The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-04-02

An enormous Capltdl Is sunk III Luc
mineral water industry in Great Brit
ain. 1t is probably not overestimating
the figure to put il at Ell 000. 900, while
the workers employed will number not
far short of 100000
The Scientific American describes a
novel device which has just been pat
ented by a Boston man. 1t consists of
an electric fan which heats the air as
it fans it, The bades of the fan are
made of carbon and an electric current
is passed through them. They become
hot, and the air which is driven out
by them as they rotate is warmed.
The sale of recent translations in
Japan indicates that foreign authors
rank as follows in the estimation of
the Japanese: lola, Doyle, Gosse. Lang,
Bret Harte, Stevenson, George Mere
dith. John Morley, Pater, Thomas,
Hardy, Henry James, Ian Maciaren.
Ruskin, Stephen Phillips. Tennyson
and Mark Twain.
"A returned tourist who recently
visited Ell Cumbre, near Matanzas,
Cuba, tells the New York Press that
while there he was reminded of an
incident in American history with
which he was entirely unfamiliar, and
which, he is willing to bet, not one
American in one hundred knows any
thing about. He refers to the fact that
a Vice President of the United States
took the oath of office there. being au-
thorized to do so by special act of
Congress. Ell Cumbre means 1.-THE
Summit" and it was there that Will
liam Rufus King, Vice President with
Franklin Pierce, dying of consump-
ton, was sworn into Office March "a,
1858.
George Wherry Of Cambridge, Eng
land. who has been experimenting to
determine whether the enormous and
curiously shaped horns of some species
OF wild sheep have any value To the
sheep as ear trumpets, states that an
extraordinary difference is seen in wild
sheep in this respect. In the case of the
Spiral-horned domestic sheep of the
Alps, the ear is large and is Gagged in
the open spiral of the horn, lying in its
long axis. The horns (ovis nivicola)
are enormous, but the ear is remarka-
bly, short, situated exactly in the axis
of the horn spiral in such a way that
it appears to be at the apex of a hol-
low cone formed by the horn. A SIM
liar relation of ear to horn is found in
owls Montana, the Siberian argali and
others. The form of the horn and the
position of the ear enables the sheep
to determine the direction of sounds
when there is a mist or fog, acting
as megaphone or topohone "a double
ear trumpet, used sometimes on ship
board to determine the direction OF
sounds. By taking a horn off the
skull the listening ear, If properly plac-
ed, can distinguish the tick of a watch
most clearly in the axis of the coil,
though no evidence of impaired hear
ing for distance could be discovered
by any such simple experiments.
The Lombardy poplar is noted for
it's slender, upward pointing branches,
says Home and Flowers. This peculiar
ity of the branches is accounted for in
this way: An old man was so FORUM
ate as to lind a pot of gold at the end
of the rainbow, just at sunset. Being
a long way from home, he decided to
hide it until morning and return for
it, so he carefully placed it under the
limbs of the sleeping poplar. Iris miss
ed the pot of gold, and sent Mercury,
the wind messenger, to look for ii. He
asked the trees if they had seen it, and
the elm. oak and pine pointed straight
out to the poplar, saying. the poplar
knowsl the poplar knows!' I know!'
exclaimed the poplar. Why, how
should / know and she held up her
limbs in surprise. Down fell the pot
of gold, much TO the poplar's a5tonish-
ment, for it was a very honest tree.
SO she stretched her limbs high above
her head. declaring that she would al
ways hold them so, that the sun god
might see she had nothing to conceal.
OF course the other trees laughed at
such an unusual proceeding, but she
taught all the little poplar trees to
stand in the same upright and fearless
way, and they were ever afterward
loved and respected by ALL
The oldest known form of the spur
is that of long pin or needle This
early specimen was found at Autun, in
the tomb of Queen Brunehaut, murder
ed by her rival Fredergonde in 613. In
the thirteenth century spurs received
the form of rosettes or stars. The wheel
form did not appear until the fifteenth
century Most of the young noblemen
of that day wore spurs of most GU
rious pattern, comprising primarily q
rod half a foot long, at the end of
which an enormous star wheel was
carried. In the middle ages, when Il
cavalier almost stood in his stirrllps
and horses were caparisoned, very
long spur-shanks were necessary in
order to reach the f1anks of the
mount During the middle ages the
wearing of the spur was regarded as
6 sign OF freedom. The vassal to whose
heel it was fastened swore fidelity to
his suzerain. The wearing of spurs
soon spread to such an extent that
even the clergy followed the fashion
set by the knights. But this custom
lid not long endure; at a council of
mobiles and bishops held in SIG the
clergy were forbidden to wear spurs.
The SPURS of knights were of gold, to
distinguish them from the spurs of
esquires, which were of silver. At the
beginning of the eleventh century
when man, for some noble deed, was
dubbed a knight. the ceremony of
knighting him began by giving him a
ing the title attached the spurs him
self to the heels of the newly created
noble and then gave him his helmet,
his horse, his sword and his lance.
Lucy c. Lille, writing about "The
Growing Of the King" in the April
Era. gossips thus amusingly: The King
is, as he has always been, in favor
of freedom of speech when conversing
Familiarity with any one, and he en-
curages frank opinions from those in
his intimate circle. Queen Victoria
was decidedly fond of a genuine 'gos-
sip with her few intimate friends; and,
small wonder! Fancy viewing life from
palace windows or guarded drives, re-
stricted in all intercourse save with
ones own flesh and blood, vet hav-
ing so far the spirit of life within ones
veins, that one knew the common
bond of humanity should bind all in