The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-12-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

stabbing case tried at the Essex As
sizes. To quicken the healing of the
wounds, the knife with which they
were inflicted was smeared with grease
and laid on the bed of the patient. The
purpose served by the application of
grease or oil to the knife, or to any
steel instrument that has inflicted
wounds, is to prevent it from rrsting.
For II the steel is allowed to become
rusty, the wound is supposed to be af-
teeted, and fostering and modification
follow the progress OF the rust. An
other quaint belief is that the applica-
ton of an oiled knife is certain and
quick remedy for scalds and burns.
1t is said to DR.. Winkler, a lawyer
of Lucerne, Switzerland, belongs the
honor of having settled what is prob
ably the longest law suit in the his
tory of any country. Since 1870 a
boundary dispute has been going on
between Hungary and Galicia. The
area in dispute is a tract of land about
seventy miles south of Cracow, owned
partly by Prince Hohenlohe, a Ger
man, and County Zamoyski, an exiled
Polish noble from Posen. This dis
pute of 500 years duration has led to
much bitter feeling in the neighbour
hood, as both Hungarians and Poles
have holly contested the question and
loudly asserted their claims. The ar
bitrator has decided in favor of the
Galician claim, and allows Hungary
only twentq acres to straigthen her
boundary.
"A queer improvement is being in
troduced in hotels in Europe. says the
Detroit News-Tribune. 1t is to fur
nish every guest on his arrival with
slippers made of paper. The soles are
OF pasteboard and the rest is made of
white or brown paper, stitched with
heavy cotton to prevent tearing. There
are various qualities. The most ex-
pensive is made of an extra good quail
ity of white paper. The cheapest is
made of common brown straw paper.
These paper slippers are so cheap that
new ones can be furnished 10 each
guest. An attempt is being made also
to introduce them in hospitals and
public institutions, as they would add
much to cleanliness and form another
preventive of contagion, since each
pair could be thrown away or de-
stroyed as soon as the wearer has
done with them
KHAKI is not the best color, 1t APP
pears, for the battlefield If a color is
wanted which blends with all sorts of
backgrounds, says the Baltimore Sun.
At Aldershot, England, recent expert
ments with three cannon, two painted
with red, yellow and blue and one
painted with khaki, showed that at
remote distances the multi-colored
guns and their canvas wings" were
invisible, while the Khaki gun was cas-
lily distinguished. The guns and can
vas alike were painted with red. yell
low and blue stripe, every part being
treated. The tone at a shore distance
was green, but merged with the color
of the surroundings as the distance
was increased. The three gums were
afterward moved forward to the gravel
parade ground and it was found that
the painted guns blended equally we'll
with that ground. The idea is that of
a militia officer
There are two we'll authenticated
cases where men have been killed by
the dead, says the Detroit News-Trib-
une. In the second Afghan War an
English officer, a well-known swords
man, rode out to tackle an Afghan
chief, who, after the fashion of his
countrymen, had challenged all ana
sundry to fight Both were mount
ed. They rode around each other,
watching an opportunity, and the
Englishman found his just a little too
him through the heart just as he was
swinging his heavy sword above his
head. The Afghan died, but the sword
came down and split the officers skull.
The man was, of course, dead, but
the weight of the sword brought down
by his falling body was enough to
get the blow home. A somewhat SIM
liar case was reported from Spion Kop.
There the Beers found a sergeant ap-
n0rpntIU inc 40 at, Gv,o
trigger. He was quite dead, for he
had been shot through the head. A
Boer tried to pull the weapon out of
his grasp, the dead finger drew the
trigger and he was shot through the
heart.
There is a simple way to test the
food value of potatoes, according to
Prof, Golf, to the Connecticut
Farmer. In making brine for beef it
is an old custom to put a potato in
water and stir in salt until the potato
floats. But If several potatoes are put
in together, some will come to the top
sooner than others Starch. the valua-
BILE portion of the potato, is heavier
than water. and the tubers that con-
tain most starch are best for the ta-
BILE, being mealy when cooked. BY put
ting a bushel of potatoes into a barrel
nearly full of water. and stirring in
SALT the tuberS poorest in starch will
first come to the surface and may be
picked off. BY stirring in more salt
more potatoes will rise, Those that re-
main at the bottom longest are worth
the most. The difference in the table
quality of the lightest and heaviest
tubers is surprising The former will
be soggy and salty, the latter fiaky
and farinaceous. 1t is believed nv
many that the market value of pota-
toes should be based on their specific
gravity. There seems to be no reason
why potatoes containing but IL per
cent. of starch should sell for as much
per bushel as those containing 20 per
cent. The latter are worth nearly twice
as much as the former for food. When
potatoes are sold on their merits as
Iood, rather than on the amount of
puiK they NIL farmers will have some
announcement to produce tubers that
contain starch. rather than those that
contain water. and potatoes will be
more used for food, because their food
value and palatibility will be increas-
ed. cas-
There has been considerable con-
troversy of late years as to which
country should be conceded the honor
OF printing the first regular news |
paper says the New Orleans Picayune
Claims have been successfully put for |
ward for Italy, France, Germany.
England and Holland. and all with |
some degree of plausibility, but It an |
pears from recent researches that |
neither one of these is entitled to the |
a cfr Naa To-.