The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-10-28
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

structed ana equipped steamers TO keep
the submarine telegraph cables of the
world in repair
Chinese babies are fed on rice and
nothing else after they are a few months
Old Cows milk is never given to them.
Chinese houses are never heated. If
baby is cold he is given a sun bath.
The Spanish escurial is built in the
shape of a gridiron. $40 feet by $50 feet.
There are three large churches in the in
closure, one containing the tombs of most
of the Spanish Kings and Queens.
Collectors OF old documents. stamps
| scarce engravings or other valuable pap
ers that ought TO be protected from the
noxious influences of the air and from
moisture can easily preserve them in their
| original condition by covering them with
| a 3 per cent. solution of collodion. This
solution can be applied with a soft brush
without the slightest danger to the OBJ
| jects thus treated. This proceeding is
mainly applicable where delicate colors
| that are soluble in water are to be pre-
| served in their pristine freshness and
! beauty This collodion covering is, there
fore. most excellent for preserving water
| color paintings and pastels.
A new invention of great Importance
has just been patented by a German chem
| tSt, JULIUS NOIQen OF AluennOVeH, ter
many. He has succeeded in hardening al
cohol until it becomes a solid mass. This
| will insure very much greater popular
| ity for the employment of alcohol It now
| comes in small cylindrical pieces, packed
| in patent tin boxes, that can be used for
cooking, lighting, heating and the various
! uses of everyday life. The solicited al
cohol burns without wick, can be blown
our after use, and then hardens again
within minute. The danger of eXplos-
| ion is absolutely done away with, and
| the neat little tin package, with its stick
of alcohol, is always ready for use in the
| kitchen or bedroom, on the toilet table
or under the milk pot, on the road or
in the field, as a night lamp or going
upstairs at night.
"A new use has been found in steel by
a Sheffield England firm, who are now
making a steel harness trace. consisting
of a narrow ribbon of steel from q 10 l
| inch wide, rolled very thin and cased in
| leather. A single trace of this kind, when
| tested at the Sheffield testing works, re-
corded a tensile breaking strain of 4,575
pounds, while an ordinary leather trace of
the best quality, tested at the same time,
| broke at a strain of 200 pounds In addi-
| ton to being lighter and stronger than the
| ordinary trace, the steel article is about 20
1 per cent. cheaper. The steel as necessarily
! of the very finest quality, and is so pliabte
| that it can be twisted in any direction.
| This kind of steel is being used in bicycle
tires. The ribbon cased in rubber is piac-
| ed inside the ordinary tire, thus making
punctures practically impossible, and it is
claimed, increasing the speed of the cyclist.
The state of Vermont is considering the
subject of providing a tribute to her dis
tinguished citizen, Admiral Dewey The
| Vermont legislature, now in session, has
| the subject before il. A statue has been
| proposed, but a more practical method of
| proceeding seems to be finding most favor.
| 1t is to provide a Dewey Hail." to be
used for drilling purposes in the states
military institution, Norwich University.
| This institution has long been famous as
a military school, and many of the most
| famous officers of the civil war were
among its graduates. 1t is likely that the
Legislature will appropriate sum toward
| the addition of this hall to the university
and it is proposed also to raise money by
popular subscription for the same purpose
This viii be open to contributions out of
the state, as well as in it, and those an
terested in honoring Admiral Dewey will
find a fitting opportunity to do so by aid
ing in the projected. work.
"A City of Zinc" is the name which,
the London Tablet says, may appropriately
be given to the mushroom city of Portu-
guese East Africa, Beira. An the houses
all the hotels and public buildings, says a
Natal Catholic contemporary barracks,
| and warehouses, are built of zinc So
| great has been the speculation in building
and so urgent the need for supplying the
inhabitants with cheap and speedily erect
ed dwellings that a city has been built up
in six months Thousands of tons of zinc
from France England and America sup
piled the material. The unpleasant i'm
preston produced by the aspect of this
mir ic iuht hNy he
that men have to dwell in these houses
under a tropical heat Everything in this
strange city is under the dominion of the
metal. Even when a person falls III he is
carried on a zine stretcher to a hospital,
which as also of course made of zinc And
if he dies he Is laid to rest in zinc coffin.
Not a little singular is the fact noted
by chemists, says the New York Sun,
that, contrary to the general belief, nat
ural India rubber is not waterproof. In
deed, since the article has to be dried
to be freed of it's moisture, the conclu-
sion is obvious that it win absorb moist
ure again, and, according to experiments
mentioned by E. Schulze in the Gummi
Zeitung, it does so with certain rapidity
| It is found that rolled rubber plates
which by virtue of their treatment are IN
a somewhat compressed condition, alb
serb from to % per cent. of water in
about 120 degrees Fahrenheit at increased
pressure the absorption takes places much
more readily, and a piece of rubber, kept
! in a cylinder under a pressure of 140
pounds, absorbed % per cent. of water
! in five minutes. Oils of course stop the
| water. Vulcanized rubber remains dry
though not entirely so, and badly vulcan
lied goods deteriorate, owing to this rea-
son. Schulze kept a plate of the best
Para rubber in water not above 10 degrees
| Fahrenheit and after two months and a
half it had become a hopeless, smeary
mass.
An instrument for massaglng the eye
has been invented by Frenchman named
Dion, and is said to have produced Won
derful results. 1t is particularly valuable
in treating myOpia. or short sight, dis
ease for which no remedy had been found
hitherto, except the wearing of glasses
The instrument according to the New