The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-02-08
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

them to ireland to sell as curiosities.
-Chuang Kuei I'll, the leader of the
guard of the court at Picking, has
stated that his entire force is unable
to shoot because they have never been
supplied with ammunition, and so are
quite unaccustomed to the sound of the
rifle.
The Australian spiders of the genus
Desis live in the crevices of rocks be-
tween tide marks on the shores, and
by spinning a closely-woven sheet Of
silk over the entrance imprison mass
of air in which they are able 10 live
during flood tide.
1t is not generally known that the
jackal is a greater destroyer of hu-
manity in India than the tiger. Sta
tistics published by the government of
India show that while 92S persons
were killed by tigers, more than 1000
children were carried away by jackals.
Charles Gorsuch of Martinsburg,
Pa, who calls himself a scientific
horseshoer, is in the habit of forging
on his anvil miniature horseshoes, five
eighths of an inch long by one-half of
an inch wide, which he gives to some
favored persons as emblems of good
luck.
Among the natural curiosities OF
Japan are its singing insects. The
most priced of these tiny musicians is
a black beetle named "susumushi,"
which means insect bell" The sound
that it emits resembles that of a little
silver bell of the sweetest and most
delicate tone.
been forbidden to kiss in public. A kiss
given in the street incurs a fine, and
a lover who takes his sweetheart by
the waist is fined, while the mere put
ting of cross to signify kiss on a
post card is also against the law.
At Milan kiss in public is punished
by fine.
Returns to the Bureau of Self Help
make a striking showing of the high
scholarship of the Yale students who
are wholly or in part self-supporting.
In the freshman class there are TWEEN
ty such men who have an "oration'
stand, or higher, and in the junior
class twenty-three. OF these twenty
three juniors all but five are earning
absolutely their own way through col
lege, exclusive of the aid given them
by RENTED tuition. A somewhat sin
gular fact shown by the returns is
that the students coming from Canada,
and particularly from Nova Scotia,
who earn their way through Yale, are
apt to be extremely good scholars.
The Austrian government finds it.
self the defendant in a suit for $5,-
900 on account of the most absurd
of decisions. The new immigration
law declares that an immigrant must
submit to an educational test in his
native language before he is allowed
to land. Not long ago a mate on a
ship was arrested for smuggling. When
ne was released he was ordered to sub
init to the test or be expelled from
the country. 1t was found that his
rather was German and his mother a
native of Egypt. He was born in Alex
andria. 1t was decided, therefore, that
his native language was Greek, since
Greece is the European country near
est to Egypt. He failed to pass an
examination and was condemned to a
turtner Imprisonment of six months.
NOW he is suing for damages, with
fair chance of getting them.
Among those provisions of nature
which seem to us as especially designed
for the use of man, none is more strik
ing than the seeming magnetism of the
earth, writes Simon .Newcomb in Har-
per Magazine. What would our civil
llzatlon have been if the mariners COM
pass had never been known? That Co.
lumbus could never have crossed the
Atlantic is certain: in what generation
since his time our continent would
nave been discovered is doubtful The
fact that the earth acts like a magnet,
that the needle points to the north,
has been generally known to naviga-
tors for nearly a thousand years, and
is said to have been known to the Chi
nese at yet earlier period. And yet
to-day. If any professor of physical
science is asked to explain the magnetic
property of the earth, he will acknowl-
edge his inability to do so to his own
satisfaction.
Genuine weak hearts (says a medi-
cal mani are not as common as we
might suppose-many a smoker has an
insta bility of that organ due to tobacco
which has not really effected it's
strength, as the symptoms would point
out. Many a dyspeptic blames it on
his heart; many tight lacing woman
ascribes her healthfulness to this much
n1aligned organ. If we can relieve the
dyspepsia, stop the excessive smoking
or tight lacing, the weak heart disap-
pears. Again, even If the heart is really
Wedhs IL may De only symptom OF
general lack of tone which may be
easily removed. Christison, when on
the subject of weak hearts, used to tell
his students: Gentlemen, the best
tonic for weak hearts is a good brisk
walk" The muscles of the average
city-bred man are fiabby because of
lack of exercise, hence his heart mus
cles are weak. Exercise those muscles.
eliminate the products of overeating or
rich feeding, fill the body with good
blood from lungs filled with fine ozone
and the heart will improve.
The Philadelphia and Reading has
recently made a series of experiment
tai runs to determine the maximum
train that can be handled with one en-
CINE from Reading to Abrams over the
division toward Philadelphia. An Off
cial account has been given of a train
hauled on Aug. IA by locomotive No.
1925. The train consisted of Seton
steel cars loaded with soft coal. the
total weight behind the tender being
5,O2l tons. The engine handling the
train is simple consolidation having
total weight of 166, 900 pounds. There
Is an average down grade from Read
ing to Abrams of al feet per mile.
but this grade is not regular, as there
are a number of level stretches and
two short up grades The line has a
number of curves, the sharpest of
which is a little under degrees, but
is located on a 17-foot down grade in
the direction in which the train was
moving. Since this account was Civ
en- it has been reported that the same
engine has handled a train of seven