The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-02-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

IN Mexico produced 200, ana az
ter that the Indian slaves employed in
them murdered the Spanish owners and
the mines were lost. On old Spanish
maps they appear in northwestern
Mexico, about fifty leagues from the
sea, and near the town of Dos Pilates.
They have now been rediscovered near
Cianteguita.
Scattered throughout the various
Washington departments are hundreds
of clocks and chronometers, which cost
the Government annually thousands of
dollars. The chronometers are the most
expensive clocks in existence and they
are to be found on board every war
ship of the United States. These time
pieces cost $500 each. The ones most
consulted are these in the marble room
of the Senate and in the Speakers lob
by of the House. Hundreds of people
daily correct their watches by them.
The London Engineer says that the
joint capital of the six largest manu-
facturers of coal tar colors in Germany
amounts to $12, 500, 900. They employ to-
gether about 500 chemists, $50 engineers
and other technologists, 1850 business
managers, clerks, travellers ETC., and
more than $4,000 work people. Com
pared with such figures as these the
England color manufacture assumes
insignificant proportions. The total cap
ital invested in the trade in England
probably does not exceed $2,500000.
Medical reports state that there is
an alarming death rate among infants
throughout Russia. In many places 40
per cent, so per cent, and even more,
of the children die in their first year
This great mortality is attributed
mainly to ignorance and neglect. The
mothers work in the fields while their
little ones are left alone. In one Gov
eminent the mortality of infants
among Christians is said to be S42.1
per 1000 while the death rate among
children of Mohammedan parents is
14O.4 per 1000. The Mohammedan law
compels the mother to nurse her child.
In accordance with resolutions of
the Committee on Hygiene and the
Committee of High School of the Phil
adelphia High School for Girls, relative
to the vaccination of teachers, the
chairman has suspended one of the
teachers for her refusal to be vaccina-
ted. The Superior Court very recently
decided that it could not assent to the
proposition that the board had not
power to suspend teacher for refus-
ing to comply with the vaccination re-
gulation. Such a ruling is, of course,
in the interest of public health, and it
is a cause of congratulation that the
decision is good law.
Dr. Schulz, by analysis of the stom-
ach contents, has demonstrated that
sleep after meals decreases the nnobili-
ty of the stomach and increases the
scidity of the contents, and hence is not
advisable. May 1t not be, says an Ex-
change that the matter cannot be de-
cided by rule, but depends upon the in
diVidual popularity and habits? Does
it also possibly depend to a large ex-
tent upon the kind of food eaten? As
rule the Candida and the Felidea,
f1esh-eaters, sleep after meals, and
acidity would aid their digestion, while
the ruminants and graminivorous ami
mails lie down, but keep awake. 1t is
admitted by DIR. Schulz that the recum-
bent position without sleep aids diges-
ton.
Certain plants of which the sundew
and the Venus f1ytrap are examples,
capture insects for food and digest
them. The leaf which captures the prey
throws out a digestive fluid upon the
insect, and this fluid exhibits a compo-
sitton analogous to that found in the
gastric juice of our own stomach. Ger
tain other plants capture insects by
means of their pitcher-like leaves the
best known species of these belonging
to the group Nepenthes. In the pitcher
like leaves the insects are drowned, and
their bodies undergo a decomposition
Prof. Vines, in recent communication
to the Lumsden Society, points out that
In the Nepenthes the digestive ferment
is not so much like that of the animal
stomach as like that found in the pam
crease or sweetbread. This latter organ
furnishes fluid which can digest all
kinds of food, and done substance in its
fluid, trypsin, to wit, acts specially on
heterogeneous matter.
With the epidemic of smallpox there
goes another epidemic of discussions
on vaccination, and in Boston the anti
yiccinationest have been making a de-
termined effort for the repeal of the
compulsory law says the Chicago Re-
cord-Herald. Much testimony pro and
con has been heard at the statehouse
during the consideration of a repeal bill
in committee, some of which is of a
highly interesting character. DR.. Azel
Ames, who had charge of the smallpox
hospital in Porto Rico said that the
average death rate from smallpox in
that island for ten years preceding the
American occupation was 651. The
American authorities at once set to
work to make vaccination as near as
possible universal, and when it was
discontinued there were only two cases
in a population of 100000. 1t has been
suggested that improved sanitation &C.
counted for this remarkable change
but the Improvement had not been so
general as to justify such an inference.
In the opinion of the witness the
change was due solely to vaccination
which had been stopped only when
there were no more people to vaccinate.
To-day there are no cases of the dis
ease on the island. DR.. Bancroft, resi-.
dent physician of the smallpox hospital
in Boston, classified the cases there as
follows: Unvaccinated, 1885, vaccinat-
ed, 223; no record, IL. He said that
the general mortality was IA per cent.
that of the vaccinated being per cent.
and that of the unvaccinated 10 per
cent. OF the vaccinated cases so were
mild, so moderately severe, 20 severe,
and IL resulted in death. OF the UNI
vaccinated cases 16 were mild AZ moder-
ately severe, AZ severe, and AZ resulted
in death.
First came torpedo boats, then tor
pedo-boat destroyers, and now come
the destroyers of the destroyers them |
selves, says the New York Post The |
following are some particulars con- |
corning the Russian Novik, the latest |
development in this line, aiming at the |
maximum of combined speed and |
strength. The Government authori- l
ties stipulated that she must have a
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