The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1900-06-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Of che prohibitive order will be arrested
and subjected to heavy fines.
The phylloxera destroyed $4,000 acres
of vineyards in Spain in 1899 Vines in
Spain or France are not worth cultivating
unless they are grated with the American
vine, which renders them proof against the
insect.
London is the great bug market of the
world. and auctions of insects are held
there every year. Startling prices are
sometimes paid for rare specimens. As
much as $500 has been brought by a single
butterfly.
The French patent law requires that a
patentee should work his patent in the
country within specified time. The mere
fact OF exhibiting a patent a the forth
coming exposition, however, will be looked
upon as filling this requirement.
Switzerland imported 1902 bicycles in
1898, the highest priced ones. 5000, com
ing from Belgium, and the lowest, $40 16.
coming from America. The American
wheel is admitted TO be the best as well
as cheapest. Only twenty-one wheels were
imported in 1896
The first pianos known in America
were imported from London in 1884 by John
Jacob Aston. but as they could not stand
the rigors of this climate they soon be-
came ruined. The fact led to the attempt
to build pianos in this country. and in the
early part of the present century uprights
made their appearance.
Repeated detonations are very injuri-
Gus TO the ear. A German scientist re-
Gently examined the ears of ninety-siX
soldiers before and after battle in South
Africa, and found marked changes in
forty-four, or nearly 50 per cent. In
seven cases he found small hemorrhases
in the ears and the firing caused the edge
of the ear drum to become red in thirty
seven cases.
In the early years of the political his
tory of this country it was customary to
choose as the Pres dent the candidate
getting the highest number of electoral
votes and to make the candidate CASUALLY
of the opposite party) who got the sec n !
largest number of votes Vice President
This plan was adhered to until 1924, whe n
the present system Of popular votes for
Pre- sidential electors was inaugurated
A man in Massachusetts caught a
skunk in trap and threw il, trap and
all. into a brook where il was drowned.
In less than an hour the odor was dis
more than a quarter of a mile away,
though no connection between~the stream
and the spring had ever been suspected
The manner in which typhoid fever may
be spread is brought to mind by the
item
Apples. pears, grapes and other fruits
produce individuals at times that are core
less or seedless. AS a general rule in
these cases the resultant fruit is smaller
than in normal condition. The value Of
these abnormal forms depends on the uses
to which they may be put. No special
value has resulted from the seedless ap-
pies or pears. In the grape the seedless
raisns and currants fill useful place in
culinary art.
An American dealer not long ago made
a special trip to White Bay, New Zealand,
for the purpose of procuring a kind of
lizard called the "sphenodon," which is re-
garded by scientists as a wonderful GU
riosity, nasmuch as it is the only survivor
of an entire order of reptiles. all the other
genera and species having long since be-
come extinct. The lizard, which is known
to the native Maoris as the "tuatera," is
about foot and half long and. oddly
enough. seems to have affinities with the
crocodile.
The German Emperor has commanded
the celebration of the seventh hundredth
anniversary of che first mining operations
in Germany. These were begun in the
Harz Mountains. the principal minerals
being silver and copper. The Emperor
himself will attend the celebrations,
which will take place at Hettstedt. in
Saxony, where the first mine is said to
have been opened. and will also visit
Eisleben, a large copper mining center,
where Mertin Luther, whose father was
miner there, was born.
Some time since gentleman returns
ing from South America brought back with
him tatouay, a kind of armadiilo found
in South America. and housed it in his
garden at La Nillette, says the Paris Mes
senger. For a time all went well: bat a
night of two ago the spirit OF adventure
came over the animal and il went 10 ming
about the neighborhocd soaring the r ST
dents, who wondered what sort of wild
beast had got loose, and fr1 m v hat
menagerie ii had escaped. The polica, in
formed by the Inhabitants who had been
alarmed by the uncanny visit5r, went on
its track. and came UP with H. in the Q r V
hours of yesterday morning when, dlaW-
ing their sabers, they fell upon il as il
was about to take refuge in a drain. and
Slaughtered it. The pclicemen's 1enort
runs that they place at the disposal Of
the conmissay an unknown animal 1e-
Sembling a tortoise. etc. Several PEI sons
who had attempted to kill il without sue
cess declared that it had attempted 10
bite them"
The highly opprobrious epithet "scab,'
which is so effectively used by workmen
/ in their labor disputes TO deter other
workmen from continuing at work, has
been condemned as unlawful by the APP
pellate term of che New York Supreme
Court in the case of Prince VS.. the So
cialistic Cooperative Publishing Assccil-
ton 81 Misc. 29D This association pub
lished in its daily PAPER a letter which
characterized Prince as a miserable
scab who works six days in a shop and
thereby robs other poor devils of their
bread In the subsequent suit tor libel
the meaning and origin of the word was
investigated. The witnesses seemed TO
agree that the word is one of great on
probrium and indicates a person who is
regarded as IAN outcast to be Stunned
by his fellows" Presiding Justice Beck
man said 1t was word of ancient origin
in Its application to persons of disrepute. -
and quoted the following definition from
the Century Dictionary: "A mean. paltrv
or shabby fellow; a term OF contempt: an
opprobrious term used by the workmen
or others who dislike his action" Justice
Beekman said there was no doubt that
the word in and of itself was Hbellous.
out he set aside the verdict obtained nv
the plaintiff and ordered a new trial for
the reason that the trial Judge erred in
Tot