The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-21
ITEMS of INTEREST.


dinner, over which Mr.. Choate presided.
Instead of asking the men who were
down for speeches to respond to the reg
ulation toasts, Mr.. Choate read of a
question to each from one OF the college
examination papers, and then called up
his victim. The query which -@ell to Mr.
Evarts was this: why is it that the
stomach. which continually digests food.
is never itself digested?" Evarts, in re-
sponse said: Il have attended a good
many Harvard dinners before this, and,
as a result of my experience with them,
before setting out from New York to at
tend one of these feasts l always dvest
myself Of the coats of my s.omach and
hang them up in my wardrobe"
-1ousekeepers and pure food commits
sioners have a new foe to fight, says the
New York Post. 1t is viscogen as a milk
adulterant 1t has been found by in
spectors of the Dairy Department in Min
nesota, and, so far as known, its use is
yet confined to that state. When its prop
cries become generally known however,
1t may confidently be looked for else
where. 1t is a syrup composed of sugar.
lime, and water, about the color of wa
ter, and is used chiefly to make the milk
appear richer than it really is. When
viscogen is placed in milk or cream the
Tactic acid turns the lime in the fluid into
a white, thick substance, which, assimi-
lating with the milk, gives it an appear
ance and taste of great richness. 1t is
possible through its use to palm off upon
customers milk and cream which is far
below standard. Fortunately, the adul-
terant, according to Minnesota authori-
ties, is not injurious to health.
I'm Michigan compulsory vaccination
rule has come in conflict with the COM
pulsory school-attendance law, and has
had the worst of the encounter The Su-
preme Court of the state was arbiter in
the contest, the case passed upon being
the right of the Kalamazoo School Board
to exclude from the schools unvaccinat-
ed children. This it may not unquali-
fiedly do, the Supreme Court ruled. The
Legislature, the court says, has provid-
ed who shall and who shall not attend
school, and it has nowhere undertaken to
confer power on school boards to change
the conditions. If the rule was that dur
ing the prevalence of smallpox in Kala-
mazoo the pupil could not attend school
unless vaccinated, different result would
be reached, but as these epidemics never
last very long the standing rule of the
board that no person unless vaccinated
can attend school at any time is beyond
the power of the board to prescribe.
struck by lightning than other trees?
Farmers in Western Pennsylvania and
Ohio will answer yes" and will cite any
number of instances in their neighbor-
hood where such trees have been splin-
tered by lightning when other varieties
have escaped. So strong is this belief
in the rural regions that people are
warned not to take shelter under a To-
Gust during a thunder shower. The tree
is planted, too, in groves, 100 feet or more
from houses, and farm buildings, under
the impression that it draws the light
ming and thus protects the buildings. In
the rural mind the locust is better than
a lightning-rod. This extensive planning
of the locust probably explains why it is
so often hit by lightning. The tree has
many good qualities, aside from its fan
cied one as a lightning arrester, and it
has become so frequent in Ohio and West
ern Pennsylvania that the lightning can
not help striking it.
The mining of phosphate rock consti-
tutes the only real mineral industry of
which Florida can boast, says George H.
Eldredge, in Mining and Metallurgy
Some building brick is manufactured in
the state and Florida is our only i'm
portant domestic source of supply for
Fullers earth, but these industries are
comparatively unimportant. The first dis
covery of phosphate rock was made in
the vicinity of Barlow about thirteen
years ago, and 5000 tons of rock were
produced in that year. In the following
year the pebble deposits of the Alafia
and Peace Rivers were discovered, and
small portion of the 4, 100 tons of phos-
phate rock were produced. This is near
ly 100000 tons, or about 80 per cent more
than the largest production ever obtain
ed in South Carolina in any one year.
although mining in that state has been
carried on since 1867. In the twelve
years from 1888 to 1890 inclusive the pro-
duction of phosphate rock has amounted
! to 1884, s9 long tons. valued at the ship
ping point at 15,960,117.
1t has been decided by a state court
in Utah that sealing" is not marrying,
says the New York Mail and Express.
There may be some people in this part
of the world who do not know what
sealing" is. The Mormons believe that.
since the Saviour said that when they
shall rise from the dead they neither
| marry nor are given in marriage" it is
| necessary for persons who wish to re-
main married in the next world to be
properly united in this! and, as they as
sumo that the ordinary marriage is not
performed with reference to eternity, they
which they call sealing" "A woman
any number of women-may be sealed
to man, in this life, for eternity. Com
monty this ceremony must be performed
in the sealing room at one of the three
existing Mormon temples; but under GER
tain circumstances it may be performed
elsewhere. The president of the church
performed such a ceremony for a wo-
man who was supposed to be on her death
bed. She recovered outlived the man to
whom she was sealed" and sued for
widows rights. The court now decides
that she is not entitled to them This
decision enables the Mormons to Seal
as many wives" as they wish, since Il
pronounces the ceremony not one of mar
rage. It is, however, dehnitive enough
with them. and the decision VIII no doubt
bring joy to the camp Of the Saints.
In England they tell of famous
burglar, under sentence for long term
of years, having been pardoned by the
authorities for his ingenuity in making
an elaborate lock and key out Of ordi-
| nary pins. The tale may be true, or II
may be only one of those fables which
have been handed down from generation
to generation; at any rate. its analogue
is to be found in the recent action of
| Gov. Shaw Of Iowa in pardonng a man
because he claims to have discovered the
| long-lost secret of making Damascus