The Savannah morning news., 1904-03-06
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

ing more Inan nifty members or the In
stitute of France, has been formed
with the object of concentrating the
scientific work of the late Prof A
Cornu by means of a medal struck for
that purpose.
"A petition in support of the bill
for the adoption of the metric weights
and measures, which will be introduced
in the House of Lords by Lord Rel
haven and seconded by Lord Kelvin,
is being extensively signed through
out the British kingdom.
1t is the custom. in nearly every
theater in England, to lower and raise
the fireproof curtain at least once
during every performance. This cur
tain is not ornamental-it is not in
tended to be-and it only remains
down for a short time.
Although less than per cent. OF
the available area for irrigation has
thus far been reached by the canal
system, the largest area served in a
single state by irrigation is in Colo
RADIO, where no less than IS per cent.
of the lands in the state available for
cultivation depends upon the artificial
water supply. These farms aggregate
1925, 900 acres.
The Dominion of Canada is about
$500 miles from east to west and
1,4O0 miles from north to south. Lab
rador in under the jurisdiction of New
foundland. which colony is not in the
Canadian confederation. The length
of the frontier line separating Cam
ada from the United States is 5000
geographical miles, 400 miles being a
water line of rivers, lakes and seas
and 1000 miles a land boundary.
The Thibetans are not beautiful.
How could they be when by their own
confession the national ancestry runs
back to the king of the monkeys and a
hobgoblin? Bonvalot says of them:
THE very bears are better looking"
The type is midway between the Esti-
mo and the Chinese. Broad, fiat noses,
without visible bridge, no eyebrows,
wide mouths, full lips, oily skins, hair
as coarse and straight as horse hair,
and short. square, ungainly figures
these are the elements of the unpleas-
ing picture.
Italy has some $500 macaroni fac
tories, employing nearly $4,000 hands.
A number of these factories are large,
using improved machinery and steam
power. The total annual output of
macaroni exceeds 215,000 tons. 1t is
growing industry. The local con-
sumption, as well as the exports, in
crease steadily. The exports of maca-
roni in 1889 were 7,719 tons; in 1900,
1889 tons; in 1901, 1878 tons; in 1902,
1882 tons; and in 1903 eight months),
,126 tons. Nearly so per cent. of the
above exports went to the United
States.
1t is remarkable that most of the
leading jugglers have first gained fame
as athletes or strong men. Cinquevalli
travelled with a circus, performing
athletic feats and a gymnatic turn"
until fall from the swing made It
necessary that he take up some other
branch of work, and Paul Spadoui,
who now ranks with Cinquevalli, also
originally sought public favor as a mus
cular marvel, says the New York Trib-
une. This enables him to accomplish
many feats. which the lesser jugglers
are unable to initiate, such. for in
stance, as employing cannon balls in
place of the light tennis balls usual
ly adopted. Among his more ambitious
feats, which he shows at Proctor's
TWenty-third Street Theater. is the
balancing of a dogcart upon his chin.
The wheels are removed from the axies
being extended above the other, and
the entire vehicle is then raised and
balanced by the juggler, whose bare
chin is protected only by q light metal
shield. He also makes use of an
automobile runabout in some of his
tricks. He scored his first success in
London about four years ago, and was
brought to America by F. f. Proctor
for his circuit of theaters.
Conductor Dave" Houston of the
Southern Railroad, who is taking a
ten days vacation at Seaside, had a
thrilling experience with a big bear
which he will not soon forget, says the
Portland Oregonian. He told only a
few of the incidents, as he desired
to keep it quiet, but the story leaked
out. Conductor Houston is a great
fisherman, and never lets an oppor-
tunity slip to cast a line. He had
hardly got settled at the seaside when
he went out on Necanicum creek to
have a fish all by himself. He made
his way through the brush until he
came to log, one end of which pro-
jected out into the creek. That's the
very place." thought the conductor,
and, adjusting his line and pole, he
crept out on the log, where he found
himself comfortably perched above the
cool water OF Ndcanlcum creek. H0uS-
ton lighted his tried and trusty pipe
and then cast his line. He fished
and smoked perhaps an hour without
getting a bite. Suddenly there was a
movement in the bushes back of him.
and then he felt the log he was sit
ting on tremble Instinctively the con-
ductor turned around, when, to his
amazemenr, he gazed into the face of
a black bear The latter seemed to be
sizing him up and estimating how
much of a meal the conductor would
make and whether he would "scrap"
when it came to the point. For the
conductor there seemed no escape. The
bear sat complacently on the shore
end of the log, and it was not posi-
BILE for Conductor Houston to get
past the monster. The bear held him
there for several hours before a hunter
came along and killed the animal The
bear weighed $50 pounds when dressed.
Conductor Houston now has a few
more gray hairs in his head as the re-
suit of his experience.
There are two places in the world
where a person can pass through the
tropical. sub-tropical and temperate
zones inside of an hour, says the New
York Sun. Hawaii is one and OAR
jeeling, in Northeastern India, is an
other. In both these places the trick
is done by climbing up the high
mountains. In Hawaii the traveller
starts with the warm breath of the
Pacific tanning him amid the smell
of palm trees. He passes by great
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