The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-11-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

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than steel thread of the same thickness.
Sir Edward Reed, who has been put
ting the roller boat, Ernest Bazen. through
its PAGES in the harbor at Havre, reports
| very favorable on the vessel. He attrib-
utes the want of success in this model to
| lack of steam power and limited size, but
considers the principle established.
The nails of two fingers never grow
with the same degree Of rapidity, says the
London Mail. The nail of the middle fin
| ger grows with the greatest rapidity. ana
! that of the thumb with the least. II has
| been computed that the average growth of
| the finger nail is one thirty-second of an
| inch per week or a little more than an
| inch and half per year. The growth,
! however depends to great extent upon
! the rate of nutrition, and during periods
| of sickness Il is retarded. Authorities
| differ with regard to the equality Of
! growth on both hands. some holding that
the nails of the right hand grow faster
| than those of the left but others can per-
| ceive no difference between them. Ac-
| cording to the rate of growth stated, the
| average time taken for each finger nail
to grow its full length is about four and
! half months, and at this rate a woman of
| seventy would have renewed her nails 1855
| times.
"A new German building and flooring
material is known as Knochs cork stone,
is damp-proof, absolutely waterproof and
| practically freproof; is sound-proof and
! almost proof against wearing out. 1t
| can be blocked and coored to represent
| thing, or can be finished to represent any
| wood design; can be vanished, polished,
| stained or finished in almost any way de
| sired. 1t is very easy to the foot in walk
| ing, harbOrS no insects of any kind, ana
! is very easily kept in order. Best of all
| il is simply and easily made. The refuse
! from cork factories is ground up into
meal and mixed with a simlary-made tan
bark meal; with these is mixed some
| ground peanut shells, or like vegetable
matter. together with paper waste, alum
| and water. The mass is nodded into
! bricks and dried in the sun or in kilns,
| when it is ready for use. The same inVen-
tor has produced another material which
| he claims is not only as good as cork
stone, but very much better.
"A 'bottle-lnke" is the most concise
term that can be used to describe the
new subterranean tank which the Italian
Swiss colony has just completed at Asst
for storing half a million gallons of
| wine First an excavation was made in
| a rocky hillside in the rear of the winery.
| Next a wall of concrete two feet in thick
ness. was put in the floor and sides, and
built into the cover, the latter being sup
ported by fifteen steel girders. Next the
| entire surface was covered with a lining
| of pure cement, and finally this was giaz-
ed to the impermeability of glass. The
whole has been buried beneath three feet
of earth, and soon grass will grow above
the wine lake. The cement wine tank is
| 14 feet long, "a feet wide and "a feet high.
! The contents may be drawn off by graVi-
tation. There are several advantages to
| be derived from the construction of the
concrete and cement cistern. One of these
it is expected will be that the wine will
| be maintained at an even, cool tempera-
| ture Another is the equal blending of
| 100000 gallons of wine at one time. A
third is the saving in insurance. This is
! calculated at the rate of 1,5G0 per annum,
which, in five years, would repay the cost
of construction.
"A Russian has formulated a new pro-
cess for the detection of the bacilh of tu-
berculosis in milk, which is founded on
| the fact that tubercule bacilli will be pre-
ciptated by rapid centrifugal motion. He,
uses a modified lactocrit which makes
5000 revolutions per minute. The milk is
| coagulated by meanse of dilute citric acid,
the whey is separated by filtration and
| the casein is dissolved by phosphate of
| soda solution To this are added six cubic
| centimeters of sulphuric ether, mixed with
water in order that the emulsified fat
cOrpuscles may be set free. The action of
the ether is fastened by shaking the mix
| ture in a glass cylinder for fifteen min
utes. The solution is allowed to stand
and, after the fat has been separated, the
| remainder of the liquid is allowed to run
out. Dilute acetic acid is added to this
until the first sign of coagulation appears.
! 1t is then transferred to the lactocrit,
| and the machine set in motion for fifteen
rl,ar, fx,stv Nf fo.,
bacilli sink to the bottom. This deposit
is then conveyed to two slides, stained and
| examined with an oil immersion. If bach
Iii are present in the milk they will be
found in this preciptate. The author con-
siders this method more certain than the
incubation of animals with the suspected
milk.
So much is being written about the
terrors of the Alaskan winter and the
sufferings that await the gold seekers in
the frozen Yukon valley that it seems al
most impossible to imagine excessive heat
in that region, says the New York Evange-
list. But A. P. Swineford, ex-governor
of Alaska, and now government inspec-
tor of surveyors-gene and district land
offices in that country in a letter to the
St Paul Pioneer Press, says that the ay-
erage temperature during the summer in
the foothills of the Yukon valley is from
| 10 TO lZG degrees! IL never rams ana the
! heat is pitiless; the mosquitoes and the
black flies swarm in such countless num-
bers that to keep from being blinded by
them the miner must wear a closely woven
mosquito netting over his face. He must
also wear gloves on his hands and tightly
tie his sleeves at the wrists and his trous-
ers at the ankles to keep the little pests
from crawling inside Their sting is so
| venomous that it is impossible to keep do
nestle animals in the valleys, the files
would blind them in a day. All the wild
| animals reindeer, elk, etc, flee to the
| mountains and remain there during the
summer. No matter how hot and dry it
| is however, the grass and shrubbery will
be green and luXuriant, for the reason
! that the ground never thaws below a
depth of six to ten feet and the hotter it
is the more the frozen ground supplies a
| life giving moisture to the roots of the
| grasses and growing grains. For this rea-
son Mr. Swineford predicts that the Yu-
kon valley viii some day be the finest
| wheat growing district in the world. The
chief dra wback at present is the difficulty,
the all but impossibility for the farmer
| to get his produce to any market but as
soon as good roads are constructed or a