The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-11-11

ada was opened in 1886. The line ex-
tended from La Prairie to st. Johns.
There is a tree which grows in Su-
natra, Algeria and China which is
known as the vegetable tallow tree.
From it's fruit large quantities OF oil
and talloW are extracted, and the fruit
is gathered in November or December.
when all the leaves have fallen. Ex-
oellent candles are made from the ber-
ries of a tree which grows in some
parts of South Africa and the Azores.
At Sierra Leone is found the cream
fruit tree, the fruit of which IS
very agreeable in taste. In Ceyion
there is the bread fruit tree, from which
food is made in the same way that
we make bread. 1t is said to be equal
ly good and nutritious. In South
America we find the milk tree.
Il wonder how many of my readers
are aware of the origin of the word
"dumbbell," says a writer in the New
York Tribune At Knole, Lord Sack
Villes grand old ancestral country seat
in Kent, there is a "dumbbell gal
lery." Located in the attic, it is un-
furnished and empty, except that IN
the middle stands a curious wooden ma
chine, resembling a Windlass used Tor
hauling up buckets from draw we'll.
But it has no handles. A rope is wound
round the middle of the roller, and
at each end are fOud iron arms, each
with a poise or ball of lead at the
end. The rope formerly passed through
a hole, which still exists in the floor
into the Leicester Gallery below. A
person, by pulling the rope in this gall
lery caused the roller, with the iron
arms poised with lead, to revolVe at
the first pull and the impetus given
rewound the rope. Thus it cont1n-
ued to wind and unwind at each pull,
giving the same exercises as that of
ringing a bell in a church tower, eX-
cept that it w9s noiseless. This dumb
bell gallery and the contrivance which
I have just described date back to
Thomas Sackville, first Earl of Dorset.
who was master of Knole Park from
1903 to 1908, and investigation has
shown that it was constructed for the
sake of exercise, old memoirs going
to show that in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries bell ringing was
part of a gentleman's education and
practice" The contrivance in the
dumbbell gallery at Knole Park was
therefore destined to keep the gentle
men of the establishment in proper
physical training, and to furnish them
with adequate bodily exercise. There
was nothing that kept the muscles in
SuCH SOOu lTlin dS D6il ringing. 1ndl
is why a dumbbell was rugged up in
the house, not only at Knole Park, but
likewise in other equally ancient coun-
try houses of the Elizabethan and Jaco-
bean eras. By degrees everything that
was destined to develop the muscles
of the arms received the name of dumb
bells, and the small iron dumbHeIls
which we use to-day are merely the
substitutes of the somewhat cumber-
some niece of d.1DphhaH apb CT
in existence at Knole Park.
Have you ever heard of the cucujo?
If you are one of those unfortunates
who are in the habit of grumbling at
gas bills you will wish that the place
was swarming with cucujos, so that
the gas companies might be circum-
vented, says an exchange. The cucujo
is the FREELY of the tropics, and it is
the most brilliant of the whole tribe
of light-giving insects or animals.
Thirty-eight of them yielded one can
die power. Photographs have been
printed by two minute exposures of
bromide plates to their illumination.
People in Cuba confine them in paper
lanterns for going about the country
at night or for indoor lighting. Some
times they attach one of the insects
TO each foot for travelling in the dark
to serve as a guide to the path. Also,
they use them as ornaments for the
dress and hair. Cucujos are beetles
beginning life as grubs Skipjacks. or
springtailS, they are sometimes called.
because when placed on their backs
they Jump over with a clicking sound
small species of the same family
is found in Florida and Texas. They
have two luminous spots in the thorax
ana another on the abdomen. Damp
evenings are most favorable to the
hght-glVing, the object of which is
presumably to attract a mate The
young larvae feed largely, on snails, to
which their bite is poisonous. The
luminous organs are developed before
me insects leave the eggs. Now, a
theory formerly held was that these
hreties stored up light in the day time
Tor emission at night, as is done by
the so-called luminous plant of calcium
sulphlde. But it was found that thew
shone as brightly as ever after being
connned for ten days in darkness. Some
mat were carried from Cuba to Havre
IN the pitch black hold of a vessel were
brilliant on their arrival. A more
striking dlsproof, however, was afforded
9y patch of larvae Matched in the
dark from eggs laid in the dark in a
piece of rotten wood, the Young in
sects being kept in darkness for the
nrst SIX months of their lives. They
shone as brilliantly as any of the other
firefles.
line ships anchors in general use
up to the beginning of the last CEN
fury says Science Siftings, consisted
OF long, round iron shank. having
TWO comparatively short straight arms
or Hukes. inclined to the shank at an
angle OF about 40 degrees, and meet
ing II IN somewhat sharp point at
the crown, In large anchors the bulky
wooden stock was built I'D of several
pieces, hooped together, the whole tap
erlng outward to the ends, especially
on the aft or cable side. About the
beginning of the last century a. clerk
IN the Plymouth naval yard, Pering
oy name, suggested certain improve
ments, the most important of which
was making the arms curved instead
OF straight At first sight this simple
change may seem of little value. but
consideration will show that this Is not
the case. The holding power of an
anchor depends on two principal con-
dltlons, namely, the extent of useful
holding surface, and the amount of
vertical penetration. The latter quail
lily Is necessary on account of the ma
ture of ordinary sea bottoms, the sur
race layers of which are generally less
tenacious and resisting than is the
ground a short distance below. In the
year 1881 chain cables began to super