The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-07-01
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

papers in the japanese household are
the leather papers of which tobacco
pounches and. pipe cases are made.
They are almost as tough as French
kid, so stranslucent that one can near
ly see through them and as pliable and
soft as calfskin.
"A parliamentary paper just issued
contains a summary of the railway re-
turns of the United Kingdom for 1903,
compared with the two preceding
years. The total mileage in 1903 was
22,3S0 miles; in 1902, p, 152 miles; in 1901.
22.07S miles. The paid-up capital TO-
tailed, roundly. 1920 900, 900 in 1903 So
0SOO0O,00O in 1902, and $5,975, 100000 in
1901.
In the growth of boys the first
great acceleration of hight after in
fancy comes near the end of the first
seven years; the second, about the
years of 9 to TO- and the third, from Is
to IS. With girls the rate of increase
is somewhat more uniform. Growth
begins to slow down at the age of u,
and by the age of II it has sunk to less
than one inch a year.
In 1896 year after the war with
Japan, a high Chinese official, who had
never seen a shot fired penned a me-
mortal to the throne to prove that
Chinas defeats were due solely to her
having exchanged the methods of war
fare taught by the sages for new
tangled European ideas and European
weapons. The memorial was published
with commentator from the throne,
and soon afterward Chinese recruits
were practising outside the walls of
Picking with bows and arrows.
Arc
Railway Company began the interest
ing experiment of establishing passen-
ger motor Omnibuses as feeders to
their railroad service in England, sup
plemented last Easter by luggage ON
nibuses-these omnibus automobiles
running in outlying districts. and it is
announced now that they have served
so successfully as perfectly adequate
substitutes" in sparsely settled districts
for fixed lines of costly railways that
the Postmaster General has decided to
take advantage of the opportunity they
offer for a 'quicker distribution of the
mails.
According to the latest and most
authoritative reports the total num-
Der of japanese Christians in 1902 was
129,134, of whom 46, 900 were Protest
ants, 26,6S0 Greek Catholics and 55.S24
Roman Catholics. In addition to these
are thousands of children who are not
included in the reports of the Protest
ant churches, so that the total number
will easily be 100000 for the whole en-
pire. This, indeed, is only small per-
centage in a population of $4,000, 900;
yet it represents a great achievement
when 1t is remembered that it is the
work of a single generation. 1t is
barely thirty years since the law pun
ishing persons for becoming Christians
was abrOgated, and the public warn
ings against Christianity as the wick
ed sect were taken down from the
bulletin boards.
A Russian traveller who recently
made tour through Manchuria on
behalf of a scientific association gives
very interesting account of the bus
mess usages in that province. He says
there are in Chinese business
house neither proprietors nor en-
ployes. All persons employed share
in the profits of the undertaking.
During the year each member receives,
at certain intervals, a kind of salary,
which, however, is melted out so spar
ingly as to he hardly sufficient to sup
ply the necessities of life. At the close
of the year the accumulated profits are
divided. Very noteworthy, according
to the statements of this traveller, is
the exceptional honesty of Chinese
merchants, who always and most
promptly fulfill the engagements they
may have entered into. Thus, for in
stance, the ten branch offices of the
Russo-Chinese Bank located in China
have since their establishment no rec
ord of d single protested note.
-Meteorology has more to answer
for in the way of fanciful theories
than all the other sciences put to-
gether, says the London Telegraph.
The latest whim is that wireless teleg-
raphy produces rain. Recently "a wire
less station has been completed at
Fraserburg, in Scotland. and a local
report declares that "since the cree
ton of the shaft hardly day has
passed without a heavy rainfall par
ticularly during the hours of expert
menting, and the inhabitants of the
district have come to regard the pres
ence of the station with suspicion"
Nor are they alone, for residents of
Poldhu, in Cornwall, have complained
of excessive rain since the erection of
the Marconi Geographic mast there,
and presentations are to be made
to have the shaft removed. But for
an etheric wave to produce any effect
an extremely delicate piece of appa
ratus known as the coherer must be
present, and it is highly doubtful
whether the minute vesciles of vapor
in the clouds are just so syntonized
as to resemble the coherer, and be
thrown into vibrations and made to
coalesce into rain by the wireless
waves. Mr.. Marconi laughs at the
idea. If" he says, ANY one can
prove that I am spelling the English
weather, ! shall have great pleasure
T. dropping my work in this country
and sending my instruments to Aus
traha or Egypt, where rain is very
much wanted" This reply rather begs
the question, for an etheric wave might
affect the suspended vapor in the moist
atmosphere of Cornwall or Scotland
and yet have no influence on the dry
air Of Australia and North Africa. 1t
is open to any experimental to try in
the laboratory whether Hertzian waves
will affect vapors or any density.
All the spiritual descendants of
Sancho Panza, that finest eulogist of
sluulber, should bless the name of Dr.
Selden Talcott of New York. DR.. Tai
colt is a specialist in mental diseases,
| and he declares that the habit of early
rising conduces to madness. 1.-THE free
and lazy savage" he says, gets up
when he feels ready, and rarely or
never becomes insane" Dr. TSlcotts
protest should be considered carefully
| by his fellow-countrymen, who, even