The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

American origin. -Dut. Prol. Lanclanl de-
clares that in ancient Rome. as early as
the time Of Augustus, buildings 10 or Il
stories high were common. Later they
are believed TO have been much higher,
rivaling our most modern apartment
buildings in size and hight. 1t is wen
known that at Constantinople the En-
peror Constantine found his view of the
water cut off by the skyscrapers erected
between his palace and the water front,
though he had placed his palace, on high
ground. The Tower of Babel is, of course,
lot to be cited in this connection.
The hospital accommodation of Vienna
have long ranked amongst the best in
Europe, but the Niennese think that there
is room for Improvement and that on a
scale which may be termed immense
Within the next few years it is proposed
to spend a sum of no less than 5000 000
mainly in connection with the enlarge
ment of the celebrated medical school, the
Wiener Allgemeines Krankehhaus. To
this already large, establishment it is pro-
posed 10 add the sites of two asylums
which lie nearby. This will secure adj
ditionak accommodation for about 1000 pa
tients with forty pavilions and number
of clinical institutions. These additions
alone will be sufficient to make the ma
jority Of the great medical institutions Of
the world look small. 1t will take about
ten years before the complete scheme can
be. carried out in its entirety.
"A scientific observer, who has spent
much time in forest and jungle, says that
animals certainly talk. Perhaps it is
going too far to call it talking but
they certainly have a way of commurli-
eating with each other by sounds made
with the mouth. He has seen a herd of
monkeys hold a conference before max
ing some move. and has heard a gorilla
distinctly cal TO its mate when it found
some choice berries. He one day saw
some gorillas approach mans field TO
rob it,. and when they found that it had
already been stripped of everything that
they cared for they laughed and guffaw-
ed just as men would do If joke had
been played on them. Du ChaAlu is the
man that saw these things and what he
says is worthy of thought.
"A naturalist saw one of the wasp-likc
flies called the sphex dragging a gras
hopper to it's nest, and knowing it's habit
Of. entering before it carried in its prey,
he determined to make an experiment
with it, The nest of sphex is under
ground, and the entrance is a little hole.
When it had gone into the hole, leaving
the grasshopper just outside, the observ-
er moved, the latter five or six inches
away. Finding its prey gone when it came
cut the sphex ran around hunting for it,
and having found it, dragged it back to
the hole, going in itself on its preliminary
visit, as before. This was repeated three
times but the fifth time it dragged the
srasshopper into the hole without stop
ping. The same thing was tried on several
successive days, with the same result.
which shows that the conservative little
insect had at last to throw aside its in
stinct and depend on it's reason,
in the Revue Scientihdue NJ. Coupin
has an essay on bird song, dealing with
birds that initiate the sounds of others
Very remarkable is the instance of a
sparrow initiating the STIMULATION of the
grasshopper. One spring a cage contain
ing sparrow was hung side by side with
another in which were grasshoppers. No
notice was taken by the sparrow of, his
neighbors, but next year, when he was
again in the same society, he ASA yed the
grasshoppers' chant. And for the rest
of his life, when the grasshoppers had
long been dead, the, sparrow was accus-
toned to utter a polyglot song. combin-
ing the notes of the insect and those of
other birds. The fact that young lin
nets will sometimes learn the song Of the
nightingale instead of their own is men
toned. And it is also stated that sew
much better than the members of their
own species dwelling in the Hartz Noun
tains.
in connection with the recent visit of
the Italian fleet to Toulon, says the Lon
don Spectator. there have been many ref
erenees in the European press to a re-
newal of the entente cordale between two
Latin" nations. 1t may be of some in
terest to inquire in what sense the term
. Latin" can be correctly applied to the
French, whom, almost in the same breath
many people are apt TO describe as a
Celtic" people. One thing surely is GER
tain, that in blood the French cannot be
at the same time both LATIN and. Gel
tic" Yet the inconsistency does not seem
to strike people, l think that although
outside Provence the French have little
or no Latin-i. e., Italfan-blood in. their
veins, the explanation of their being de-
scribed as a Latin" race is to be found
in the fact that their language and civili-
cation are both Latin. 1t seems no long
err permissible to hold that the French are
mainly Celtic in blood, the view being
now generally accepted. that the bulk of
the popula ton in France is of a pre-CeI-
tic( and probably Of Iberian or Ligurian
stock. And this view seems to hold good
also of ireland and Wiles.
done. at a sacrifice. For years he strug-
gled against misfortune, He had given
up profession which would have brought
profit to himself. and he had sought in
vain for publishers who would place his
books on the market. Nobody would risk
penny on them, and the young author,
determined to find his public. printed
them at his own expense. Social Statics."
the earliest of his books. was sold on
commission, $50 copies being disposed of
in fourteen years. Five years afterward
the Principles of Psychology was pubs
lished and sold on the same system Mr.
Spencer gave away large number; the
rest of the edition of $50 sold in twelve
years, For the first twelve years of his
literary life every stroke of work he did
made him the poorer. and. at last the
author recognized that he was frittering
away all he possessed. Going through
his books, he discovered. that in fifteen
years he had lost 5000 1t was impossi-
BILE to go on at that rate. and the author,
who had at this time begun his System
of Philosophy" was appearing in,
quarterly numbers-issued to the subscrib-
ers a notice Of cessation.
THE census returns for Ireland \have
been laid upon the table of the House of
Commons as a preliminary to their pub
LEGATION in Blue-Book form. From these
II appears that the total population of