The Savannah morning news., 1902-10-11
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


casional ant which was much lerger
than the others and moved at a much
swifter pace, and each of these larger
ants, NJ. MeisSen saw, always carried
one of the gray ants on its back. This
discovery led him to watch their move
ments closely. He soon saw that while
the main body of gray ants was al
ways on foot, they were accompanied
by at least one of their own sort,
mounted on one of the larger ants. He
mounted and detached himself now and
then from the line, rode rapidly to the
head, came swiftly back to the rear
and seemed to be in command of The
expedition.
As to national characteristics in
feet, it may be said that the French
foot is narrow and long. The Spanish
foot is small and elegantly curved
thanks to it's Moorish blood-corre-
spending to the CastilIans pride of be-
ing high in the instep," says the Pic
torial Magazine. The Arabs foot is
proverbial for its high arch. The Ko-
ran says that a stream of water can
run under the true Arabs foot without
touching it. The foot of the Scotch
is high and thick; that of the irish
fat and square: the English short and
fleshy. When Athens was in her zen
it'll the Greek foot was the most per-
fectly formed and exactly proportion
ed of that of any of the human race.
Swedes, Norwegians and Germans have
the largest feet, Americans the small
est, Russian toes are ''webbed" to the
first joint. Tartarian toes are all the
same length.
Churches which depend mainly for
their support on offertories are no doubt
injured by wet Sundays, says a writer
in the Westminster Gazette, but more
than one clergyman owes preferment
to their occurrence. The late popular
chaplain of the Savoy, who made the
chapel a center of spiritual life, and
was so popular with all classes of So
eiety especially with those in the the
atrical and literary worlds, is a case
in point. When the Duke of Montrose
was chancellor of the Duchy of Ian
caster he intended crossing one Sun
day from Dover to Calais, but the
weather being so bad he postponed his
| journey and attended afternoon serv-
ice where Mr.. White was curate, and
his grace was so struck with the pains
he took in preaching to a small and
uninf1uential congregation that he ask
ed him to dinner and offered him the
chaplaincy of the Savoy.
Every class now seems to have a
| special newspaper or organ" in Par
| is. The Journal des Concierges has
long existed, and a weekly has now
| been started in the interests of the po-
lice. 1t is not quite clear if the paper
| be written by policemen, but, at any
rate, many of the secrets of the pro-
fession are revealed in it, and it is
also perilously personal. 1t even con-
tains sarcastic paragraphs ceremoni-
| ously alluded to as the "haute boite.'
| Minor persons attached to the stations
are also referred to as having certain
| weaknesses, notably of an amatory
kind. and nicknames are bestowed N
evidently unpopular superintendent
and inspectors. The antecedents of
disfavored superiors are likewise in
| sisted upon, and one of them is de-
scribed as an eX-dustman, while an
other is reproached for having been a
seminarist, or ecclesiastical student,
like NJ. Combes.
For many years, says the London
Telegraph, efforts have been made to
| ascertain the exact depth of glaciers by
| boring, but mechanical and other diff
| ficulties have hitherto frustrated the
! carrying out of this method of in
| quiry. A few days ago, however, Profs.
| Blumks and Hess, from Bavaria, who
! are well known for their studies OF
glaciers, succeeded in boring through
the Hinteries glacier in the OtZthal
Alps at a point where the ice was
| found to be 1853 meters deep. The ma
chine used for boring was driven by
hand, and is somewhat similar to that
usually employed for experimental bor-
| ing in mines, but was fitted with spec
| ial arrangements for washing out frag-
| ments of ice from the borehole to pre-
vent their freezing together again. The
| expenses of the undertaking, which
amounted to many thousands of marks
were borne by the German and Aus
trian Alpine Club.
Flower growers have discovered
how to produce lilacs in autumn, and
in the coming fall will put these pretty
blossoms on the market in considerable
quantities, says the New York Even
| ing Post. 1t is quite a wonderful
| achievement, considering how peculiar
| ly they are associated with the spring
| time and the way in which it is ac-
| complished is most curious and inter
| esting. In a state OF nature the lilac
plant requires a period of rest before
| producing it's flowers. That period is
the winter, when the cold enforces re-
pose. But it is found that the plant car
| be cheated into blossoming in autumn
/
which put it to sleep for little while
after which it proceeds to blossom
luxuriantly. Florists grow the plants
in pots, and in the fall place them
| pots and all. in a large box which con-
| tains an uncorked bottle of ether. II
| this manner they are exposed to the
| ether vapor for forty-eight hours, the
box being alright; and sometimes the
| operation is repeated a few days later
When they come out they are ready t.
| start right in at poisoning, and the
| glass gardener obtains a fine crop OF
lilacs for the early winter trade. The
| process sometimes weakens the colors
| of the flowers, but this does not matter
! in the case of lilacs, because the KIND
preferred by florists is the white.
The appearance of new star In
the constellation Perseus and it's rapid
expansion into a nebula, which has
been going on for some time past, has
revived among the astronomers the
| theory that some nebulae may be form
ed by explosion, says Success. About
| 1870 Prof. Bickerton of Canterbury Col
lege. New Zealand, showed that if two
stars should Craze one another the
| abraded parts, If relatively small
would have so high a tempera-
ture that they would at once become
nebulous, and that the nebula so form
| ed would, under certain conditions
continue to expand until dissipated in
space. The present expanding nebula
| has been growing at the extraordinary
rate of several thousand miles a Sec
ond, and is, in many ways, one of the
| I'll 4.