The Savannah morning news., 1903-07-24
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

In GERMANY WHOSE eQuCbtlOIldl 81
vantages are better than those of any
other European country, the number
of university students to each 10000
inhabitants is 7.S7, while in the United
States it is 1915. In Great Britain ii
is but 5.
Consul B. H. Warner sends the
following from Leipzig, May %, 1903:
German electrical interests are petit
tioning the government officials to ar
range in making a new commercial
treaty with Russia for lower duties
upon German electrical supplies AT
the present time about 20, 000 900 marks
&4,760,000) worth of electrical goods
are exported to Russia from Germany
annually, and the amount is increasing
from year to year.
1t seems that the society known in
Russia as The Union Against Ortho-
doxy was more powerful and alert than
the authorities had supposed. At the
recent pilgrimage to the hermit of St
Seraphin, in the Province of Tamboff,
at which assembled 100000 pilgrims, in
Guiding numerous members OF the
orthodox clergy, propaganda was
suddenly introduced by means of ser
mons and pamphlets which exposed
what the society described as 1.-The
charlatanisfn underlying the pompous
religious solemnity organized for the
pilgrimage" and attempted to prove
that the said pilgrimage had been or
ganized for the pecuniary benefits of
the local imperial authorities.
1t need scarcely be said that Paris
was very much occupied with M. Lou
bets visit to London, but If one may
take the cartoonists as accurately re-
flecting public opinion, the prevailing
sentiment seems to be one of scepti-
cism as to any really solid results.
Caran d'Ache, perhaps the first OF
French caricaturists, treats the event
as one of pure persifiage. In series
of four cartoons he represents France
and England as the two high con-
tracing parties to the following
part, undertakes to speak no more of
Crecy or Agincourt, and to remember
them as seldom as possible. In con-
sideration whereof, England consents
to forget all about Fontenoy, except
as to the good manners of the bellig-
erents Ca pretty allusion to the Mes
sieure les Anglais fire f1rst'O. No more
is to be thought of st. Helena, and
the French bind themselves by a self
QEIylnS OIuiudHCS dSdlIlSI CIdlllIl6 llS
British tourist in comic songs, the
tourist reciprocating by ceasing to
present himself at the theater in sum-
mer fiannels.
= With the microscope, as well as
with the telescope, it is possible to
study the stars, for meteorites are parts
of wrecked stars, and by an examina-
ton of their structure something of
the composition of the planets may be
learned. "A German named Hahn, "
said a scientist thought some years
ago that he had proved with the mi
croscope that there was life on the
stars. He was not a great scientist,
but he was enthusiastic. He bought
a meteorite, cut it up and examined
sections of it under his microscope,
finding, as he thought, pieces of coral.
Now coral, of course, is made by in
sects. If there was coral in a meteor
lite there has been life upon the star
from which the meteorite fell, and
hence it was possible to believe that
there was life also on all the other
stars and planets. Hahn wrote an ar
ticle about his discovery, and a great
stir was made in the scientific world.
Every scientist took up the study of
meteorites, and Hahn was confused
utterly, for it was proved that what
he had taken for coral was not coral
at all, but ordinary rock"
Most fishes seek their food by
sight, says Prof. Edmund Clark San
ford of Clark University, in the Inter-
national Quarterly, and these do not
usually notice 1t by any other sense.
But those that are accustomed to find
it by smell seldom pay any attention
to it when they merely see IL. Catfish
depend principally on the sense of
taste, and they seem to taste all over,
not only in the mouth, but by the
outer skin as far back as the tail fin.
1t is uncertain whether fishes can feel
pain or not. There is a good deal of
evidence to show that they cannot A
fish that has lost his sight may learn
to avoid an obstacle after swimming
against it single time, but fishes that
can see will jump against the plate
glass wall of an aquarium day after
day, sometimes for year. in the ef-
fort to catch things outside The ele-
ments of consciousness in the mind of
fish foot up a total equivalent, per-
haps, to the lowest idiocy when meas
ured by human standards" 1t is pos
sible that the fish's capacity for learn
ing is about on a level with that of a
man in deep sleep or preoccupation.'
Among pedestrians no one is more
indefatigable than the King of the
Belgians. In Brussels he is to be met
sauntering in the Bots, and in Paris
he is a familiar figure on the boule-
wards; but it is chiefly in Ostend,
where he has built palatiaI villa, that
he does his walking As early as 8
O'Clock in the morning Leopold ii is
abroad in a white waistcoat, straw
hat, black coat and light striped trous-
ers, and, quite unattended, he strolls
on the sands or PAGES the asplanade.
pausing now and again to watch the
workmen who are hastily butting up
new villas. However, some twenty
yards behind, discreet, but alert, are
two detectives. The King insists upon
their keeping at a distance, and even
when his daughter Princess Clemen-
tine, accompanied by some friends. is
walking on the beach, the servant and
two detectives told off to watch her
are ever we'll in the background. In
fact Leopold II loves his liberty, and
once, while in Paris, on seeing a large
crowd assembled before the private en-
trance of the Hotel Bristol he an
preached an idler on the outskirts of
the crowd and asked what the people
were waiting for. ITO see Leopold"
was the reply We'll" said the King
take my advice. and go away; he's
not worth waiting for And with that
Leopold II betook himself to the boule-
wards.
"A school for oysters" said a Phil
aedlphia dealer in fish, rs an
institution that you would swear
could not exist for ovsta-s a,.>