The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-02-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

the passengers, they were unable to
get out, and all five were drowned.
1t has been claimed that Jose Yves
Limantour, who is expected to succeed
Porfirio Diaz as president of Mexico,
is ineligable to the Office, it being al
legged that he is not a native of Mex
fco Semi-of1icial denial of these state
ments is made Senior Limantour's
parents were French, but he was
born in the City of Mexico. Dec. 26,
1854
The young Duke Charles Edward
of Coburg and Gotha, son of the
Duchess of Albany, is in training to
be ruler. He will spend several
months as a clerk in the government
offices at Berlin, then perfect himself
in French, and study the system Of
government and administration of
Gotha. Then will follow the study of
law at Boon university.
M. L. Byers, assistant to the gene
raj manager of the Baltimore and
Ohio has invented a number of de-
vices for detecting bad pieces of
track. The appliances are fitted in an
ordinary coach, and are worked part
ly by power from the axles of the car
and partly by electricity. They in
clude: Indicator of the guage of track,
indicator for car swings, indicator for
low joints and indicator for the ele-
walton of curves.
Lake Erie affords good opportun-
ity for studying the effects of the wind
on an inclosed body of water. It's
trough, so miles in extent, lies about
in the direction of the west to south
west winds that prevail there, and a
great blow from that quarter sends the
body of water eastward, so that a rise
of eight feet or more takes place at
Buffalo in the course of a few hours.
When the force of the gale has passed,
the water swings back.
A species of tree found in Oregon,
Washington, Montana and British
Columbia continually drips pure and
clear water from the ends of it's leaves
and branches. The tree is a species
of fir. The weeping is attributed to
a remarkable power of condensation
peculiar to the leaves and bark. The
American tree drips as copiously on
bright and clear as on cloudy days.
Other species in the island of Ferro
form tears most abundantly when the
humidity is relatively near the dew
point.
IOl. w lllldIl II. 1lCheElHS, Tic
Harvard astronomer. has been at work
on a new atlas of the moon, and dis
covered in the course of his researches
that mistakes have been made in the
calculations of the altitude of the cra-
ters. All measurements of the moon
will now have to be corrected by as
tronomers with the new series of ia
bles upon which Prof. Pickering is at
work. All observations have previous
ly been based upon Franz's exhaustive
treatise, 'The Mountains and Craters
of the Moon
Blasting powders as cheap and
powerful as dynamite but safer are
coming into use. Dynamite easily
freezes and thawing is dangerous,
while the nitro-glycerine it contains
easily leaks out and explodes. Dyna-
mite deteriorates very easily. Some of
the modern powders are solid and
practically uninfluenced by weather or
explosion. At least one is so tough
that it can be hammered on an anvil
without igniting. 1t will burn but
not explode and must be fired with
decorating cap.
An interesting story is attached
to ring which the Kaiser always
wears on the little finger of his left
hand, as a talisman against all per-
sonal danger. 1t is said that a toad
one day hoped into the room of the
wife of Elector John of Brandenburg
and deposited a stone on her bed. The
creature disappeared, but the stone re-
manned, and was ever afterWard jeal-
ously guarded by the HohenZollerns
Frederick the Greats father had the
stone set in a ring, and this has ever
since been worn by the head of the
house.
Mr.. Frank A. Burrelle has just de-
livered to the Postal Telegraph Com
pany twenty albums containing the
published obituaries of the late John
w. Mackay. The labor of gathering
and placing in album form was begun
last July. There are 5,480 clippings to
each set, covering 1886 pages of Irish
linen leaves 10X12 inches. This is the
largest collection of material ever
gathered concerning the death of pri-
vate individual and the kindly express
sion of the press of the country was
unanimous Four sets of books were
ordered by the postal company, one set
being designed for Mrs. Mackay, the
second to Mr.. Clarence Mackay, one
to the Postal Telegraph Company, and
one to the Commercial Gable Company.
The primitive Indian method of ir-
rigating even wide stretches of rice
fields is still popular at Medak. The
nizam'S subjects use bamboo baskets,
and superstitiously hold aloof from
new-fangled Improvements. Early in
the morning hundreds hurry into the
fields, every two carrying between
them a closely plated bamboo basket
and suspended between long ropes. Ar
rived at the canal or spring, the men
range themselves in two lines, with the
baskets suspended over the water. At
given signal deft twist fills the first
basket, and the first pair trot off to the
irrigating trenches, and in a few min
utes the whole column is on the go.
Each couple deftly toss the water into
the troughs or trenches, hardly slack
ening speed. The work goes on from
dawn until dark. An average pair
will carry 800 gallons a day.
The great Duke of Wellington has
been dead for half century, and his
monument in ST. PauIs Cathedral, Lon
don, has not been completed vet, saws
the New York Post. It has been the
subject of animated discussion at brief
intervals ever since his death Now
there seems to be some prospect of its
being finished, but not without a GER
tain, amount of ill-feeling due to mis-
understandings and bad management.
which would never have happened if
the old Duke had been alive to superin-
tend matters. The trouble has been in
connection with the equestrian figure
designed for the monument by the orig
inal sculptor, Stevens, but not finish
nc IN IA ~. fp4S