The Savannah morning news., 1900-07-09
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

stead of constructing large sewers and
carrying the sewage 10 the stream it has
been decided to apply the bacterial treat
ment 10 the sewage.
Experiments have for some time been
made in England with smokeless coal.
This peculiar fuel may be burned either
in an ordinary CRATE or in a basin in the
middle of the room without developing
any perceptible odor or smoke at any time
The fire looks like the finest coal fire, and
the flame is white and blue.
There are few bearded men in China
Men who have grandchildren may wear
mustache, and many take advantage of
the privilege and are called 'o'd hair
men The foreigners with mustaches
when they came to China, excited much
curiosity, and the unusual sight justified
them in asking the ages of the bearded
men.
President s. B. Stillwell of the Penn
sylvania Fish Commission says the out
put of Pennsylvania fish hatcheries this
ysar will be about 3O00O,C00 above the av-
erase. The reason only 100000 fish were
grown in 1899 was because the Legisla-
ture of the previous year forgot 70 make
the usual appropriation and the commits
sin was only able to keep the trout sta
tons in operation through subscriptions
of private citizens, amounting to about S.,
co.,
"A good deal has been heard lately of
Mr.. Gilberts autocratic stage management
of his own plays. He has a caustic
method with actors and actresses who
differ from him. 1t is related that at a
rehearsal of Trial by Jury" in which the
ha tn ba~
stocking, which is supposed TO form part
of her trousseau. the lady who represent
ed the plaintiff objected on the grounds
OF the improperly of the thing. Very
funny" Mr.. Gilbert retorted; whenever
any one shows stocking on the stage ii
is considered improper, unless it has a leg
inside it,"
A recent writer on insanity says that
the general belief that persons of great
intellect are more liable than others to
become insane is erroneous says the
Louisville oUrier-Journal. On the contra
~, "a large numher, actually and rela
lively of the insane consists of the more
ignorant classes of farm laborers arti-
sans. sailors, soldiers and person without
employment. Hard working farmers of
the poorer class and especially their wives
living remote from towns, having little
and thinking in the same ruts, furnish
large proportion of such cases" On the
whole it is probable that madness is not
A question of whether a man has a big
brain or a little brain, but of how he
takes care of his brain, along with his
body.
The popes have three special rings for
their use. The first is generally rather
~,
ornament; this is called the papal ring.
The second one. called the pontifcal ring,
because used only when the Pope pontifi-
Gates or officiates at grand ceremonies. is
an exceedingly precious one. The one
worn on these occasions by Plus TX was
made during the reign of Plus VII, whose
name is cut on the inside 1t is of the
purest gold, of remarkably fine workman
ship, set with a very large oblong dia-
mond. 1t cost 10000 francs f1,25O, and
has contrivance on the inside by which
it can be made larger or smaller TO fit
the wearer's finger. The Fisherman's
ring, so called because ii has a figure of
st. Peter in a bark throwing his net into
the sea, is plain gold ring with an oval
face, bearing the name of the reigning
Pope engraved round and above the figure
of the apostle. The ring weighs an ounce
and a half 1t was first a private and
NOT an official ring. though it has been
used in the latter way since the fifteenth
century, and is now the official seal of
the popes and the first among the rings.
With a market basket filed with
pieces of bank ana treasury notes, an old
woman, who said she lived in Camden.
appeared at the sub-treasury last week
and stated that she wanted the bits IF
money redeemed, says the Philadelphia
R;cord. 1t required only a hasty examina-
ton for the officials to determine that the
pieces of notes were all from the edges
and corners of bills Of various denomina-
tons. The woman was asked how she be-
came possessed of the pieces, which in
formation she failed to give. Then she
was bluntly told that the government
would allow her nothing for the rem
nants of money, because it was plainly
evident that the pieces were all clipped
from whole notes. This the woman de
MED, yet she was obliged to go away
without receiving Tassable cash for her
offering. The offic,as found that though
there were corners and edges from TWEEN
ty, ten, FIVE, two and one dollar notes
there was not a p!ece of a center in the
entire collection, so that it would be i'm
possible to make even one bill by passing
pieces together There were enough bits,
however, to equal hundred notes in
s re. Judging from the paper and style
of notes, it had required about twenty
years to collect the pieces.
The latest telephone invention is cali
ed the telephonograph, the invention "a
native of Sweden, named Paulsen. says
the New York Journal of Commerce. us
object is 10 make a permanent record of
the telephone message, which can be re-
peated to the receiver any length of time
after it is sent. The difficulty in adapt-
ing the Edison monograph to this use
has been in making a satisfactory record
upon the wax cylinder The Paulsen pho
nograph does not have the wax cylinder.
il passes steel tape from one spool TO
another over magnet, something after
the manner of the linked tape of the type
writer When the tape is passed over
the magnet again it repeats the message.
The use of this recording telephone has
thus far been confined to Germany No
doubt 1t will soon be introduced here In
the war of the rival telephone concerns
the possession of the new device should
he OF considerable value as an inducement
to subscribers. It's highest perfection.
however. will be attained when il is com
bined with megaphone arrangement TO
make the tone audible while the receiver
is on the hook. The telephone was a
wonder twenty-five years ago. II is a
necessity now. Bus many improvements
are needed to make it a perfect instru-
ment.