The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-07-17
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


| consecutive operations for appended
tbs without a death. He hates the name,
which is of American origin, and pre-
fers 'sperityphlitis." There were 15,OOO
operations for this malady in Great
Britain last year, with 80 Per cent. OF
recoveries, including that CT King Ed
ward.
Some men in Martinsville, Ind,
doctored a cow which hadb hydropho-
bia last week and when the cow died
they became much alarmed lest they
should have contracted the disease.
One of them went to a nearby town
and hitched himself to a mad stone,
which stuck to him for over eight
hours. The other tried different stone
and it would not stick, so they think
they are safe But the first man is not
having any fun now.
1t is said that Mascagni seeks dram
atist's laurels. The composer has writ
ten a three-act comedy, which will be
staged in October. A Rome newspaper,
the Menestrel, is quoted as making the
following discourteOus comment on the
composer: Composer, leader, newspa-
per man, lecturer, professor and con-
| servatOry director without a job, like
wise playwright, Mascagni would hop
around st. Peters on one leg if he
could get an audience"
Ralph Cooper, a little Indiana boy
met with an unusual accident recent
ly. He was in swimming with a party
of boys near his own age, when Carl
King made a grab for his hat. Young
Cooper lodged, and the boys led each
other lively chase in the water. King
finally landed on Cooper and while
trying to reach his hat his face came
in contact with the back of Cooper's
head. Kings teeth were broken off and
| had to be pulled out of Cooper's scalp
"A curious old marriage custom,
| called locally "the settling" still sur
wives in County Donegal, Ire, and in
the Scottish districts of Kintyre and
Cowal. After the marriage has been
publicly announced the friends of the
| couple meet at the house of the brides
parents to nix a suitable date for the
marriage. A bottle of whisky is open-
ed, and as each guest drinks to their
happiness he names date. When each
guest has named a date an average is
struck and settling" is complete.
Neither the bride nor bridegroom ever
thinks of protesting against the date
so curiously chosen.
Prof. Finders Petrie the Egyptolo-
gIst, recently opened in London an in
teresting exhibition Of the results of his
dlggings in Egypt last winter. These
latest excavations go back farther than
any hitherto made, and deal mainly
with the times of Manah, the first King
OF the first dynasty, and with the stone
age which preceded him. The neolithic
lasted until very varying dates in diff
T4Tanf n q rte Of he
parts of Scotland flint instruments
were used even until last century; but
in Egypt it ends many hundreds of
years before Christ, when Manah prob
ably ruled. Prof. Petrie perhaps is on
the verge of a highly interesting dis
covery if he follows a clew which APP
pears to show the existence of Indian
influences in Egypt in very early times.
Notably will this afford explanation of
some references of st. Paul to certain
new-fangled doctrines" such as absti-
hence from flesh, which is a character
istically Buddhist tenet.
Charles Aldrich of Webster City,
Ia, has presented to the state an his
torical collection concerning men and
events in its settlement and develop
ment, says the New York Tribune. Iowa
has no archives. and Mr.. Webster has
spent his life in gathering the mate
rails. Recognizing its value and i'm
portance, the Legislature has erected
building to contain it and has au-
thorized Mr.. Aldrich to expand and
complete it so far as possible at the
public expense by a standing appro-
priation of $4,000 a year. The best
historical collection to be found in any
of the states is in Madison, where for
many years painstaking and syste-
matte work has been going on to col
lect materials for the history, not of
Wisconsin alone, but of the entire
Northwest. Among other things 1t con-
tains 10000 bound volumes of news
papers, collection of more than three
hundred oil portraits of illustrious
statesmen, soldiers, pioneers, mission
aries and famous Indians.
1t is no small engineering feat to
move a bit of granite thirty-six feet
in length and weighing ninety tons a
mile and a half through city's streets
and up steep hill, says the New York
Press. But the Job is nothing in COM
parison with the transfer of the Alex
andrian Obelisk (Cleopatra's Needle)
from the water to Graywacke Knoll in
Central Park. The st. Johns columns
weigh 10000 pounds; the Obelisk
weighs $4,000. A vast difference, truly
Khedive Ismail's present was rolled
out of the hold of the DeSsoug at Stat
en- Island on cannon balls and brought
to the foot of West Ninety-sixth street
on a float. From this it was moved
by steam power and across Eighty
sixth street to the park. st. Johns
columns will be hauled on a wagon
built for the purpose. Speaking of en-
cheering feats of this character, IL
would be interesting to know what
means were used in transporting the
giant mOnolith of the Vatican from
Egypt to Rome. 1t is eighty-three feet
high and weighs 721, 900 pounds. Caligu-
Ia had it brought to the Eternal City
about A. D. 3S. Some 1,500 years later
Pope Sixtus V. had it erected by Fon-
tana in the Piazza of st. Peter. To
move it S25 feet and set it upon its
pedestal cost $4,000
king Peter I of Servia needs a
crown, but it appears difficult to find
model for this royal adornment. Since
1874 no ruler of Servia has worn one
for from that date to 1882 no Servian
bore the title of King. There is a
tradition that a Servian ruler named
Michael received the crown and title
from the Pope as far back as 1913; but
the parsonage, who is styled "the first
crowned in Servian history, was Ste
phen Nemausha II, who was crowned
by papel legate in 1911, and, in order
to pacify his orthodox subjects re-
crowned by his brother, st. SaVa, Arch
bishop of Servia, in 1922. On that oc-
casion the crown was provided by the
Byzantine Emperor. From that time