The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-06-12
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

need4e IIeely suspended becomes. vertical
there; but at sixty feet from the center
it inclines degree from the vertical Per-
haps the phenomenon is due to magnetic
ore beneath the surface Of the ground.
The German deep sea exploring expe-
dition will start in August. and begin
work at the Farce and Shetland Islands,
then proceed by the Canaries to German
West Africa, where fishery problems will
be studied. From the Cape it will go to
Prince Edward Island, if possible, Mad
agascar, Zanzibar. Colombo, Alden. etc.
and return to Hamburg after an absence
of eight or nine months
The first railroad in Sweden was open
ed In 1865, and the country has now, in
proportion to it's population, more railways
than any other country in Europe They
are owned partly by the state and partly
by private corporations. Sweden has the
only railway in the world which passes
the polar circle, /. e.. the state line from
Lulea to Gellivare, in the Lapland dis
trict.
"A little Italian girl who was picked up
in Washington about a year ago by Rev.
H. M. Wharton and placed at the "Whoso-
ever Farm for orphans near Luray, Va,
has just fallen heir to 100000. Some of her
countrymen residing in New York made
an effort to get possession of the fortune,
but they were thwarted, and the child was
handed over to the care of an Italian con-
sui, under whose direction she was taken
to Italy.
M. Armand Cautier states In a paper
to the Academic des Sciences, Paris, that
loss of ammonia in forming manure can be
avoided by cleaning the stalls every day,
and adding the matter to the manure heap.
Loss of ammonia takes place in the sta
bles and cowhouses through leaving the
dirty litter under the animals. Fermenta-
ton is produced when the litter is cover
ed up, and so plunged in an atmosphere of
carbonic acid gas.
The Westinghouse Electric and Manu-
featuring Company has closed a contract
for twenty 300 horsepower two-phase gen
orators, with switchboard and raising
transformers, for the San Ildefonso-Tlal-
nepantla Transmission system, near the
City of Mexico. The current is to be util-
hzed for lighting and power in the city.
The generators are to be direct-connected
TO water wheels. Transmission will be
three-phase at $4,000 volts. The terms of
the contract call for its completion by
March l, 1899 The introduction of so
large an installation of American appara-
tus marks long step forward in the cleo
of water power in Mexico.
The department Of agriculture is now
at work collecting information concerning
the exact character of horses best adapted
to the requirements of the principal Euro
pean markets. Germany the United King
dom, France, and Belgium during the cal
endar year 1896 imported 210, 1913 horses val
ued al $33, 119,125 OF this number only "a
S13, valued at $317,74S, or a little over one
tenth of the total, came from this country,
Notwithstanding the fact that it has so
many natural advantages for raising su-
perior horses on a large scale. 1t is ex-
pected that the Information being collected
will make 1t possible to conduct the expor-
tation of American horses in a more intel
ligent and successful manner.
The lifting power of electromagnetic is
well known, as such devices are extensive
ly used in various iron works throughout
the country for moving heavy plates or
pieces of metal from one point to another.
Lately, in England, a scheme has been sug-
gested for lifting the steel battle ship Vic
toria, which lies in 45O feet of water off
the harbor of TripolL 1t is proposed to
place fleet of wrecking pontoons over the
spot where the Victoria lies, and from the
sides of these let down large electro-mag-
nets attached to chains. When these mag
nets COLle III proximity 10 the SIDES of the
steel ship, they are supposed to take hold
The weight of the wreck is said to be 1000
tons, consequently large number of mag
nets would be required. 1t is thought that
70 would be sufficient, each having a pull
ing force of 100 tons. "A New York electrical
journal in reporting this proposition is
quite skeptical, however, of its success.
Consul General Patterson, at Calcutta.
In a report to the department of state,
notes a curious fact about fax-growing.
He writes: I'm answer to an inquiry from
Chicago firm relative to the quantity
of fax produced and exported from In
dia, l would say that flax is, grown in In
dia exclusively for the seed In no part
of the country is the fibre produced Ex-
periments have been made for many years
with the same result viz: that 1t Is no
proof that plant can be made to Weld a
fibre because it can be grown in a coun-
try. Flax, hemH and china grass are adj
mirable samples of this fact. The possible
area of fibre production of any of these
In India is extremely narrow. Hemp Yields
fibre in Russia and other countries and
cannot be made to produce the narcotic. In
India the very reverse is the case, EXCEPT
in small portion of the Himalayas where
it yields admirable fibre and no narcotic to
speak of. While large areas of flax are
cultivated in almost every part of India
anu ID man. II Is grown only IOF the seed.
of which large quantities are exported, and
not for fibre, and there is no fax exported
from India.
The Bakerian lecture recently deliver
ed by Mr.. w. J. Russell before the ROYAL
Society of Great Britain on the action ex-
erted by certain metals and other bodies
on a Photographic plate is Of extreme in
terest as proving conclusively that many
bodies which have hitherto been consid
cred as absolutely fixed or non-voIatile at
ordinary temperatures, are in reality con-
tnuously giving off a subtle invisible va
por, which is, however, only made evident
to us by its action on the sensitive photo
graphic film. Mr.. Russell read a paper
before the Royal Society in which it was
stated that certain metals, alloys and
other substances, such as copal, printing
Ink, strawboard, etc, were able to ACT
even at distance, on a sensitive photo
graphic plate, producing effects similar in
appearance and developed i'm the same wav
as plates which had been acted on bv or
binary light. At that time sufficient ex-
perimental evidence had not been obtain
ed to determine the nature of this action
and 1t appeared doubtful whether the ac-
ton rose from vapor given off by the ac-
tive body, or whether phosphorescenca