The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-07-29
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


derstorms. They are seldom more
than quarter of a mile in diameter;
they drift along with the thunderstorm
in which they are formed, usually in
an easterly direction, passing by in
miaute or two. These whirling winds
are strong enough to blow down trees
and overturn buildings. Violent local
storms of this kind are often called
cyclones, or prairie twisters, in the
Mississippi valley, but the name tor
nado is to be preferred in order to dis
tinguish them from the much larger
and less violent cyclonic storms. When
violent whirlwinds of this kind occur
over a water surface a water column
is formed in their vortex; they are
then called waterspoucs."
The successful reduction of milk
to the form of a powder is a recent
achievement of much Importance to the
bakers, particularly those engaged in
the business in a large way. They are
enabled to secure their milk supply
without any possibility of interruption
and at much lower cost. This latter
is due to the fact that the dried milk
can be shipped so much more econom-
ically than the milk in it's original
form. A tive-pound box can be shipped
at a small fraction of that of its
equivalent of whole milk and can be
mixed as desired. The losses in the
handling of fresh milk around a bak-
cry are very great. Much is consumed
by the men handling it, a great deal
is wasted and not little is spoiled by
being improperly cared for.
"A recent traveller on the Niger, in
Africa, writes: II was anxious to pur-
chase some fruit from a native wo-
man who came down to the ship and to
this end l produced a handful of cop
pers which 1 had brought out from
England first showed her five, then
six, seven and eight, but she pushed
them all aside in a most unceremon-
ious manner. More by way of a joke
than anything else l then produced a
3-penny piece, which she at once ac-
cepted, giving me in return just twice
as much as l had asked for my eight
coppers also discovered that she had
a partiality for white glass bottles
1 happened to have about half a dozen
empty soda water bottles, for which
she gave me the same number of eggs
| afterward found that any white glass
bottle had this purchasing power all
over Nigeria. The natives send them
to B1da, where they are melted and
made into rings about three or four
inches in diameter, to be worn either
as armlets or anklets.''
The nutmeg tree and the manner
of preparing the famous nut for mar
ket are little understood, says the Gro
Ger, but we give a few interesting
facts on the subject from remarks
made by a grocer who has lately Wis
tied the East Indies and witnessed the
handling of the nut: 1.-THE nutmeg
: tree" the grocer said, sis found in the
East and West Indies; also in the
Islands. 1t bears all the year round,
but most plentifully in May and De-
cember. When ripe the outer shell
splits open on one side; the pod is re-
moved, after which the mace is care
fully stripped from the inner shell.
The nutmegs are then dried for about
two months with artificial heat They
are turned every day until dried, when
the kernels will rattle in the shell. The
shells are then cracked with wooden
mallets The imperfect, or worm-eat-
en- ones, are cast away, and the good
ones rubbed in Stacked lime, to give
them better appearance. They are
ready now for sale. The best nut
megs average 10 to so to the pound"
-Expositions of the laws of heredity
fail in affording no clue to the under
standing of genius, says the Baltimore
Sun. As these laws of inheritance
are now expounded 1t would seem that
no offspring could ever rise above the
average level of preceding generations,
and we have all had thousands of
commonplace ancestors. In animals eX-
cellence is, as a rule, easily accounted
for; in man 1t is not so. How comes
it that in the same family one member
rises not merely above all the rest,
but above the bulk of mankind? One
only of the Bonapartes was a Napo-
leon; one only of the Shakespeares
could write Hamlet" And why
should the son of an ordinary Lincoln
shire farmer and his probably ordi-
nary wife have turned out not merely
the greatest natural philosopher of his
time, but of all time? We are still
waiting for a second Isaac Newton.
To say that such men are Sports is
to give us word for a thing, and
merely to cover ignorance. The sport
must be caused. and what was the
cause? The excellent work being done
in tracing the influence of heredity only
makes more astounding these prodi-
gies of genius.
The thumb is the most tell-tale
member of human beings body, and
it is we'll known device of employers
OF large amount of labor to carefully
criticise the thumbs of every appli-
cant sor situation before finally en-
gaging him or her for any position
in their business, says the Philadel-
phia Inquirer. In fact, so far has
this thumb business been carried that
many lunatic asylum doctors are now
employing it in detecting the numer
Gus frauds who endeavor each year to
enter the asylum on the plea of in
sanity. No matter how carefully the
individual may attempt to conceal in
cipient insanity, the thumb will re-
veal 1t infallibly. 1t is the one sure
test. If the patient in his daily work
permits the thumb to stand at a right
angle to the other fingers, or to fan
listless into the palm. taking no part
in his writing, his handling of things,
his multiform duties, but standing iso-
lated and sulky, it is an unanswerablel
confession of mental disease Spe-
clalists In nerve diseases, by an exam
nation of the thumb, can tell if the
patient is affected or likely to be af-
feeted by paralysis, as the thumb sig
mails this long before it is visible in
any other part of the body If the
danger symptoms are evidenced there.
an operation is performed on what is |
known as the thumb center of the
brain. and the disorder is often re- |
moved.
1t Is a commonly expressed belief |
nowadays that in warfare, so scientific |
has the art become, the courage and
the grit of the individual soldier will |
not count for much. Victory, it is said, |
Will be the fruit of scientific equip |
in aY1I H.