The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-03-23
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

me SAMSON sisters, VINO arrived IN New
York on Thursday from Hamburg. are said
TO be the two strongest persons in the world,
male or female.
Co-dite. the high-pOwer explosive used 10
some extent b. the British army in place OF
gunpowder, is mad Of nitroglycerine mixed
with Cun-cotiou, the gun-cOttOn having been
previously dissolved IN acetic ether ana vase
line. The proportions are > per cent. vase
line 8, per cent gUn-cOttOn. s. per cent nitro
glyterlne- The mixture is forced thrOue
fine pcrtOraliOns and has the appearance Of
strings Of vermiceIi. 1t mas been said that
cordlte does not keep well. changing its char
acter after time in some climates. II IS
anirmed also that II heats gun too much. II
is for an expert to say whether these stale
Lent are aased on fact or malice.
The United states engineering department
has just completed a survey Of The upper Mis-
souri, river and as far down as this point, says
an AIcmson, kan, dispatch. In the
opinion OF the engineers. the Missouri river
Is dWlndlug away and will. in time. become u
sma,l stream they found that the volume
OF water at Great Fall 8, Mont measured
1870 cubic feet per second. while at Fort Ben
ton. twenty live miles down the river, the
volume was but i.331 cubic feet per second,
decrease OF 4Ab cubic feet This, they claim,
explains the presence Of the great subter-
ranean cody OF water known as the South
aHota artestan lasin. The discrepancy is
accounted for toy an outlet in the bed Of the
river somewhere between the points men
toned. Those engineers state that CyelesS
FISH have been discovered il the q owe 10
cahtv. such as inhabit subterranean streams.
In 1873 similar o-servatiOns as TO the volume
OF water were taken by the department, and
since that time there has been "a decrease Of
fully 20 per cent. IN the VOLUME OF water in
the river.
Mr. Preece. the electrical engineer of the
London general posto1ice has for the past
ten years been engaged studying the question
OF transmitting electricity without conduct
ing wires, and a week ago he laid before the
society OF arts some of the latest results h
has achieved Electricity, he explained, Is
ara ogoGs to heat light and other phases of
energy which travel by means Of yiDratory
waves. red hot poker dlssipates its heat.
not only by conducGion along The metal itself,
but also fV radiation extending IN all
directions through space, quite indie
pendent OF any conducting material.
what at one time was regarded as the
results Of leakage in the telegraph wires
| Is now proved to ue electro magnetic Undue
| ductlon. or radlated waves passing Outwards
/ through space. Between Durham and Darl-
| lngton. parallel telegraph poles ten and
| hat mi es apart, had been found sensitive TO
each others currents and distinct speech
could he carried on at distance OF q quarter
OF mlls simply by means of the radlaat
waves OF electricity sent of from wires.
Mr.. Preece has been able to send signals
over distance Of i've miles without a con
Quoting Wire and he regards il as by no
means wild dream to say that we may vet
near on TINS earth thunder storm in the
sun. or even communicate by telephone with
the planet Mars.
When L. Calpurnius Piso was appointed
governor of Macedonia for one year he drew
for his outfit. from the public treasury 49,
100000 SeSterCcs, or tl5O00O. says the National
Review. He did not want the money for that
purpose everything required by a proconsul
was supplied to him by the province. Piso
SIMPLY took the money for himself and lent
II out IN Rome at high interest. G. NerreS
was Charged by Cicero with having robbed
| sicily OF t35OOo0 in three years. tesideS
many valuable works of art. lie practically
admitted his guilt by retiring from Rome
without attempting any defense. Cicero.
when governor of the poor province Of Cilicia,
found himself the richer in one year
by go 900, and he was, perhaps, the
only proeonsul who ever handed over
be no dOult that Cicero and the
younger Pliny received large sums from
! their clients while those clients were still
living Balbus IS not likely to have secured
the argument Pro BalpO, for mere tritle
and the gratitude Of Sicily for the prosecution
OF NerreS, unuoI1tedly took a very substan-
tai form. Apart from all such honoraria it
is recorded that both Cicero and the younger
Pllny re, GIVE lngacioS from clients to the
amount Of = coo. GibtCn tells us on the
authority OF INmplOdOrES InaU several Of the
richest senator's had an income of 100000 a
year, without computing the stated provision
OF corn ana wine.
Architects viii remember that the old
books on building advi that the trees in
tended to he c1t for timber should have a
ring of bark cut out, around the trunk in the
latter part OF the winter preceding the au.
tumn season. IN which they are felle1. This
advice seems to have been founded on experi-
6n1e. but so far as we know il is never fol-
lowed in modern times, says the American
Architect. Very recently, however. NJ Mer
OF the great Forest school at Nancy in an
SWer-Og an inquiry as to the best means for
preserving wooden telegraph poles from the
ravageS OF insects explains the effect of
ringing growing trees in very interesting
manner. According to him a tree intended
to he used for telegraph pole should be cut
in the autumn. and. during the preceding
winter. should nave ring cut out of the EarG.
down to the wood. near the upper part of the
trunk. If this is done the ascent OF the sap
in the spring is prevented, as il is well-known
that the san circulates jUst Under tie bark
The tree. / c -ertheless, grows. consuming as
nutriment, The starch grains laid up in the
sap-wood. When the season $ growth is over.
the Starcn IN the SlpWOOd is gone. but, aS
| fresh sap has nOt been allowed to circulate
no new starch has been deposited in its place
to supply the next seasons growth and when
the tree IS felled Its tissues contain no starch.
and consequently no fool for the insects
which feed upon wood. and which az cording
| to VI. Mer, only eat the wood for the starch
that they find in it. 10 inject the wood with
SulphatC OF copper, as l., sometimes done NJ
Mer says, helps to tOmT ete is protection
hut only on condition that the starch Is hrsu
removed as he suggests.
Work on the great bridge to span the Mis-
sissippi river "a New Orleans viii begin in a
few weeks the final surveys for the exact
location being row in progress, says the Bal
tmOre son. This bridge is intended to be a
grand highway for tradtc ietween the great
southwest and all the country southeast of
the Father OF Waters" The river is ahout
one half Of mile wide at the point selected
Rivers of greater width have ere this Been
SPAWNED without great din1cuty. but Lot this
river at TINS particular spot. where special
difficulties present themselves. such as ali
scucc OF soil, immovalle hanks, and an
sengc of SOLID foundation in the stream itself
! The great deDth of the water in the river is
another difficulty which has to he avoided
rather than overcome II is impracticable
TO build suspension bridge and equally SO
TO use the calSSOn in building a pier bridge
I Nevertheless piers are to be built Mr. Cor
thell, the eminent bridge builder who Is in
charge Of the work GOlting a lately ap-
proved method in their construction j here
viii lie two piers in the river and three SPANS
connecting them. The shore SPANS Will he Gj2
feet long and the GENITAL span l,J10 feet The
bottom OF the SUpcrSIruCture viii Ire s. feet
above extreme high-water mark. The whole
structure hight. from the bottom of the
piers to the Top Of the superstru turs. will
be las feet. The bridge viii be Of the can't.
lever order, and will have weight of
25UO),Oy0 TOInds of steel and iron
Each pier will be y feet by 90 ieet the mar
row side meeting the river current They viii
be made of timer cri1Ocd, and being sunk
to the bottom of the river by weights will he
1I1 l.