The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1903-12-02
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ed on the steps of a house there, and
on it's legs was a tiny band bearing the
inscription, ~. H. X, Jr., H. M. S.
Alliance" The Alliance is now on the
Asiatic station. and as the bird was
caked with salt it is supposed to have
flown across the Pacific.
The University of Paris is to es-
tablish a bureau of scientific educa-
tional information for the use of for
eigners, intended primarily for the ben
eft of American students. This bureau
will furnish its services gratuitously
tC all genuine foreign students of med
icine, engineering or physical science.
Facilities will be extended to students
attested by their national legations in
Paris, for obtaining free access to hos
pitfalls, laboratories, museums, factories,
the statistical departments of techni-
cal institutions, professional libraries,
etc. 1t is expected that the system
will be in working order in the near fu-
ture.
Russians have changed their mode
of Furnishing Firms whom they sus-
pect of patriotism. Now instead of
sending them to some foreign coun-
try they are exiting them to obscure
towns in Russia, where they must live
under constant surveillance. If the ex-
lies have the money to pay their own
railway fares as well as that of two
guards they may travel by rail. Other
wise they must walk. The latest ex-
lie of note is Alexander Sordavala, a
man of substance. He is supposed to
have been eXiled because last spring
a Russian grand duke dined with him
after having declined an invitation
from the Governor of the province.
Petty spite of this kind is said to be
behind most of the prosecutions.
Prussia has been brought face to
face with a claim for 0,OOO,O 900, which
is said to be supported by necessary
documents, duly authenticated by the
Russian Department of State archives.
The persons concerned are the two
Counts Muennich, descendants of the
Russian field marshal. Count Muen-
mich, to whom Frederick the Great
gave an estate in 1741. Count Meun-
mich refused it, and it was transferred
to his son who died shortly after re-
turning to Russia from abroad, width
err he had accompanied his exiled IA
ther. Before leaving Prussia he OBJ
tanned from Frederick a written prom
Use to pay him 312, 900 "Albert-thalers. .
The money was never paid and now
his descendants are making a claim for
it, plus compound interest.
According to confidential report
presented to the Car by the controller
of the state in 1902 the arrears in an
nual payments by the peasants for the
redemption of land distributed among
them at the time of their emancipa-
ton has increased from $4,000, 900 rou-
bles in 1897 to 121, 100000 last year. This
ho, 20 fs E1.aI ,f /,
crushing burden under which the agri-
cultural peasants are working, and is
illustrative of the general economic
state of the country. The same re-
port speaks most peesimistically of in
dustrial conditions. Over 100, 000, 900
roubles had been loaned UP to the be-
ginning of this year by the state banks
for the maintenance of unsound firms,
particularly in the metal industry.
Apparently there We're schools of
shorthand as early as the third CEN
tury, and in Egypt. A recently dis
described at the meeting of the Egypt
Exploration Fund, London, was a
contract between a shorthand teacher
and a gentleman who wished one of
his slaves to acquire the art. The fee
was 120 drachmae, 40 to be paid on
apprenticeship, 40 at the end of year
and the balance when the slave was
proficient. Shorthand writing was then
presumably, not so easy of attainment
as it is now. Among the other docu-
ments of the Oxyrhynchus Papyri is
the account of a fatal accident and
the body of the victim being examined
by the coroner of the day in company
with a public physician. That dates
back to the second century of our era,
in which, judging by other discoveries,
the formal invitations to dinner might
be literal renderings of ours at the
present time.
"A Yankee inventor has lately per-
fected a dangerous rival to the re-
peating watch. 1t is a watch which
literally tells the time" A disc of
vulcanized rubber is impressed with
the words to be said while it is soft
by means of an Edison monograph
and mounted in the watch 1t carries
impressions corresponding to the
hours and quarters, and in turn
ing round its axis vibrates a
drum or tympan fixed in the inner
case of the watch and the words be-
come audible The disc can be start
ed and stopped at will by pressing on
small push pin. The inventor has
also devised clocks and alarms which
call out the time and such commands
as Now, then, get up" or 1T is
time to go to bed" These cries MAY
be in the voices and dialects of per-
sonal friends and possess a value as
souvenirs. One plate will give 1000
repetitions before showing signs of
wear.
In London the other day a presen-
tation copy of Burns poems Q79s),
with an autograph inscription by
Burns, was on SALE The book is a.
second edition copy in contemporary
marbled calf, with the Riddell arms on
the side, and published in Edinburgh
in 1898. The volume is the COPY pre-
sented to Robert Riddell, ESQ, of
Glenriddel." For this volume Mr..
Orkell made the first bid of ego, and
carried the figures up to ESQ in oppo-
sition to Mr.. Spencer. Then Mr.. Quar-
itch disputed the ownership with Mr..
Hornslein, 500 having been reached.
He having been disposed of, Mr.. w.
Brown of Edinburgh came upon the
scene and ran out the purchaser of
the book at e17S Cor about $500. The
next volumes disposed of were 1.-The
Scots Musical Museum Volumes 1 to
~, which are interleaved throughout
with upward of 240 highly interesting
manuscript notes in the autograph of
Burns. For the ownership of these
valuable souvenirs of Burns Mr.. Will
liam Brown of Edinburgh made a spir-
tied contention. Fifty pounds was
the first offer, but it was finally sold
at $1,000.