The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-02-25

The metric system of weights and
measures is now permitted in Russia, and
while it does not supplant the national
system already in use, it may be used
side by side with il.
"A German scientist has gone to some
trouble to calculate the average duration
of a wink in order to ascertain just what
the phrase ''in the twinkling of an eye"
means. He says that a wink occupies
four-tenths of second. The eyeld de-
scends in one-tenth of q second, stays
down thirteen hundredths of second, and
rises again in seventeen-hundredths
Winking varies much in different persons,
and rarely occurs when the attention is
concentrated; but this omission is fol-
lowed by a series of winks to make up
for the loss of the rest which the closing
o. the eyelids gives the eyes.
-Boston's Aldermen have so abused the
courtesies which the managers of the lead
ing theaters in the Hub have heretofore
extended to them that the latter have al
most unanimously decided to refuse writ
ten requests for tickets from the munich
pal legislators in the future. The Alder
men are to be admitted free, however,
whenever they may present themselves
in person at the box offices to ask for
seats Not content with this, they are
highly indignant over the insult Of
fered them by the theatrical men, and
threaten to avenge the same when re-
quests for renewals of licenses shall be
made next year
The electric lighting of the Pan.
American Exhibition at Buffalo next year
will be- if the plans are carried out, the
most brilliant exhibition of the kind ever
attempted, The main buildings will be
grouped around a court of fountains,
ken sar(a e 81 1.1xr
an esplanade. This enclosure of about
500 900 square feet viii be lighted by more
than 100000 incandescent lamps. At one
end of the courts there will be on cleo
trical tower 300 feet high, and from its
side, at a hight of seventy feet, cas-
cade VIII fall, the water from 1t breaking
up as it falls, under the play of pris-
matte lights. There. will be a lake and
a basin filled with fountains and statu>
airy, which will also be electrically illum-
mated.
"A dispatch dated Chicago, Feb. 20,
says: The state Supreme Court at Spring
field has handed down a decision in one
OF the most peculiar cases ever decided
by THAT body. 1t was the case of Thomas
Edwin Allaire, an infant. against ST
Luke's Hospital and St Luke's Free Hos
pltaI of Chicago, in which it was sought
to recover damages sustained by the plain
tiff previous to his birth Ada A. Allaire,
the mother of the child brought the suit
which was for $4,000. Shortly before The
birth of the child the mother was in St.
Luke's Hospital, and while being trans
ferred from one floor to another her left
leg was caught in the elevator and crush
ed. When her child was born his left
foot, left side, and left leg were paralzed
and deformed. The mother settled with
the hospital authorities on her own ac-
count, and, then brought the suit for the
child. general demurrer to the declara-
ton was sustained by the Supreme Court
on the ground that at the time of the ac-
cident the child could not be credited as
separate being, capable of sustaining an
action independent of the mother ''If an
action can be maintained" the court says,
sit necessarily follows that an infant may
maintain an action against its own moth
er for prenatal injuries"
The correspondent of the London Times
in Berlin directs attention to a curious
| campaign which the leading German jour
nafs are making against France and es-
| pecially against the French press. They
accuse the latter of endeavOring to sow
distrust between England and Germany,
with the object of isolatng Germany and
of attracting England to the side of the
dual alliance. Some of the German writers
| pretend to see the effect of Pan-Slavist
Vaccinations in various section of the Eu-
| ropean press. The Berlin Post for ex-
| ample quotes a Russian newspaper as
saying that There could be no greater
misfortune for Russia and for her political
| mission than that she should come into
| conflict with civilizing Power like Eng
| land" This it construes as warming to
| those Germans who have been manifesting
| hostility to England, and assures them
| that their action is only promoting the
| schemes of Pan-Slavsm and of French
| Chauvanism. The correspondent points
| out that all this nervousness is unneces-
sary as England would not be likely to
| adopt French or Russian views Of German
| diplomacy, and is inclined to think that
the real object IS to promote a discussion
of British relations with the European
! Powers.
In enumerating the remarkable exam
pies of forest growth, the banyan tree
| (icus indica) would assume an honorable
! place. Ii is native of several parts of
| the East Indies, Ceylon and some parts
of the West Indies. 1t has a woody stem
| which soon divides into many branches
| Every branch from the main body throw s
| out its own roots, at first in small tender
| fibers several yards from the ground; but
| these continually grow thicker until they
| reach the ground, when they strike in and
| after being nourished, increase to large
| trunks and become parent trees, shooting
| out new branches from the top, and the
| process is continued until the tree covers
J a considerable area, says the Scientific
| American. 1t is reported in authentic
| works that a banyan tree on the Nerbud-
| da once covered a space so great that it
| sheltered 1000 The power of the floods
| has now much reduced it in size, but it
| is still 1000 feet in circumference, and the
| trunks, large and small exceed 1900 in
number. Other trees have been known
| 20 cover an area of thirteen acres. They
| are frequently found near temples and on
or near funeral mounds The figs are in
sipid but abundant. The leaves are of a
| bright green and form a dense shade
| They are five inches long and four inches
wide, and they are used by the Bra hmans
| as plates and dishes. The wood of the
| tree is porous and is almost worthles The
natives use various portions of the tree for
| medicinal purposes.
A letter in a London newspaper gives
an interesting account of the remarkable
| abandonment IF N1aIivoet0lx Ioue-4a,a u.