The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-02-19
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

1t has been demonstrated that while
there is no especial difficulty in using Pc
troleum as fuel for locomotives there
would be trouble in obtaining supply of
the fuel. 1t mas been estimated that the
entire petroleum supply of the country
would not furnish fuel enough for the Use
of the locomotives employed on the Penn
sylvanla and New York Central systems
alone.
An experiment which is said 70 have
destroyed the swarms of locusts that were
devastating portions OF South Africa was
recently performed by Director Eddington
OF the PSYCHOLOGICAL Institute of Cape
Town. The bodies of locusts which lad
perlshed from diseases were dried and
ground and the resulting powder was
mixed with water and smeared over the
bodies of a few hundred locusts which
were then released. The disease soon
spread and the swarm persisted.
"A Cornell professor makes an interest
ing announcement about brains The main
portion of the human brain is composed of
the cerebrum, and the portion anterior TO
1t, devoted to smell, and known as a
mere appendix to the cerebrun But this
professor, after comparing brains from
all grades of the lower animals, declares
mat liAE liQLLldil DIdll Is an dEdlOHlHdl
monstrosity, and that in historical view
of the brain the portion devoted to think
ing is more properly to be styled a mere
appendix to the part devoted to smelling
In some creatures the olfactory portion
is much the largest part of The brain.
-Anthony's Bulletin gives the following
as a practical method of turning blue
prints to rich brown color: A piece of
.,l,o l.
dissolved in five ounces of water and the
blue print immersed in it, on which il will
take on an orange-yellow color. When the
blue has entirely left the print it should
be washed thoroughly and immersed in
bath composed of eight ounces of water,
in which has been dissolved heaping tea
spoonful of fannie acid. The prints in this
bath will assume a brown color that may
be carried to almost any tone, after which
they must again be thoroughly washed and
allowed TO dry
-Apropos of the German occupation of
Chinese port, it is stated that vast I'M
touched beds of sheet mica lie within fifty
miles of Kiao-Chou bay. The extent OF
these mica deposits is as yet unknown, but
they promise to handsomely repay those
who are fortunate enough to obtain a
franchise for working them. The rolling,
lies, are but poor lands for cultivation,
and hence their use for mining purposes
detracts nothing from the cereal-produc-
ing capacity of the region. The mica
crops out at intervals over some fifty
square miles, and in veins sometimes ten
feet thick. OF course. much of it is
discolored by foreign minerals, but it Is
believed that there are vast quantities of
good commercial material.
If you wish to remove the stains of
nitrate of silver, moisten the stain with
a wet rag, and then rub it gently with a
rag moistened with a solution of one
drachm each of mecuric chloride and am
mona chloride in one ounce of water.
Science is continually discovering new
wonders. An artesian well driven al San
Marcos. Tex, recently found not only
water, but a kind of animal inhabitinG
the water, which is found nowhere else.
Specimens have just been received for
study at Cornell University. The creature
proves to be a blind salamander, nearly
white in color with long, slender legs
and toes useless for locomotion but valu-
able for feeling in the blind darkness of
the underground waters. They have been
given the graceful name of Typhlomolge
The first and most natural way CT
lighting the houses of the colonists, says
the Chautauquan, was found in the fat
pitch pine, which was plentiful every
where; but as soon as domestic animals
increased candles were made and the
manufacture of the winter supply became
the special autumnal duty of the thrifty
housewife. Great kettles were hung over
the kitchen fire. and filled with hot water
and melted tallow. AT the cooler end of
the kitchen two long poles were placed
F,.1. -. ~ Ioa1 H. - all
these poles, like the rounds of a ladder.
were placed shorter sticks. called candle
rods. To each candle-rod were tied about
a dozen straight candle wicks. The wicks
were dipped again and again, in regular
order in the melted tallow-the succession
of clippings giving each candle time to
cool. Each grew slowly in size till all
were finished. Deer suet was used as well
as beef tallow and mutton talow. Wax
candles were made by pressing bits of
half-melted wax around a wick.
Prof. E. c. Pickering has announced in
the Harvard College Observatory Circular
that, from an examination of the Draper
Memorial photographs Mrs. Fleming has
found that Beta Lupi star of the third
magnitude, in the constellation of the
Wolf, is a spectroscopic binary. The period
has not yet been determined but photo
craps are Delng taken LOT this purpose.
This is the fifth binary star-that is
double star of which the two compon-
ents are revolving around each other-dis-
covered by spectrophotography, all at the
Harvard College Observatory The four
others, named in the order of their dis
covery, are Mizar, the middle star in the
handle of the Dipper; Beta Aurigae, the
second magnitude star in the Scorpions
tail, and a star of the fifth magnitude,
in the constellation Argo, which, as we'll
as Beta Lupi, is too far south to be Visl-
BILE to US. The wonderful thing about
these discoveries is that in all of these
cases the two stars-or suns, for that is
what they are-are so close to each other
that they cannot be seen separately with
even the largest telescope. Their discov-
cry by means of the spectroscope is rem
dered possible through the power of the
versatile instrument of detecting motion
in a star lin line of sight" that is, di-
rectly toward us or directly from US.
In view of the accuracy of the long
range small-calibre rifles, interesting ex-
periments have been made by the Society
of Civil Engineers in Paris. To designate
the visibility of colOrs at great distances