The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-21
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

| Strait of Canso, between Nova Scotia
| and Cape Breton, is to have a span
of 1900 feet-the longest in the world.
H. D. Richmond points out that
it is quite fallacious to endeavor to
| test the acidity of milk with litmus
paper, since it is possible to condemn
all fresh milk as the result of apply
ing that test.
Until lately children under IA used
to pay half fare on the Vienna tram
ways, but the rule has been altered
so that any child above three feet
and one and one-half inches in hight
will in future have to pay the full
fare.
king Leopold of Belgium never
wears gloves. He is very proud of
and appearance, and on which he
| spends a great deal of time. His beard
also comes in for large share of at
tention.
Only one man in the city of Lon
don, outside the Tower, possesses the
password which enables him to answer
the challenge of the sentries at any
time. 1t is the Lord Mayor, and the
/ password is given to him by authority
of the King.
The Brooklyn bridge has lost place
as one of the wonders of the world
since the building of the Williamsburg
steel bridge, mile farther up the East
river, and the bridge now building to
Blackwells Island will be more Won
derful than either.
That low lying territory of the
Mississippi should at times be over
flowed is not surprising if one consld-
ers that the Fathers of Waters"
draws supplies from twenty eight
states, draining one-third of the area
of the United States.
The lions of Uganda are a great
deal too fond of the railway men. They
I have already eaten twenty-seven of
them. This must be growing monoto-
nous-for the railway men-and it is
time the authorities provided the lions
with a change of diet
In Hawaii there is a spot called the
Rock of Refuge. If criminal reaches
this rock before capture he is safe so
long as he remains there. Usually his
family supplies him with food until
he is able to make his escape, but he
is never allowed to return to his own
tribe.
Captivity changes animals nature.
A lion captured when it is full grown
will always be treacherous, but lions,
tigers, leopards or other carnivorous
animals that have been born in cap
tivity can be tanned till they are as
gentle and affectionate and safe as
poodle dogs.
Breaking away from a wagon at
Rheims, France, a horse dashed into a
passing motor car and leaped into the
back seats. The chauffeur was struck
by its forelegs and thrown into the
road. Passers-by were treated to the
novel spectacle of horse driving alone
in an automobile.
Chicago has a new fraternal order
which is known as the Outlaws. The
insignia is a silver hangman's moose,
which is worn on the lapel of the coat.
The membership is limited to thirty,
and a member must have a record for
recklessness that will put him in a
class with the outlaws of the dime
novel.
The Berlin newspapers tell Of a
wonderful baby giant which was re-
Gently brought by his parents before
the medical faculty of that city for
examination. He is the son OF a baker
at Drievers, and, although only Is
months old, stands three and a half
feet high. He measures thirty-siX
inches round the chest.
The difficulty in damaging a war
balloon in midair was recently shown
by tests made in Austria. The expert
mentors anchored a balloon at a hight
of 1000 feet and had gunners, who had
not been given the distance, to try TO
disable it. 1t required twenty-five shots
to find the range, even approximately,
and not until the siXty-fourth round
was the balloon hit.
The high winds recorded by the
Weather Bureaus Pacific stations dur
ing the recent storm, in which an
average velocity of ~ miles was sus-
| tanned during 4S hours, with an ex-
IRENE velocity of 120 miles, were made
with Robinson cup thermometers. At
a speed of 80 miles this machine reads
nine miles too great and at higher
| speeds the error is relatively greater.
That each ring on a rattlesnake's
rattle represents a year of the snakes
life is a popular but an erroneous be-
lief. AS a matter of fact, a new ring
| develops every two or three months,
and the snake, by the time it died.
would have sixty or seventy rings at
| least, were it not for the fact that
when the rattle become unduly long,
accident breaks it off, either wholly or
! in part.
"A curious sight in the streets of
Toxic is to see an old man seated ON
a smooth piece of ground having round
him little piles of sand of different
colors, red, blue, yellow, black, etc.
Placing a pinch from each pile in his
right-hand, he will draw on the smooth
ground the figure of a man or woman,
the dress all properly colored by the
sand trickling through his fingers. It
is done with great rapidity and shows
remarkable dexterity.
There are said to be about 10000
900 migratory sheep in Spain, which
travel as much as 200 miles from the
plains to the mountains. They are
known as transhumantes, and their
march, resting places and behavior
are governed by special regulations,
dating from the fourteenth century. At
certain times no one may travel the
same route as the sheep, which have
the right to Craze on all open and
common land on the way
If the two new Cunard steamships
are to have a speed of rs knots it is
estimated that they must be 7S0 feet
long, have $4,000 horse power, cost So
100000 and employ in the machinery
department alone 800 men. For such
a vessel the government subsidy would