The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-06-14
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

dSO. O1lC OillOA pdlCu tlOW CONCIS O'UOO
acres, with burrows almost two miles
long. A single plot of sweet pea oc-
cupies 800 acres, a bed of yellow asters
210 acres, a. lettuce bed 2.100 acres.
These are within a radius of eighty
miles around San Jose, 14,500 acres de-
voted to raising plants and flowers for
their seed alone.
DIR. T. Eastman, in a paper re-
Gently read before the Bournernouth
Medical Society in England, described
his experience with new anaeSthetic,
a bichloride of Neutrality-suspicious. called
narcotic, which he believes has some
important advantages over those now
in use, for short anaesthesia. 1t acts
rapidly and effectually, and produces
no troublesome after effects. In its
administration the narcotic is placed
in a bottle, and air forced through 1t
to an inhaler which is held over the
mouth and nose. The narcotic is very
volatile, and the air in its passage
becomes saturated with the vapor. 1t
is also necessary for the same reason
to keep the bottle in tepid water to
maintain the requisite warmth. 1t re-
sembles ether in its physiological &C
ton, but is rarely followed by the dis
tressing sickness which accompanies
and follows the administration of the
latter. Owing to it's extreme volatility,
the patient rapidly RECEIVERS from It.
The average person seems some
how to think of dictionaries as the in
vention Of DR.. Johnson, and an alto
gether modern product, says the New
York Post. DR.. Murray Corrected that
idea. They were not the work of one
or of several men, he told his audience,
but growth developed through the
ages. They began with the glosses-
that is. the explanations in easy Latin
or Engiish-of hard Latin words, writ
ten by the monks between the lines
of the manuscripts. The CLOSES grew
into translationS, and collections OF
CLOSES by this monk or that from all
the sources available to HIN made
glossaries or dictionaries. Little by lit
tie English supplanted the easy Latin
explanations, and the words were ar
ranged in a rudimentary alphabetical
order thus forming, so long ago as 1000
A. D., Iatin-English dictionaries. The
uneducated Normans overthrow Eng
lish learning, and it was not till the
fifteen century that the revival came.
Although the surface wind was
from the east, the dust cloud from the
eruption of the Souffriere of St Vim
cent, at $50 a. m. on March %, reach
ed Bridgetown, Barbados, 100 miles to
the SdSlWdIQ, ny a. Ill., ~ NAA1b us
rate of motion was not less than forty
miles an hour, after having attained
and elevation of probably three miles
at least above the Souffriere. It's alti-
tude above Barbados was estimated
at about 5000 feet, or double the hight
of the Souffriere. At several points
the first fall of dust was observed at
Ills a. M: it increased until 1S0 p.
m, then diminished, and by p. M, it
nnocpd In fha nniOhhOrhnnd nf
Bridgetown the fall was at the rate of
about two and one-half tons an acre;
considerably less at Bathsheba, four
teen miles to the northeast, while at
Codrington Mouse. two miles north of
the town, it amounted to $50 tons an
acre. Taking three tons an acre as
the average would give 100000 tons for
the whole island. The May dust was
very light gray, that of March very
dark-almost black. DR.. Spencer de-
scribing the March dust cloud as Of
deep Prussian blue color.
"A high-luster white pearl, worth
81, 900, has been found in Iowa, says
the Chicago Inter Ocean. Forty years
ago a fresh-water pearl as large was
found in New Jersey and was sold for
81, 900 in Paris. In 1893 fine pink
pearls were found in Kentucky, Ten
neSsee and Texas, to the value of &c.,
900. In 1897 there was great excite
ment over the discovery of fine pearls
in considerable numbers in the Saline,
ST. Francis and White rivers in Arkan-
sas. A few weeks ago pearls were
found in Wisconsin, the largest of
which sold for S1,100 Fresh-water
pearls have been found in other states,
but if correctly described in the dis
patches the Iowa pearl is one of the
most valuable white pearls produced in
American rivers. Since the button
| manufacturers began to use mussel
and other shells in their work, a closer
lookout for fresh-water pearls has been
kept, and more have been found. But
is no case has the finding justified the
| theory that the existence of one pearl
in the river bed indicated that pearl
fishing in that locality would be profit
able. There is, however, a fair supply
of fresh water pearls for the American
market, coming mainly, in previous
years from the Southern States 1t
is now coming mainly from the West
ern States.
Men who fear nothing else shrink
from a joke upon themselves, says the
Atlantic. Soldiers who do not finch
before opposing guns dread to be
made ridiculous. Woe to the
national hero who makes one trifiing
clever caricature! His meritorious
career is henceforth Swallowed by one
colored illustration. A comic paper
will tip the scales OF justice, snatch the
Victors prize from his extended palm
and rob the orator of his choicest lau-
rels. A brilliant satire viii mar the
fortunes of the greatest statesman; a
laugh will turn the tide of a political
convention. Indeed, the joke is fast
becoming mightier than the pen. The
orator has learned its value, and even
the clergyman resorts to it when he
desires to stir the tagging interest in
his flock. 1t furnishes sufficient ex-
cuse for the impertinence of children
and in its name the daily papers deride
the highest national dignitaries. What
is the meaning of its steady growth in
power and what results may we pre-
dict from its humorous tyranny? Is
there a chance that our keen relish for
fun may finally produce kind of %nu-
morous dyspepsia resulting from over
indulgence unless with epicurean dis
elimination we demand quality, not
quantity, and stubbornly refuse to
swallow other than that which should
appease a wholesome, nay, cultivated
appetite in jokes?
Signs are beginning to be manifest
that the clock is to be an item Of much
greater decorative Importance than il
has been during the past generation or
so, when its unitarian purpose rather
than its decorative possibilities have
been first considered, says the Lon
don TelPgraDh. This has NOT al.xya We