The Savannah morning news., 1901-12-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


cruiser armed with IA guns and $50
ton cruiser.
During the Bonine trial in Wash
ington the telegraph operators were
compelled to send the name Mrs.
Bonine" an almost endless number of
times every day and night, and in or
der to shorten their work they abbre-
Waited the last syllable of the name in
to figure 49," geographically the
word was always sent as "Bo-9,"
That Jews are less subject to tu-
berculosis than other races has repeat
eddy been noted. With reference to the
vital statistics of the eleventh census
of the United States, DR.. ]. S. Billings
has pointed out that the death rate
from consumption in 1000 total deaths
among the Jews was: For males 1857.
for females 3402; while that of the
United States QSS0) was 10S.79 for
males and 1852 for females.
A curious feature to travellers in the
high roads of Norway is the great
number of gates-upward of 10000 in
the whole country-which have to be
opened. These gates. which either mark
the boundaries of the farms or sepa-
rate the home fields from the waste
lands, constitute considerable incon-
venience and delay to the traveller, who
has to stop his vehicle and get down to
open them.
An interesting coin has just been
sold in Germany. 1t is one of the few
coins in the history of the world which
can be accused of having a humorous
side to it. In 1870 the Danes descend
ed on the port of Hamburg, but their
attack proved unsuccessful. The in
habitants of the town struck d medal
to commemorate the occasion. The
legend on the coin was as follows: THE
King of Denmark has been to HAM
/ 5dfE. If thou wouldst knoW' what he
achieved, look on the other side It
is needless to add that "the other side'
is a blank.
The news comes from various
quarters of the world that where pres
ent the plague shows but small signs
of abating, and that the disease is
constantly cropping up in fresh locali-
ties. In India the Eastern pest RACES
with as much virulence as when it
hrst occurred on a large scale. Glas-
gov has had rescrudescence of the
epidemic, Liverpool has been invaded.
The plague situation in San Francisco
IS a. the present time somewhat of a
mystery, but there can be no doubt
that several Chinese in the Pacific
coast capital are plague stricken
Civilized countries in which the laws
of sanitation are properly observed
need be in no fear of an extended cpl
oemic.
Anyone who has taken note of
recent improvement in telephone APP
paratus,' says the Electrical Review,
will have observed that there is a
tendency to make the apparatus at the
subscribers station more and more
simple and automatic and to relieve
the subscriber of the necessity for do
ing anything except talking and lis
tening. At one time, not so many years
ago, the person using the telephone
was under the necessity of turning
the crank to establish communication
with the central office and also of
making a disconnect signal when his
conversation was finished. This lat
ter the subscriber generally neglected
70 do. The present systems have so
amplifhsd ithe subscribers share of
obtaining a telephone connection that
all he has to do is to take his tele
phone down from the hook and talk,
or. if his bell rings, take it down and
listen.'
"A new field of usefulness for the
Eiffel Tower is being gradually devel-
oped by French scientists, and especial
ly the meteorologists. Very important
results have been reached in expert
ments regarding the decrease of tenn
perature at rising heights and the
varying velocities of wind currents.
Many interesting spectroscopical OBJ
! servations have also been made from
the top of the tower by Analysing cleo
trio light signals thrown on the tower
/ 1rlxr
| away. This enabled the spectrum lines
OF the oxygen and Vapor in the earth's
atmosphere to be studied. Wireless
telegraphy has also found the tower a
useful help in its experiments. Light
ming has often passed down the legs
of the tower, but without doing and
| damage, thanks to excellent conduc-
tors. Lately an apparatus has been
| put up TO measure powerful electric
currents and flashes of lightning UP to
lO,OOO volts intensity have been regis
cred. The future will have to show
whether the hopes that the tower may
prove a condenser of atmos pheric cleo
tricity, and thereby a source of cleo
trlcal power will ever be realized. but
one cannot wonder that NJ. Eiffel, who
has just brought out a small pamphlet
on the scientific uses of the tower,
should indulge in such bold specula-
lions. For aerial navigation the tower
has also done excellent service mas
much as signals have been exchanged
from 1T with distant balloons as far 2s
the German frontier. From this it will
be seen of what supreme military i'm
portance the tower may yet prove to
be, especially If Paris should once more
undergo siege.
1t is an old story that there Is less
intoxication in all grades of society
than formerly; that it is recognized
that the man who drinks to excess is
at disadvantage in business and in
his social relations; and that men gem
orally use more discretion in drinking.
so that while more drink may be con-
sumed than formerly the individual
average of consumption is far less.
| says the New York sun. At the same
| time there have been various asser-
| tons that the habit of drinking has
been increasing among women. 1t
! seems to be true that more women do
| indulge in alcoholic beverages than
| formerly; but some curious evidence
comes from Europe this autumn 20 in
| dictate that this increase is not accom-
! panied by tendency to excess. This
! evidence is in the form of complaints
from proprietors of wine yards i'm paris
! OF France and Switzerland. They say
| that the demand for wine has fallen
! on III recent years to such an extent
that their income has been seriously
| affected. The sales referred to are OF
vine OF the ordinary qualities such as
! people in EurODe. according IN tha M