Evening star., 1896-12-12
M. .Eapl0 l0RATIeM, SCIENCE AND A

| Written for The Evening Star
| The universally Of bacteria is at the pres
ent time so generally recognized. and the
| significant part which they play in the
| economy Of nature so well understood.
| that, despite their lowly organization and
| exceedingly minute form. they are con-
sidered to rank as among the most import
ant members of the organic chain. Follow
| ing the law of nature. that the simplest
| organisms are. as rule. those which have
| had the longest existence in time, 1t is but
| natural to assume that the bacteria are
| among the most ancient of the earths in
habitants: that such is the case. has how
ever, only recently been demonstrated. DR..
| Bernard Renault announces the very In
| teresting discoveries:
| l. That the bones, shells and teeth Of
animals in primary times-ie., millions Of
years ago, even according to most CEN
servative estimate of time-were infected
and destroyed by bacteria. analogous ir
their form and size to those which, at the
| present time, produce carries.
2. That formerly, as today, the remains
Of plants were invaded by hosts of bacteria
some of them attacking the membranous
cedular tissues, and others the wood and
generally thicker portions
3. Ihat unless arrested in their progress
the bacteria would successfully cause the
DISAPPEARANCE of every part of every plant.
4. That coal contains considerable guam
titles of bacteria. In the course of his in
teresting researches DR.. Renault actually
determined the presence of bacteria in
French and Belgian Goals, in the coal of
Transylvania, and in various other carbon
| rocks. The determination in coal Of organ
isms or SO low grade of organization was
hardly to be expected, and is testimony to
lon NJ vVofo
scopic technology Of today.
England Sanctions 'Peary Land"
Under this name of Peary Land the geo.
graphical societies of Europe and America
have determined shall in future be known
the most northerly tracts of Greenland
which have been SO completely associated
with the explorations of Civil Engineer
Robert E. Peary, U. 8. N.
The suggestion of the name Peary Land
originated with the Geographical Club of
Philadelphia, the youngest of the active
geographical societies of the world, and it's
Recommendation was almost Immediately
seconded and adopted by the presidents of
the American Geographical and national
societies of this country, the president of
the Royal Geographical Society of London,
and the editors of Petermann's Mitteilun-
gen of Gotha, Germany.
Errntic Geography.
Among the anomalous results that geo.
graphical exploration is constantly calling
to the front is the annihilation of land
marks which have been considered to be
hrm!y established. Less than three years
ago 1t was discovered that Mount 1seran
peak of the Gracian Alps, which figured
on all detailed maps of the Alpine regions
with TIE very respectable elevation of up
Waru or 13,OOO feet, had no existence IN
fact, and the assumed mountain has since
been consigned to oblivion. somewhat
less complete effacement was announced in
the early part of the past year in the re-
moVal of 1909 feet from the height of Mt
Brown, in British America generally cred
1ted with an altitude of 1900 feet In place
OF the 1900 feet which is now given to it hy
Professor Coleman--a condition somewhat
similar to the experience of Mount Hood
IN oregon, which, when being gradually re-
duced from its assumed height OF 10000
feet to 11,0U feet brought ont the face
tious remark that with a few years more
of grace the mountain would be a mole IN
the ground 1t is not alone the minor ex-
plorer, however, who is responsible for the
perpetuation Of great errors of observa ton
Sir Samuel Baker, the discoverer of the
Albert Nyanza, the second great basin of
the Nile, stated that from iIis position on
the lake no boundaries to it could be traced
southwark to the limits of vision; whereas
Stanley and others have since shown that
not only did the lake terminate within n
few miles of where Baker stood, but that
Its southern shore was actually bounded by
high mountains.
MIR. G. Scott Elliot in his rec.u.lv n,,b-
llShed work, "A Naturalist IN Mid A Africa
in turn corrects Stanley's errors with the
no Insignificant statement that Mount
Gordon Bennett, Macainnow Peak and
Mount Lam3on are not mountains but
quite insignificant hills, if they ha any ex-
istence at all He also said: " Ispent much
time and trouble in trying TO discover
where on earth the enormous fresh water
sea, discovered and chrstened .he AIcxan-
dra Nyanza by Mr.. Stanley could possibly
be. This, of course it Is now clear, has no
existence whatever" AMI, finally, as the
latest ncsative contribution to Geopraph-
ical knowledge. we have in The Iack ckson-
Harmsworth reports from Francis ioitph
Land Gecenty brought to London by the
vessel of the expedition, the ''Windwari''l
the assurance that not Il trace of the so
called Petermann Land of Lieut.. -Bayer
could be discovered, aa1 that even Licbv
Land was merely a dsjointed archipelaric
mass of entirely inconsderaoie eAtent.
Fine New Fabric.
The government of India annolnces the
positive success of the new Gomass nrocess
for the extraction of textile fiber from
the celebrated Rhea plant, which marks
the commercial beginning of a valuable and
likely to be very extensive Industry The
Rhea plant is species of The rettle family.
which grows with almost the same lr.rrt-
ance in India as does the Canada thistle in
a fiber better known perhaps to the a1,cient
than to the modern world. lis use In
Egypt, India and China an.edltes history
Rhea cloth has been unroled from the
mummes of the Nile and unear.hed from
the burial grounds Of Assam In some nor
tions OF the old world who're labor is ex-
ceedingly cheap it has been manufactured
for nets and lines chiefly, and is orobahIv
better known under the name of China
grass Its peculiarly is it's exceeding
ughtness and strength But The difficulty
heretofore has been 10 separate the strong
silky fiber Of the bark from the outer IN.
ticle and tenacious gums in which they lie
imbedded.
Nearly thirty years ago the India gov
ernment offered a prize Of $25.tjO for the
invention of machine or process which
would do this work, hitherto cone by hand.
English. French and German experiment
ers have tried various processes. ard pro
duced a fabric which was worked I'D into
a variety of forms. all the way from ropes
and sail canvas to plushes and dress goods
They failed, however, to produce a clearf
cheap fiber. and this is just what the Eng
lishman, Gomess. has succeeded in doing.
The combined lightness and toughness of
the fiber render it peculiarly suitable for