The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-12-12
ITEMS OF INTEREST.

I >
are of the best all the world over The
writer of an article on The Humors of
Communicating" in a Johannesburg pa
per describes the manager Of the Castle
Brewery gazing dolefully a the departure
OF long array of his choicest animals I'M
der the command of a Boer official. Who
ever wants beer now Will have to come for
it," he ruefully exclaimed as ne went in
side his office.
-Nikola Tesla. who opened an expert
mental station at Colorado Springs, Col,
in May last for the purpose of making
| scientific measurements and observations
with wireless telegraphy in high attitudes,
has concluded his work and returned to
New York He has perfected, so it is al
legged, a machine by means of which he
claims he will be able to send wireless
messages to Paris next year. This may
all be so, says Electricity but it might be
we'll to await some public test of the sys-
TEN over distance of, say, 100 miles,
before crediting the reports.
Some gold-bearing cobalt ores that
promise to have considerable value have
recently been discovered in the Kruis river
district in the Transvaal. The ore is found
in association with diabase rocks, and is
known as smaltlte, occurring with its de-
competition products, such as erythrite,
and carrying about sixty grains of gold
10 the ton of ore. The gold seems TO be
found entirely in the smaltite, and does
not occur in its free state. In the vicin-
ity of the locality referred 10 is another
deposit of smaltite, which ore assays 400
grams to the ton.
The method of making refectors by
electrO-deposition of Mr. Sherard CowDer-
Coles of England has been employed in
the construction of a sound locator and
protector, which is nothing more than
parabolic mirror with a mounting that
makes it particularly useful in acoustic
work. When il is desired to learn the d.
rection in which a sound comes the APP
paratus is turned until its axis comedies
with that direction where the sound is
heard more distinctly. If id is desired 10
carry on a long-range conversation as be-
tween two ships, the sound is produced
Eat the focus of one mirror, and sent out
in beam which is received by the other.
In the experience of officials of the
Prussian state railways it has been found
that by the addition of % per cent. of ace
tylene to the enriched gas used in the
Pintsch apparatus for Illuminating trains,
the amount of light is tripled and the
cost for the same amount of illumination
reduced more than one-half. There are
now number of gas works along the
railways where this mixing is effected, and
in the course of a year all the establish
ments of this nature on the Prussian rail-
ways will be equipped for the work If
the system is adopted on other German
railways, it means an annual consumption
of about 100000 pounds of calcium car
bide, at an approximate cost of $500, 600.
for this purpose in Germany alone.
An electric cellar torch has recently
been patented by an Englishman, and it
admits of many uses. He was the son of
a physician, and quickly recognized that
the principle of his fathers laryngoscope
might be very well applied to commercial
purposes; and his experiments based on
this Idea resulted in the production of a
clean, odorless, and reliable appliance for
the thorough examination of brewers
casks and watts, cans, etc. 1t consists of
an electric lamp covered with a Ions, brass
protector, and it is secured at the end of
handle through which an insulated wire
is carried A small mirror is provided;
this folds inward when it touches the
side of the cask or jar, and thus reflects
the interior in such a way that it may be
thoroughly examined.
in England the free" bicycle is ali the
rage, and makers are enjoying a revival
of prosperity by providing wheels with
pedals so arranged that the rider can
free" his pedals from the sproclet-wheel
and ride down hill with his feet on the
pedals and the pedals at rest. There is a
good deal of comfort derived on down
grades from the change, says the Balti-
more Sun, to say nothing of the greater
dignity possible when ones legs are NOT
being worked rapidly and unnecessarily,
like jig-saw. There is some increase of
danger however, in the free wheel" and
rider is quoted in the London Times as
saying he has had to learn to ride three
times-on the old high wheel on the
safety and on the free" wheel. The free
wheel is not for everybody-the reason.
perhaps, why American makers have not
been partial to it.
The use of mechanical stokers in the
fre-rooms of large steamers has never
been tried on any extensive scale, and
particularly on ocean steamships, firing
the furnaces is task of such dimensions
and so wearing on the firemen that the
substitution Of some mechanical device Is
a more than desirable matter Recently
some experiments were tried on a lake
steamer of slightly over 10000 tons dis
placement and resulted quite satisfacto-
rlly. The system employed made use of
stokers of the under-feed type and the
fuel was pushed into the furnace from the
hopper by means of screw conveyor. In |
all, eight trials We're made with the ar
rangement and five of them We're of six |
hours duration Smoke was practically
absent except when the fires were being
sliced, and although poor grade of coal
was employed, the evaporative efficiency
was pronounced excellent.
The crusade inaugurated by the Prin-
cess of Wales against the use of osprey
feathers as an article of fashionable wear
because of the threatened extinction oe
TINS magnificent bird, has resulted i'm an
order, emanating from Lord Wolselev the |
COMMUNICATIVE chief of the British army |
according to which the osprey plume. So |
long feature of the uniform of several |
cavalry and crack regiments. is TO be ahoI- |
ished. The officers of the Royal Horse |
Artillery the hussars and rifle regiments |
viii adopt plume of ostrich feathers in |
its place by Jan. 1, 1900. The general or |
der prescribes that the ostrich feathers |
are to be mounted on "a stem of a speciaI |
pattern, and are to be of the color of the |
osprey plumes now in use exceDt in tho |
Kings Royal Rifle Corps, where they will |
be scarlet Instead of black. The lower Mari |