The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-02-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

details complete. The signal system es-
pecially will interest the public.
The new torpedo defense net, or crino-
line. for the British navy. Is supposed to
be impenetrable to any torpedo even when
armed with a cutter. 1t is considerably
heavier than the old net, but can be han
died just as easily. Each net is twenty
five feet wide, twenty-eight feet deep,
weighs LOO pounds, and consists of 5000
wire meshes. Each mesh is secured by
six small rings; these, combined with the
small size of mesh, render it practically
impossible for the cutter of a torpedo boat
to make any impression on 1t.
The japanese torpedo boats have re-
ceived names entirely out of keeping with
their modern style and destructive pur-
poses. These names are very poetical and
picturesque, and belong to the vocabulary
Of pure old Japanese words. which are
rapidly passing out of common use. The
following are examples: Dragon Fly,
Full Moon, Moon in Clouds, Sea Beach,
Peewlt, Lightning, Thunder, Dawn of
Day, Clustering Clouds, Daybreak, Rip
pies, Evening Mist, Dragons Lamp, Fall
con, Maybe. White-Naped Crane, White
Hawk.
"A newly discovered mineral, which is
of lustrous black color. and which as a
fuel surpasses coal and all other sub
stances heretofore known, Is found on the
island of Barbados, in the Lesser Antil-
les, where the natives call it 'maujak."
1t is thought that manjak is petrified pc
troleum, great quantities of petroleum be-
ing found on the same island. 1t contains
only per cent of water and fully q per
cent of solid organic matter, thus sur
passing in utility the best asphalt of Trim
lad in rxrbf Job .e
tanned, and which has been classed so far
as the very finest fuel. Mixed with turf,
il gives heat far superior to any known.
The English ship building firm of Short
Bros. has lately made a report on the re-
suits of seven years experience of the
eight-hour day. Formerly the men began
work at o'clock in the morning, took
half an hour for breakfast at O'Clock,
half an hour at noon for dinner and quit
work at O'Clock, but it is said that the
dag was so long that many employees lost
much time from breaking down under the
strain. They now go to work at 1880 a.
M, take half an hour for dinner and quit
at p M, and the firm maintains that on
these shorter hours more work is done per
individual and the general operation of
the plant is much more economical.
Log is the name of an instrument used
for measuring the velocity of a ship. 1t
is a fiat piece of wood, some six inches
in radius and in the shape of a quadrant.
A piece of lead is nailed to the rim to
make the log float perpendicularly. To
this log a line is fastened called the log
line which is also wound around a reel
in the ships gallery. The whole line lex
cept some five fathoms next the log, called
spray Iines) is divided into equal lengths
called knots, each of which is marked
with piece of colored tape or bunting.
If the captain wants to know the rate of
his ship, one of the sailors throws the log
into The sea and the reel begins to I'M
wind The length of line run off in half
a minute shows the rate of the ships mo-
ton per hour.
"A German shopkeeper went one Sun
day morning to a customer in order TO de-
mand the payment of a long neglected ac-
count, says the London News. The police
heard of this, and regarded it as viola
ton of the new law against trading dur
ing the hours of worship The offender
was cited and fined. He appealed to the
kammergercht and was discharged as in
nocent What the law expressly for
bids" says the kammergercht, lis only
public or open trading within the pre-
scrbed time" On the police interpreted
ton, two men who talked incidentally
about their business relations on Sunday
morning on their way to church might
be arrested as vio!ators of the law, which
would be palpably tyranncal and absurd.
This recalls the good old tale of two Sab
batarian farmers who hit upon casuls-
teal method of doing trade on the Lords
day without breaking the fourth COM
mandment. What would you give for that
calf?" asked one, "if it were not the Sab
bath?" eff it were not the Sabbath L
would give you so much" naming the
sum- Tomorrow, then, We will consider
it bargain"
Chemists who accept the view that n.y.
drogen is a metal because it plays the
part of a metal in a great many combi-
nations will be disappointed 10 learn that
when lquefied by Prof. Dewar it exhibits
none of the properties of a metal, says
the Baltimore Sun. When pure 1t Is
colorless, transparent liquid, having but
fourteenth of the weight OF an equal
volume of water being thus six times as
light as the lightest liquid previously
known. 1t has considerable retroactive
power One property of metals it wholly
lacks, namely, the power of conducting
electricity. Nor is it magnetic. A ball
cooled in the liquid hydrogen and then ex-
posed 10 the air is at once coated with
solid air which afterward melts and drips
as LIQUID air. So low is the temperature
of liquid hydrogen that it Is capital
means of obtaining a vacuum or approx
mate vacuum of high tenuity. 1t is effect
ed simply by immersing closed tube in
the LIQUID hydrogen, whereupon the air
in the tube is solidified. If now the part
of the tube containing the solid air be
sealed off by melting 1t in flame the
rest of the tube will contain, according
TO Sir William Crookes, but one-ten-mill-
ionth of an atmosphere. 1t is, therefore,
no longer necessary to pump out the air
10 get a vacuum. The temperature OBJ
tanned with liquid hydrogen is the lowest
yet reached, being not much above the
theoretical absolute zero
A French electrical paper of recent Is
sue describes an electrical barber shop re-
Gently fitted out in Paris with the most
up-to-date appliances for performing the
humble offices of the tonsorial artist.
Electricity is resorted to exclusively, and
is put TO novel use. For example, hot wa
ter is obtained by passing the stream of
hydrant through a German silver tube In
a soapstone case, the tubing being electri-