad-
vantage by the Niagara Falls Power Elec-
trio Company, the falls proper being
utilized. The details have now been per-
fected of a plan by which the whirlpool
rapids shall be made to furnish electric
power on a large scale. New York and
Buffalo capitalists propose to invest 81
100000, with which they expect to secure
S5,000-horse power plant.
-Lithuania, province of Russia has a
strange custom, which is intended to pro-
tect the bride, should her marriage prove
unhappy. Previous to the wedding cere-
mony the mother, in the presence of wit
nesses, severely boxes the brides ears. AS
time goes by should benedict prove faith
less or unlxind, his vrow can sue for a di-
vorce on the plea that she was forced into
the marriage by her mother against her
will and on that score the verdict of the
judge win be in her favor.
Charles T. Yerkes recently explained to
the Chicago street authorities why the I'M
derground trolley was unfit for use in
Chicago. Formerly he was prepossessed, he
said. in its favor, and he made a contract
with the Love traction company for
thorough test Their system was put in
opera ton on the Webster avenue and Full
lerton avenue lines and seemed at first to
do well, operating nicely in dry weather
ut operated an right until the weather
became bad, but then the moisture ruined
the insulators. We worked at it for year,
but had finally to give up the project. I
was forced to make up my mind that it
was impracticable in Chicago to operate
the underground trolley and have never
changed my mind since. 1 have never made
the claim that the climate is a bar to oper-
ating the underground trolley. The lay
of the land Is what makes it impra ctica-
BILE When it rains We can never have
dry conduit, but always find the cable
passing through water. I cannot see how
it will ever be possible to operate the I'M
derground trolley here"
Mr. F. Hopkinson Smith lectured out
in Keol<uk the other day says the New
York Times and now the people of the ia
vored city and of the whole state of Iowa,
for that matter are worrying over the
question whether Mr.. Smith has or has
| not a dress suit They know that on
| the evening of the lecture he wore a gray
| travelling suit that bagged at the knees,
but he explained this by saying that his
| trunk had gone astray, and then he told a
| charming story about going once to see
| Harriet Beecher Stowe, discovering on his
return that ne had worn no necktie and
then sending her by NAH the scarf he
would have worn if he had not forgotten
| it. The explanation and the story would
have been received without question by the
Keokukians had it not been for the fact
that in Mr.. Smiths audience was a young
| lady with memory This inconvenient
person declares that she heard Mr.. Smith
in Chicago a year ago. and she ayers that
he then appeared in the same travelling
suit and told precisely the same story in
precisely the same words. Hence Iowa
doubts.
Marie Corelli, the meIodramatic novel;
list who has depicted the sorrows of Sa-
Electrical Engineer, TO discuss the cleo
tricity of Christ. 1t is stated that with
the approval of distinguished theosoph-
! ists she has advanced a, theory which
makes Christ the center and source of
| ''the earth's electric currents" She finds
| in many of the remarkable historical
events of the Old and New Testaments
| striking instances of electrical phenome-
ma. She would place In this category the
thunder and lightning of Sinai, and the
fire in the burning brush which burned
| but did not consume. All these were cleo
| trical manifestations of the all-peryading
| spirit. The fro which bore Elijah, the ra-
dance of the Son Of man who walked in
| in the fiery furnace, the spirit descending
| in the form of a dove at the Jordan, the
light of the TRANSPORTATION, the tongues of
| fire at Pentecost, and the light which daz-
| zled Paul near Damascus, were all cleo
| trical theophanies-specializa of that
one ever-present fluid which in physics
| we call electricity, but which in the I'M
seen world of the soul is known as the
| Divine Spirit. And the Office of the spirit
is to reveal Christ: or. in other words, the
! Spirit is Christ We have a lurking sus-
| piclon, comments the engineer, that Ma
| rae Corelli hasn't the remotest idea of
what electric currents are. Just what cleo
tricity is as a natural phenomenon rem
aims mystery of physics, but some prin-
ciples and facts are pretty well known.
and they hardly Justify a sensational nov
elist in the imposition of ignorant hands
on sacred things.
There Is in the Maine House of Rep
resentatives this year statesman whose
picturesque eloquence is gradually becom-
ing famous outside the Pine Tree State
| as well as In it, says the New York Times.
Like few other New Englanders, Judge
McFadden-that is the orators name-be-
! leves in economy, and in a recent speech
| he protested against the rapid increase
in the number of homes" supported by
state taxes. He thought that each NUM-
cipality should provide for it's own poor.
and to impress this view upon his fellow
lawmakers he evolved a truly striking
parable. When the Judge began. our