The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


courts last year amounted to $7s957. In
1889 the total was sloO.s37 Prior to the
establishment of the present board of city
magistrates the average annual collec-
tions We're from $4,000 TO $4,000. In 1888
the total collections from fines amounted
to $751;
popular in the past, are said 10 be in
difficulties. says London Graphic. Ham
a century ago there probably in all 800
men aspired to become "clubmen;" now
there are possibly 5000. Half a century
ago. however, most of these 800 men be-
longed to several clubs each; now their
representatives cannot afford to do this.
Either these old-esta blished clubs must
close, or their social Characterize use
a rnuch-worn phrase-must be changed.
The historical mansion of Marion De-
lorme in the Boulevard Beaumarchais. in
Paris, is to be leveled to the ground. The
rooms where the "frondeuse" and luxury
loving courtesan mingled enticement with
conspiracy still retain some traces of
their former splendor. The chief interest
Of the building is the supposed existence
of a treasure hidden when she fed sud
denly to England to avoid the severity
of Mazarin, against whom she plotted
with Cling Mars, the ex-favorite of Louis
XIII. The after life of Marion Delorme
and its final ending are little known. 1t
is generally believed however, that after
series of adventures she returned to
Paris and lived to be a centenarian.
1t may surprise most persons TO know
that the British possessions in North
America and the West Indies are larger
than the territory of the United States
in America, even including Porto Rico
and Alaska. On the North American con-
tinent alone King Edwards possessions
are nearly 1905 square miles larger than
those of the United States, and taking in
the West Indies and Newfoundland more
than 2O00O0 square miles larger. No man
ever before reigned over an empire so
great as King Edwards. The empire to
which Victoria acceded in 1887 covered
one-sixth of the land surface of the globe;
the empire 70 which King Edward has ac-
coded covers nearly one-fourth. 1t is
ftfty-three times as big as France, fifty
two times as big as Germany. three and
a half times as big as the United States
without Alaska and the island possessions
and three times as big as continental
Europe.
Anecdotes without end are told of
feats and intelligence of the lower ami
mails. but very few careful experiments
have been made to determine Just what
they can really do. In this direction Dr.
e. l.. Thorndike of Columbia University
seems to have done the best work He
has published experiments showing that
dogs, cats and chicks not only do not
reason, but only learn as it were by
chance. They cannot be really taught
even the smallest trick. In an article
In the July number of the Popular Sci
ence Monthly Prof. Thorndike describes
recent experiments with monkeys. He
thinks that they may be included with
man in a special mental genus, owing es-
pecially to their enjoyment of physical
and mental activity. They cannot. how
ever learn by seeing other animals do
the same thing or by being put through
movements. In spite of the common no.
ton to the contrary, they do not really
initiate.
Chinese in London who wish to wor-
ship without leaving the city now have
an opportunity of doing so, says the Lon
don Mail. The largest joss ever brought
to England has just arrived from Swa-
tow, near Foo-Chow. Its full hight is
about feet 10 inches. 1t has a central
male figure, three feet high, dancing on
rustic stand and holding up some sacred
fruit. Then there are three other figures,
one of female and two fashioned after
the familiar representation of Old Faith
er Time. The whole is exquisitely carved
out of natural tea root, and is a marvel
Gus image. The face of the central fig
ure has a wonderful expression, fascinat-
ing, yet repulsive, with a smile that is
perfectly demoniadal. The total weight
of the joss is about 300 pounds lbs pres
ent owner is r. F. A. Banks, a trader in
Chinese and Japanese curios, at No and
Z Greed lane. He is a traveller who has
had covetous eye on this particular god
for fourteen years, but until lately all his
attempts 10 secure it failed How he has
succeeded at last he prefers to keep a
secret. He is also studiously reticent
about the strange history which he hint
ed to daily Mail representative is as
ISOLATED with the joss. 1t is known, how
ever, that it has been worshiped by thous-
ands
Some 1000 years ago New England and
the Northern Central States were covered
by sheet of ice. and had the general
climate of Greenland. AS there were sew
eral alterations of glacial and temperate
| epochs, it is a question whether in the
| long seasons of the ages we are now pass
ing into summer or into winter. To ac-
count for these changes. all sorts of
| causes have been uggested-changes in
the axis of rotation of the earth, eleva-
ton of the land etc. Tynda1l proposed
that they might be due to the amount of
carbonic acid in the air, this acting as a
blanket to keep the earth warm. Prof.
| Cbamberlin of the University of Chicago,
as We learn from an article in the July
! Popular Science Monthly has worked out
this theory very carefully, showing how
carbonic acid in the air would be decreas-
ed nv 0iSiDf tfOF1 Of
released from the seas. Suppose noun
tains to be uplifted by forces within the
earth then the rocks disintegrate rapidly,
carbonic acid is taken. from the air and
the earth becomes colder But as the
rocks are worn away and become covered
with earth, less carbonic acid is taken
away and the sea begins to give up more,
SO the supply in the air becomes greater,
and warm period returns Organic life
is an important factor, and the details
are complicated, but the whole drama OF
cyclic changes Is of absorbing interest.