The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-13
ITEMS. OF INTEREST.

The postoffice at Kaskaskia, Illinois,
has just been abandoned for lack of pat
ronage. The town is the Oldest in the
state. 1t was founded by La Sale in 1888
and has remained distinctively French. 1t
was once the capital of the territory and
place of Importance, but for some time
has been losing population. In 1880 it had
1913 inhabitants. and in 1880 the number
had fallen to S62.
"A feature of the modern gun will
doubtless be it's accuracy of aim. says
Prof. Ira N. Hollis in the June Atlantic
The guns of the first monitor had the or
binary sights, and the men had to look
out through the portfolios of a revolving
turret TO find the enemy. We might say
they often fired ''on the wing" with very
indefinite notions Of the range and the
briefest instant for training the guns. The
Iowa's turrets have small boxes project
ing above the covers for lookouts. Hori-
zontal Sits are cut near the tops of these
boxes, giving a view of the horizon. The
guns themselves are aimed by means of
cross-hairs in telescopes, and fred by cleo
trio buttons, which are instantaneous in
their action. Once the cross-hair is on the
object, the projectiIe may be sent on its
way at a velocity of 1000 feet a second
before the roll of the ship has time to inn
pair its accuracy.
The acts against the Importation of
prison-made articles into Great Britain
and her colonies are being strictly en-
forced Not long ago a great ado was
made about certain brands of Alabama
pig iron, which were exported to Canada,
and which were alleged to have been turn
ed out by firms employing convict labor
Further Investigations showed, however,
that these allegations were unfounded.
The first actual seizure under this act oc-
Cured recently, it being consignment of
cocoanut fibre doormats manufactured in
Belgian prison. The British Mat and
Mating Manufacturers Association drew
the attention of the authorities to the
source of these goods, having agltated
for some time past against the introduce
ton of foreign prison-made mats, which
have been sold at prices at which British
mats made by free labor could not com
pete. Proof of the prison origin of the
mats in question having been given. the
whole parcel, estimated to be worth be-
tween $1,000 and $1,501 was piled in a
heap and publicly burnt
Some interesting experiments and OBJ
servadons have been conducted in Europe,
and particularly at the university of Jena,
/ in an endeaVOr 10 ascertain why it is that
| lightning strikes certain trees and not
others. Many instances are cited to prove
that oaks are especially subject to light
ming strokes and beeches very little so.
| one observer is convinced that trees are
subject to lightning strokes in an inverse
relatin to the amount of oil they contain:
| for instance, he beltves that the poplar.
which is very poor in oily matter. is a
! highly dangerous tree to take refuge I'M
| der in a thunderstorm, because it is an
| especially good conductor of electricity. It's
wood is saturated with water, and when
| Ats bark is covered with the rain, the cleo
| tricity of the clouds seeks it out. For the
! same reason a poplar, especially of the tail
! LOmbardy variety, will prove a good pro-
! tector for a dwelling near which il grows,
| drawing the electricity, and serving as a
| lishtnng-rod. 1t is quite possible however,
| that there is something in the theory of the
! Jena professor, and that poplar standing
| in dry soil or sand cannot be relied on at
| all lghtning-rod.
Some ardent students of meteorological
science have planned a balloon voyage over
/ the Swiss Alps. The voyage is to be taken
| under the direction of the aeronaut Spell
| terini who has already made several as
! cents in different parts of Switzerland
| Several Swiss savants will take part in the
/ bold enterprise; they will be amply sup
| Piled with apparatus, and hope to solve
! a number of scientific problems. The bal
! loon is already being manufactured in the
/ workshops of Messrs. Besancon In Paris.
1t is to have a diameter of IS meters a
! cubic capacity of 3,268 cubic meters and be
/ capable of carrying aweight of ZOO kilo-
! grams. The expenses of the expedition,
3. about 1900 francs. will be betrayed by
| some friends of science. The ascent will
I take place from Litten, in the canton of
! Wallis and the voyagers hope TO pass over
| the Finsteraarhorn (this mountain is AIS
meters high, and descend in the region
| between Sargans Canton St Gallem, and
! the Lake of Constance. The Journey from
] IN to
seems TO be almost impossible on account
| of the direction of the wind. Before the
ascent several small balloons of Two to
four meters in diameter will be sent up to
ascertain the direction of the wind
"A digest of metabolism experiments"
is the title of a recent bulletin issued by
the department of agriculture at Washing
| ton. This bulletin is a compilat ton and
| discussion of the results of meta bolism ex-
| periments made in the United States and
| other countries in which the income and
! outgo of matter or energy was determin-
| ed The income and outgo of matter is
| usually expressed in terms of nitrogen or
! nitrogen and carbon; the income and out
| go of energy, in terms of heat. Over $500
| individual tests or averages are included
OF these, about 2300 were made with man
| about 400 with cattle and horses $50 with
sheep, dogs and other domestic quadru-
!
about 3,4OO experiments the balance of in
come and outgo of nitrogen, and in about
800 the balance of carbon, was determined.
| In compiling the results of the date and
original source of publication of the in
| Vestigation, the observer, the subject with
age and weight, food consumed, duration
Of experiment, and the nitrogen (or nitro
| gen and carbon with or without other Gle
ments) in the food and excretory products
are included in tables. In text acconpa-
| nying the tables the experiments are de-
! scribed, the methods followed are given.
and the deductions drawn from the exper-
iments are cited.
An invention which has wearied the
minds of many inventors and worried the
tempers of the officials of the patent Of
fee for many years has at last. il ia
claimed, been satisfactorily accomplished
SAYS the Washington correspondence of
the Philadelphia Press. This is the mat
ter Of horseshoes, and the newest. and
what is thought will prove the best thing
out, has lately been laid before exDarts
and is shortly to be put on trial. The new
horseshoe is made Of compressed Dapar
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