The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-16
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


atmosphere finds an index in the great
British war barometer at Woolrich. When
storm clouds hover over the horizon the
Woolwich cranes are busy, and there are
none idle now, nor are there any idlers
among the army of nearly II 600 employees.
The gun factory is aglare. with the 81
great furnaces, which, in addition to 1900
tons of shot and shell, turn out yearly
go tons of guns ranging from Woowich
infants of 100 tons down to mountain mule
howitzers. In the laboratory 900 bali car
fridge machines are turning out from l.
100000 to 100000 cartridges weekly; the
carriage department can produce yearly
So field batteries, $50 naval or garrison gun
carriages, "a turret carriages and $50
transport carriages; 800 machines are busy
in the shot and shell department; the tor
pedo factory breeds yearly 200 fish torpe-
does, and all the vast machinery of the
place Is just now driven to its fullest ca
pacity.
Tower near the West Virginia border,
but on the Kentucky side of the line, is
an immense stone which is known as The
Devils Rock because it is always burn
ing hot" writes a correspondent from
Ripley, w. v, to the Louisville Post. Il
went over to the hot rock as some of
the mountaineers call it, and must admit
that it is the most unusual freak of ma
ture l ever looked at. The stone is 10x14
feet, and looks like it is about or feet
thick, although there's no way of measur-
ing the depth, only a few inches being
above ground. The rock contained so
much heat on the day 1 visited it 1 could
my bare hand on it but a few moments.
Where the heat comes from and why the
monster radiator of nature is not cooled
by the billiards. and zero weather of win
ter is more than l can determine. The
Ct1 ret mill nj m lie
believed by many to be the very chimney
corner of hades 1 took picture of the
great natural phenomenon, but, of course,
that can give no adequate idea of its most
wonderful characteristic"
Since DR.. Roentgen won so much fame
with his X-rays there seems to have been
unwonted activity among the German pro-
fessors, and they apparently intend to get
a lot of the laurels hitherto monopolized
by American wonder-workers, says the
New York Times. There ought, however,
to be some limit to their ambitions. DR..
Roentgen's discovery interested the whole
world, and benefited it not a little; DR..
Schenk, with his scheme for producing
heirs or heiresses to order, will probably
do no great harm, except in semi-civilized
countries, where woman's equality-or SUI
periority-is not yet recognized; but
certain DR.. Gerold of Halle threatens to
interfere with the established course of
nature in a way for which there is abso-
lutely no defense. According to a report
just at hand, this meddlesome Teuton has
discovered "a method doing away with
the bad effects of tobacco, without in any
way interfering with its quality or aroma. ="
He treats the leaves, it seems, with So
luton of which wild marjoram is the chief
component, and produces something that Is
entirely harmless" This is simply out
rageous. Is there any harm in tobacco
as it is? What he calls bad effects are
tobacco's only excuse for existence, and
If they are taken away the use of the
weed will be entirely abandoned.
The United States government is ex-
perimenting with a remarkable protector,
with view to its installation by the light
house board at some point on the coast.
The light has a bivalve lens feet in diam
eter, and will illumine an object 100 miles
off, and throw its reflection on the clouds
so as to be seen at much greater DIS
lance. The lamps have interchangeable
carbons of different sizes, so that the light
can be varied in intensity according to the
condition of the atmosphere. Cartons of
1-inch diameter give power of 5000 to
1000 candles. The light is gathered in a
9-foot beam, which has an estimated in
tensity of 100000 candles. The light
and lenses revolve six times a minute, so
ed in a given direction once every five sec
onds. Although the lamp, the lenses and
the supporting frame weigh twenty tons,
the adjustments are so delicate-they in
clude the posing of the mechanism on a
hollow steel cylinder floating in mercury
that the whole mass may be revolved by
a push of the finger. Although the lamp
is of French manufacture, American gen
Grating apparatus has been substituted
for that built for 1t in France, and the
dynamos, engine, and boilers are to be
duplicated in case of accident The flash
of the lenses is so binding that it can not
be looked on at short range. 1t hurts the
eyes, even when closed.
A correspondent of the Boston Trans
cript reports a movement among the Au
dubon societies to introduce in this coun-
try some of the song birds of Europe, to
replace the native singers which an I'M
thinking people has nearly exterminated.
The movement is more active on the Pa
cific coast than in the East, being slim
ulated probably by the success of an ex-
pertinent in stocking undertaken ten years
ago in Oregon. A private organization
at that ime imported from Germany 800
pairs of birds, including several varieties
of finches, thrushes, and larks, and some
starlings, linnets, and nightingales.
With the exception of the nightingales,
disappeared IN one season, ali the varieties
prospered in their new home. They have
multiplied rapidly, have extended their
range hundreds of miles, and it is believed
that they have become thoroughly accI-
mated. A curious feature of the life of
these imported birds is their annual mi
grafton. 1t was feared by the importers
that the birds would stay north in the win
ter and be frozen to death. But instinct
taught them what to do in their adopted
land. They migrated south in great num-
bers, and every fall and spring these i'm
ported warblers are to be seen in great
fiocks moving either south or north, ac-
cording to the season. 1t is believed by
ornithologists on the Pacific coast that
they go as far south as Central America
in the winter; but they never fail to find
their way back to Oregon nor Northern
California.
Prof. Giglioll makes very remarka-
BILE statement on the strength of a series
of experiments he has concluded on the
vitality of refrigerated seeds, says an ex-
change After placing certain seeds I'M
der the influence of gaseous and LIQUID
chemical reagents for a period of more
than sixteen years, he found that some of
the seeds retained their vitality even
when surrounded by atmospheres Of nitro
gen, chlorine, hydrogen, arseniuretted hy-
a nd ftrin do L.