The Savannah morning news., 1903-12-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

cigarettes and thought this a good way
to do it.
In trotting a mile in 1.5SR, Lou
Dillon covered A 53-1O0 feet every Sec
ond. 1t is necessary to average forty
four feet a second to run a mile in 2:10,
A running horse to run mile in 1:4C
has to average 50 AS feet a second.
The muzzle velocity per second OF
the rifles of the large countries are as
follows United States, Springfield, D.
300; French, Lebel, 2,073; English, Lee
Metford, 1000; Spanish, Mauser, 1888;
Italian Mannlicher Carcano, 200; Ger
man, Mauser, 2,034 feet. Sights of these
are now graduated thus: United States,
1900; France, 2,1S7; England, $500;
Spain, 2,1S7; Italy, 2,10O; Germany, o.
1877 yards.
According to the Clinton CMo.) Her
aid. the following notice was recently
found tackled on the door of a local
church: There will be preaching in
this house a week from next Wednes-
day, Providence permittin'. and there
will be preaching whether or no on
Monday following upon the subject, He
that belieVeth and is baptized shall be
saved, and he that believeth not shall
de damned at $3.50 in the afternoon"
The Duke of Abruzzi, who has
paid visit to Louisiana and examined
the conditions in which Italian immi-
grants are living in the southern part
of the Mississippi River Valley, is
said to have sent word to the home
government that the Italians who have
settled there are contented and COM
Portable, They are well fitted for
work upon the sugar plantations and
the cotton fields, and they get fair
wages. The old talk about the Malta
in that part of the country has largely
died out.
In seven years, it is said, there has
been one instance of legal execution
in Utah, and that took place last month,
when a convicted murderer was al
lowed to decide for himself whether he
should be hanged or shot. He natural
ly preferred shooting, and was speedi-
ly dispatched. A strange feature OF
his trial was that testimony against
him was admitted which was supposed
to be directed by revelation from the
heavens. Some parts of Utah have
evidently not shaken off all their old
traditions and superstitions.
An interesting experiment has been
tried in the great London Hospital
in the treatment of typhoid fever by
keeping a patient in water at a tenn
perature of 100 degrees for days at a
time. Within a few years a favorite
scheme for reducing the temperature
of sufferers was to plunge them in a
bath in which ice was floating. This
heroic device was first tested on a
large scale in the Italian army. The
percentage of recOveries in Italy APP
pedred to be encourag ing, but it should
be kept in mind that most Of the pa
tients there were'hardy vigorous peas
ants. Milder and less violent plans
in the efforts to lessen bodily heat
are more in favor in these days.
The Chinese doctor sets up a ter
rible racket when called to treat the
sick. This is supposed to drive evil
spirits away, and it unquestionably acts
we'll in q, great many cases. Civiliza-
ton demands rest and quiet; all noise
is barred from the sick room. An
American physician tells of a patient
who had sunk into a coma preceding
death. Some one in the next house
struck up the Anvil Chorus from IL
TroYatore.' was very much annoyed
and distressed, and tried to stop it,
Suddenly the pulsation at the wrist be-
gan again, the patient gradually opened
his eyes, and motioned to his sister.
She bent low, and he whispered in her
ear: To dunn to dea, that is my
favorite tune said he. He recHperat-
ed and entirely recovered
In the course of time the length of
the day will be prolonged to that of
fifty-five days, stated Prof. George H.
Darwin, who gave this information in
a lecture at the Royal Institution in
England on the astronomical influence
of tides. He said that the day and the
month are both lengthening at rela-
tive rates that are calculable, although
the absolute rates in time are unknown.
The time will come when the day will
be equal in length to that of two
present days, though the month may be
as long as only thirty-seVen present
days. Then the earth will be able to
spin around about eighteen times a
month. This gradual change in the
duration of the rotation of the earth
Will proceed, Prof. Darwin says, until
the day is equal to fify-five present
days. There was a time when the moon
went round the earth in from three to
five of our present hours. Obviously
the moon must then have been very
close to the earth, and, in fact, would
almost touch it's surface.
Most of the timber of the South
African interior consists of various
kinds of thorny acacia, one of the
handsomest of which is the spreading
giraffe acacia, or kameeI-doorn. Here
and there is to be seen the gigantic
baobab, invariably called by the colo
nlsts the cream of tartar" tree. These
enormous trees are found in the low
veldt. Their timber-if timber it can
be called-conssts of a soft, spongy
growth, quite useless to any one The
bark, however, is used by the natives
for making kind of strong cord,
which is effected after submitting its
hbers to due soaking and a heavy
pouding. No harm is done to the tree
by this stripping of the bark; indeed.
the baobab seems to defy time and ali
other kinds of enemies. 1t is one of
the most long-liYed vegetables in the
world and a well-grown specimen is
estimated by scientists to attain To the
age Of at least 1000 years. A fair
sized baobab will measure at a hight
or three feet from the ground as much
as eighty-five or ninety feet in circtrn-
ference. The roots sometimes extend
forty or fifty yards from the trunk.
In 1886 commenced. a series OF en-
periments in Scotland. with a. view Of
producing a high explosive which
might be safely used as the bursting
charge in larpa Yapoiao4flza -.