The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-11-26
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

100 tickets be bought at one time. Single
fares are five cents. This arrangement
has proven very profitable to the compa-
ny, for people ride many times where they
would ride only once If they had to pay
five cents fare.
The advantage of cordite, The new ex-
plosive, were recently shown in England,
where the factory manufacturing it was
burned 10 the ground. Z he fire hich was
supposed to be Of incendiary origin, To-
tally destroyed the works, and but one
man was injured no serious explos on 1e-
suioing, as would have been The case in
the manufacture Of gunpowder.
In order to diminish the air resistance
a newly designed electric car is being
tried in Brussels. Be, GUM, the novel fea-
ture being that the front is triangular in
shape, with the controller and space for
me motorman at The apex of the angle
The effect Of the wind is shown in some
recent tests with the ordinary form of
car, where from forty-six to forty-seven
amperes at 202 vols pressure were con-
Sumed by the motors in going with The
wind, while running against it sixty-eight
to siXty-nine amperes at 200 volts Were
taken.
"A recent German invention is armored
glass or glass plates cast with wire gauze
enclosed In their substance, so as 10 in
crease the resistance to pressure shock
and the effects of heat. Tests of the new
material have been made at The Chemnitz
Technical Institute and the Vienna Tech
biological Museum, which show that the
armoted glass is much stronger, and where
the ordinary glass broke under sudden APP
plications of pressure. the strengthened
material only cracked, and the cracks
caused by changes of temperature did not
all ali bafs =. Nh
new glass has already been employed for
water gauges.
in a recent number of the Zooiogist is
to be found an interesting paper on the
method used by bats in capturing insects.
This animal when walking carries its tail
curved downward and inward, so that the
membrane joining it to the hind legs forms
a pouch OF bag, into which a large insect
can be pushed after il is snatched. This is
done by slightly spreading the folded
wings, bringing the feet forward to in
crease the capacity of the tail pouch. and
then bending the neck and lhrusting the
head beneath the body In spite Of violent
struggles, the insect rarely escapes and
somewhat similar method is employed by
the bat when on the wing, as it has been
noticed to always bend up it's tail so as to
form a receptacle for its prey.
The most recent attempt to construct a
navigable balloon has been made by Count
Zeppelin in Germany, and a description of
his plans has recently been published in
the Aeronautical Journal. The body of
the balloon win be a cylinder with ogival
ends, and will be APO feet In length and
thirty-seven feet in diameter. This body
will be framed in aluminium, and will con-
tain seventeen gasbags to provide the req
uisite lifting power. The aluminium struc-
ture will be covered with netting both in
side and out, and the exterior surface will
be made Of oiled silk. The weight of the
aluminium frame is stated at 1880 pounds,
and the propulsion is to be effected by
number of small screws revolving at high
speed. There will be four propellers, each
with a diameter of three feet six inches.
The balloon will carry crew of five men,
and is to have surplus buoyancy of 5000
pounds to 1900 pounds.
-Payta in Peru is said to be the dryest
spot or the face of the earth, as the aver
age interval between rainfals is about
seven years. II is situated about 300 miles
south of the equator, on a coast which has
risen forty feet within historic times. Prof.
David Fairchild, who visited the place in
February, describes the country and its
flora in a recent number of the English
Botanical Gazette. A short while previous
to his visit, there had been rain, which
lasted from 10 p. m one day till noon the
following day. and this was the first which
had fallen in eight years. The flora con-
sists of about nine species, seven of which
are ANIMALS whose seeds must have re-
manned dormant in the ground for eight
years. The natives subsist by growing the
long-rooted Peruvian cotton, which is able
TO maintain itself in the dried-up river
bed. The crop of this plant furnishes the
colored short-staple cotton which is used
to adulterate wool.
For the protection of the Suez Canal
from drifting sand considerable tree and
shrub planting is being done, and the re-
suits SO far obtained are encour aging. This
planting has been going on since 1895, as
previous experiments with fascines, sand
fences, and similar devices were not sue
cessful. Reeds have been planted along
81 mixes of the canal proper and along
the whole length of the Sweetwater cana,
the reeds beng protected by fascines from
bank edd Is. On the s opes and top of the
banks of the Sweetwater canal such sh ubs
as the alta and Atriplex lalimus have been
used and in nineteen miles of. this canal
and on part of the ship-canaf plantations
of trees, extending back 32S feet from the
water-line have been made TO keep back
the sand from the desert. Among the
trees employed for this purpose are the eu-
calyptus and the cypress, and the planta-
tions are irrigated by fresh water which
is brought from the Nile by the canals ex-
cavated when the ship-canal was being
built.
1t seems an astonishing thing that the
natural signature, the impression of the
thumb or finger tip, is not used TO a
greater extent than it is for purposes of
identification. If the thumb be lightly
pressed upon a surface smeared with print
ing ink, and then pressed upon clean pa
ifnp iS NH, ie
distinctive for the particular individual
who owns the member. No two thumbs
or fingers are alike in the arrangement of
their multitudinous lines; each therefore
IS a seal which is unique, and seal which
cannot readily be mislaid or lost. The
French police use this test TO assure them
selves of the identity of a prisoner but
surely the system could be usefulIy ex-
tended. A newspaper correspondent who
recently pleaded for such an extension of
the thumb-mark test stated that once
when abroad he was in great straits for
money, although he held checks for a con-