The Savannah morning news., 1900-08-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

81 per cent. is carried by omnibuses and
street cars.
An ostrich in the Cincinnati geological
gardens is undergoing treatment by cleo
tricty for paralysis. Under this trea tment
the bird has been able to swing first one
leg and then the other
The large German. dockyards are kept
so busy building warships that fears are
being expressed that 1t will soon be nee
essary to have merchant vessels built
broad
Small spiders play havoc with the tele-
graph wires in the Argentine Republic.
I The long cobwebs settle on the wires and
as soon as dew or rain falls they are rem
dered to some extent a conductor and the
effect is practically to stop the operation
of some of the lines. The government has
determined to connect Buenos Ayres and
Rosario by an underground cable $50 miles
long to obviate this difficulty
Many fish can produce musical
sounds. The trigia can produce long
drawn notes ranging over nearly an oc-
tave. Others, no ably two species of op-
hidum. have sound-producing apparatus,
consisting of small movable bones,
rattle. The curious drumming made by
the species called umbrivas can b. heard
from depth of thirty fathoms.
The remarkable number of deaths by
drowning proves that too many persons
venture into waters without knowing how
40 swim. About so per cent. of those
drowned so far this summer did not have
that knowledge. This is all the more Won
derful when a knowledge of swimming
may so easily be had. a person of aver
age physique would be able to swim sew
eral hundred feet after dozen lessons.
in the Island of Minora. one of the
Philippines, the humming birds are pug
nacious little creatures. A hunting party
had novel experience with them. One
OF the huntsmen wandered off from his
comrades, but soon his screams were
heard. Thousands of the humming birds
had attacked him and wounded him in
| hundreds of spots on his face and neck.
When rescued he was streaming with
blood
-Ismail of Bodru, in Asiatic Turkey
is the smartest fellow yet. He is 120 years
old, and lately married his thrty-fourth
wife, who is half his age; all the village
turned out with flies, drums and guns
to celebrate the wedding, and there were
in the procession 40 sons, grandsons and
great grandsons. How many daughters
he has does not appear nor is it said
how many of his wives survive to greet
| the bride.
"A train on the Ulster & Delaware
Railway was stopped recently on account
of the caterpillars which collected on the
tracks in sufficient numbers to stop the
| train by the fabrication of the rails,
which resulted from, the crushing of their
| bodies under the wheels. According to
| the Railway Review it is necessary for
men to sit upon the cowcatcher and keep
away the Instructions by holding brooms
on the rails.
| "A medical society in Cleveland has
started a movement for removing often
sively deformed and crippled beggars from
| the street. The number has greatly in
creased in recent years. and the doctors
| felt that the public display of deformity
was injurious to the community There
could be no better place for socialism to
begin than in taking proper care of these
unfortunates, who are unable to work,
and ought not to afflict the public by a
parade of their deformities.
Albert Wilde of the Royal Society of
Great Britain has been presented with the
most highly priced trophy and is awarded
for momen tous discoveries in science In
| the present case il was awaited to Mr..
| Wilde for the discovery and practical
| demonstration of the indefinite increa Sc
of the magnetic and electric forces from
quantities Indefinitely small" The mod
ern dynamo is based upon this principle
and it is adopted in all modern dynamos
In the parish of Runwell, Essex an
apparatus has been lately invented by the
rector for ringing the church bells by
| electricity. The origin of the invention
is rather curious. The rector, finding a
difficulty in obtaining bell-ringers, rune
the bells for three months himself IT
order to save the labor involved in per-
forming this task he invented the Eau.
tomato ringer and erected the appara
tus in the church tower. BY connecting
the machine with the electric current al
ready in use for lighting the church and
rectory, the bells are now rung with per.
feet order and precision.
"A correspondent of the Boston Trans
cript from Iloilo Island of Panay. in the
| Philippines, writes: What interests
Americans more than anything else is
the opportunity for the development OF
the tobacco industry and the chances for
Americans to engage in the traffic The
chances for development are probably
greater than those offered in any other
country, for the reason that in this coun-
try everything has been held back for a
hundred years or more, and the condi-
tons at present are ripe for Improvement
| If the tobacco lands of the PhiUppinee
have been made to pay large returns on
| the original investments under the pre-
vailing conditions, the chances for maxim Q
| large gains under modern methods must
| be apparent There is a good chance for
an American buyer of cigars to make
money by putting up an outfit with which
to go from district to district in which
the cigars are made by the women folks
in the towns and barrios'
In ages gone by there were snakes in
Colorado perhaps 100 feet in length. saws
the Denver Republican. Curator VIII C.
| Ferril of the State Historical Society
considers himself at liberty to make III :
| statement as the result of recent dix
coveries made in the vicinity of Flor
ence. huge monster has been discov-
| cred which proves beyond peradventllre
| the snake story. Near Florence. w F.
Masters of Victor found part of the pet
rified body Of one colossal snake. The
prehistoric reptile had a head fully the
size of a ham and about the same shape
| The exceptionally large eyes are placed
as are those of an ordinary snake The
stone head is 33X96 inches. A piece NJ
the stone tail found, which is thirtv-six
/ inches long, indicates that the remit q