The Savannah morning news., 1902-03-20
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

l-@A a1-1orlZec = [4le8s.etl. and the
total number Of passengers carried
last year was LIS, 2zs.7ss-
Letters in the zlphabets Of the diff
ferent nations vary in number. The
Sandwich Islanders have p; the Bur
mese, IS; Italian, 3. Bengal. q; He
brew. Syriac, Chaldee and Samaritan.
p each, Latin. .: Greek, "A; German,
Dutch and English, IS each: SIavonic,
2; Arabic. % Persian and Coptsc, g;
Georgian, %: Armenian, IS: Russian.
Il; old AuscoEite. 49, Sensfirt and
many Of the oriental languages have
80 each.
1t is always a battle to the death
when tarantula and a scorpion meet.
Both big insects are game 70 the core.
ana no more venomous creatures ever
existed Il is sure death to one or the
other often 10 both, says the New York
Journal. So interesting is a contest be
tween them and so much deadly pluck
90 they show that the cowpunchers Of
tne Far West-Mexicans, Indians. half
breeds and whites-bet on such a COM
Dat with the prodigality of a trust
Inagnate- The bets are always on which
insect viii be killed first. And there
IS always a run for the money. There
are no preliminary verbal upper-cuts,
no double crosses, no fakes. One or
the other is doomed. There is no es-
cape They fight TO win and to kill
Often poker game with a limit as
nigh as the roof is thrown UP to view
TO tarantula and scorpion scrap" It
Is the real thing with the strenuous,
sport cowboys. The more fierce,
the more sanguinary the battle the bet
ter. Well. this fight gives them all
they want. The hardy denizens of the
plains and the mountains are satisfied
with II as with nothing else. They
even forget to shoot a tenderfoot while
such scrap" is on. The two natural
enemies are put together into an in
verted tumbler and there is action from
the start. There are no preliminary
feints. No Marquis of Queensberry
| rules. II is a wild spring and clutch,
| and then, a death-like hug, tearing
and wrenching of the long octopus-like
legs, a spiteful snap of the venomous
black fangs, a breath even of which
is deadly poison. and the hapless vic
tim succumbs TO the inevitable sure
and speedy death. Thousands of dol
lars have been won and lost on on these
deadly combats.
Two recent fatal accidents" in the
very center of New York city-the tun-
mel collision on the New York Central
Railroad and the explosion of dyna
mite in shed of a subway contractor
revive the question of the margin of
safety in Industrial life, says the
/ Worlds Work. It is usually taken for
/ granted that the multiplication of pre-
I cautions goes on at a faster rate than
| the multiplication of dangers to hui
Z man life, but whether this be true
/ seems doubtful. Take, for instance,
I the record of accidents to employees
1 of railroads. The percentage of the
/ number killed or hurt is smaller than
| it was in the earlier days of railroad
work before many safeguards now in
/ common use were adopted; but the
! percentage of deaths and injuries has
/ not in recent years been materially
/ reduced. Mining is safer than it was,
and most of the mechanical Industries
1 have reduced the risk of disaster. The
4 practically universal inspection of
4 boilers and elevators, for instance, as
! required by law, has greatly reduced
! the death roll. But it is doubtful
/ whether the margin of danger has by
any means been made as narrow as it
might be- 1t Will not be obliterated
until men get rid of the notion which
! is even yet often advanced that there
/ are accidents which no human fore
/ sight could have prevented. This the
/ DRY is that since human sight and
/ hearing and judgment are imperfect,
| there will continue to be a danger
margin from the unexpected and I'M
! preventable failing of men to close a
throttle, or to see a signal, or to act
I with the necessary swiftness in an
emergency. But this theory is really
confession of bad industrial organ
/ ization. Ferryboat accidents are very
much fewer since the law required
the presence of two men in the pilot
house. The running down of persons
! In the streets by reckless automobile
/ drivers is surely a preventable "acci-
! dent" for severe punishment will act
/ as spur to caution. In some cities
the accidents from street cars are very
much fewer than in others, for it is a
| matter of training and of alert public
/ opinion. There has been as much
/ constructive thought and ingenuity
spent on devices and plans for the
elimination of danger and on insur-
ance against it as on the development
/ of any industry itself, and the ten
! dency of all modern organization is
/ towards such definite divisions of duty
| as will ensure keen hearing, sure sight,
/ clear judgment and prompt action
! wherever they may be suddenly need
ed. Still, the margin of danger exists
to a degree that is not creditable to
the most fertile people in the world
in devices for reducing it.
The stomach is the most willing
servant says Ainslee's. 1t really loves
| its master, and frequently performs
! such labors as none but a slave would
| endure. Horace Fletcher has recently
evolved a theory. founded upon thou
! sands of experiments, which main
| tains that of the necessary REQUIRE
ments the matter of chewing will alone
! suffice. According to him, man has
! been given the sense of taste to guide
him in his eating, and to maintain a
1 just relationship between his food and
his stomach. So long as there is any
taste he says, the food should remain
| in the mouth. That which remains
when there is no longer any taste
should be rejected as unfit. BY this
! method the taste is satisfied when the
/ necessary amount of food has been sent
to the stomach, and, therefore, it is
| impossible to overcrowd the stomach.
1 By this method also only that portion
! of food which is nourishing gets past
\ the taste into the system. And the
| taste being once thoroughly satisfied,
| does not call for more until the proper
| time. This unconsciously regulates the
| hours OF meals AS it is now, food is
ordinarily rushed into the stomach half
| chewed, waste and all, filing it with
| rubbish until 1t is overloaded, before
the taste is satisfied. Then the hard
working stomach finds that it has twice
| as much labor before it as it would
/ have if the food had been properly
chewed, besides having so much waste
material that it will get but half the