The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-07-26
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

Ever since weather shooting" as
/ it is called in Germany and Switzer-
land, met with such pronounced sue
cess in Syria. upper Italy, Hungary
| and France, meteorologists have been
! engaged in a very wordy battle as to
the merits of the scheme. So success
! full have been the efforts in preventing
hailstorms in Upper Italy that since
the experiments of 1898 10000 stations
have been established.
Some idea of the value of the coal
deposits in Indian Territory can be
gained when it is known the average
thickness of the vein is four feet,
which means that 100000 to 100000
tons can be produced by those leasing
the land. On this output the lessees pay
royalty of cents a ton. The out
put during the last year was 1900, 1921
as against 1,400. AL tons the previous
year. The interests of the Chickasaw
and Choctaw Indians are protected.
"A novel and extremely simple life
saving device has been invented by
NJ. George Broussel. 1t is a sort of au-
tomato folding buoy, and is formed
merely of two boards of wood. which
are joined together in the center. In
ordinary weather it can be used as a
seat on board vessel, and when there
Is danger of shipwreck it can be in
simultaneously turned into a life-sav
ing buoy. Many experiments have al
ready been made with it and they
show that it can do effective work as
we'll in a storm as in a calm sea.
"A Washington dispatch says Chief
Wilkie, of the Secret Service, has re-
ceived a number of banknotes printed
from the original plates of the State
Bank of New Brunswick, N. J. The
bank went out of existence in the fif-
ties and it was supposed that the plates
that they have fallen into the hands of
parties who have printed from them
large quantities of notes which have
| been put into circulation from New
| York to San Francisco. Inasmuch as
the notes are not counterfeits the
makers and passers cannot be prose-
cuted under the United States laws,
| but it is said they can be punished for
| fraud under the state laws. 1t is said
that possibly 100000 of these notes
are in circulation.
There is a story of a beauty who
when on her deathbed gave instruc-
lions that as soon as she died her maid
should delicately rouge her cheeks,
| whose beautiful tints had always been
| her own pride and the envy of female
| acquaintance, says the Chicago Chron-
icle. A parallel is found in the case
of the Countess de Castiglione, who
| died recently in Paris. In the days of
the second empire the countess was a
noted beauty, but for a long time had
| been a recluse. In her will she left
minute instructions as to the manner
of her burial. They were not carried
out, as she died suddenly and was bur-
| led before her executor could arrive
| from Italy. Here is an extract from
her will: my old nurse alone shall
| be admitted to see me when / am
| dressed in the manner which I here
with set down: Batiste nightgown Of
1857 long lace gown striped with black
| velvet. The pearl necklace with six
| strings of white pearls and three
strings of black pearls; the necklace
which l always wore, with the sou in
closed in crystal and monogrammed
! with two VS. interlaced and a crown
| All the costumers know this ornament
Bare feet and bare arms. At my feet
my embalmed dogs Toto and Zig,
which are in the basket of burial
clothes. At my neck, with the pearls,
the medal from Lourdes."
There are not few birds that pos
sess a knowledge of the principles of
surgery that is not far from supernat-
ural. The woodcock, the partridge and
| some other birds are able to dress
their wounds with considerable skill.
! A French naturalist says that on sew
eral occasionh he has killed woodcocks
| that were when shot convalescing from
wounds previously received. In every
instance he found the old injury neatly
| dressed with down plucked from the
stem feathers and skillfully arranged
| over the wound evidently by the long
| beak of the bird. In some instances a
| solid plaster was thus formed, and in
others ligatures had been applied to
wounds or broken limbs. One day he
killed a bird that evidently had been
| severely wounded at some recent pc
| riod. The wound was covered and
protected by a sort of network of
feathers which had been plucked by
| the bird from its own body and so ar
ranged as to form plaster completely
| covering and protecting the wounded
| surface. 1t had evidently acted as
hemostatic, in the first place, and sub
| sequently as a shield covering the
wound. The feathers were fairly Melted
| together, passing alternately under and
above each other and forming a tex
q tile fabric of great protective power.
! Birds are often found whose limbs
| have been broken by shots with the
| fractured ends neatly Joined and ligat-
| ed. NJ. Dumonteil tells of a woodcock
| that had been shot by a sportsman on
| the afternoon of a certain day. After
| a long search the bird was given up,
but it was discovered the next morning
| by an accident In the meantime the
wounded legs were found to have been
neatly ligated, an exquisitely neat
! bandage having been placed around
| each limb. The poor bird, however.
had, in dressing it's wound. entangled
it's beak with some long, soft feathers
and had ii not been discovered 1t would
| have died of starvation.
-Peall' the English billiard cham
| pion. had a few tricks that were pc
culiarly his own. Some time ago a
couple of men with whom none of the
others was acquainted were sitting in
the billiard room of a hotel at a Lam
| cashire watering place and comment
| ing good humoredly, the one to the 9TH
| err. upon the play of the men who were
/ engaged at the table. One player.
who had more style than execution and
| more self-assurance than either, chal-
| lenged the room. and, seeing smile
upon the face of the smaller of the two
| strangers, made II difficult for him
| to refuse acceptance OF the challenge.
Your cues are rather too long for
me-" said the little man. as he pat