The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1895-07-21

with no other nutriment than sweet milk
and that they are not obliged to take
something sOlid' to eat, as so many
people imagine. He holds that many a
convalescent has gone to his grave as a re-
suit OF oxertaxing his weak stomach by
putting solid food into it.; and he main
tains that the old belief as to bread being
the first essential of human life is shown
by his experiments to be erroneous. His
test was to live for thirty days with only
sweet milk as nourlshment In the
whole time he lost five and a half pounds
In weight, but no strength. He even at
tributes the loss of weight to the warmth
OF the weather and to excessive exercise
on the bicycle and the daily man
lpulation of sixteen pound sdumbbells
and other heavy-weights. He took more
exercise than usual in order To test the
thing fairly. On the seventh day OF the
experiment he ran several footraces with a
sklllful runner and was beaten in each
race. On the thirtieth day he again pitted
himself against the same runner, and did
the best OF the racing, which certainly
would tend to confirm his statement that
he lost no strength during the thirty days
test. He drank four pints of milk daily
for the first three weeks and five pints
daily for the last week. He thinks a
healthy person should take about five
pints of milk daily when no other food is
being taken. His practice was to drink
|
day, commencing at O'Clock in the morn
ing and continuing until 10 at night. At
| ter that he would take no more until next
| morning.
THE New MAXIM GUN.-The new Maxim
gun is one of the most terrible weapons
known to man. Inappearance it is mere
toy, weighing but twenty-five pounds. 1t
can fire 600 shots per minute, so that if
every man of regiment were supplied
with it 100000 shots could be fired per
| hour, each bullet being capable of piercing
forty inches of oak. If even small per-
centage of the bullets did their deadly
work war on a large scale would be impos-
sible and armies would cease to meet. So
| long as the trigger is held back the gun
will fire automatically as long as ammuni-
ton is supplied. When the trigger is re-
leased the firing ceases. The gun can be
unlimbered and firing commenced within
fifty-eight seconds of the giving of the
word of command. twill prove of special
value in a mountainous country, where
few well-placed guns would wipe out AM
army. 1t is no exaggeration to say that
100 men armed with the gun could move
| down 10000 cavalrymen with ease. The
possibilities of the machine seem unlim-
tied, and its extraordinary effectiveness is
well conveyed by military expert, who
was present at the last test of the gun. He
says; at is the most deadly instrument
of war / have ever seen. have been told
/ it was only toy, whereas its accuracy and
reliability are simply appalling" Each
bullet will pierce the body of six men, and
its muzzle can be moved like the end of a
| garden hose.
NEW USES FOR OLD CABLEs.-Many cities
which are discarding their cables in favor
of electricity for street traction are avail
ing themselves of a plan first tried on the
| Market-street road, San Francisco, for
using up worn-out cables. Old rope is cut
! into lengths short enough to melt in
small cupola, and from it are cast carry
! ing-pulleys and even sheaves of thirty
inches diameter. A curious feature of the
casting is its extreme brittleness, sharp,
sudden blow from a hammer causing the
pulley to fly into fragments like glass. On
| this account it is necessary to cast the
pulley on it's axle instead of boring and
| inserting the shaft, as is usually done.
Although the castings may be so easily
! fractured thew are found to last in service
fully as long as the ordinary pulley, and
as the wheel is of the same metal as the
rope it carries, it affords an ideal surface
for the rope to run upon.
NEW TYPES OF CARs.-An. ingenious
method for keeping fruit cool in rail trans
portation has been patented. The car is
built of frame work, covered with burlap,
and is kept damp by water from a tank at
| the top of the car. The draught caused by
the moving train heightens evaporation.
which, by its cooling effect, keeps the fruit
at the normal temperature, neither too
hot nor too cold. In this way, it is claimed,
none of the flavor of the fruit is lost. A new
sleeping-car is described as a berth which
disappears at the will of the passenger into
the wall of the car, and is confined in
space of one and seven-eighths inches.
Mattresses of air are to be used and all
bed-cIothing can be put in lockers under
meath the seat of each section. The berths
are to be made of steel and aluminium.