The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-31
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

An epidemic of scarlet fever, start
ing in Cincinnati. has, during the last
few weeks. spread through Ohio. in
spite of the precautions taken to con-
fine the disease within limits. The
health authorities have investigated
the cause of the spread of the infec-
ton and have concluded that pigeons
were the means of spreading the con-
tagion. This theory is based upon the
fact that all the live stock, except the
pigeons, about the house in which a
number of cases were confined was
Quarantined.
Very wide interest has been taken
in the spectrum Of lightning, photo
graphs of which have been obtained at
the Harvard College Observatory
These were made by pointing tele-
scope, provided with an objective prism
toward a portion of the sky where
lightning was particularly bright The
spectrum is not always the same.
Many of the lines appear to be due to
hydrogen. The first line is a broad,
bright band, extending from wave
length $3.50 to $3.50, and may be identi
cal with the nebular line 1876. The
spectrum of lightning is curiously like
that of the new star in Pesseus and
other new stars. Now that the
method of obtaining such photographs
has been shown, it would seem possible
to obtain a large number of them
taken under different conditions for a
more complete study of the subject.
Il have stood by the bedside of
hundreds of dying people" said an old
physician at Topeka, according to the
Kansas City Journal, land / have yet
to see a dying person shed a tear. No
matter what the grief of the bystand-
ers may be, the stricken person will
show no signs of overpowering
emotion. 1 have seen circle of agon-
lied children around a dying mother
mother who in health would have
been touched to the quick by signs of
grief IN child-yet she reposed as
calm and Unconditional as though she
had been made of stone. There is
some strange and inexpHcable psychol-
og1cal change which accompanies the
act of dissolution. 1t is we'll known to
all physicians that pain disappears as
the end approaches. And nature
seems to have arranged it so that men,
tai peace shall also attend our last
lingering moments"
An extraordinary phenomenon
made its appearance the other day in
the neighborhood of Brockley, London.
A man working in field had his at
tention suddenly diverted to a small
column of water rising in jerks in
spot where no water had been before
and on making a closer examination
the laborer discovered a number of
unusual-looking fish swimming about
in the pool formed by the uprushing
water The total number of fish
elected from the spring reached five
or six hundred. They resembled carp
in shape, but possessed curiously-
formed fins, of a brilliant brick-red
color, and some were blind. A local
geologist expressed the opinion that
the origin of the spring was probably
to be found either in one of the sub
terranean streams which are known to
exist in this part of London, or else
in spontaneous outburst from the
bearing strata some hundreds of
feet beneath the surface. He favored
the latter hypothesis, as he consid-
cred it likely that owing to the recent
heavy rainfall water might have ac-
cumulated in such volume in the up
per tertiary formation that 1t was able
to force itself through the clay and
chalk deposits, and so to the soil.
For years, says the st. James Ga
zette, the scientific gardener has been
gathering apples from pear trees and
picking cherries and damsons off the
same branches, and, though the quest
of the black tulip has so far been in
vain, the blue rose, we are told, has
at last arrived at Kew Gardens. Years
ago horticulturistS were interested in
the announcement that a nurSeryrnan
at Essy, in Slavonia, had secured a
wild rose from Servia which was said
TO give blooms of a deep violet blue,
and that, after two years of cultiva-
ton, the rose retained it's color. But
there is still an uncertainty whether
the blue tint was natural or produced
by chemical means. in the same way
as another horticulturist is known to
have produced a black rose. Most peo-
pie will be content, no doubt, with the
red, red rose that sweetly blooms in
june, and nobody will very much de-
plorc the failure of the efforts to pro-
duce roses of black, or blue, or green
or any other unnatural color More
pardonable, perhaps, is the hobby of
the man who would grow a universal
fruit tree. Even this, of course, is con-
trary to all the laws of nature and
ought by natural law to be abolished.
But there is a farmer in Herefordshire
who insists. it is said, on gathering
not grapes from thiStles, but pears and
plums and apples from cherry trees,
Many years ago the enterprising far
mer grated these alien fruits on to
his cherry tree, and by careful culti-
walton the four branches have been
brought to full fruition. Many of the
visitors to Naples have seen a famous
tree there on which oranges and ,em-
ons grow side by side.
speaking of Shoes" said an OBJ
servant man, according to the New
Orleans Times 1T have been
impressed by the curious taste diff
ferent men show in the selection of
their footgear. One man will wear
button shoes all his life, another will
take to lace shoes. another to CATERS.
and still another will swing on the
Old custom of wearing boots. You
would be surprised at the number Of
men in the South who still cling to
the old fashion of wearing boots. Thew
wear them winter and summer. and IL
Charles Dickens were alive to-day.
and should steam down the Mississippi
river again. he would find at many
points along the river, and in the in
terror if he should venture ashore. the
same old, sturdy type of manhood. with
pantaloons showed into the legs of
bolts, that he ridiculed so fiercely some
time in the '40s, when he secured the
data fo~ the series of ISLANDERS puh-
lished in his American Notes For
which, it may be said, in Justice to
his memory, he apologized on the oc-
c2SiOn of his second visit RI