The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-05-13
ITEMS OF INTEREST.


in that city that he proposed TO be buried
for forty days at a depth Of 100 feet and
that God would resurrect him at the end
of the period named. The board Of health
however, refused to issue a burial permit
unless a certificate of death should be
filed. OF course, this action of the board
was a great surprise to the "divine heal
er'-at any rate he said it was-and so
the creduIous people who had counted
upon witnessing the interment were dis
appointed.
AS a matter of interest in connection
with the much-discussed smoke nuisance,
ii is worth noting that smoke is not by
any means a modern annoyance, says
a writer in Casters Magazine. About
600 years ago, so Mr. Durfee said in "a
Gently speaking of the subject, when
the population of London did not exceed
50,0C0 its citizens petitioned King Ed
ward l to prohibit the use of 'sea coal"
and he responded by making its con-
sumption capital offense. His success
sors, however were more merciful to the
users of coal, and its employment was re-
sumed; but again, in the reign of Eliza
beth, there were loud complaints against
it, and in 1861, John Evelyn, in his ''Fumi-
fugium," laments that, owning to the in
crease of coal smoke, the gardens no long
er are fruitful. In the centuries that fol-
lowed there were a number of parlia-
mentary inquiries and some legislation in
tended to mitigate, if not remove, the
evil, but, nevertheless, the consumption of
bituminous coal has rapidly increased in
London, and the inquiries and legislation
relative to it have all ended-in smoke.
in order finally to end its travels, the
postoffice department has decided to de-
liver, free of charge, a packet of maps
that has already traversed over $1,000
miles, says the Washington Post The
package was made up in Perth. Austria
| liza, by employees of the Australian geo.
| graphical survey, and directed to one of
| the professors of the University of Min
| nesota. 1t was then stamped official
| matter" and wrapped up with other mail
| to be SEM TO this country. Under the ex-
| listing postal regulations all transoceanic
| mail must bear prepaid postage to the full
| amount required, or double that sum must
| be paid by the consignee. So when the
maps reached Minneapolis the wrapper
was almost hidden under due stamps. and
| the professor refused TO receive them.
| They were then sent TO Washington, where
| they were redirected and shipped first to
| San Francisco and thence to Perth The
| geological survey took up the matter
| again, with request written on the wrap
| per that they be delivered, whether the
postage was paid or not, and started the
packet on its way from Perth to Suez and
then to New York. The department has
now decided to deliver the maps without
! further delay, as the maps are more than
| six months overdue
-Jai Samund, or Sea or Victory. near
| Odeypore, is the biggest artificial sheet
of water in India, says the Lahore Tri-
bune. 1t was made by the Maharana Jai
| Singh at the end of the seventeenth cen
| fury. Apart from it's size and beauty the
| lake strikes anyone visiting it for the
| first time by the marvellous simplicity of
| it's construction. This inland sea, cover
| ing some thirty or forty square miles of
| land, in some cases to the depth of over
| 100 feet, has been created and kept in eX-
| istence for a couple of centuries by one
| marble wall scarcely 300 yards long In
comparison with the lake this "bund" is
small in the extreme, but in reality It is
a white marble structure of marvellous
| strength and simple beauty Along its
whole length shining steps of penciled
white lead down to the waters edge, at
| this time nearly thirty feet below the
summit of the "bund." On the reverse
side a second wall backs the "bund'' pro-
| per Till recently the space in between
was untitled and formed vast sort of
| cavern where both tigers and dacoits have
J been run to ground in not remote years
| The present maharana has spent much
in filling up this empty space, with the
| triple benefit of BUSTING marauders
| strengthening the "bund'' and making a
promenade or terrace along its whole
| length.
| Blasting with high-pressure steam, In
stead of the usual infammable explosives
is proposition made recently by Mr.. H.
! Schaw before the Institution of Mining
| Engineers, of Great Britain, says Casters
| Magazine. Briefly, his suggestion. which
| has been prompted more particularly bv
accidents in coal mines from coal-dust ig-
| mtions due TO the use of the customary
| explosives is that cartridge of water
lodged in shot-hole, should be converted
| into steam at a pressure of about $50
| pounds per square inch by means of cleo
| tricity of low tension, and the cartridge or
| boiler 10 be made of such strength that
| it would burst at about this pressure when
| the force set at liberty would break down
| the coal. Mr.. Schaw found by experiment
| that lt would be easily possible to boil
water by the heat produced by a current
of electricity passing through a platinum
wire similar to that used for firing mines
immersed an water, and is of the opinion
that at the moment when the boiler or
cartridge bursts the wire will fuse and the
| electric circuit will be broken and no
risk of ignition of fire-damp or coal-dust
Will remain from the heated wire Hinder
the supposition That the force developed nv
the water cartridge would be sufficient TO
break down the undercut coal in a mine.
Mr.. Schaw thinks that the practical work
ing of the proposed method would present
no great difficulties, and that it would he
perfectly safe in any coal mine; and this Is
! its only recommendation, for it certainly
would be more expensive and troublesome
than the usual methods of blasting.
Queen Victoria's new yacht is the
largest that was ever built. She is as
large as the United States cruiser RaIh-
more, much larger than William K. Van
derbilt's yacht, Valiant, and considerably,
larger than the German Emperor's Yacht