The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-08-03
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

During the year ending June 30 last
/ 81 American vessels were lOst-S5 steam
/ vessels and 276 sailing ships, barges and
/ the like.
"A half dollar dated 1916 was taken from
/ the stomach OF a catfish caught in Lake
Furnishes. near ScoOba, Miss, few
/ days ago.
The ramihcations Of bicycle making
| now include the coopers. some of whom
| are preparing 10 make the wooden rims
which have become so popular.
They carry the enforcement of their
anti-vagrant act TO extremes in Mel
| bourne. man 103 years old was sent
| to jail there the other day for having
no lawful visible means of support"
Kansas corn crop this year will be
about 100000 bushels, the biggest the
state ever had. Nebraska, too. expects to
make record, If present Indications hold
out, with the largest crop ever raised in
the state.
-Oil barrels are almost invariably paint
ed blue. The reason for this is not APP
parent to the uniformed, but a manu-
| facturer who makes a speciality of this
kind of cOOperage says that il is because
blue has been found, by experience, to
be more effective for keeping in the oil
than any other pigment.
Lace is a fabric that can be made to
represent large amounts of money. The
AStOrs have been credited with owning
lace worth 100000, and the Vanderbilts
value their laces at $1,000 900. The pope
is said TO be content with only $4,000 rep
resented in lace, and the Princess of Wales
can boast of $25O,O00 worth of the dainty
fabric.
The fire department, the police patrol
and messengers without number have
been summoned to a big apartment house
in Geary street, San Francisco, of late,
without cause, and without being able
to find who sent in the calls. A watch was
set, and pea-green parrot, belonging to
one OF the residents of the building, was
seen to perch on a call box and with his
beak turn the index finger round the dial.
First he called the police, then sent for
coupe, and was just going TO send in
an alarm of fire when he was bagged.
The Mont Saleve electric track railroad
in Switzerland is heated entirely by cleo
tricity. The heating apparatus of each
car consists simply of two resistance box
eS,aDout 50 inches long, L inches high and
l12 inches deep, placed under the seat at
the end of the car. The current for the
heaters is taken directly from tn con-
ductor rail, which supplies the car motors.
The temperature of resistance coils
reaches about that of boiling water and
from ten to fifteen minutes is sufficient to
Drlng the interior OF car to comfortable
| temperature, evenNon the coolest days.
The heater can be thrown into. or out
of circuit by switch on the platform.
IL is impossible to overhead the car.
The Electric Candle, according to the
Scientific American, is in great request
| in England for the lighting and decora-
ton of dining and other tables An ingeni-
vided by placing small pads under the
BILE cloth and taking the--earrent from
| them by means Of two pin points in the
| base of the candlestick. The candles of
| course. are extinguished on being taken
| from the table, and are relighted when
| they are replaced in the proper position.
| They are so arranged that the bulb and
| the glass imitation of a,waX candle can
| be removed, when the candlestick can be
! used for an ordinary candle When used
| with shades of colOred silk the electric
| candle makes one of the prettest add
! tions to a dinner table that it is possible
to imagine
"A well-known Austrian engineer, NJ
| Piister,' says the Railway Review is
| stated to have discovered a remarkable
property of the trunks of trees, namely,
| that of retaining the salt of seawater
| that has filtered through the trunk in the
| direction of the hbers. He has consequent
| ly constructed an apparatus designed to
utilize this property in obtaining potable
water for the use of ships crews. This
| sucks up the sea-water into a reservoir,
| and then forces il into the filter formed
| by the tree trunk. As soon as the pressure
| reaches 10 to % atmospheres the water
! is seen-at the end OF from one to three
| minutes, according to the kind of wood
| used-to make its exit from the other
| extremity of the trunk, at first in drops
| and then in fine streams, the water thus
! filtered being potable, freed, in fact, from
| every particle of the usual saline taste
| which is such a drawback TO water OBJ
| tanned in the ordinary manner"
Persons living at a remote distance
| from the natural home of the lobster think
! that red is the original color of that species
| of crustacGan, says the St. Louis Republic
| The natural hue. however. is green, the
| beautiful bright brick color being the re-
| suit of boiling, TO which such creatures
| are subjected. TWO explanations for this
| change of color are given, either of which
| appears to be tenable: Their shells con-
| tain large per cent. of iron, aud the boil
| ing process oXidiZes that mineral the
| change being almost exactly the same
| as that brought about in burning brick
Such change IN the color of lobster
lnall ha .trfr1af hon
| action, but never while the lobster is liv-
| ing. AS a rule, however! the sun 5 bleach
| ing influence consumes. the oxide almost
| as FAST as 1t IS formed leaving the shell
| pure white. The second explanation is
| that the original green color is due to the
| blue and red pigments the blue being SOL
uble and the red insouble in boiling water
| When the lobster is boiled the blue pig
| ment is dissolved, leaving the red to color
| the creatures Shell.
The electric launch industry is slowly
| taking root in this country the main d III
| Guilty being that of finding places at which
to recharge the storage batteries, or get
| new supplies of chemicals if primary bait
| terleS are used. says the New York Post
In this respect to-day the owner of
an electric launch is often like "a ma
tton which has fleet, but no coaling
| station. In Europe the rivers are so much
| shorter than ours; the towns are so much
| closer together, and the population is so
much denser that we find many places
| where launches are in demand and highly
| successful. The English Thames has a
fine fleet and the continental rivers are
| all dotted with such craft. At Bergen
! Norway, a regular line of electric launch
| ferry has been established with eight
| boats running on a five-minute schedule
across the harbor. In winter, when the
schedule is shortest, the boats ply from
| Z a. IN. to $3.50 p. m. On an average, the
boats cover thirty-seyen miles daily and
| carry total of 1,S00 passengers. The
boats, which are twenty-five feet long.
six feet eight inches beam, and made 10
carry eighteen passengers, are double
! enders, with a screen at each end A
| three+horse- power motor runs each boat,
and the charging station has a thirty
| horsepower dynamo. The service is eff
| cient and popular. 1t would seem that
| there are places in America where such a
plan could be adopted with advantage
| Meantime electric launches are being put
| on many American artificial waters and
| a feet of six are being built for the Atlanta
| exposition. One genius has fitted up a
| trolley line along a narrow stream. and
| the boats. instead of carrying batteries
| simply take current from a wire Just as a
trolley car does.